Welcome to autumn. The temps get a bit cooler, the night seems to come sooner and flying hours seem to drop down a bit. The club is entering the winter in a good financial position. Our debt is lower than it has been in several years, and we are entering the Fall flying with a positive balance sheet. This is a first time I have seen that in quite a while.

There is a normal cycle to the business of flying that keeps planes rotating in and out of the club. A normal business span for a typical aircraft is about four years. This allows the owner of the plane a good depreciation cycle, as well as the opportunity to either sell or roll his or her investment into a newer or different type of aircraft. As we enter the slower flying season I will not work as aggressively to replace those aircraft that leave. In essence, we will allow the fleet number (particularly in primary trainers) to drop down a little in order to provide better cash flow for those owners who remain with the club. Then, in the spring, we will ramp up based on predictions about those aircraft we will need to sustain predicted growth.

I know it can be disappointing to see one of your favorite planes leave; it is kind of like losing a trusted friend. However, I will continue to work to provide the appropriate balance of aircraft to enable us to meet our mission.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the membership survey. This information helps to set the guidelines for business planning, and aforementioned fleet design. We received 131 responses. This gives a sampling of over 10%. This will be followed up by man on the street surveys, with data shared at the October open board meeting.

A final note on Maintenance. Some of you may have noticed a slow down in MX productivity. Some of the typical inspections and squawk work has been taking longer than normal. In short, Maintenance got hit with an unpredicted drop in staffing due to unpredictable circumstances. We have recently added three new employees to our staff, and we may be adding a couple more depending on flight hours. This should help pick up the slack and get us back to our normal schedules. Particularly, our thoughts go out to Sarah Russell, aka "Sparky." Sarah was in a motorcycle accident recently and is now recovering at home. Sarah works on all of our aircraft compliance records, estimates, and is a very large part of our success in MX. Brooke and Don are working extra hard to pick up the slack. I appreciate all that MX is doing to keep up with the flow.

We are working with several owners to come up with a winter promotion to inspire people to attain their instrument ratings; keep an eye on the member pages for more information.

Thanks for your support.

Here is my view of the important changes to the Instrument Rating Practical Test Standard now current as of October 1, 2004.

Recovery from unusual attitudes no longer has to be without benefit of the attitude indicator.

Straight & Level, Change of Airspeed, Constant Airspeed Climbs and Descents, Rate Climbs and Descents, and Timed Turns to Magnetic Compass Headings are all eliminated as individually evaluated tasks.

Steep turns are eliminated.

The autopilot (if one is installed) should be used as you would use it on an actual IFR flight. It will be disabled for one of the nonprecision approaches.

Nonprecision approaches (NPA) are a big topic:

There are still two nonprecision approaches required.

If there is an autopilot in the airplane, one NPA will be coupled. The other NPA will not be coupled.

If the aircraft has an IFR approach approved GPS, then one of the NPAs should be a GPS approach. Make sure that the database is current prior to takeoff!

One of the approaches must include a procedure turn or an RNAV (GPS) Terminal Arrival Area (TAA) procedure. In most cases, I think the TAA requirement will be satisfied if the first waypoint crossed is an Initial Approach Fix (IAF). In the case of the Tracy VOR or GPS A, I believe a vector to ECA (the IAF) would not suffice as a procedure turn or TAA. Only one NPA could begin with vectors to final.

One of the nonprecision approaches must be without the use of the primary flight instrument(s). In most airplanes, this would be the normal partial panel; that is, no attitude indicator and no heading indicator. In an "advanced technology" airplane, this means the primary flight display (PFD) must be de-activated for the approach. In the case of a Cirrus, an examiner could elect to do the Avidyne PFD Loss of Attitude Data procedure and the approach would count as the autopilot coupled approach. Alternatively, the simple dousing of the visible PFD image and use of the backup instruments and the Garmin CDI page in a non-coupled approach would also suffice in the Cirrus.

The precision approach (PA) has remained pretty much the same as before. For now, until the Bay Area gets WAAS precision approaches, it remains the ILS. Be ready to do a missed approach. I have encountered applicants who have never been trained to do the missed approach at the ILS Decision Altitude.

