Contents. President s Comments. Vice President s 3. Comments. Treasurer s Report. HangarTalk 5 Training Day 6 Operations & Safety

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1 Thank you for visiting the Armed Forces Aero Club Web site. This monthly brief sheet is intended to provide the current status of the club. Each member of the board provides input pertaining to their positions. Please feel free to contact any of them if you have any questions. Members are encouraged to submit articles for inclusion to this monthly brief sheet. Ed Christensen President Contents President s Comments 1 Vice President s Comments 3 Treasurer s Report 4 HangarTalk 5 Training Day 6 Operations & Safety 7 Secretary Notes 9 Member articles 10 Board of Directors Contact Info 11 LIKE us on Facebook: FOLLOW us on Twitter: twitter.com/armedforcesaero President s Comments Hello. I m happy to report that things are going well at AFAC. Our aircraft have been flying a lot this summer and we ve had a few months of relatively trouble free operation. And you ll be glad to know that the pilot side window now opens on 215! We still have an inop DME in 216 and imperfect radios in 215. A very compelling reason to always fly with a handheld NavCom. If you ve been in 216 recently you ll see new labeling on the instrument panel. I worked on this project last Saturday for a few hours. The adhesive material is tricky to work with when hot, but I feel it s an overall improvement for sure. I have more labeling material and was looking at the other airplanes for some low-cost improvements that could be worked on. Possibilities abound! Last weekend while at the Borrego Akrofest Jason and I spoke with a number of interesting people with all kinds of varied experience in aviation. A pilot with ties to AFAC was talking about the positive GA community that exists at Gillespie Field, KSEE. To go one step further he called a contact of his a got a verbal offer of free tie downs at that airport for our club! Of course, nothing is official and this would be a big change for our club in many ways. It would represent a savings of $170 per tie down X 3 = $510 per month, $6120 per year. In addition we wouldn t be paying $1200 in club fees each year = $7320 total potential savings. Personally, driving to SEE would represent a higher level of difficulty for me in terms of distance to drive. For others, it may be more convenient or not really matter either way. Gilliespie doesn t have the same issues with marine layer as Montgomery and generally seems less expensive to operate. Locating there may attract new members from that area. We will be meeting with the AOPA club connect representative in November and this will be an issue I d like to hear input from her. This month I would welcome feedback on 2 issues, and am putting together a short Survey Monkey questionaire that you ll be getting an invite to fill out. 1

2 1. Would you support a move to KSEE given your personal situation, not looking at a dollars and cents comparison for AFAC? 2. Would you support a move to direct billing through Schedule Master ( pay after each flighteveryone enters their hobbs / tach time and pays immediately ) vs. one larger bill charged through quickbooks after the month is over? Both of these changes will require more flushing out, but I would like to have some solid data from you, our current membership, to inform the whole discussion. Thank you for your support! Ed Christensen Ed Christensen (720)

3 Vice President s Comments Members, This month I d love to share with you a lesson learned. Whether you are a seasoned vet or new to aviation you ll notice the lessons come frequently. Sometimes you are humbled as a pilot, and sometimes you are lucky. I recently re-learned a lesson from initial flight training (and one that has never gone away). We know we should be following checklists, and their use in the cockpit has helped decrease accidents in a major way in the history of aviation, but yet I still found myself asking questions about the need and validity of some of the checklist items. You ll recall from the before take-off check the need for the flight controls free and correct to be operationally checked prior to lift-off, and I had found myself wondering why. I mean, it s certainly a good thing to do before taking off, but I wondered how many times someone had actually taken off with the flight controls reversed or some tragic thing like that. I m sure we are all familiar of the story of the pilot that got his airplane out of annual and took the first flight only to discover the ailerons reverse rigged. I don t know if that is true or if it s a pilot s legend, but it would lead me to think, maybe it would be a good thing to do after an annual, but every flight? Yet I continued to do it anyway as a matter of habit, and proper training. I recently found out why this important. I flew with a friend in his 182 out to El Monte for some lunch a few weeks ago. He flew out and I was to fly back. The flight out was uneventful and we landed for a good lunch. (Side note: check out Annia s for great food and a good location on the field). After filling up we taxied out with me at the helm and I went to do the checklist. Thinking once again about how rudimentary it was to check the flight controls when we had just literally flown an hour without incident I found them to be anything but free. I had a bound up control for all right aileron and had control to the left for about 5 degrees. I also could not pull up elevator past a few degrees. I was certainly glad to find that standing still rather than bouncing down the runway unable to supply crosswind correction and/or rotate at all. My cynical thinking on the checklist was halted in that instant. Turns out my friend had flown out with an Ipad yoke and saw fit to take it off my yoke and put it on his. He neglected to place the yoke in an area that was out of the way, and turned his Ipad holder into a very effective control wheel lock. Needless to say, I will do every checklist item every time no matter how trivial I find the task to be. I hope this month s brief sheet finds you well, and flying as much as possible. See you out there checklist in hand! Jason Schoger (619)

