THE COMMUNITY OF FLYING
by Josh Smith, General Manager

As Spring arrives, we look forward to those hibernating pilots emerging. As I stated in last months article, please take the time to do a diligent re-currency. I would encourage you to look at those skills for which you think you have not had much chance to practice or possibly you may need some touching up on certain skills and need to go up and practice them with your CFI. Of course it's good to do the air and pattern work but why not add in a another skill. When is the last time you planned a long cross country, looked at an airport with a difficult take-off and/or landing and made the calculations or discussed technique issues with a CFI?  
 
Planes are a great for going long distances. As obvious as this sounds, pilots spend a lot of time in the pattern and not flying far and away. I  say get out and enjoy the planes and your pilot certificate. Additionally, there are a lot of good deals on fleet aircraft right now. Owners are trying to get some additional hours rolling. Checkout the blue dot specials on the fleet page. Get a mountain check out or fly across the Sierras. There are a lot of great places to go!
 
There is an open board meeting April 16th at 7:00PM in the Palo Alto Board room. Topics for discussion will be a review of the YTD Club finances, a brief overview of the budget and strategic plan, Board Elections, and as always, a period of time for open discussion and questions from the membership.
 
Fleet Updates. We are adding a DA-40 to the Palo Alto Fleet. This is a great training platform for both initial and IFR students. the aircraft is equipped with a G1000 Panel and many additional features. As far as other new aircraft are concerned, we do need to recruit some new planes over the next fiscal year. We are looking for the following planes;
1. ARCHER II in KSQL
2. PIPER WARRIOR and/or ARCHER II in HWD
3. C152 for HAYWARD
4. CIRRUS for HAYWARD
5. MOONEY J for KPAO or KSQL
If you have any interest in the above aircraft or other thoughts on planes, please contact Josh Smith gm@wvfc.org

Thanks and happy flying

FROM THE DESK OF THE CHIEF
WVFC Chief Pilot chief pilot@wvfc.org

I recently spent some time with the Palo Alto tower manager, Tonya Patterson.  The purpose of the meeting was to exchange ideas about improving operations at Palo Alto airport. I plan on meeting with Tonya about once a month to keep the dialog open.  I’ll try and do the same with the San Carlos and Hayward folks in the near future.  The Tower now has a new supervisor, Carole Lozito.  She came to them from SFO tower and brings several years of experience to the operation. The tower controllers have shared that they enjoy working with WVFC and welcome visits and input from our instructors. There were a few requests that I had for her, and a few she had for us.  So here they are with a little color added. 
Requests TO the controllers from Steve: 

1. Palo Alto has always been a little unique in the way they handle traffic on the ground with things like “taxi back each time, advise when terminating”.  Imagine getting that at San Jose International!  One thing in particular that strikes me as troublesome is the runway clearances without a runway assignment.  After meeting with the manager, she was able to advise me that this is a procedure not specific to PAO but to any airport with a single runway operation and this procedure follows FAA phraseology criteria. Pilots should keep in mind that runway assignment clearances are required by controllers at airports with more than one runway.  Pilots operating at most airports in the Bay Area will hear controllers always stating the runway in clearances and requiring read back of the runway assignment by the pilot.  Issuing a landing clearance or takeoff clearance for single runway operations is optional and MAY be used by controllers as a good operating practice and as needed for clarification. Pilots are therefore reminded that at a single runway airport like PAO, you may hear controllers say “Cessna 1234A, cleared for take-off”.  Most of the time this clearance has been preceded by “Runway 31 position and Hold” or “Hold Short of Runway 31”, in these cases the read back would be required, not optional. The runway assignment is initially established and will be included in the initial Taxi Instruction. 

The problem is our members get into the habit of not reading back runway assignments and then get into read back problems at airports such as SJC where the runway assigned must be read back.  My recommendation is that pilots stay with the practice of Runway read backs every time…even when the controller doesn’t state it.  This forms good habits when flying to airports with multiple runways.

