Flying clubs in Oakland or Concord?

[[email protected]]

I just moved up to Berkeley, CA to attend grad school. Before that, I
lived in Silicon Valley and flew out of Palo Alto. I've been flying
with a club there, Sundance, since '99 or so and I've been pretty
happy.

But the drive to KPAO from Berkeley is a bit long. I'm looking to see
if anybody has recommendations for clubs at KOAK or KCCR.

About me: I'm an instrument-rated private pilot, with about 300 hours.
I was working on my commercial rating when I moved. I've got about 15
hours complex time, all of that in a 172RG. For fooling around, I'll
take a 172 or an Archer, and for "trying to get somehwere" I usually
opt for a C182.

I'm looking for a club with a variety of aircraft, low rates, good
maintenance, decent enough avionics to make IFR practical, and
connections w/ good instructors so I might finish my commercial. (which
is admittedly on the back-burner with school on).

Any advice?

-- dave
jacobowitz73 --at-- yahoo --dot-- com

[Hamish Reid]

In article . com>,
wrote:

> I just moved up to Berkeley, CA to attend grad school. Before that, I
> lived in Silicon Valley and flew out of Palo Alto. I've been flying
> with a club there, Sundance, since '99 or so and I've been pretty
> happy.
>
> But the drive to KPAO from Berkeley is a bit long. I'm looking to see
> if anybody has recommendations for clubs at KOAK or KCCR.
>
> About me: I'm an instrument-rated private pilot, with about 300 hours.
> I was working on my commercial rating when I moved. I've got about 15
> hours complex time, all of that in a 172RG. For fooling around, I'll
> take a 172 or an Archer, and for "trying to get somehwere" I usually
> opt for a C182.
>
> I'm looking for a club with a variety of aircraft, low rates, good
> maintenance, decent enough avionics to make IFR practical, and
> connections w/ good instructors so I might finish my commercial. (which
> is admittedly on the back-burner with school on).
>
> Any advice?

It's not a club per se, and it's at Hayward (KHWD) rather than Oakland,
but I now use California Airways, <http://www.california-airways.com/>.
It's been a pleasant experience -- the prices are reasonable (for the
Bay Area), the planes well-maintained, there's a reasonable variety of
planes available, and the people seem pretty good. I'm in a similar
sort of situation as you -- instrument rated and starting
to do the commercial (or starting to think about doing it :-) ) -- and
it's worked out well so far.

Hamish -- California Flying --
<http://www.ylayali.com/yafb/blog.html>

[[email protected]]

Thanks, for the response, I'll check it out. Otherwise, the response to
this post has been sadly minimal. The rates at CA Airways seem okay,
though. One reason I prefer a club is insurance. Club policies usually
name the members, and so you can't be subrogated against. At an FBO
I'll need a policy of my own.

-- dave j

Hamish Reid wrote:
> In article . com>,
> wrote:
>
> > I just moved up to Berkeley, CA to attend grad school. Before that, I
> > lived in Silicon Valley and flew out of Palo Alto. I've been flying
> > with a club there, Sundance, since '99 or so and I've been pretty
> > happy.
> >
> > But the drive to KPAO from Berkeley is a bit long. I'm looking to see
> > if anybody has recommendations for clubs at KOAK or KCCR.
> >
> > About me: I'm an instrument-rated private pilot, with about 300 hours.
> > I was working on my commercial rating when I moved. I've got about 15
> > hours complex time, all of that in a 172RG. For fooling around, I'll
> > take a 172 or an Archer, and for "trying to get somehwere" I usually
> > opt for a C182.
> >
> > I'm looking for a club with a variety of aircraft, low rates, good
> > maintenance, decent enough avionics to make IFR practical, and
> > connections w/ good instructors so I might finish my commercial. (which
> > is admittedly on the back-burner with school on).
> >
> > Any advice?
>
> It's not a club per se, and it's at Hayward (KHWD) rather than Oakland,
> but I now use California Airways, <http://www.california-airways.com/>.
> It's been a pleasant experience -- the prices are reasonable (for the
> Bay Area), the planes well-maintained, there's a reasonable variety of
> planes available, and the people seem pretty good. I'm in a similar
> sort of situation as you -- instrument rated and starting
> to do the commercial (or starting to think about doing it :-) ) -- and
> it's worked out well so far.
>
> Hamish -- California Flying --
> <http://www.ylayali.com/yafb/blog.html>

[Jonathan Sorger]

Not a club, but to finish your commercial, I can highly recommend
Pacific States Aviation, based at CCR.
I was living in Claremont and it was 30 minutes door to door.

Did my private there with their chief pilot, Doug Draper, who I highly
recommend. Bob Bretz is good as well.

925-685-4400

Jonathan

In . com> jacobowitz73@
yahoo.com wrote:
>
> Thanks, for the response, I'll check it out. Otherwise, the response
> to this post has been sadly minimal. The rates at CA Airways seem okay,
> though. One reason I prefer a club is insurance. Club policies usually
> name the members, and so you can't be subrogated against. At an FBO
> I'll need a policy of my own.
>
> -- dave j
>
> Hamish Reid wrote:
>> In article . com>,
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I just moved up to Berkeley, CA to attend grad school. Before that,
>> > I lived in Silicon Valley and flew out of Palo Alto. I've been
>> > flying with a club there, Sundance, since '99 or so and I've been
>> > pretty happy.
>> >
>> > But the drive to KPAO from Berkeley is a bit long. I'm looking to
>> > see if anybody has recommendations for clubs at KOAK or KCCR.
>> >
>> > About me: I'm an instrument-rated private pilot, with about 300
>> > hours. I was working on my commercial rating when I moved. I've got
>> > about 15 hours complex time, all of that in a 172RG. For fooling
>> > around, I'll take a 172 or an Archer, and for "trying to get
>> > somehwere" I usually opt for a C182.
>> >
>> > I'm looking for a club with a variety of aircraft, low rates, good
>> > maintenance, decent enough avionics to make IFR practical, and
>> > connections w/ good instructors so I might finish my commercial. (
>> > which is admittedly on the back-burner with school on).
>> >
>> > Any advice?
>>
>> It's not a club per se, and it's at Hayward (KHWD) rather than
>> Oakland, but I now use California Airways, <http://www.california-
>> airways.com/>. It's been a pleasant experience -- the prices are
>> reasonable (for the Bay Area), the planes well-maintained, there's a
>> reasonable variety of planes available, and the people seem pretty
>> good. I'm in a similar sort of situation as you -- instrument rated
>> and starting to do the commercial (or starting to think about doing
>> it :-) ) -- and it's worked out well so far.
>>
>> Hamish -- California Flying --
>> <http://www.ylayali.com/yafb/blog.html>
>
>