Website http://co-opa.com May 2016, Vol. 16, Issue 5 President's Message: Like everything in aviation, the basics always apply to the CO-OPA. Just like clockwork, our monthly meeting will be the Third Thursday, 19 May. Vector yourself to the Professional Air waiting room downstairs in the KBDN Flight Services Building around 6pm. Bring some food for the potluck at 6:30pm, and the usual 'formal' meeting at 7pm. Ouch, Weather.gov forecasts 40% chance of showers, gusts 18 mph, and a possibility of thunderstorms for our Saturday Fly-Out. Two fronts are passing through, one Friday night and one Saturday night. So even if it clears a bit Saturday morning it will be bumpy and unstable. Intellicast is a bit less pessimistic, but forecasts 90% cloud cover and thunder. Time for us to head to cover ourselves. Expect vectors to a Bend breakfast spot in your Friday inbox. Calendar: 19 May – Monthly Meeting 21 May – Monthly Fly-out (IN!) 16 June – Monthly Meeting 18 June – Monthly Fly-out 25 June – OPA Convention @ WAAAM 21 July – Monthly Meeting 23 July – Monthly Fly-out 21 August – Monthly Meeting 23 August – Monthly Fly-out 26-27 August – Airshow of the Cascaded (S33) April Fly-out: Funny the “blue hole” we inhabit here around Bend. The weather for our April Fly-out was fine, if a bit bumpy, but not good very far in any direction. At 56nm away it barely qualifies as a cross-country, but the landscape sure looks different. Christmas Valley Airport (62S) seemed like our best bet for weather and available food. Kim Muinch flew his trusty two place plane, and Gary Miller with Don Wilfong and Maxwell followed along in a T210. It is a bit of a hike to the The Pines Café but the path is very flat and the food is worth the walk. Just head West on the South side of the main highway until you see the red building of the Café on your left. Chatting with the locals we can confirm the restaurant at the Golf Course Lodge is defunct. A short trip, but a fun one, with some good grub. Sick List: Karin reports that Harry McFadden is recovering: “Harry is out of rehab and recovering at home. A slow process, and has to be on a walker till he sees the Dr again. He's working very hard, has a tremendous attitude, and faces each challenge straight on. Every day is better than the day before. Sitting in a wheel chair for over 6 weeks made him very weak, but no wheelchairs at home, so just mastering every day chores is hard.” – Karin Solar Cells: I suspect that some pilots are still worried about the two 10MW solar panel installations going up about 1.5 miles South-West of the Bend Airport. No need to be as the county permit requires the installation to fix any glare problems if they should appear. Our April Fly-out was a good opportunity to perform a reality check on the glare potential. About 5 miles due East of 62S there is a solar facility just a little smaller than the ones planned near KBDN. The sky was sunny and clear, and I knew about where the facility was, but it was actually pretty hard to find from the air. The black solar cells look like a small pond, or cloud shadow on the ground. Just to be sure I circled the panels until I got the strongest direct reflection I could get. Even then the black surface just turned a little bit shiny. Hardly noticeable even when focusing on it. Still, that was not the hardest test of solar panel glare. The worst glare from a solar panel, like from any glass, is not straight on, but at a very shallow angle. For solar panels the worst case is about 18 degrees. The solar panels near KBDN will be on motorized gimbals that will always point the solar panels directly at the sun for maximum efficiency. The sun will never be at an 18 degree angle to the solar panels so glare is almost non-existent. Most solar panels have anti-reflective coatings to try to minimize this small angle glare. This adds some extra cost to the panes but does not reduce their efficiency. Not all solar panel installations are gimballed. The solar panels near Christmas Valley are not gimballed. They point directly up all the time. This made the installation much cheaper, but also cuts the potential power output a lot. An interesting experiment would be to fly over 62S early in the morning with the solar panels directly between the Sun and the airplane. That would be the worst case test. My Inbox: Good news, The Redmond Municipal Airport (KRDM) will reopen runway 11-29 Friday, 20 May, at 4pm. That is two days ahead of schedule. Runway 05-23 will remain closed for construction. But never take my word for it, check NOTAMs! Now if they could just fix or fire TSA? Prineville Airport (S39) will host a Fathers Day breakfast on June 18 from 8am to 11am. Their annual Airport Day will be on July 30, from 8am to 2pm. You can find out more about S39 on their web site: http://flyprineville.com/ Newsletter Inputs: Send your newsletter tidbits to: Web doings: 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”