Just got back from Oshkosh. Boy what an event. This is my 4th time to Wisconsin to visit what is officially titled EAA Airventure. As much fun as I had, this was a great fact-finding trip for the GM of a relatively large flying club. Indeed, much of the time that I spent at the actual show itself had a lot to do with the innovations and changes that are coming down the pipe in the flying world, many of which will or could affect WVFC.

Instead of writing a little novella, I will briefly summarize some of the major issues and use subsequent articles and seminars to provide greater detail. Obviously LSAs, or light sport aircraft, were a big talk of the town. There of course two components: 1. the certification and 2. the actual aircraft. With the cost of fuel on the rise and of course the price to acquire most new planes, LSAs may develop a significant footprint in primary aviation training architecture. Most aircraft had a brand new sticker price of less than $100K, which included Ballistic chute systems, basic VFR radios, and night VFR level equipment. The fuel burn at most is fewer than 6 gal/hr. The predominant choice of engines is the rotax however, of the models that caught my eye, most were composite aluminum hybrids that keep the price down.

Other issues included: the FAA administrator Marion Blakely, changes to the FAA, VLJs, new certified aircraft on the horizon, and various new offerings in the avionics department.

Speaking of other local government news, in the beginning of the year, the county of Santa Clara proposed a rate increase of 30% to KPAO tie-downs. This was met with resistance and confusion. After a thorough audit by the city of KPAO, they found that in fact the county made some money on the airport, and this was despite a disproportioned cost structure amongst their three airports. Despite these findings, the county came back to the table demanding an even higher 36% increase to county tie-downs. The other airports under their control received roughly a 3% increase. The city recommended a slightly higher increase than the 3% (more like 10%) however, 36% is ponderous.

There are several meetings over the next few months that are going to discuss this issue. as the dates become more apparent, I will keep the membership in the loop. We did a great job rallying the troops when the city failed to sing grant funds, and it looks like we will need that help again.

Americas Night Out was a real success! The turnout was way higher than what we all expected taking into account that it was a weekday there was something for everyone! For the aviation enthusiasts, all types of airplanes, ranging from the classic Cessna and Piper to the newer composite like Columbia, Diamond and Cirrus were on display. It was nice to see some bigger iron exhibited by Woodland: King Airs (a C-90G and aBE-20), a Baron and new Bonanza. There was also entertainment for the kids, good food and beer for the hungry and thirty ones! Shannon Doyle, Director of Operations and her team of volunteers have since been congratulated many times for their great organization and for making it something to remember. Good job!

Lately, we have had a few incidents during ground operations. Remember when you walk toward the airplane to not only take a look at the airplane itself to quickly assess whether something seems odd, but also to verify the surroundings. If you are parked in front of a lighter airplane than the one you are about to start, you might want to pull the airplane out of its parking spot all the way on the taxiway prior to starting it. Of course, make sure that at that point, you are all ready to go and not still trying to finish the preflight, so that you do not unnecessarily block the taxiway from arriving or other departing aircraft. I should also mention that the throttle should be slightly open to enable the engine to start but it should not be revving. The consequent blast makes other aircraft flight control surfaces flutter and you can imagine that it is better avoided. Check out whether any airplane parts are lying on the ground: if they are, they will mostly likely fly away and create damage on their path. It goes without saying that should your airplane be parked in front of an open hangar, you should definitely pull out prior to starting to avoid blasting the place.

That’s it for this month. Enjoy the cooler weather and the end of the summer.

It is the day after our National Night Out event, and I am reeling from all of the positive feedback we have received already this morning! We are so excited to be able to provide our members with such great social opportunities. For those of you who were not here, you missed an incredible event, but not to worry, there will be many more opportunities in the future. I want to thank everyone who came and hope that you had as much fun as we did! If you are interested in being part of our activities committee, we have meetings in Palo Alto every second Monday of the month and are always looking for new ideas!

