June is moving out and July is moving in, and with that I am moving into the office of GM on a permanent basis. I want to thank everyone who participated in the process. There were some very good candidates who made it to the final five, and I am humbled by the fact that I was considered with this pool of talent, and even more humbled by the fact that I was chosen by the board to take this club into the future. I am awestruck in working for this club. It's an amazing place to be — from the time I first entered the SQL facility (the paint was still drying), to being accepted as a full-time flight instructor, to working as the Chief Pilot, to Director of Operations, to now. Whether I was hiding out planning my commercial long cross-country, eavesdropping on someone else’s lesson, or enjoying the stories and rhetoric, this place has always had a special quality I’ve never seen at any other FBO or flight school. It is with that care and meaning that I will continue to build for a long, productive and fiscally sound future. If anything, WVFC is about the community of flying, and even though people don't always agree on things, please know that my door is open and I look forward to all the input that can make this place even better.

I would also like to thank the outgoing board members for their help and hard work over the last couple of years. Patti Andrews as board Chair, Jim Schmidt as Secretary/CFI representative, and Dan Dickson, who is finishing up his second term; all of your efforts are well recognized and appreciated by those who surround the club. At times I am sure it seems thankless, and certainly for the last year and half especially tumultuous, but I would like all of you to know that there are many who are extremely appreciative of the time you have put in. I have enjoyed seeing your grins of relief over the past few weeks, which seem to reflect a universal sense that the baton is being handed on. Let's all welcome Richard, Ettore and Don who come in to take that baton and continue the good work that you all started.

As many of you know, the 2002 Annual Report is due to the membership this month. I would like to thank those of you who have signed up on the club’s website to Opt-Out-Of-Paper. This allows the club to save a lot of money for the non-invoice related mailings that go out. If you haven’t yet opted out of paper, but were satisfied with receiving the Annual Report via email, or have stopped by either front desk and picked up a copy, I encourage you to go to the member services page of the club’s website and fill in the quick Opt-Out-Of-Paper form to help reduce the cost of this mailing.

I’m happy to say that the judge did not grant the Petitioners’ request for an audit at the June 12 hearing. Rather, she accepted the club’s proposal to allow their CPA to meet with our Accounting staff to go over his questions and concerns. The many testimonials club members wrote to the judge may well have had an impact on her decision. While this was a good outcome for the club, our legal costs for responding to the Petitioners’ motion added another several thousand dollars to our debt. That’s not what we’d like to be doing with the club’s money, but the good news is that there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. What can you do if you want to help speed up the process of paying off our legal debts? Simple: get out there and fly. Every hour on the hobbs meter contributes positively to the club’s bottom line.

The committees are continuing in full swing. The participation has been down a bit and I would encourage any member who likes to gain input and insight to the goings-on of the club, or to offer suggestions, that the committees are a great place to go. If you cannot participate in the committees but would like to, please let me know the reasons why (email gm@wvfc.org) and let's see if we can accommodate you. Please see the Events Calendar for the schedule of committee meetings and other events. Speaking of which, the B&B Fridays will be changing around a bit in the month of July. As July 4th is a national Holiday, and many of the staff and CFIs will be on vacation, so will B&B Friday. B&B Friday will resume July 11th at SQL, and July 18th back at PAO.

I look forward to working with everyone to continue West Valley Flying Club's great tradition.

B&B Friday is moving to SQL on the second Friday of every month. We want you to join us for a fun, relaxing BBQ on Friday July 11th around 1700. There will be lots of airplane talk, so come by to hang out.

The air conditioner is now working great in our office in San Carlos. If you want to get away from your hot, sweltering apartment or non-air-conditioned house, please come hang out here to read a book, study for your rating, or just socialize.

The ground school here in San Carlos will start again on July 8th. For more information please email Molly Davis at molly_s_davis@hotmail.com or Lindsay Hanson at linsgrins@hotmail.com.

The Vertical Challenge was a big hit, almost 6,000 people came to San Carlos Airport on June 21st. The event was highlighted by a helicopter pyrotechnic show and a low-level fly-by of an Air Force F-117 Stealth Fighter.

The web cam that has been installed here at the SQL office can be viewed at our homepage, http://www.wvfc.org/index.html. In addition the web cams that are on top of the San Carlos control tower are now back on line: www.sancarlospilots.org

Another CFI is getting hitched! Einar Mikkelsen is getting married this month. Gratulerer! (This means congratulations in Norwegian.) Eric (front desk) and his wife just had a little baby daughter. We welcome Phil Martin back from his honeymoon, and Steve Gauvin from his vacation in Australia.

