It is the end of the year, and let me start by saying thanks for being a member of WVFC and contributing to this unique organization. As you know, you the members are the owners of this club, and as such it takes on this unique scope and size because it's driven by the many people who become a part of it. I would like to encourage those who have not yet taken part in it to please take a few minutes to fill out our members' survey by going to the following site: (The survey is closed). The input we receive helps guide the discussions on measuring our success for the year and future business planning.

Time to take advantage of that cool, clean air. There is some speculation that we are in an El Nino type of year that will produce extended rain in the latter part of January through February. Having said that last year was really rainy, and we were not in an El Nino type of year. Weather speculation is a tough business. I would also encourage those who are seeking out ratings or are just looking for a cool plane to check out in right now. There are a lot of winter specials offered by the various owners of fleet aircraft. As always, we are also offering gift certificates, which make a great present this time of year. Please contact any of our front desk personnel to make a purchase.

Please let me make sure everyone is aware that as a member, you can pre-pay your dues. Save $60.00 a year on regular or family dues. Prepay your dues for 2007 by January 31st (125 members only)!

Email: accounting@wvfc.org or call Michelle at ext. 302. Early cancellation will result in a full proration of charges.

Please have a happy and safe holiday season.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We are already in December and getting ready for the many holiday festivities..

For those of you who are about to take your checkride and are feeling overwhelmed or anxious about it, I am in the process of working on a program to help you. I am a stress management therapist (in addition to my job here at West Valley!) and have many techniques to help you relieve your stress, improve study habits, improve focus, and, most importantly, handle your check ride with ease and confidence.

At the moment, I am looking for four volunteers to beta test my program, all free of charge. If you would like more information or would like to volunteer, please contact me at Shannon@wvfc.org or call PAO at ext. 304. Ideally, you should be three weeks to a month or more away from your checkride. I look forward to working with you!

As we get ready for the New Year here at West Valley, we are thinking about how we are going to focus the activities for the upcoming year and would love some input from the members. Participation in the committee meetings has been consistent with the same group of people, and we would love to get more of you involved to make it a really fun year in '07! Generally the meetings are once a month on a weeknight. Not only are we looking for people who are interested in leading, volunteering, and coordinating events but we are also looking for different kinds of ideas to help us increase flying hours and overall presence of the club. If you have the time and are willing to devote some energy to the club, we will love to have you here.

Looking for a gift to give the studying or aspiring Pilot? The MS Aviation DVD courses are now available at the Pilot shop at all four locations. The entire Private pilot course is available for $159, and the Flash Animations are available for an introductory price of only $99! For more information on these comprehensive DVDs, go to www.PilotTraining.com or stop by any of the four locations.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season!

New FSDO policy on CFI checkrides: I recently attended the annual DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner) meeting at the San Jose FSDO (Flight Standards District Office). The biggest news was the new procedure for the initial Flight Instructor Practical Test. Neither the applicant nor the recommending instructor can now select which DPE will give the test. That choice will be made by the FSDO. The idea is to avoid a situation wherein the recommending CFI (Certificated Flight Instructor) teaches to a particular DPE's test.

Further to that end, the test for initial CFI airplane will usually take place out of KSJC. The paperwork and ground portion will be at the FSDO. The applicant will not know ahead of time which DPE or ASI (Aviation Safety Inspector) will administer the test. Applicants will be told to bring sufficient funds for any DPE. The charge varies from $500 to $750.

Lucky applicants will draw an ASI. Inspectors do not charge for a checkride.

Another feature is that the application must have been completed and dated prior to contacting the FSDO for the CFI checkride appointment. That is to avoid the situation where the CFI calls up the day before the test and says "Gosh! I don't think my student will be ready for the test tomorrow after all."

The reason CFIs often make appointments well before the student is ready is that they want to avoid completing the training only to have the student wait around a month and a half for the checkride. In order to avoid that, the FSDO has asked DPEs to be ready to respond to CFI checkride requests within two weeks. That means CFI checkrides have priority and may cause other applicants to be "bumped."

