Presidents Corner
by Darrel Cook

I would like to thank everyone that participated in the general meeting held in January. After the regular club business was conducted, we had an open discussion on the ensuing vote to be taken.

Everyone seemed to be of one mind on the increase in the dues to cover the fixed costs of the aircraft. However, the discussion to either increase shares or levy an assessment showed a split in the membership present. Both sides made good points.

The vote to increase the dues to $30.00 a month was unanimous. The Board will be looking at these costs annually to make sure they match the actual costs.

The final tally for the levy or share increase revealed a two vote margin in favor of the share increase. Therefore, membership shares will be increased from $500 to $600.

Members that have already paid the $50 assessment will be billed an additional $50. Members who have yet to be assessed will be billed the entire $100. Associate members that were billed and paid the $50 assessment will have a $50 credit applied to their accounts.

The Board is watching each airplane's cost of operation closely. We will assess the actual cost of flying each plane and will determine if any other changes need to be brought forward.

I just received a newsletter from another club explaining how hard it was to keep insurance because of their many losses. Thankfully that is not a problem with our club. This is because of the membership and their conscientious flying. Our rates are increasing along with the national average but not from losses. Every flying member is to be commended.

I hope everyone is thinking about this coming year and planning new or familiar places to fly. I know I am.

Portable Cockpit Lighting
by Steve Dari

I'm almost reluctant to admit this because it's been such a passion of mine for as long as I can remember, but I really love flying at night. There's something magical about the closeness of a cockpit at night - the incandescent displays staring back at you, the blackness of all beyond the Plexiglas broken only by the lights of civilization. Even the controllers take on a completely different persona at night; more involved, more inquisitive, more conversational.

I try to increase my safety buffer by always flying under an IFR flight plan on my night flights, and being just that much more aware of the status of aircraft systems and possible emergency landing sites.

For some reason that I've never been able to understand, cockpit night lighting has always been far from ideal. Perhaps the best I've experienced was in bubble canopy military tactical aircraft. The newer models take this issue very seriously with a multitude of well-shielded and diffused lamps just beneath the canopy ledge that are controlled by a bank of dimming rheostats. The lighting is even, shadowless and never competes with night vision of the events outside the aircraft.

Small general aviation aircraft are quite a different story. Their night light sources frequently depend upon a single lamp on the overhead that leaves large areas of the cockpit in dark shadows. The light is either too bright, too dim or never on the chart, approach plate or knee board where you need it. It also doesn't help that aging eyes lose much of their night vision sensitivity and recovering that night vision after exposure to a bright light takes much longer than with a younger set of eyes.

I used to fly with a guy who owned a Duke. He sure loved that plane despite the fact that it had half the performance of a lead toboggan and absolutely horrible cockpit lighting. In an attempt to compensate for the lousy lighting, he had flashlights tucked into every spare nook and cranny. Half of them had expired batteries and the other half would blind me for five or ten minutes whenever he would wave them around the cockpit. As a result, I started my continuing quest for the best small, portable lights to supplement the built-in aircraft lighting.

The problem in finding good cockpit lights is mostly one of soft, even diffusion. By that I mean it's easy to find a blinding spotlight that runs through a set of batteries in a couple of minutes. Flashlight manufacturers are always touting how many zillion candlepower their pocket landing lights have. Surefire flashlights ( http://www.surefire.com/ ) (whose lights I really like for applications other than flying) even advertise that you can use their blindingly bright lights as weapons of self-defense. (You can!) But this makes them useless around an aircraft at night.

Much more useful are the new legion of LED, or light emitting diode mini-flashlights. Their lamps typically last for over a 100,000 hours, are shockproof, and often last near a hundred of hours (continuously!) on a set of batteries. The other advantage is that the best of them are barely larger than a quarter and weigh about the same!

You might be surprised at the variety of LED lights presently marketed. (Try http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/led.htm for a sample of what's out there.) You can find them in white, blue, green, red, turquoise (blue-green), yellow, orange and probably a few more colors by the time you read this. Although blue-green is the new military color used in many night applications, red (or very dim white for chart reading) is still the optimum color in aviation circles. In addition, I've found that lights which don't have a locking "on" switch to keep them illuminated are virtually worthless.

Sometimes what seems to be a good find soon proves somewhat less. I recently purchased some Campfire Plus models ( http://www.campco.com/new/campfire.htm ) at Fry's Electronics for $12.95. As soon as I tried them, I realized the colorful translucent shells lit up as well and were pretty distracting in the cockpit. They also had much too tightly focused spot patterns rather than soft diffused illumination.