I would like to mention all of those who helped make this event a success as we couldn’t have done it without you. Amos Arbel, Einar Mikkelsen, Gianni Manganelli (and friends!), Melissa Klippel, WD Lewis, Steve Anders, Scott Poms, Paul Donahue, Patti Andrews, Roberta Bernhard, Don Anastasia, Logan Frasier, Joel Harris, John Ferrell, the entire maintenance staff and of course all of the participants. I look forward to many more events with all of you in the future. I hope I didn’t miss anybody, but if I did please call me so I can take the punishment personally!

We are still waiting to make the transition to the new location in San Carlos but are very excited as we have some great plans in the works. We will definitely keep everyone posted on our progress.

We are in the process of hiring a couple of new people for the front desks in San Carlos, Palo Alto, and Hayward, so when you see the new faces, please be sure to introduce yourselves. Gianni and Gabe are so busy with new students that they are in the process of transitioning to full-time training schedules. You will still see Gianni three days a week in SQL starting mid-September.

Keep checking the calendar for new and exciting events we look forward to your participation!

Fly safely!

Reality Checks:
Every now and then, I get a flight plan with wind ground speeds that are way off. What happens is that the applicant calculates the winds aloft 180° out. That is easy to do if you are a little rusty with the E6B computer and fail to do the reality check. The reality check is: “I have a headwind. Will my ground speed be greater than or less than my true airspeed?”. In other words, the reality check is always the question: “does this make sense?”. The answer is usually obvious if you remember to ask yourself the question.

Ceilings:
Some applicants are still having trouble with the following scenario based question: “You are approaching Red Bluff Airport. The ASOS is reporting 300 few, 500 scattered, 800 broken, and 1200 overcast. The visibility is 8 miles. Can you legally land under normal VFR conditions?”

In order to answer the question, you need to be able to recognize that the magenta dashed outline surrounding Red Bluff on your sectional chart indicates that Class E airspace extends down to the surface of the airport. Class E airspace is controlled airspace (as are Class A, B, C, and D). FAR 91.155 (c) says that the minimum ceiling in controlled airspace is 1000 feet.

Now all you need to know is the definition of a ceiling. The AIM glossary defines a ceiling as the lowest layer of clouds or obscuring phenomena that is “broken,” “overcast,” or “obscuration.” So in our example at Red Bluff, the answer is that you cannot enter the airspace legally under normal VFR. The ceiling (broken) is less than 1000 feet.

By the way, AIM Section 7-1-32 tells us that “few” clouds = 0 to 2/8. Scattered = 3/8 to 4/8. Broken = 5/8 to 7/8. And overcast = 8/8 cloud.

An obscuration ceiling such as fog or haze is reported as vertical visibility in feet. When you get vertical visibility reports in the METAR, the airport is generally IFR or below IFR minimums.

IFR Approach Traps:
Here are some recent IFR approach problems that came up on instrument checkrides:

1. Flashing GPS message light. Some applicants ignore the flashing message light. They assume that the light is just telling them to adjust their OBS or watch out for some local airspace so why bother checking it? In a recent non-WVFC ride, the applicant allowed his Garmin MSG light to blink throughout the approach. At the end of the approach, I asked him to check the press the MSG button. The message was “Approach not Active.” That meant that the approach had been flown past the FAF illegally in terminal mode. Of course, that was unsatisfactory, and the test was failed.

   If you do not want the MSG light to blink as you approach airspace, you can disable that feature. You should not ignore changes to the OBS setting if you are navigating by GPS.

2. Direct to non-IAF GPS waypoints. In this part of the world, ATC usually has you fly to an intermediate waypoint to expedite GPS approaches. I still have applicants who panic when that happens. They look for the waypoint on their “Select Approach” menu for the airport. When all they can find on that page are the IAFs and “vectors,” they sometimes say “this GPS doesn’t have that waypoint.” Sometimes they take the time to put the waypoint in letter-by-letter. That works with Garmin but not Bendix-King.

