From Portland to San Francisco in a C172 (PART II)

2nd leg: Redding, CA - Palo Alto, CA (IFR)

With full tanks of food in our stomachs, we head back to the airplane. The day is warm and beautiful in Redding. The temperature must be around 80 degrees. Its now about 3 PM and the next leg will be flown under IFR to make our arrival into the San Francisco terminal area a little easier. IFR, in simple terms, means that we will have to follow an exact course over the ground to our destination, and we’ll be in contact with an air traffic controller who will be able to tell us where to go and how to get there. This type of flight requires a more thorough planning and review of charts, etc. We did our planning and preflight sitting at a table outside while we enjoyed the nice – dry California breeze. After getting everything ready we started taxing towards the runway to “blast-off” and leave Redding behind us. The trip was beautiful. I had never flown around this area, and it was refreshing to be over some new terrain for once. Right at sunset we started receiving vectors from NorCal approach, preparing us to intercept the VOR/DME RWY 31 approach, with the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset as a background. We touched down smoothly and taxied out to the ramp where Nate’s Aunt was waiting for us. We spend the night at Nate’s Aunt’s house and the following morning we woke up early to go for a little tour of San Francisco.