Bay Area tour recommendations

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Monpilot

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Monpilot
I'm heading to the Bay Area at the beginning of July and would like to book a tour of the bay with an outfit and your suggestions are appreciated.

I did find the thread from last year but it was related to flying the bay tour oneself. I want to have someone else fly it so I can simply see the sights.

I saw one company out of Oakland that charges around $300 PER PERSON for a six seater. Seems high considering the plane has a set cost per hour but that's besides the point.

I saw a company out of Hayward that does discovery flights for around $300 for three people.

There's going to be either 3 of us or 5 of us so we'd either get one 6 seater or two 4 seaters.

Thanks y'all!
 
Expecting to fill all the seats of a light aircraft is not reasonable.

An air tour is going to be VERY EXPENSIVE. It's not the same as a discovery flight. Those are more appropriately one on one, maybe with one passenger in the back seat.

You need a (much) larger airplane than a 172 for what you're proposing. Costs get very high very quickly.
 
The prices are definitely ramped up. And I understand it's a business but our club Cherokee cost $180 an hour wet andmake it $280 with a pilot. That's for the full Cherokee with 5 passengers so the air tour charging that much per person is dramatic.

But that's a completely different debate and I shouldn't have even brought it up since my main concern is how to treat my two-four friends to a view of the bay without breaking the bank.
 
5 passengers in a Cherokee? I am going to side with MAKG here (unrealistic). You can get 3 passengers and a pilot into a 182, no problem, but it will cost more than a Cherokee. Bay area rentals are a bit higher than other areas, but I expect you can probably find something like a 182 for around $250 wet with a CFI. You are probably better off structuring it as an instructional flight with a couple of passengers along for the ride. In Anchorage, I did that with a 172. I did fly it though, with a CFI in the right seat and my GF in the back. But it was pretty cool, 500 feet over the Knick Glacier.
 
I didn't realize there's a difference. San Francisco Bay overflying the city, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

I found an outfit with a 172 but it will likely not be able to take the three of us plus the pilot. :(
 
Monpilot said:
I didn't realize there's a difference. San Francisco Bay overflying the city, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

I found an outfit with a 172 but it will likely not be able to take the three of us plus the pilot. :(
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South Bay is San Jose / Reid Hillview (I think there is a rental 182 based at RHV). North Bay would be Petaluma or the like. East Bay would be Concord or maybe Oakland. If you aren't PIC, it probably doesn't matter where you start. If you are PIC, then navigating from North Bay is probably a little easier (you can fly over Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge and head for Half Moon Bay for lunch, all without having to dip into Bravo airspace. Just stay below the shelf. If you are coming from South Bay, it still isn't too tough. Just get flight following (which you will want in either case. It is very busy airspace.).
 
I definitely wouldn't fly alone. At the very least fly with a cfi and have him do all the radio work. At the most I'd simply be a passenger sitting in the front right seat.

I'll be staying in Danville so anywhere within 30-45 minutes would be ideal.
 
Monpilot said:
I definitely wouldn't fly alone. At the very least fly with a cfi and have him do all the radio work. At the most I'd simply be a passenger sitting in the front right seat.

I'll be staying in Danville so anywhere within 30-45 minutes would be ideal.
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Some days you won't make it 10 miles in 45 minutes around there ;) Concord or Oakland would be closest. These guys have a Cirrus SR-22 for $250 wet http://www.sterling-flight.com/services/rentals/ (not bad for Cirrus).
 
John221us said:
Some days you won't make it 10 miles in 45 minutes around there ;) Concord or Oakland would be closest. These guys have a Cirrus SR-22 for $250 wet http://www.sterling-flight.com/services/rentals/ (not bad for Cirrus).
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From Danville? Maybe Concord, but Livermore isn't very far either. There is a back road almost direct.

Three passengers in a 172 isn't happening unless you're the Lollipop Kids. 850 lb useful load, with 240 of that fuel.

Reid has two 182s for rent, but they keep the fuel full. Not going to fit. That's almost 500 lb of fuel.
 
