West Valley Flying Club is an interesting and unique flying organization. It is one that, as members and owners, we should all take some pride in. I often surf the web and look at the web sites of other flying clubs, schools and rental organizations. While doing this recently, I came upon a club in Chicago that boasted the largest and most unique fleet in the US and to a certain extent their statement had some truth. Their fleet consisted of 25 aircraft, ranging from the typical club planes to have Cirrus, Diamonds, Bonanzas, Barrons and other aircraft. That's big when compared to the average number of planes seen in most fleets. However, WVFC is quite unique not only in the size and variety of its fleet; the professionalism of its staff and the excellent cadre of professional flight instructors that make up the sum total of the flying experience one can have under one roof is unique. It's something that comes from every member who joins the club and creates that additional enthusiasm towards pursuing his or her dream of flight.

Along with the chest thumping narrative, I would like to bring forward the following thoughts. First, I would like to encourage those of you who are looking for more flying adventures to look at some of the new aircraft that have joined the club recently and may have not made it into your view yet. In the areas of unusual attitude and aerobatic training we have added the Extra 300 to the fleet. This is in addition to the Pitts S2C and the Super Decathlon. Together, these give the club a full range of training aircraft that are just as happy greasy side up or down. For those of you looking to be more nostalgic there are now three prior military training aircraft online. These include the T6, the PT-17, and the very cool T-34. If you are looking to finally break yourself of the steam gauges, there is a full range of advanced training and HP aircraft to choose from. So take some time to explore the aircraft list page, and look for check-out specials as well as discounted trip rates on all of the new and existing aircraft.

Also remember that as an member of the club, any time you encourage someone else to join you should let the accounting department know; we will credit your next month's dues.

It seems that the airlines are hiring our CFIs as fast as we can get them. We recently had three CFIs move to the airlines in as many months. For those of you who may be interested in pursuing a career with the airlines, I highly encourage it. I used to laugh when I saw signs that said, "pilot shortage, airline pilots needed," but I can honestly say that now seems to be the time to make that move. Others of you, as I did seven years ago, may want to share your love of flying with others and become a CFI. Now is as good a time as I have seen. This is truly a unique industry, and there is no better place to practice the trade.

Finally, we have a board election coming up. There are four seats up for election: one 1-year fill in seat, and three 2-years seats consisting of two at large member seats, and the CFI rep. I would encourage those who would like to participate in the strategic planning and business development of the organization to consider running for the board. Basically, the process consists of self-nominating and sending in a candidacy statement. There are approximately sixteen meetings a year, which are usually held after normal business hours at the Palo Alto classroom. It is an interesting experience which gives one insight into the business behind the flying. The club's rich 35 year history provides a lot of case study and helps toward future planning. We have a very strong management team in place and it is fun to see what new areas of GA exploration we can uncover.

Thanks and happy flying.

It is summer election time again at the West Valley Flying Club. This year three full term seats are available: the two at-large board seats and one WVFC CFI seat are up for election. These seats are currently occupied by 'Open' and Phil Sih as the 'at-large' seats and Torea Rodriguez as the CFI seat. In addition, due to a board vacancy, the Aircraft Owner seat is open for a 1 year term. Ettore Leale is temporarily filling the Aircraft Owner seat.

Board members set the policy for the club and advise the General Manager. We meet 10-12 times a year. If you are interested, please nominate yourself! See the Election Central area of the club web site for complete information. A quick summary of the process follows.

Acceptance of candidature and candidate statements opens at 00:01 AM on Monday, May 21st and closes at 11:59 PM on Sunday, May 27th. Candidate names and statements will be posted on the WVFC website on Monday, May 28. Candidate names will be posted in alphabetical order by last name. Candidate statements will be posted in the order in which complete and final statements were received. Candidate names and statements shall be submitted only via email at candidate@wvfc.org.

The following times have been reserved for in-person "Meet the Candidates" sessions. These meetings are open to all members and provide the opportunity to meet candidates in person.

      Session I - Tuesday, June 5th at 6:30 pm in Palo Alto
      Session II - Thursday, June 7th at 6:30 pm in San Carlos
      Session III - Saturday, June 9th at 10:00 am in Palo Alto

Votes will be accepted starting at 00:01 AM on Monday, June 11th and ending at 11:59 PM on Sunday, June 17th. You can vote via the website, regular mail or in person.

Please take a few minutes to read the questions and answers in Election Central, in the members' portion of the website.

For any election related questions please contact Gary Waldeck, board member, at gwaldeck@wvfc.org.