The circling approach continues to be a required task. Examiners must include this in the practical test. It has recently been added to the WVFC Instrument Phase Check.

The tasks should be scenario-based. That is, the examiner should, where possible, set up realistic IFR situations. The purpose is to observe the applicant's decision making and risk management.

My take on the new PTS is that it is, on the whole, an improvement. AFS-600, the FAA department responsible, continues to try to keep the test relevant and "practical."

General Comments on IFR Checkrides:

The applicants who are successful on IFR Practical Tests seem to share the following characteristics:

They are flexible. No two flights are the same. A pilot must be ready to adapt to changing conditions. If an applicant was only trained for one set of approaches with one outcome (always a landing or always a missed approach), he/she will be in trouble on the test and in real clag.

They are assertive. ATC controllers are there to help you and all the other pilots they are talking to. Let them know when you need time to prepare for the approach. Ask for holding or delay vectors if necessary. Do not accept an instruction that will not work for you. On the test and in real IMC, you should not passively comply when better options are available.

They communicate effectively. Applicants who are not able to talk on the radio concisely and effectively have real difficulty. They must also have the ability to comprehend instructions. This can be a problem if English is not their first language or if their headset does not deliver a clear signal.

They know where they are and where they are headed at all times. Even with GPS moving maps, some applicants appear not to understand the big picture. This shows up when they make illogical maneuvers as a result of misunderstood or incorrect ATC instructions. If you do not know your position, you are not in command of your aircraft.

Good CFIIs will ensure that these characteristics are established before they sign that 8710-1.

Writing about weather is a bit risky for me and perhaps for most of us. How many folks, after all, are really that knowledgeable about weather? Sure, we all have loads of experience with it, and we are pretty good at looking outside and saying, "Looks good; let's go fly." We even know how to get a weather brief in three or four different ways. But what makes weather tick? What about weather patterns that we don't see all that often in the Bay Area? Rather than writing all about weather (which I couldn't do anyway), I decided to dive into "water" (OK, bad pun) and all the ways it affects our flying. This article is the first of three.

Water is a unique substance. It's the only one I can think of which we routinely encounter in all three states - gas, liquid and solid. Each one has different effects on how we fly and what we need to do, and many times it's the boundary or the transition between two states that is of the most interest.

In its gaseous form, water affects the density of air and, therefore, aircraft performance. Despite what we hear routinely from sports announcers, adding water vapor to the air reduces its density. Most announcers demonstrate their lack of understanding of physics while simultaneously destroying the English language. They are convinced that the air is "heavier" so the curveball should break more, and they continually profess surprise when it does not.

The physics behind why air is less dense with water in it are pretty straight-forward. About 78% of our atmosphere is Nitrogen (with an atomic weight of about 28). Another 21% is Oxygen (with a weight of 32). Other gases amount to about one percent. These include Carbon Dioxide (weight 44). Water can vary from none to about 5%, and its weight is 18, reducing the average weight of the air. Since all aerodynamics are based upon moving air (equal and opposite reaction), the lighter the air is, the faster an airfoil (wing or propeller) must move to get the same lift or thrust. Thus, since the ball travels at the same speed, and spins at the same speed, it gets less lift and curves less in moist air.

As water vapor cools and forms clouds and fog, things get even more interesting (as in the ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times.")

As air warms, it can hold more water vapor. Conversely, as it cools the relative humidity increases. This cooling can come from a contact with a cooler object, radiation, a cold front, or as the result of the entire air mass rising.

Let's start with fog, which we occasionally get at PAO, SQL and HWD. There are six types of fog, though we typically get only three of them in the Bay Area.

Worst and least common of the three we see is the low stratus cloud. Anyone who has lived here over a week has seen the 300 foot thick layer of clouds that covers our airports in the morning and at night. Although the layer usually begins between 1,000 and 1,500 feet, on occasion the layer drops down to the ground and we experience visibilities less than 1/4 mile. More common is radiation fog, which is a shallow fog that results from radiation cooling of the earth on calm, cloudless nights. The cooler earth in turn cools the humid air near it, causing condensation. Most common locally, advection fog forms at the Pacific coast when moist air passes over the cold Japanese Current as it passes off-shore. The result is the fog and low clouds we experience from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and on down to Monterey and beyond.