A special note to recommending "super" instructors: If an initial CFI applicant fails the checkride and fails the retest, the third checkride will be administered by an ASI. If that test is failed, the recommending instructor is subject to a "709" check. That is not a pleasant experience, and the outcome can be that your certificate is surrendered. One recommending instructor simply refused to make a 3rd recommendation because of the risk to his own ticket. Please take extreme care that your CFI applicants are ready for the Practical Test.

FSDO policy on all checkrides: Another update on policy was that DPEs are to endeavor to base their ground questions on scenarios. The goal is that questions should be at the "correlation" level. Questions should not be at the rote level.

An example of a rote level question is: "What are the weather minimums at Class D airports?".

An example of a correlation level scenario question is: "You are approaching C83 from the Northwest with the intention of landing to refuel. The ASOS advises that winds are 080° at 12. The clouds are 600 few and 900 broken. Visibility is 6. You observe a King Air with no passenger door departing on runway 12. Describe the procedure you would follow. Explain your decision making process."

The FSDO policy is that each question should be "pass or fail." That does not mean that a mistaken answer will immediately cause an applicant to fail the test. Follow-up questions may well show that the knowledge is there. The applicant may not have understood the question as the DPE meant it. Or the applicant may have simply experienced temporary brain flatulence.

However, if he/she cannot show any understanding of a PTS (Practical Test Standard) task element, the result may be a notice of disapproval.

Be sure that you understand each element of each Task of each Area of Operation in the PTS before you present for your checkride.

Why you should hit the clock at the fix on an ILS approach: Paul Donahue wrote to me after my last article. I had questioned the utility of punching the clock at the FAF (Final Approach Fix) on an ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach. The usual reason given by CFIIs is that you can make a localizer approach in the event of sudden glide slope failure.

Paul thought that another reason to hit the clock could be as a backup to identify the MAP (missed approach point). Not all airports have a middle marker, he pointed out (e.g., Stockton). Should you, for some reason, not descend to DA (decision altitude), you might not have any other way of determining when you are allowed to begin your missed approach turn.

Of course, a functioning GPS (global positioning system) receiver should indicate the MAP. The key word is "functioning."

Anyway, Paul sold me. It does indeed make sense to hit the clock on an ILS.

Airport signs: Applicants at all levels are still unable to identify some airport signs and markings. These are in the AIM Chapter 2. Please learn them in order to avoid an unpleasant incident on the airport surface.

DA42 is "Complex": The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Flight Standards Service has sent out a notice advising that an airplane that has retractable landing gear, flaps, and FADEC (full authority digital engine control) is a complex airplane. The only such piston airplane at the moment that they know of is the Diamond DA42 TwinStar. Turbojet aircraft generally have FADAC.

Commercial and Flight Instructor PTS require a complex airplane. The Diamond TwinStar meets that requirement. I am looking forward to WVFC acquiring the TwinStar.

Of course, all the VLJ (very light jet) airplanes are considered complex.

When protesting the difficulty of a maneuver and the (apparent) ease with which I demonstrated it, a student recently said, "Yeah, but you're a natural pilot."

Now, I'd been called a lot of things (some accurately, some not) but never a natural pilot, so it got me thinking: What is it that makes one a natural pilot? I've put together a tentative list.

How about great eyesight? OK, I guess I qualify, but what about glasses and contacts? Perhaps everyone qualifies on that count.

Fitting comfortably into any airplane? I can do that, too, if you don't take the comfortable part too far. It takes a contortionist to get into a Husky, and there really isn't a graceful way into or out of most of the planes in our fleet. Besides, seats are adjustable, so perhaps everyone qualifies here, too.

