THE COMMUNITY OF FLYING
by Josh Smith, General Manager

First, please mark your calendars: Sat. Dec. 12th for the 2009 WVFC Holiday Party.

This may be a good time to give the membership a mid-year club update and my view of recent issues. Note - if you are not interested in reading about WVFC organizational issues, please skip to the articles that follow.

In 2003, WVFC’s organization was in disarray and threatened by mounting debt exceeding $250,000. We were also entrenched in a legal battle, losing the confidence of many of our vendors, and it seemed we were close to closing the Club. Since then, our team has worked tirelessly to turn WVFC around. We put the processes in place to ensure that the club would climb out of the abyss and thrive. We began to put money in the bank, re-organized our work-flow and procedures, renewed our commitment to the membership, restored confidence by our vendors/suppliers, and always stayed true to the vision, mission and values that have made WVFC thrive for the last 35 years. Realistic and insightful planning, combined with hard work and imagination brought the Club through those tough times.

Despite a terrible economy, we are doing okay-- Not great, but okay. While we’ve certainly seen better years, we remain financially solvent. In fact, year-to-date, we’ve beat our budget projections by over $28K, and we have a positive balance sheet and money in the bank, all without laying off employees or raising member fees. In fact, we achieved these successes while making the improvements which we identified from the responses to the last membership survey. Indeed we are committed to continue serving the WVFC community and providing the best possible Club with available resources. We are proud of the work we have done, We are proud of this Flying Club, and I am proud of my team.

In recent months a couple of changes we made raised concerns by a few members. Despite being first communicated to the greater membership through multiple channels (including via the clubs newsletters, business and strategic plans), the result was not free of confusion. So let’s take a quick look at some of those changes.

Our new Chief Pilot (Steve Blonstein) was given many tasks including (most importantly) reducing unnecessary paperwork and improving or terminating phase checks. I trust that most members are aware that most of our CP operations have transitioned to e-forms thereby enhancing communications, expediting processes, improving accountability, and through diligent analysis, reducing unnecessary and redundant paperwork.

The second area, phase checks, failed to achieve their intended purpose and were causing members concern. Steve has been working with a key group of Senior CFI volunteers to re-engineer the process and make it more user friendly, realistic, and effective in ascertaining and exploiting metrics – all to the benefit of safety. This result had the effect of temporarily dropping some flight instructors from the process. However, once we develop confidence in our new procedures, there will be a broader inclusion of CFIs. Further, I requested the CP to take a very active role – a “hands-on” role in monitoring the success of this program by personally completing many of the phase checks so that he can fully evaluate and improve the system.

Finance: Anna and I have been working to revamp the Clubs finances for the better part of six years. This has included developing accounting and annual reports that are fully compliant with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). To sample these reports, please click here. We installed an enterprise grade accounting system (Navision), upgraded to E-statements, and by doing so were able to reduce our accounting department head count from 4 - 2 while doubling the number of transactions and reducing cost in the process! I have full confidence in our accounting procedures, controls, and the diligence and problem-solving abilities of our accounting team.

Rumor has it that we will be audited by the IRS. The last time WVFC was audited, a previously terminated Instructor had filed an unwarranted complaint against us. We are not, in fact, being audited, but if we should be audited in the future we are ready for any such examination. We hope not to see this costly scenario repeat itself, however we have exemplary books and procedures and we are prepared if that is the case.

Maintenance: Our Director of Maintenance, Kevin, has overseen over 200,000 flying hours at the Club.
Considering the variety of aircraft, the number of hours, the high up-time and the safety record, there is little doubt Kevin has done much to improve our maintenance facility since 2003. Over the last seven years he has created a quality system of procedures, tracking and detail which far exceed industry standards. Remember, like you, I rent the aircraft on our WVFC flight line. Safety is no accident. It comes through diligence and great effort. Kevin’s commitment to safety and loyalty to WVFC is incomparable.

Ownership: The Club does not own any of the aircraft on the flight line. Our club operates on a lease-back model. Most planes are owned by WVFC members. There are also a few staff members and CFIs who own aircraft; some own several units. The Club has benefitted from such ownership since its inception. I also encourage staff members to learn how to fly and become more invested and experienced in GA. To me this re-enforces the Club’s vision and mission and increases participation.

