CASCADE FLYER February 2006, Vol. 06, Issue 2 Website: http://co-opa.rellim.com/ President's Message: Last month we spent some time debating our leadership roles for 2006. As has happened in times past we only seem to have one volunteer for each role. Unless anyone else steps up we will ratify the slate this month. The proposed slate is composed of mostly familiar faces. Mike Bond will continue doing his great job on the newsletter. Ed Endsley has volunteered to fill the long vacant Program Chairman position. Curtis Turner will take over the Fly-Out chair from Don Wilfong. Don Wilfong will step up from Fly-Out chair to Secretary/Treasurer. David Sailors will be able to step out from the Secretary/Treasurer position and devote full time to his position as chair of the Bend Airport Aviation Day event. Nancy Lecklider will continue as Vice President. I have been nominated to continue as President. It looks like we have a good group going forward and I look forward to many more good things this year for the club. Don also passed around Thank You cards we received from our Christmas gift program recipients. Once again it looks like the program was a success and we really made the holiday a special one for some deserving kids. Thanks again to Don, Norma and the teachers at Pilot Butte Middle School for making this happen. This month our own Richard Benson will give us a talk on his visits to several Northern Idaho grass strips last summer. Richard visited a lot of airports including Cavanaugh Bay, Moose Creek, McGee, Fish Lake, Priest Lake and Sullivan Lake so he has a lot of great experiences to share. To illustrate the airports he will also show some commercial video clips. This looks to be a great way to explore the great backcountry of Idaho from the comfort of the lounge in the Flight Services building. At the same time we can enjoy the second best reason to be a pilot, which is to share some great flying tales. Be there or be square. Calendar: 16 February - Monthly Meeting 18 February - Monthly Flyout 16 March - Monthly Meeting 18 March - Monthly Flyout 20 April - Monthly Meeting 22 April - Monthly Flyout 18 May - Monthly Meeting 20 May - Monthly Flyout 2-3 June - Central Oregon Fly Safe Clinic 10-11 June - Balloons Over Bend 15 June - Monthly Meeting 17 June - Bend Airport Aviation Day Web doings: Joel Premselaar sent in an amazing video of slow speed aerobatics in a Russian SU-30MK fighter. There is a link to it at the top of the web site. You could argue this is the best fighter in the world and this video shows the Mach 2.3 aircraft showing real grace in low speed maneuvers. As always, the CO-OPA website contains recent newsletters and other goodies. http://co-opa.rellim.com To access the members only areas the username is "S07" and the password is "123.0". My Inbox: It is unclear what is happening over at Balloons Over Bend headquarters. The Chamber and the Bend Bulletin report the event is now under new management by Impressive Events, LLC. Before the sale Gail Najera of the Chamber told me that event would not happen in June, but the new BOB website lists the event as now on for Sat/Sun June 10/11. Stay tuned for further news. I have added a link to the event web site on our Links page: http://www.balloonsoverbend.com/ Random Thoughts: February can be the cruelest month of Winter. Getting snowed in for the first time in the Winter is a welcome happening to some, especially if you get a White Christmas out of it. Being grounded for January is also expected as we resign ourselved to the cold embrace of Winter. That leaves us with February. Winter is now getting a bit old. It is way past time to get some good flying weather. So then we get some great flying days, but Mother Nature is just teasing us because they occur mid- week or in conflict with some other long scheduled activity. A few 60F days have returned, but never when most of us could break free to enjoy them. Next week when we have our monthly fly-out scheduled the long range forecast is for a return to single digit temps and chance of snow showers. To console myself I pulled out some fly-out photos from last year and steeled myself for a little more delay until once again we can let loose the horses and fly free again. Maybe Dale Evans has the right idea. Park the airplane in the hanger, pickle the engine, put the insurance on hold and just plan to enjoy Winter from the ground. Nah... I am just going to sit here, watch the sky, and bite my nails until the next clear day that I can get away to enjoy the magic of flight. Gary Miller COOPA Christmas Charity, 2005 Again this year through the generosity of the CO-OPA members we were able to brighten the lives of others. With the co-operation and help from some of the teachers at Pilot Butte Middle School we have in the past few years been able to provide a wonderful Christmas for a deserving student each year. This year we were able to do so for two such students. Our group raised a substantial amount of money and the teachers did the shopping and wrapping of the gifts. A major portion of the gifts consisted of clothing and other essentials to allow these students to be proud of themselves and their appearance when they were attending school. They also gave them a few fun and feel good gifts. Don and I, along with a couple of the teachers, had the pleasure of delivering the gifts to the homes of these students. It was obvious that the