THE COMMUNITY OF FLYING
Josh Smith, General Manager WVFC

First, some really good news. Every year we go through an insurance renewal on our aircraft hull and liability insurance. This is a pretty interesting process: it involves an examination of our safety record, the fleet, and our training and checkout procedures, as well as the current state of the industry. We are looked at not only by our current provider, but also two or three outside underwriters looking to add WVFC to their customer base. This year was a particularly busy one for us, as there was quite a few insurance providers who were looking to add us on. For this year we are going to stay with our current insurance underwriter who is reducing our insurance premiums across the entire fleet by 10%, a savings fleet-wide of $35,000.

This is being done for several reasons: 1. We have a really strong safety record. Our last year payout was 3% of our premiums which is an outstanding result; the last two years have been very strong. 2. They are very encouraged about our switch to a more scenario-based checkout methodology. 3. They are impressed with the way the club is being managed. In particular, credit goes to our Chief Pilot Steve Blonstein who made a very good presentation to the insurance vendors who were looking to add our account. Overall, since I have been the GM we have received three rate reductions to our Hull and Liability policy.

Activities and events: We are looking for ideas on how we can better serve the membership. One of our main focuses for the year has been to provide more seminars, fly-outs and member events at the club that provide the flying information and time around the club that our members are looking for. If you have any ideas for seminars/events you liked in the past, or new ones you would like to see please let us know. Feel free to E mail either myself or Ashley

Damage Waiver policy: I am putting the final touches on a new Damage Waiver policy. The idea is take the success of the Deductible Waiver policy and add a component that takes care other potential isolated damage such as flat spotted tires, dead batteries, vomit in aircraft etc. The new policy, which would be offered at $175/year, would cover not only the insurance deductible but also flat spotted tires, etc. When it goes into effect, current subscribers will receive the new coverage without additional fee until the renewal date. Remember, this is a WVFC-fleet only coverage for WVFC members only. If you have any thoughts on this or would like to weigh in, please feel free to e-mail me.

Overall, the club is chugging along. Flying hours are slowly picking up, membership numbers are looking stable and the fleet for now is maintaining strength. The economy is, understandably, still having an effect on flying hours. Flying is not the first thing in everyone's budget. I would like to give a shout out to my team here at WVFC. I have been asking everyone to do a lot more with a lot less. I really appreciate the effort they are putting in to make this whole thing work.

Thanks for your support,

Josh Smith GM

FROM THE DESK OF THE CHIEF
Steve Blonstein, WVFC Chief Pilot chiefpilot@wvfc.org

Good news – Bad news

Let’s start with the good news and talk about our safety record over the past 24 months, and particularly the last 12 months. Our insurance cycle runs from July 1 – June 30, so we have just completed a year-long cycle. Typically, insurance companies measure the ratio of payouts to premiums and come up with a percentage. For the year 2008-09 we did a pretty good job and had a payout to premium ratio of around 17%. But for 2009-10 (the cycle that just ended), our payout ratio was an incredibly low 3%. I think we had a single prop strike and a couple of other very minor claims for an entire year. Let’s put this in perspective. As a club we fly approximately 20,000 hours a year and I estimate our members execute somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 take-offs and landings per year. And after all of that, we managed to preserve an incredible record of safety. It’s hats off and kudos to you: the members, your CFIs, and the co-operative safety initiatives that we have developed over the years. Our reward for all of this is two-fold. First and foremost is a safe flying environment we’ve created at our club. No one should get injured when enjoying aviation if we continue down this path. A second important benefit is reduced insurance premiums that we will enjoy moving forward. The owners will receive a break on their insurance in the coming year and this will help them keep their fixed costs down, delaying the time rental rates need to be increased due to other rising costs.

