Like any task in life, flying demands a balanced attitude. Overcautiousness makes flying a nerve-wracking effort to cheat death. Overconfidence makes flying the stage for careless and deadly mishaps. A balanced professional attitude (yes, even student pilots can have a professional attitude) makes flying a safe and enjoyable, yet challenging activity.
Proficient pilots have an attitude of seeking constructive criticism of other pilots in an effort to improve their skills. There is no FAR which requires a professional attitude. The FAA can only mandate behaviors that cultivate professionalism and safety. Thus the biennial flight review is required of any certified pilot. To assume that training received years ago will suffice in today's flying environment is scary! Today's flying environment is complex and will likely continue to become more so. Technological advances are infusing aviation with exciting challenges. To ignore these realities is to both court disaster and waste valuable new tools.
The Wright brothers exhibited an attitude that we would do well to imitate. Before their success they displayed a learning attitude by communicating extensively with many experimenters to avoid repeating others errors.
In countless professions the leaders are the ones with attitudes of growth and learning. Although BFRs are required every two years, it's always in season to ask an experienced fellow pilot or CFI to ride along and provide valuable feedback.
The image that the public holds toward aviation is a combination of mystery, awe, and fear. We can de-mystify that view a bit by displaying a professional attitude toward our flying. Carefully using a checklist in front of our passengers, taking time to give a thoughtful answer to a question, or making realistic assessments about weather challenges all serve to sharpen our skills, reinforce proficient attitudes and build the aviation image.
The compass rose for West Bend airport is coming! Paul Lupton and Dick Kleinmann have been working on a design. No work dates set for the paint brush crew but when the weather warms up get your painting arm ready. Thanks. Paul
Mailbag
from Howard Kaney
As announced at our last meeting, please feel free to join us on the 1st Saturday of the month for breakfast at the hangar. Starting at 6:30,
until about 9:30, we'll have available pancakes, eggs/omelettes,
biscuits and gravy, oatmeal, juice and coffee, but only while they
last.
Hopefully this will be the start of a great 1st Saturday of the month
ritual.
All proceeds used to support EAA 1158 educational objectives. See
you there!
Howard Kaney
Trip to the EAA South West Regional Fly-in, Abilene,
Texas.
by Chris and Sue Good
Outbound
Sue & I had planned to take RV-6A N86CG to the SWRFI gathering several months before the event. Despite the terrorist activities & subsequent aviation restrictions, the SWRFI organizers determined that the event should go ahead as planned, & they encouraged as many pilots as possible to drive or fly in IFR. In fact, most VFR restrictions were lifted a couple of days before the fly-in, so there was a reasonable attendance of around 150 airplanes, including 25-30 RVs.
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Terry Cole photo by Doug Reeves |
The weather reports included some low cloud bases & fog, so we left West Bend, WI, Thursday at 8:00, IFR to Jefferson
City, MS. There was one stretch where the local AWOS reports were less than 1/4 ml vis with 100 ft ceilings, but we were above it, in the clear for most of the trip. Jefferson City IFR to Jones, Tulsa, OK. Here we borrowed a car to go to the local McDonald's for a late lunch. FSS advised us to head due West on the next leg, to avoid thunderstorms in the Oklahoma City area, so we filed IFR West to Clinton, & then South to Abilene, adding around 100 miles to the direct route. Landed Abilene about 17:30, 1050 statute miles with 7.6 hrs Hobbs. This was the day before the fly-in, so there were only a handful of airplanes, but we were greeted by Terry Cole, whose Stars & Stripes painted RV-6A was parked nearby.
The Storm
We set up our little tent & enjoyed a couple of beers with the ham sandwiches the Sue had made the night before. Temperatures in the 80's with a nice breeze was a pleasant change from the 50's weather we left behind in Wisconsin. We were camped near a couple who had set up tent next to their truck. They had brought a small black & white TV, & invited us to watch the President's address to Congress on the War against Terrorism. We could see lightening in the distant West, but someone said that the tower was expecting the weather to pass to the North of the airport. As George Bush finished his speech, we heard thunder & noticed cloud & dust sort of boiling in towards us from the West. The first gusts uprooted a large frame tent that had been set up for the judges use the next day. Sue & I raced after it & caught it half way to the row of airplanes. We huddled down in our little tent as the wind bent it over & the rain was driven through the fabric. I was sure our flysheet had blown off, but it stayed intact. Somebody told us there were reports of Nickel sized hail.
I lay there thinking depressing thoughts:
"If a hail storm comes through, can I fly the dimpled airplane home?"
