THE COMMUNITY OF FLYING
by Josh Smith, General Manager

Palo Alto Airport day is coming up on Saturday, Sept. 12th from 10am - 4pm. Airport day is is a great way to share the airport, and your love of flying with family and freinds. There will be a lot of great aircraft on display, antiques, experimental, and of course the latest and greatest from Cirrus, Cessna, and other popular manufactures, tower tours, young Eagle flights, and other great activities and vendors. We will have a BBQ in the back patio for our members, and will be participating by displaying aircraft, setting up a booth, and enjoying the days festivities. I get the added pleasure of being the ground boss for arriving aircraft. So please mark the calendars, bring the family and enjoy the day. I can tell you from personal experience its always a lot of fun. If you would like to volunteer, we are always looking for some help flipping burgers, tending the booth, and would certainly appreciate the help. For more information either E mail me, or Christine christine@wvfc.org.

Update on the politics affecting the airport;

1. Airport tie-down fee's. In brief, the County is proposing to raise tie-down fees at Palo Alto only. They have already raised them 8% last year and would like to continue to raise them 6-8% per year for the next several years. This despite the fact that Palo Alto makes money as is, and supports a large % of the County overhead. In this writers humble opinion, having been to the meetings, this price increase will do a lot more harm than good to the airport. I would encourage members to be at County airport meetings to show their support for the airport. Meetings will be posted on the event calendar. I would also recommend reaching out to your local Santa Clara county supervisor and voicing your opinion.

2. The city of Palo Alto is considering putting a large compost facility at their waste water treatment plant. This all sounds good until you realize that in order to do this, they need to reposition Embarcadero Rd. onto airport land. Personally, I am all for being green, acting green and doing green things, however this encroachment has a large the potential for a very negative impact on the airport. The next proposed meeting to discuss this will be at City Council conference room, 6:30 - 8:30 P.M. Tuesday the 18th.

I mentioned last month we are looking to deploy a new version of the BBS. I would like to get some user feedback. If you are interested in testing, please send me an E mail and I will send you back a link. My only request is that I get back an E mail with your user input. I would like to deploy the code by October.

Fleet updates: We really need a C 172SP at Hayward. This is an aircraft with a good current user following and a quickly growing cadre of users. For those that have thought about an aircraft as an investment, or just have always wanted to own an aircraft that might actually make financial sense, this is a great opportunity. There are also several fleet aircraft at varying prices ranges that the owners are interested in selling, however are unadvertised. Please contact me if you are interested!

Thanks for your support.

FROM THE DESK OF THE CHIEF - GONE WITH THE WIND
WVFC Chief Pilot chief pilot@wvfc.org

Gone with the (down) wind

There’s a very famous movie, Gone with the wind, which runs an incredible 4+ hours.  Many say it’s the longest Hollywood movie ever made.  Sometimes I feel that way when I’m downwind getting ready to land.  How could that be?  Read on.

Let’s say you’re in the traffic pattern at any one of our local airports and you’re number 1, cleared to land, or cleared for the option.  Where should you turn base so that you are 100% guaranteed to make the runway regardless of whether you’ve got a running engine or not?  Put another way, how would you explain yourself if you were number 1 for the runway, the engine quit, and you came up short and landed in a ditch or duck pond before the runway?  There really aren’t too many good excuses.  Now admittedly, there are times when you’re number 4 to land and you’re forced downwind a couple of miles and if the engine quits down there it’s just bad luck and you’ll be looking for a field.  So for this article, let’s assume you’re number 1 and take a look at what’s going on with the mechanics of the arrival and then some observations I make on an almost daily basis when operating at Palo Alto.

