From mvbond@spiritone.com Tue May 19 14:32:48 2009 Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 14:32:07 -0700 From: Mike Bond To: CO-OPA members Subject: [Co-opa] COOPA May 2009 newsletter Here is your COOPA May 2009 newsletter. Gary is posting the PDF version on the website. Mike Bond ===================================== CASCADE FLYER May 2009, Vol. 09, Issue 5 Website: http://co-opa.com/ President's Message: Many thanks to our new airport manager, Gary Judd, for dropping in last month as our speaker. Gary has done a lot of things in the aviation world and had a lot of great stories to tell, Stories about flying air ambulance missions, managing John Day airport and about things in the works for Bend Airport. Luckily the airport has been just barely in the black and so Gary has the city backing to keep the local economic engine that is our airport moving forward. This month our own David Dressler will be our featured speaker. David is an active pilot and a former air traffic controller. Building on that background David will be presenting an air traffic safety seminar for us. Now is the time for a little spring cleaning on our piloting skills. Come by and let David give us all a needed tune-up. Plan to arrive around 6pm for general gabbing. Then bring a dish to share during our potluck at 6:30pm and stay for the formal program at 7pm. Calendar: 21 May - Monthly Meeting 23 May - Monthly Flyout 30 May - OPA Quarterly Meeting 6 June - Bend Airport Day 13 June - Hayward Air Rally @ Bend 18 June - Monthly Meeting 20 June - Monthly Flyout 16 July - Monthly Meeting 18 July - Monthly Flyout 14-15 August - Palms To Pines 20 August - Monthly Meeting 21-22 August - Central Oregon Air Show @ Madras 22 August - Monthly Flyout 29 August - OPA Annual meeting @ Albany Air Fair Web doings: The Central Oregon Air Show at Madras Airport (S33) will be back in style again this year Friday 21 August and Saturday 22 August. They have posted this years schedule on their website: http://www.cascadeairshow.com/ To access the members only areas the username is "BDN" and the password is "123.0". My Inbox: Summer looks to be arriving with a bang and there is no end to the fun aviation events in the next month. The Oregon Pilots Association quarterly board meeting will be held at 10am on 30 May in the COCC classroom at Bend Airport. Anyone wanting to meet pilots from around the state or to see how our state organization works please drop by and meet the group. Cafe 3456 will be catering the event but we still need a few volunteers to help with coffee and serving. Drop me a line if you can help. The next Saturday, 6 June, will be the Bend Airport Day from 8am to 2pm. Things kick off with a $5 pancake breakfast and really get going with an F-15 fly over at 9:45. As in years past expect to see helicopters, airplanes, vintage cars, airplane rides, static displays and much more. So come on out and show your support for your local airport. The Saturday after that, 13 Jun, KBDN will host the finish of the Hayward Air Rally. The rally organizers are still looking for a few more people to help on the ramp from noon until 6pm. If you can help, contact: Chris Verbil info@hwdairrally.org. You'll earn an event T-shirt for your trouble and show the visiting pilots our central Oregon spirit. Random Thoughts: Our winter weather curse has been broken, and gloriously so. Last month, for the first time since last fall, the weather gods smiled upon us for our monthly fly-out. The destination was Newport (ONP). The sky was clear, maybe a bit hazy, and the air smooth all the way there and back. Our only confusion was which runway to use at ONP.. No two windsocks were pointing in the same direction at the same time. No windsock pointed in a consistent direction for more than a few seconds. Some pilots were landing on runway 2 and some on runway 16. Still, the wind was light and the runways are wide enough that we probably could have landed sideways on one if needed. Once on the ground we were all able to pile into two airport courtesy vans for a short trip north, across the big bridge, to our brunch stop on a cliff overlooking the beach. I had a tasty Hangtown fry made from fresh local oysters that was wonderful. After that, nothing makes brunch better than to walk it off on the beach at low tide. We all split up for the returning flights. Ed and I headed up the coast to Haystack Rock before pointing the nose of 6157R back towards the Sisters and home. No whales this time, but still a wonderful view. What a glorious day for a $100 brunch. So glorious that we just had to repeat it the next weekend. A large crew of us headed out to John Day airport (GCD) for another lovely flight and another scrumptious meal. Our only problems were a