"Will my titanium tiedowns hold?"
"I hope the planes next to me are well tied down."
"If the RV is destroyed, will our son drive from Minneapolis to pick us up?"
"Why did we come to Texas anyway?"
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Our Eureka! tent that survived the storm! |
After the winds subsided a bit we went to check on the airplanes. Amazingly they were fine. The Thorp T-18, tied down next to me, was taxiing out. He had found some hangar space & was putting it away before the next wave of weather came through. He said I could probably get space too, but I decided that I didn't want to get caught taxiing in winds that strong. People invited us to stay in their hangars or offered to give us a ride to a hotel, but I didn't think it was going to get any worse & I wanted to stay near the plane - Sue was all in favor of going to a hotel! Our tent was fine, if a little damp inside. A couple of tents nearby had broken poles. There were several waves of thunderstorms that came through that night, with continuous forked & sheet lightening, but fortunately no hail.
The psu.edu web site every hour records the place in the country with the strongest sustained wind & the strongest gust. Here are the reports for 9pm CDT:
Max gust "09/21/2001-02Z 66.7 mph at Dyess AFB,TX (DYS)"
Sustained "09/21/2001-02Z 38.0 mph at Abilene,TX (ABI)"
Dyess AFB is 9 miles West of Abilene airport.
From the EAA web site: "On Thursday night, a powerful storm packing 75 mph winds tore through the area, downing display tents and fence line that volunteers had set up just days earlier."
The Fly-In
The opening morning, Friday, of the fly-in looked like a disaster. Big marquee tents were blown down, but there were a lot of volunteers picking up the pieces. We were looking for breakfast, or at least coffee, but the food service area had its own problems with storm damage. One of the booths would have coffee in 10 minutes or so, but then the man running it gave us the keys to his truck so we could go into town for breakfast! By the time we got back, the fly-in was getting busier. The RV-7 arrived from Van's with Scott (Risan) & Rob - they gave many demo rides. Stu McCurdy led in a formation flight of 6 RVs. We met several other RV flyers including Carroll Bird (RV-4 Texas), and Jim & Vicki Baker (RV6 Kansas). I went to seminars by Stu McCurdy on formation flying, & Larry Vetterman on exhausts & carburetors. Friday night the local Abilene EAA chapter hosted a cook-out, with excellent steak sandwiches.
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Jim & Vicki's RV6 photo by Ed Hicks |
Saturday morning Sue went on an antiques tour (yuk!) while I sat by 86CG talking with other RV pilots & potential builders. In the afternoon the airshow performers did their stuff under an ever darkening sky. As that segment came to a close, there was a mad rush to depart before the threatening weather came through. We took shelter, but this dose was mild compared to Thursday night.
The fly-in closed with a banquet. John Schmitz, the show airboss, was camping near us & gave us a ride there & back. The banquet was in a fairgrounds area where they seemed to be holding some kind of rodeo event. Sue was thrilled to see "real" Texan cowboys on horseback with 10 gallon hats, spurs & lassoos! We sat with Jim & Vicki Baker, Scott & Rob from Van's, & Lyle Heffel who had arrived late that day from Dubuque, Iowa, in his latest RV-8. The food was catered by Joe Allen Barbecue & was very good Texas barbecued brisket. We won the Longest Flight Award - Scott & Rob had come further, but, as they said, they were paid to do it! Jim & Vicki's RV-6 was Kit Built Custom Reserve Champion. N86CG won the Kit Built Custom Workmanship Award!
The Trip Home
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Our RV-6A, N86CG |
Being able to discuss the weather in person with Flight Service was great & the two guys on duty were really helpful. We settled on a northerly route, keeping West of Kansas City, to stay behind a slow moving front that stretched from Texas to Wisconsin. IFR to Hutchinson, KS, in VMC most of the way. Great restaurant here, so we had BLTs for brunch. IFR to Waterloo, IA on top of a solid layer all the way, with an easy VOR 36 instrument approach. It looked like the final leg home was going to be a bit tougher, but no thunderstorm activity along our route. IFR to West Bend, we were solid IMC almost right away. We got a weather update from flight watch just before Madison & decided to press on. The West Bend AWOS said 1000' ceiling & 7 miles visibility as we descended to 3000' in rain & moderate turbulence to be vectored for the localizer 31 approach. It was not fun. Sue says she never wants to fly IFR again, but she'll get over it. On the approach, we were in & out of cloud at MDA, but with reasonable ground contact. Landed at 18:00 in rain with strongly gusting wind, but we were home! 1070 statute miles with 8.1 hrs Hobbs.