While I’m extremely proud of the effort that everyone has put in to get us to this point, we need to talk about the bad news part of this report. To be perfectly honest, there have been several what I call “potential incidents” over the past year. Only by sheer luck did we avoid a disaster that could have completely totaled a plane, or worse, caused bodily harm or death. There have been maybe five or six of these types of incidents and I’m really disheartened by the fact that three of them were near fuel exhaustion incidents where our members returned to their home airport with fuel well below the required minimum level and were literally minutes away from an impending disaster. One of the three incidents occurred very recently, and we’ll feature an article in an upcoming issue written by the member who recently landed a Cessna 172SP with virtually no fuel left. In all three cases, the members were overly optimistic about the fuel burn, the time of the flight, and the accuracy of the fuel gauges. They all “thought” they were going to land with 30-60 minute reserves and in all three cases it was considerably less than 30 minutes. In every case, multiple airports were passed up where fuel was available. It seems that each pilot thought they had the destination “made.” That ended any internal debate about stopping somewhere sooner for fuel. It’s a hassle to descend down from 12,500 feet (for example) just to pick up a few gallons of gas when you’re “pretty sure” you can make it. As usual, I suspect that most members will read this and think to themselves “well, I’m much more conservative than that – I’ll always land with at least an hour of fuel, I would never do something like this.” The problem is, these three people thought the same thing before they were caught in the trap and got snared by the dragon. As a club, we really need to go slay this dragon, once and for all. I’m going to be working on putting together a working group to specifically tackle this one particular issue and see if we can come up with some strategies for putting an end to this kind of near disaster. If you have particular suggestions and thoughts about this topic, then please write me or stop by and chat – it’s something I’ll definitely make time for.

Meanwhile, enjoy the best weather of the year and fly safe.

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

Through this transition the past couple of months, the maintenance department has been operating very smooth.

Just in case you did not know, the maintenance department not only works on WVFC'S fleet of airplanes , we also welcome members/ owners who have their own airplanes that aren't on the flight line to use our facility for their maintenance needs. I think you will find our shop rates very competitive, and our quality extremely high.

From routine maintenance such as oil, tire changes, to more complex repairs, we are equipped to hanlde your aircraft maintenance needs.

If this is something you might be interested in, please contact me and I will schedule your necessary maintenance.

gene@wvfc.org or 1-650-856-2030 ext 201

LOOKING FOR A REASON TO FLY? TRY WVFC'S PASSPORT PROGRAM!

Looking for extra reasons to fly or new airports to fly into? The new WVFC Passport Program is designed for just that!

Any West Valley member (Pilot, CFI, Passenger) can participate. Simply stop by the front desk after your flight to have us stamp all the different airports you did a touch-and-go or landing at.

There will be a “Wall of Fame”, fun pins, sweatshirts and custom model planes for the members that fly to the most airports.

Ask the front desk staff for more information or to pick up your passport and start exploring California!!

Those of you who have read this column for a while may have gotten the feeling that I REALLY like to write. And you’d be right, not that I always have. I HATED English at all levels of school. Life’s funny, isn’t it?

This column isn’t the only writing I’ve been doing, however. I have been working on a novel, and although it’s not directly about flying, there are references, including quotes at the beginning of each chapter from an imaginary book called The Laws of Flying and Life. Since they are related to flying safety in one form or another, I thought I’d toss them out here. And I’ve found them to be true for more than just flying.

“When you think everything is going exactly according to plan it’s a fair bet that you’ve forgotten to look at something.”

“If you don&rsquolt know something’s wrong, you can’t fix it.”

“What you don’t know won’t hurt you as bad as what you know for certain that turns out to be wrong.”

“If things seem to be happening too fast, they probably are. Slow down!”

“Whatever you’re not watching turns to crud.”

“When things are happening too fast, pick the most important thing and do it first – keep the pointy end forward and the dirty side down.”

“In an emergency you can deviate from any regulation, clearance, or instruction.”

“Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.”

“Airplanes fail in all kinds of ways that aren’t listed in Chapter Three of the POH. You’d better understand the systems if you want any hope of solving the problem.”