John's giving you good advice. Maybe it's just me but the south bay has little of interest. If you launch out of Oakland you're in the thick of the cool tour immediately. Half Moon Bay is a fabulous lunch stop. Nice short ride along the coast, aircraft parking within a couple hundred feet of several terrific restaurants of all price ranges. Fishermans market. Or swing north and see the wine country. We love it here. Just not so much the taxes and politics.....
Have fun!

ps: ask around for a 210 or Cherokee 6?
 
Goofy said:
John's giving you good advice. Maybe it's just me but the south bay has little of interest. If you launch out of Oakland you're in the thick of the cool tour immediately. Half Moon Bay is a fabulous lunch stop. Nice short ride along the coast, aircraft parking within a couple hundred feet of several terrific restaurants of all price ranges. Fishermans market. Or swing north and see the wine country. We love it here. Just not so much the taxes and politics.....
Have fun!

ps: ask around for a 210 or Cherokee 6?
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There is a 210 at Reid. Gonna cost a pretty penny.
 
Thanks all for the input! I found a 182 with a cfi at Hayward that will take the three of us up and I'll talk with the cfi about doing a loop from Hayward to half moon bay for lunch and then north to the city and finally back to Hayward.

I doubt we would do the vineyards since I don't figure they'd look all that spectacular from the air. And I'm going to seriously consider hand flying it myself and let the cfi handle the radio.
 
Monpilot said:
Thanks all for the input! I found a 182 with a cfi at Hayward that will take the three of us up and I'll talk with the cfi about doing a loop from Hayward to half moon bay for lunch and then north to the city and finally back to Hayward.

I doubt we would do the vineyards since I don't figure they'd look all that spectacular from the air. And I'm going to seriously consider hand flying it myself and let the cfi handle the radio.
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Definitely log the stick time. Half Moon is a great place to kill an afternoon.
 
Monpilot said:
Thanks all for the input! I found a 182 with a cfi at Hayward that will take the three of us up and I'll talk with the cfi about doing a loop from Hayward to half moon bay for lunch and then north to the city and finally back to Hayward.

I doubt we would do the vineyards since I don't figure they'd look all that spectacular from the air. And I'm going to seriously consider hand flying it myself and let the cfi handle the radio.
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Hayward is a good choice of airport. Great location for touring the Bay. I may even know the CFI. Sounds like a good trip. Hope all goes well for you. Welcome to the Bay Area!
 
I'd take a look at the seaplane tours based near sfo. That would be cool.
Unless it is a "training flight" you would be limited to 25 miles from the airport and can't land at half moon bay. Getting checked out in concord or Livermore for a 172 and asking to not fuel the tanks before you fly might be a good idea.
 
A seaplane tour would definitely be loads of fun but likely more cost than what I already have planned. But I'll look into it for sure just to verify.

And I'll be taking my log book and gain an hour or two of high performance time on a cross country training flight. :)
 
Half Moon Bay might be socked in in July. It has pretty good (RNAV) instrument approaches though.
 
Palmpilot said:
Half Moon Bay might be socked in in July. It has pretty good (RNAV) instrument approaches though.
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True, pretty hit or miss in the summer. You might want an alternate for lunch, like Little River (LLR, but you need to get ride into town - I am not sure if Rex still has his shuttle service). It is hard to beat Half Moon if it is clear, though.
 
ircphoenix said:
Went through that for Monterey last year. If the marine layer wasn't here, it was there.
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MRY's got nothing on HAF. It can be clear and a million over the whole state, with HAF socked in.

But those approaches are nice for getting some actual.
 
MAKG1 said:
MRY's got nothing on HAF. It can be clear and a million over the whole state, with HAF socked in.

But those approaches are nice for getting some actual.
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Yeah... I need to get back up there. We were a bit rushed when we were there. Had to beat the layer out of there. Need my instrument rating, dammit.
 
This outfit operates out of Sausalito, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. I watch their Beaver take off and land from my deck. It's a beautiful bird and it would be an excellent experience.

http://www.seaplane.com/
 
colojo said:
This outfit operates out of Sausalito, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. I watch their Beaver take off and land from my deck. It's a beautiful bird and it would be an excellent experience.

http://www.seaplane.com/
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My dad's first hour of flight instruction was there in the 50's.
 
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