In other parts of the country, upslope fog is common as moist air masses are blown into and lifted by mountain ranges and cooled as they rise. This fog can be quite dense and can extend to considerable altitudes. Precipitation fog occurs when warm rain falls through cooler lower air, increasing the humidity of the cooler air and causing fog. This commonly occurs with warm fronts, but can be caused by slow moving cold fronts and stationary fronts. Finally, ice fog is a special case of radiation fog, in which the temperatures are cold enough that the water vapor directly becomes ice crystals.

When condensation occurs higher above the ground we think of the result as clouds, not fog, though the composition is the same; yet the mechanical processes may be substantially different. If the moist air is lifted and cooled either by a cold front or initiated by thermal activity, there is often some turbulence associated with it, typically not seen with fog. We only see this about once a year on the average, but there are parts of the country that experience this routinely. One can make an informed estimate about the altitude at which these clouds will form. Unsaturated air cools at the dry adiabatic lapse rate of about 3 degrees C per thousand feet of altitude. At the same time, the dew point decreases at about 0.5 degrees C per thousand feet. So, if you know the temperature and the dew point, subtract to get the difference, then divide by 2.5 to get how many thousand feet AGL the clouds will form.

Some clouds are best seen from the ground or flown around with a huge margin. But many of the clouds we see here are very easy to fly through with the proper training. The season of such things is upon us again, and one of the best things you can do to improve your own safety and enhance your skills is to work on an Instrument rating, or fine-tune the one you already have. The Instrument rating will also teach you to fly with precision. When we get that 1,000 foot overcast, it's so great to fly up through it and get into real sunshine and happiness, fly for a while, and come back down to the airport. Each of the WVFC airports has at least one instrument approach to make this possible, and each has instructors ready to take up the challenge of creating or improving your IFR skills.

Next month: Cumulonimbus mechanics and liquid water.

It all started on Friday when I had about 30 free seconds at work (okay, I didn't have them, I took them). For the first time, I scheduled a plane to solo (I mean really solo, not this stuff when my instructor goes with me and I dump him out so he can pace nervously beside the runway while I do my thrice-happy pattern work). It felt wrong not to have to schedule two items - the plane and my instructor - and not have to coordinate both of our busy schedules (usually unsuccessfully) to do so. As a matter of fact, I knew he would be out of town all weekend. I scheduled the plane for early on Saturday since the winds usually pick up later in the day and I have that rather small maximum crosswind component limitation in a place that is usually a bit blustery.

The alarm on Saturday was quite an unpleasant surprise, but once I awoke enough to remember why on earth my alarm was set on a Saturday, I jumped out of bed. However, despite all these beautiful days we've been having lately, this was not starting out as one of them. I could barely see the house across the street. But you always figure it's clear down on the peninsula, right? I called the Palo Alto ATIS. 700 foot ceiling. My solo student pilot limitation is a 3,000 foot ceiling. Minor problem. But you always figure that IF the peninsula gets fog, it usually burns off quickly, right? Reset the alarm, try to calm back down enough to go back to sleep after the fleeting thought of flying alone for the first time. Alarm goes off again one hour later. Repeat process of hazily wondering what the deal is with the alarm on a Saturday - once I even realize it's Saturday, that is. Repeat process of calling PAO ATIS. 800 foot ceiling. Is this some kind of sick joke? Go upstairs, reschedule plane for late in the day. Perform an anti-fog dance. Go back to bed and happily turn off alarm completely.

Finally, when it comes time to leave, I call the PAO ATIS and the HWD ATIS. Both have good visibility with few clouds at 20,000 feet. Thank you. Now, I thoroughly believe that the music that comes on the radio when you start your day (hey, it's a Saturday, so what if my day didn't start until 3:00?) is an omen as to how your day will go. So I'm hoping for some music that will give me good flying karma. Some Alanis Morrisette song is on, and I realize that one of the upcoming lyrics will say "….and when the plane crashed down…." NOOOOOOOO! My finger jabs at another radio station button. There will be no listening to music with any mention whatsoever of plane crashes today. If "American Pie" comes on the radio now, I'm just going to turn around and crawl back into bed and assume a fetal position until someone kisses my forehead and tells me it's safe to come out. Plus, I moonlight as a musician, and everyone knows that musicians die in one of two ways: either by an OD or by a plane crash. Since there is absolutely 0% chance that I will ever die of an OD, I don't want to tempt the Trim God.

