I'm a pilot and a member of the best flying club around. I fly new and used airplanes that are maintained by the club. I have access to online scheduling and I can call the desk and have the person there help me. There are sixty flight instructors to help with my needs.

How does this all happen? It all starts by the generosity of the airplane owner who is gracious enough to lease back the plane that we fly.

The investment can be twenty thousand dollars or several hundred thousand dollars. For a small fee we have access to all of this.

As pilots, we need to think about the fact that the plane is owned, maintained and cared about by this owner. The plane represents an investment in money and in many cases sentiment.

When we take it out for the day or for a vacation, we are borrowing fellow pilots' equipment. Please remember the old adage that a borrowed item should be treated as one would want an item you owned to be treated.

The Chief's office has put into place many measures to help in the care of the owner's plane but only we, the renter, can insure that it is cared for properly!

Please think about the above when you use a plane from West Valley. It is important to care for someone else's property as if it were our own.

Fly well and have a great holiday!

Most of you who know me know that I'm a lifelong aviator. In fact, this is my 29th year as a pilot. Thankfully I'm not all that old just yet. I started flying when I was 16.

After a ten year hiatus from flying, during which I started a business that became Legal.com, Inc., I returned to West Valley in 1997 and resumed my career as an aviator by checking out in a Cessna 172 with Ken Frank. I had no idea then where that path would take me.

I had let my flight instructor's certificate expire years earlier, so I puttered away at updating my flying skills. A lot had changed during my hiatus, so there were new things to learn and old skills to be refreshed. In the meantime, I ran for and was elected to West Valley's Board of Directors and later became its Chairman, a position that I've held for the past three years.

West Valley has seen a lot of changes under "my" Board. Many, we hope, for the better and some in response to all the challenges that life can throw at us, the most recent being the recovery period following September 11th. One thing I wanted to ensure was a continuing flow of "new blood," fresh energies and ideas for our Board. So I lobbied for and won an amendment to the Club's Bylaws limiting a Director's service to two terms. My second term will end in mid 2002.

At the beginning of 2001 I mustered the courage to attempt something I hadn't done in two decades: I took a checkride (now they're called "practical tests."). By the grace of God, luck, Gary Twitty's professionalism (and kindness) I passed the ride and was, once again, a CFI. Who knows, maybe I'm even a competent pilot and good instructor, too.

Since then I've had the pleasure of flying several hundred hours with many of you, along with seeing and getting to know you at our various Board meetings and other events. I've also had the pleasure of expanding my contacts to include working with OurPLANE as their northern California representative, where I've enjoyed instructing in new Cessna and Cirrus airplanes.

This past week, after completing sophisticated simulator training in Florida where I made approaches to minimums and emergency descents from the flight levels, I renewed my night currency by flying a Citabria at Palo Alto with a West Valley CFI. With that I knew that I had my aviation career back - from turbine engines and flight directors to ragwing taildraggers in a single week. These are the things that make aviation what it is for us.

Last September 11th, of all dates, I was hired by Skywest Airlines. They just called to invite me to begin training on their Brasilia's right after New Years. Some day I look forward to piloting the Canadair Regional Jet for them.

I should also mention that my wife and I, after years of failed fertility attempts, traveled to Ukraine during November where we adopted two beautiful children ages 18 and 20 months. With the stroke of a pen after a Russian language court hearing (we had a translator), we were parents. Needless to say, some adjustments to our personal schedules became necessary.

Although I will continue to live in northern California, training at Skywest will take me out of the Bay area for several weeks at a time. During this time, West Valley will be making its transition to new management. In my opinion it is time for me to step down as Chairman so that my successor, who will work closely with the Club's new management in 2002, can settle into the office.

I have recommended to the Board that Mike Latzky be elected Chairman to succeed me. Mike has been my right hand man on the Board. He has served as corporate Secretary since first being elected to the Board a year and a half ago. Most importantly, Mike has the energy and ideas to take the Club to its next level. I thank you for all the support you've shown me, and ask that you extend your support to Mike as he takes the reins.

As I've learned in the past year, it's never too late to rejoin an old career or try a new one. The commercial pilot's license is an easy one to get ... so why not do it? Once you have a commercial license, why not do something rewarding like become a flight instructor?

There will always be room for another good CFI who loves flying and enjoys working with people. Someone said that they didn't want flying to become work. Well, I've been at it for 29 years and it has yet to seem like work. In fact, I just remembered that I'll have a birthday by the time you read this. Make that thirty years. God Bless.

-- Dave Alden