   If you aren’t up to speed on this common situation, study your GPS manual and/or check with your flight instructor.

3. Missed approach procedure. Retired WVFC Chief Pilot Ken Frank used to teach briefing the approach with the acronym “MARTHA.” MA=Missed Approach. R=Radio Frequencies. T=Time. H=Headings. A=Altitudes.

   Note that MA=Missed Approach comes first. Be sure you at least brief the initial climb and turn. A high percentage of instrument checkride failures are due to missed approach errors. If an applicant does not brief his/her missed approach on a checkride, how likely are they to do it in real IFR where missed approaches are rare?

Trim is something we all wish (with varying degrees of success) we were. Or, if you’re from New England, it’s what you do to a Christmas tree (other parts of the country decorate them). In this context, it’s a control and a way of controlling an airplane.

In our routine discussions of aircraft controls, trim doesn’t get the attention it deserves. After all, it really isn’t a primary control, and most of the time it isn’t even as important as flaps or the gear lever. Yet, using trim correctly is one of the easiest ways to add precision to flying in general and instrument flight in particular.

When I was learning to fly (actually, I’m still learning), trim was something I swiped my hand across when my instructor said, “Trim, trim, trim.” And promptly forgot about approximately 95% of the time. I didn’t really learn to use trim until I was working on Instrument Flight Instructor, which only shows you don’t HAVE to use trim, but I’ve not been known for doing things the easy way. I THOUGHT it was easier not to mess with the trim, after all, it took effort to trim, it took time, and I was busy trying to fly the plane.

One of my favorite demonstrations for the need to trim is the 10-pound push on a bathroom scale. Take the scale, and press down until the scale shows 10 pounds, close your eyes for a minute, and look at the scale. It may be less, or it may be more, but it won’t be 10 pounds. Now imagine you’re flying an airplane and trying to hold a constant control pressure, when you look back, OOOPS! The airplane isn’t doing what you thought it was (or should be) doing. Another point here is that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between 10 pounds and 1.1 pounds yet pretty easy to tell the difference between zero pressure and a fraction of an ounce.

Many years ago, I had a student who had been a linebacker in college. He was strong enough to fly with either full up or full down trim all day long, and not sweat, or, I think, even notice. Getting him to use trim was an exercise in patience, futility, aggravation, and frustration on my part. Possibly on his part, as well, because initially, he was just like me. Why do I need to do this, I’m meeting private pilot standards? Eventually, he tried using trim (probably just to get me to shut up), and his piloting skills made a quantum step increase. His instrument rating was a piece of cake (at least it seemed that way to me – he might disagree).

Trim comes in several varieties. The most common is the elevator trim, usually controlled by a trim wheel and often by a button or buttons on the pilot’s control wheel. It works in a variety of ways. Cessnas tend to use trim tabs on the back of one side of the elevator, some others use an internal trim or bungee that tries to move the elevator back to a selected position. One of the coolest I’ve ever used was on the Libelle sailplane. Put the control stick where you wanted it and pull a trigger on the stick, and the bungee pressure would instantly zero itself at that position. Talk about simple to use!

Another useful trim is the rudder trim. On powerful single engine planes, the torque and P-factor trying to turn the plane to the left in climbs (or right in low power, high speed descents) can take a lot of rudder pressure. There have been times I wanted to put both feet on the right rudder during long climbs. Most planes with over 200 hp have rudder trim.

Finally, there are a few planes with aileron trim. These tend to have both elevator and rudder trim. And one of the coolest things to do with it is to set up a slip for a crosswind landing. By trimming the elevator, rudder, and aileron correctly, you can fly a crosswind approach with hands off until it’s time to flare. I don’t recommend it, but you could do it.