Okay, I have no one to depend on now if I do something stupid or forget something. I did a more than thorough pre-flight. I meticulously went through my checklist. Everything looked pleasingly feng shui and airworthy. I was soon piloting an airplane across the bay to Hayward where I would perform my terpsichorean touch and goes. But the coolest part, fellow sierra papas, was when I was coming back into PAO. Keep in mind that during my second supervised solo I did three, count 'em three, go-arounds at PAO (so don't feel bad if you've had to do a few; I'm sure my instructor was thinking I would only "land" when I ran out of gas). Not only did I grease the landing this time, but I also made the first taxiway with no problem [proudly poke out chest as I type this]! It's hard enough to make the PAO runway whatsoever, much less grease a landing that was short enough to make the first taxiway (without skidding the tires, she says, in case Ken Frank reads this column and she wants to in no way appear as if she is condoning the skidding of club tires). I should have asked the tower guys to put it in writing for my instructor, who I'm sure will roll his eyes upon hearing my unbelievable account and wonder if he can trust me when I lie so much.

Since I knew I would have a lot of giddy energy after flying alone for the first time, I brought my running clothes along so I could frolic through the trails that surround the airport. I had just run past a couple walking in the opposite direction when I saw the sign where the trail curves around to parallel the runway, "Low flying aircraft - Enter at your own risk." As I ran past, I banged my fist against the sign and yelled "DAMN RIGHT!" The couple looked back startled and began to walk away a little quicker.

The sky was clear crystal blue. Wind - negligible. The coastal hills under my wing were lighted by September sun at just the right angle and luminosity, the ocean and the very edge of the coastline all veiled up in puffy silky white. Mt. Tamalpais up north was outlined sharply, with its shoulder pushed toward the San Francisco Bay - an old friend, as ready as ever to provide a reference point.

The day just started some ninety minutes ago - business as usual. Business as usual, yes, but the sky - no. There's nothing usual about the calm crystal blue around the Bay. So I just could not help monitoring 118.6 over the handheld at my desk. Barely any activity. Still, the paperwork pile was where I left it yesterday and there was no slacking allowed. The radio barely uttered any sound as I went through another page. That's it, chirped the bird in my mind; you're not letting a day like this slide into oblivion!

Whoever is lucky enough to have an office set at or next door to a GA airport knows such moments. That bird does not take 'negative' for an answer.

So here I was at 5500', air cool yet bright, stick and rudder and throttle and coastline; reference points all to myself. What do you do with all this? I'll tell you what. You push the stick forward and build some speed to about 140 mph and then you pull, smooth yet strong, to stay around 3 g's, and do your best to keep the loop as round as possible. It is fairly easy; you watch the left wingtip as you pull and when it's almost upside down you ease a bit of that pull but not all of it. And then as the bird goes over the top you pull again and the big green ground slides into view over your head and you look at it straight down. The air is silky smooth. It holds and slips by exactly as you want it to. And as the nose eases up above the horizon again the airspeed needle slides to 130, and the world turns around the spinner and settles down again.

You keep at it for a while, and on a day like this you feel that you can show the birds how to do it right. But the birds will always have the upper wing at scheduling. If you are the bird, your wing is your schedule. You fly any moment you want for as long as you want (fuel supplies of gnats and mosquitoes permitting). Your feathers are all yours and you don't have a line of other flyers waiting for you to shed them. Not us. We have to give up our flight skins and fly a desk or some other piece of heavy equipment for the rest of the day.

On the other hand… if you think about the advantage of being able to eat a good steak or sushi rather than dining on a handful of gnats, it actually doesn't feel that bad.