“It’s always best to make your mistakes when there’s an instructor on board to keep them from being the last mistakes you make.”

“Pilot skills come in two general areas – those related to quantitative, precision things, and those related to artistic, finesse aspects. The best pilots are good at both.”

“Every instrument flight involves three flight plans: the one you file, the one you’re cleared for, and the one you actually fly. Why would you think they’re the same?”

“The things that make aviation possible aren’t coffee and Av fuel as widely believed. It’s altitude, airspeed, and ideas. Don’t run out of all three at the same time.”

“If you don’t have a plan, you can’t execute it.”

“When the engine quits and the spaghetti hits the fan, the plane belongs to the insurance company. Your only job is to make sure your passengers live through it. If you can save your own life it’s great, but saving your passengers is the first priority.”

“The final seconds before most crashes are characterized by an airplane that is still flying, and a crash that isn’t inevitable if the right decision is made.”

“Whether your landing is perfect or a crash, whether everything is going right or things are heading south in a hurry, keep flying the plane; keep flying the plane until it’s stopped, chocked and tied down.”

And, by the way, I know most of these are true from personal experience. Sometimes I’m a slow learner.

Question of the Month: Where on earth are you if, no matter which way you look, you’re facing North?! True (pun intended) answer below. Until then let’s say that one place where you’re NOT facing north is driving “north” on US 101 “North“ between San Jose and San Francisco. In fact, the Bayshore Freeway runs roughly northwest – southeast in true direction and pretty close to east – west magnetic. It’s easy to see that driving cars in the Bay Area may lead to an impaired sense of direction. Near Oakland it’s possible to travel in opposite directions simultaneously according to a stretch of road marked “80 West” and “580 East” in the same place.

Experienced controllers in PAO tower realize that pilots may not know where north is. Thus, when controllers can’t find an airplane that reports “north of Palo Alto,” they try looking west, toward San Carlos. Sometimes they even have to look south because of confusion over how positions are reported. Just to be clear, if Palo Alto and Los Angeles are the same direction from you, then you are north of Palo Alto. Actually, Los Angeles is southeast – never mind. In any case, think of Palo Alto as the reference point. To state your position, give the bearing from Palo Alto, not to it.

Which way is north, anyway? Near PAO, the devil will tell you – Mount Diablo is within a few degrees of magnetic north from the airport. That reference point is not as well aligned when viewed from SQL or HWD, but it’s better than thinking the freeway points north. On a chart true north is up (assuming the chart is right way up). Magnetic north is shown by the compass roses depicted over VOR stations. Here in California magnetic north is about 15 degrees east of true north; in New England states, the opposite is true. Watch out if you fly there; the switch can be disconcerting. People in St. Louis don’t know why coastal dwellers get so worked up about these things; there magnetic and true north are basically the same direction.

Perhaps the easiest way to recall whether magnetic north is east or west of true north is to know that the magnetic north pole is near Ellesmere Island which is in the middle (i.e. not far east or far west) of northern Canada. Santa Claus has a summer house there. The magnetic pole is around 83N, 114W, hundreds of miles from the true North Pole, and the magnetic pole is moving about 40 miles per year toward Russia. Why does it want to get away from Canada so badly? Maybe it heard the Canadian national anthem (“With glowing hearts we see thee rise, the True North strong and free&tdquo;) and figured Canadians have given up on magnetic and are sticking with true. Closer to home, movement of the magnetic pole means that Stanford’s Palm Drive, which pointed magnetic north when the school was founded, no longer does.

Finally, don’t forget to reset your heading gyro to match the magnetic compass every so often. The gyro has no idea where north is; it just tries to keep pointing the same direction. This leads to the Answer of the Month: the South Pole. Down where penguins live a gyro is essential as all directions point to north.

p.s. I am interested to hear from WVFC members that use APRS to track their flights.