long wait at the restaurant and a tire an airport courtesy car tire a bit low on air. All minor inconveniences along the way to another glorious day of flying. Summer is coming back and the flying in Central Oregon is once again just glorious. Gary Miller FLY-OUT FUN.......On Sat. April 18 We finally had weather that would permit a Fly-Out.....It has been a long winter and it seems like every time we planned to fly somewhere on our regularly scheduled fly-out day (the Saturday following our potluck/meeting on the 3rd Thurs. of each month)........the weather gods were against us. This time Mother Nature was on our side and we flew to Newport, OR. It was not a Bluebird day but the clouds were high and flying was great.... We had 4 Planes.......Mike and Ann Bond in their Cardinal RG, David Dressier and his neighbor in David's Cardinal RG, Gary Miller and Ed Endsley in Gary's Turbo Centurion and Bob & Nancy Lecklider with Don & Norma Wilfong in the Wilfong's Skylane. We drove into town and went to Georgie's where we had a nice view of the beach and good food. It was certainly nice to be on a fly-out again. After we ate we walked down to the beach via a very long stairway with landings with benches. Bob & Nancy didn't feel like trying the long stairway so waited in the car for the rest of us so they missed the group picture. Bob, Nancy, Norma and I took one car and the rest of the group took the other. We took a little drive up to Otter Rock and back, so the other car beat us back to the airport by quite a bit and the others had all headed home before we returned to the airport. We had a very nice flight back to Bend where we dropped Bob & Nancy off and then we returned to Pilot Butte International Airport and tucked our baby into it's hangar to await another chance to ply the skies of this beautiful corner of our country. We had a great time and it was especially nice to get Bob and Nancy back into our flying group. Since their 182 was damaged by hail some time ago and was totaled by the Insurance Co., plus a few other events in their lives had gotten them out of touch with flying for quite a while....... We Welcome them back and we look forward to seeing lots more of them in the future. Blue skies and Tail Winds to you all Don Wilfong WOW !!! MORE FLY-OUT FUN:......... David Dressler e-mailed me and asked why we couldn't have more fly-outs than just once a month now that the weather was getting flyable again.......Well.........I said to myself "Self let's do it" and we did..........Sunday morning (Apr. 26) a group met at Pro-Air for a fly-out to John Day (I had called ahead and made arrangements for a couple of courtesy cars as the place is closed on Sundays).......We had 5 Planes, 11 People and 2 dogs.........We would have had 5 more people but Mike & Ann Bond and Bob & Nancy Lecklider were all a little under the weather and Harry McFadden's car broke down so none of them could make it. Gary Miller took Ed Endsley and Gary's dog Max in Gary's plane, Steve & Bobbie Wright in their plane, David Dressler and his dog Ruby in David's plane, Don & Norma Wilfong in their plane and Andy & Susan Clark along with their friends Norm & Cindy Miller from Dallas, Texas in the Clark's plane (Norm is an ex Marine Pilot and is Currently an Airline Pilot). It was a very pleasant flight and we picked up the two courtesy cars and drove down to the Outpost Cafe where we had good food and lots of hangar flying.......they were quite busy and had a couple of large groups in side rooms so we had to wait quite a while to get fed but it was worth it. Don Wilfong Global Positioning System: Significant Challenges in Sustaining and Upgrading Widely Used Capabilities GAO-09-325 April 30, 2009 Highlights Page (PDF) Full Report (PDF, 61 pages) Accessible Text Recommendations (HTML) Summary The Global Positioning System (GPS), which provides positioning, navigation, and timing data to users worldwide, has become essential to U.S. national security and a key tool in an expanding array of public service and commercial applications at home and abroad. The United States provides GPS data free of charge. The Air Force, which is responsible for GPS acquisition, is in the process of modernizing GPS. In light of the importance of GPS, the modernization effort, and international efforts to develop new systems, GAO was asked to undertake a broad review of GPS. Specifically, GAO assessed progress in (1) acquiring GPS satellites, (2) acquiring the ground control and user equipment necessary to leverage GPS satellite capabilities, and evaluated (3) coordination among federal agencies and other organizations to ensure GPS missions can be accomplished. To carry out this assessment, GAO's efforts included reviewing and analyzing program