Hot summer flying is upon us, and it is great seeing everyone out there flying. I was out today, and there were 4 WVFC aircraft buzzing around the pattern. This is a great way to put a smile on the GM's face. I would like to call everybody's attention to a special event on August 1st. The event is officially titled National Night Out and is a community outreach program during which city officials visit various neighborhoods and get to see first hand what is going on. WVFC is participating in this program, and we are inviting all of the members to come on out and join us. There will be events for the kids, new aircraft with the latest technology, free bbq, and the aviation movie that got us all started: Top Gun. There are more details in Shannon's article. Please come out and enjoy the fun.

The office's at SQL will be moving back across the field. At this point, we are waiting for the current tenant to vacate, and that process is taking longer than expected. As far as the move is concerned, we will be moving over a two week period of time, and we will be looking for a group of volunteers to help lend a hand. If you are interested, please let me know by emailing me at gm@wvfc.org. Additionally, we are going to need a full size fridge, a couple of new couches, and various other furniture. Please let me or Shannon know if you have these products you may be able to donate.

July 19th 7PM is the quarterly open board meeting. Meetings will be held in the Palo Alto Classroom. Discussion topics will include; Annual Report, current ops reports, financials, an analysis on marketing for WVFC and other open topics.

Thanks for your time; I look forward to seeing you around the club and up in the air.

Among other ongoing projects, the chief pilot office is busy setting up the yearly instructors line checks and updating all our records to comply with TSA (Transportation Security Administration) requirements.

Every year, instructors need to go through a line check with the chief pilot office. The line check is two fold: a ground and, in certain cases, a flight portion. You might liken it to a checkride, except that in our case, there is no pink slip or letter of discontinuance. The main purpose of this program is to sit down with each instructor, review his/her performance at the club, and talk about the incidents/accidents we have had during the year and the conclusions we can draw to maintain a high safety operation. We also use this time to review his/her goals and tackle any issues or concerns he/she might want to bring to the table. Last year, due to the rash of accidents we experienced in the first semester, all instructors had to fly with either the then Chief Pilot Ken Frank, Josh Smith (GM), or myself in a matter of a little over three months. The first line check dates back to May 2005 while the last one was completed on 13 August 2005. This year, I will change the process somewhat as you can imagine that I cannot fly with close to 65 instructors in a period of three months! The main change is that this line check will be continuous in the sense that I will meet with 5 to 6 instructors per month all year starting in August. It will then be an ongoing event. The whole process needs some more defining as to what will be the criteria used to decide whether the flight portion will be a must or not. The ground portion, however, will remain on the agenda as it is a good opportunity for each instructor and the chief pilot to reset the clock for the year.

Another project we are working on for which the deadline is mid July is our compliance with TSA requirements. This comes in two parts: for US citizens, a proof of citizenship needs to be given when starting training (either a passport or a birth certificate). The instructor is also required to indicate in the student's logbook that he/she has verified the student's US citizenship. For foreign citizens, the process is a little more involved: since October 2004, all foreign students need to register with the TSA if they want to train to obtain either a private pilot certificate, an instrument, or multi-engine rating. At the same time, all the active instructors who wish to train foreign students need to register with the TSA, and, as a flight school and training provider WVFC has had to register with the TSA as well. The process includes a formal online request from the student, payment of a $130 fee, and fingerprints. A background check, valid for one year, is performed for each applicant, and once everything is cleared, the student and WVFC are granted authorization to train. The club's duty is to document the applicant's passport, visa, and picture and forward it all to the TSA for their records and archives and keep copies of all this for the following five years. This year, somewhat to our surprise, the TSA has contacted us and informed us that they would be auditing our files to ensure that all requirements had been met. We had a meeting with the TSA representative for Santa Clara County in early June, reviewed in detail all the requirements, and asked as many questions as we could. Now, sometime in July, we will be officially audited. We will keep you informed about the results, but we are certain to pass as we have spent the last couple weeks working on getting everything ready.

Last but not least, I would like to let you know that the Chief Pilot office has had an Administrative Assistant for the last two months. Pam Bohner, who used to work the front desk, has agreed to devote fifteen hours per week to working with me. Some of her duties include, but are not restricted to, taking care of the brunt of paperwork, processing all the aircraft checkouts, phase check requests, and assignments, documenting member observations, filing, and keeping me in check. She is a great addition to this office and on her way to being indispensable as she has been helping me focus on more long-term projects. If you have questions for Pam, you can reach her at 650-856-2030 ext 401. Pbohner@wvfc.org

That's it folks. Happy safe flying and until next month!