Most visual glide slopes are somewhere between 3 and 4 degrees.  To be on that glide slope pretty much presumes you’ve got engine power to keep the plane on the glide slope.  How do we know this?  Well, most of the planes that we operate have an engine- out best glide ratio of around 10:1 which means that they’ll glide, without engine power, about 1000 feet for every 100 feet of altitude that you have to work with.  Now a 10:1 glide slope equates to about a 6 degree angle (for you math folks, the inverse sine of 0.1 is around 6 degrees).  What this says is that unless you hold about a 6 degree slope, you won’t be able to get back to the runway if the engine quits.  Put another way, you need to be no more that 5000 feet from the threshold (a little under a mile) when you’re at 500 feet turning base to final.  Any lower than that or any further than that and you’re done if the engine quits.  And this is the best case.  More often than not at our airports, there’s a pretty decent headwind to the runway, reducing your forward progress by maybe another 10-20 knots.  This reduces the glide range significantly because you’ll still descend at around 500-600 feet per minute but now might only progress 0.8 miles over the ground rather than the mile you would get with no head wind.

This leaves me scratching my head when I’m with a student in the traffic pattern and the person in front of us is #1 to land but they’re going well past a mile beyond the touchdown spot and descending along the way.  I see them turn base at say 500-600 feet with a mile plus back to the runway and realize that if there’s any engine issue, there’s a good chance they won’t make it to the runway which is sad because they’re (or they were)  number 1.  Now for poor number 2 (i.e. me and my student) we have to trudge downwind behind Mr. or Ms. Two-mile final which creates several problems:

1. It dramatically reduces pattern efficiency because of the wasted time going downwind and all the time back on final.
2. It puts us in a spot now, that if our engine quits, then we’re going for a swim as well because we’re not getting back to the runway either.
3. It makes the person behind us go long as well which is a waste for them.
4. Short approaches aren’t available to anyone because everyone is flying so far downwind to turn base.
5. And so it goes on.

Somewhere in our primary training, we were taught to look over our shoulders and at the so called 45 degree point, turn base.  There is a reason for this.  Normally, most people fly the downwind leg about half a mile from the runway.  Some people choose to fly it much wider than that but don’t get me started on that one.  Well dust off the math book again and you’ll see that if, on downwind, you’re half mile from the runway when you start the base turn, then you’ll be about half a mile from the threshold when you turn final.  You should be around 400-500 feet and in a perfect position to glide to runway if the engine quits at any point on final.  So that’s the theory, but I’m just amazed at how few people actually use the 45 degree point for the base turn.  For many people, it’s uncomfortably close and there doesn’t appear to be enough time to “set up on final”.  I regularly fly with Cirrus and Mooney pilots who like to turn a 1-2 mile final because they feel the need to spend lots of time configuring and slowing the plane down.  This should have been done long ago so that even our most high performance planes can be flown at 100 knots on downwind, 90 knots on base, and 80 knots on final, and that final can easily be turned at a half mile from the threshold and everything looks great.

So some parting thoughts I would like to leave with each of you.

1. The next time you’re number 1 and you turn final and you’re somewhere a mile or more past the threshold, ask yourself where you will get to if the engine quits, because the actual answer isn’t going to be the runway.
2. We all want to cut down the cost of flying.  One obvious way to do this is to tighten up the traffic pattern.
3. And if you see LAX when you’re turning base for PAO you’ve definitely got a problem that we should probably talk about.

Safe Flying.

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

I would like to welcome our newest member to the MX department. Polina Moisseeva is our new MX coorindator. Polina's responsibilities include scheduling all our MX, coordinating with the front desk on grounded aircraft, and when aircraft are returning to service, scheduling log-book reviews, and doing all our MX billing. Polina can be reached at Ext. 202, Polina@wvfc.org

One thing I have noticed lately of concern is tow-bar distraction. This comes when someone is pulling an aircraft out or pushing it in and they leave the tow-bar on the nose wheel while they go do something else. This can be a huge concern if it is left on the plane. If for some reason the engine is started with the tow-bar on the aircraft, it can be sucked up into the prop and and cause a prop strike. This causes a great deal of harm to people around the aircraft, those in the plane, and a huge expense to fix it. My old rule of thumb, always keep the tow-bar in my hand.

