It is election time again.  This year two at-large Board seats and the WVFC CFI Board seat are up for election. 

It is election time again.  This year two at-large board seats and the WVFC Owner board seat are up for election.  These seats are currently occupied by Gary Waldeck, J.P. Harrison, and John Felleman.

Board members set the policy for the club, and advise the General Manager.  We meet 10-12 times a year.  If you are interested, please nominate yourself!  See the Election Central area of the club web site for complete information.  A quick summary of the process follows.

Acceptance of candidature and candidate statements opens at 12:01 AM on Monday, May 24th and closes at 11:59 PM on Sunday, May 30th.  Candidate names and statements will be posted on the WVFC website by Tuesday, June 1.  Candidate names and statements will be posted in random order. Candidate names and statements shall be submitted via email only at candidate@wvfc.org.

The following times have been reserved for in-person “Meet the Candidates” sessions.  These meetings are open to all members and provide the opportunity to meet candidates in person.

• Session I – Tuesday, June 15th at 6:30 pm in Palo Alto
• Session II – Thursday, June 17th at 6:30 pm in San Carlos
• Session III – Saturday, June 19th at 10:00 am in Palo Alto

Votes will be accepted starting at 12:01 AM on Monday, June 21th and ending at 11:59 PM on Sunday, June 27tt.  Voting will be by paper ballot or online through an independent vote-taking system.  Paper ballots will use a two-envelope system which protects voter privacy and eliminates voter fraud.  To vote with a paper ballot, a ballot must be requested by phone, email or in person by Friday, June 11.  All members not requesting a paper ballot will be included in the electronic voting roll.

Please take a few minutes to read the questions and answers in Election Central, in the members’ portion of the website. 

THE COMMUNITY OF FLYING
by Josh Smith, General Manager WVFC

It's up, it's down; it's hot, it's cold; am I talking about the stock market or the weather lately? Sheesh! This El Niño wx pattern is a real bummer for flying weather. As spring arrives and sunnier days do prevail, we are looking for some really fun and productive flying. Ashley is working with various members to plan out a whole list of events/programs for this flying season. Having been a part of some of the planning sessions I can tell you there is some pretty cool stuff coming down the pipe. To keep abreast of all the latest stuff please checkout the club calendar, as well as your bi-monthly newsletters.

Spring is also a great time to get in touch with your favorite flight instructor. Any time we lay off the flying, as we often do in winter, it is always good to have someone sit next to us while we are getting reacquainted with our favorite aircraft and the Bay Area airspace.

You will probably have noticed two web changes.

1. We finally installed a new version of the BBS software. Our BBS software had not been updated since 2001. As a result, we were several versions out of date. This newest version created some issues, as some of the old technology of our web site would not adapt to the newest version of the code. So we have had to make a few changes. We will work through those to get the site as smooth and user-friendly as possible.
2. Additionally, most of our web pages should now work with Safari and Google Chrome. We have moved to a CSS format and this should greatly enhance the user experience.

We had a change in the accounting department. Michelle Klippel, who has been our membership services, ownership coordinator, and general accounting answer and task person, decided to buy a house in the Sierra Foothills and move out of the Bay Area. Michelle has been a vital part of West Valley Flying Club over the last three years and will be missed. The good news is that we have found a very able replacement: Sue Couch. Sue, born and raised in San Mateo County, comes to us from the world of horses. For 16 years Sue managed a private Veterinarian practice that took care of thoroughbred Race Horses at Bay Meadows Race Track. Sue also runs her own book-keeping business. Sue we welcome you to the family. Sue's E mail address will be sue@wvfc.org, you can also call her directly at 650-856-2030 Ext. 302. Also any accounting questions can go directly to accounting@wvfc.org

In order to help reduce costs, Anna our controller will be stepping down to a part time roll with the club. Anna will now mostly be responsible for managing the close of the monthly books and an ongoing audit of the club's performance versus budget. Anna and I have been working together for the last seven years, and though she will not be around as much, her continued contribution and help is vital.

Gene Halverson, the current shop foreman will be stepping in as acting manager of MX. Gene has been working in our MX department for the last 3 years. Those who rent out of KPAO see him wrenching at our Palo Alto MX shop. Gene has a lot of great experience with club, knows the aircraft well, and I believe there will be absolutely no drop-off in service.