After buying and trying a small drawer full of LED flashlights, the clear winner for cockpit lighting applications was the Photon II ( http://www.photonlight.com/products/photon_microlight_II.html ) manufactured by LRI. The Photon II is tiny, rugged and has a locking "on" switch. Combined with ½" Velcro hook and loop dots (that fit perfectly on the back of these lights), these little lights can be positioned anywhere for the best cockpit illumination I've found so far. They're even great for nighttime preflight inspections. I'm not the first to discover them, though. Our military and NASA order these things by the bushel. With a lifetime replacement guarantee and an MSRP of $20, they're well worth the price.

An excellent runner-up is the CMG Infinity ( http://www.cmgequipment.com/infinity2.html ), also available for an MSRP of $20. This lamp looks more like a conventional tubular shaped flashlight, but is about 3" long and weighs an ounce. It burns for 41 hours (continuously) on a single AA battery. In flight, I wear one on its included neck lanyard and just leave it switched on. Whenever I need it, my hand knows exactly where it is. The Infinity makes the perfect companion to the Photon II in the cockpit.

In early February I'll be attending the SHOT show in Las Vegas where every flashlight manufacturer in the known universe will be showing their latest models. I'll get wholesale pricing information on the lights I've mentioned above (plus any improved models) and see if there's enough interest to round up a quantity purchase for Coastal Flier members and their friends. If you have any questions on this subject, please feel free to contact me at stevedari@msn.com or find my phone number on the Schedule Master member roster.

Fly safely!
Steve Dari

Flying For Fun
by Donn & Barbara Larson

Sunday is Sky Day for us. Our local area is rich with fun destinations and beautiful scenery. For new pilots and pilots new to the area, these are some of our favorite places.

French Valley (F70)

A short hop will take you to one of the finest $100 Hamburger airports in the area. The flight takes you over Temecula wine country. Several lakes provide easy visual references. The French Valley Cafe serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere with a view of the runway.

Borrego Springs (L08)

Head east over Julian and you will come to the beautiful Anza-Borrego Desert. Our local desert offers spectacular scenery including rugged mountains, colorful badlands, and amazing landforms. The Salton Sea lies to the east. Borrego Valley Airport is managed by Vicki Cole, who gives some of the friendliest FBO service to be found. Pick up a copy of the guide to the Borrego Sky Trail for a fun and informative sightseeing flight. The Crosswinds Restaurant on the field is a good lunch stop, or just hang out on their rooftop patio and watch the aerobatic activity when the areobatic box is hot. For a more elegant meal ask Vicki to call La Casa del Zorro. They provide shuttle service between their resort and the airport.

Big Bear (L35)

For a mountain stop there is nearby Big Bear. The airport is located at the eastern end of the lake. The approach will give you and your passengers views of snow covered mountaintops, ski slopes and Big Bear Lake. On field is the Barnstormer Cafe, with good views of the runway and excellent food. A short walk from the airport is another popular restaurant called Thelma's.

If you have some favorite destinations to share, please send us a description and we will include them in future newsletters.

Have a fun flight and bon appetit!

From The Old Timer
by Harry McCoy

A LOVE OF MY LIFE
Part 21--1952

Flying with the Old Man had its interesting aspects. I learned a lesson early---he was not 'proficient'!!! I had asked my skipper about who did the flying and he left it up to me to decide. On an early trip to Van Nuys from China Lake, we took the twin Beechcraft and I suggested he fly. As usual, it was clear at China Lake, but socked in the San Fernando Valley so as he was flying down there, I got out the Instrument Approach Chart for Van Nuys and casually suggested he review the procedure. He looked at it for about 30 seconds, and handed it back to me. I was impressed!! Maybe he wasn't so out of practice! We arrived at Simi Intersection and we were right on top of the overcast which was only about 500 feet thick. He seemed to be doing OK, but all of sudden, he jerked the power off BOTH engines and dived into the overcast. All I could think of at that moment was those house size boulders right underneath us!! I applied full throttle on both engines and went into a climb back to over the overcast. I said "No, No, Captain, we don't descend until we reach the next intersection!!" (Where we would have been over Canoga Park and plenty of clearance.) I looked to see what his reaction was, but not a word. I gave it back to him as soon as we were on top again. I thought to myself, "This may be your last flight with the Old Man!" He continued to fly, with no conversation so I didn't know for sure how he had taken the correction. He apparently accepted it, it was never mentioned by my Skipper or the Old Man.