I would like to note that we are getting more thorough and better squawks back on the aircraft. This is helping quite a bit. The more data we have the better so we can address the issue.

If you own an aircraft that is not on the flight line but would like the Club to maintain the plane, please call Carrie Ferguson at Ext. 204. We are more than happy to provide the same high quality maintenance that we do to our fleet aircraft for any member who owns an aircraft.

Thanks and be safe

Your Friendly MX Department

FUEL MANAGEMENT
by WVFC CFI Kyp Kypta

Most instructors are nicely focused on all items that we are required to cover in teaching people to fly but somehow, it appears that many CFIs don't see fuel management as a vital topic.  Too bad!  Short changing fuel management can cause some real thrillers in the cockpit in the form of landing on a flat spot in the mountains - or landing at home with empty tanks. The following is a suggestion for all pilots and students alike on your next cross country flight. On your first leg measure the fuel burn-rate with the mixture set full rich. And on the way back measure the fuel burn-rate again with mixture adjusted as recommended in the POH. Compare the numbers with the numbers in the POH and you may be surprised.  In the C152, you will find that the POH claims dry tanks after 4:25 while you can expect dry tanks after 3:10 using the measured values.  In post flight discussion, I place lots of emphasis on that gap and further, I expect my students to report fuel-burn rate to me after each solo cross country as they continue with their training.
 
Unfortunately, from my ground school I find that most students don't know how to measure fuel consumption, so I will add "how to do it".  Of course, we top the tanks before departure and again at destination to obtain the quantity of fuel burned.  Then, which time to use?  Hobbs? Tach? Clock? Zulu?  We use the clock or a stop watch (Zulu will work on your Zulu-time stop-watch).  We will start the timer as we add full power for takeoff and stop the clock as we clear the runway at destination.  After refueling, it will take about ten seconds with your E6B to read off the measured burn-rate in gallons per hour.   I have never found 5.5 gallons per hour (C152 POH value), but I have found 7.8 gph (highest) and other values above 7.0 often enough that for planning XC in a C152 I expect my students to use 7.8 GPH.
 
Since I have been measuring fuel consumption all my life, I have often noted that many POHs include a table for "extra fuel burned in climb" but they don’t even mention "fuel you get back in descent".  From many measurements I have found:  climb to altitude at 500 feet per minute at whatever speed it takes to maintain 500 fpm and descend at 500 feet per minute at cruising speed.  With this procedure you will get back in descent the "extra fuel" that you lost in climb.   
 
I flew Bonanza for ten years and during that time, I did not measure fuel burn-rate for every XC.  But I did measure burn rate using the above procedure for approximately every 10th flight - just to check for anomalies.  I never did find an anomaly in either of my Bonanzas and the numbers I found by measuring agreed exactly with the numbers in the POH.  That's the way it is with Bonanza. 
 
Kyp

I’m sure you’ve noticed how much easier landings are at your home field compared to places you’ve never been before.  At PAO, SQL, or HWD, you know where to look for traffic, when to turn base, and each of the controllers’ voices is something that’s familiar and known.  You know that there is “duck-pond sink” at Palo Alto, and where to turn at Hayward and San Carlos in order to avoid noise complaints.
 
But what do you do when you go to an airport that isn’t like your home field?  And some are VERY different.  I’m not talking about the postage-stamp sized ones that bob up and down in the ocean that involve trying to catch wires with tail hooks.  I’m thinking of those (and there are several in California) with runways that aren’t level, with terrain surrounding the airport that might influence how the approach needs to be set up.
 
I learned to fly in Kansas, and pretty much like the Central Valley, not only were the airports and runways flat, the entire state was.  I’m pretty sure, with the exception of landing into the side of a barn or a grain elevator, you could set up a 50 FPM descent, close your eyes and land safely anywhere in the state.  But just as most of us don’t want to restrict our flying goals to the airports of the Central Valley, not long after getting my license, I ended up in Colorado courtesy of the US Air Force.  I distinctly remember the culture shock of looking up to see an airplane and seeing ground (in this case, Pike’s Peak) behind and above it.   Like Dorothy, I knew I wasn’t in Kansas any more.
 