Fleet updates: We have added a (new to WVFC) Warrior, N209J, to our flight line at KPAO. This is a very nice Warrior with newer paint and interior, full digital King IFR, Garmin 400 VFR GPS, and a lot more. The aircraft will be parked in Roy Aero Parking. Additionally, 4352G got a brand-new paint job and looks absolutely gorgeous.

If anyone has ever considered investing in an aircraft, it really is a buyers market, and we are looking to add some planes on the flight line. We are really hot for some C172N models, some tail wheels, and others. Please E mail me if you are interested.

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

B For Bravo

This month, I get off easy! Sometimes a member does something that’s “less than ideal” and there are some good lessons to be learned by other club members who might find themselves in a similar position. This is the case of a student pilot getting into the Bravo airspace (without a clearance) in the East Bay. I asked the member to write a “story” so that others could maybe learn from the mistakes made.

Here’s the story in the member’s own words. Fly Safe.

The day I picked for my first cross-country flight was perfect. The sky was clear. It was warm; wind was light. I felt very confident. I was waiting for this day for quite some time. The rainy winter weather had forced me to postpone my flight numerous times. I talked my fight instructor into having another CFI sign me off on what seemed to be a perfect day while he was on vacation. I really wanted to keep things moving.

Probably two min after turning, it was time to go through three housekeeping items:

1. Contact flight watch to open a my flight plan,
2. Look up the Modesto ASOS frequency in the AF/D
3. contact NorCal to request flight following

 Calling Norcal on 125.35 was on the plan right after that, roughly 2 miles SW of LVK. Everything seemed perfectly normal to me until the air traffic controller told me that I was being investigated for a potential airspace violation and that I should write down a phone number. SFO Class B comes down to 4,000ft MSL over Fremont. I was at 5,500 ft MSL when I contacted Norcal. It didn’t take long to realize what a horrible mistake I had made. Despite my initial shock I decided to continue on to Oakdale and call Norcal at the number that I was given as soon as I landed. The rest of the flight was uneventful.

What went wrong? A couple of things seem pretty obvious, others not so much.  After putting my shattered ego back together, I sat down to analyze the sequence of events. Here’s what I came up with during my root cause analysis:

• Talking my CFI into letting me fly while he was on vacation seemed like a good idea at the time. It clearly was not. He knows me best. He has a comprehensive picture of what’s been talked about and when. He might have mentioned the Class B boundaries again during the pre-flight discussion.
• I spent little or no time thinking about the first leg of my flight to LVK. I had flown there a couple of times solo but never climbed higher than 3,500 ft MSL. It seemed like routine: What7rsquo;s there to worry about? It didn’t occur to me that, this time, something was different; I planned to climb to 5,500 ft MSL, not just 3,500 ft MSL. That should have made a red flag come up immediately. It didn’t.
• I’ve been working on my private pilot license for quite some time now. Pretty much for an entire year. Work doesn’t allow me to fly as often as I’d like to. This gloomy winter certainly didn’t help to speed things up either. Class B and its boundaries had come up numerous times early in my training last year but had not been brought up much during my more recent cross country phase. I guess I was expected to remember.
• I didn’t have the situational awareness during the flight that I should have had. Calling FSS, looking up things in the AF/D, looking out for traffic, etc. kept me busy enough to forget an occasional glance at the GPS (which, in my defense, is mounted below the Comm stack in this C172). It also looks like I continued to climb at V_y given how high I was at the time I inadvertently entered class B. Another fact I would have noticed had I looked more inside.
• Lastly, I didn’t prioritize my tasks properly. I should have contacted Norcal first. I should not have looked up information about my destination this early in the flight, at a time when things are still busy and require my full attention.

• I add pseudo-waypoints to my navlog that remind me to stay “clear of 4,000 ft MSL class B floor” etc.
• I look for visual landmarks that tell me where I am relative to the boundaries of the various rings of SFO class B.
• I remember to tune in to SFO DME so that I can monitor the distance from SFO and determine my position relative to the rings of SFO class B (15, 20, 25 miles etc)

 The long awaited call from the FAA came a few days ago. To my relief, no other aircraft was impacted by my incursion so the FAA decided to let me go with a warning and the friendly advice not to ever do it again. I’m definitely not planning on it. I hope the various additional safeguards will help me with that. I hope this article helps you to do the same.

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

HI !

