The FAA’s From the Flight Deck video series uses cockpit-mounted cameras to capture runway and taxiway footage and combines them with diagrams and visual graphics to clearly identify hot spots and other safety-sensitive items.
Reid-Hillview (RHV) of Santa Clara County, is a small, primarily general aviation airport located on the southeast side of the city of San Jose, California.
It is less than 5 miles southeast of the larger Norman Y Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), with a similar runway configuration.
These two airports are so close that they are often mistaken for one another, even with the considerable difference in size.
Reid-Hillview has its own Class Delta airspace that is adjacent to and underneath the Class Charlie airspace at San Jose. Two large freeways depicted on the Terminal Area Chart define this boundary.
On the rare occasion that RHV is landing on runway 13 left and right, pilots need to be aware of the close proximity of the SJC Class Charlie airspace, and expect specific pattern entry instructions – especially when inbound from the south. A complete understanding of the requirements to operate in these different types of airspace is essential in avoiding inadvertent airspace violations.