Operations: A few members have suggested that WVFC seems like more of a business than a Club. We are a Club, but its sustainability requires that it be run using sound business practices. It’s a challenging but critical balance. Christine and I are committed to ensuring that we provide a high level of membership services, events, and activities geared to reinforce the value and encourage each of us to have fun in our continued pursuit of flight training.

In closing, management is not perfect. Mistakes can and do occur. leadership and active risk management can always be second guessed. Nonetheless, the performance of the club speaks for itself. We will continue to solicit member input, as well as that of CFI, Owners and each stakeholder in the success of the Club. No doubt we are all committed to the Club’s long-term health and making it a great experience for all that walk through our doors whatever their experience level, mission, goals or dreams.

Thanks for your support.

Josh Smith, GM WVFC

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

Part of the fun of my job is getting to fly with a lot of the members for one reason or another.  It might be a phase check, an aircraft checkout, or my own students.  When you fly with a varied group of folks, it doesn’t take long to see common patterns in the way folks operate the planes in various modes of flights.  Needless to say, practicing stalls – especially power-off stalls, brings out some pretty interesting aspects of how people think and expect the plane to operate during this phase of flight.  

It’s been drummed into most pilots that one of the most dangerous phases of flight is the infamous turn from base to final.  It is here that the plane is slow, flying at a relatively high angle of attack, and a single sloppy turn can result in a stall and/or spin accident. I’m pretty sure almost every one of us has experienced a mushy, close to stall experience, at exactly this phase of flight.  The question is whether you noticed the pitch attitude of the plane relative to the horizon.  I’m guessing that in the vast majority of cases, the nose was barely above the horizon and maybe even below it, and while there was still a high angle of attack, it was the result of a sinking aircraft as opposed to the nose being visibly above the horizon.

  OK, so now let’s transition up to a 3500 feet AGL practice area and review the stall sequence.  One way to simulate the power-off stall in the traffic pattern is to slow the plane to the slow flight configuration with full flaps, while initially holding altitude.  Next, reduce the power and start a gradual descent, simulating the descent one might perform in the traffic pattern.   But it’s what happens next that is so critical to the reality of a power-off stall.  Many pilots quickly and sharply pull back on the yoke and the plane “zooms” up with the nose pointing towards the heavens and lo and behold the plane stalls (no surprise there).  However, I don’t think this is realistic.  Who really pulls back like that in the traffic pattern and has the nose pointing straight up into the sky – my guess – no one.  While practicing power off stalls, I like to emphasize getting the plane to stall with the nose either barely on or even slightly below the horizon.  There are several key reasons why this is important: 

1. It drives home the fact that the plane can stall in any attitude even with the nose below the horizon.  Many people believe that to stall a plane the nose must be 18 degrees above the horizon.  This exercise clearly illustrates that’s not the case.
2. It’s much more real in terms of how things are likely to look on that infamous base to final turn.  It really can happen with a very flat attitude.
3. It forces smoother application of elevator and rudder and is much more likely to map to the control forces being applied in the traffic pattern as opposed to any kind of yank and zoom attitude.
4. It’s less obvious when the stall will actually occur, unlike when the nose is pointing to the heaven and it’s pretty obvious the stall is coming on now!

So, the next time you get to practice a power-off stall, humor me, and try and get the plane to stall in as flat an attitude as you possibly can.  It’s actually a fun exercise to see just how flat or even negative pitch attitude you can achieve to create a real stall reality, rather than the artificially flavored one many of us believe is the real thing [Did I say real and reality enough there?] 
Safe real flying, and please, no stalls on base to final.  

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

I would really like to encourage anyone who has the interest to view our MX procedures and quality system. I think it may be high time we start coordinating tours of our MX department to the general memberhsip so that there is greater understanding and confidence on how the whole system works together.

I will work with the GM to see if this is possible, I think it will go a long way to ease any confusion and or concern. We will let you know when the first tours start.

Your Friendly MX Department

Annual Membership Meeting and Quarterly Board Meeting
by WVFC BOARD MEMBER Mike Atwood

The next open board meeting is scheduled for October 21, at 7:00pm.  It will be held in the Palo Alto classroom.

