Presidents Corner
by Richard Bartlett-May

Dear Fellow Members,

The Board of 2001 took seat last month. As President it was my task to review the past year with the Board members and set goals for the upcoming year. Last year the goals set by the Board were to increase the membership and to research, evaluate and possibly purchase a 4th aircraft to meet the requirements of the membership. I am please to report these goals have been met. The Board has decided that this year our goal is to maintain and monitor the club with the 4th aircraft and current membership level.

We are a small group of pilots brought together by our love of flying. We are not a business, but it is imperative that everything we do as a club makes sound business sense. Management systems have been put in place by the current and previous Boards that enable us evaluate each aircraft the club owns. We can see immediately if an aircraft is paying its way and we can study any trends. Each aircraft the club owns must stand alone, each must earn its keep. We can't have an aircraft flying and being maintained by the revenue generated by the rest of the fleet.

The Board of CFI meets once a month and conducts its meetings in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order. The Board secretary, Don Davis, keeps minutes of each meeting. One of the items we discussed in last month's meeting was to publish in the monthly newsletter any Board agenda items of discussion that would be of interest to the membership. This will add a new column to the newsletter from Secretary Don Davis, one I hope will be of interest to all members. One of the items of discussion at last month's meeting was the issue of how to deal with a few members who consistently fail to refuel the aircraft after flying. There seems to be a feeling by one or two pilots that the aircraft doesn't require to be refueled if they just shoot three or so touch-and-go's and that refueling is Royal Jet's problem. Both of these assumptions are incorrect. The aircraft must be fueled after every flight, regardless if you flew three hours or three-tenths of an hour. It is the PIC's responsibility to ensure that the aircraft is fueled before leaving the ramp, not Golden State's or Royal Jet's. That having now been said for the umpteenth time the Board has decided to adopt the following policy. If an aircraft is left unfueled, the pilot that violated the refueling policy will automatically be charged two-tenths of an hour.

This month we have our general meeting on Saturday the 16th on the ramp at Royal Jet. This is our wash/ wax and vacuuming morning. The club will, as always, supply coffee, doughnuts and sodas. We normally start around 9 AM, but if possible I would like to see if we can start a little earlier and get a jump on washing the planes before the sun comes out. Darrel Cook and I will be out at 7:30 AM and would welcome any and all that can join us then. I strongly encourage all the new members to attend; it really is a great way to meet the core membership and share in the fellowship of our quiet little club.

I hope to see as many members out cleaning the planes as I see names on the roster to fly them. I also hope to win the lottery as well. I can only hope my odds are a little better at the clean up day. Dreams are made of this, I guess.

Fly safe Fly often.

Richard

From The Old Timer
by Harry McCoy

A LOVE OF MY LIFE
Part 4--1945

One of the most aggravating things to those of us flying the "Turkey" and the Helldiver was those Army Air Force Pilots from Sarasota flying brand new P-51's who would join up on us as we were headed out to the bombing range and do loops around us!!! Then they would do high-side gunnery runs and pretend like they were shooting us down!! At our measly 165 kts we had no recourse but to sit there. With their variable of speed up to over 300 kts, we were sitting ducks!

This airplane was also enlightening to my wife. She came to the field as we were returning from a cross-country and she saw me taxi up and fold my wings. I looked like a midget in that monster. You could only see our heads and a little bit of the shoulders. She finally had an appreciation for what I was doing-and she was impressed!!!!

Helmets and goggles have come a long way! We had the very first attempt at crash helmets. They were some very hard plastic material with a fabric helmet snapped to the inside. Our goggles were beady looking glass, not known for being either comfortable or satisfactory. We had to practice carrier landings on a runway that was marked the size of a carrier deck. I think we had to have 20 acceptable before being approved to go to the carrier. As you came around your approach, about 300 feet you watched the signals from the LSO (Landing Signal Officer). His signals indicated what you were supposed to do for a "perfect" carrier landing! When he was satisfied, he would give you the cut and you chopped your throttle and dropped your nose and followed immediately by back pressure to land on all three gears and your tailhook. Sometimes you would bounce and immediately go full throttle to keep from stalling out. We were only 10 kts above stall during the approach. After your touchdown and full throttle, you would stick your head out to see what kind of correction he thought you should make.

This was where the helmet and goggles were tested. I made a mistake and turned my head too quickly and I was looking inside my helmet. The snaps had come loose!!! Another time, after I looked back, I discovered I had one green eye and one clear eye. It sucked the glass right out of the frame of my goggles!!!

All this was fun, and Uncle Sam was paying the bill for my enjoyment to the tune of 150 gallons per hour of high-test gasoline!