Wow, I can't believe how quickly the months fly by! We are already in the full swing of summer and have had many successful events so far. For those of you who missed, we've had an aerobatic seminar, a Tiger Aero tour, the Hiller Vertical Challenge, an open hangar day, barbecue, tower tours, a night skills clinic, skydiving, and, new to our list of events, summer lunch fly-outs with member John Ferrell. All this in the month of June! Thanks so much to all of you who have volunteered your time and energy to making these events a success.

I am thrilled with the turnout we've had so far and look forward to a very exciting July. So far on the schedule, we have another aerobatic seminar, Airport Day at E16, Oshkosh, and a Watsonville fly-out the last Sunday of the month. If you are interested in volunteering for any of the events, please contact me in Palo Alto at ext. 304. I am looking forward to all of your participation.

There is a HUGE event coming on Tuesday, August 1st, called National Night Out. This is a yearly event put on by the local businesses to promote crime awareness and community involvement. There will be a barbecue, open aircraft from Cirrus, Cessna, Diamond, and the Pitts (this is who has confirmed with me so far, but there are many more to come), music, Young Eagles and lots and lots of fun! This is going to be one of the biggest events at West Valley, so I encourage all of you to show up; you don't want to miss out on this incredible night! In addition, there will be a movie night here when the festivities of the day are over. This entire event will go from 3pm-10pm. If you can't stay for the whole thing, at least come by for a while after work. We look forward to seeing all of you here, and please feel free to bring the family! Make sure you check the calendar on the WVFC home page and look for new events as they are showing up all the time! The calendar is updated on a regular basis.

If you are itching to see an event here at the club that you haven't seen yet, you are welcome to come to our activities meeting on the second Monday of every month or just send me an e-mail at Shannon@wvfc.org, and I will see if we can put it on the calendar!

The barbecues at SQL are still going on every first and third Saturday of the month; come join us in the fun and festivities!

We just received a whole bunch of new West Valley t-shirts for men and women in all different sizes and colors; come get them at PAO while they are still available! We also have three women's polo shirts. They are fitted and very stylish all in size large (will fit a medium-sized person as they run small!).

Don't forget to pick up your Terminals and Sectionals; they will expire August 31, 2006.

As we head into the hot summer months, the maintenance department is seeing some of the common challenges in aircraft performance due to higher density altitudes and hot summer temperatures. Warm weather flying requires special consideration for better aircraft handling and performance.

An important safety consideration should be made with respect to aircraft fueling. Fuel from the trucks is cooler than fuel in the wing. As the cooler fuel is added to the hotter wing, it will expand and will overflow through the tank vents. In some cases, it will enter the wing and fuselage causing dangerous fumes in the cabin compartment. Therefore, when refueling, do not overfill or top off tanks; rather, leave a couple inches below the tank filler neck. As aircraft fuelers will fuel according to your request, be sure to specify that you would like it filled short a couple inches below the filler neck when asking for full fuel.

As far as batteries are concerned, their performance deteriorates with temperature extremes, which contributes to difficult starting. Some suggestions include minimizing preflight battery drain by reducing electrical draw on the system, avoiding ground battery use, and testing only the lights and equipment essential for the flight mission. As a reminder, aircraft onboard battery ground use is not permitted for avionics training.

On the engine side, hot start procedures will vary from one aircraft to another, so be familiar with the aircraft you fly and consider making this your normal summer start procedure. However, there are ways to avoid hot starts, including shutting down only when necessary (i.e., between multiple landings), and if you do have to shut down the engine, allow for cooling between start-ups, and avoid start-ups during the hottest times of the day.

During high temperature operations, expect a higher oil temperature associated with lower oil pressure due to lower oil viscosity. Shallow climbs at higher airspeeds can improve engine cooling and keep you in the green. Avoid prolonged ground run-ups, and reduce taxi time as much as possible as this can add to higher oil temperature on climb out.

As the temperature increases, the air density decreases, and therefore the mixture needs to be leaned to maintain a proper air/fuel ratio. Leaning should be completed slowly and incrementally, allowing the EGT (or RPM) to stabilize between movements. Remember that additional leaning on the ground may be necessary due to higher density altitudes.

A little planning and consideration for warm temperature operations at your departure and destination airport can save time and frustration and, more importantly, make your flight enjoyable.

Thanks, and this bolt is tightened.

Assumptions

Remember the old saying "Never assume; because assume makes an ass out of u and me."

When CFIs instruct, it is important not to assume anything. That's hard. Take the case of a young flight instructor who has a student who is a CEO or a member of a profession. The instructor may not want to insult his student's intelligence by telling him the "obvious".

Or maybe the student has passed his knowledge test with a very high score. Why waste time going over areas that the student must surely already know?

I think this may explain why I still find applicants who are unsure of some very basic facts and procedures.