But I was still in the air and having fun. It sure was good to be one of the first few to recognize the quality of the day and take off early enough to have the coastal sky all to myself. But now there were other pilots zooming up and around the field. My takeoff was "ready-cleared-rolling." Coming in, I was number four following a Cessna that took a wide - no, I mean REALLY wide pattern. I was weaving to kill time and distance and to make sure I did not catch up with him, so my base was as far out as they come. Can't practice an "engine out" on a long final like that. Well - you can, but what's the fun?

The advantage of having a little wheel on the old side of the airplane, though, is having more than one way to land. So even the long flat final can be fun if followed by a wheel landing. I went for it. Carried a bit too much power, so to prevent overshooting I chopped it all and thought how sorry I would be to end such a perfect flight with a passable but not so perfect wheelie. I thought the stick back (that's how much flare a nice wheel landing should have - you don't move that stick, you think it) and touched down light as a feather. I just could not believe how smooth it was. Kept it straight, right aileron ever so slightly to compensate for the right cross and rolled down the runway. With the speed fading, the tail started down and I was on my toes to catch any swing and ready to feel that final drop. It never came. I was still rolling smooth, no shaking, no rattling - nothing. Boy - what is it - is that tail down? I pulled the stick all the way back. Nothing changed. It touched just as the mains did - no noise, no drop.

Off the runway I glanced with a secret hope at the bench. No luck; nobody saw it. I just did the wheel landing of my lifetime, as perfect as I could dream it, and nobody was there to confirm!

As I was tying the plane down I thought of how our finest hours fly by unsung and unnoticed while our bloopers are always readily exposed and recorded. It did not spoil the whole thing, but still there was a bit of bitterness about it. Of course, I boasted over my landing with brother pilots nodding politely. I thought how childish it was of me, but I could not help myself. A landing like this is a piece of art and artists want appreciation. But as I was bugging still another victim with "how come nobody ever...," I suddenly realized that somebody in the tower most probably had seen it. Even if they did not say anything - they've seen it. Somebody always has.

At any rate, a landing - big deal!

Try to imagine this. The story comes from the memory of a former WWII B-26 pilot. The guy was shot down by German flak in May 1944 while attacking bridges across Seine near Paris. Luckily enough, he survived and was hidden by the French Resistance at a safe house in Versailles (nice vacation, isn't it?) As a bomber pilot he never saw a good dogfight. The whole circus of fighter planes usually just flashed by the bomber formation whose pilots were too busy to observe anything.

Now idle for a while in that apartment on the top floor of a building some four miles west of a German Luftwaffe airdrome he had all the time in the world. On the morning of D-Day (which he did not know at the time; it was just another day for him then) he woke up to the sound of so many engines he pulled a chair over to the window and waited for something to happen. Then a red-nosed Me 109 with red wing tips leapt up in a very steep angle, starting a left climbing turn. Others followed... When the last plane was airborne there must have been at least fifty fighters involved; they looked like a swarm of bees. They headed West.

About two hours later, the German fighters started coming back, one by one and then in groups. Some trailed smoke, one badly.

By the end of the day, news came of the invasion. He spent the rest of the day listening to Yankee Doodle radio network and the BBC.

The next morning, something awoke him. It was an unfamiliar sound, a sort of popping. Then came sounds he recognized - racing aircraft engines. Again he got out of bed and ran to the window.

Coming straight at him at no more than 50 feet above the roof was an American P-51 Mustang going flat out. Close behind it were four Fw 190s, bunched together, flying like the bees again, and all of them were taking pot shots with their 20mm cannon at the Yankee boy. The whole show was moving full speed at rooftop level and was in and out of site several times in quick succession. At some point the Mustang managed to get on the tail of one of the Fws and started peppering it with his .50 calibers. The other Germans had to hold their fire for fear of hitting their buddy. After a short chase the American had dispatched the unfortunate German and was subject to ever more fierce combined attack from the other three. He kept on twisting and hedgehopping and got still another Fw in exactly the same manner as the first one. The Mustang pilot managed to make the Germans overshoot by pulling a steep chandelle off the deck, got on the tail of still another Focke-Wulf, shot it down and, chased by the remaining two, disappeared behind the buildings and trees. When he showed up again there was only one German fighter on his tail and its pilot was clearly very skilled and determined to avenge his friends. By this time the balconies and roofs were full of people who silently cheered for the American. But, in spite of all the evasive actions taken by the Mustang, the Fw kept up the chase without firing a shot, saving ammunition for the sure kill. The machines disappeared once more behind the trees. A moment later a black blotchy cloud of smoke billowed up as the sound of explosion reached the audience. Everybody was sure that the American had "bought the farm."