The wings on the TBM folded back alongside the fuselage as opposed to folding up over the cockpit as the Corsair did. It was very dangerous to be standing on the wing as they were folding. We never saw it, but the story went around that a mechanic was standing there and as the wing folded, it cut him completely through the waist.

After the wings were spread, there was a small red flag sticking up through the top surface. This was attached to the huge pin that locked the wing. We had a lever in the cockpit and, when pulled and the locking pin went into place, the red flag would disappear. Grumman did a wonderful job on its planes and their locking mechanism. They were designed so the wing wouldn't fold in normal flight if the lock pin came out. This was very reassuring to those of us (and our wives) flying the planes!

To be continued...

Safety Corner
by Carey Peterson

This month has been a busy one for me, flying almost everyday and occasionally twice a day on my days off. Last week I had two students scheduled on Tuesday, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

After completing a routine preflight inspection and discovering no problems, my student and I climbed in the plane and completed the flight lesson for the day. Later in the afternoon, I was watching my second student conduct the same routine inspection, carefully checking the flight control hinges, brakes, oil, fuel samples etc. As I bent down to remove the chocks from the nosewheel, I glanced at the left main tire and was completely surprised at what I saw. This tire showed some extensive damage consistent with someone locking the brakes during the landing roll. The braking was so heavy, it melted through a 1/4 inch of tread and partially exposed the first ply of the tire. The right tire showed no damage. My thoughts at the time were two-fold. First, how could my previous student and I both have missed this on preflight? Second, how could the responsible pilot not be aware that the brakes were locked during the landing or landing roll?

In retrospect, I believe many of us become complacent about preflight inspections due to the fact we rarely find anything wrong with the airplane.

A proper preflight begins with checking the "pilot comment sheet" to note any previous problems with the plane. This can be accomplished while checking to ensure the Hobbs meter times are correct. Once outside the cabin, the preflight continues in a logical flow around the plane checking all essential items as they occur. The idea is not to skip or miss any items, although I'll bet those new pitot tube covers have ridden out to the run-up area and back a few times while still firmly attached under the wing! We as a Club are still averaging 2 to 3 stretched tie-down hooks a year from chains not being removed prior to departure. If the airplane doesn't roll smoothly forward with a small amount of power, something's wrong. Shut down and inspect the situation. It's far less embarrassing than sitting there with 2400 RPM wondering why the plane's not moving.

As I learned last week, I would recommend rolling the plane backwards while visually checking the condition of the tires. It's amazing what can be hidden under those wheel pants and go completely unnoticed!

In closing, remember to write up any unsafe or potentially unsafe items in the "pilot comment sheet" so they can be corrected prior to the next flight.

Happy flying,

Fly Safely.

Operations Report
by Bob Finnin

46404: This old stand-by has completed its annual inspection and is in great shape. The repainted wheel fairings have been installed and look sharp.

8788E: 88E has received an annual inspection during the first week of August and also is in top shape and waiting to be flown.

3015U: 15U has also had its annual inspection during mid-August. At that time the new wing tips were installed and a new tire installed on the left main landing gear. New spark plugs were also installed and this aircraft is in top condition and continues to give outstanding performance.

2904K: Several members have taken this plane on long cross-country trips and have reported that they were very pleased with the performance of the newest addition to our fleet.

General: Please remember to refuel the aircraft. Several of you have failed to refuel in recent weeks. Please don't assume Royal Jet will check the planes as they are very busy and working all over the field.

Thanks for the help and fly safe!

Treasure's Report
by Terry Paik

July's P/L Net was $5,472 and YTD was $18,994; total in bank as of August 1, $41,375. We are gradually building up our reserve account and still able to pay down some extra principal on our loan. July was a great month with over $8,000 in receivables, and this month is ever better! August Receivables are $12,267! We flew an all-time record 194 hours this last month. We will have some big service items coming up in the next few months, but the Club is in great financial shape.

With the addition of three new members last month, we are at 60 Full Members and 5 Associates. Welcome new members Steve Dari, Francis DeLuca and Steve Zuleski!

Remember, to receive a 5% discount off of the club's flying rates on all of our fleet, become a Gold Flyers Member for just a $2,000 (refundable) deposit.

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!

Wurzel and Susan's Excellent Adventure
by Wurzel Parson-Keir

After working diligently for five months to earn my Instrument Rating, I was told by my instructor that the best thing to do was to go use it - to fly in some weather, get some actual, shoot some approaches, and generally firm up the amorphous theoretical blob in my head. Seeing the Dakota in a Coastal Fliers brochure made joining the club a no-brainer, and by a stroke of luck N2904K was available the same weekend as my friends' wedding in Idaho.

