Flugtag – what a crazy event that was. Our primary mission was first and foremost to have some fun, a close second was to get some good publicity for the club, and last but not least to see if we could actually get something to fly off of a 23-foot-high pier. For those who do not know, the Flugtag is a yearly event sponsored by Red Bull in various cities throughout the country. West Valley competed with 33 other contestants to see who could build the most creative and flyable machine.

Well, our first goal was achieved. Red Bull does a great job of sponsoring the event, and the West Valley team and members who came out all seemed to have a great time. There were certainly some doubts as Joel, Don, Lindsay, Molly and I looked down at the 23-foot plunge into the swampy abyss known as the SF Bay. However, aside from a bloody nose and a few bruises the team remained injury free.

As for the second goal, 30,000-40,000 people showed up to view the event. We were prepared with glossy one-page club flyers (thanks in great part to Laine and Ettore), and handed out several hundred of these. We had some great interaction with people who showed a genuine interest in discovering such a large and cool flying club in the Bay Area. Hopefully some of those people are already represented in the “new members” list below.

Finally, how well did we fly? Our total horizontal travel was about 9 feet. We had hoped to go 9.5. But the machine looked cool, and what made it all worthwhile was a quote from a kid in the audience who, when asked what his favorite part of the event was, said, “I really liked the Hot-Rod that didn’t fly.” Kid, that face plant I took in the Bay was for you. Special thanks go out to whole team. Don, Joel, Molly and Lindsay, you guys are awesome, and we salute your efforts. Here’s to next year and the next wacky design we can come up with.

The new planes… oh how fun they are. As many know we have been actively getting access to Cirrus aircraft on the WVFC flight line. This has definitely been a good thing for the club, but it has not come without some growing pains. As those of you who have already flown in the aircraft know, both the SR20 and the 22 are the latest in technology and operational design. Both the SR20’s have full glass panels and more helpful avionics than you can shake a stick at. The aircraft is extremely responsive to the controls, and the traditional yoke has been replaced by an ergonomically-placed side stick that is both funky and intuitive once you spend some time with it. We are grateful to have them on the line and are looking to bring more on as soon as it is sensible to do so.

There have been, as Ken laments, some “teething issues” in regards to these planes. They are not in the least your father’s Oldsmobile, and as a consequence have suffered through some technological challenges as well as learning curve issues. Issues have surfaced from all aspects of aircraft use – MX, instruction, the manufacturer, and invariably the renter as well. Examples of this range from something as mundane as proper door closure technique to the all important mag check, both somewhat out of alignment with what we have been trained to expect for so many years.

What are we doing to ensure both maximum availability and that renter CFIs and MX staff are consistent in their knowledge of the aircraft’s functionality? WVFC MX has been in close contact on issues, and have been creating more fluent communication channels. Cirrus has provided on-line training for our MX staff, and we will more than likely sending a tech to Duluth for hands-on training. In addition, we have negotiated to become a limited Cirrus service center in order to provide better Warranty service for member-owned Cirrus aircraft. On the flight training front, Ken Frank, our Chief Pilot, has put together a consortium of the club’s most senior Cirrus-qualified CFIs to create Cirrus-specific training and phase check packages. Phase checks, albeit cumbersome at times, have been solid guides in setting consistent expectations and evaluating consistent teaching methodologies for exotic aircraft types. Walter Connelly and Dave Schoebel, the local Cirrus reps, have been extremely helpful in gaining us greater access to the powers-that-be in Duluth, and I will continue to seek out productive relationships with new and prospective owners who would like to put their aircraft on leaseback. Based on current negotiations, the fleet of Cirruses should grow by the beginning of 2004, along with other new and exotic aircraft within the club.

Finally, I would like to draw attention to the membership survey results posted on the website. I really appreciate the feedback received from all who took part. We are going to try to combine this feedback with some random queries by members around the club. In general, results show that members are viewing the club in a much more positive light. Members feel the club is either doing well, going in the right direction, or has improved greatly in the last 6 months. The legal battles are closed, and the club’s outlook for the future is very positive. One clear measure of this, shared at the October Board Meeting, is the club’s Aged Payables report. This went from $157,221 in October last year, to $11,393 in October this year. Both numbers exclude Legal and revolving credit lines. Thanks to everyone involved for the great teamwork that has helped us accomplish this.

Please remember, as always, that all members are invited to stop by to visit, or email me directly, if you would like to chat about how you feel the club can best improve. Thanks for your ongoing support.

Last month was rather beneficial for WVFC members. For one, the fuel surcharge has been removed and we can all enjoy regular rental prices again - a pleasant change, especially with all the sun and fun we have lately.