He hadn't. Farmers working in their gardens saw the final stage of the drama. Both airplanes were skimming the ground. They were approaching the wooded hill. As he started the climbing turn the Mustang suddenly extended his flaps and landing gear. Focke-Wulf was overshooting, tightened his turn, stalled and crashed.

Years after the war, the story goes, our witness was trying to learn the name of the American pilot who managed to win against such odds. He spent several days digging through the US Air Force archives reading all operational reports submitted by P-51 pilots in Europe for that period. He managed to narrow his search to some twenty pilots, one of which reported confused fighting at house top level in the Paris area but claimed no victories. So we do not know who the guy actually was. We don't even know if he survived. He could have won the battle but might have never returned to base.

Now, why did I tell you all this story? For one, I like it a lot. Second, it reminded me that, even if there isn't anybody sitting on that bench - even if there is no bench in sight at all - nothing worthy of attention ever really goes unnoticed. Somebody, somewhere, always occupies the invisible bench.

When one is flying around the Sierras, there is nothing more delightful than to find a nice greasy spoon tucked away in the warm breezes, copper colored hills, and pine trees that surround the area. Well, Auburn provides the views, the food, and great service. I have a particular affection in my heart for the Wings Grill and Flight Line Cafe at Auburn. The first time I ate there was during my second cross country solo; at the time, I ordered a cheeseburger. The second time was flying there as a CFI with one of my students, and guess what I ordered? A cheeseburger. As far as cafés are concerned, Wings Grill has all of the critical elements. Its outside view of the flight line creates an excellent back drop while chowing down on your burger. The staff is great, food is good, and along with the view, the rumble of engines. Add to that the extra strong coffee, and Roger gives it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Honorable mention goes out to the Flying Taco. For those of you who don't know, there is a cool little lunch truck that sits on the corner adjacent to the corner of the airport. Two lovely women cook the food up. The food is nothing spectacular, but if you're holding $5 and a pile of lint in your pocket and need to get your tummy full for the next round of flying, then this is the place to go. Tacos are $1.25, and two fill you up. The super burrito is $5 even, and as good as anything you can get in the Mission District. Be aware, though, for those of you who haven't figured it out, Roger likes it hot; probably a little more hot than Roger's tummy can handle. I usually go for the three Jalapeno pepper add-on. This adds the same amount of sweat as a 20kt crosswind at SQL, both during the meal and the following AM. If you think you can handle it, be my guest. Roger says, check it out.

This is Roger Wilco, over and out.

I've had a hand held Garmin GPS III Pilot receiver for a while, but haven't used it extensively while flying. I know it's a great tool to have for back-up, but so far I've managed to get along with just using radio navigation and good old fashioned pilotage for primary navigation. Recently I decided to start my instrument training, and it became pretty apparent that although radio navigation will get you where you're going, having a moving map display really aids in situational awareness, particularly while under the hood or flying in unfamiliar territory.

On a trip a while back from Watsonville, CA, to Palo Alto, I decided to try and figure out how to use the GPS III Pilot. The flight itself wasn't particularly taxing, but trying to learn how to use the GPS while talking to NorCal Approach and looking for traffic didn't exactly leave a lot of time to fly the aircraft. I gave up after a few minutes and, sadly, the GPS has been relegated to my flight bag ever since.

