Website: http://co-opa.com	September 2011, Vol. 11, Issue 7

President's Message:

Wow, the last month has been great.  The Airshow of the Cascades was a
big hit with about 7,000 people for the night show and 10,000 for the
day show.  The OPA annual convention featuring Rod Machado was thought
by most everyone to be the best in almost 10 years.  And, except for the
smoke, generally great flying weather, so I hope you all got a lot of
time aloft.

This month we will have Rob Breitbarth from Angel Flight drop by tell
us a bit about that organization.  Per the usual, meet in the Flight
Services Building to recollect the month just past at 6pm, enjoy our
infamous potluck at 6:30pm and on to the meeting at 7pm.

Calendar:

15 September – Monthly Meeting
17 September – Monthly Flyout

20 October – Monthly Meeting
22 October – Monthly Flyout

17 November – Monthly Meeting
19 November – Monthly Flyout

15 December – Holiday Party
17 December – Monthly Flyout

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

September Flyout:

A small but intrepid group braved the flight over the Cascades for our
flyout.  The destination was the Flight Deck Restaurant and Lounge on
Salem Airport. (KSLE).  Perfect flying weather, a great brunch and a
nice collection of aircraft models (and real aircraft) to view while
dining.

Random Thoughts:

The work of the Bend Airport Master Plan committee was presented to the
Bend City Council and the Deschutes County Commissioners in a joint
session earlier this month.  The work done so far seems to satisfy then
so far.  There is a lot of work to do, but that means that what has
already been done does not need to be changed.

Key future plans include lengthening the runway to the north, adding
helicopter pads on the northeast, and finding a place to locate a
control tower.

The planning process has determined that for the next 20 years the
airport needs to be able to easily accommodate B-2 class aircraft.  To
accommodate most B-2 aircraft, on most days of the year, at 60% of
maximum gross weight the runway should be 6,260 feet long (1,060 longer
than today).

As is plain to anyone, the large volume of helicopter training needs to
be handled better.  The current plan is to add two landing pads near
the AWOS to get them off the main runway (most of the time).  This is a
system used at Hillsboro and should work well here.  This would require
that all fixed wing traffic always fly a pattern on the west side of the
airport and all helicopters fly on the east side.  With luck this will
also be better noise-wise for the neighbors.

Another key part of handling a lot of traffic is adding a control tower.
Already many smaller airports in Oregon have control towers and soon it
will be our turn.  Several sites are being evaluated but no consensus
has yet emerged.

You can see (and comment) on the new Airport Master Plan (AMP) on the
city web site. In the future no one will be allowed to say “what were
they thinking” if they passed up this chance to provide their wisdom.

http://www.ci.bend.or.us/bend_airport/new_master_plan.html

Newsletter Inputs:

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