Another significant improvement is, of course, the new telephone system that has been praised highly by everybody. Every WVFC employee can now be reached directly, without excessive search-and-notify operations from the Front Desk. To reach WVFC Accounting please call PAO Headquarters at 650-856-2030 and then dial the extension for the person you need:

• Roy Estrada - WVFC Accounting/Human Resources Manager - x301
• Alex Hansen - Club Membership Coordinator/Accounts Receivable - x302
• Justin Warren - Data Entry and Customer Service - x304

Good News:
13 soloes and new ratings to celebrate this month - see the Accomplishments section below for these and other items from the Good News Book. Congratulations to one and all!

Member Observations:
Student solo @ PAO; Dent in rudder; Dent in right wing flap; Master left on; Landing on dirt prior to runway; right excursion off runway into sign; Bald spot on tire (x5!)

Please remember that it is not necessary to make the first turn-off after landing. The lack of planning by the person landing behind you is not your emergency. You own the runway until you exit it! The tower asking you to exit at the next intersection is a request, not an order. Hitting the brakes will flatten the tire, and tires cost $100 to $200 each.

On 10/29/2003 Nick Ulman and I had a meeting with the Cirrus representatives, the five Cirrus phase check pilots, our head maintenance person, our general manager, and some Cirrus instructors. We are attempting to gain as much information on the Cirrus as possible. Nick will be putting together a packet so that we are all on the same page, and this info will be forwarded to all club Cirrus pilots.

Several years ago, while I was on one of my active duty periods as an Air Force Reservist, I was sitting at the lunch table with a bunch of other Colonels talking about golf. I have attempted the game about three or four times, and anyone who's seen me will claim I can't play golf. Now, I really don't consider golf to be a waste of time, but on the theory that I'd rather fly than play golf, I offered that one day when I can't fly, I'd learn to play golf. One of the Colonels said, "You can't learn to play golf in a day. It takes years to learn to play well, and a lifetime to master." In a bit of uncharacteristic restraint, I didn't say that some people are just slow learners. But the more I thought about that, the more golf seemed to be like flying.

Both require knowledge of a set of complex rules - some of which may seem arbitrary and not easily derived from any kind of logic. Both require development of a set of motor skills that need to be adapted to a variety of situations. Yet there is a difference, I think (aside from the fact that it is more difficult to kill yourself and your entire foursome playing golf).

Some of my students (and others) that are avid golfers may claim that I don't know what I'm talking about in the following claim, and they may be right. But it seems to me that flying requires a greater depth of technical knowledge if one wants to master it, or even to fly well.

Whence comes this knowledge? During primary flight training, or most of the time one is working on a rating, it comes from ground school, the ground portion of the various lessons, and from the study material. It's later that we all get into trouble. Do we remember all the material we used to know? Do we remember it well enough that we could teach a lesson on it? Even those of us who fly regularly enough to hone motor skills have difficulty staying on top of the FARs and the AIM, to say nothing of the more technical stuff like weather, aerodynamics and aeronautical decision-making models.

There is a forum for this knowledge: the unfortunately misnamed Safety Seminar. I'm absolutely certain that many pilots are driven away from the Safety Seminars because the name reminds us of a few of the dumber lessons we had in driver's education. And yet, there is a lot to learn in these seminars. Topics have included "How to Pass a Checkride," Space Shuttle Technology for the General Aviation Pilot," "Flying the Bay Tour," "Stalls and Spins," and "Transitions to Larger, More Complex Aircraft." None of these is strictly a safety topic. Yes, we're probably going to be safer pilots because of the material covered in any of these seminars, and we all want to fly safely, but perhaps we should be thinking of these as "Knowledge Seminars" or "Toolbox Seminars."

Our family and friends (as passengers) and the rest of us (because we share the sky with each other) rely on each other to keep our knowledge current and even growing. There is some really interesting equipment out there. FARs and airspace change. New techniques are being developed for emergency procedures. Seminars that address all these subjects meet twice a month at West Valley - once each at PAO and SQL. And they're FREE.

Not only that, but if you remember to pick up the blue FAA form, and you fly with an instructor three times in the subsequent year (which you should be doing anyway for proficiency), you can earn a WINGS Phase, which qualifies you for a flight review and earns you a month's free WVFC membership.

It is anything but easy to find. Fame is normally well-advertised - signs, posters, marks on the road maps, the whole 9 yards.

But he hated it.

The guy who used to be known as Lucky Lindy and Slim to US Mail Service Pilots in the first quarter of the last century, made his final take-off from one of the islands in the middle of the Pacific. He took special care to make it as minor an event as possible, and evidently he left strict orders to avoid any advertising in the future. On August 26, 1974, a small funeral procession passed by some tourists visiting "seven sacred pools," and none of them had any idea who was being interred at this small, parochial cemetery.

