Presidents Corner
by Richard Bartlett-May

Dear Fellow Members,

At the June General Meeting the election was held to vote in the Board of Directors for the coming year 2001. The old Board ran unopposed and was elected to run another term and will take seat in September.

I would like to take this time to thank the board members for running another year, and thanks also to Don and Barbara Larson for all of their help with the website and the new Coastal Fliers membership flier.

We have several new members and our little club is growing slowly in numbers. It is the aim of the board to keep our membership healthy, thereby keeping the costs down, but also limit the membership to around 65 as to allow maximum utilization of the aircraft for all. In light of the influx of new members and also to remind the remainder of the membership, the Board felt it was time to review a few of the club rules that are overlooked or violated most often.

1. The club will only take payment by check, money order, etc.; the club will not accept cash.
2. No more than 5 bookings are allowed at any one time on the schedule. No more than two of these five may be weekends.
3. If you take any plane outside of San Diego County there are a few simple rules:
   1. You must notify the club of your destination. This can easily be done online through Schedule Master or by calling the Club's answering machine and leaving a short message.
   2. You must both file a flight plan and open it, or request flight following if this is a VFR cross-country.
   3. When a full day or multiple days are reserved, the minimum flight time for each day is one (1) hour; e.g., if you go to Catalina for a long, holiday 4-day weekend and on your return the Hobbs meter reads 1.9 hours of flight time, be prepared to be billed for 4 hours of flying.
4. If the last number on the Hobbs meter has started to move and you can see even the tiniest portion of the next number (I am talking tiny here, folks), then you must enter the next number as your ending flight time.
5. If your starting Hobbs time disagrees with the ending Hobbs time by the preceding pilot, leave a blank line on the flight card and start you flight information on the next line down.

From The Old Timer
by Harry McCoy

A LOVE OF MY LIFE
Part 2--1945

This was an interesting transition. I went from being a "Seaman, No Good" to an "Officer and a Gentlemen"!!!! An Act of Congress and a flick of a pen!!! The best thing about it was my pay jumped to almost double. With a wife and a baby daughter it was a Godsend.

Our next airplane was our Operational Aircraft. Single fellows got fighters, F6F's, and F4U Corsairs at Miami. Married were assigned to SB2C Helldivers or TBM Avengers Torpedo planes. The theory was that the fighters' chances for survival would be less than the torpedo planes. After I found out how lumbering and slow the TBM was, I wasn't so sure this theory was so logical.

Our TBM training was at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. We took a day of classes in familiarization with the cockpit and then launched the next day. The TBM was a monster for a single-engine airplane. I would normally have a crew of a radioman and a belly-gunner, which we would pick up on completion of training. I could carry a single torpedo that weighed 2200 pounds. It could gross out at 17,000 lbs. It only had 1700 hp but it did the job. Cruising was 165kts. In a torpedo run you would usually get up to about 330 kts. When you dropped your torpedo, the plane would jump almost 50' up.

We immediately started our training by flying out to some islands called the Biminis and firing 50 cal machine guns from the wings. (The Biminis are a group of small islands of the western Bahamas in the Straits of Florida. According to legend, the islands are the site of the Fountain of Youth sought by Juan Ponce de León.) They also had some training rockets. We practiced dummy runs for dropping torpedoes and then did drop three with water in the warhead for balance. We actually dropped these aiming at a ship. The torpedoes were programmed to go 50' under the hull, but the people on the ships weren't that trusting. I didn't blame them; torpedoes had a poor reputation for accuracy. My first 2 torpedoes went fine, and I was credited with 2 direct hits; but the third porpoised and stayed on the surface of the water doing circles. As I went over the ship I saw a lot of uneasy people manning the rails-and, I venture to say, praying! Although the torpedo only had water in the warhead, those 2200 pounds were traveling at about 30 kts! It would have punched a hole in the hull right on the water line. Fortunately, after 2 orbits, it headed south. This is where I realized just how vulnerable we were. If you went over the ship in the middle, you laid your belly wide open for the turret guns. If you went over the bow or the stern you laid your belly wide open for target practice.