As specified by the bylaws, this meeting will also constitute an open meeting of the West Valley Flying Club Membership.  All members who wish to speak and be heard at the meeting are urged to attend.  If a quorum of members are present, business may be transacted at the members meeting.  See the bylaws for details, or post a query on the "Board Sounding Board" section of the BBS.

Look forward to seeing many of you there.

Mike Atwood
Chairman

Every day we see and hear intentional and occasional unintentional oxymorons.  Some that come to mind from recent e-mails, newscasts, etc, would include “honest politician”, “living statesman”, “affordable housing”, “safe cigarette”, “airline food”, and “government accountability”.  So perhaps the title of this month’s article should be considered one as well, but it still may be a valid concept. 

If we look at the extremes on the pessimist side, we have Harry Reasoner’s classic description of a helicopter pilot from “60 Minutes” a couple decades ago, which includes the sentence,” They know if something bad has not happened, it is about to.” 
On the optimistic end, we have most fighter pilots, each of whom is convinced he is the best damned pilot in the world!  I’m fascinated, by the way, with the fact that they will all say “the best dammed” or some equivalent but coarser phrase, rather than just “the best”.  Doubtless, one of our readers will be able to explain this to me.  At any rate, the fighter pilot is utterly convinced that every flight will not only be successful, but he will set a new standard of performance, skill, judgment, and safety.  The flight will be completed in record time, use fifty percent of the book amount of fuel, and the worst weather imaginable wouldn’t be a challenge.  Now, don’t think for a second that I’m trash-talking our fighting guys and gals!  You have to have that attitude when you’re going out to shoot at and get shot at.  When your empennage is on the line, you WANT people that are unbelievably, unrealistically positive and optimistic. 

Most instructors, however, would like to see students a little close to the former than to the latter.  And it doesn’t make a lot of difference what phase of your flying career we’re talking about here.  If you’ve flown to LA on business thirty times in the past year, in all kinds of weather, and you know exactly how long it will take, how much fuel you’ll burn, and you’ve filed IFR so you think you/re covered, you may be closer to the incurable optimist side of things. 

So, what can you do and still be optimistic enough to fly?   The concept is “risk mitigation”.  Central to this concept is that the pilot is able to identify and (to some extent) quantify the risk.  Risk comes in a variety of forms, and before the FAA came up with the PAVE model and IM SAFE, we just called it preflight preparation.  We always started with a thorough plan:  where we’re going, how we’re going to get there, what is going to try to keep us from getting there, and what we’re going to do about it.  These things, of course, included a standard weather briefing, occasionally followed by specific questions and “what if” conversations.  The process also involved looking at the effect of terrain on the weather, and looking at alternate routes.   

Another way to implement pessimistic optimism is to pick or train your passengers well.  Several years ago, as I was beginning my first corporate pilot gig, I walked into the first meeting with the CEO, President and a couple of the corporate officers.  I brought along a paper that contained the conditions under which I would fly for them.  The monetary terms weren’t included.  Here’s what it said in essence:  
Safety is the most important factor in corporate flight.  I will use my skill and judgment to fly you and your employees.  To that end, there are four factors that will influence the decision to fly or not fly a particular mission: 1) the condition of the airplane, 2) the condition of the weather, 3) the condition of the pilot, and 4) the condition of the passengers.  I am the only person qualified to judge the first three, and if I am not comfortable that we can conduct the flight safely, we don’t go.  I am always open to discussions about alternatives, but my decision is final. 

UNCOORDINATED FLIGHT
by Nick Ulman WVFC CFI

I remember a flight instructor years ago encouraging me to be more aggressive with the flight controls (elevator, ailerons, rudder) during approaches and landings.  He said, approximately, “If you need more ailerons to get the airplane to do what you want it do to, then use more aileron!”  I decided that since he was responsible for the flight, there was no downside to me experimenting with greater control input, so I did.  Miraculously, my landings improved.  This is a lesson I have since tried to teach my own students countless times. But it’s not as easy as it sounds, partly because landing involves uncoordinated flight.  Our very first flying lessons often stress using aileron and rudder together to maintain coordination in turns.