Well, I figured I needed to learn how to use it at some point, but by now the GPS database was about a year out of date. I know I'd only be using it for flying VFR, but it's nice having reasonably accurate data if you're going to be using it, so I bought a $5 data cable from a person on eBay, and figured I would use it to download some new chart data. After hooking it up to the PC, however, I got the idea that what I really wanted to do was be able to hook it up to Microsoft Flight Simulator and use data from the game to feed the GPS unit. It'd be a lot easier to figure out how to use it (and safer, too) from the confines of my desk chair rather than attempting to use it while doing the real thing. Well, it seemed like a pretty good idea, so I figured someone must have already had it. About half an hour later after googling a dozen or so sites, I came across a utility called "GPSout," which seemed like it might actually work. It was more for exporting flight data to external maps, but it seemed like it supported Garmin hand held units as well. After another half hour of messing around with Windows XP, the GPSout ini file and the unit itself, I actually managed to get it to work! After some fooling around with it and activating a flight plan, I was able to fly it in the Sim and use the HSI and moving map on the GPS unit. You could spot a road on the moving map and see it outside of the window of the virtual cockpit. Pretty snazzy!

What You Need

• A Garmin Hand Held GPS Unit (other units may work as well)
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002/2004 (Century of Flight)
• A data cable with an RS-232 port for your GPS

THE TRIGGER TAPE
Presented By Carmen D'Agostino, CFI, CFII, AGI
Wednesday, October 13, 7:00 pm, WVFC PAO

At this seminar we'll view an entertaining video of how one can slip into complacency and find that an enjoyable flight suddenly turns very dangerous. We'll view two scenarios that start off with common outings with family and friends. Paying attention to the fundamentals of weight and balance and density altitude could have kept these folks out of trouble. After each program we'll discuss how this trouble could have been avoided and how a chain of mistakes can add up to an unwanted result.

Carmen D'Agostino is a CFII and Advanced Ground Instructor with over 12 years of instruction experience. He has taught at WVFC for over 10 years, including teaching instrument ground schools. He specializes in overcoming difficult training problems.

SINGLE PILOT IFR - TRAINING, PRIVILEGES & LIMITATIONS
Presented By Darryl Kalthof, CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI
Wednesday, October 20, 7:00 pm, WVFC SQL

In this seminar you'll learn about the process of obtaining an Instrument Rating. You'll also learn what you can do with the rating and what kind of weather may stop you from flying. There will also be a number of tips on flying single-pilot IFR.

Darryl Kalthof is a Gold Seal CFII at WVFC with 10 years instruction experience. He is a graduate of San Jose State University's flight program and has worked for cargo, commuter airlines, and the NASA's aviation safety reporting program.

GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM ATC
Presented By Karl Liang, CFI, CFII, MEI
Wednesday, October 27, 7:00 pm, WVFC HWD

ATC... you've thought it through... you know what you're going to say... there's the break you've been waiting for... you click the PTT, get your "who, where, and what" in... you've been professional and courteous... and they still treat you like a second class citizen! Sometimes it seems like you just can't get on ATC's good side. But wait, relief is on the way! Learn how to sweet talk your way around the ATC system by first understanding the system, their responsibilities and yours in VFR and IFR environments. We'll analyze common mistakes and some of ATC's pet peeves with general aviation and air carrier pilots.

Karl Liang is a CFI, CFII, MEI at West Valley Flying Club and has been flying since 1987. Prior to becoming a flight instructor, he was an executive in the high tech industry and has been sweet talking his way into things as long as he can remember.

The club has four ground schools in session or starting soon. Membership at WVFC is not required, so feel free to invite along a non-member friend or acquaintance who is also interested in learning how to fly. You may begin attending any ground school mid-session.

PAO Private Pilot Ground School meets Thursdays from 6:30 pm with instructor Kyp Kypta. The cost for the course is a once-only charge of $100, after which you may attend any and all sessions as often as you like. Lessons 6, 7 and 8 of the current session are scheduled for October 7, 14 and 21 respectively, and the next set of eight sessions begins November 4. Contact Kyp at lkypta@earthlink.net.

SQL Private Pilot Ground School meets Tuesdays from 6:30 pm with instructors Justin Warren and Peter Long. The cost is $200. Current session started September 7 and runs through November 9. For information, contact Justin Warren at justinwarren@sbcglobal.net or Peter Long at plong@employees.org.

HWD Private Pilot Ground School meets Tuesdays from 6:30 pm with instructor Rich Eiselt. Contact Rich at rnbeiselt@sbcglobal.net.