OK, so when do we need to trim? The simple answer is, anytime we change airspeed, power, flaps, gear, or any other form of aircraft configuration. The exact trim change and even the direction may vary from plane to plane. For example, in most of our club planes, adding power causes the nose to pitch up and requires nose down trim. Not so with a Lake amphibian. The Lake pitches nose down with a power increase, which makes the landing flare and automatic thing and a go-around an experience in adrenalin pumping. Similarly, most club planes (particularly high wings) pitch nose up with the addition of flaps, but the Piper Aztec pitches nose down. This can result in a lot of trimming on final, but the objective is to arrive at the beginning of the flare with stable airspeed and no pressure on the controls. That way, every time you flare, the feeling is the same, and you can build muscle memory of what the flare and touchdown is like.

Another simple answer is whenever you need to use any control pressure to hold the airplane in a stable condition. Obviously, we aren’t going to use trim to counter turbulence, gusts, and so on we’re going to use muscles.

The correct technique to use trim is to fly the plane, put it into the attitude you want, wait for it to stabilize, then to use the trim to take off all control pressures. There is a tendency early in training to attempt to fly with trim, which results in more pitch variations than there would be if the trim had been used properly.

If the plane changes attitude when you let go of the wheel or stick, you should trim.

Ever have one of those moments when you know someone is trying to tell you something? Mine was when my instrument instructor left on a trip for two months at the same time my plane was being held hostage in maintenance waiting on a fuel servo. Hmm. So no plane, no instrument instructor…What shall I do? Sure, I could rent someone else’s plane, but I knew it would only make me miss mine even more than I already did. And lately all these fancy planes coming online have caught my eye. Yes, indeed, someone was urging me to go tailwheel. If you haven’t done a tailwheel transition, you have my permission to drop this newsletter (after you’ve read the important stuff from the GM and CP of course) and run to the airport and grab the nearest tailwheel instructor. GO! I’m not joking!

If you’re still reading, you must already have a tailwheel endorsement. My leather flying helmet’s off to you.

And since this is a student pilot column, let me tell you something: I felt like a student pilot in that thing the first few times. Sure, I could taxi and do the easy stuff, but I found out that what I thought were pretty good landings I could do in a tricycle gear didn’t mean a thing in a “conventional” gear airplane, which really is non-conventional now, but aviation terms never seem to keep up with the times (don’t get me started on antiquated terminology in aviation, fellow “airmen”). And is it just me, or are these things more prone to bouncing? That one might just be me.

Anyhoo, in just a few weeks of doing it, it’s made my flying (particularly landings) immensely better (you know, not that those were bad or anything). If you flare too high or too low, the taildraggers will cure you of that. You will find out exactly where the ground is. If you’re always a little off on your airspeed on final, you won’t be when you get good in these. They’re extremely responsive. And who said you always need to be going someplace when you’re flying? Taildraggers are all about fun and going nowhere in particular. I’ve noticed lately that I can’t sleep the night before I’m going taildragger flying, the same restlessness and excitement that would keep me awake when I was a student pilot. I’m telling you, it’s a blast! Why are you still reading this? Haven’t I convinced you yet?

As a pilot, I’ve noticed that my coworkers have become increasingly interested in what I did over the weekend because they’ve come to rely on me for always having some funny flying tale on Monday. Lately, the answer to “SO…what did you do this weekend?”, as if they thought the answer would ever NOT be some kind of flying, has been “I flew a taildragger.” Long pause. “What is THAT?” Can you believe there are people on earth who don’t know of the fun to be had by flying one of these babies? I look at them in sorrow and futilely attempt to not think of what a miserable life they must lead, and I try to be nice to them in any way I can to help make their lives a little more bearable, like by not asking them to proofread my Sierra Papa articles.

