THE COMMUNITY OF FLYING
by Josh Smith, General Manager

Despite the tough economic times the club is doing fine. YTD, we are currently a little ahead of budget. This is due to a combination of aggressive cost management and an outstanding effort by the employees of the club to go above and beyond. In terms of General Aviation, according to airport management (Santa Clara County), they gave not seen the current level of activity since the mid 80's. Which based on all the news, is what one would expect. Despite all of that news, we are also continuing to look at ways to improve the club. As part of the business planning we look at what the membership requests through the membership survey. Yes, we really do read them, and they really do impact how we manage the Club. Current projects: We are continuing an upgrade of the Palo Alto facility. The main goal is to freshen up the look and engage in a general clean up.

Also from the membership and CFI survey, the Chief Pilot's office is upgrading all the paperwork and checkout procedures. Steve and Ashley have been working very hard on this. Please take a look at the chief pilot article for more information.

My next big IT project will be deploying a new version of the BBS. This will essentially move us from version 1.02 to v3.0. This includes better defined security, easier to use member groups, a knowledge base section and a more functional front-end. To help move the project along, I would like to enlist the following help from the membership:

1. I will need end users who would be willing to beta test the new BBS site to assure it is operational and alert me to major operational differences that would cause a lot of concern.
2. I would like to start an IT super group to help with this project and others. The idea behind the group would be to leverage the knowledge base that is out there amongst our members to assure we are vetting the best possible solutions to our IT problems.

Some of the upcoming projects are:
A. Upgrade web site
B. Best solution for online forms
C. Dynamic pilot data storage solutions
Mainly this would be a discussion group, however, there would be opportunities for testing and coding. Please let me know if you are interested by emailing jsmith@wvfc.org, I will set-up meetings within the next couple of weeks.

Fleet updates: We could really use a club Decathlon, our current Super D is leaving at the end of the month (July) and I would really like to replace it. This airplane is relatively low in MX, flies consistently and has a loyal following.

Annual report time; the new annual report will be out for Fiscal 09, which represents April 2008 - March 31, 2009. The report will be on the website (member services page) and ready for viewing by Monday, July 20th. There is also an open board meeting starting at 7:00PM July 16th at the Palo Alto Classroom. The subjects for the night will include, introduction of the new board and officer election, current operational and fincancial reports, review of the annual report and open items.

FROM THE DESK OF THE CHIEF - PAPER WORK EXHAUSTION
WVFC Chief Pilot chief pilot@wvfc.org

Last month we talked about fuel exhaustion. This month I’d like to talk about paper exhaustion, and how I sense that many members feel exhausted after filling out various forms and paperwork in order to complete an aircraft checkout. It’s my opinion that there’s actually two different parts to the problem, one: there’s simply too much paperwork and two: the outcome of filling out the paperwork isn’t very useful. It doesn’t help that forms have to be signed or initialed in about 23 different places. When I took over the role of chief pilot I made a strong commitment to review all the policies, procedures, and paperwork associated with checking out in an aircraft. I’ve been on the job now for around 4 months and I’d like to give everyone an update on what we’ve done, what’s coming soon, and where we’re heading. Before I get to the paperwork, I’d like to talk about several actions we’ve taken recently to simplify life at the club.

Step 1: Aircraft checkout matrix. It used to be that there were a lot of different plane types with differing requirements in order to get into a particular plane. Some of the numbers seemed rather arbitrary so we decided to make some major simplifications and get all of our aircraft organized into just 2 categories. Beyond the basic training aircraft which have no minimum training requirements, there is now a category A group of planes with a 125 hour minimum required by the end of the checkout and either 10 hours previous experience or a 5 hour checkout. Planes like the C-182 or Cirrus SR20 fall into category A. The more advanced planes are so called category B planes and have a 250 hour minimum and either 20 hours of previous time or a 5 hour checkout. Planes like the turbo Cirrus SR22 or Mooney Acclaim fall into category B. Some of these times are significant reductions from previous levels which reached 400 hours in some cases.
Check out the new matrix at:

http://www.wvfc.org/b/pafiledb/uploads/Aircraft%20Checkout%20Summary%20and%20Currency%20Matrix%20070109.pdf

Step 2: No paperwork for recurrency flights. We have eliminated the requirement for any paperwork for a recurrency flight. Just get with an instructor and fly for a minimum of an hour. Simple, simple, simple.

