Presidents Corner
by Richard Bartlett-May

Dear Fellow Members,

This month is a busy month for Coastal Fliers. We have the general election for the incoming Board of Directors on the 14th followed two days later with clean-up day on the 16th. I hope we see a large member turn out at both events. The election of the Board of Directors is an important event. It is these people you trust to move the club forward in the right direction. The names on the ballot are as follows:

Darrel Cook
Donn Larson
Robert Finnin
Terry Paik
Carey Peterson
Christian Jensen
David Cooksy

Anyone else wishing to run for the Board can announce their intention at or before the general meeting or be nominated from the floor by another member. We also need to have members volunteer as witnesses to count the ballots, so as you can see we need as many members to attend as possible.

Clean-up day is the following Saturday the 16th. Any of you who have flown lately will plainly see that the fleet is in need of a good wash and wax. The more people who attend the easier and quicker we can get the job done. Please make every effort to attend, it really is a great way to meet other members and enjoy the fellowship of the club.

I am afraid that we will be raising the prices of the hourly aircraft rates within the next month. Fuel prices, as you are all well aware, have increased dramatically and we need to adjust our rates accordingly. The Board of Directors will meet on the 7th of June and analyze the trend in fuel prices since our last increase in March of 2000 and adjust the rates accordingly. I envision that the new pricing will take effect when the new billing cycle starts on the 16th of June and you will see the increase in your August billing.

Fly safe Fly often.

Richard

Annual Membership Meeting

Coastal Fliers Inc. will hold its annual meeting at the Gillespie Field Administration Building on Thursday June 14th at 7:30 pm.

The election of members to the Board of Directors will take place. Members are encouraged to attend this important meeting. If unable to attend, execute a written proxy and mail it to the Club.

Coastal Fliers, Inc.
POB 12540
El Cajon, CA 92022

Members interested in running, please notify a Board member before the general meeting or have your name placed in nomination by another member at the general membership meeting.

From The Old Timer
by Harry McCoy

A LOVE OF MY LIFE
Part 13--1947

I'm sure many of you will remember the F-86 "Sabre Jet" fighter the Air Force had? A great airplane that gave the MIG's fits during the Korean War. That airplane started as a Navy carrier plane that had straight wings and no slats. The F-86 had full wing length leading edge "slats" that popped out the minute you rotated on take off. It allowed a steeper pitch angle without stalling and gave a good climb rate in the early stages.

While I was at Ream Field after the war they brought in one of the Navy versions and a F8F Bearcat for a comparison test flight. The Bearcat was a dinky fighter by most standards but had a 2000hp engine. It came out too late to see action in the war. When you applied throttle on takeoff you had to be ready. You had to close the canopy before 200 knots, and you would be there before the end of the runway, after all you had about 60" of MP in your favor!!!

They put both of the planes at the head of the runway and the test was climb comparison. They both applied power and the race was on. The jet had just started to roll but the Bearcat was already 200 feet down the runway. In another 100 feet or so, he pulled it off the ground and sucked the gear up. Then he swung around in such a way that he made a "High Side" gunnery run on the jet before he got his wheels off the ground. Once the jet got airborne and his gear up the advantage reversed and he made altitude quicker, although the Bearcat wasn't far behind.

The jet lost out. The Navy decided not to take it and the Air Force picked up the contract swept the wings back, added slats and it became the famous "Sabre Jet". The Navy bought a few and I think had 1 squadron, but for carrier work they would have had to be re-enforced in their landing gear system to handle arrested landings. Many people do not realize how much strain is put on an aircraft landing on a carrier. When you chop the throttle to catch the hook, 6 or 8 momentary "G'" forces are not uncommon. We had a student when I was going aboard in our TBM's who indicated 12 G's after his landing. The Turkey didn't seem to mind, they kept flying it!!

To be continued...

Safety Corner
by Carey Peterson

For the first time in 12 years of flying, I actually witnessed an in flight emergency being declared by another pilot. The Socal Approach Control frequency was busy with numerous aircraft conducting instrument approaches into Oceanside and Palomar airports, when suddenly the mayday call was heard. The aircraft was a Cessna 172 experiencing a partial power loss about 5 miles southwest of Oceanside. The weather at the time was marginal VFR with a 1500 ft BKN ceiling. The pilot was requesting assistance in locating the airport.