Being comfortable in any flight maneuver or situation? Boy, do I bust big time on that one! I do pretty well now, but I can't begin to describe the amount of adrenalin I was pumping on my first several flights (and it wasn't created by excitement). I've been pretty green around the gills more times than I can count and have been put into situations in which the pucker factor was so far off the scale that the needle was pegged and bent around the post. If I reacted calmly, it's just that all the circuits were so overloaded that my statement, "My controls, I've got this one" had to come out calmly. There wasn't anything left in me to add emphasis to it. That and instructors are some of the best actors on the planet. Also, when you've done a maneuver often enough, even if it's a spin, you do become comfortable with it; so maybe everyone can qualify.

How about the ability to pick up new maneuvers, airplanes, or ratings easily? Busted again. Anyone who has taught me a new rating, a new aircraft category, or a new maneuver will attest that I (as virtually everyone I've ever flown with) am a real klutz on the first few attempts. My first hack at hovering helicopters started in San Diego and was so bad that I was lucky there were no international incidents or border violations. I mentioned a few months ago that I had done six perfect landings (out of over 22,000 now); I didn't tell you how many were bouncers that you could have driven a truck under. Maneuvers, aircraft, and ratings that involve small changes in what we already know and are proficient at ARE pretty easy, but since that applies to everyone I've flown with, maybe everyone is a natural pilot (or none of us is).

OK, a high degree of positional awareness? Again, I do pretty well now. I can fly past a runway in a plane with no visibility out the right side and know when I'm abeam the numbers and when to turn base without being able to see the runway. It wasn't always that way; I almost got lost in Kansas! That's pretty difficult, considering the state is laid out like a sheet of graph paper with section lines one mile apart, oriented North-South and East-West. Positional awareness is a part of situational awareness and is a skill that has taken years to develop; I'm still working on it. That applies to all other forms of situational awareness. So with enough practice, perhaps everyone is a natural pilot.

Finally, we get to the real crux of being a "natural pilot": making the maneuvers look easy. Anyone can do that with enough practice. Take any maneuver of the rating you're working on or the one you've most recently finished. Compare your performance now with that of your first attempt, and my bet is it looks easier to an observer and probably feels easier to you as well.

Actors and politicians (is there a difference?) know that impromptu performances and spontaneous remarks take lots of work and lots of practice. So does flying. It takes hard work to make it look easy.

Anyone you think of as a natural pilot is one, not because he or she flew that way on the first attempt, but because of lots of very hard (if really enjoyable) work.

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

Synthetic Vision Special Event
Imagine a cockpit display that shows a realistic, three-dimensional perspective view of the outside world even when flying in clouds or darkness! Synthetic Vision systems that do just that are now becoming available and West Valley members will be able to learn about and try Synthetic Vision on the ground and in flight at PAO Thu - Sat, 12/14 - 12/16.

On Thursday, 12/14, at 7 pm Dr. Chad Jennings of Nav3D and Mercury Computer Systems will present a seminar on Synthetic Vision in the classroom at PAO. Chad has given well-received talks at WVFC before and this one promises to as entertaining and informative as ever. Chad will explain how Synthetic Vision works and present the latest developments in Synthetic Vision systems.

On Friday, 12/15, and Saturday, 12/16, West Valley members will have the unique opportunity to try the VistaNav (see: www.vistanav.com) portable Synthetic Vision system both on the ground and in flight! VistaNav representatives will be available all day to demonstrate VistaNav and sponsor demo flights. If you are interested in a demo flight, please contact Chuck Burkhead from VistaNav at (978) 967-1867 or cburkhea@mc.com. For any other questions, ask WVFC CFI host Nick Ulman (nick@nickulman.com).

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 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.

SQL Instrument Ground School meets Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm with instructors Brian Eliot and Kent Krizman. The course fee is $200. Contact Brian Eliot at registrar@myflighttraining.org for more information.

PAO Instrument Ground School meets Tuesday evenings from 6:30 - 9:00 with instructor Gianni Manganelli. The cost is $200. Contact Gianni at gianniman@comcast.net for more information.