I will not be at the front desk for most of August and September. I will visit my family in Sweden and meet my niece for the very first time. I really look forward to this trip, but I will miss all of you.

Member observations:
Very good for this time period. We had three returns that were late. Please remember that you must call the desk if you are returning 30 minutes or more late.

We also had one parking incident: the member forgot that you must come to a stop adjacent to the parking spot, perpendicular to the spot.

It must be noted that in the past year there have been no claims against our insurance, and in the past two years there has only been $20,000 total in claims. I believe that phase checks and currency requirements have a great deal to do with these numbers. As a result of this low claim rate we actually had a second carrier competing for our business when our insurance came up for renewal this year.

Good News:
Thirteen solo or new licenses occurred this time period. Great job to all!

Board of Directors:
Three new members of the board were voted in. The staff wants to congratulate each one of them and welcome the opportunity to work with them. They are Don Styles, Ettore Leale, and Richard Terrill.

General Manager:
Josh Smith was selected from the remaining candidates. We welcome him to the position and will work to help him set us on a stable path.

All in all the summer looks bright and the club is ramping up. Our flight hours are improving and people are working to improve their skills. I have put on hold the bringing in of any new flight instructors until we see an increase in their activity. If anyone sees a shortage of flight instructors, please let the Chief’s office know and we will revisit this decision.

In late May an owner asked me to help him flight test his airplane and bring it back to San Jose. Since it had just had a new engine installed, we planned to fly over the airport for an hour, land, and have the mechanics look it over. Then if everything looked OK we’d bring it home.

The engine performed really well on run-up and takeoff. After establishing a positive rate of climb and with no runway left, we pulled the gear up. Shortly after passing 1000 AGL, we started picking up some pretty good thermals. Well, they’d have been good if we’d been in a glider. With the bouncing, we noticed that the HYDRAULIC light on the annunciator panel came on about a half a second once every 20 seconds or so. Since it was accompanied by the GEAR WARN light, I assumed it was simply the gear (which is held up by hydraulic pressure, not an up-and-locked latch) bouncing down because of turbulence, and the hydraulic system coming on momentarily to pull it back up. That idea disappeared forever when, after about 15 minutes of this, the hydraulic pump came on solid for about 5 seconds, and the pump circuit breaker blew.

Since circuit breakers actually pop based on heat, the best thing is to let the system cool for a few minutes before trying to reset the breaker. We let things cool off for about 5 minutes, reset the circuit breaker, and watched it blow again instantly. Just try to think of a word with more than four letters. Even worse, the gear was now neither up nor down, but somewhere in between.

A bit of system background now. When hydraulic pressure is removed from the gear system, and when the airspeed is below 90 knots, the gear is supposed to free-fall into the down and locked position. Ideally, this is supposed to be initiated by the pilot pulling a hydraulic release knob, after the plane is slowed below 90. In our case, the pressure was lowered by spewing all the hydraulic fluid around the underside of the plane, and we were about 160 indicated when it happened. Since the nose gear swings forward into the slipstream, it requires both the momentum of dropping from full up and the lower resistance of the slower speed to reach the locked position.

The manual gear lowering procedure is in the Emergency Procedures section of the POH, but in reality this wasn’t an emergency. By that I mean that action wasn’t required immediately, unlike pressure loss at altitude, power loss on takeoff, or fire in the cockpit. This was simply an abnormal situation; one in which we had plenty of time to verify the procedure, discuss alternatives, and agree upon exact roles and responsibilities.

The first order of business was to follow the manual gear extension procedure, so we slowed to about 85, placed the gear lever in the down position, and pulled the emergency release knob – nothing. This step also exhausted the material in the checklist, so we were on our own from there on.