As owners of WVFC we all want to use our limited resources properly and efficiently. Let us peek into our world of Squawks and Aircraft Observations; here we find waste and inefficiencies. We are revising our squawk and aircraft observations process to make it more efficient, and now we need to help everyone understand how the revised process works. A part of the inefficiency is that we are squawking items that are not squawks.

So let us review:
What is the purpose of a Squawk? The job of a squawk is to tell everyone, "Hey, I think there is a serious problem with this airplane, an airworthiness issue, and I think it would be sound judgment for maintenance to look at this problem before some else flies it." At WVFC a squawk immediately grounds the airplane. Why? Safety! It isn't prudent to squawk an airplane and then go and fly it. WVFC's goal is to provide safe airplanes and if one of our members identifies a safety concern it must be addressed before the airplane can fly again. All squawks are reviewed by maintenance as soon as practical and they are addressed on a first come, first serve basis.

What is the purpose of an Aircraft Observation? An observation says, "I've noted a non-airworthiness related item. I think maintenance and the owner might want to know about it." Aircraft Observations do not ground an airplane. Maintenance reviews all member observations every 50 hours when an airplane goes into the shop for routine maintenance. At that time, the observation is addressed, deferred to the next scheduled maintenance or just noted if the owner chooses not to address the item. If you want to alert maintenance to an observation sooner, you can call them, send an email or ask dispatch to contact maintenance; see contact info below.

The ability to write a pertinent squawk or observation begins with knowledge of your equipment.

Here are some examples of possible squawks:

• A hard landing - even if you think it wasn't too bad! Better to be safe than sorry.
• A bird strike.
• Abnormal vibrations.
• Nose shimmies (but not always if you fly a Cirrus).
• A magneto drop that is out of the specified range and you can't de-foul the plugs.
• A dead battery.
• Flaps don't work.

It's that time of year! We are getting ready for all the exciting events to start, please make sure you check the WVFC calendar as each event will be posted as it comes across my desk. The following are a few events that are already on the calendar; we hope to see all of you there.

May 17-19: The Hayward Air Rally! The Hayward Air rally is a precision, timed navigation exercise where pilots are given a desired course to navigate and the pilots simply predict the time over a specific target and their estimated fuel burn. Then, all they have to do is to go fly their plan. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, for some, it is, but for many, it can be very challenging. At the end, there is a party in a party town. There are two classes of participation: The 'Traditional Class' (analog gauges only, nothing digital is used) and the 'Digital Class' where any tools that might be available can be used. All players compete for the same prizes. The scoring rules are slightly different between the classes to offset the advantages provided by the Digital Class.

The race is conducted on Friday, May 18, 2007 and there are two legs, one from Hayward to Bakersfield, the 2nd goes from Bakersfield to Palm Springs. There is a banquet on Saturday, 19 May and on Sunday, everyone flies home.

They provide a block reservation at a local hotel (1/2 price discount!) and have selected a cool banquet site. Pilots and guests must make their own hotel reservations, but also need to indicate that they are with the Air Rally to get the discount. In addition, they have discount tickets for the Air Museum, Tram ride and offer a nice golf game with discounted green fees on Saturday morning.

There are 20 trophies to hand out to participants (1-15 and related awards), There are money prizes for the first 10 spots and Door Prizes that come from sponsor prizes donated from WVFC and a great many others. For more information or to register go to www.haywardairrally.org or e-mail them at info@haywardairrally.org. This is an event not to be missed!

The Vertical Challenge Airshow is a wonderful event that allows visitors to see firsthand helicopter operations. The show is devoted to educating the public about how helicopters affect our daily lives from traffic and news reports to their unique life saving ability, to the national defense of our country. We will have a booth at the event and a tandem party at our San Carlos facility so I will need at least six volunteers for that day. Please let me know if you are available.

I will need volunteers for the following: Wings of History fly-in, Saturday May 19, South County, and the Hiller Vertical Challenge Saturday June 16, San Carlos. These events promise to be very exciting; I look forward to meeting new members who haven't been out to volunteer yet! Call me at 650-856-2030 ext 304 or e-mail me at Shannon@wvfc.org if you are interested.

For those of you who are wondering what the status is on overnight parking, we confirmed with our property manager that West Valley members may park overnight for 1-2 nights and a third night with permission along the fence only-not along the buildings. In order to do this you will need to notify the front desk so we can get you an overnight parking pass with all your flight information to put in your car window, this will insure you will not be towed. Thank you for your patience while we handled the details!