Step 3: Aircraft checkout form. This was our first step into the world of electronic documents. It’s ironic that we live in the technology center of the universe and WVFC still pushes around such an incredible amount of paper. Well that’s all starting to change, and our first attempt at electronic documents came in the form of the aircraft checkout form. Hang in there while we figure out some of the classic technology glitches. By now, your instructor should have had a chance to create and submit one of these forms along with an electronic signature. The technology currently revolves around Adobe pdf documents and the free Adobe reader software. The most major finding to date is with the Apple user community. Apple has their own PDF reader called Preview that doesn’t work well with the electronic signatures and some of the formatting we’ve used in the documents. We’re basically asking everyone to get Adobe Reader 9.x and to use that for creating, editing, signing, and submitting the WVFC forms.

But I think the best is yet to come. We’re currently working on prototypes of a new ground review form which solves three of my personal pet peeves. One is that the new ground review forms are specific to make and model so that there are no silly or redundant questions for the plane you’re working on. Second, the form has been reduced to a single double sided page in an electronic pdf format. Take a Cirrus SR22 turbo as an extreme example. Today, it’s necessary to fill out a ground review form of 8-10 pages long. Then there’s a Cirrus quiz which is another 6 pages long and then there’s a Cirrus best practices document to be reviewed. We’ll be collapsing ALL of this down to one of our new single-page forms. And third, the form is organized in such a way that the left hand one-third can be separated and used as a cheat sheet in the cockpit with all kinds of useful information that you entered while filling it out. Oh, and by the way, no more drawing fuel diagrams!

Looking to the future is both exciting and a little scary. We want to get most of the forms into electronic format by the end of 2009 At that point, forms will most likely still get passed around via email attachments etc. In 2010, we plan to move to the next place which is a bona fide document storage solution for all of the forms for members so that they can be accessed by you, your instructor, and the club as appropriate. Essentially, it’s like the medical records problem albeit for a flying club. If you’ve got ideas or suggestions we would love to hear them. In the meantime, please be patient. The “too much paperwork” mantra has been heard load and clear and we’re working hard to put us in a better spot where there less of it, it’s more useful, and it’s easier for everyone involved to submit, track, search, archive etc.

Fly safe and just think of all the extra useful load you’re going to get when you can leave all that paper behind!

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

Please review hot weather operations for your aircraft. Some of the main concerns;

1. Let your aircraft rest after hard maneuvers. Particularly after a slow flight, the lack of wind flowing over the engine on a hot day can cause the engine to really heat up.
2. Minimize T/O and Landing practice. Like the above, you are flying the plane with high and medium power settings which will cause the engine to start to heat up.
3. Stage climb aircraft. This means essentially, climb for a small amount of time, then level off. Climb again, then level off. A stage climb is better than a gradual slow climb in terms of engine cooling.
4. Check the performance numbers. Verify T/O and landing distance.
5. Check the oil at every stop. the hotter the OAT and engine, the more will be used.
6. Make sure you are well hydrated, dehydration accelerates fatigue.
7. Review articles on vapor lock, engine detonation and other warm engine issues.
8. Have fun. If we are not having fun, particularly flying, then we must be doing something wrong.

Always remember to check the status board prior to every flight.

Thanks and be safe

Your Freindly MX Department

LANDING EXERCISES
by WVFC CFI Nick Ulman

Landing exercises, Part 3 & 4

Now that you are an expert at exercises 1 and 2 presented last month, here are two more to try. The best exercises are those whose goals are easy to understand yet provide a valuable learning experience.