My name is Gene Halverson, I'm the acting maintenance manager, I' ve been with wvfc for three years, and look forward to continuing the tradition of excellent maintenance and high qaulity aircraft at WVFC. The transition thats taking place is going very smooth, with the same quality and reliable service as before.

If you have questions or comments please call, I can be reached at 650-856-2030 Ext. 201 or email me directly at gene@wvfc.org.

Additionally, I look forward to putting out helpful MX information via the newsletter. Please look for our articles which hopefully I will be able to put out on a monthly basis.

Look forward to working with everyone,

Gene Halverson Your friendly MX department.

It’s Play-off Basketball time. Just about the only time I watch basketball. There was a time I played it regularly, but watching? There are so many things in life that are far more worth doing than watching. But when tournament time comes, the play gets exciting. There are some amazing plays, but the thing I want to see is what happens when the teams get in trouble. The teams that successfully get back out of trouble invariably are not the ones that pull out mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, vocal-chord straining plays (as much as I love them and wish I could do them), they’re the ones that get back to basics. Take care of the ball, set up the plays, block out on both ends of the floor, and take high percentage shots.

The same thing happens in flying. If something isn’t working right, whether it’s landings that feel way too much like hooking the three wire to the inability to hold altitude during a ground reference maneuver, maybe getting back to basics is the answer.

Recently I’ve been doing some consulting for NASA and the subject came up in an odd way. They are interested in how some of the Technically Advanced Aircraft are actually used in the real world. You know, the Avidyne- and G1000-equipped planes like we have in the club. As an instructor, I get to see some of it, including people spending WAY too much time mucking (to use a technical term) with the avionics, which in some ways represents the real world, when (oddly enough) the real world is right out the window. It’s absolutely hilarious to watch someone respond to “TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC” by looking at and following the icon on the traffic display without EVER looking out the window to see the real airplane. My personal game, by the way, is to see if I can find the traffic before it shows up in the display, or at least before it’s close enough for the “TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC” call. Basics.

Anyway, we were brainstorming some scenarios that could be used to see how people programmed the avionics, when they did it in the process, and how much of the capability they actually used. The suspicion is that there are about a bazillion different ways in which people use the capabilities inherent in the avionics. Can’t wait to find out, but in the mean time, we’re breaking down what actually happens at various phases of flight.

For example, a lot of what we do as pilots happens as a result of external triggers (a less uppity word than ‘stimuli’), such as an ATC call, passing a waypoint, reaching cruise altitude, and so on. But what about the things that we decide when to do? When do we listen to ATIS? When do we look at the METAR page? Do we check out winds aloft while we’re flying in cruise to see if there is an altitude with less headwind or more tailwind, or perhaps find an altitude with less turbulence?

But the most interesting thing was looking in detail at each of the steps of even the simplest processes. When a pilot is asked, “What do you do when you’re in cruise and want to begin descending toward your destination”, what does the pilot actually do? The first order answer is usually something simple like, “I just start down.” OK, but what, exactly, do you do, and in what order? A more complete answer might be, “Reduce power, point the nose down, and descend.” But if you start trying to quantify how much you reduce the power, how far the nose goes down, include the fact that you trim and for what airspeed or vertical speed, the process starts sounding more complex. In some airplanes, the power reductions aren’t one-time events, because you want to keep power reductions down to one inch of manifold pressure per minute, and in some planes, the power actually increases as you descend. Do you switch the MFD display over to Traffic or Terrain before or during the descent? And what about monitoring the CHT, clearing below before descending, reporting the altitude change (as is sometimes required), and the descent checklist?

Even the simplest of flying tasks actually involves a lot of steps and lots of factors. Remember back when you were learning to fly and your instructor said something like, “The way to improve is to do the same thing the same way every time”? My students hear it a lot, especially when we’re working on landings.

The point is, it’s hard to do the same thing the same way every time if we don’t know what it is that were actually doing. Few of us ever break down a maneuver or function into the component parts, analyze the factors involved, think about what mini-decisions we make to implement the steps, consider the order in which things are done, and the length of time each one takes. Many of us would benefit from that level of discipline/analysis. And I’ll have to admit, I rarely did that kind of thing myself until I became an instructor, and had to analyze what my students were doing, and why they were running into snags and were having trouble with a particular maneuver. I began asking why we did things a particular way and looking at the processes in greater detail. Oddly enough, my flying also improved. Back to basics.

