Alameda Aero Club

Congratulations Nik Kostic on your first solo early yesterday morning at Byron. Plan ‘A’ was Oakland, but with shallow fog and low visibility it was either go home or go IFR and head east. Icing on the cake (not the wings) was Nik flying a stable ILS to get us home. Like a pro! #alamedaaeroclub Terence Wilson CFII

On January 9th, after three successful landings on 28R and a nice compliment from the Tower Controller working his flight, Mauro Poggio achieved one of his lifelong dreams of flying an airplane by himself. Congratulations on your 1st solo, Mauro! CFI’s - Jeff Wright and Brandon Aaseby

Santa brought Victor Levasseur a solo endorsement and Christmas solo he did! Landings on RWY 10L & 15 (thank you Oakland Tower). CFIs Jeff Wright & Terence Wilson

Thurs, Dec 3rd was a beautiful late fall afternoon and KOAK tower allowed touch&goes and Daniel Novak decided he could do this flying thing on his own. After dropping his instructor at Signature, three take offs and landings were executed flawlessly and the first pilot in command entry was proudly entered in the logbook. Congratulations Daniel! Ronald Put (CFII)

Finally, some good news to come out of 2020! After impressing DPE Rick Savage with his short field landings in KEDU, Stefan Landau is Alameda Aero Club’s newest Private Pilot. Congratulations, Stefan!! A huge accomplishment and well deserved. Brandon Aaseby, CFII

Mihir Paradkar aced his instrument checkride on Nov 10 with DPE Ashley Snider in Lincoln. 2020 started cloudy for Mihir after his badge, logbook, and passport were stolen. But through masks, smoke, and heat, he went for his instrument rating anyway. He showed rare ability in the simulator phase, then nailed a perfect ILS 28R in IMC on his first training flight after! As a musician, we knew he was checkride-ready when he started humming in between scanning, briefing, and centering the needles. And now he can fly through the clouds all alone! Congratulations Mihir! Clarence Binninger CFII, with help from Derek Goheen

So proud of this lad. 17 year old Max Hergel passed the private pilot checkride this afternoon. In the picture left to right, examiner Rich Conte, Max, yours truly. Masks off just for the pic. Terence Wilson and Adam Webster, CFIs

She’s SO good looking.

Our baby is back and look at that shine!!! N8312H is back after a stint in paint rehab in Douglas Arizona.

"After grudgingly admitting defeat arguing about Bernoulli's Law with physics PhD Roland Koch, examiner Richard Conte got him back by nitpicking on the power-off 180s. One week of practicing later, that hurdle fell and the club now has yet another CFI". Christian Goetze, CFII

Congratulations Heidi Judge on your First Solo in early January! This very late announcement is due to the COVID related symptom: what day is it? Tim Greer, CFII

Congratulations Ella Wang on your First Solo! Having practiced t&g’s and air work at many airports and location in the area in search of clear air (and sometimes in vain). Conditions were finally good enough for Ella to kick me out, exercise her pilot in command privileges and fly the customary two t&g’s and full stop landing at KOAK last Sunday. Congratulations Ella!... Ronald Put, CFII

Congratulations Ted Waddelow on PASSING your instrument checkride! Ted was ready for his IFR check ride in May when Covid-19 hit and the checkride delayed. Ted was (again) ready for his checkride in July when all our aircraft went down for maintenance and the checkride was delayed.... Upon trying to reschedule the DPE lost confidence or something and suggested to go elsewhere. Ted was (again) ready for his checkride (with a new DPE) in September when widespread smoke/IFR conditions hit and the checkride was delayed. Needless to say it was a big relief that Ted’s IFR checkride (finally) took place last Saturday with resounding results. According to Scott Rohlfing Ted did very well. Please join me in congratulating Ted on his achievement. Now onwards and upwards to Commercial! Ronald Put, CFII PS: Note that I (fittingly?) announced Ted’s accomplishment late.

Cullen Wong achieved a well-deserved instrument rating with DPE Ashley Snider in Lincoln today. Cullen has been an ideal learner throughout this process, starting with his large investment of time and effort in demanding simulator training. His can-do attitude throughout, overcame the additional challenges of smoke, heat, and masks. DPE spotted these traits encouraging him to press on to CFII. Onwards to Commercial and CFI! Clarence Binninger CFII, with help from Derek Goheen and B.J. Shockley

A beautiful day to fly along the coast from WVI to OAK.

24 hours on the AAC Ramp.

Congratulations Dan Getelman on your first solo! Dan showed me 6 nice landings, kicked me out at Signature and put down 3 checkride worthy landings. B.J. Shockley, CFII

Thanks to intrepid AAC members Brandon Aaseby and Fernando Lores, N8312H made it safely to the paint shop at Douglas Arizona on Saturday last. Braving fires, smoke and a night IFR departure, they flew the 8 hours to KDUG with only a brief stop at Apple Valley. They then took a 3 hour drive to KPHX and made it back home on SWA. Many thanks to our volunteers!

Between smoke layers somewhere above the Sacramento Valley