CASCADE FLYER March 2009, Vol. 09, Issue 3 Website: http://co-opa.com/ President's Message: February's program lacked star power but made up for it with great visuals. Instead of having a speaker we watched a good video portraying the history of flight in the United States. As always a good time was had by all. Given our bad luck with weather all winter it was the closest to being in the air most of us have had in a long time. Whatever the program we always have a good time so be sure to drop in with us again this month. As usual the wild tales start at 6pm, followed by a scrumptious potluck at 6:30pm and our formal program at 7pm. Be there or be square. Calendar: 20 March- Monthly Meeting 22 March- Monthly Flyout 17 April- Monthly Meeting 19 April- Monthly Flyout 15 May- Monthly Meeting 17 May- Monthly Flyout 6 June - Bend Airport Day 18 June - Monthly Meeting 20 June - Monthly Flyout 16 July - Monthly Meeting 18 July - Monthly Flyout Web doings: For the usual chapter news and other aviation goodies check out our chapter website: http://co-opa.com/ To access the members only areas the username is "BDN" and the password is "123.0". My Inbox: Butch Roberts from Professional Air just sent me some good news. In spite of the bad economy the Bend Airport Day is full steam ahead. "We are still making plans for airport day, but the date is confirmed, Saturday June 6th, 8AM until 2PM. While I don't have written confirmation, I do have verbal confirmation of a few static displays, we have Canon's 1933 Waco (the Original Indiana Jones plane), a couple of Stearmans, we are going to have two F-15's make a couple of passes, an Army Chinook, US Coast Guard Dolphin, the fully restored UH-1 Huey that lives here (if he is in town), several of our local jets and turbo props, as well as Cessna and Epic. We will have antique cars and hot rods, as well as the annual pancake breakfast and barbecue lunch. We will also offer the kids (and their families) $30.00 airplane and helicopter rides, and invite the community to come out to the airport and hopefully fall in love with general aviation, or at least appreciate everything that is out here. Air Link is willing to open their hangar and I am working on some local business displays for the blue hangar. Any other ideas or help would be appreciated." Random Thoughts: Like most us this winter I have been cursed by the weather. The few times fair skies have beckoned me something has conspired to keep me ground bound. My flying has been limited to being self loading cargo in a human mailing tube or vicariously while watching flying on TV. So it was out of desperation that I was barely paying attention to a History Channel story that my son was watching. I listened a bit more closely when they started on the subject of Flight 19. Flight 19 was the training flight of five TBM torpedo bombers that famously lost themselves forever in the Bermuda triangle late in 1945. Their radio transmissions told of their magnetic compasses swinging wildly and being totally lost. As I expected, the commentator started out with silly conjectures like the lost energy crystals of Atlantis interfering with the compasses. Then something surprising happened, they started interviewing real historians and real pilots about the events of that day. An ordinary tale of a chain of small mistakes becoming a major accident unfolded. A chain that, if broken at any link, would have led to an uneventful conclusion. The reality was much more chilling to me than the usual supernatural telling. A lot of aviation accident stories start the same way. A pilot dispatches on a mission when he is worried, tired, stressed, or sick. Flight 19 started the same way when the Instructor and Flight Leader asked to excused from the mission. We do not know why he asked, and in the military you carry on when ordered to. As civilian pilots no one can override our decision to not fly and we need listen to that inner voice when it tells us something is just not right. The mission was simple. Fly east from Fort Lauderdale for 56 miles, drop some practice bombs, fly east another 67 miles, turn northwest and fly for 71 miles, then turn southwest for the 121 miles back to base. The course was simple, but without GPS, or even VOR/DME, and under broken cloud cover, it was essential that the flight leader dead reckon carefully. Sometime before the turn to the northwest the flight leader was heard complaining that both of his compasses were inoperable. We will never know whether this was due to precipitation static, nearby thunderstorms or merely that the pilot was disoriented and had stop believing his instruments. I doubt it had anything to do with ancient crystals. Now a real urgency existed and the flight leader should have called for help. Luckily for him other pilots heard the pilots of Flight 19 discussing their situation and offered help. The flight leader said he thought he was over the Florida Keys so the helpful advice was to just put the sun over the left wing and head north to the mainland and on to Fort Lauderdale. There was no way the doomed flight was over the Keys. The practice bombing range, their last known position, was east of their home base and the wind was unexpectedly