Conclusion
Assuming 15 minutes taxi time & 1 gallon of fuel per stop, we made an average speed of 130 Kts with a fuel burn of 8.4 gallons per hour. Cruise speed was mostly 150 Kts TAS with ground speeds varying from 125 to 145 Kts as we encountered head winds in both directions!
We were happy to support SWRFI & show that we weren't going to be intimidated into restricting
our activities by a
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Flitesoft flight planning |
bunch
of terrorists. Wherever we go with our RV-6A we meet great people in aviation.
Some of the nicest are the other RV builders/pilots. Texan hospitality certainly did not disappoint us - thanks to Stan Shannon & the SWRFI organization for keeping things running under adverse conditions. I won't worry so much about 86CG when it's secured with those titanium Ti-downs when the weather gets nasty!
Finally, we proved yet again that the RV-6A is a wonderful traveling machine - thanks Van.
Footnote
Somehow, I failed to take any photos this trip, so the images here were downloaded from other web sites - I hope the original photographers will forgive this!
Chris & Sue Good
West Bend, Wisconsin
chris@videopropulsion.com
http://www.rv.supermatrix.com
AirFest 2002
by Don Miller
On June 15-16, 2002 West Bend Airport will be hosting AirFest 2002, a
compilation of exhibition flying, airplane rides, static displays, aviation
education, food, and most importantly ... FUN! A complete roster of events
is posted at the chapter hangar, but some highlights include:
o - Airplane/Rotocraft rides for the public.
o - Playground(s) for youngsters
o - Classic Auto and Motorcycle displays
o - Daily Airshows including aerobatic, skydiving, and military
participants.
o - Warbird exhibition/aerobatic flying.
o - Sailplane [glider, to neophytes] exhibitions (I'm working on this one,
but they all went to Arizona for the winter...)
Several opportunities exist for our Chapter at this event. Providing food
service (Brats, burgers, popcorn, soda, water) is at the forefront, and the
board has agreed to providing these services. These are direct and
profitable services which help our chapter greatly, and help us/we (the
management) keep our dues low. Your volunteer efforts for these services is
important to our chapter. We will need cooks, expediters (bus boys/gals),
cashiers, janitors, as well as general security monitors around the hangar.
Aside from the direct chapter activities, AirFest is seeking volunteers to
assist with general airport operations and miscelaneous exhibits. Some of
these include:
o - Administering airplane rides. Ticket sales, boarding/deplaning,
progressive taxiing.
o - Manning EAA booths to promote both chapter and corporate involvement.
Also awareness of all EAA divisions (EAA, VAA, IAC, WarBirds, NAFI).
Wisconsin Soaring Society (WSS) is planning a similar booth.
o - GA parking and taxiing.
o - Automobile parking and taxiing.
Be advised that the chapter will be compensated for these outside services
by Airfest. So these are also important activities for us! Every hour you
volunteer, keeps Randy's rent, and YOUR dues lower!
If you can, and have not already enlisted, notify myself or Herb Baker
thusly ...
Don Miller - 74563.604@compuserve.com - (262)306-1405
Herb Baker - bakco@hnet.net - (262)334-6127
Get involved! I'ts YOUR hangar and YOUR Chapter!
Chapter Calendar
Chapter Breakfasts: 1st Saturday of the month 6:30 - about 9:30
Chapter Fly Outs: 4th Sunday of each month, 8am, West Bend Air (Randy Finco, 377-9676)
Chapter Meetings: 3rd Wednesday of each month, 7pm EAA Chapter 1158 hangar
310 Aerial Drive, West Bend, WI Phone: (262)338-8411
3/20 Wed. 7pm Craig Larson flight instructor at West Bend Air, talking about airport
procedures.
4/17 Wed. 7pm Green Bay Flight Service
5/15 Wed. 7pm Bill Claybaugh Medical issues and flying Hostile
environment.
6/19 Wed. 7pm Knots 2U Speed mods for aircraft.
7/17 Wed. Zook aircraft insurance aircraft and renters insurance
Officers, Teams, Committees
This and all Kettle Moraine EAA Chapter 1158 newsletters are
provided for your enjoyment only. No claim is made and no
liability is assumed, expressed or implied as to the accuracy
or safety implications of any material presented. Viewpoints
of the writers are not necessarily those of this or any EAA
Chapter or of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).
Use of any of the material presented, whether by applying,
copying or quoting, is done solely at the risk of the user.
Up, Up & Away
CFI Tips #1: Pilot Attitude
Chapter Newsletter Index
