Flight 11, N14008, 1.3 hours (15.6 total). emergency landing procedure. light drizzle

It had rained non-stop for a week and my Monday flight got cancelled. Going into the weekend it still didn't look good. I fell asleep last night listening to rain drop on the roof, and praying for a clear morning. Well it didn't quite clear up but when I checked weather in the morning the ceiling was at 4500 feet at PAO, and visibility was surprisingly good, so it was still VFR and I could fly. I was worried that it might get bumpy with the rainy weather, but after being grounded for a week (and looking at possibility another week of rain), I was willing to brave it.

Wind was right down runway 13 and constant. Taking off on the wet runway didn't feel much different than any usual take off. In fact it was one of my better take offs. We did a "left Leslie Salt" departure. PAO tower uses all these local landmarks to designate the departure routes, like left/right Dumbarton departure. Leslie Salt is two big piles of salt across the bay from PAO, quite easy to spot from the air. A Leslie Salt departure is just a crosswind departure towards Leslie Salt.

The cloud was at about 3000 feet over Sunol Pass, so we stayed at 2500 and went for San Antonia Reservoir. Mark asked me to pull the power all the way back over the Reservoir, pitch for best glide speed, then find an emergency landing spot. We were not that high above the ground and the area was hilly. I picked a smooth slope but by the time I got the pitch right for best glide speed there wasn't much altitude left. We went full power and climbed up to 4500 to try again. This time we were over Livermore. BTW the hill tops were all covered with snow, even some of the lower hills. It's certainly been cold lately. The terrain was nice and flat here, and the extra altitude gave me plenty of time to get the pitch right, and select a good landing field. By the time I established everything I was still so high up I had to do a full 360 circle to lose more altitude. Gliding with an idle engine felt surreal, and a bit eerie. It was so quiet (with my noise cancelling headsets), it felt like i was flying with my own wings. Someday I'll have to try a sailplane. On the other hand, gliding to the ground with an idle engine is a bit scary. What if the engine didn't rev back up when I needed it to? After I turned final Marked asked me to put power back in and climb up to 3000, and the engine cooperated nicely :)

On our way back to PAO the rain came back. Flying in the rain is not that different actually, just with reduced visibility. I called in to PAO tower over Leslie Salt, and got cleared for the option. But I had trouble locating the runway. I didn't figure out where it was until over half way over the bay. I came in a bit high but adjusted for the landing. A bit less flaring than ideal but still not a bad landing, and in a light drizzle, none the less :) One thing I need to improve on my landing is the airspeed. I came in a bit slow today. I usually don't have enough attention to spare on the instruments when landing. As I get more comfortable with it I will be able to check my airspeed even close to ground.

Saw flocks of birds today when flying over Sunol Pass, hundreds of feet below my feet :) That's what flying is about :)