strong from the west. No way could they have traveled well south to the Keys in so short a time. And here we have the leader's third mistake, he had clearly lost his situational awareness. After flying north for a while the "Keys" underneath them disappeared instead of turning into the Florida mainland, the flight leader now realized he might be to the east of base, not south of it. Being a standard training mission the mission planners had anticipated student errors. They had told the students that if they were over water they should head west, into the afternoon sun, until they hit the coast. The wise instructors had laid out a plan, and a backup plan, but for some reason the flight leader turned east! Another big mistake. When things start going wrong you revert to your backup plan and you should have a very solid reason before throwing that out. Several of the other pilots in the flight suggested following the backup plan, turning into the sun, but the advice was ignored. Thus another mistake was committed. Being in the military the other pilots were bound to follow their flight leader, to their deaths in this case, but the flight leader would have been wise to use the collective wisdom of all the pilots to solve their dilemma. The flight leader also failed to follow another standing order: One that he was reminded about over the radio. When lost, climb as high as you can and use your radio to home in on a 3MHz beacon near the base. Presumably the broken ceiling precluded the climb and the flight leader did not want to use his one radio for following a beacon instead of communicating. Clearly another bad choice. After a few more wandering turns Flight 19 did eventually turn west and they should have known they were now on a good course as the radio signals from their base kept getting stronger and stronger. Then the flight leader inexplicably turned and headed east again, sure that he must now be over the Gulf. The radio signal from the base now faded but the flight leader ignored that evidence of his navigational error. Some of the last bits of radio traffic show the command errors did not stop there. The flight leader noted that he was over an island and then continuing east hoping to make land fall before running out of avgas. At that point I believe the flight leader should have been planning his groups ditching and doing so near an island would be much more advantageous than doing so in the open ocean. As Captain Sully recently taught us a well-executed emergency landing is much preferable to merely stretching out the inevitable to whatever fate presents us. There was a lot more detail in the program than I have related here and it was a pleasant surprise to hear aviation well described on TV. It was also a good reminder that accidents are rarely mysterious; they are usually just an unfortunate series of small mistakes adding up to a big problem. ================================================================================== Hayward Air Rally The week after our Airport Appreciation Day this rally will arrive at BDN. See their poster towards the end of this newsletter (PDF version only)… ================================================================================== Special Aviation Program Plan to attend the Thursday, March 19, 2009 Central Oregon – Oregon Pilots Assoc. meeting in the Bend Airport Flight Services Terminal Building; The Professional Air Offices, http://www.proairservices.com, at 6PM for a potluck dinner and a very special program. Everyone is welcome! We are honored to have Oregon Aero, http://www.oregonaero.com/ making an up close and personal presentation just for us. "Aerospace Products for Down to Earth Comfort." They believe a comfortable pilot is a safer pilot! An added surprise will be door prizes featuring state-of-the-art pilot products courtesy of world famous Oregon Aero!!! Be there or miss out... One benefit of your association membership is experiencing aviation presentations that are unavailable anywhere else. Come participate and support your right to fly!!! Don't miss this opportunity for a very inspiring and informative evening. Bring your friends for flying fellowship, fine food, and fabulous fun!!! Have a great year in 2009!!! Ed Endsley, CO-OPA Program Chair ed@edendsley.com ================================================================================= Hudson Trip When they took the plane out of the Hudson they ended up having to detour through East Rutherford NJ - roads were not made for planes. Thanks to Ken for spotting these amazing photos on the Web ====>>>>>>>>>>> ================================================================================= COOPA officer contact info: President Gary E. Miller 109 NW Wilmington Ave Bend, OR 97701 541-382-8588 gem@rellim.com Vice President --------OPEN---------- Secretary/Treasurer Don Wilfong 210 SE Cessna Dr Bend, OR 97702 541 389-1456 dwnw@bendbroadband.com Temp Flyout Chair Don Wilfong 210 SE Cessna Dr Bend, OR 97702 541 389-1456 dwnw@bendbroadband.com Program Chair Ed Endsley 63505 Bridle Ln Bend, OR 97701 541 382-6414 ed@edendsley.com And finally, send Newsletter inputs to Mike Bond 22052 Banff Drive Bend, OR 97702 541 317-8443 mvbond@spiritone.com