2018 AOPA Fly-Ins COMING TO AN AIRPORT NEAR YOU p. 33

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1 Up in Smoke FUEL HANDLING SAFETY TIPS p AOPA Fly-Ins COMING TO AN AIRPORT NEAR YOU p. 33 ADS-B Lineup GUIDE TO EQUIPAGE CHOICES p. 62 The Voice of General Aviation December 2017 $6.95 Bonanza versus Centurion Fly-Off SIX-SEAT LEGENDS GO HEAD TO HEAD p. 74 Home Field Advantage A CLUB MAKES AN AIRPORT ITS OWN p. 82 Affordable Avionics NOT JUST A DREAM p. 68 SPECIAL GEAR SECTION OUR EDITORS NAME THEIR FAVORITES p. 49

2 AOPA PILOT CONTENTS December 2017 Volume 60 Number 12 ON THIS PAGE: Sunrise illuminates an airplane parked at Williamson-Sodus Airport in New York. Photography by Fred SanFilipo Simply the Best An airport owned by a New York flying club is where everyone wants to be. By Jill W. Tallman FEATURES SPECIAL GEAR SECTION 49 Gear Guide Something for everyone. By Dave Hirschman 62 Beyond Compliance What are your ADS-B options? By Mike Collins 68 Cheaper, Safer, Better The future of avionics is bright. By Ian J. Twombly 74 Clash of the Titans Which is the superior airplane of these classy six-seaters? Beechcraft Bonanza or Cessna Centurion? A flying club puts them to the test. By Dave Hirschman AOPA PILOT 1

3 Simply the best An airport owned by a New York flying club is where everyone wants to be BARRY HOLTZ TAXIED HIS GRUMMAN WIDGEON to the fuel tank at Williamson-Sodus Airport (SDC) in New York, shut down the engines, and climbed out. Pilots hanging out at the airport swarmed the Widgeon. These were no ramp-gawkers hanging out on a fall morning. They were members of the Williamson Flying Club, out to greet fellow member Holtz, who was here for lunch. Holtz sparred good-naturedly with club president Steve Murray. BY J I L L W. TA L L M A N P H OT O G R A P H Y BY F R E D S A N F I L I P O 82 AOPA PILOT December 2017

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6 When is my hangar going to be ready? he asked. I m working on it, Murray said. The red-and-white-striped hangars at Williamson-Sodus are not quite big enough for the Widgeon or Holtz s other twin, so he keeps his airplanes at Greater Rochester International Airport. He flies 26 nautical miles to Williamson-Sodus every weekend to buy fuel and have lunch with his friends in the flying club. Chris Karpenko s V-tail Bonanza taxis onto the ramp. Karpenko shuts down, opens the door, and starts offloading luggage and his dog, Alex. During the week, Karpenko works for the U.S. Postal Service in Washington, D.C., and keeps his Beechcraft Bonanza at College Park Airport within the flight restricted zone. On the weekends, he heads to Williamson- Sodus. Soon he, too, is standing in line for Saturday lunch with fellow club members, some of whom take turns minding Alex while her owner gets a sandwich. Why would airplane owners belong to a flying club? Maybe it s because they love the many and varied social activities the club offers. Or maybe it s because of the fuel discount they receive. But probably it s because they feel a sense of ownership toward this airport. We are the only flying club that owns and operates a public airport, said Murray. The club is the airport owner, the operator of the FBO we fulfill all these roles. Williamson Flying Club has owned and operated Williamson-Sodus Airport since its earliest days in 1956, when it was a short, narrow grass strip on 30 acres. Back then, five charter members flew Aeroncas and L-birds from the airport, situated about four miles from Lake Ontario in Wayne County. Jake DeGroote is one of the charter members. When we started there was a field a guy who did crop dusting, he said. He got out of it and we ended up with [the airport]. The club and the airport have flourished in the decades since. Five members are now 227 members. Thirty acres has mushroomed to 106 acres. The original 2,000-foot, 10-foot-wide runway has been paved; in 1996 it was enlarged to 3,801 feet long and 60 feet wide. The KEEP EM FLYING Williamson Flying Club keeps aircraft and pilots in top shape With just four aircraft for about 170 actively flying club members, the pressure is on to keep the Williamson Flying Club fleet in top shape, and Chief Flight Instructor Mike Bjerga takes that responsibility to heart. The federal aviation regulations don t require a 100-hour inspection for clubowned aircraft, but Bjerga preflights each airplane himself every 75 hours. The aircraft get a firewall-forward inspection every 100 hours, and a complete annual inspection every 200 hours. He tries to schedule extensive maintenance for colder months when pilots aren t flying as much. It keeps the airplanes in rotation, he said. The club relies on Ray Chapin, who operates a maintenance shop and helicopter flight instruction business at the airport, to keep the airplanes in top shape. Just 26 nautical miles from Rochester, New York, the region experiences raw weather during winter. With the general membership, people hang up their headset in September and don t pick it up until May, Bjerga said. The club added a FlyThis- Sim TouchTrainer to help pilots maintain their club currency requirements. The TouchTrainer can be easily configured as a Cessna, a Piper, or a Beechcraft, which covers the club fleet and many flying members airplanes. Bjerga wears many hats at the airport he is the airport manager as well as its chief flight instructor and occasionally he ll add a new hat. He learned computer coding so he could design a new scheduling and dispatching program. The finished product is personalized for the club and more userfriendly. Best of all, it saves the club $1,000 per year that is no longer paid to an outside company. Bjerga also conducts Boy Scout and Girl Scout aviation activities and hosts airport tours for local schools. I stay busy, he said, but he noted that he can outsource many tasks grounds upkeep, snow plowing, and the like to willing club members. JWT airport has two GPS approaches and is a reliever airport for Greater Rochester International Airport. There are more than 70 based aircraft, 51 hangars with a waiting list, a self-serve fuel pump, and an independently owned maintenance shop/helicopter flight school (see Keeping the Lights On, p. 86). DeGroote s hangar is a focal point of the airport. He is here most days, restoring his 1939 Taylorcraft while also helping other club members work on their aircraft projects. An airframe and powerplant mechanic, DeGroote knows how to repair tube-and-fabric aircraft a skill that is disappearing and he shares that knowledge with the club. I m only 82, he said. I ve got another 10 years before retirement. Denny Angstrom wants a visitor to know: DeGroote is not the oldest actively flying member he is. This is the only club I ve ever belonged to, Angstrom said. The 81-year-old flies a Piper Comanche and an Aeronca Champ. He owns a small group of hangars that operate as a through-the-fence business on the airport. The hangars were the original candystick-painted buildings on the property, and all the other hangars built since are painted similarly. AFFORDABLE FLYING A prime directive of the club is to provide affordable flight training to its members. Operating with four aircraft, a full-time flight instructor, and a few part-time instructors, the club offers astonishingly low rental rates: $69 per hour wet for a Piper Cherokee 140; $79 per hour wet for a Piper Archer; $89 per hour wet for a Cessna 172. Instruction is $35 per hour. The club purchases fuel from itself at pump prices and makes no profit off the aircraft rental. FROM TOP LEFT, Chris Karpenko and his dog Alex travel to Williamson-Sodus Airport every weekend; Barry Holtz and his Grumman Widgeon are frequent visitors; Chief Instructor Mike Bjerga is the sole employee of the airport; Williamson Flying Club members line up for the popular Saturday lunch. AOPA PILOT 85