Ceilings
Frequently, I will ask private pilot applicants whether a pilot may legally land VFR at a particular Class E airport given the ASOS weather is, say, 600 few, 800 scattered, 1100 broken, and 1500 overcast with visibility 8 miles. The applicant will often begin by recounting the cloud separation rules (1, 5, 2). Then he/she will try to apply those rules to the scenario. That is logical but awkward.

Then, I might ask what is the standard ceiling and visibility at a Class E airport. Most will realize that Class E airspace is controlled. Some will guess that it is uncontrolled because there is no operating control tower. Of those who recognize Class E as controlled, most, but not all, will know that the VFR minimum ceiling is 1000 feet and the minimum visibility is 3 miles.

I ask if they can tell me what constitutes a ceiling. The answer I hear is often "clouds". Then I may ask about the above scenario. In the aforementioned Class E airport, what is the ceiling? Too many applicants are stymied at this point. They are not sure which layer (few, scattered, broken, or overcast) constitutes the ceiling.

Their CFI may have assumed that every student who has soloed knows what a ceiling is. Correction. Every student who has soloed should know what a ceiling is.

Localizers
A couple of days ago, I administered an instrument checkride to an applicant who had been instructed by a retired airline pilot. The applicant did reasonably well on most of the test. Then we came to the mandatory ILS. There happened to be a significant crosswind from the left.

The applicant asked for vectors to join the localizer about four miles outside the final approach fix. I guess that was to save time.

We intercepted the localizer and then the glide slope. I noticed that the HIS heading bug was centered on the approach course. As the CDI began to move to the left, the applicant pointed the nose 5 degrees left or at the left edge of the heading bug. The CDI continued to move left, and the applicant continued to hold 5 degrees correction.

Eventually the CDI passed the ¾ PTS limit and continued on to full deflection. We continued to hold 5° wind correction. Sadly, I had to tell him that the approach was unsatisfactory.

On the ground, I asked why he had not corrected sufficiently. It seems that earlier he had been overcorrecting inside the FAF. His instructor advised that he should avoid making any more than a 5 degree heading change on the final approach segment. What the instructor assumed his student understood was that this is based on the crab angle established outside final approach fix.

The applicant apparently believed that he must stay within 5° of the course heading inside the FAF.

The Moral
The moral is that CFIs should not assume that students have an expected understanding of facts and procedures. The way to avoid that assumption is to put the student to the test well before the FAA Practical Test.

Out of currency in this context has nothing to do with an empty billfold or purse. Back in the days when I was GM, one of the most aggravating questions that both the Chief Pilot and I were asked was of the form, "I'm only one day out of currency, can't you waive the recurrency flight?" I've written previously on the subject, but here's a different approach. And with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, here we go.

• If you're trying to get PAO ATIS on 120.6, you may be out of currency
• If the batteries in all your flashlights are dead, you may be out of night currency.
• If you've forgotten how to operate pilot controlled lighting, you may be out of night currency.
• If you haven't done a stall recovery since your last flight review, you may be out of currency.
• If you did a stall recovery and used ailerons to keep the wings level during the recovery, you may be out of currency.
• If you still relate to Positive Controlled Airspace, TCAs, TRSAs, ARSAs, and Airport Traffic Areas better than Class A, B, C, and D airspace, you may be out of currency.
• If you have to look around the cockpit in order to follow the checklists, you may be out of currency.
• If the nose swings to the left every time you rotate for takeoff, you may be out of currency.
• If you can't remember the appropriate cloud clearance requirements, you may be out of currency.
• If, when the tower calls back and says, "You're breaking up," you start looking for pieces falling off the plane, you may be out of currency.
• If you've forgotten how to use the E6B (or can't find one), you may be out of currency.
• If the ground seems to be coming up inordinately fast in a power-off approach, you may be out of currency.
• If you don't remember power settings or airspeeds, you may be out of currency.
• If you can't find your logbook, you may be out of currency.
• If you press the push-to-talk button and have forgotten what to say, you may be out of currency.
• If you followed the A N range on your last cross country, you may be out of currency.
• If you think LORAN is the hottest new technology and can't wait to fly a plane that has one, you may be out of currency.
• If you have no idea what the 9/11 NOTAMs are, you may be out of currency.
• If the last plane you flew had "coffee grinder" avionics or vacuum tubes, you may be out of currency.
• Finally, although most of the above has happened to me, here are two that I know from personal experience and are my personal yardsticks:
• If you can't meet the PTS requirements for your pilot certificate, you ARE out of currency.
• If you haven't flown in type in the last 30 days, you ARE out of currency.

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

1. Quarterly Open Board Meeting July 19th
2. Oshkosh July 24 - 28
3. Members bbq. And National Night out. August 1st
4. Flying to Canada - and Flying Oshkosh Safety Seminars

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 instructors Sandy Wiedemann at syzygy2002@mac.com or Eric Jewell at eric@flywitheric.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.