Coordinated turns are more efficient and feel better than slips and skids.  There are many exercises instructors give their students to improve coordination.  How often do we practice to be uncoordinated, however?!  Most pilots would answer that they never intentionally practice flying uncoordinated, yet they should be flying that way during almost every landing.

A landing is uncoordinated because the wings are tipped into the crosswind with aileron to prevent downwind drift while opposite rudder is used to keep the nose of the airplane pointed straight down the runway.  In a crosswind from the left, left aileron and right rudder are required.  In a stiff crosswind considerable opposite aileron and rudder are needed, perhaps even full aileron and/or rudder!  These control inputs feel strange and unnatural at first because they are not practiced much in other situations.

On your next flight, slow down (roughly 1.3 Vs is a good speed) and try some uncoordinated flying.  Try making turns while keeping the wings level.  Do not allow any bank!  Try using full rudder.  (I’ve had some passengers who like flat, skidding turns better than coordinated turns.)  Next, try maintaining a bank without turning.  Do not permit any heading change!  Uncoordinated flying will feel very strange at first, but it will increase your flying flexibility and give you confidence that you can make the airplane do whatever you want.

A United Airlines 737 captain told me that he moves the yoke and rudder of the 737 “all over the place” in gusty conditions to maintain a stabilized approach.  Once after a landing in heavy weather, his first officer gave him a look as if to say “What were you doing yanking and kicking down final?”  The captain’s reply:  “Hey, I greased it on, didn’t I?!”

FLY ON THE WALL
by Maryann Dach WVFC CFI

WAHOOOOO, This morning, my first thought was about my flight today at 10:00am, I was so excited to do something new in flying. I had the amazing opportunity to take an aerobatic flight with Lennert Vonclem in WVFC’s, new to the club, Super Decathlon N78GC. I was a bit anxious, while not new to flying (McNuggets were a new menu item the year I got my certificate) this is very different then what I do and quit simply it is aerobatic. Loops, Immelmans and Cuban Eights were all terms I had heard and watched at air shows but now I am going to do them? Well, it was an intro so I had no idea. See my flight on You Tube.

Lennert, a CFI for over 40 yrs, briefed me on what we would do today, basically an introduction to how the Super Decathlon flies starting with Chandelles, Lazy Eights and then does an aileron roll. In fact, what is an aileron roll, I thought. Chandelles and Lazy Eights I have done, they are a commercial maneuvers. When I looked up aileron rolls later I saw that the definition of a roll is where the aircraft rolls 360 degrees around its longitudinal axis, maintaining a corkscrew -like flight path. Yep that is what we did, alright!

During the whole briefing I knew this would not be like anything I had done before, my nerves were settled down a bit at this point, we had a plan and the preflight was being explained to me. Once at the plane “things” were not where I was used them being, as just one example, the throttle was on the left side of the aircraft where the armrest might be on another plane. Worth mentioning is the added factor of having a parachute on and the whole seat restraint process reaffirmed to me this would be something outside of what I am used to.

Lennert said the most common mistake pilots make when transitioning to this type of flying is that pilots try to over analyze the maneuvers instead of being in the moment and learning the task. Hmm that I what I tell students, so I will have no problem, I thought, of course the flight would prove differently.

Enroute to the practice area, I got used to (sort of) flying the airplane. Lennert asked me to point the plane 45 degrees up! Not bank 45 degrees but pitch up, OK….so I did what I thought was 45 degrees and boy was I off, then 45 pitch down and again I was too shy about what it looked like. After some more maneuvers to see how the plane would we respond we did an aileron roll together OMG it was the funniest and was excited to try it myself. I was talked through first part of the maneuver -pitch up 30 degrees and positively and firmly move the stick to the left and away I went spiraling forward through the air. It was AWESOME! I can’t help putting all the exclamation points in this review it was really fun and different, better than a roller coaster honestly that seems boring in comparison. Lennert asked if I wanted to see a loop, that is not something that is done on a first lesson but since I was going to write an article he showed it to me. When I was upside down on the top of the loop, Lennert was talking but I could only think Wahoooo!! I was in fact thinking about being upside down, and trying to listen to Lennert but really just thinking I am upside down in a plane and I wanted to do it, very cool. I could now see how someone could become addicted to this type of flying.