documentation, conducting its own analysis of Air Force satellite data, and interviewing key military and civilian officials. It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption. If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected. (1) In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals; it encountered significant technical problems that still threaten its delivery schedule; and it struggled with a different contractor. As a result, the current IIF satellite program has overrun its original cost estimate by about $870 million and the launch of its first satellite has been delayed to November 2009--almost 3 years late. (2) Further, while the Air Force is structuring the new GPS IIIA program to prevent mistakes made on the IIF program, the Air Force is aiming to deploy the next generation of GPS satellites 3 years faster than the IIF satellites. GAO's analysis found that this schedule is optimistic, given the program's late start, past trends in space acquisitions, and challenges facing the new contractor. Of particular concern is leadership for GPS acquisition, as GAO and other studies have found the lack of a single point of authority for space programs and frequent turnover in program managers have hampered requirements setting, funding stability, and resource allocation. (3) If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to. Such a gap in capability could have wide-ranging impacts on all GPS users, though there are measures the Air Force and others can take to plan for and minimize these impacts. In addition to risks facing the acquisition of new GPS satellites, the Air Force has not been fully successful in synchronizing the acquisition and development of the next generation of GPS satellites with the ground control and user equipment, thereby delaying the ability of military users to fully utilize new GPS satellite capabilities. Diffuse leadership has been a contributing factor, given that there is no single authority responsible for synchronizing all procurements and fielding related to GPS, and funding has been diverted from ground programs to pay for problems in the space segment. DOD and others involved in ensuring GPS can serve communities beyond the military have taken prudent steps to manage requirements and coordinate among the many organizations involved with GPS. However, GAO identified challenges to ensuring civilian requirements and ensuring GPS compatibility with other new, potentially competing global space-based positioning, navigation, and timing systems. Recommendations for Executive Action Recommendation: Because of the criticality of the GPS system and potential delays, and given the importance of GPS to the civil community, the Secretary of Defense should appoint a single authority to oversee the development of the GPS system, including DOD space, ground control, and user equipment assets, to ensure that the program is well executed and resourced and that potential disruptions are minimized. The appointee should have authority to ensure DOD space, ground control, and user equipment are synchronized to the maximum extent practicable; and coordinate with the existing positioning, navigation, and timing infrastructure to assess and minimize potential service disruptions should the satellite constellation decrease in size for an extended period of time. Agency Affected: Department of Defense Status: In process Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information. Recommendation: Because of the criticality of the GPS system and potential delays, and given the importance of GPS to the civil community, the Secretaries of Defense and Transportation, as the co-chairs of the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing, should address, if weaknesses are found, civil agency concerns for developing requirements, and determine mechanisms for improving collaboration and decision making and strengthening civil agency participation. And now, a word from our 'sponsors' (and free avgas) ….. only visible in the PDF version! Don't forget ….. FAA change … effective March 31st 2010, paper certificates will no longer be valid. New credit card style certificates will be required for all pilot certificate holders. As of yet they are not requiring a photo. Applying through the FAA website can have your new certificate to you in a week. =================================================================== 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 wilfong.d@gmail.com Temp Fly-out Chair Don Wilfong 210 SE Cessna Dr Bend, OR 97702 541 389-1456 wilfong.d@gmail.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 _______________________________________________ Co-opa mailing list Co-opa@rellim.com http://catbert.rellim.com/mailman/listinfo/co-opa