Pilot Departure Operations:
The tower airport departure is a multi step procedure. First you get the ATIS and talk to clearance delivery if radar is involved. This will involve a transponder squawk, departure route, approach frequency and a read back. Plan your call-up to ground just as you would to tower. If you are uncertain or become uncertain don't hesitate to advise ATC and get assistance as you taxi. ATC can see the airport much better from the tower than you can from the ground. On completion of your runup you will contact the local control (tower).

You have looked in the direction you expect to depart before getting into the aircraft. On getting the ATIS you have planned your runway request for the most efficient departure. If you do not get the most efficient departure runway then you must plan your flight departure to establish the easiest interception of the planned route. All too few pilots request the 270 departure that crosses them over the airport on a course that corresponds to the line drew on the sectional. Why begin a flight two miles off course if you don't need to? To help ATC you have named a specific destination rather than a general direction or departure. This provides safer traffic avoidance. A good departure call would be:
"Podunk tower Cessna 1234X student pilot ready (runway number)(right 270 on course Xandu) (have any reported traffic)"

ATC is required to 'point out' any known traffic that may affect your arrival or departure. You should acknowledge that you are looking and when seen you are expected to report 'traffic in sight'. Any time you report having reported traffic you make a friend of ATC since you then assume traffic avoidance responsibility. If after thirty seconds or so you have no visual contact be sure to advise ATC.

Travis Airspace (Travis Approach)
Travis Approach facility has given two seminars in the last two weeks about the operations, hazards, limitations, use and misuse of its services as offered to General Aviation.

Using a San Francisco Sectional, the Travis radar area is uncharted on the but extends along a line extending northward from four nautical miles west of SABLO intersection through the middle of Lake Berryessa. This is a line that parallels V-195 but four nautical miles to the west. It starts near where V-195 intersects the northern line of the S.F. Class B and extends to the compass rose of the Williams VOR. The northern top extends below the Williams VOR compass rose at right angle across I-5 to intersect a line extending from COUPS intersection on V-6 south of Sacramento Executive northwestward though Davis and Woodland From COUPS the area zigs and zags down to OAKEY intersection on V-108 and covers an area parallel to but four south of V-108 over to reach V-195. A dip in the line extends in a two mile arc below CCR.

The area southeast of Travis radar area is controlled by Stockton Approach. To the south lies Bay Approach, To the west and north Oakland Center reigns. The eastern side borders on Sacramento Approach. Travis radar where not affected by terrain interference controls from the surface to 10,000.

Inside of the radar area is the Alert Area that is charted as Alert Area A-682. Travis has several different patterns for its dual runways. There are IFR, VFR, Radar, and Overhead approaches. Altitudes vary from 2000 to 4000 and very often extend beyond the published A-682 boundaries. This is a radar vector approach that goes directly over Rio Vista at 2000 at all hours. There are MARSA departures in which KC-10s depart at one minute intervals to fly a formation flight at staggered 1000 foot altitudes. Such a departure at speeds up to 250 knots does not give civil aircraft much safe space to operate. Avoid a flight path that conflicts with a MARSA formation.

Military aircraft use a climb to avoid collision. Since any flight below a heavy military aircraft will have wake turbulence below of sufficient power to disintegrate a G.A. plane, it would seem that a turn to avoid under-flying would be the advisable avoidance procedure.

Travis has two basic frequencies, 126.6 to the North and 119.9 to the South. During low traffic periods only 119.9 will be used for the whole area. Military flights that overfly Rio Vista will make their presence known on 122.8. I would suggest users of Rio Vista to use alternative arrival procedures that preclude the use of 2000'.

Bay Area Weather
Climatic diversity is shown by the variety of microclimates that vary in the sunshine and fog of their existence. Unusual microclimates can overwhelm the entire area and occasionally bring extremes of hot and cold. During the late summer, however, there is a regular cycle of weather changes that perform like clockwork. A four day cycle of a warm Bay Area to a very warmer hot Central Valley weather is followed by four days of ever more intrusive fog layers and winds.

These microclimate changes occur just about a regularly as clockwork during July and August. The other months of spring and fall vary a bit more but experienced weather watchers soon learn to 'read' the weather. All of the communities of the Bay Area have variable weather patterns one from another. This is because of the geographical configuration of the mountains and water areas. The Golden Gate along with the Carquinez Strait form the only water level wind passage into the California Central Valley. Fortunately there are several other passes through the mountains that reduce the major flow through the Gate. Were it not for these passes the Gate winds would be more constant and violent. The variations of these winds along with the placement of inland heat draws in the avection fog from the ocean. As we move eastward, every successive valley decreases in its ability to retain its morning fog cover.

The Golden Gate 'streamline' will pile its fog brought in from the Pacific and build it up against the Berkeley hills where it spreads out toward the South Bay and creeps around through the Carquinez Strait. The four-day cycle previously mentioned does its first day with the fog to reach and perhaps cover San Francisco. The second day does the Berkeley hills, the third day reaches to and perhaps beyond Mt. Diablo. The fourth day gets over into the Central Valley and begins a cooling trend. The next four days consists of a gradual retreat back to the ocean.

Any pilot who flies every day can, by getting above the fog level for eight consecutive days see this magic as it occurs. Some valleys are more persistent fog pockets if they are surrounded by ridges such as the area around Moraga where I live.

BRITE
Concord, Napa and some other airports in the Bay Area now have BRIGHT radar displays in the tower.  The antenna for this radar display is on top of Mt Tamalpais.  This is over 25 miles from some of the towers so there are restrictions on the amount of radar service available.

Transponder codes may not be available.  Separation is not given because of the signal spread not being fine enough to get separation.  Concord tower can pick up aircraft who identify their position accurately and announce the aircraft as "In sight" when appropriate.
There are some minor changes in required Class D communications.

300# Gorilla Flying IFR
---Knowledge of military flights is something you need to know about
---UHF is military, VHF is civil and one doesn't always hear the other
---ATC talking to military will be like your hearing one side of a phone conversation
---Situation is similar when ATC controller is using both local and ground radio
---To find military traffic ask ATC
---UHF emergency is 243.) MHz and is called GUARD
---VHF emergency is 121.5 KHs and is called GUARD
---9/11 orders require all aircraft monitor GUARD
---If you violate a TFR you will be commanded to, "Come up on GUARD" can kill you
---An IFR flight of USAF aircraft is a MARASA in which only one of several will have an active x-ponder
---Finding one military aircraft is not enough during MARSA operations
---Recommendation is always use your transponder with Mode C
---ATC will give military operations preference over civil operations
---Military operations at night use night vision devices with minimum night aircraft lights or none at all
---Night vision can cause an aircraft to fly into IMC without knowing it.
---The TACAN part of the VOR system gives the military one button DME and Nav capability

Continued on Basic Radio Procedure

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