INSTRUMENT Ground School meets Tuesday evenings from 6:30 at PAO with instructors Ali Ashayer and Lindsay Hanson. Contact Lindsay at linsgrins@hotmail.com, or Ali at aashayer@aol.com.

HAYWARD RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY
Tuesday, October 19, 11:00 am, WVFC HWD
As a new member of the Hayward Chamber of Commerce, the club will be the recipient of a ribbon cutting ceremony this month. City officials will be on hand to officially welcome the club and its members to the Hayward Airport. Please join us!

WVFC OPEN BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, October 19, 7:00 pm, PAO
Care about your club? Then come to the next quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors. Offer ideas, support or suggestions, or just come to listen to what's going on behind the scenes.

FLYING TO ALASKA
Tuesday, October 19, 7:00 pm, Hiller Aviation Museum, SQL
Back by popular demand, Nick Ulman will repeat his presentation on flying to Alaska. If you missed his previous standing-room-only talk, don't miss this opportunity to hear it in comfort at Hiller. The talk will be sponsored by the San Carlos Pilot's Association. For more information contact Nick at ulman@alumni.princeton.edu.

B&B FRIDAY: HALLOWEEN BBQ
Friday October 29, 4pm- 7pm, WVFC PAO
We couldn't resist one more B&B Friday. Join us for beer and bratwurst, pumpkins (to carve, not to eat), some good old fashioned Halloween treats, and maybe a few Halloween tricks as well.

ANNUAL NIGHT CURRENCY CLINIC
Friday, November 5, 6:00 pm, PAO Classroom
Night's coming earlier. Take advantage of this annual club opportunity to get yourself night current after the time change. A club CFI will lead a ground discussion in the classroom, after which everyone will pile into airplanes for some night takeoffs and landings. Contact Patti Andrews at whatsup@wvfc.org for information or to sign up.

A GOOD PILOT NEVER GAMBLES…
Never. Unless they're bound for Vegas!

Join us as West Valley goes on a wild escapade to KLAS. This is a three-day trip Friday - Sunday (26-28 November), leaving the day after Thanksgiving. We'll have a late start on the Friday (so you can recover from over-eating the day before). From PAO we'll cross the Sierras heading towards Mono Lake (KO24), then head South along the Sierras to Lone Pine (KO26) for fuel. From Lone Pine we will travel onto the aptly named Furnace Creek in Death Valley. The strip there appears fairly uninspiring, but it gives you a chance to land below sea-level (MINUS 210 feet)!

From there we'll skirt carefully around the infamous Area 51 (keep your eyes peeled for UFOs) and onto Vegas McCarran International Airport (Yes, KLAS - the one with the Bravo). The aim here is to arrive after dark - the main VFR approach to runways 19L and 19R take you right over the center of Vegas at 2,000' - and boy, are the lights there impressive!

We'll stay in Vegas two nights. On the Saturday there is an optional trip to the Grand Canyon, and a classic Vegas show in the evening.

For variety, on the return trip we can head back from Vegas via Bakersfield (KBFL) stopping at lunch-time at Harris Ranch (K3O8) for one of their famous steaks. Of course those who aren't comfortable crossing the Sierras could go via Bakersfield in both directions. For the Grand Canyon trip we have a couple of options. We could fly our WV planes there and back, or consider taking a tourist flight. If enough members went, we could try for a discount rate on the tour flight - perhaps even having the plane to ourselves (can you imagine the poor tour pilot coping with an entire plan-load of backseat-pilots ?!). The big advantage of taking a tour flight is that those operators are specially licensed to fly WITHIN the canyon - we can only overfly it.

Thinking of starting Instrument training but need to build cross-country hours ? This trip will help you clock up a few. Already working on rating ? This could be a fun way to do your long cross-country. The one-way trip to LAS is just under 400NM (either route), the optional Grand Canyon trip is further 300NM round trip. For a trip this long, there is a fair chance that owners will be prepared to give discount rates.

If you think you interested in coming, please let Craig.Eldershaw@parc.com know (you're not committing yet). Tell him: