Website: http://co-opa.com	         April 2013, Vol. 4, Issue 13
President's Message:

March was touch and go weatherwise, but our monthly meeting came off
as always.  Let's do it again for April.

Walk, jog, bike, drive or ride to the KBDN Flight Services Building
on the 18th 6pm for tall tales, a pot luck at 6:30pm and a formal
program at 7pm.

Calendar:

18 April – Monthly Meeting
20 April – Monthly Flyout

16 May – Monthly Meeting
18 May – Monthly Flyout

20 June – Monthly Meeting
22 June – Monthly Flyout

19 July – Monthly Meeting
20 July – Monthly Flyout

Web doings:

If anyone has any cool links to add to the CO-OPA web page let me
know.

Check out current and past CO-OPA newsletters, view our membership   
list and view hot aviation links on our website at: co-opa.com          

To access the members only areas the username is “BDN” and the
password is “123.0”


My INBOX:

Heads up.  The Redmond (RDM) airport will close runway 4-22 Monday to
Friday the week of April 22.  Early Wednesday the entire airport will be
closed.  Check your NOTAMs!  Contact Ben Wolfe ( 541-504-3492) with the
Redmond Airport for more answers.

In other airport news, Hillsboro Airport (HIO) will soon be
upgrading.  Plans are for new taxiways and a new helicopter training
pad.  A little later they plan to add a new runway parallel to their
current main runway 13-31.  Their airport neighbors are protesting but I
suspect 9and hope) they are too late to stop the project.

April Fly-Out

The weather gods were kind to us in April.  The forecast for our
fly-out had been iffy but Saturday started with scattered clouds around
7,000 feet and a bit of pileup on the ridgeline of the Ochocos.  Spring
was sprining in Bend and nothing at all to be worried about.

So Mike and Ann Bond flew 23Q, while Don Wilfong and I flew 57R over
to Grant County Regional Airport (GCD) in John Day.  Hardly a bump,
until our arrival at GCD.  The airport is only at 3,700 feet, but winter
was not done there and we found ourselves a tad underdressed.

Luckily the Airport manager was very helpful getting us parked
and even gave us a tour of the private USFS side of the FBO.  A
great facility for a firebase.  Soon enough we were on our way in
their airport car to brunch in town and warming up in the Squeeze-In
Restaurant just west of downtown.

The ridgeline west of John Day averages around 7,000 feet, right
where the clouds were.  Rather than go over the clouds I flew up
a canyon south of Dayville and never had to go over 5,500 while
maintaining very healthy ground clearance.

All in all a good flyout and April's weather report suggest another
good one this month.

Scary Thoughts:

I'm sure you have all seen Chuck Rosenfeld's 67 year old red, white,
blue and yellow Ercoupe.  Well, hold that image in your mind because we
will never see her again.  Except in your copy of this newsletter.

Over the middle of nowhere Nevada, the airplane shook for 3 seconds,
the crankshaft split and the propeller departed the aircraft to parts
unknown.  Minus the weight of the prop the plane pitched violently up
and the engine went overspeed.  Good reflexes and a stall proof airplane
allowed Chuck to crash land with only a black eye to show for it.

If you know Chuck, even if you don't, track him down to get the full
story.

Newsletter Inputs:

Send your newsletter tidbits to:
	gem@rellim.com