Flying is a complex business, and even the simplest A to B flight involves LOTS of steps, functions, factors, and decisions, and the more we understand them, the easier it is to improve. Even when the functions aren’t complex, getting back to basics makes things happen better, and smoother, and we’re less likely to lose the ball. Or the ballgame.

As a pilot of a small airplane, you have already discovered one of the most fun ways to travel. With reliable summer weather almost here, now is the time to plan an airplane trip. Before you start it may be good karma to admit to yourself and/or your spouse that flying by small airplane is rarely the fastest and cheapest way to go somewhere. But the journey is tremendous.

Flying more than a few hundred miles from home takes some planning. Your preflight research will pay rich rewards, however, and can be lots of fun in itself. Luckily, WVFC has many different resources and support groups for flight planning ranging from informal “hangar talk” with other members and CFIs, to a scheduled session with your personal favorite CFI, to group activities such as CFI Dan Dyer’s multi-airplane adventures . Dyer’s group is planning to go to Colorado and Alaska this year among other destinations.

“Nearby” destinations for a small airplane trip include places like Death Valley, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, and the Evergreen Air Museum (home of the Spruce Goose). For those with more time, Alaska and EAA AirVenture (“Oshkosh”) in Oshkosh, WI beckon. Regardless of where you set your sights, be sure that you have had proper training before you set out. Getting out of California can involve mountain flying techniques so ask a CFI about WVFC mountain flying checkout requirements and training options.

Oshkosh is something that all pilots must go to sometime during their aviation life! Visit www.airventure.org for the latest information. The sheer number of airplanes, the daily airshows, the talks and forums and a myriad of other aviation activities at Oshkosh will really take your breath away. One way to have the fun of flying to Oshkosh, yet reduce expenses, is to form a group of four pilots. Two fly out and two fly back; you take an airliner for the other half of the trip.

Going to Alaska is a grand adventure that will test everything you have learned about flying, weather and self-sufficiency. There are different ways to go (e.g. Alaska highway or via the coastline) each totally different from the others. If you’re going to Alaska it helps to be comfortable flying in marginal VFR weather and camping out if you don’t get to your first choice destination. You will be rewarded with stunning scenery, glaciers, bears and incredible visibility on good weather days.

Now is the time to plan a trip! Be sure to reach out to a CFI for trip ideas and planning assistance. Flying by small airplane really is a great way to travel.

The weather continues to be spotty ... Last month, I proclaimed that flying was turned back on! It turns out that I was a bit premature, but this month ... Yes! Spring is on again! (I think).

The month has been a good one. Flying hours were less than 100 hours away from our budget and was $5k lower than our planned profit. We think that weather was the culprit. All in all, it has been a good month for flying and for our Club.

WVFC Maintenance is changed! Gene has been named as our acting manager.

Kevin and Carrie have departed the Club, the Maintenance function within WVFC continues on under Gene’s leadership until a final replacement selection is made. No other changes are anticipated.

WVFC Board Elections: Have you considered becoming a WVFC BOARD MEMBER?

We're looking for Volunteers! Our next election will be in June. I hope you will consider joining us in this experience. We need candidates who are willing to donate some of their time to this rewarding experience. Three board seats will be up for election. Qualifications are simple: Have the time and dedication to devote two years of service to the club (about 6 hours per month) and be able to make good decisions. Please contact the GM or any of the board members for more information.

Mark your calendars! The Hayward Air Rally is scheduled for June 11th!

The time is nearly here. The course is set, a weekend of what amounts to be ‘airborne poker’ is about to begin. Taking the cards you are dealt (weather, airplane, course, planning and flight management ability) can you bluff or demonstrate your way to a win? The Hayward Air Rally is a challenging proficiency exercise. You will be assigned four waypoints to navigate to on each of two legs. You only need to do two things to win: Make a plan, Fly the plan. You are scored on your ability to hold to your overall planning.

1. Plan a flight that will get you to 4 waypoints and to your destination on each of two legs.
2. Estimate your flight time and fuel usage and report it before you go.
3. Fly your plan demonstrating navigation, timing and fuel management skills.

I already know how much fun it is and I’d like you to find out too. Please join us in this year’s rally.

Check it out at www.hwdairrally.org.

Blue skies ...

Gary