Another time we came back from North Island and he was flying the left seat of the R4D. We came into the pattern at China Lake. I saw him put on his glasses and peer down at the instruments, so I feel his eyesight wasn't too good. On the down wind we went up and down like a yo-yo, 2 or 300 feet each time. He got on final and took some power off, and started diving down. He was way too fast, but I let him go until he was about 50 feet off the ground. I realized he was going to PLANT this bird, one way or the other!! I reached over, pulled the throttles off and hauled back on the yoke. I can tell you, we met Mother Earth very solidly!!! As soon as the wheels hit the ground, I shoved the yoke forward and held it on the ground so it wouldn't bounce. The Captain seemed very unconcerned, in fact I'm not even sure he knew that I had done anything. He taxied in as if nothing had happened and departed the airplane, with his usual 'no conversation', My Plane Captain came up and said "Chief, come look at your tire". There was a split in the rubber about 15" long!! And the amazing thing is, the tire didn't go flat!!!!

To be continued...

Operations Report
by Bob Finnin

46404: Is working well and has not had any problems this month.

8788E: The panel light dimmer switch was replaced and is now working as it should. The wiring was found to have been disconnected and was rewired as necessary in order to allow the dimmer control to work properly.

3015U: The fuel seepage in the left wing tank has been repaired. The leak was caused because the sender flange had not being securely fastened. A new gasket was installed and the flange was refastened.

2904K: Is providing good service and has not had any problems this month. The GPS Data base has been updated and the aircraft is in top condition and ready to be flown.

Thanks for the help and fly safe!

From the Board of Directors
by David Cooksy

On January 3, 2002, the Coastal Fliers Board of Directors met to hear a comprehensive year end report from Treasurer, Terry Paik. Terry provided the 2001 year end statement of revenues and expenditures, operational expenses for each aircraft, a review of significant maintenance expenditures for each aircraft and an analysis of the cost of operating each aircraft.

This report provided strong guidance to the Board as the general membership considered the increase in assessment, dues and the hourly rate.

Terry also discussed the insurance policy for club aircraft with the following valuations and coverage being carried: 15U @ $80,000; 88E @ $55,000; 404@ $35,000; and 04K@ $105,000. As we learned at the general membership meeting, Terry anticipates that insurance rates will increase by 13% this year. As such, the Board will review the insurance policy throughout the year to ensure our aircraft are adequately covered.

The Board also discussed options to refinance 04K.

The Board also heard an operations report from Bob Finnin, and aside from some minor repairs, all club aircraft are in fine condition.

The Board continues to monitor club membership in an effort to have as many members actively participate as is possible.

Finally, the Board meeting was attended by club member Hal O'Neal, who is not a Board member but attended to participate in discussions preceding the general membership vote to increase rates. As always, any club member is welcome at the monthly Board meetings held the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at President Darrel Cook's home.

Treasure's Report
by Terry Paik

January 2002-Happy New Year!

Most of you will see a $50.00 charge under "Dues for period Member Share Increase" dated 01/10/02. Combined with the $50.00 "Assessment" charged in September, this will raise each Full Member's share to $600.00, as passed at the January General Meeting. The dues increase to $30.00 will take effect January 16, 2002.

As of December 31, 2001, we had $5,291 in the bank. December P&L net was -$1,257; YTD net was -$22,609. In the past 12 months we spent $58,136 in maintenance and repairs, including $19,208 for the engine overhaul in O4K and $5,414 towards the overhaul in 15U. This was a 42% increase over last year.

Insurance costs were 22% higher than last year, and there will be another 14% increase next year. Fuel costs were 15% more than last year even though the monthly flying average went down from 33.4 hours per month in 2000 to 30.0 hours per month in 2001! Tie downs also were 16% higher than last year.

The increase in dues will just cover our fixed costs. The increase in share price will help reestablish our reserve, however aircraft rates are being reevaluated. Overall service costs may have been underestimated and all planes did not fly as many hours as expected. We will be taking a serious look at all aircraft rates.

We are currently at 68 members; January A/R is $ $11,496; and we flew a respectable 122 hours last month (average 30.5).

Continuing on the bright side, the above coupled with a refinancing of our loan should put the club in the pink and on the road to recovery.

This all just goes to reconfirm the old adage: The more we fly, the cheaper we fly!

Here's to a happy and prosperous 2002!