I am looking for someone to help out at the front desk this summer to cover my full-timers so they can have vacations. Specifically, I will need coverage at PAO for about three weeks (Sunday-Tuesday, end of May-mid June) and Saturdays for one month at SQL from June 9-July 8 (four Saturdays) and possibly Sundays in the same date range at HWD. If you are interested please contact me.

Finally, WVFC shirts are in; we have plenty of sizes and colors at the PAO Pilot shop so come and get em!

Happy flying everyone!!

The Letter of Discontinuance:
Order 8710.3E, the Designated Pilot and Flight Engineers Handbook (available to anyone through www.faa.gov) addresses Practical Test Discontinuance on page 5.8. The gist is that if weather, mechanical problems or incapacitation of the applicant or examiner arise, the test can be discontinued. The examiner issues the applicant a letter of discontinuance which shows the portions of the test which have been successfully completed. The letter may be used by the applicant up to 60 days from the date of the original application to show the examiner the successfully completed portions.

If the examiner who resumes the test has reason to doubt the applicant's competence in areas for which the applicant received credit for the previous practical test, the examiner must reexamine the applicant on all areas of operation required for that certificate or rating. In any case, after 60 days from the original application, the examiner must administer the entire test.

Two Discontinued Checkrides:
I have had several checkrides discontinued during the past months. Most were due to weather. Recently, I resumed two of those discontinued tests. The results differed dramatically.

Both were young students taking the private pilot checkride. Both had highly experienced flight instructors. Both had had their tests delayed several weeks due to weather.

The first applicant, we'll call him "Sam," had some problems. Due to maintenance requirements, the airplane to be flown had been changed a day prior to the test date. As always, we needed to check the maintenance records. However, Sam had not had time to go over the records with his instructor. He seemed to completely forget the items that needed to be checked.

Those items are, of course, the annual inspection, the ELT inspection, the ELT battery date for change, the transponder inspection and the ADs. The 100 hour, although required by some training organizations, is not required by FARs for this nominally private use of the airplane.

Luckily for Sam, the aircraft records had been previously tabbed. That along with a slow reading of relevant sections of FAR 91 eventually led him through the process of determining that the maintenance records were correct.

After the preflight inspection, we started the engine and taxied to the run-up area. I asked him to consider a situation where we had lost radio contact with the tower. Suppose the tower signaled us with a white flashing light. Sam guessed "Position and hold?" Then he tried "Hold short?" He never got "Return to starting point."

Now the Private Pilot Practical Test Standard lists Task A of Area of Operation III as "Radio Communications and ATC Light Signals". That is pretty straight forward. If an applicant cannot determine the meaning of the ATC light signals, he cannot pass the test. And so the applicant failed.

Since the flight portion had begun, we elected to continue. Several tasks were done beautifully. However, the emergency approach was problematic. He was unable to come up with the emergency squawk. Not even close.

The second resumption of the Private Pilot Practical Test was with "Joe." Joe had no problem quickly and correctly determining that the airplane was airworthy in terms of maintenance records. The entire test went smoothly, with only two small complaints. He had difficulty predicting ETA's because he had no watch. However, he did think of using his cell phone. The airplane's clock was not very accurate.

My other complaint was his awkward use of the Garmin 430 GPS to find a diversion airport. He was not able to use the "nearest" function. I believe private pilots should be able to use that function when possible. In the event of a diversion, it is much better than fumbling with charts and (heaven forbid) plotters and E6B's. When you have to divert, the simplest solution is the best.

Other than these two non-fatal items, the test went smoothly. Joe passed with flying colors.

So why the difference between the two delayed performances? I think the explanation is that Joe's instructor made sure he went over the remaining portions of the test on the ground and in flight shortly before the resumption.

CFIs, when your student's test is discontinued for any length of time, please treat the resumption as another test. Be sure he/she is ready shortly before the resumption. On its own, the memory curve slopes down; not up.

One of my favorite stories about communications is about the fact that a simple phrase or word can have different meanings depending upon who is listening or talking. Take the order, "Secure the building." Let's see how the various military services would carry out this order.

• The Army would clear all unauthorized personnel from the building and post a guard at each entrance.
• The Navy would turn out the light and lock the door.
• The Marines would attack the building with close air support and suppressive ground fire.
• And the Air Force would negotiate a five-year lease with an option to buy.

How many of you have walked past N162WB at Palo Alto (the "Navy Trainer") and said "what if..."? Now's the time to find out. The owners of N162WB and some of the WVFC CFIs have developed a series of training programs in this airplane. The Mentor is one of the most enjoyable members of our fleet, and it would be a great addition to your logbook. Checkout is very straightforward, and the airplane will teach you many things about flying. Here are some of the characteristics:

• Upgraded engine to 260HP
• Tandem (front and back) so you are on the centerline for precision
• Stick for very precise control
• Fully IFR ready with a Garmin 430
• 3 axis trim for advanced systems practice
• 152KIAS VNE for quick cross country trips
• Canopy open to VNE for the full aviation experience

Please see Shannon's article above, as well as the BBS for additional events and activities.

