CASCADE FLYER May 2005, Vol. 05, Issue 5 Website: http://co-opa.rellim.com/ PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Our next speaker was suggested by two of our members and happily he has accepted the challenge. Dale Evans is our speaker this month. Between growing up and Bend and retiring in Bend Dale actually had a career in Alaska flying airplanes for the government. Dale has photos and stories of his days as a working pilot up North to prove it and they are not to be missed. Also on the program will be a short discussion of the upcoming "Bend Municipal Airport - Aviation Day" to be held June 11. This years' Co-Chairs David Sailors and Ross Morrison have done a great job lining up participants and donors for this years to-do. There will be a lot to see this year so be sure to save room on your calendar for this event. We also need all the pilots we can get to show up and just keep their eyes open for potential trouble. Any time you mix the general public and airplanes it is good to be extra watchful for potential problems and make sure they never happen. Copies of this year's flyer are on the web: http://co-opa.rellim.com/oh/AviationDay2005.pdf Jim Hardie was last month's speaker and kept the audience in thrall the whole evening. Listening to Jim was an eye opener for me. I knew about the Brown Water Navy in Vietnam, but never knew about the land based Naval Aviators that supported them. Most surprising to me was that Jim preferred a lightly armored plane to a heavily armored one. He claimed that ground fire would just sail through a lightly armored plane, usually in a harmless manner. When ground fire hit a heavily armored plane it would create shrapnel that would bounce around the inside breaking important airplane systems. Once again, any and all suggestions for speakers are welcome. Please contact me with your ideas. Calendar: 21 April - Monthly Meetime 23 April - Monthly Flyout 19 May - Monthly Meeting 21 May - Monthly Flyout 11 June - Flying Festival at Bend Airport 16 June - Monthly Meeting 18 June - Monthly Flyout 25 June - Medford Air Festival 21 Jyly - Monthly Meeting 23 July - Monthly Flyout Web doings: 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: This month's flyout, if the weather gods permit, will be to Fly2fun at on the Albany Airport. The weather has been unusually unfriendly lately and we need things to start going our way. Albany Airport has great convention facilities right on the airport and even runs a shuttle from the transient parking direct to the convention door. The OPA will have a booth at the event and is looking for help staffing the booth. So we have been asked that if anyone has the time Saturday or Sunday to stop by the booth and help out for an hour or two. This is a great way to meet fellow OPA member in other chapters and see how the public sees the state of aviation in Oregon. Random Thoughts: For such a small place the Bend Airport sure packs in a lot of different things. Airports are not really a single community but a large number of separate and parallel communities. It is only at an event like the upcoming Aviation Day that most of us ever get a peek at the other communities besides our own. Many wonderful people and aircraft are behind the hanger doors. Here is a quick rundown on some of what you will be able to see at the event. There will be the OPA and EAA groups and their aircraft, but that is just the start. The High Desert Soaring club will be doing a water drop. If weather permits, several hot air balloons will inflate for us all to see. Air Life will be showing off their fixed and rotary wing air ambulances. The locally based Baney Corporation will have their Citation Jet out. The High Desert Flyers promise one hundred model aircraft on display and in flight. We will even have exotic local aircraft including a gyrocopter and powered parachutes. Our Airport will also get outside help to celebrate. Scheduled to appear are helicopters from both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Coast Guard. If there are no fires that day we can expect the U.S. Forest Service to drop by with their Sherpa and a few of the smoke jumpers it normally carries. There will also be everything from vintage aircraft to some of the most modern glass cockpit aircraft flying in for display. Of course what air show can be complete without a pancake breakfast! The Prineville EAA will fire up the grill at 7:30 amd so bring your appetite early. Hope to see you all there bright an early June 11. Tell your friends and let's all have a great day at the airport. ........... Regards, GARY April FLYOUT... ... or APRIL SHOWERS !!! For the second month in a row we were ready to fly to Lewiston, Idaho for our monthly fly-out.. but.. for the second month in a row it was stormy weather and we had to cancel... Our friends Fred and Wanda were all ready with their Motor Home to pick us up and drive us to eat and to some fun places.... Gary Miller, Mike and Ann Bond and Don and Norma Wilfong showed up for the Fly-out and the decision was made to go to the new Jake's and give them a try.. We ate until we couldn't hold anymore (that is not hard to do at Jake's as the portions are large) and had an enjoyable time hangar flying and solving the world's problems. One of these times we may actually have weather suitable for a fly-out...we can always hope... Don Wilfong dwnw@bendbroadband.com FAA Safety meeting "Operational Risk Management" Topic: Safety issues related to Safe Surface Operations