Exercise #3: Long flare

One thing that makes learning to land challenging is that you only get to practice the flare for a few seconds each time around the pattern. (Helicopter pilots have it easier in this regard. They can practice hovering a foot off the ground for as long as they want.) The long flare exercise prolongs the flare so you have more time to practice it.

The long flare exercise works best at a long runway; 5,000 feet or more is good. Have your instructor fly the airplane to a point about a foot over the runway threshold at cruise airspeed; e.g. about 2 Vs. He should have it trimmed so that there are no unexpected trim forces when you take the controls. As the airplane passes over the threshold your instructor will reduce power to idle and relinquish the flight controls to you. Your job is to fly down the runway centerline as low as possible, for as long as possible without touching down.

During the long flare you should apply crosswind corrections to stop any sideways drift and to keep the nose pointed straight down the runway. Your altitude should be constant or decreasing almost imperceptibly. As the airspeed decreases the pitch will have to increase. Try not to touchdown before the stall warning horn sounds. If the runway is too short to touchdown at the end of the flare, go around.

Exercise #4: Freeway driving (tailwheel airplane only)

This exercise is designed to help you practice using rudder to keep the nose of the airplane straight during takeoff or landing rolls in a tailwheel airplane. Have your instructor touchdown on the main wheels near the beginning of the runway. The instructor should perform a wheel landing, but maintain enough power after touchdown to keep the airplane rolling. While the instructor controls the stick and throttle, your job is to steer the airplane down the runway using the rudder pedals. If you start to swerve, or just to help get the feel of the rudder, try wiggling the rudder pedals back and forth rapidly.

Be confident with the controls. The instructor’s job is to keep you out of trouble so there is no need to be timid.

Good luck with your landing exercises..

If you don’t have a high tolerance for ambiguity, you probably shouldn’t be in aviation. Things change all the time, and there are any number of ways you can get from Plan A to Plan B (or even farther down the alphabet), and it can happen with an amazing amount of speed. Usually at the worst possible time. Murphy’s Law was designed especially for pilots.

Even during the Private Pilot curriculum, we include the diversion to an alternate airport, and if you’re already past that point, you remember that, like a lot of the Private course, it was a pretty stylized task. For most of us this is a review, but sometimes it’s good to go over things that we don’t do all that often.

Let’s break the diversion into simple steps. The first one is the decision to divert, and as with most decisions, certain parts are better made on the ground during the planning phase. Among the decisions you might want to consider is what are the most likely airports to divert to. We often think of the ones at the far end of the cross country flight, especially when we’re flying IFR, but what about the ones in between? We often plan our flights to pass near, or even directly over, airports, so those are obviously candidates to think about. But what about checking them out before takeoff? When was the last time you called the FBO or the airport to make sure things were the way the AFD claims. It can be embarrassing to divert to an alternate because the headwinds were greater than planned only to find (after landing) that their self-serve fuel pump is out of service. Or that for some fool reason there’s a convention of some kind, and even though the weather keeps you from continuing the flight, there is nowhere to stay. A few phone calls the day before the flight might have avoided those problems.

The criteria that will trigger the decision to divert should also be considered before takeoff, so the diversion will simple be an implementation of a decision you’ve already made.

So what can cause us to divert? The big four would be weather, fuel, mechanical, and passengers. And I’ve had to divert for each of them.

Weather of course, could be below minimums at your destination; it could be too turbulent en route; or it could simply be out of your comfort zone. All are good reasons not to press on.

Sometimes, weather causes fuel burns we hadn’t planned on. I’ve certainly had headwinds that were 50% higher than forecast (and when the forecast is in the 80 knot range, that starts messing up your planning in a hurry). And none of us has ever miscalculated our fuel burns so we certainly don’t need to consider that one.