Since that fateful day, I have landed on and taken off from runways that were almost as far from level as the state of Colorado is, and there are several of those airports around here, as well.  So, let’s take a look at a few of them in California.
 
There is a really fine, if somewhat challenging, one on Santa Catalina Island.  As a Citation pilot discovered several years ago, the center of the runway is significantly higher than the ends.  He had reviewed the runway lengths, and probably had noted the lack of obstacles at either end (the ground actually falls away rapidly).  A quick look at the performance tables had probably convinced him that landing there shouldn’t be a problem.  And it wasn’t, until he made it one.  Upon touching down, he apparently was deceived about the length of the runway, since the raised center section made the runway look shorter than it actually is, and he hit full power to go around.  Soon after doing that, he reached the center of the runway, and saw that there was a lot of runway remaining, hit the speed brakes, pulled the power, and stomped the brakes.  When he realized that he now didn’t have enough runway remaining to stop, he and his passengers went off the end of the runway at full power, killing everyone on board.  Did he know that the runway is crowned at the center?  Did he have a guess as to how much runway remained at each of the two mid-field taxiways?  These are things you can do before getting into the plane.
 
Some runways dip in the center, and it feels almost like landing in a bowl.  First the runway keeps falling away, and there is an almost overwhelming desire to push the nose down to get on the ground.  Do I need to say that this is an inordinately bad idea?  Then like the traditional Gaelic blessing, the runway rises to meet you, in the second half of the landing.
 
There are runways with simple slopes, and not always in the obvious direction.  Take Mariposa for example.  Normally, the ground slopes away from the mountains, but not in this case.  At Mariposa, the west end of the runway is 31 feet higher than the east end, and that is on a 3300 foot runway.  Better yet, the slope isn’t constant, it’s relatively flat at each end, with the slope mostly in the middle.  When you’re landing to the west, it looks like you’re landing into the side of a cliff.  And landing east, the runway just keeps falling away and the wrong end of the runway is coming up fast.
 
At the extreme end of things are the runways like Weaverville, which are one way in, and the other way out, regardless of wind direction of velocity.
 
So what do you do about these runways?  First, try visiting them (or ones like them) with an instructor before doing it on your own.  Some of them can be part of a mountain checkout.  Second, as you should do on every runway and every landing, decide before you get there what your go around decision criteria are going to be – and stick to them.
 
In terms of technique, just like you do in steep turns where the terrain blocks the horizon, visualize where the horizon is, and recognize that you may not be able to see the end of the runway.  It may be useful to add a look or two nearer to the plane to watch the closure rate with the runway, which in this case, is a function of not only the glide path, but also the runway slope.
 
And a final thought.  In some cases, especially those involving one-way-in, the-other-way-out runways, there is a point after which a go-around is no longer possible.  Make sure you know what that is, and if you go past that point, you’re committed to landing.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not comfortable with, or a big fan of, the feeling that must occur when that point is behind me.

MINI MOUNTAIN BOOT CAMP
by Patti Andrews WVFC CFI

If you're wanting one last flying fling this summer, join the Labor Day Weekend Mini Mountain Boot Camp, September 4-7. 


On this fly-camping adventure we will explore the State of California by air while covering all the items required for the club's new Low Altitude Mountain Checkout, aka the Mini-Mountain Checkout. This checkout enables members to fly to the most popular airports of the Sierra Foothills and coastal mountain ranges without doing a full crossing-the-Sierras style mountain checkout. Members who already have mountain checkouts are also welcome to participate. 


RSVP early so we can book airplanes and instructors as needed. You'll also need some time to think through your camping gear carefully to ensure that your airplane is loaded within the weight & balance envelope. Planning meeting at PAO September 1, 6pm in the back classroom, but be in touch by email well before that!  Contact Patti Andrews at pandrewscfi@yahoo.com.

---

---