June. One month until the 2006 Cub Trip.
The endorsement to take my Private Pilot Checkride is fresh, signed off on 06-06-06. The trip North still seems far out of reach but at least possible…if I pass my checkride. June 12. To say I wasn’t nervous would be the understatement of the year. I was paranoid, my nerves were brittle, and nothing was working the way it should. Trying to print a clean copy of my 8710-1 the power went out, trying to close the office at work, everyone wants a little bit more of my precious time, and I’m running late, as if that surprises anyone.

June 13.
The decompression of the stress I had put myself under is almost enough to make me sick. Now what? Just like my first solo, I’m too nervous to fly, and it will be almost a week before I get back in an airplane.

July 4.
Now that I have a temporary certificate in hand and have given a series of rides to my friends and their siblings and boyfriends, I feel more secure in my abilities, and in planning a trip “North” I feel confidant that I can now ask to use the airplane, and the anxious bubbling of need to take the trip as a pilot, not just a passenger, begins to build.

July 14.
Two days until the trip. The 150 that I have been using for a year is going to be out of service the week of the trip, and so I have spent two weeks arranging to use a 152, and for making it all come together and giving me the time to take the full trip I owe Shannon Doyle, Michelle Flores, Steve Elliott, and Eric Jewell among many others!

July 15.
10.30 AM. I’m checked out. Other pilots who are going on this same trip are still trying to convince me to ride in their front seat, but my stubborn need to make the trip on my own still weighs too much. I need to prove to myself and to the few who think that my license was handed to me that I am capable of an excursion of such lengths.

July 16.
Day 1.
Show time. I wake up early and need to be at the airport earlier. I want to be off to a good and competent start, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. My car is in park before it’s done rolling, and I’m getting a crash course on using a GPS…in one ear and out the other. I’ll figure it out later. It would be the following Sunday on the return trip before I tried to use the less-than-amusing-when-in-simulator-mode wonder of modern technology.

My efforts to get into the trip on a good note without the junior pilot tag being attached were frustrated again when I arrived last at Petaluma Airport, our final convening point before heading North, and having been cut off in the pattern, making a harder-than-necessary landing (totaling four landings in a 152), and still, of course, needing gas before we can leave (at which point I discovered that my ATM card was still in the ATM), I’m off to a great start.

From there, however, my luck improved: I found that I could keep up with Cathy in the Pacer very well and at higher altitudes could actually catch and keep up with her. When we landed in Sun River, I made a very decent landing and was greeted with a more relaxed group of people than the same that had left our last gas stop in Red Bluff. We’d all made it to our first destination.

As we sat on the porch of the cabin drinking the first of forty-eight pounds of wine, the sub-groups began to form. The rest of the week would be spent in this basic fashion: we were all one large group combined, many of us familiar with the habits of the others in the group but divided by the other interests we shared. I mean, not everyone wants to sit in a hot tub discussing thermodynamics and energy plants until one AM….

Day 2.
Canoeing. You know, like in boy scouts, only they insist that you stay “in” the boat as opposed to learning how to canoe by swimming behind the thing. Squirt guns and ten people, the moment we hit the water it was a constant competition, us little people sitting on the floor firing away while the better canoers paddled hard in failed efforts to stay dry. The full frontal attack to the body and face administered to Randy was a classic moment, the shock and ill-preparedness of his “team” (Randy, Cathy, and Nathan) allowed us (myself, Chuck Wells, and Jerry Kurz) the upper hand throughout the six mile meander down the Deschutes River. At the takeout after one food and dry-out session and one lounge on the beach session, I got in one more surprise attack on Randy as we dismounted the canoes, another full frontal. His only recourse was to slap the paddle in the water, which was only partly successful.

As evening arrived on Monday, I was still making phone calls to make sure someone was working for me on Friday. Bad. I know.

Dinner the second night was more comfortable: a barbeque on the deck of Walt’s cabin. As the sun set and the temperature dropped to reasonable levels, we walked through the shops (including the bookstore) and back to our own cabin where more wine appeared and, again, more discussions on wind energy in the hot tub.