Things go wrong with airplanes, and the more moving parts a plane has, the more likely on will fail. Sometimes it’s something as simple as a door popping open. Sometimes it’s a bit worse, like an engine failure. More often, it’s something in between, like engine roughness, or an instrument failure. I had a particularly interesting one with a pressurization failure on a Pilatus, which meant I couldn’t get to my planned altitude, so my fuel burn was nearly twice what I’d planned. Although I had plenty o fuel reserves for the original plan, I certainly didn’t have double the fuel I needed. Plan B.

And finally, the most common cause of diversions – you’re carrying passengers. As any pilot will attest, the range of an airplane is not a function of the amount of fuel on board, but of the number of bladders aboard. And we’re not talking fuel bladders here. Since I have no desire (for once) not to make any politically incorrect statements, I won’t offer any commentary on the effect that the gender or age of the bladders involved might have on the range.

So, you’ve decided to divert, now what? There are three things you probably want to know right away: What’s my new course? How long will it take? Do I have enough fuel?

If you have a GPS or the place you’re going to has a VOR, the first of those is pretty easy, and the second will fall out quickly, as well. But what if that isn’t an option? Place your plotter on the chart (you do have them both up front with you, don’t you?) and put it on the line between where you are and where you want to go. You have been following your progress and know where you are, right? Without rotating the plotter, move it to the nearest VOR and read an approximate course. It will usually be within a few degrees of the correct one. You can also find the distance by reading the plotter, but make sure you’re reading the correct scale. You can get some WACed out answers by reading the WAC scale instead of the Sectional scale. One of the more beautiful things I’ve seen (I wish I could take credit for it, but I can’t) is the plotter on which a student had taped two additional scales, one for time and one for fuel. The theory was that in a no wind situation, she could plan on about 110 knots and 10 gallons per hour (being conservative for both). She built a scale that showed how long it would take and how much fuel would be used for various distances, and could read it at exactly the same time as she read the distance.

In the cases where the diversion is an extended one, say half an hour or more, to draw the new course on your chart (how fun and easy is that in a 152 cockpit?) so you can monitor your progress and check your route with visual or VOR/GPS waypoints.

Finally, as you begin your diversion, there is probably a lot of radio work to do. The folks you’re using for flight following will want to know what you’re doing (up to and including the emergency declaration if it’s appropriate). You may need to modify your flight plan with Flight Service.

And as you approach the airport, all your preflight planning will come in handy, otherwise you get to pull out the AFD and learn all about the new airport frequencies, traffic pattern altitude, direction, and so on at the last minute. Planning is better.

EAA EVENT

Hi Pilot Friends! Can you believe it? Only 4 more weeks to the August 8, the second annual VMC Valley Medical Center Foundation & EAA-62's Take Flight for Kids, San Jose' Young Eagle's special flying event for young people with disabilities.

* Saturday August 8, 2009, 9am-5pm
* San Jose Reid Hillview Airport RHV, San Jose, California
* Pilot brief: 8am in the EAA-62 hangar at San Jose Reid Hillview Airport (RHV)
* Pilots can join us any time, come and go as you please, if you can't make the 8am briefing, we'll brief you when you arrive.
* First wheels up 9am
* Last flights 4pm or until we've flown all the kids.
* 75 pilots needed!
* All EAA Young Eagle's rules and restrictions apply. This is an official 'Young Eagle's Rally'
* EAA National membership required for pilots (local chapter membership NOT required)
* ~200 flights thru the day
* Flights are 15-20 minutes, depending on conditions
* About 750 passengers including 150+ young people with disabilities + 2 guest passengers each.
* All passengers subject to approval of Pilot In Command.
* Guest passengers are usually siblings and friends, but adult parents/guardians/caregivers are allowed to fly if the young person has a medical condition that might require in flight attention from a responsible adult.
* 4000+ people at the simultaneous festival involving 200 nonprofits hosting (free) booths.
* FREE BBQ for everybody who joins us (plus an infinite numbers of smiles and giggles from the kids for all volunteers)

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