Based upon our combined knowledge, we were pretty certain that we wouldn’t be able to get the gear down that way, but it was clearly the first thing to try. Now, however, we were into Plan B – which we already discussed. We were pretty sure that we could get the main gear to lock by yawing the plane and letting the force of the slipstream push the downwind wheel out to the locked position. That worked as planned – about time SOMETHING did! Now the nose wheel, and more discussion on how to get it down. The following ideas came immediately to mind:

1. Keeping the airspeed at 90, pull max Gs to force the gear down
2. Slow to 85 again, and pitch nose down suddenly to let the nose gear inertia hold the gear in place while the plane kind of rotated around it, thus locking it into place.
3. Fly a slow zero-G or even negative-G arc to let the slip stream force the gear upward, then pull max G at 90 knots or less to swing the gear down
4. With full flaps, slow to about 60, and try the pitch-down maneuver
5. Call the folks on the ground and advise them of the problem, and our proposed solutions – OOPS move that to number 1 on the list
6. Check to make certain that it isn’t a burned out gear light – double OOPS, let’s do that before we do anything else – maybe we don’t even have a problem

Summer here and the time is right for… Flying! With that in mind let’s talk about expectations of a rental aircraft.

When you approach an aircraft for the first time what are the things you observe? It’s pretty much all cosmetic at this point with the exception of the general attitude of the aircraft in regards to low tires, low struts or some kind of weight distribution issue. Mostly though, we see paint nicks and any thing that makes our plane look less than perfect. We have been trained as pilots over and over again to squawk any imperfections in our aircraft, as if that chipping paint on the cowling would cause the plane to drop out of the sky. While due diligence is very important this can be a nightmare for a maintenance dept.

We now have two forms in the Blue book for our aircraft.

The Condition Report is meant to be used for things that are really more cosmetic, annoying and pretty much anything that could be improved that DOES NOT AFFECT THE SAFTEY OR OPERATION OF FLIGHT. For example: plane dirty, control lock left out, paint chip on wing, added oil, gats jar missing, need rags, etc. etc. etc.

The Squawk Report is for items that are vital to safety of flight, conflict with the FARs, or should be addressed immediately.

This will include: Struts are flat, battery dead, radios inop, nav equipment inop, major structural anomaly (e.g. bird strike on left wing would be worth mentioning), flat spot on tire, oil leak, cowling latch broken, transponder inop, ELT inop/antennae broken.

The processing of these two items are totally different and by reporting discrepancies properly you can help MX:

1. eliminate wasted time by MX tracking down non-issue items, thereby freeing up an A&P to do other work.
2. Help owners lower costs (somebody’s gotta pay for that A&P to address it).
3. Help keep club costs down. The errant squawks means more work and processes that require more manpower.

First a bit of background, as it helps to make clear the way the checkride went, and also its outcome. As anyone who has been around me longer than 30 minutes knows, I’m quite the "type A" personality. I manage to pay attention to detail, and am fairly well organized, especially when it comes to things I care about. And since I want to make a career change into aviation, I care about it quite a deal! Secondly, I also don’t do things unless I can take the most challenging route I can find. Hence, in embarking on this private pilot adventure, I chose to do all my primary training in a taildragger!

The checkride really starts when you get your checkride appointment made, and you receive your XC assignment. But for me, mine started a few days prior to that. I was scheduled for my final phase check with another club instructor. The oral portion went well; the flight portion did not. And though I managed to not kill us, I also did some things that would have "busted" the checkride for me. The most important lesson I learned on that phase check is that I had not yet developed my Pilot In Command attitude. I was still thinking along the lines of a student in that "well, there is an instructor in the back, so it’s OK." This is key... there was no way I could take a checkride and expect that I would pass if I continued with this attitude. OK, so, how do I find that attitude in 7 days or less? I still had more flying to do to qualify, and I still had a ton of studying to do.

My studying was coming along. I knew I did well on the knowledge exam - I got a 97 after all. I met with a friend of mine who happened to be taking her checkride on the same day as me to quiz each other on the knowledge areas. Then I found out she got a 100 on her knowledge exam. Boy does that blow the confidence off the doors of a typical over-achiever! Gosh, am I "really" ready for this? So I study more. I take my books with me at lunch so I can get 20 minutes of study time in at work, and I’m reading them until late at night. I’m trying to remember all the things that I had long since forgotten from the knowledge exam - heck I took it 5 months ago. I keep looking at the clock, just wishing I had more time to get a few more topics mastered.

My next three flights were not anything close to the performance I would normally expect. My night XC (dual) was fraught with error, as if I never flew XC before. How did my CFI ever manage to sign me off if I flew like that? Then a solo pattern day that was just sloppy; I quit after 3 landings and a go-around, and because the weather was starting to threaten to go over my solo minimums. The next day was to be my last dual session with my CFI... try to knock some of this rust off! A failed mag check at runup prevented that flight. Now what?