Distress communications have absolute priority over all other communications and the word Mayday commands radio silence on the frequency in use. It was amazing how quickly the busy frequency went silent, allowing the controller to assist the pilot. The controller informed the pilot of his exact location and distance from the airport, issued the current weather conditions, and provided traffic advisories all the way to the traffic pattern.

This incident reinforces how important it is to utilize flight following whenever possible. Had the pilot of this disabled aircraft not requested help immediately, he may have been forced into an off airport landing due to the difficulty in locating the airport. Pilots who become apprehensive for their safety for any reason should request assistance. Ready and willing help is available in the form of radio, radar, direction finding stations, and other aircraft.

Happy flying.

Operations Report
by Bob Finnin

Just a short report this month. All aircraft are running well with no major repairs to report.

46404: a new turn coordinator was installed.

8788E: no problems this month with only normal maintenance.

3015U: the electric trim was readjusted so that it now is in the manual mode. To repair the Electric trim would require taking the plane out of service for an extended period of time.

2904K: no problems this month with only normal maintenance.

Please note any problem on the Pilot-Comment sheet in the time logs book so that it can be attended to as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the help and fly safe!

Treasure's Report
by Donn Larson

May 2001

Terry Paik has been out of the country for the past month and will be returning in a couple of weeks. In his absence I have taken the duties of Treasurer. I now know first hand the tremendous amount of work that Terry does for our fine club. I'm looking forward to Terry's return. This has been quite an experience for me.

As of May 1, we had $11,500 in the bank. Most of this is in a CD that will mature in two months.

The State property taxes in the amount of $1160 for 404 and 15U were paid.

Our carried-over accounts payable from May is $4,000 to SoCal Repair for 04K. Most of this is associated with the new engine installation.

This month's receivables are approximately $7,500. With the exception of SoCal, all the bills are paid.

We had a very good flying month, 143 hrs.
404 flew 38
88E flew 32
15U flew 41
04K flew 32

With flying season here we can expect the cash flow crunch to pass and our reserves to increase.

If you have any information such as Medical, Flight Review, Phone number that needs to be updated send it along with your bill.

Let's go flying!

Piper PA-28 a brief history

Piper Aircraft introduced the PA-28 in 1962 as an all metal, monocoque, low wing airplane and the Cherokee series was born. The design was by Fred Weick, who also did Ercoupe, and John Thorpe. The design was simplicity itself with a strong wide-tread tricycle landing gear, one-piece stabilator and laminar-flow "Hershey bar" wings. The PA-28 had 400 fewer parts than the previous PA-22 Tri-Pacer.

A 150-hp Lycoming powered the first Cherokees. In 1963 a 160-hp and 180-hp engines were available. And, in 1964, a 235-hp six-cylinder engine was introduced.

In 1974 an improved wing know as the "Warrior wing" was introduced on the 150-hp Cherokees. The wing has tapered outer panels, just beyond the flaps, rather than the old constant-chord "Hershey bar." The higher aspect ratio gives more load lift for the same amount of wing surface. The new wing improved slow-flight characteristics and stalls occur with no hard break. The result is better climb rate and better control feel. The Warrior II, produced in 1977 had 160-hp engine.

The Cherokee 180 received the new wing in 1976 and became the PA-28-181, Archer II. An aerodynamic clean-up was done in 1978, mostly to the wheel fairing. (Note the difference between 88E and 15U)

The Cherokee 235 received the new wing in 1979 and became the PA-236, Dakota. The Dakota is the heavy hauler. With its big engine and constant speed prop it's able to carry full tanks, baggage and four fat people.

Of note, the 1964 PA-235 had a useful load greater than the weight of the airplane. You could carry a grand piano in it if you could get it in the door!

So there you have it, three out of four of our fleet, good ole PA-28's. 88E and 15U, the can do it all easy fliers, and 04K flying higher and faster in cruise and climb with more useful load.

That leaves 404, maybe next time.