Day 3.
Cathy’s bid won out since it was the only bid in place for our next destination. So Tuesday we ventured out of our resort hide-away and up towards the blistering heat that was Yakima. We had lunch upstairs from a small international jet terminal as we watched the traffic come in and out.

Out departure from Yakima spread us out in a ten mile fan, and it took the first third of the leg to Lake Chelan to come reasonably well spaced. Lake Chelan is a beautiful airport surrounded by hills and rock formations. Once we got to the hotel…(aren’t we supposed to be camping?) we ate more food and then walked into town, a quiet summer town with a large Seattle resident population, and we ate again. Nathan and I made and launched paper airplanes until a waitress confiscated one. After dinner, we broke into groups and explored town and later our inner children, with the help of Deb Kerr and Nathan. Deb found the perfect grassy slope to roll down and let Nathan try it out before she rolled down it herself while we urgently shouted “TREE!”. Between the four of us, we sounded like the “George of the Jungle” theme. Nathan nearly wore himself out before convincing Cathy that it was a good idea, and, following Deb’s example, she also rolled down the hill. Cathy successfully dodged the tree on the roll down, and the stain-free grass left her white pants untouched. My trip down the hill, like Deb’s, was accompanied by “TREE!”. Only Doug sat at the top, I’m sure thinking “I was the one that was drinking, and they’re the ones rolling down the hillside…hmmm, drinking does make you smarter.”

Sleeping in Lake Chelan was an adventure by itself. Split into three rooms, and some of us on the floor, I was surrounded by the gurgling snore, the dry painful snore, and a ten year-old who can make some strangely interesting noises with his fingernails. It became almost a contest of which one of us was older as he flicked his fingernails and I attempted to swat him with the end of my sleeping bag. ‘flick’ ‘swat’ ‘giggle’ ‘swat’ ‘flick’ ‘swat’…

Day 4.
In the morning after everyone was fed and watered, we caught a ride with the house shoe-clad hotel manager in a car and a minivan back to the airport. It was a beautiful morning, a huge hatch pattern of contrails loomed overhead. We got everyone untied and in line for the gas pump (in a more reasonable order this time), us slow guys in front and them fast people last as opposed to the mixed set and ensuing delays in Sun River.

We departed and turned downwind over the river on our climb out and flew directly over Grand Coulee Dam, lower to the water below the walls where the plateau dropped to the lake, and directly overhead the Grand Coulee Dam airport (bet you never would have guessed that, eh?) and over the long wide-set fingers of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake before climbing up to play hide and go find everyone else. Although we were all within 5 to 10 miles of each other, I didn’t mind having Randy and Cathy in sight before beginning our decent into Cavanaugh Bay.

Cresting the final ridge, which brought Priest Lake into view, I couldn’t help but think that we hadn’t made our flying quota for the day.

I heard one of our airplanes make a go-around and thought, ”Oh here we go, they’re right, I’m not experienced enough for this, if he can’t get it down there’s no way that little ol’ me is gonna be able to do it. Errr…” and then the other voice chimed in, ”What’re you talking about? It’s just another runway, look…you’re not looking…. See, it’s easy. Don’t listen to them. Besides, if you don’t like it, go around. He did, no one’s making fun of him.” Hey, as long as you don’t name the voices, it’s okay, right?

I made a low approach in sequence with Randy, then I knew I had it. It’s not that hard, you could get a Seneca between those trees. I heard Cathy, in the Pacer, fall into sequence behind me. Randy landed the 172 without difficulty, and I lined up and landed well. I won’t say that it was beautiful or splendiferous, but it was fine. I taxied back, turned off the runway, and shut down in time to see Cathy land easily, and then, the one that, in my opinion, made us all just a bit jealous was Skip in the T-34. Just over the trees he cut the power and dropped in beautifully.

