Presidents Corner
by Darrel Cook

The Club is finally seeing the light at the end of a very long tunnel. With all of the expenses we have had, it has tested the club, and with lots of work and a few adjustments we are looking good for the upcoming spring. Part of this recovery is the increase you see in this month's statement that has been mentioned before.

Soon, if not already, 88E will be back on line with a new Lycoming engine. So go on out and give it a try. Also come on out on March 13th to the quarterly plane wash. The participation recently has been great - lets keep it going. With more people helping, we can do more to help keep the airplanes in great shape.

I hope everyone received the email about Instrument Overhaul's banquet at the Aerospace Museum on the 6th of February. If you haven't updated your email address in schedule master, you may want to. Increasingly, we send out notices and reminders of last minute events. Your current email address is also a fast way to communicate schedule changes and aircraft status updates.

Airspace Change!

If you haven't been flying in a month or so, don't forget that Ramona is now a tower controlled field. Be sure to check the appropriate flight publications for specifics on operational changes around and within this new airspace. Contact Flight Service for updates before your next flight.

From The Old Timer
by Harry McCoy

A LOVE OF MY LIFE
Part 36--1955

We towed for the P2V Neptunes the Navy had for Patrol Bombers. They were equipped with a nose turret, a top turret, and a tail turret. Our job was to tow the banner past all 3 of them on one run for their practice. We would climb to about 1000' above and slightly behind the P2V and then make a dive, so it was no problem for us to be plenty fast to pass them. Our speed on our dive usually was around 250kts. It needed to be fairly fast to be realistic for the gunners. All this was fine but there was a slight problem, and that was high speed stalling in the steep turns. I completed quite a few runs when on one run after I passed the tail turret, I wrapped that JD into a 45 degree bank because I was drifting away. I used too much back pressure and I high speed stalled the aircraft. Man, did that airplane shake! It startled me and I immediately released the back pressure and it went back to flying normal. It was my first experience in high speed stalls. I looked back into the bomb bay and there was oil coming in from the right wing. I checked with my beebe stackers and they were OK, but said they had been thrown around and were a little black and blue. I decided that was enough, and I cancelled the rest of the time on the basis of my oil leak. We made it back to Fallon and the oil leak was just a fitting that had loosened.

RCA was the builder of the radar gun controls, so they had a Technical Representative from the company that rode along with us to observe how the jets were doing. One of them was an ex-sailor who had gone back to college and now worked for RCA - and was living in the Skipper's house at Fallon. (Long way from sailor life!) One day he said to me, "I want to check out as your co-pilot, you don't do anything!" I was a little taken aback, but I agreed. So as soon as I started the engines, he did everything else. We went to 15,000 feet, towed targets and he had to make all power settings, shift blowers, adjust oil coolers and cowl flaps and control mixtures. As we taxied in he exclaimed that he didn't have time to look at any of the airplanes! "How do you do all that?" I reminded him that he said "You don't do anything!".

To be continued...

Safety Corner
by Richard Bartlett-May

Are You SAFE?

Over the past couple of months we have talked about preflight decisions, flight planning and paperwork. Now lets check to see if we personally are up to the flight.

We are all familiar with the acronym I.M.S.A.F.E. It is an assessment of the pilot's condition before flight. Let's look at each of the letters individually.

I = Illnesses. Do you have any illnesses, a cold, or severe allergies that would inhibit your decision-making capabilities or motor skills? If you do, you probably should not be flying.

M = Medications. Are you taking any prescription or non-prescription medication? Prescription medication needs to be cleared by your Aviation Medical Examiner (AME). Non-prescription medication, although it may not cause any adverse side effects while you are firmly planted on terra firma, may cause adverse side effects at altitude. Non-prescription medicine also needs to be cleared by your AME.

S = Stress. Are you under any kind of stress? Did you just lose your job, are you going through a divorce, do you have an extremely sick child? If so, you should not be flying, as your mind will not be focused on the tasks at hand.

A = Alcohol. How long has it been since you had your last drink? Remember the eight-hour bottle-to-throttle rule. In addition to that don't forget the 0.04% blood alcohol content. Even though it has been longer than eight hours since your last drink, depending on how much and what you drank, your blood alcohol level may still be higher than 0.04%. And I don't know about you, but I don't even want to walk with a hangover let alone do something like fly.

F = Fatigue. Were you up early and worked all day and now you're planning a three-hour flight at 0'Dark-30? Were you awake all night tossing and turning, thinking about that important meeting with that client that you have to meet tomorrow, which requires you to be airborne by 6:00 a.m. to meet him at 11:00 a.m.? Are you really as sharp as you could be?

E = Emotions/Eating. Are you mad because you just had a fight with your boss? When was the last time you ate? If you are planning a four-hour flight and plan to be airborne by 3:00 p.m. and you haven't had anything to eat or drink since 7:00 a.m., watch out. The combination of being low on hydration and having low blood-sugar levels can set you up for extremely poor performance.

Fly safe, fly often.

Operations Report
by Bob Finnin

I am pleased to report that all aircraft are in top shape and that the engine replacement on 88E is moving along in good fashion.

The nose wheel shimmy on 04K has been repaired by replacing the bent axle. It has been flown and no shimmy was detected.

15U is running extremely well and I have had good reviews from all who have flown it since the new camshaft was installed.

Please make sure that you refuel the aircraft after you fly them as I have noticed that some of the planes have not been refueled. This is exclusively the pilot's responsability, only common courtesy to the next pilot and is appreciated by all of us.

Thanks for all the help keeping the planes looking great and fly safe!

From the Board of Directors
by David Cooksy

Most of the January meeting business was routine. Some of the exceptions were:

Most of the insurance monies for 04K repair have been received except for "wear and tear" items. These include: $500 deductible, $500 new propeller (deal!), $1251 misc. engine wear including a cracked gear. Total: $2251.04

Member share increase takes affect Jan 16th 2004 and will appear on February's bill. This will go a long way toward building up our reserve fund for unanticipated expenses and aircraft equipment upgrades.

Operations Report:

88E: Working well. It will be off line for engine replacement (estimated) from Jan. 19 through Feb. 12, 2004.

15U: Back on line and very smooth. Test flight indicated no problems. After start and run up, climbed out at 76 kts. and 2300 rpm. Flew around the pattern above the field and then returned to So. Cal. for inspection and all appeared to be tight. No oil leaks or other obvious problems. Some numbers comparing the engine tach with the optical tach. (The optical tachometer is considerably more accurate.):

04K: Appears to be running well. Had a comment about a front wheel shimmy, but no one has complained about it lately. Will continue to watch it and have it looked at if any further complaints come in.

404: Replaced starter solenoid. No other problems this month.

Treasure's Report
by Terry Paik

As of December 31, 2003, we had $6,688 in the bank. December P&L net was
-$13,904; YTD net was -$18,150. However, this past year we paid $8,300 for 88E's paint job and approximately $15,000 for the engine overhaul on 88E. We also had unforeseen engine expenses on 15U and 04K! So, we actually did pretty well financially.

We've been able to pay all our bills and still maintain a very small reserve. The increase share price and reimbursements from Avemco Insurance should put us in great stead for 2004. A/R balance is $22,800 and we are at 68 members.

Last month we flew a surprising 102 hours considering two of our aircraft were out for a significant portion of the month. Overall, last year's monthly average flt. hours were:

This is the lowest of the past 5 years.

On a related issue; it is vital that all of your personal flight information is kept current. If not, you may not be able to schedule our aircraft. Please verify your personal information on the top of your bill. Also, please update your own information in Schedule Master, especially your email address. If we you don't keep us current, don't blame us for not communicating with you.

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