Come Join Andy Geosits and learn about the ins, outs, ups and downs of spins and upset training. Also view the new Extra 300 on the WVFC flight line. This session will be held April 21, 2007 10AM in the Palo Alto back classroom.

May 13, 10:00 am Ground Session; lunchtime fly-in to Petaluma
Whether you're out of currency or just feeling a bit rusty on the mic, this Clinic will be a fun way to start getting yourself back in the cockpit this summer. WVFC CFI Patti Andrews will host a ground session at SQL, followed by a group fly-in to Petaluma for lunch at the 29'er Diner. CFIs will pair up with members for the flight as needed. If you're current and want to come along without a CFI, that's fine, too. Members participating will pay the CFI they're paired up with for the flight, and will pay the hobbs time they put on the aircraft. The ground session is free. To reserve a place or to get paired up with a CFI, please contact Patti Andrews at pandrewscfi@yahoo.com. (Note: previously published email address was incorrect… if you would like to participate in this fly-in, please contact Patti at the yahoo.com address. Thanks.)

As they awaken from a long winter's slumber, white Cherry blossoms blanket the trees like a warm snow, and daylight flickers late into the afternoon. The sounds of Springtime fill the air-a child's laughter from the yard, birds sing like angels to welcome in each day, the familiar chime of an ice cream truck...and a grown man screaming like a little girl, as he's thrown from the open door of an aircraft! Now we're talking!

Join West Valley Falling Club, as we leave the quiet sanctity of the airplane, and discover true flight for the first time. That's right, on Sunday May 20th; we'll fly to Lodi California, (1O3), for a day of free-fallin' fun! The Parachute Center, located at the airport, offers tandem skydives for $100, and a DVD of your jump, (highly recommended), will pinch another $55 from your wallet. Refreshments will be provided at the south end of the field, under a shade tree, which also makes a great place for spectators to lounge while watching you land. The jump is available to anyone 17 or older. And if skydiving isn't your thing, for $15, you can ride up in the aircraft to watch the jumpers exit. Trust me, its' a very cool flight.

There will be a pre fly-in seminar held on Thursday, May 17th at 18:00, in Palo Alto's back classroom. We'll discuss the ins-and-outs of flying into an active drop zone, and answer any questions about the jump itself. A parachute will be available, and on display, so that the various components can be viewed. This is an open seminar, and is recommended to anyone who plans to join us for the fly-in. Aerobatic pilots, who would like to see what saves them in the event of an aircraft failure, are encouraged to attend as well. West Valley CFI, Logan Frasier, can be reached at (408) 506-5292, or e-mail freeflyguy66@yahoo.com with any questions you might have.

There's nothing else that compares to the sensation of skydiving; nothing. Inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci, and coined by Shannon all the time, the artist Seal said it best, "In a world full of people, only some want to fly, isn't that crazy?"

Title: Maintenance Series - Preflight Inspection
Location: West Valley Flying Club - KSQL
Date: May 16, 2007
Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Presenter: Lucy Geever

Lucy Geever, Chief Pilot of WVFC, will discuss the pre-flight of the PA28 with a comparative analysis of the C172N. What are go and no-go items, how to appropriately verify operation, where can items require extra vigilance, what are typical squawks that are seen. Guests will include WVFC's Director of MX.

Title: Propeller Safety
Location: West Valley Flying Club - KPAO
Date: May 23, 2007
Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Presenter: Mr. Jeremy MacDonald

Please join us in welcoming Mr. Jeremy MacDonald as he gives us an in-depth look into that all-important and often overlooked airfoil we have on the airplane - the propeller. Mr. MacDonald will discuss topics including propeller mechanics, aspects of propeller design, propeller maintenance, propeller overhaul, and static and dynamic propeller balancing principles. In particular, Mr. MacDonald will discuss:

• 2-bladed, versus 3-bladed propellers
• Stresses on a propeller in operation
• Propeller failure types
• Maintenance/safety considerations of each type (fixed-pitch, constant speed)
• Preflight inspection - what to look for and actions to take
• What you can remedy, versus what must be done by certified mechanics
• What the shops recommend for operation
• Various manufacturers' recommendations
• Safety considerations of balancing your propeller/spinner/crankshaft
• Performance considerations of balancing