1. Recently, have you heard “Taxi West Valley via the parallel and kilo”?  The controllers now have to be more precise about which taxiways to use while operating in the movement area. Most of our ramp is considered non-movement area. Only the run-up area, the runway and the parallel taxiway are protected “movement areas” and the route that a pilot takes in a movement area must now be stated to pilots at all controlled airports. So why the heck doesn’t the parallel have a real taxi label like ALPHA or BRAVO?  Again, imagine being at Chicago O’Hare and saying you’re on the parallel?  It turns out that this is an airport operations problem, and we’ll need to work these kinds of issues with airport management and not the tower folks.  If and when the parallel gets a real name, they’ll be glad to start using it.
2. It appears that we occasionally have controllers that may be overusing the statement “expedite” or “no delay off the runway”.  They’re trying to help by provide as much service to all users as possible. Every time someone is on the runway and the pilot hears these controller instructions or requests, there is a much greater chance of overuse of the brakes (flat spots on tires and $280 charge for replacement). There may also be a potential for loss of control as a pilot tries to take a turn-off with a plane that doesn’t want to go there.  I specifically asked them to minimize their use of this request and I specifically ask you, the members, to not fall for the “hurry up” requests and either say “unable” if you’re uncomfortable, or simply say nothing (actually better) and take your time to get off the runway in a safe and orderly fashion.  The manager advised me that the controllers are aware that the runway belongs to the aircraft that has landed and will continue to state “if able, no delay” or “if able, expedite”.  There will be times when these requests are necessary and controllers are trained to know when these terms are to be used.  The intent is to increase safety and separation for both the aircraft that has landed and the next arrival, sending an aircraft around is not always the safest option as airspace congestion can also be a factor.  As pilots you are in command of the aircraft and the tower need only be told “UNABLE” and then provide the necessary safety precautions where needed.  Now having said this, please don’t be one of those people who touches down in the first 1000 feet of pavement and then taxi the remaining 1400 feet at about 2 miles per hour…That’s equally annoying.

 
 
Requests FROM the controllers to WVFC  

1. RWY 31 Run-up Area: Say it’s one of those busy afternoons and there are about 7 or 8 planes wanting to be in the run-up area.  In the past aircraft seemed to know to line-up and move to the top of the “T-Bar” when a slot was open. Controllers have started to give more control instructions to pilots in order to “meter” them in and out of this area. It appears that some pilots may not be aware what the procedures are and in some cases aircraft have cut out traffic moving across the 3 “T-Bar” lines. Unless otherwise instructed by the tower, please help us by lining up on the 3 “T-Bar” markings; with the 3 T’s across we can normally fit 9 aircraft in this area and avoid long lines around the terminal which then blocks the parking rows and transient area access. If you are not certain as to whether or not you can pull into an open spot, please ask. Until this information is provided to the other users there may still be times when an aircraft blocks a T-Bar and does their run-up perpendicular to these lines. But primarily, an aircraft may pull forward on the line they are on without tower instructions – it is not recommended that aircraft cut across lines in case other traffic is coming from behind and may not be in view, in this case it is best to ask the tower.
2. After landing.  You’ve just touched down, taxied off the runway onto the parallel and your instructor is just dying to tell you how your touch down was too hard, you weren’t on the centerline, the rudder wasn’t being used properly, you used the brakes too much, your approach speed was too high, you flared too late, you ballooned and on and on.  Often to make this rant possible, someone turns down the radio so the lecture is more clearly received.  The problem is that now you’ve turned the radio volume down, the controllers can’t reach you to tell you what’s next up for you.  Bottom line – leave the radio volume up until shutting down.
3. NORDO (or no radio).  The tower is more than happy to show every student what the fancy light signals look like from both the air and the ground.  Recently, some folks have had real radio failures and come back into the PAO pattern, received the light signals and proceeded to land.  Nothing wrong with the picture so far until you hear the part about the subsequent touch and gos with no radio while presumably enjoying the free light signals.  This may sound ridiculously obvious, but if you have a radio failure on arrival, you make ONE landing and call it a day.

The folks in the Palo Alto tower have always been some of the best in the business.  As you know, sometimes the level of operations reaches a near meltdown state and yet somehow the folks up there manage to keep it going.  I ask all of you to help out in anyway possible, not the least of which should be an understanding for many of the trainees up there being thrown into the deep end at one of the busiest GA airports in the world. 

Safe Flying.

AS THE WRENCH TURNS
by your friendly maintenance department, maintenance@wvfc.org

Be Green, please note that idling an aircraft with all of the lights on in the middle of the day while on the ground, will do damage to the charging system and battery in the aircraft. The alterntor is not deisnged to handle this load at this low of an RPM. As a result you will be draining the system. This unnessesary use diminishes the life of the battery as well as accelerates the the limited life of the bulbs you are using. Think about it in these terms: Normal lights run about 40 hours and then they're done, they are not recyclable and get thrown away. If we eat up their time when they are not needed, we are just adding to our local waste. From a cost perspective light replacements run about $100 - $250 per light, labor and parts. Please help us by not using all the lights on the ground in the daytime.

The Spring brings beautiful flowers, green fields and hills and an ever changing and dynamic weather pattern which can lead to very interesting operational considerations. The dynamics in the weather calls for us as pilots to be aware of the different requirements of the aircraft for the ever changing weather conditions. Flying almost all the Club aircraft, I have been astonished that in the morning I will be trying to get an aircraft started in the very brisk temperatures of 40 –50 degrees, and then later in the day note that the outside temps have increased 30 degree.

