Summer
Greetings!
Last month we said we might see a J3 Cub arriving for a landing at
Willow Springs any day. Well, yesterday it happened. Congratulations to
Doc on his pretty airplane. Phyllis sent a picture of everybody looking
at it. We are happy for every member who gets back in the air.
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Photograph by
Phyllis White |
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Looking over
Doc's new Cub |
July Meeting
Our last meeting was held in Mountain View at the Vaughns' hangar. It
was a beautiful summer day, nice for flying. We're not sure why the
turnout for Young Eagles flights was so sparse. Was it the time of day?
The fact that it wasn't associated with a town festival? Kids taking it
for granted? (I doubt that, because there are always younger kids who
haven't taken a flight yet.) Lots of people on vacation? We don't know.
We didn't have many pilots, either. Mike Vaughn flew the few who were
there. Maybe Pioneer Days will be better. Fifteen Young Eagles have been
flown by Chapter members this year, mostly visiting relatives of the
pilots, who've been taken for some very special and personalized first
flights. We commend these pilots for trying to pass along their love of
flying to their grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
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Mike flew this
happy Young Eagle at the July meeting. |
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Photographs by
Sue Kalhoefer |
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The July
business meeting in Mountain View. |
In spite of the few Young Eagles, it was an enjoyable meeting. We had
time to consider our next activities and to discuss the kinds of
business details that we often don't have time to do, such as some
technical changes in the bylaws to accommodate the ownership of the
Chapter hangar, and our status as a tax-exempt organization. After the
business meeting, we enjoyed a delicious lunch, with the main dishes
prepared by Sharon Vaughn, and plenty of side dishes were brought, too.
August Meeting & "Yard Sale"
The meeting in August will be in Willow Springs, where we will be doing
something different. First of all, there will be the "yard sale," with
bake, sale to benefit the Chapter hangar fund. Tom and Phyllis White and
Sharon Vaughn have spent many hours sorting through the donations,
organizing them and pricing each item. They are especially knowledgeable
about this, having participated in many such sales, both as buyers and
sellers. This is becoming something of an art, it seems. Plan to be on
hand for the meeting, and for the yard sale as informal "helpers." We
will have food for lunch, prepared by you! That is, a real potluck,
since there won't be any food preparation facilities available. Bring
whatever you want to share with your fellow members in the way of
casseroles, side dishes, salads, breads, snacks, desserts, or whatever.
Bring your own eating utensils, too. We will have lots of food, and it
is sure to be good. We'll meet at the "old" time of 9:00 a.m. to take
care of business before the yard sale is in full swing. Then we'll help
with the sale, and break at noon—or a little earlier—for our potluck.
Oshkosh Excitement
Quite a few members made it to Oshkosh this year. They included Gene
Pascoe and an interested friend from Gainesville, Ed Kapelski; Ben and
Rhonda Hurtt and kids; Bob Bohemier with his grandson, Bobby, and James
Vokac; Henny Christensen; Eric Vaughn and family (Sharon and Mike's
son); and, of course, Bill and Margaret Ghan. All of these drove up.
There were also some who flew, including Jerry Luna and Len Ahrnsbrak,
each of whom flew their own airplanes; Clint Allen and James Wiley, who
flew in Clint's Viking; Mike and Sharon Vaughn in their C-182; and Arnie
Zimmerman in the Breezy. Bob Obert was also spotted. That's a pretty big
group. Bill received the "Major Achievement Award" for the completion
and flight of the Wright Flyer replica, at the ceremony on Wednesday
evening, July 28, at the Theater in the Woods. Henny managed to save a
whole row of seats for Chapter members, families, and friends at the
theater, apparently no small achievement! But they were all treated to
seats in Row 7, right behind the reserved section. She also got some
good pictures, which she shares with us.
Sport Pilot
I guess everybody's heard that the Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft rule
is now a fact. There are catches, however, and national EAA (and AOPA)
are working to resolve these issues, as they are not in keeping with the
original intent of the rule. Bureaucrats! Are they in the real world? A
list of eligible type-certificated aircraft has been compiled and is
listed on the national EAA website. It includes several aircraft that
are owned by members of our Chapter.
Most Memorable Flight: Day 3
Before leaving for
Oshkosh, Jerry Luna made sure we had the conclusion to his story of a
most memorable flight. There is an unexpected ending! Enjoy.
"It was now morning of the third day, and there we sat in Lordsburg, New
Mexico, on what was supposed to be a two-day flight. We had left
southern Missouri two days earlier, and with a few communications kinks,
had enjoyed smooth sailing all the way to southern New Mexico. Thinking
we were just a few hours away from our destinations (I was headed to San
Manuel, Arizona, and Clint and Marge to Tucson; they were going to fly
with me as far as Willcox, Arizona then turn north), we took off the
second day—and basically went nowhere due to unexpected storms. Now we
were in Lordsburg, once again contemplating the end of our journey, just
a pleasant three hours or so away.