teachers had researched the situation in choosing these students and that our efforts were well deserved and appreciated. It was very gratifying to be able to be involved in the delivery of the gifts and to share in the joy it brought to these individuals and their families. We can all feel really good and be proud of our efforts. Thank you all for a job well done.... There are lots of charities that are deserving but when one gives to help others it is nice to know that 100% of what we give goes for the purpose it was intended. Norma Wilfong I knew that … Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you. Apollo 11, the first moon landing, July 1969 I was just a wee lad of twenty-one and doing the Sunday morning six AM shift at "KZEL 96.1 FM, Eugene- Springfield" or more accurately, I should say, located in beautiful downtown Glenwood. The neighboring community of brothels, junkyards, and one radio station… It was my job to arrive before daylight and fill out the FAA/FCC forms to certify that the tower lights were functioning and then put the station on the air and begin broadcasting the mellifluous melodies of Mantovani and more. One hundred thousand watts of beautiful music… "KZEL-FM, The Beautiful Music Voice of the Willamette Wonderland!!!" With just a touch of reverb and spoken in an overly dramatic and pompous voice, I sounded pretty good. I had wanted to do that station identification in a Donald Duck voice, just once… Never did. It was a real thrill to climb the tower early on one Sunday morning and watch the sun come up. Three hundred feet may not seem like much but going up in the dark was one thing and after it started getting light, coming down was startling. Now I like flying but I don't like heights. So I must admit this was a strange activity but I was young and brave in a strange sort of way… This was before I fired up the hundred thousand watts part. Although, if I'd turned up the transmitter power first, I might have been warmer. It could be really cold before dawn at three hundred feet over the Willamette River hanging onto cold steel. So back down to the studio, bring up the plate voltages slowly. Confirm modulation on the meters. Start the morning announcement: "Welcome to another day of beautiful,,, etc. etc…" And then hit the Mantovani tapes……… This morning was different. I was monitoring KUGN AM news about the moon landing and when the landing was announced I felt compelled to interrupt the Beautiful Music and spread the message to the world that may have been too moved by Mantovani to monitor the moon mission. I faded the beautiful music, keyed the mic, and stammered some banalities about this great and momentous occasion for the human race. Starting to feel stupid and hoping the station manager wasn't listening to my live extemporaneous verboten verbosity, I doubt anyone ever did anyway, I returned to the beautiful stuff. I should have tried to find Andy William's version of Moon River but we didn't miss a beat of Mantovani. I feel safe telling the story now because those words are almost 40 light-years out into the universe and probably disappearing into the background noise, I hope. I probably didn't sound any dorkier than Ed Sullivan introducing the Beatles ... although that was pretty dorky. That was the summer I was flying an Aeronca Champ out of Malon Sweet Airport in Eugene. Sometime later a friend and I took the Champ out for an evening tour. Climbing out over Eugene as dusk began to settle we had a slight broken cloud layer at about eight thousand. As we climbed toward it the ground was disappearing into the darkening haze and the cloud layer was illuminated by the glow in the western sky. My overwhelming impression was that I was inverted and descending toward the ground. The aircraft had no attitude gyro but it did have a vacuum driven turn & bank. I had the baby plane well trimmed in smooth air and hadn't been doing much with the stick & rudder for some time but every time I'd look up at that cloud layer my world became compellingly incomprehensible. Our salvation seemed to be for me to keep my head down and make no sudden moves. I leveled off and started a gentle decent and began to pick up lights on the ground as the sky light faded. My impression of right side up was improving. This was very good news. I might actually be able to fly this thing back onto the ground with some semblance of control or at least my usual gracefulness with a taildragger on asphalt. My companion in the back seat was all quite blissfully unaware of my consternation and was having a great time. Then he yelled and pounded me on the shoulder and pointed east. This was before headsets were common in GA. He was pointing to the full moon rising over the Cascades. Wow was an understatement. We yipped and hooted loud enough to drown out the 65 horsepower droning away up front. Here we were a mile and a half above the earth looking at another celestial body hanging out there about 240,000 miles in front of us where three Americans had just been. It was a pretty amazing moment to identify the Sea of Tranquility where Armstrong and Aldrin had put the Lander down and walked out on that surface… It may have been "One small step for a man,,," for Armstrong on the moon but I reminded myself that I had several steps to accomplish before I could set foot out onto the good old Earth. It was easier to tell up and down now. Even though there was a