Presidents Corner
by Richard Bartlett-May

Dear Fellow Members,

Well, what a great turnout we had at the last clean up day. It really was great to see so many members helping keep our fleet looking spick and span. One of the many joys of membership in Coastal Fliers for me is the fellowship with the members. To me the clean up days are the great promoters of that fellowship.

I would like to give a special thanks to one of our newest members, Steve Dari, who came along with a vanload of cleaning materials and equipment. The degreaser that Steve introduced us to was a major time-saver for cleaning the aircraft bellies.

Last month was the solo flight of our youngest member, Sean Cooksy. Sean's Mum and Dad (fellow member David) both stood nervously out on the ramp while Sean had the time of his life and performed 3 flawless touch-and-go’s. Another aviation milestone was attained by Robert Grogan. Bob successfully completed his Private Pilot check ride and received some nice compliments from his examiner on his knowledge and flying.

Many congratulations Sean and Bob from all of us at Coastal Fliers. One sad piece of news from the Board of Directors is that Jean Garrow has regrettably had to resign from the Board due to personal commitments. She assures us that she will remain an active participant of CFI and help out in whatever way she can. I would like to take this to time to thank Jean for her many hours of service to the club as an active member of the Board. She will be sorely missed.

We have been fortunate enough to have fellow member Donn Larson volunteer to serve out the remainder of Jean's term, and we look forward to having Donn on the Board of Directors. Donn has been an active member of CFI for several years, and I feel he will be a valuable asset on the Board and to the Club.

Fly safe Fly often.

Richard

From The Old Timer
by Harry McCoy

A LOVE OF MY LIFE
Part 5--1945

As soon as I finished my training, I received orders for NAS Agana, Guam. After a fast job of installing brakes on my 27’ trailer (no brakes was common then) we headed west using our 1940 Chevrolet Coupe with its powerful 80-hp engine!!! (You don’t have to be crazy to do things like this but it helps!!!) It was very hot across the desert, so I would buy a 25 pd chunk of ice and stick it between the radiator and the front grill. It worked great to cool the engine, but had difficulties always finding ice at the right time. No air conditioning in cars then, but windows did come down!!

I left Alameda NAS on a R5D (DC-4) on a ferry flight. Landed in Hawaii, Johnson Island, Kwajalein Island, Wake, and then Guam. We flew straight through so we were all night. I had my first exposure to what the back end of a radial engine looked like. I thought for a few minutes that the engine was on fire, but the aircraft mechanic assured me that the exhaust collector rings always ran cherry red! From my cockpit, I could never see the ring. During the day we hit some fairly heavy turbulence. I was watching the wings going up and down and then it occurred to me that the metal on the top surface of the wings was waving up and down. Again the plane captain assured me that that was normal. I had never seen that happen in my old Turkey!!!!

It took us 12 hours from Alameda to Hawaii! Our new 235 could almost tie that!!!

When I arrived at Guam, I was amazed at the devastation of the city of Agana, which was the capital of Guam. The only thing left standing was a small, 3-story, cement building. The bombardment by our forces in their push to Japan had been the culprit. The Japanese had moved in quite easily on their westward push because we had only minimum military personnel there at that time.

The Japanese had been gone long enough that there had been some housing built for the families of permanent personnel. That, of course didn’t include me! I found myself sitting in a Quonset Hut with another fellow. There was electricity when the generators were working, outdoor toilets and showers, a makeshift plunger arrangement for doing laundry (circa 1900), AND no hot water!!!

I was quite impressed with the bread at mealtime; I thought they had poppy seed in it. Then I found out it was “flour weevils”!!! They told me not to be concerned, they didn’t eat much, and the protein was good for me!

We had only been there a few hours when we were herded into a small, half-buried Quonset hut while a typhoon passed thru. Winds were over 100 mph and the mechanics spent the night in their planes turning them into the wind. By morning they had turned them 180 degrees. Our Quonset hut had been picked up off its palm tree supports by the winds and moved about 10 feet. Fortunately, we hadn’t had time to unpack, so our clothes did not get all wet, but practically everyone else’s was saturated.

To be continued...