I decided to book an hour with another CFI that I had flown with before for a previous phase check. However, this was the night before my checkride. I had a crazy day at work, preparing for my being absent the next day. I didn’t eat well, and was a bit tired. The winds were not my favorite: left crosswinds and squirrely ones at that. I managed to get two landings in and they weren’t pretty. I was toast. How was I ever going to take the checkride flying like that? Still, I had checked out the aircraft logbooks and reviewed them with the CFI. All was good there. So I left to go home and try to muster composure and confidence.

By the time I was home, I was a tear-streaming mess. My husband didn’t know what to do with me and I was mumbling in between sniffles "can’t... *sniff* do this *sniff*... check *sniff* ride...." The phone rang, I glanced at caller ID, and it was a fellow pilot girlfriend. I sniffed/mumbled/answered the phone. Shortening the story a bit here... I spent the rest of the evening on the phone. I talked to two friends who were pilots, and talked to my CFI. Each one of them knew exactly what to say to help me find the courage to walk in there and complete my checkride. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to get rid of my desire to call the examiner to cancel my appointment. They managed to say the right things to make me stop panicking that I had ran out of time to "know everything" and feel confident that I can fly, and fly well.

The next morning I rose at 6am. Made sure I ate a good breakfast and not tooo much coffee. I made my CFI promise to meet me at exactly 8:30 a.m. to sign the 8710 form. Sure enough, I got distracted by getting my Wx Briefing and recalculating my flight log and was 7 minutes late. At least the appointment wasn't until 9 a.m.! However, I walked in the door and lo and behold my examiner was there - already! I had heard about examiners being late, or not showing up at all, but to be 30 minutes early?!? I went over the 8710 with my CFI and had him sign both. Yes, I said both. Remember that type-A thing I told you about? Well, there had been some discrepancy as to whether the 2-page form should be printed with facing pages right side up or facing pages upside down. So I printed both. And I used the AOPA 8710 form generator (great tool, it types it all up neatly for you in a PDF that you can print). Then it happened. My examiner, John Pyle, walked over and asked if I was his applicant. Time was up - there was no stopping it.

Now, I had seen John around the club - he is also a flight instructor here. But the moment my CFI said he was going to become my examiner, I would freeze and clam up if John and I ever happened to be in the same room. He became inhuman (the dreaded examiner) and I could barely muster much more than a polite hello. So here he was walking straight towards me and all I can think is how am I going to stop being so nervous? Up until this point, I had only heard two things about John as an examiner: that he goes by the book and that he had a bug about checklists and insisted on only POH checklists. Other examiners in this area (at least for fixed-wing since John has been a DE for rotorcraft for quite sometime) have a ton of rumor mill about them and some even published their "hot buttons" on the internet. I had very little data about John so I had no idea what to expect.

Now we get started. We sit down and he asks to go through the 8710 form and have a gander at my logbook. While he is going over the forms, I ask him which 8710 he would like. I then explained the recent controversy and he said that he wanted the one printed with the facing pages upside down in relation to each other. Then I tried to make a bit of idle chit-chat but that didn’t quite make me feel less nervous so I stopped before I muttered something stupid. He then asks for ID. I proudly show him my driver’s license. The reason I say that is that about a month ago I got a letter from the DMV informing me that I needed to renew my driver’s license since it expired on my birthday, 13 days prior to the checkride. I paid my $15, and mailed it back, never once thinking about it again since I was so focused on this upcoming exam. The day before, I received my new driver’s license. Had I not remembered, I would have walked in that morning and it would have been all over. An expired license would never be allowed for ID and of course, I hadn’t thought about bringing my passport, just in case! Aviation gods were in my favor. At the end of the paperwork, I paid for the exam. John then told me that he had never received an 8710 completely filled out correctly and such that he didn’t have to make one correction, nor one entry. That made me feel a bit better - even though the test hadn't even officially started, my OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) got me through the first 2 minutes!