For starting, idling and cruising, approach aircraft are designed to operate optimally in standard weather conditions. Variation in the outside conditions to anything other than standard wx, the pilot will need to adjust the engine operation, starting procedure, taxiing procedure., etc. for the conditions that exist at that time. This could mean more or less prime, leaning or enriching the mixture, extending or shortening the engine warm-up time. Always try to be aware of what the engine and aircraft are telling you. Don’t be a “CRAKENSTEIN”. A “Crakenstein is a term often referred to by MX persons for those members who, when starting an aircraft, will just crank on a starter motor for what seems like forever, hoping for a miracle start while the engine is clearly not starting. Aircraft will generally start on 2-3 blades, however this is only after they are appropriately primed. As discussed before, aircraft starting procedures will differ depending on outside air temperatures and whether or not the aircraft has been run prior to your usage. The POH will generally give very good instructions on exactly how to start an aircraft. Again, as I generally have to start every aircraft on the flight line, please do not hesitate to drop us a note if you have had problems or would like some tips. Aircraft starters are light duty and cannot withstand the abuse often afforded them by “CRAKENSTIENS”.

Your friends in maintenance.

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Instant ILS Wind Correction with the GPS
by WVFC CFI Nick Ulman

Under IFR, GPS is the simplest way to navigate in all phases of flight from takeoff to touchdown.  But when an ILS approach is selected, GPS is for “monitoring” only.  The pilot is expected to use the ILS localizer and glide slope signals for guidance from the final approach fix to the decision height.  However, using GPS one can fly the localizer more easily than would otherwise be possible even if the GPS is only used for ”monitoring”.
One of the challenges of flying an ILS approach is figuring out what heading is required to track the localizer course.  When there is no wind, the heading to fly is just the inbound course itself.  When a crosswind is present the airplane must crab into the wind to prevent being blown off course.  Making matters more complicated, wind speed and direction change during the descent along the glide slope.  And of course the localizer becomes very sensitive as the airplane approaches the runway.
 
The traditional method of wind correction on the localizer is to fly a constant heading and observe the movement of the localizer needle.  The goal is to find the heading that stops needle movement.  If the needle is not centered, one makes a short-term heading change toward the needle before returning to the heading that holds the needle still.  This reference heading will be off course into the wind and can be marked on an HSI with a heading bug.  Skill and experience are needed to find the reference heading quickly through a series of bracketing maneuvers.

Luckily GPS can help find one the reference heading rapidly and accurately.  GPS receivers show, among other things, DTK and TRK.  DTK is the “desired track” or course from way point to way point.  TRK is the airplane’s actual course track over the ground.  When GPS is used for monitoring on an ILS approach, DTK is the course from FAF to DH.  TRK is the course over the ground that the airplane is actually flying.  Therefore, if TRK matches DTK, then the airplane’s course over the ground is at least parallel to the localizer course.

This suggests a GPS-aided method for localizer tracking.  As the localizer needle centers upon first intercept outside the FAF, adjust the airplane heading so that TRK matches DTK.  This can be done with one-degree precision quite easily.  TRK is updated about once per second which is fast enough to take gradual heading changes into account as soon as they occur.  When TRK matches DTK, set the heading bug to the current heading.  This is the reference heading that will exactly correct for the crosswind.  (Conveniently, G1000 and Avidyne displays have buttons to set the heading bug to the current heading instantly.)

As the airplane descends on the glide slope the crosswind will change, but by keeping TRK in your scan you will notice any changes early, before the localizer needle moves out of the “doughnut”.  If the heading is held constant and TRK increases by, say three degrees, simply turn left three degrees to compensate.  When TRK and DTK coincide again, set the heading bug to the current heading.

This technique can also be used in other situations such as holding.  Using TRK one can fly a precise outbound holding course.  Fly the outbound course (TRK, as distinguished from heading) angled away from the inbound course when the wind is from the holding side.  That way the turn back toward the inbound course with the wind behind the airplane won’t cause an overshoot or require the steep bank that would be needed for a faster than standard rate turn.  Angle toward the inbound course to compensate for a wind from the non-holding side.

A limitation of the TRK/DTK comparison is that with most GPS receivers one must look at two numbers and have enough spatial awareness to understand which way to turn.  On the Avidyne PFD however, TRK is shown as a thin, white, dashed line.  Keep that line superimposed on the course line and the LOC needle will not move!

Using TRK/DTK comparison one can stay closer to the localizer course with less work leaving more time to pay attention to glide slope adjustments.