May 25, 2005 at 7:00 PM, Central Oregon Community College, 2600 NW College Way, Bend, OR 97701 A Special Wings Program presented by the Regional Runway Safety Manager, Mr. Max Tidwell to address Operational Risk Management. Representatives from Eugene and Redmond Air Traffic Control Towers will be on hand for open discussion of your concerns and runway safety issues. "IT WAS TOUCH AND GO" By Ed Endsley Do you remember our windy March? Well, in the interest of remaining current I picked a calm looking morning the last week in March to go fly some touch and goes. As I drove into town the snow clouds were reaching out to me and the big flag by Pilot Butte was standing straight out... Hmmm. It's probably just the Bernoulli effect by the butte. As I arrived at the Bend Muni I walked out on the tarmac and felt the wind for awhile. Yep, direct crosswind gusting out of the west. This is going to be a great training flight. I tried to remember what wind speeds caused socks to stand straight out and flap loudly. To my apprehensive eye it looked like about 12-18 with gusts about ten times that... But since I was on the field I thought I might as well preflight and see what happened. The old 172 was enthusiastically pulling at it's tiedown chains and looking like it was raring to go. Did I mention it was cold? I was shaking so bad it was hard to critically analyze the fuel samples. I was cold, OK, OK, maybe I was a little nervous. Hoping it would be warmer inside I hurried to the cockpit. Wisely setting the brakes before undoing the tiedowns. I was showing signs of making good decisions. Sitting quietly at the controls I gathered my wits, at least as many wits as I had left and as quietly as could be done in a plane that was rocking and rolling with the air vents whistling in the wind. It occurred to me that it was time to just go do that pilot stuff. This should be fun, ah, challenging. Well, you know, I made touch and goes that were some of my best demonstrations of crosswind technique. It felt good. Alarming maybe, to see a 30º crab angle on final change to a 30º banking horizon in slip attitude for touch down, but it worked just like it's advertised. Too bad it wasn't a BFR ride. I would have looked good. Yes it was gusty and it was a real joy ride but the center line behaved pretty well and my touchdown points didn't get up and run away in anticipation of my arrival. The best part was I really enjoyed the whole thing. However, I was disappointed that there wasn't an enthusiastic applauding crowd on the apron welcoming me back as I taxied in. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the blasting operation on the departure end or one six. There seemed to be crews drilling and blasting. The drillers had great red and white checkered flags up on top of their rigs that just happened to be right at the end of the runway. That was pretty cool to aim at. The NOTAM was vague. Like when do the explosions happen? The Flight Shop said they had been pretty good about calling before setting off the charges and then they would make a general radio call on 123.0... I was acutely aware that the 172 has no belly armor. I decided if I buzzed them low enough they would at least know I was there. All the better to ride the shock wave. Nyaa, nyaa. Full throttle. Next time I'll tell you about my signature maneuver, a base to final roll to inverted then an outside loop with a one and a half twist on short final to flare and touch down. It's a real crowd pleaser. CRUISING AT 16,000 By David Dressler Just a quick report on our trip to L18 (Fallbrook, CA). We left on the 10th IFR to FAT with a 30K tail wind. Took us under 4 hours at 13,000'. The left brake was way too spongy so after thinking for 4 hours I decided to correct it upon landing at FAT. It took about and hour and a half to find a mechanic willing to come out on Sunday but after a $100 bill and another hour we were off with good brakes for the 2,100 foot runway. Had a great wedding in Laguna Beach - usual Hawaiian music, family, etc and left Saturday for Kona - our old home. Took over Hugho's On The Rocks with a little reception party and stayed at our favorite beach (Beach 69, 40 miles north of Kona). Returned to SNA after 6 days of fun and sun. Left L18 for home on Monday IFR with another stop in FAT for more fuel. Smooth ride at 10,000 on top with about a 15K head wind. Filled the tanks and got within 200 lbs of max weight (lots of presents....) but still made it to our 16,000' MEA. Again, smooth ride with about a 5K headwind on top of overcast to broken layer about 4-5,000 feet below us. Interesting, I filed via V165 but asked for direct about 30 miles north of Fresno. The female controller asked my equipment - sure was tempted to say /G but couldn't. She then asked what heading I would expect and after I gave her 325* she gave me vectors to Bend. Worked great and saved me about a half hour of VOR passages. We got over Bend at 9,000 looking for holes (after 6.5 hours of flying that day I was ready to get the wheels on the ground) but resigned to asking for the VOR/DME approach. Just got the heading dialed in and saw a nice long hole to dump the cardinal into. We both enjoyed the flight and were glad to be home. We're both looking forward to seeing everyone again. It's been a long time since we were able to hook up. Hope you guys have been able to get out some. David CO-OPA SAFETY CORNER: By Joel Premselaar In previous issues, we discussed means for continuing flight after overwhelming