Safety Corner
by Carey Peterson

One subject matter which causes more confusion for pilots is that of maneuvering speed. By definition, maneuvering speed is the speed at which full or abrupt control travel may be used without overstressing the airplane. Most pilots know they must reduce to maneuvering speed when encountering turbulent air, but fail to understand why. Just like the rest of the V-speeds, maneuvering speed (Va) is determined with the aircraft at maximum gross weight. It’s important to understand that maneuvering speed decreases as weight decreases. Since pilots rarely, if ever, encounter rough, turbulent air while flying at maximum gross weight, the airspeed should be reduced to a safe margin below published Va. A great formula to remember is Va decreases ½ of the percentage you’re operating below gross weight.

Maneuvering speed is directly related to load factor and the category in which the aircraft is certified to operate in. The Normal Category has a limit load factor of 3.8 positive G’s, and 1.52 negative G’s. The Utility Category includes a limit load factor of 4.4 positive G’s, and 1.76 negative G’s. When operating below Va, any abrupt control movements or encounters with heavy turbulence will cause the airplane to stall prior to exceeding the limit load factor. The same maneuver when operating above Va will cause the aircraft to exceed its limit load factor prior to stalling. Many pilots have difficulty understanding why Va decreases with weight. The answer lies in fact that the lighter airplane is more capable of generating a higher load factor before reaching the critical angle of attack and stalling. The same plane operating at gross weight would be flying at a higher angle of attack, and as a result, closer to the critical angle of attack or point of stall. This means the heavier airplane would stall sooner than the lighter plane before achieving an equal load factor.

A quick review of the “Va Diagram” in the Flight Training Handbook or Airplane Flying Handbook helps explain the relationship between maneuvering speed and load factor. In closing, the most important thing to remember when flying in moderate to severe turbulence is to reduce airspeed to a safe margin below published Va, and pitch to maintain a level “attitude” and not a level altitude.

Fly Safely.

Operations Report
by Bob Finnin

8788E: has had its annual inspection and is in top shape. No real problems were found, however several new tires needed to be installed.

2904K: was a real pleasure to fly up to San Francisco and back in the later part of August. Although the oil temperature was above mid scale, it id not seem excessively high.

3015U: had a problem with the over-voltage regulator and this has been repaired. This also appears to have solved the problem with the fuse on COM 1 popping out. I received a report of this happening on only one flight and in the several weeks since have not had any reports of malfunctions.

46404: has been used much this last month and is working well. Several new tires and a new master switch have been installed, and the aircraft is back on line and working well.

Please make an additional effort to install the Pitot tube covers after flights. We don't want some bug to decide to nest in the orifices and ruin someone's day.

Thanks for the help and fly safe!

Board Meeting Summary
by Don Davis

The IFR certification for the GPS in 04K has been delayed do to a backlog of work at the radio shop. Bill Cardwell has promised the certification process will be started by his shop in October. Operations Officer Bob Finnin will be monitoring the progress of the work to insure it is completed as soon as possible.

The Board discussed options for replacing the engine in 15U which is due for overhaul. An exchanged rebuilt engine will cost $12,600 plus installation and at least a two-week downtime. Cost for an engine rebuilt by SoCal Aircraft, our maintenance provider, will be $10,500 plus installation and a minimum three-week down time. The Pros and Cons of both options will be studied before a final decision is made.

A suggestion to send the newsletter by e-mail to those members choosing to receive it by e-mail rather than in the current format was discussed. No decision was made. The Board will seek input from members before a decision is made on the suggestion.

Fly often, fly safe.

Treasure's Report
by Terry Paik

August’s Net was $4,640; YTD was $23,661; total in bank as of September 1, $45,194. The MTD and YTD figures are a little misleading as we have not received the bill from Southern Cal Aircraft for two months; however, we are still in great shape. September’s Receivables are only $9,802 as we flew only 132 hours this month, vs. last month’s all-time record of 194.

Welcome new member Edward Stickgold! We are currently at 62 Full Members and 5 Associate Members.

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

It has been requested to include a list of FAA Doctors for your Medicals. Here are some of the names I have seen. Good luck.

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