On Fri, 08 Jun 2007 18:27:26 -0000, buttman wrote:

On Jun 7, 7:08 pm, Bob Fry wrote:
"bm" == buttman writes:

bm Yeah, I'm thinking it'd be better to go to Oakland
bm instead. Can I expect to get cleared into the bravo, or will
bm they make me maneuver around it? I don't think it'd be very
bm fun to have to duck around all that complicated airspace,
bm especially at night.

Simply contact NorCal approach with your destination and follow their
instructions. They will clear you for whatever airspace you need to
enter. Be prepared with the SF-TAC so you can double-check
frequencies on handoffs and have some idea of the airspace involved.
--
No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.
Groucho Marx

The reason I ask, is because a few years ago I went to Burke Lakeside,
and on the way there they cleared me through the Cleveland Bravo, but
on the way back they told me to "remain clear of the class bravo", and
it didn't even seem busy. To avoid the airspace, it was trivial since
the Cleveland area class B is pretty straight forward, but the San
Francisco class bravo is anything but straight forward (especially in
a /U possibly without a working nav radio)

That was my one and only brush with class B. I don't know if something
like that is standard practice or not. I just want to know what I'm
getting into before I make the decision to go there.

If ATC won't clear you through the Bravo, it is not trivial. Coming
from the south and up the peninsula, you have to transit SJC's
Charlie, staying west of the landing airliners and not flying into
that 4000' AGL tower and navigating with respect to the Pruneyard
shopping center, then transit the contiguous Deltas of NUQ, PAO, and
SQL, after which you'll run into the Bravo, where you can probably get
a Bayshore Transition, requiring you to identify and remain west of
101, or, if you report over the OSI vortac, you might get a transition
up the backbone of the peninsula and past Montara mountain. You can go
up the coastline, but this time of year you'll be over solid undercast
and by Devil's Slide, you need to be either a ways offshore in order
to maintain 2500' or lower, or you'' encounter the little segment
where the floor of the Bravo goes down to 1300'.

You can avoid the Bravo on the east side by staying east, first of 101
and then east of 580, passing through or above the RHV delta, with
4000' Mt Hamilton and some tall towers on lesser mountains on your
right. Past Sunol Pass you've got the HWD Delta and the OAK Charlie,
with heavies landing on the long runway there.

Coming from the North is simpler. Until you get to all that mess. Or
unless it's winter and there's tule fog. in the valley.

What I'm suggesting with that trivia recitation is that you shouldn't
try to run that gantlet VFR at night, the very first time you come
here. IFR is duck soup. VFR is better after you've acquired some
local knowledge with an instructor.

If needs must, go to Oakland. Or Hayward. With Livermore as your
alternate if OAK is socked in.

Don