Flying the San Francisco Bay Tour
Note: This page is to be used for familiarization purposes only. Flying in the San Francisco Bay Area
is the same as flying anywhere else: You must comply with ATC instructions and FAA regulations at all
times. Be sure to check current NOTAMS before flight, and be especially careful to stay clear of any
TFRs. Flying the Bay Tour is
a privilage that we would all like to keep.
Useful links for Bay Area weather:
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NRL San Francisco Monterey Satellite Photos - Great for checking the status of the marine layer fog.
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Exploratorium Live Roof Cam - Live camera which you can control.
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LHS Bay View - A view of the Bay from the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley.
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Mt. Hamilton Lick Observatory Camera - Sometimes points to South Bay Area
Other Bay Area Aviation Links:
So what exactly is the Bay Tour?
Officially, there is really no such thing as far as the FAA is concerned, but between
local pilots and controllers it can be used to convey your general intent to fly a
tour around the various sights of the Bay Area. What your typical Bay Tour
is depends on where you want to go, and what airport you're flying out of.
In the most general sense, telling ATC you want the "Bay Tour" is telling them that
you want VFR flight following while you fly around the Bay Area... but it's not quite
as simple as that. There are places you'll be able to go, and there are places you
just can't go because of commercial traffic patterns. First off, anywhere outside of the
class B/C airspace is, of course, fair game and you don't even need to have flight following
although this is HIGHLY RECCOMENDED due to the large amount of air traffic.
Class B transitions up or down the peninsula are normally granted with an assigned altitude
of 3500' (although yours may vary) and always with the instructions to remain South and West
of the Bayshore Freeway (Highway 101). This keeps you out of the way of the approach path to
SFO. If you're transitioning Northbound, you'll most likely be allowed to drop down to a lower
altitude and resume your own navigation after you get past SFO, but if SFO is busy they may
vector you West and instruct you to fly the coastline up to the Golden Gate. As soon as you
get out under the Class B they'll normally tell you to resume your own navigation.
If you're taking a class B transition to the south, you'll eventually end up near SJC.
The controllers are going to want you on either one side or the other of the airport and
like SFO they don't like you buzzing around in the approach path. There's pretty much
only one path that the controllers will let you take across the extended centerline from
SJC, and that is a midfield transition from as low as 1500' (with SJC tower) or up above 2500'
(with Sierra Approach). When they say midfield, they're not kidding. They want you to
pass directly over the tower. If you pass too far over the approach or departure ends of
the runway they don't like it, and it's unsafe.
As far as maneuvering along the East Bay, there are two general paths that I've taken both
North and South. The lower-altitude path is generally flown along the Nimitz Freeway (aka 880)
and will have you passing very close by OAK. Depending on traffic at the time, you may
get this path if requested but if they are too busy they'll vector you along the foothills
(which is the other general path I've flown).
Heading towards the center of the bay from either direction, once you're more or less
past the centerline of the Bay Bridge you'll most likely have free reign and be able to
fly just about anywhere you want. Make sure to take building height into account when you're
choosing an altitude, and don't continually circle around or fly directly at points of
interest (yes, I know this is difficult with so much to see).
More to come...
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