"We were in no real hurry to take off that morning because everybody
knows that storms in the Southwest don't start to build until afternoon.
We had plenty of time. By the time the storms popped up, we would be
kicked back on someone's porch watching the lightning, or else basking
in the sunshine.
"Around 10 a.m., we finished a leisurely breakfast and arrived at the
airport. We topped off on fuel, and within minutes Ol' Goldie and I were
airborne. Shortly thereafter I saw the Viking slide by and felt
confident we are on our way! We shot through the first pass and headed
for Bowie, Arizona. We were using Bowie as a reference point, then on to
(P33) Willcox. We still had sunshine all around…except up ahead. Things
suddenly weren't looking too good in the west. You guessed it. Before
long I got the old familiar call from Clint, who was up ahead. It was
the same command I had heard the day before when we thought our trip was
almost finished. 'Turn her around, Jerry.' And once more we were heading
for Lordsburg. By 11 a.m., we were sitting back at the Lordsburg airport
with Clint talking to Flight Service and hearing about popcorn showers
with storms already starting to build.
"Well, the first night of our trip we had paid $30 for our hotel room in
Carlsbad, New Mexico; the second night was $60 in Lordsburg. Time for a
new game plan. Clint called his sister just outside of Tucson, and I
called my brother in San Manuel. Clint's sister would pick us up in
Lordsburg and take us to Tucson, where my brother would pick me up for
the ride home to San Manuel. It wasn't the triumphant entry we had
planned, but by that time, we just wanted to sleep in a bed we didn't
have to pay for. It would take Clint's sister three hours to drive from
Tucson, so we looked around for ways to pass the time. Our choices were
watching The Price Is Right on a TV in the pilots lounge, walking up and
down the runway, or counting cactus. But wait! What is that we hear to
the west? It is the sound of a helicopter. Then the voice on the radio
says, 'Lordsburg Coast Guard Helo 310 transiting your area at 3,500.' We
pop out the door to look, and lo and behold, there she goes. Clint gives
the bird a call on the radio. They say they've just come from Willcox
and didn't have any problems—a few showers, but they were light, and
they didn't see any build-ups. It was time for a another new game plan.
We tried to call Clint's sister on the cell phone but got no answer. I
decided to put Goldie in the air and take a look. Weather permitting, I
was going to go on to Willcox and give Clint a call from there. Marge
and Clint's sister could drive on back to Tucson, and Clint could come
on with the Viking.
"Around 1:30 p.m., I was back in the air. As I peeked over the mountain
I got hit with an updraft, and all I could see, from one side of the
valley to the other, was nothing but solid white. Rain was coming down
by barrels. Time for a 360 and put Ol' Goldie back on the ground. We
weren't in any danger; there was no lightning or heavy winds, just a
beautiful sight to see. As we came around on the backside of the 360 I
could see the tailend of the storm as it moved across the valley.
"Well, I was already up there so I decided to take a look around the
corner one more time. I was picking up light rain, but the sun was out;
the dark clouds had moved to the north and there was water everywhere.
The lake beds that had been dry yesterday were now full of water. Any
depression that could hold water was full. Quite a sight for the desert
country. Bowie, Arizona, here we come.
"As we flew through the pass to Willcox, there were broken clouds above
and snow-capped mountains on both sides of the aircraft. I had been to
Willcox several times before, and one thing was for certain. It would be
windy. I gave Willcox a call but didn't get any reply. The windsock was
limp—which had to mean it was broken.
"I set up for an easterly landing, touched down, and found plenty of
water but no wind. It was a day for the record books: no wind in Willcox.
I gave Clint a call on the cell phone and told him to come on. His reply
was, 'That ain't gonna happen.' Lordsburg was experiencing heavy rain
with more to come. Clint was going to Arizona by CAR.
"I fueled and headed for E77 (San Manuel). From Willcox to San Manuel is
about a thirty-minute flight up the San Pedro River offering a very
pretty vista of mountain terrain, river bottoms, and desert. It was
early afternoon when I touched down. It was now time to fire up the dune
buggy and take off for the desert. As I unpacked Goldie, I could hear a
tump-a-dee tump-a-dee sound in the far distance. I finally decided it
must be Clint, driving down I-10. Oh well, we are there safe and sound
and both thinking about the trip back home…"
Talk about a lucky break! That's quite a story. Imagine what it must be
like to be home-based in an area like that. Thank you for sharing the
experience with us, Jerry.
Some Member News
Here's some great news!
Charles Lee Ward is up and around, and doing much, much better. He's
still on the transplant waiting list for another liver, but he'll be
able to wait at home. Give thanks for this wonderful news. Charlie and
Anna Belle are so happy and relieved.
Last weekend was county fair time in Houston. Charlie Ward had a booth
promoting aviation and EAA, and Jim and Millie Tausworthe had the
next-door booth to promote Jim's books.
Things are moving right along on the hangar. This is going to be one
very solid building. Expect to see supports and trusses soon now.
We'll see you at the
meeting Saturday. It'll be fun!
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