We then started on the oral portion. John looked up the two codes that were printed on my CATS test sheet for the two questions I missed on the knowledge exam. Then we reviewed the logbooks for the aircraft. From the night before with the CFI, I had flagged in each of the logbooks the pertinent annual, ELT and transponder inspections and ADs with small sticky notes so I could easily find them. I can’t remember the exact order but we then reviewed some FARs. Most I knew, and I only had to look up one or two in the book. Then we reviewed the flight log for my XC trip. He asked if we were a go or a no-go for the flight. At the moment we were a no-go, but I told him that at the break I would like to check DUATs again just to make sure since the TAFs indicated potential marine layer break-up around noon. He asked me some questions on the sectional chart with some scenarios which required lots of airspace knowledge, and some questions about the systems in the airplane and the prop (to satisfy one of the questions I got wrong on the knowledge exam). Then he asked if I was ready to take a break. Take a break? It’s only 10:30! He then let me know that the oral portion was over and that it was time for a break.

Then I broke into my "questions for John checklist." I asked him about the flight portion and whether he wanted me to simulate or do actual flight following and opening of my flight plan. (Simulated.) I asked if he wanted a full passenger briefing (to which he asked what I would say and I did my briefing right there.) I asked if he would clear the engine during any emergencies, and I asked him how he wanted to verbalize any transfer of controls of the airplane (standard three statement as prescribed in the PTS). Then I told him about the rumor of the checklists because I wanted to explain why I created my own. He chuckled because he is not that way at all. He prefers either POH, or something like CheckMate, or your own checklists that you create which are based on the POH. So much for that rumor… totally false! Now I started to feel like he was a human being and that this wasn’t about proving how I could fail, but more how we can prove together that I can retain my private pilot’s certificate (which according to the FARs, I technically have, I just have to prove I can keep it - my interpretation). He also told me that if at any point I don’t do well on a task, he will let me know right away.

We took a break. I sent a quick email to my husband while I ate a Cliff bar and checked DUATs over and over to ensure I got the latest weather. Then 45 minutes was up before I knew it and we were off!

Out to the plane to preflight. On the way out I noticed they were using the 13 runway. So I thought to myself: I will have to change my departure request and chances are it will switch to runway 31 before we taxi. Full fuel and preflight done, we both climbed aboard the Citabria. Got ATIS (still rwy 13) and clearance to taxi. On the way out I noticed the windsocks were pointed down the runway for 31, at which time I called ground and asked if they were planning on switching it. Negative. In fact the wind had been all around the compass rose in the past 20 minutes. GREAT! Wonderful conditions. We continued on. I did the run-up at the 13 end of the runway... lolli-gagging a bit and taking my time, all the while keeping my eyes on the windsocks. Not once did they deviate from favoring 31. Still aircraft were floating to the end, and taking off. Once I was done with the run-up, I thought I would try one last time. I called ground. "Ground, Citabria 374DM, if you guys are planning on switching runways in the next few minutes, I'd be willing to wait." "Citabria 4DM, we are actually about to do that; why don’t you taxi down to the 31 run-up area." *PHEW* There was no way I was going to take off with a tailwind and an examiner in the back!!!

Then we got clearance for takeoff and John asked for a normal take-off. Now we were on our way and I had to make sure I got to my first checkpoint on time. It was at this point that things started to turn sour, but I didn’t know it yet. I was determined that I was going to get to my first checkpoint on time. I decided to deviate from my flight log and remain below 3000' through Sunol pass. I then told John, that I was going to remain at 2500' until we were clear of the intersection since we opted to not get flight following. "Once clear of the intersection, I will start climbing," I told him. Then I got focused on making my first checkpoint. I was only 30 seconds off. So I started focusing on my second checkpoint. Then I remember that we didn’t have flight following at the time, and I needed to be sure I was watching for other air traffic. So I focused on that. So focused, in fact, that I completely blew the second checkpoint!! I got off course and had to correct and re-establish a fix on the GPS. At this point, I think I have blown it. I have lost timing on my checkpoints. I have to get to checkpoint 3 to restart my timing, and then wait until checkpoint 4 to reconfirm that I am on track! That was a good 15-20 statute miles from now! I braced myself when John started to speak. "Tell you what," he said. "If you get everything else correct, I will forget about this."