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Reflections on a “Gooder” Man – Sparky Imeson
by Susan Terrell

I debated whether starting this tribute to Sparky Imeson with a groaner of a joke would be considered in poor taste. I decided against doing it, not because it wouldn’t have made Sparky happy – a bad joke or bad pun was high on his list of the finer things in life. No, I decided against it because I wouldn’t want to offend anybody. That’s kind of an inside joke between Sparky and me – as the quantity and quality of e-mail forwards from Sparky Imeson increased over the 3 years I knew him, he’d occasionally tap a quick one at me after a particularly large onslaught to my inbox and say, “just let me know if I ever send you anything that offends you.”
 
Sparky was a gentleman. Course then too, he didn’t have the slightest hesitation in sending me jokes that he knew would result in my spewing coffee all over my keyboard even after I’d warned him which ones tended to do that to me; so he was a gentleman with a little bit of the naughty trickster in him.
 
Have you noticed I’m stalling? I don’t want to talk about, why I’m writing this.
 
Sparky and I were introduced to each other by a mutual friend, Gary McDonald. He kindly introduced us so I could interview his world famous expert mountain flying pilot friend for my book. I was nervous at first; kind of famous guy … don’t want to waste his time. That wasn’t necessary. Not only was he gracious and patient in letting me ask him a ton of questions in writing because he’s by nature that kind of a helpful person – he ended up becoming my aviation writing mentor; sharing not only his personal flying history with me for my project, but continuing our correspondence and friendship over the computer, generously sharing his expertise as a published author and editor.
 
Besides his well-known aviation related talents, Sparky typed 100 wpm. Well, if not that exactly, close enough. Because of what he did when he wasn’t flying for a living, which was write – a great deal of his time each day was spent, like me, at the keyboard. If I had a question or needed a quick edit of something I’d written … he was usually there to kindly do so. He consistently offered me lessons in things related to aviation, writing and editing, and I soaked them up gratefully like a sponge.
 
But now, I suppose I have to talk about it. I just thought I should explain why I felt I knew Sparky well enough to write about him like this in the first place. As most of you know, we sadly lost Sparky Imeson on the 17th of March in a tragic crash in Montana. 

As I write this, the facts are not known. That’s OK – I don’t want to dwell on the crash. Although Sparky more than anyone, would want the facts brought out, so that if there are lessons to be learned from what happened, they can be. Sparky was an instructor who valued pilot safety and education above all; he dedicated his life and career to both. But I don’t think Sparky would want me to write something sad and depressing here. The man I came to know had a self described “warped” sense of humor; valued a good laugh; and had nothing if not a positive attitude about life.
 
And since I’m writing this to an audience of his fellow pilots and friends; to people who knew him or at least knew of him; to people who loved him – I thought it most appropriate to perhaps share some of what he offered of himself in my interview. In reading through his answers to my questions, I realized there were some quotes, especially about his early days, that might tell you something you didn’t know about him; maybe bring you a smile. I think he’d like that.
 
Pretend he’s still here, and he’s going to answer a few questions for us:
 
How old were you when you soloed for the first time?
 
23-years old.
 
How did your instructor tell you that you were going to solo?
 
She didn’t say much, just bent down and kissed the ground once I parked the airplane. I soloed on the 4th of July in Billings, Montana. I took off on runway 27. An approaching thunderstorm necessitated a landing on runway 9. The next landing was on runway 22, and the final landing was on runway 9. The wind was so strong that I couldn’t keep the airplane lined up with the runway (didn’t know how to do crosswind landings very well,) so I off-set to the right of the runway and hit it going by.
 
Describe your solo experience for me – what it felt like, your thoughts/reactions at the time? What did it mean to you?
 
“What am I doing here?”
 
What and/or who had the greatest influence on the process you went through learning to fly?
 
Tom Herrod. I attended a professional pilot training school that was set up by him and Northwest Orient Airlines. He ran his school with an iron hand. Had to take 2-days of tests to get into his school, pay the money up front with no refund. He demanded at least a 95% score on all FAA written exams. If you got below that, you had two days to make it up. If you got below 95% the second time you were washed out. Pretty good motivation.
 
Complete this sentence for me: “I fly because……”
It is better than a movie to escape the drudgery of everyday life! Actually, flying is a way of life. When working for other people I always felt that I should be paying them to go flying, not the other way around. Probably if flying was a job (a chore) to do (not as in a job like work,) I wouldn’t enjoy it. Flying is a constant challenge. The more you learn, the more you realize that you don’t know. In this way flying is never boring. I expect to learn something, or realize something I should have before that time … each time I go flying.
 
******
 
Sparky Imeson did indeed love to be constantly learning something. He loved his family, his friends, laughter, clouds, fishing, a good bad pun, photography, his own cooking (how many know he authored the “Jackson Hole Bachelor’s Cookbook?” Raise your hands!) a well told joke and anything beautiful. That’s just what I got out of him through e-mail and a few rare but appreciated personal encounters over only 3 too-short years of knowing him.  

But more than anything … I learned how much Sparky Imeson loved to fly
 

 

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