The only sign you can see from Hana Highway says "Hana Stables." The "highway" is an exaggeration itself, but if you follow the even narrower drive past the stables towards the ocean you come to a small unpaved parking lot under the trees near a little church. There's nobody there to answer your questions, so you just keep going and hope you are in the right place. The cemetery is tidy and green, rolling from under the trees onto a lawn overlooking the ocean, with the Big Island of Hawai'i floating above the clouds in the East. Keep looking around, and there he is…

The stone says Charles A. Lindbergh, and gives the dates for the beginning and the end of his journey. It also lists a quote: "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea…"

Nothing can be more fitting for the man who, 76 years ago, took off toward the sunrise in an aircraft with an empty weight less than the load of fuel it carried, and 33.5 hours later landed on the other side of the Atlantic in the most visited city of the world. In the world of aviation there are very few names equally known or accepted.

It is hard to tell what you feel standing over the hero's grave. It is even harder to tell why you would want to visit it. After all, Lindbergh hated publicity. But he took off into Forever, and this is the spot where he touched the ground for the last time. It's peaceful. Smooth. Nice take-off. You would expect it from a pilot who was the very heart and soul of aviation and planned everything so perfectly…

I guess the most important part of any hero's message is this: Human achievement cannot be taken away. Once it is done, it is indestructible. Even if it is small, even if it hasn't been witnessed, even if it is forgotten - the achievement is somehow out there.

So don't think too much about whether it is worth your while to spend time, effort and money on flying. It might not be practical, and you might never become a test pilot, a 747 captain, or win the Orteig prize. None of that matters. Once your wheels are off the ground, once you add depth to the picture and gain altitude - you are in the same element that so many heroes touched before you. Keep taking the wings of the morning.

As I stood there, a bright butterfly settled on the gravestone, opening and closing its wings, minding its butterflying business. I could not help thinking she might have been a spirit somehow akin to the Spirit of St. Louis.

A few years ago I was talking with a co-worker who had just taken his instrument checkride in an Archer. When I asked him how it went he paused, and then replied, "Well..."

He had departed his home field in the Bay Area and was headed through Sunol Pass. Suddenly his plane was hit by a wake turbulence vortex from a commercial airliner that had passed just above his altitude a minute earlier. He found himself being rolled before he knew what hit him. He tried to stop the roll but was unable to fight the force of the vortex. His examiner suggested that he "follow through the roll;" fighting it clearly wasn't working. I'm sure it wasn't quite that simple, and probably not very pretty, but the Archer did roll out. He and the examiner not only survived the encounter, but the examiner insisted that they continue the checkride.

I think about this event from time to time, such as when I encounter turbulence near mountainous terrain, or when I'm in an area near large, slow aircraft with plenty of opportunity to hit wake turbulence. I wonder how I would respond in a similar situation. Would I have enough presence of mind, training, and experience to react as required? Or would I be so overwhelmed by the situation that I would end up in the "On The Record" section of Flying magazine?

I had often thought about obtaining specialized training in unusual attitudes, but had never found a combination of location, aircraft, instructor, and curriculum that really fit my needs or comfort level. Then recently I started noticing ads and articles about a course offered by Wayne Handley to "instill confidence" and make you "bulletproof in every conceivable unusual attitude." The course uses his Extra 300L and takes place above his own airport, Metz, near King City. Not only were the aircraft, location and curriculum what I was looking for, but I had absolute confidence that no matter how badly I might screw up, Wayne Handley had the experience to get me out of trouble. I had finally found my course and instructor!

For those of you who might not already be familiar with Wayne, he is a former naval aviator, ag pilot, aerobatic champion, and airshow performer. His web site, www.waynehandley.com, lists his awards, world records, flight experience, and other accomplishments, which are far too numerous to mention here. This site also contains details about his course and seminar series, including pricing and contact information.

The course syllabus is easily adapted to the individual pilot's needs but, in general, covers the basics (slow flight, steep turns, stalls, slips, skids), unusual attitudes (spins, extreme bank angles, inverted flight), and aerobatic maneuvers (various rolls, loops, Cuban Eights, Split-S, Immelman). It is complete and rigorous enough for a seasoned ag pilot, corporate/airline pilot, IAC competitor, airshow pilot, or military pilot, yet flexible enough for a typical general aviation pilot.

In my case, I had no prior aerobatic experience and only 2 hours in a tailwheel. In addition, I have a low tolerance for even simple maneuvers, such as stalls and spins. I was therefore a bit apprehensive about flying with someone who lives and breathes aerobatics. After discussing this with Wayne, he indicated that it shouldn't be a problem and that he would be happy to tailor the pace and content of the course to meet my needs.