My wife and I almost cancelled the trip in despair before leaving Gillespie Field. As always, we didn't even get out of the house until two hours after our planned departure time. While preflighting I found a crack starting in the propeller and taxied over to the shop to have them take a look. Let me tell you that A&P's have absolutely no mercy when a pilot does something stupid like mistake a bug smashed on a prop for a crack. They used some solvent only available to A&P's (aka spit) to remove the bug, and we were finally ready for 125.1 ("clearance delivery" for those VFR folks in the audience).

It definitely causes a lot of excitement when you accidentally dial in 121.5 instead of 125.1, but I didn't do that this time. Instead, I ignored all the horror stories I had heard about DUATS losing IFR flight plans and filed my flight plan through DUATS. The only bright side to the whole thing is that sitting in the runup area for 25 minutes with the prop spinning while my clearance was worked out probably gave enough time for the corrosive A&P spit to be slung off the prop before it ate through.

Once on our way, the whole nature of the trip changed from nightmarish to unbelievably wonderful. We were routed out over Catalina, and once we got north of there the entire coast was clear with 25 mile visibility. The Islands, Santa Barbara, and Hearst Castle all flew by almost too quickly with the combination of 235 horsepower and a 15-knot tailwind. Because of the late start, we cut our first day short in Monterey and stayed at the Colton Inn. Between the cookies at check-in, free movie library, in-room Jacuzzi, and excellent breakfast, we highly recommend this inn. Have Million Air make your reservation for you to get the best price.

The next day's flight took us by the Golden Gate Bridge and then on to stops at Little River, Shelter Cove, and Brookings, OR. All three takeoffs were like playing chicken with stands of pine trees, but with the Dakota's 235 HP, we always flinched first. At Brookings we met a very kind pilot who was working on her commercial and multi-engine ratings simultaneously. Rather than let us pitch our tent on the airport lawn, she offered us a ride down to the Harris Beach state campground. An easy two-minute walk from the beach, it definitely beat the airport grass. Once at the campground, we realized we'd done a fine job of packing tents and bags, but had nothing to eat except two apples. This is where traveling with a pregnant woman really gives one a leg-up on life. After hearing our sad tale, a ranger named Angela insisted that there was no way Susan should walk all the way to town. Instead, Angela ordered us a pizza and then drove to town to pick it up and bring it back to us. Very impressed at the kindness of Oregonians, Susan and I slept peacefully, knowing there were still two pieces of pizza waiting for us at breakfast.

Our trip continued over Crater Lake (a must-see from the air) to Bend, Oregon to visit Susan's sister and the Lancair factory at Redmond airport. From the Bend area we proceeded to Soda Springs, Idaho for the wedding. This leg provided some amazing views of smoke plumes from the forest fires, ancient craters, and beautiful lava flows. An otherwise standard-fare wedding became the highlight of the trip when they played my favorite dancing song, "YMCA" not once but twice! The song was particularly appropriate because the Soda Springs Official Airport Courtesy Car smelled just like the last YMCA I was at. The Soda Springs airport is at 5900 feet elevation and has 3500 feet of runway. With the mixture leaned appropriately, the Dakota had no problem getting off the ground in the morning, even with calm winds. A ten-minute flight down to Bear Lake allowed us to take in the beauty of the area and some fuel. From there the flight to Salt Lake City was beautiful and uneventful. There Susan and I engaged in some mean Pinochle with my parents. (By the way, if you play Pinochle, send me some email!)

The final day of the trip dawned bright and clear with no airmets and no forecast ugliness anywhere on our route. That in itself should have made us suspicious. As the day progressed, thunderstorms formed to the east and somehow made their way westward in spite of forecast northwest winds aloft. Fortunately our route from SLC to North Las Vegas kept us moving westward faster than the storms, though we saw some very pretty clouds along the way. North Las Vegas has a very comfortable air-conditioned terminal building and a strong anti-runway-incursion program. It is so strong, in fact, that their ATIS broadcast is over two minutes long with various taxiing and readback mandates. By the end of my third pass through I was so confused I just called ground with "student pilot, unfamiliar, request progressive taxi." Unfortunately this was the same controller who was handling clearance delivery when I requested my IFR clearance to SEE. After the ramp check was over, we taxied out and found that even at 41ºC and 2200 feet elevation, the Dakota can make 600fpm with full fuel (leaned for density altitude of course).