carpet of lights both below and above but it was readily apparent that most of those in one quadrant were just a few minutes away whereas those in the opposite direction were somewhat dimmer and many light years away …. Certainly above the service ceiling of the Champ. My landing was uneventful beyond being successful. The experiences of that flight are still very vivid with me of having once aimed a 65 horse Aeronca Champ at the Sea of Tranquility ... A very inspiring aviation moment in my adventures. I spoke to my friend a couple of years ago after not having seen him since the events. He remembered having a good time ,,, and hasn't flown in a light plane since! His definition of a light plane is a Citation Jet. It's too bad the photos of the Earth that they took from the moon aren't a little higher resolution because at the southern end of the Willamette Valley in Oregon there's some guy hanging onto a 300-foot tower having a close encounter with a flashing red light... Ed Endsley JANUARY "HANGAR FLYING" SESSION On Sat. Jan. 21, in the face of not so nice weather, this CO-OPA FLY-OUT (like so many others this winter) was called off and it was decided instead to meet at Jake's Diner to complain about the weather, feed our faces and cuss and discuss the events of the past, the plans for future fly-outs and many other assorted and varied subjects . Jake's gave us a table away from the crowd where we could visit without disturbing others and without being disturbed....there were 10 of us....Gary Miller, Ed Endsley, Mike and Ann Bond, Curt and Jackie Turner, Bill and Betty Witt, Jack Kohler and Don Wilfong. As is usual at Jake's we all had plenty to eat and the food was good. I think everyone enjoyed themselves as the room was abuzz with ongoing conversation and no one seemed to want to leave. They finally had to politely suggest that they were going to have to get set up for another incoming group. After having our planes practically in hibernation for the winter, it is nice to see the sun in the sky now and then and to be able to go out and bore some holes in the air. I know we are certainly looking forward to better weather and are making plans to put some hours on ole 757 this summer. Norma and I will be out of town for the next potluck/meeting (Feb. 16) and also for the Fly-Out (Feb. 18).....but....You will be in good hands for this and future Fly-Outs....Curtis Turner (wife Jackie) has agreed to take on the "Fly-Out Chairman" position and he will be planning the fly-outs for the foreseeable future. They will be leading the pack with their beautiful Piper Apache. I have really enjoyed the planning and the actual fly-outs we have had....it has been a lot of fun......nothing is wrong...I just think it is time to let someone with fresh ideas take over and Curt has graciously agreed to do so. Just talking to him about some of his ideas has me all excited again....I will be happy to help in any way I can and from experience I know you all will be too. I want to thank all of you for your help and co-operation during the past many months that I have been putting together the fly-out plans for our group...I couldn't have done it without you. Norma and I will still be ever present and certainly looking forward to going along on most of the fly-outs. We wish Curt the very best in this venture and hope he and Jackie enjoy it as much as we have. Don & Norma Wilfong dwnw@bendbroadband.com COOPA SAFETY CORNER By Joel Premselaar A reminder - - Are you tired of hearing or reading about my cautionary action re fuel tank vents? Suffer me, as the old song goes, "Just One More Time," cover your fuel tank vents! On page 9322 of the November 2005 issue of the "American Bonanza Society" magazine (the publication numbers its pages consecutively from the first of each year) there is a great photograph of a collapsed tip tank; the cause of this was attributed to a plugged vent. Accompanying the article are photos of vent covers newly developed by Bonanza pilots and an engineer from Osborne, the manufacturer of the tip tank. The covers are almost the same as those that my aircraft sports all year 'round. The Bonanza design has each vent cover individually flagged. Mine are linked with a bright red ribbon culminating with the pitot tube cover; this precludes flying with the vents covered. Some folks shove a straw or a wire into the vent. This act just shoves the foreign matter into the tank! Note that vent openings are forward facing. Although this is done for good reason, it does make them vulnerable to dust, snow pack, and ice, let alone mud daubers. Note also, that I mentioned "ice." Realizing how quickly ice forms on small protrusions, it would be interesting to know how many tanks are plugged by ice in flight. All I have to add is "nyah, nyah, nyah, I told ya so!" We fly to areas that are dry. I used to think that we lived in a low humidity area; but considering the recent Wx pattern we're experiencing, blah, blah, blah. I'm fairly certain that all of you have shuffled across a wool rug and received a shock when you grasped a brass doorknob. Over the course of time, I've read about the damage inflicted by static electricity. Jet fuel, though less volatile than Avgas, is considered more dangerous for that very reason. If not topped off, the fuel-air ratio in the void is ideal for ignition from a spurious spark. Dragging a plastic tarp across the airframe may produce such a