Website http://co-opa.com	May 2023, Vol. 23, Issue 5

President's Message:

Wow, Summer came.  Almost directly from snow showers to
thunderstorms.  Check you density altitude!  Be at the Bend Builders
Assist hanger, 63030 Powell Butte Road, on the south west corner of
KBDN, on May 18th (the Third Thursday) at 6pm to discuss clouds and
whatever.

Bring your own dinner, and we’ll eat right away before food get
cold.  As always, many thanks go out to Mike Robertson, and Mike
Wissing, for letting us use their space.

We certainly seem to be in thunderstorm season.  Storm cells pop up
almost as often as the forecasts are changing.  At this moment Weather
Underground thinks thunderstorms likely for our Fly-out day in the PM.

Oregon Pilots Association:

A quick reminder that we are a chapter of the Oregon Pilots
Association.  They have a fine newsletter, and earn their $25 annual
dues.  More info at: https://www.oregonpilot.org/

Calendar:

18 May – Monthly Meeting
19-21 May – OR International Airshow KHIO
20 May – Monthly Fly-out

15 June – Monthly Meeting
17 June – Monthly Fly-out
17-18 June – Moses Lake Airshow KMWH
17-18 June -- Olympic Airshow KOLM
24 June – Wings & Wheels 61S

4 July – Sisters Fly-in
8-9 July – Wallowa Airshow KJSY
20 July – Monthly Meeting
22 July – Monthly Fly-out
28-30 July -- Tri-City Water Follies (Pasco)

Into The Future:

As a few of you already know, the engine in trusty N6157R has
hit 2300 hours.  Not bad for a TSIO-520 with a TBO of 1400 hours.
Suddenly, last January, three cylinders started gathering oil.  Enough
to seriously degrade the left mag check.  A quick spark plug cleaning
and all is well.  Except the left mag check fails again after just three
touch and goes.  Time for a new engine, a chore that can be done.  The
chore that can not be performed is fixing my eyeballs.  I’ve always
been on the edge at Medical time with my eyesight due to extreme myopia.
Now I have cataracts, which can be fixed.  But also glaucoma in the left
eye, and wet Age related Macular Degeneration (wAMD), neither of which
can be fixed, only managed.

The result is that I can see fine, during the day, with a lot of
light, in low contrast situations.  Put me in an airplane, flying into
the sun, with clouds around, and I can no longer read my navigation
instruments.  Sure, I can fly that way, but it is not fun, and certainly
unwise.

The bottom line?  I have an airplane for sale, and someone(s) should
pick up my CO-OPA tasks.

Fly-out (not):

We tried to dodge the weather by delaying our Fly-out to Sunday, but
the weather goddess was unkind, plus some scheduling issues.  So it was
back to Jake’s for a fine breakfast and gossip.

Newsletter Inputs:

Current and past CO-OPA newsletters, are on our website at: 
    https://co-opa.com

Please send comments and story ideas to:
 gem@rellim.com