Last week, I tendered my resignation as General Manager to accept a Corporate Pilot position flying a Pilatus. For the past 5 months I have been flying a Malibu Mirage for a local company, and when they asked me if I’d fly a Pilatus for them, I admit to putting my arm behind my back where it could easily be twisted. There are things I can resist, but this wasn’t one of them.

So, there are actually two types of transitions I’d like to address in my final GM article. The first is the current transition of club management, and the second is the transitions we all undergo in our flying careers.

My intent, in coordination with the Board of Directors, is to make the transition to the next GA totally seamless. For that reason I gave notice but didn’t specify an end date. The Board has begun supplying support already to ensure continuity of management during the transition, which will take a few months.

Mike Latzky will be the Acting General Manager, with the Board of Directors and I all supporting him in that role. So if you need help, have a concern or great idea, just call the club and ask for Mike. If he’s in the office, he’ll answer, or you may get me or a board member, but any of us will be happy to talk with you.

On the second topic, not all of us actually have the monetary kind of flying careers, but if we do it right (and we should, of course) we do have a career of sorts as we continue to develop our flying skills and knowledge. We HAVE to move on, or our skills stagnate, and even deteriorate. If we don’t continuously challenge ourselves, we do not improve. Not only we aren’t as good as we wish to be, we aren’t as good as we think we are. Sure, we can go months or longer without flying, and still make it around the pattern, but are we as far ahead of the plane as we are when we’ve flown every day for a week? Are we as far ahead of the plane as we are when we’ve flown a new category and class of plane, of a more complex plane for a while? Are we as far ahead of the plane as we are when we’ve worked specifically on a maneuver with the intent of perfecting it? Not a chance!

The point here is that our club is in a great position to help you move onward in your “career”, developing more skills, learning newer technologies, flying increasingly complex planes, and ultimately becoming a better, safer pilot.

Few clubs offer the diversity of planes we have. From the squirrelliness of our tail-draggers (though the tail-dragger jocks don’t think they’re all that squirrelly), to the new Cessnas and Pipers with the King and Garmin GPSs, autopilots with altitude pre-select features, we have a lot of options. We also have retractable-gear trainers and the to the high performance cross-country machines like the T-210, Bonanza, Trinidad, and Mooney. Where else can you fly a pressurized plane like the P-210?

Properly planned, flying the appropriate planes from this smorgasbord will allow you to develop your skills and become a better, safer pilot.

The past year and a half has been an ongoing period of excitement managing West Valley. The staff and owners are fantastic, the members are wonderful, are CFIs are absolutely tops. Thanks for all the help, all the ideas and suggestions - it’s been a heck of a ride, and I loved every minute of it.