Tents, lunch, and a swim in the lake were next in the order of business. From there, Randy, Larry, and I conspired to do some local flying. We landed at Sandpoint to pick up some gas, enough to fly the area and land comfortably back in Cavanaugh Bay. I landed behind Randy and Larry and was watching Larry do patterns when I came to the conclusion that it was too hot and walked towards the FBO. As I passed the fuel island, I picked up the pace a little when I read the sign “no gas”. The sign was repeated on the FBO counter, and I alerted Larry to this fact. I got an “oh” in response.

By the time we made it into town to find gas cans, we were hungry and in our trip to Wal-Mart acquired more food than we needed. Guess who carried most of it back to the campsite…

We wound up eating pizza that night, on the back deck of Skip and Dorothy’s waterfront cabin. Nathan and I found an adorable pug on the beach he was no larger than an average lab puppy and was carrying around a four-foot stick. We’d throw it, and he’d bring it back. Much later, as the mass of drunk pilots clung to each other walking up the path to the campsite, we attracted another dog, who waited patiently all night and was lying in the sun waiting for us the next morning.

Day 5.
We finally made it out to do our local flying, Larry and Randy in the 172, Cathy in the Pacer, and Nathan, Doug, and Deb in the 180 this time. We discovered Bonner’s Ferry, where a pre-solo student was working in the pattern in a 172. Poor girl, we all felt a little bad, I think. Four of us invaded her quiet little airport at once. It was here that I ran into the same problem that everyone else had had back in Sun River. My credit card company thought I was moving too much. Nice to know they’re on the ball, huh?

I ate too much. We went to lunch before I was hungry. I ate a huge slab of pot roast and came back to the FBO, where they gave us free ice cream for buying gas.

We flew around a set of ridges, over several beautiful strips, the mouth of Lake Pend Oreille, a touch and go at Sandpoint, and back around the ridge to Cavanaugh Bay.

Another swim in the lake was absolutely necessary, and while we were all out on the dock watching the minimal traffic in and out we heard the Bonanza. A low pass, a landing, and thirty minutes later Chuck and Jason are in the water with us.

…To be continued. Next month. The return trip home.

Please update yourself on the latest club activities by going to the membership calendar located at http://www.wvfc.org/b/calendar.php

Spending too much time confined to a small cockpit? Need a little help with that weight and balance? Through a special arrangement with 24-Hour Fitness, West Valley members can now receive a corporate rate on gym membership. This special includes a reduction of normal sign-up fees from $179 to $49, and a regular monthly membership rate of $39.99 per month for access to all 24-Hour Fitness locations. West Valley members can take advantage of this price reduction by signing up any time now through August 31, 2006. For details or to sign up, contact Stephanie Andrews at (650) 343-7922, or stop by to see her at the 24-Hour Fitness location at 500 S. El Camino Real in San Mateo

SQL Private Pilot Ground School meets Tuesdays 6:30-9:00 pm. The cost is a $250 one-time fee, after which you may re-attend as often as you like. For information contact the instructor, Dan Dyer, at dan@dkdyer.com or check out www.dkdyer.com/ground.html.

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. The next session begins June 4 however, you may begin the course at any time. Contact Kyp by email at lkypta@earthlink.net.

HWD Private Pilot Ground School meets Tuesday nights from 6:30-9:30 pm. The cost is $200 per student. Contact instructor Chris Tavenner tractorking@hotmail.com

South County Private Pilot Ground School. By special arrangement, the South County Private Pilot ground school will meet Wednesdays at 6:00 pm, starting May 17, with instructor Charles Jackson, a retired airline captain and aviation instructor at the local community college. Tuition is $150. Call Charles for more information at (408) 842-2177.

PAO Instrument Ground School meets Tuesday evenings from 6:30 – 9:00 with instructors Ali Ashayer and Lindsay Dillon. The cost is $200. Contact Ali Ashayer at aashayer@aol.com or Lindsay Dillon at linsgrins@hotmail.com for more information.