I asked if he would like to continue. And he said that he was going to take control of the airplane so I could put my hood on. We did hood work for a bit: some compass turns and recovery from unusual attitudes. Then he said to find a place to do some maneuvers. So I headed towards the fields just beyond the wind farm between Byron and Tracy. There we did steep turns, slow flight and power on and off stalls. That’s when I got an emergency. I was able to go through my engine restart checklists, identify where the wind was coming from, and set up for a landing. I talked through the engine secure checklist and what I would say on the radio. Then, I was asked to find a suitable spot for a Turn About a Point. So I told him that I was going to climb to 2000' to find a spot. He said he didn’t want me to use a house, and, "how about using one of those power poles over there." I said, "you mean those tall power poles over there?" and he confirmed. So I pause. Those power poles were about 300-400' and a ground reference maneuver is about 800'. There was no way I wanted to be only 400' away from a powerline if we had a real emergency. "Um, I’m not comfortable being that close to powerlines." So he said we could do it later. Now I wonder if that was a set-up, but I forgot to ask.

We headed over to Byron for some precision landings. Before we arrived, I was asked to divert to Oakdale and report my ETA and heading. Once that was done we continued towards Byron. I entered the pattern and there was another club Citabria in the pattern (53823). Somewhat comforting to have another club Citabria out there with me. So my first task was a soft field landing. On short final John says, "we will now pretend there are children playing on the runway." I exclaim, "we will?" OK. So I execute a go-around. Then on the second landing we do a short approach. I slipped the airplane so I could execute a safe landing. So far so good. I then get asked for a soft field take off and a soft field landing. The take-off was a bit side loaded, in my opinion, but I managed to get the plane off the ground and execute a landing. I was sure he was going to say something, but instead he asked for a short field take off and landing. On the landing, things were going along fine, but then on short final things got weird. I was convinced I was going to blow the landing. But then out of nowhere, the plane settled onto the runway and I made the first turnoff. I had no idea how that just happened, but it did. It was one of those famed moments I have been told about. So once again, the Aviation gods are on my side.

Then John asks me to pull the aircraft up to the run-up area on the left and get the airplane situated. "Oh no," I thought. This is where he tells me that something I just did was wrong and I get to re-take the checkride. So I pull the aircraft up and as I’m swinging it around, he asks me a question about airport marking signs. What? Kinda out of left field, but kinda not, and I resort to my "I know I have seen it before, but I can’t remember right this second, however it’s in the AIM." (Still expecting him to say that I messed up on one of the landings or something.) So then he said that he wanted me to go back to Palo Alto with a normal take off and landing and this time to contact NorCal Approach for flight following. I asked him about the Turn About a Point. He said he selected a different ground reference maneuver for the rectangular pattern and that I had satisfied that during the pattern work at Byron. Not believing my ears, I turned completely around in my seat and asked him, "Now you said that you would tell me right away if I had failed any tasks, right?!?" He replied, "That’s right". So I said, "alright, we are headed back to Palo Alto!"

So I wrote down a few frequencies and we took off towards Palo Alto. By this time a fire had broken out over the ridge in the direction of Livermore so we headed over towards the freeway before we headed west. I contacted NorCal and got flight following all the way back to Sunol. I picked up the ATIS and I was so pleased to hear that the wind was right down the runway on 31. I called Palo Alto on the inbound for landing. As we were entering the right 45, the tower updated the ATIS to be wind variable from 210-290 at 10. Now I knew the Aviation Gods had gone to oversee someone else! Left crosswinds made me nervous as heck, and variable direction to boot! How was I ever going to get us down safely? 1 go-around... 2 go-arounds... oh boy. I set up for the third, and on final I wondered to myself if I were so bold as to try a wheel landing. Then I told myself to wait until go-around 4 or 5 before trying that. So I set up again for another landing. Just over the threshold I see the sock sag a bit and I thought I might have a chance. So I did whatever it took (right Terry?) to keep the plane tracking the centerline. I had to get patient to let the plane settle down; I managed to get the plane on the ground just at the second turn-off but I let it go to the end of the runway. The tower asked if we were taxiing back to 31, and I let them know we were terminating. Then a friend of mine got on freq. to say "See ya, Torea" and I said "Later!!!" and we turned off the runway. Then I heard John clapping in the back and I just started laughing. I was so glad to have the plane on the ground! Ah, but it’s not over yet.

I contacted ground and started to taxi back. I quickly stopped, and checked the wind. The last thing I needed was a quartering tailwind nosing us over - *that* would bust the checkride!! Both hands were on the stick to make sure the ailerons were in the right position, but it was an uneventful taxi back to parking. I shut down the engine. I had never been more excited to shut down an aircraft engine in my life. We exited the aircraft and John congratulated me. I stayed to tie down the plane and he went inside to start on the paperwork.

Once I joined him, he finished filling out my temporary certificate. I asked him about examiner certification and he explained how it works. Then, as I was grabbing my things to go, he said he wanted to tell me something. I figured that he would tell me something that I should work on to become more proficient. Instead, I got one of the best compliments I could ever receive at this point in my training. He said that there was not one point during the checkride where he felt I was not in command of the aircraft. He said he felt comfortable as my passenger and that his job was to ensure that others felt as comfortable. I knew at that moment that somehow, someway, I had managed to find the Pilot in Command attitude that was necessary to a private pilot and demonstrate that accordingly on the checkride.

The checkride is quite an experience. I can’t imagine what it would be like (terror, actually) if I were not prepared and had I not been able to get the support the night before. In the 5.5 hours it took from start to finish, I truly became a private pilot, and John became a human being and friend.

-- Torea Rodriguez - PP ASEL

June proved to be a busy month with a descent turnout at most activities. Along with the standard events we hosted a fly-in to Marina, Mx Hangar Talk and a Landing Contest. If you have an event idea, we would love to hear from you (activities@wvfc.org) Feel free to contact us anytime - July is packed to the hilt and we have even left the Independence Day Weekend free! Remember to visit the Events page (http://www.wvfc.org/events.php) and/or the Club Calendar (http://www.wvfc.org/b/calendar.php) as there are some events we are planning that don’t have solid dates yet (but will soon).

JULY'S ACTIVITIES:

**B&B Fridays update**
Starting in July, the second Friday of each month (starting 11 July), B&B Friday will be held at San Carlos offices.

**Safety Seminar (PAO) Off-Airport Landings - 09 July 19:00**
Gordon Reade, Surviving Off-Airport landings.

**Refresher and Class Bravo Transition Clinic to O69 - 12 July 10:00**
It's time to dust off that logbook and start taking advantage of the long summer days ahead. Whether you're out of currency or just feeling a bit rusty, this one-afternoon Refresher Clinic will be a fun way to get yourself back in the cockpit in time for summer.  On July 12, WVFC CFIs will host a ground session at the PAO classroom, followed by a group fly-in to Petaluma (O69). CFIs will pair up with one or more members each for the flight, which will take us directly up through the San Francisco Class B airspace, giving members an opportunity to practice their Bay Tour skills. Basic flight maneuvers will be covered along the way, and we'll all have an opportunity to swap stories over lunch at Petaluma's famous 29'er Diner. West Valley CFIs are donating their time for the ground session. Members participating will pay the CFI they're paired up with for the approximately 1-hour flight, and will pay the hobbs time they put on the a/c. To reserve a place or to get paired up with a CFI, please contact Patti Andrews at whatsup@wvfc.org.

**Columbia Lunch - 13 July, Departure: 11:00**
Summer mountain flight to Columbia (022). Get your mountain checkout (BYOC - Bring Your Own CFI) or put your existing mountain checkout to use. Join your fellow members on a beautiful flight to Columbia. Flight is July 13 at 11:00 for a great lunch and walk around historic Columbia. Just an hour flight away, relive the 1800s in the Sierra Foothills. Come with family and friends or partner with other WVFC members. Don’t forget your cowboy hat! The town is a short 15 minute walk from the airport. To sign up, please contact whatsup@wvfc.org.

**Aerobatics Seminar - 19 July, 09:00-17:30 PAO**
Do you know what to do if your aircraft rolls upside down? Ever wanted to try loops? Join WVFC's Acrobatic CFIs in a day of discovery. 09:00 to approximately 11:30 will be a ground session which will cover unusual attitude recovery and basic acrobatics as well as aircraft familiarization. Starting at noon, we will have two aircraft available (Super Decathlon N102EC and Citabria N53823) for a 1 hour hands on flight - 8 flights available. If there is more demand, we will make slots available on Sunday for the flight portion. The cost of the seminar and flight is $50 + HOBBS time. To reserve a slot, please contact Torea Rodriguez at globug@mac.com

**Safety Seminar (SQL) High-Performance Aircraft Skills - 16 July 19:00**
Paul Kling, speaker. Topics discussed will include:

• flight envelopes for conventional and turbo-charged aircraft
• turbo-charged engine technology and management
• constant-speed propellers
• aero-medical effects of high altitude oxygen deprivation and use of supplemental O2
• HPAC rules of thumb
• how to avoid hurting yourself or the aircraft
• details of typical training and check out