You don’t have to fly there; but it beats that steep ass winding road to get there.

Those animations for the airspace are incredible! Great way to visualize it

I will be heading to this airport in the fall, my favorite video of landing here. Nice job!

Density altitude is no joke. I respect your cautious approach to the takeoff procedure. As the old adage goes, two things that don’t do pilots any good are fuel on the ground and runway behind them. I would fly with you any day.

Awesomes stuff

Beautiful video, lovely views, makes me want to learn to fly but I tried a couple of decades ago but didn't truly like the sensation. Far more enjoyable watching videos like yours :) Thank you!

Taken at one of the few times in the year that those east bay hills are all super green! What elevation were you at? Looks pretty low throughout except for that last leg of santa cruz -> reed hillview

This is awesome. I'm definitely going to plan a trip to do this.

I have a question for you 1:52 , you show the Bravo airspace in 3D on google earth. How were you able to do that? I teach the PPL ground class at UC Berkeley and If you can show me this please that would be great. I’m teaching airspace next week and this will help a lot for the students to visualize:

I would be terrified. your wife is brave! this is a great video!

Great job on the video as usual, looks like you had a great time in Napa. Hopefully, your wife's fear of flying will disappear over time.

Sure, Michael did this well, but his wife did the harder work! ;-)

Nice job to make it an enjoyable flight as much as possible. I liked the narration by the both of you.

Loving your content!

My wife was pretty nervous at first with my new hobby. Years later she’s a seasoned traveler and she even prefers traveling in our Cardinal to driving. At first I tried doing as you did…showing how calm I was and not reacting to the bumps I knew were coming as we neared terrain (we live on the Central Coast of Cali and experience similar weather around the coastal mountains). Anyway the calm collected thing wasn’t working so I started giving her warnings….”Hey hon, we’re gonna be descending over the mountains and it’ll probably be a little bumpy on the way in…..nothing to worry about….I got this.” Knowing it was coming allowed her to mentally prepare and not be surprised…which I think is what scarred her the most. The other thing she started doing was riding in the back. I put the copilot seat all the way forward and she sits on that side in the back. She can stretch out more, isn’t worried about touching the controls (which bothers her a lot). She reads a book, fools around on her phone or tablet, takes pictures or takes a nap!!!! That last one is how I knew she was relaxed…..sometimes I have to gently reach in the back and move the mic away from her face….she tends to “breath heavily” at times and it’s pretty funny having that come across the intercom. She also acts as the flight attendant, manning the cooler we put back there for longer flights, and handing me a drink or snack. She’s also gotten pretty adept and helping me look for traffic….something else I started doing…..giving her things to do (like handing me stuff and looking for traffic) helped a lot too. Sorry this was long but take heart, my wife was dubious and reluctant at first too. Now it’s her preferred mode of travel….she calls it our Time Machine. Best wishes.

Very interesting how many of our wives don't like the bumps. Add mine to the list as well. Michael you did an awesome job of taking this into consideration on the flight. When flying with passengers, they always come first. Excellent job!

I hated turbulence when I started flying. I knew I would get over it since I had similar feelings when I started rally racing back in my early 20s. I found two things helped, one was training and understanding when turbulence is likely and why, and just exposure in general to the sensation of turbulence.

Good job! Nice narration! The only thing I can suggest is to fly more with your wife! It’s hard find calm days!

LOVE this! My wife is not fond of flying either. Michael I've said it to you before and let me say it again, thank you so much for bringing me back to the roots of my flying, I mention to you that I'm in Hawaii now and I miss my home airport in Monterey and watching your videos brings back all of the memories literally over 30 years ago. I also want to add the fact that your graphics that you include in your videos are phenomenal you're a great teacher! Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing this video and also thank your wife for all of us...

Very well done. Your skills obviously go way beyond your flying ability; you're very conscious of your passenger(s) and seem like a very calm pilot. 😉 This is a great video for anyone flying with the spouse and/or loved one, especially right seat. I am fortunate my wife is more of a crew member than a passenger. She can't wait for the next flight and knows "the bumps" are part of it all. I'd recommend to any pilot's spouse flying right seat the "Flying Companion Manual" from PilotWorkshops.com. It's available as a benefit for AOPA members or on the Pilotworkshops.com site. This is not an endorsement, just a recommendation as it was great for my wife.