spark. The more volatile Avgas is too rich for ignition under the same circumstances. Fueling an aircraft by an inexperienced lineman during a high wind or having been blasted by someone checking out an engine on the flight line will statically charge an aircraft (remember, it's sitting on rubber tires). How many of you use plastic fuel containers? That's an absolute no- no! Composite aircraft, especially those without imbedded wire or painted with a special finish demands extraordinary protective measures. Special fueling procedures are required for such composites. How many linemen know this? If you would like to be overwhelmed with scary information, call up "Fuel Handling Safety" on the internet. A host of strange things have been attributed to static electricity. Here are but a few considerations. How well do you inspect you aircraft's bonding wires and the static dischargers hanging from your flight controls? SAFETY CORNER – continued Charging a battery at high rates will produce enough hydrogen to pose a real danger to man and material (think Hindenburg). Connecting battery terminals or activating an electric switch produces sparks that can ignite fuel vapors. Ordnance with fuses (this includes the flares in your emergency kit) or fuel vapors may be ignited if in proximity to transmitting radios and especially active radars. Do you recall the experience I related re the salvo firing of rockets when the aircraft carrier fired up its radar? Have you ever enjoyed the experience St. Elmo's fire? Ball lightning has been known to pass through the cabin of aircraft. I can go on and on ad nauseam with this line of thought, but let's be realistic. The bottom line is just be aware that static electricity can be more than a harmless spark that one might receive when sparking (as we called it in the old days) with one's wife. It would be even more shocking if you were sparking with someone else's wife!! A tidbit for you: when those super powerful rare earth magnets were marketed in the early 1980's, I bought a few of them. A retired airline mechanic suggested that to capture any ferrous (iron) particles in the oil, I should stick some of them on the oil filter of my Bonanza's engine. I agreed, so while my friendly mechanic placed them on the oil filter, I monitored my whiskey compass and checked my radios for static to see if they were impacted by the magnets' flux. There were no detrimental effects since the magnetic field was sufficiently distant from my compass and radios. That freed me from having to place a shield around the magnets. Opening the oil filter after an oil change, I found particles of iron and even a bit of rust attached to the area around the magnets. This was during the break- in phase after an engine overhaul so such deposits were expected. It pleased me that at least these particles will never abrade my engine. I felt assured that, in the future, this addition to the oil filter will serve as "an alarm to the wise." Oil filters can catch particles to around 25 microns. The super magnets have been proven by tests to capture ferrous material down to about 3 microns and have even captured rust! For you math types, a micron is 1,000th of a millimeter!! Later, I found a source for these magnets housed in an adjustable rubber-like strap that wraps tightly around the outside of the oil filter. The item is called "MagneStrap;" it's about $20.00 (phone # 1- 800-529-4486). It's in J.C. Whitney's catalog, order number # 71O573. According to a Whitney service representative there are two letters within the order number between the 7 and the 0 and one at the end, but they are of no consequence; they are a means to identify the specific catalog. No, smart feller (spoonerism intended), I don't get a commission for this! I'm just a nice guy. (PICTURE) This is a Northwest Airlines accident that happened on Jan 19, 2004 (Sunday). Two mechanics were taxiing to a gate at New York's LGA airport. They were held out on the taxiway for a bit. When finally cleared, the MIC (mechanic-in-command), "being a little irritated", pulled a bit too much power. Coming into the gate he now finds he has no brakes. The left engine was put into reverse, but it was too late. He hit the tow bar, then the tractor. The tractor was hit so hard the nose gear collapsed. This was after he wiped out the Jet way. The left side by the cockpit was ripped open by the Jet way. The Jet way was now lying on top of the left wing and left engine. After losing control the left wingtip rammed into the side of a Boeing 757 sitting at the next gate, ripping a hole in the right side. Remarkably, no one was hurt. It's that time of year … "Dear Internal Revenue System, Enclosed is my 2005 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes. Please note the attached article from USA Today, wherein you will see the Pentagon is paying $171.50 for hammers and NASA has paid $600.00 for a toilet seat. I am enclosing four toilet seats (value $2400) and six hammers (value $1029), bringing my total remitted to $3429.00. Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the "Presidential Election Fund," as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one 1.5" Phillips Head screw (article from USA Today detailing how HUD pays $22.00 each for 1.5" Phillips Head Screws are enclosed for your convenience.) It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year. Sincerely, A Satisfied Taxpayer"