I arranged with Wayne to fly with him on three consecutive days in the middle of September. I commuted by WVFC aircraft each day between Palo Alto and King City, where Wayne would meet me at the airport. Metz is unpaved, and therefore normally off-limits to WVFC aircraft. His course includes a total flying time of approximately 3 hours, spread out over 6 flights of approximately ½ hour each. He often works with more than one student at a time. This works out well since most of us do not have the same tolerance for extended exposure to such rigorous flight as Wayne. You get a welcome chance to rest and "recover" while he is flying with someone else. Briefings and debriefings are intermixed as appropriate.

My first day began with a briefing on the Extra and some key points about flight, G-forces, rudder, etc. We then headed out to the plane for familiarization before the flight. I knew that I was in for something different when he instructed me on the basics of parachute operation and fitting (parachutes are required when doing acrobatic maneuvers). We were soon strapped in and starting the engine.

It was clear, even while we were still on the runway, that the Extra was going to be very different compared to the aircraft I normally fly. The acceleration alone was impressive, pushing me back in my seat more than usual. Once airborne, the climb rate caught my attention; the Extra climbs so fast that you don't normally climb out using Vy. If you did you'd overshoot pattern altitude in about 15 seconds since you can climb at nearly 4,000 fpm! The other thing I noticed almost immediately was how responsive the Extra is. With my hand on the stick, about all I had to do was think about which direction I wanted to go and the plane responded instantly.

This first flight was my opportunity to play with the aircraft and get familiar with the controls, instrumentation, climbs, descents, steep turns, stalls, and slow flight. I was intrigued by extreme bank angles and experimented with them a bit. Wayne also demonstrated some maneuvers that I might be learning on future flights. If we had followed the syllabus closely I would have already learned a few aerobatic maneuvers by the end of the first lesson - aileron roll, loop, ½ Cuban Eight, spin recovery - but I probably would have also left my breakfast in his plane. My pace was clearly going to be slower than the syllabus, but that was fine with me and Wayne was very understanding and accommodating.

Like all flight instruction, in later flights we reviewed many maneuvers from previous lessons and then added new maneuvers and ideas. Once I was doing aileron rolls, I transitioned to 2-point rolls, 4-point rolls, and short-duration inverted flight. Later, we added loops, take-offs, landings, spins and spin recovery. Wayne also demonstrated some maneuvers for me, such as flat spins, that I wasn't quite ready to do myself. We made good use of my 3 hours.

It was never my goal to become an aerobatic pilot; I simply wanted to become more familiar, more comfortable, and more experienced with unusual attitudes, and to become a better pilot. This course was wildly successful in helping me achieve these goals. And, much to my surprise, I found that while I still became queasy at times, I actually enjoyed the aerobatics.

I would highly recommend this course to all pilots who want to improve their skills and expand their flying experience. Wayne is not only a very experienced pilot, but he is also a very good teacher and has a way of making even a "simple pilot" feel at ease, which further enhances the learning experience.

You might be wondering how my co-worker's instrument checkride turned out. Well, he passed. And you thought your checkride was stressful!

If you have any questions about my experience with Wayne I would be happy to respond to email sent to wirish@coyotehillconsulting.com.

The cost of this course is currently $1400. This includes a minimum of 3 hours of briefing and debriefing, approximately 3 hours of flight time, and the use of his Extra 300L. Wayne can be reached at wayne@waynehandley.com. For more details, check out his web site at www.waynehandley.com.

Bay Area Seminar and Hands-on Flights

For pilots interested in spin and unusual attitude recovery, Wayne offers a 2 hour ground-based seminar. This seminar has been very enthusiastically received at other locations, such as Pine Mountain Lake, and costs approximately $25 per person. A local seminar would be held at either the Palo Alto or San Carlos airport. Attendees would have the option of a half-hour flight with Wayne that same day or the following day (or two) for $200 per flight. These flights would occur at either the Byron or Tracy airports due to various airspace issues. Please let me know if you are interested in attending this seminar, or associated flight, sometime in the next few months. If there is enough interest, I will pursue arrangements with Wayne.

**REMINDER** Flight Achievement Competitions **REMINDER**
It's the final month to get all those qualifying flights in for the Flight Achievement Competitions. Prizes for these competitions will be awarded during the Holiday Party on 13 December. Tally up those logbooks and FLY!

The 7 categories are:

• Greatest Radius - Short Distance
• Most Airports - Long Distance
• Most Landings - Day, Night, Total
• Longest Distance Flown in a Day
• Greatest Total Flight Time in WVFC Aircraft
• Most Supportive Spouse
• Most Student Achievements - WVFC CFIs Only