We also had navigation training flights. The usual pattern was 150 miles out, 50 miles across, and then 150 back to the ship-and the ship hadn't been sitting still!! He was taking evasive action and we had to try to outguess him with our own navigation. It was interesting. We had a Navigation Board that pulled out from under the instrument panel. If you were right-handed, you had to fly left-handed in order to use the plotting board.

In actual combat situations, many fellows never found the ship on their return. We had a system called IFF (Identification-Friend-or-Foe) (predecessor to our present day transponder) that sent out Morse code letters different for every 15 degrees of 360. By listening, you could figure out where the ship was. However, the Japanese broke the code on the system and the code had to be changed for every flight, so it wasn't too satisfactory.

You may remember the story of the Bermuda Triangle? The 7 planes that went down had been on a Navigation Training flight from Ft. Lauderdale. That happened in December before we got there in January. It was a "Plow Back" Instructor leading the flight. He had just finished training himself and was Plowed Back as an instructor. This is also the kind of airplane that George Bush flew during the war. He went through training there about a year before I did.

Safety Corner
by Carey Peterson

Like it or not, all rated pilots must complete a Biannual Flight Review (BFR) once every two years in order to continue exercising the privileges of their pilot certificate. As stated in FAA Advisory Circular AC 61-98A, which offers instructors specific guidance on how to structure and plan a flight review, "The flight review is intended to be an industry-managed, FAA-monitored currency program. The CFI must be aware that the flight review is not a test or checkride, but an instructional service designed to assess a pilot's knowledge and skills."

The flight review must include at least an hour of ground and an hour of flight with a review of the general operating and flight rules of Part 91. The review also includes those maneuvers and procedures which, in the discretion of the person giving the review, are necessary for the pilot to demonstrate the safe exercise of the privileges of that certificate.

Pilots who have completed a checkride or a pilot proficiency check by an FAA check airman or examiner within the 24 month time period are not required to accomplish a separate flight review. Participation in the FAA Pilot Proficiency Award (Wings) program within the proceeding 24 calendar months also satisfies FAR 61.56 for the flight review.

Many pilots will ask about the subject areas to be covered during the review so they can prepare. There is no "one size fits all" concerning BFRs. The review has to be individually suited to the pilot's type of flying and needs. The flight review for a pilot who only flies his antique on VFR Sunday afternoons and spends the rest of the week working on his pride and joy requires a review that's different from the one for a Commercial or ATP pilot who routinely flies on business 8 to 10 hours a week. I like to include the pilot in the decision of what to cover. Everyone has weak areas and certain issues they feel unclear about and the BFR provides an excellent opportunity to clear things up and sharpen your skills. A properly structured BFR will provide an objective review of pilot skills, judgment and knowledge for the CFI and a beneficial, practical, and challenging (learn something new) review for the pilot. The BFR needs to be approached with anticipation rather than fear. Think of it a learning opportunity instead of a checkride.

Fly Safely.

Operations Report
by Bob Finnin

New covers for the planes are under construction and will be done soon.
Please remember to call Royal Jet on 123.0 to have the airplanes refueled if you land
before 4:30 P.M. If you land after 4:45 P.M., please refuel at the Aviation Fuel pumps.
Check Lists: Please make an extra effort to leave the check lists in the aircraft after you have flown for the day.
Also please remember to write any problems you may have on the comment sheet and then give me a call.

Thanks for the help and fly safe!

Treasure's Report
by Terry Paik

May's P/L Net was $4245 and YTD was $16,005. Total in bank as of June 1, $39,075. June Receivables are $7,770. Allocation for paint/overhauls, including the new a/c: $50,066; Non-allocated net: -$10,991. This is the deficit that we must deal with over the next 5-7 years. We flew 136 hours last, and we're at 57 members. Don't forget we would like to get at least 10 new members this year. Keep flying and keep promoting our club!

Welcome new members Harold O'Neal and Al Treadwell!!!

If you have any questions, leave them at the Club Phone, 619-441-2610 or email me (tpdvm@home.com).

Remember, the more we fly, the cheaper we fly!