My wife is a nervous flyer as well. You just do the best you can to make them comfortable. Early morning flights, no abrupt movements of the controls, and the reassuring comments. Our biggest issue is that we have a vacation home in the Palm Springs area and the turbulence can be a pretty big issue!

You both handled it very well : ) Great trip!

Appearance wise, looks a little bulky, what were your reactions to that?

Cool device! Do you have a oximeter on your watch? It works pretty well for me but doesn't give you an alert as well.

Get 20% off on your Vibeat OxyRing by following this link and use code SKYBOUND: bit.ly/3XQrF93

Hi Michael, das ist ja großartig. Da werden ja viele Erinnerungen wach. Es ist erstaunlich wir klein die Insel Alcatraz wirkt. Ein klasse Video. Ganz herzlichen Dank.

I’ve eaten there! Great BLT!

I had to drive over that richmond bridge for a while daily. Not my most fond memories of California. Looks cool from the air though.

Flown to Shelter Cove many times. The marine layer, bringing IFR conditions may surprise and inconvenience those who are not rated. No weather reporting and no radio communication with ATC from the ground.

Very cool! Would love to do this one day!

Fantastic video! Love the bay tour! 🙌

Awesome Video Michael, great views.

Good ADM. People underestimate how stressful a situation like this can be. Traffic, weather, unfamiliar airport. Nice work.

Michael, GREAT JOB on this flight!!! I believe this will inspire more GA pilots to explore…

To every "local pilot" at a CTAF airport. Please make proper pattern calls! That means distance, altitude, compass direction, and intentions. "Angels Camp" or "Fairgrounds" as a "stand alone transmission" is worthless to visiting aviators. I don't know your landmarks sir! "Calaveras Traffic Cessna 1234 Nine to the southwest at 2,500 over the lake inbound for 31" makes sense. Yes, I know it takes up more air traffic radio time, but accuracy and completeness are more valuable than speed. If it's so crowded in the pattern, you can't make a call or enter safely loiter out there, take a few moments, and try again.

Thanks. I know it's a lot of work to produce these videos, so it's really appreciated. I always pick up a small tidbit of knowledge every time I watch! The ATC is much appreciated as well. :-)

Thanks. I need to do again!

Looks VFR to me...

Bloddy click bait

Wtf where is the moon?

Personally I would have been able to shoot an approach into Napa however if I was just a VFR Pilot I would have done same or possibly diverted to another airport until weather cleared depending on forecasts

beautiful flight!

This is my part of the world, Looks like you got one of the clearer days recently.

Aloha Michael, you nailed this fight for me! I told you in another post actually my first post to you that I got my license in Monterey, well the truth is I got my private between Monterey and Air Trails in SNS... Then I took a job sometime later to manage the Pinnacles Camp Ground where we had private strip so I bought an ultralight that I would fly back and forth to Hollister. I go back to the day when Marina airport was flashing "white white green"... If that reference doesn't mean anything to you ask an old timer at your airport about Frichie 😂... you my friend are taking me down memory lane... THANK YOU!

Aloha Michael, I'm enjoying your videos! I earned my private pilot's license back in 1989 and my wife and I moved to the big island of Hawaii a few years ago and I just took up flying again here on the big island almost 30 years later and I'm currently studying for my instrument, commercial and CFI/CFII. I received my private in Monterey California where I lived for over 40 years so all of the flying you're doing in your videos is very familiar to me and it just brings me back to Aviation when I first started so I just want to say thank you very much keep it up!

I saw my plane parked on the ramp at Reid lol

Awesome bay tour, it's always an adventure. During the early covid shutdown days, they were even accommodating touch and go's at SFO for GA, and a bunch of low passes right over the airport, made for some incredible photos.

Love this! I just came back from a bay tour! I fly out of Hayward… lol I’m instruments rated so no problem lol ! What air do you fly out of,KRHV?

Good call to divert to Sonoma Valley. Like your presentation and videos.

I did this once, the whole of the UK was fogged in, towers, pylons and church spires poked out of the low cloud layer - it was deceptive.