Gremlins messing with our flight controls. Failing to succeed, the rascals invaded that smoke belching noisy apparatus - - the internal combustion power plant (yeah, there are ways to protect turbine engines too). There's an old anecdote that states, "Even if the cockpit temperature is close to absolute zero, pilots will sweat profusely when the fan quits". Well, with a thing called knowledge, we can frustrate those troublesome Gremlins. From before engine start through shut down, one must afford the engine a great deal of TLC and be attuned to the signals an engine will send regarding its state of being. Care begins in the cockpit preflight. Assure yourself that the magneto switch(es are) is off and the keys are jingling the coins your pocket. I open the engine compartment before flight - - Bonanza cowling fasteners makes this a relatively easy task. For the life of me, I don't understand why most G.A. aircraft require a can opener to access the engine bay. I lost count of the number of pilots I've seen take but a cursory peak-a- boo look through the tiny oil filler's access door to inspect the engine. Over the years I found enough potentially dangerous discrepancies to convince me to continue to conduct a thorough pre-flight inspection of the engine compartment. The shake, rattle, roll, and heat that's generated in that locale is a hostile environment for the variety of materials housed within. Oil leaks, fatigued metals, cracked exhaust stacks, deteriorated insulation of all sorts, loose connections, blah, blah, blah to the lazy 8; i.e., infinity. You get the message. When did you last check the muffler cones or the oil cooler's grill? Are belts to alternator/generator or whatever in good condition and are they too loose, too tight? Belts that are too tight will destroy bearings. If you feel the need to pull the prop thru on a rented aircraft, how can you tell if the previous pilot checked "P" lead integrity before shutting down? If everything is O.K. and you do pull the prop through I suggest you listen as you approach the compression stage of each cylinder. If the mag is equipped with inertia couplings, you'll want to hear the click. Pause at each compression phase and listen closely. I've detected the hiss of a cracked cylinder on two occasions. Incidentally, pulling the prop through on round engines is standard technique ensure that a hydraulic lock will not occur during start-up. The lower cylinders of round engine tend to accumulate oil (even fuel because of a bad engine shutdown procedure) that restricts the piston from reaching top dead center. A hydraulic lock? Think $$$$$$$!! Anticipating your question the answer is, "Yes!" A hydraulic lock can happen on horizontally opposed cylinder engines. If you feel like flinging $$$ down the drain, over prime the engine big time and then try to start it. Have you ever witnessed an aircraft sitting on the taxiway with a dead engine? Well if you don't lean out the engine, especially if you were taxiing down wind or down hill in idle, you too may experience that foolish feeling of sitting on the taxiway or on the runway finishing a rollout with a dead engine. Very rich is the normal idle setting for engines. The plugs will become fouled and if you do get started again, you'll have to burn out the engine to clear the plugs. If, upon checking mags you get a large drop, burn out the engine by setting a high rpm and lean aggressively. If after a few such exercises you fail to succeed, return to the parking area for maintenance - - something serious may be the cause. Oh yeah, while on the subject of leaning, I must assume that you lean to maximum power before taking off in a low-density atmospheric environment. Back to the subject of pre-flight turn-up. I've watched pilots deep cycle their prop. This practice can damage the engine. You may exceed the engine's brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) limits thereby inflicting severe structural failure; e.g., bent connecting rods. High BMEP occurs when very low rpm is coupled with very high manifold pressure. Several aircraft I've flown had a BMEP gauge; it can be a great asset. Monitoring the BMEP gauge, the pilot can obtain a significant saving of fuel by lowering the rpm while increasing the manifold pressure to the prescribed BMEP limits. The main purpose for exercising the prop is to purge the oil in the dome and replace it with fresh, warm, and clean oil that is free of air bubbles. This action also clears the prop dome of sludge and air bubbles. The recommended method for cycling the prop is to bring the prop control all the way back and then forward as soon as you see a 200 rpm drop for a warm engine or a 400 rpm drop for a cold engine. You may have to wait a long time for the prop's response when the engine is cold. Repeat this action at least four or five times for best results (sounds like a doctor's instruction for taking medicine, huh). For you old timers in the know: Dit Dah Dit Dah Dit MAY 2005 FLYOUT May 21-22, 2005 Fly2Fun An Aviation Tourism Event Linn County Fair & Expo at Albany, Oregon (S12) Speakers: Rod Machado & Bill Lishman. Gwen Graham 503-381- 0997 or Fly2FunEvent @aol.com. www.Fly2Fun.org As you can see this is a two day event...I will check to see if there is overnight camping or what accommodations will be available should any of our group want to go for both days. This sounds like a fun event....and we might learn about some neat places to fly in Oregon... Don Wilfong dwnw@bendbroadband.com