4 Treasurer s Report Hobbs and TACH Time August Sept Aircraft Hobbs Hrs TACH Total 213AF = = AF = = AF = =31.2 Totals 83.2/ Aircraft Hobbs Hrs TACH Total 213AF =25.6/ = AF =50.7/ = AF =63.5/ =49.3 Totals 139.8/ Notes: Hours in red are overhead/non-income hours (Maintenance/BMFT/Missing). There was no missing flight time for September. Current aircraft fuel rates are consistent with Sept 2015 club fuel ladder rates. Current fuel prices at Gibbs average $4.98/gl. Aircraft rates are 3AF- $81/hr; 5AF-$109/hr; 6AF-$105/Hr. Welcome: Farewell: High Flight Time Achievements: C. Hakobial C. Morin R. Rajaonera 35.0 C. Hakobian Solo K. Johnson G. Lacoste 33.4 K. Johnson Solo D. Kelley B. Drinkwine 17.2 B. Drinkwine Private Pilot C. Morin R. Rajaonera R. Smith Plan for the worst, pray for the best! Dave Billings (619)

5 Hangar Talk Airplane status as follows: 213AF Flyer. 215AF Flyer. 216AF Flyer. Scott Lowe (619)

6 Training Day Greetings, Hope that you have been able to complete an enjoyable flight or two lately. It appears to me that the MYF tower controllers have adjusted well to single runway operations and that departure delays are less frequent than when the runway repair operation first began. They are even frequently allowing touch and go operations. Come out and give it a trial. The FAA Safety Team is presenting a seminar on November 5th at the Doubletree San Diego Hotel Circle starting at The title is "Cross Country Challenge" and deals with the decision making process. These events are always well-attended. No preregistration is required and further information is in the link below. The link below will take you to an interesting AOPA video on gathering weather information. 6CF9306B600B}#ooid=00bmlndzowF6BIr-22HypMdegPHZBWed Even though our planes do not yet have GPS equipment installed, this article is a good introduction to GPS basics Here is a video on the importance of maintaining situational awareness regarding runway heading on takeoff roll CB61ED7}&WT.mc_id=151002epilot&WT.mc_sect=sap For our instrument rated members, here is an FAA letter that clears up some specifics of logging instrument approaches. /2015/InFO15012.pdf Fly safe, have fun. Fly safe, have fun. Wes Weesner (619)

7 Operations and Safety Downing Squawk Reminder Per the By-Laws, there is a very specific procedure for how to handle this situation. Any Club member can down an aircraft. Safety is always paramount, but care should be taken in doing so, because once grounded, only the MO (or mechanic or other board member coordinating through him and acting on his behalf) can return it to flying status. There are four steps that must all be completed when an aircraft is grounded, to ensure that an unsafe aircraft is not operated inadvertently: 1) Yellow grounded sign (from line box) is hung on the yoke 2) Yellow grounded tag is hung over the key in the linebox 3) Make a maintenance schedule link is used on ScheduleMaster to create a red Out of Service block on the schedule for enough time to allow the MO to make an initial evaluation. This overrides all other schedules. 4) Notify the MO, or another board member if the MO cannot be reached. Our MO (Scott Lowe) works for the SDFD and prefers to be notified by text message to his cell in case he is out on a call. Step 4a is to check the schedule to see if another member will be affected by the grounding, and give them a courtesy call or message. Recently an aircraft was grounded but the MO was not notified. Gibbs later found all items normal, with nothing that would prevent the plane from operating safely. This caused unnecessary down time and inconvenience. It is always better to err on the side of caution, but please take the time to notify the MO first before grounding, particularly if there is any doubt about whether the squawk should ground the airplane. He knows the history and can usually settle the question on the spot, or else get an answer for you within minutes, and if whatever needs attention is minor enough, he may be able to get a quick fix on the way without you having to cancel your flight and perhaps others after you. With only three airplanes in the Club now, following the above is more important than ever to keep up availability, which of course benefits all members thank you! Safety Tip of the Month Attend the AOPA/ASI/FAAST Safety Seminar on November 5th These popular pilot events, presented by AOPA s Air Safety Institute and hosted by the local FAA Safety Team, are well worth taking in. This one will focus on effective decision making in a Cross Country Challenge scenario. It will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel Circle in Mission Valley from There is no cost, no need to pre-register, and it counts for Wings Credit. See more info at: 7

8 Because the ASI Seminar mentioned above falls on a first Thursday, there will be no regular monthly Safety Seminar at Solar Turbines in November. The next one there in Kearney Mesa, 4200 Ruffin Rd, will be on Thursday, December 3 rd at It will be about Using Military Airspace in San Diego, "Flight Operations in Class B and D airspace controlled by the military." Registering in advance on SPANS is recommended at faasafety.gov for credit toward your next Flight Review. Looking ahead, the monthly Safety Seminar in January will also be dark due to proximity to the holidays. FLY OFTEN, FLY SAFE! Dave Piontek (858) ops_officer@flyafac.com LIKE us on Facebook: FOLLOW us on Twitter: twitter.com/armedforcesaero 8

9 Secretary s Notes Still waiting for some kind of suggestions from the membership in regards to what you would like to see for our quarterly meetings besides board member reports. The life of our club depends on active participation of the members, without which we would not have a club. So, I will keep asking for suggestions from membership on what you think would make our quarterly membership meetings more interesting. Ray Lemque (619) Tickler BOD Meeting 6:00 pm, Oct 21, MYF Ops Bldg CFI Meeting TBD GMM 10:30 am, Oct 24, MYF Hangar 16 Signups Maint Officer turns over to Secretary 9

10 Member Articles 10

11 Board of Director s Contact Information ED CHRISTENSEN PRESIDENT JASON SCHOGER VICE PRESIDENT DAVID BILLINGS TREASURER RAY LEMQUE SECRETARY SCOTT LOWE MAINTENANCE OFFICER DAVE PIONTEK OPS & SAFETY WES WEESNER TRAINING OFFICER