On the final leg from Vegas to SEE, we got to see some real weather up close, and it was weather I probably would prefer to have been further from. We managed to remain VMC the whole time, which should have allowed us to visually navigate around the isolated thunderstorms that Flightwatch said were building. Unfortunately, as we were navigating along V-514 just past GOFFS, a truly vicious thunderstorm came at us from the east. It didn't have huge vertical development, but it did have lightning and the most awe-inspiring gust front I've ever seen. It was unbelievable to watch a wall of dust being thrown up 1000 feet from the desert floor about one mile ahead of the storm. Even more amazing was when we turned directly away from the storm at 95 kts ground speed (keeping our IAS below maneuvering speed, of course) and the gust front on the ground was almost keeping pace with us. The part that really taught me a lesson was that while we theoretically had a reasonable alternate course away from the weather, we were trapped between a set of restricted areas and hot MOA's that prevented us from heading the way my sense of self-preservation told me we should. Somehow we got lucky, because in spite of our proximity to the storm we didn't even experience moderate turbulence.

We made it to Gillespie ahead of the storms and made a very fine landing, if I do say so myself. Overall, the cross-country legs of the trip were 2061 miles. We burned an average of 11.0 gallons per hour flying mostly at 12,000 to 14,000 feet, but with a few legs at low altitude as well. Our Miles-Per-Hobbs-Hour for the trip was 103.6 NM/Hr, and that includes all the time taxiing, waiting for clearances, and circling over points of interest. We added four quarts of oil and 247 gallons of fuel over the 22.3 flight hours. My only complaint about the airplane is that without DME and without the GPS being IFR certified, one's choice of instrument approaches is very limited.

All that being said, I have a few recommendations:

1. Be sure to mention you are an AOPA member when purchasing fuel; one FBO had an eight-cent-per-gallon discount.
2. If you are flying mountainous terrain, take a great airplane like N2904K and an oxygen system. We got an Aerox system at Marv Golden's for this trip and really appreciated the smoother ride at higher altitudes without the usual post-flight hypoxic headache. The Aerox cannulas are quite comfortable and unobtrusive.
3. Find the time, save the money, and take a long cross-country. This was by far the longest flight adventure we've had, and it was better than a thousand local $100 hamburger flights.
4. If you are headed towards Oregon, Washington, Idaho, or Utah any time before October 5th, let me know because I have VFR and Instrument charts for those areas that will be expired by the next time I need them. (wurzel@concentric.net)
5. If you aren't instrument rated, find a good CFI and start. I got mine with Jean's Flight Training at Gillespie (619 449-9234) and Jean was wonderful. The extra comfort, precision, and flexibility are well worth the time and money.

What's interesting is that we got so much benefit from the instrument rating while spending almost no time in actual IMC. In fact, through the entire trip we only managed to get 0.2 hours actual, and to do that we had to request a block altitude from 10,000 to 14,000 feet and intentionally fly in the clouds. I think I'll coin Murphy's Law of FAA ratings: It's always IMC until you're IFR rated, then it'll be CAVU the whole way!

Henderson Discovered
by Terry Kemp

When Nancy and I decided to go to Las Vegas for a quick get away, I chose to land at Henderson instead of McCarran. I had landed at McCarran many times and each time prices for fuel, handling, and tie down seemed to always go up like our electric bills. So after seeing the ads to come to Henderson I said why not.

Boy, was I pleased. I was utilizing flight following, so at twenty miles out I was cleared into Class-B air space, and I asked to descend from 8500 feet to 4500 which would put me into a good position to enter the pattern at 3300 feet. At about eight miles out I was told to contact Henderson and squawk VFR. Landing was a snap with a runway of 5000 feet.

I knew I had made the right decision to land at Henderson when the tower controller asked if I was familiar with parking. I said I had a rough idea about where to go, so he said, "Stay on this frequency and just follow the yellow line ahead and I will guide you to a good spot to park". As I was taxing, I asked if he could close my flight plan for me. He said he could, but I could call Reno Radio on the RCO 122.35 right on the tarmac after shutting down. He was right. It worked great and was as clear as a bell.

A very nice man came out in a van and had the airplane tied down before we could get out of the airplane. He asked if I had a car reserved and if I was Mr. Kemp. He said that Thrifty Car Rental, the only car rental company on the field, had just picked up the car I was to rent but was bringing another one out for us. He said that if it doesn't arrive before we are ready to leave he would take Nancy and me to our hotel and not to worry about transportation. I have never gotten that type of service at McCarran. While I was filling out the information in the terminal for fuel, they asked if we would like something to drink. What service!

Everyone was really nice. They said that they would like more general aviation pilots to use Henderson. That is why they have low fuel prices and tie down fees. Fuel was only $2.17 a gallon and parking was $5.00 per night--a far cry from the $3.00 plus for fuel and $20.00 to $50.00 a night at McCarran. Our car did arrive soon after we got there and away we went. I didn't win any money, but the service and friendly people at Henderson made this trip one of the best ones I ever made to that part of Nevada. If you are ever heading that way, I would highly recommend a stop at L15.