7 Mike Bjerga, returning from a flight lesson with a student, stopped in mid-run to talk about the airport. As chief flight instructor and airport manager since 2004, he swivels between roles but considers flight training a priority (see Keep Em Flying, p. 85). Throughout the year Bjerga helps six to eight club members become private pilots, or add an instrument rating or commercial or flight instructor certificate. Some club members have gone on to regional airlines; another is a captain at a major airline. Others, like 17-yearold high school students Aron Zbick and Zach Wilkie, are student pilots with aspirations to study aeronautical science and fly professionally. Wilkie came to the flying club after obtaining a Part 107 certificate to fly drones. A member since December 2016, he said flying powered aircraft is a lot more fun. The places you can go with a plane are so much better, he said. Zbick said he doesn t mind being a young person in a club whose members have children and even grandchildren his age. He said he learns a lot from the other pilots, who are generous not only with their knowledge but also vacant seats for fly-out events. Pilots post available seats on the club s scheduling software, and student pilots are encouraged to ride along on these fly-aways. REASONS TO GET TOGETHER The social environment here is topnotch, said Chris Houston, who joined the club after relocating to New York from Michigan. He knew he d come to the right place when he landed at Williamson- Sodus for a visit and all these guys came pouring out of the hangar. An activities committee convenes to organize movie nights, museum trips, holiday parties, leaf-peeping excursions, and other events where people can get together at the airport or away from it. A lively social calendar can be challenging when you have 170 people and 34 different opinions, said Dan Adams, a five-year member who KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON How Williamson Flying Club runs an airport with one employee Williamson Flying Club has about 227 members; 167 are considered active that is, they are checked out to fly club aircraft. The club maintains varying levels of membership. Associate members, for example, are socially involved. Military members are active-duty military whose dues are waived during the time that they serve. Each member pays $30 a month in dues, which are used to fund capital improvements. Revenue from fuel sales, hangar rentals, flight instruction, and aircraft rentals goes back into the club. Mike Bjerga, airport manager and chief flight instructor, is the sole employee. Treasurer Bob Herloski says the Williamson Flying Club runs the airport much like a county-owned airport, keeping the runway plowed and open for traffic during the winter. The not-for-profit club is not tax-exempt. It pays property and income taxes, and that s a specific choice we made as a club, to be a part of the community, he said. Beginning in 1993, Williamson-Sodus Airport qualified for FAA Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, and the airport has used $10 million in funds to build a fuel farm, construct new hangars, pave the runway, and numerous other improvements. The FAA was excellent to work with, said club member Jack Fuller. They were slightly amazed at what we did with their money. They had confidence that the dollars would be used for [their] intended purpose. In recent years, however, the FAA has tightened its qualifications for AIP grants, and future AIP funding is never guaranteed. We re grateful for AIP funding, Fuller said. He worries that the airport could be completely cut off. It would be difficult to continue to do without AIP. There s been discussion of going public, said longtime member and past president Jesse Zeck. We d like to keep it the way it is. JWT owns a Mooney. He said the committee uses online surveys to narrow down the options. Everyone seems to agree on the weekly lunch. You give people a reason to get together, they will, said Tony Alesci, also an activities committee volunteer. He coordinates the lunch, and it usually draws a crowd. They ll pay a freewill price usually around $5 or $7 per person. The club tries hard to be a good neighbor, and it has a good relationship with almost everyone in the community. There s a cluster of mobile homes that borders the airport property, but the residents are fine with helicopters taking off and landing a few hundred yards away. The neighbors get complimentary tickets to the airport s annual pancake breakfast. If by chance someone forgets to comp them, they ll be at the fence looking for tickets, said Steve Murray. As the Saturday lunch wound down, club members whisked away tables, chairs, and trash in the community hangar, leaving it tidy and ready for the next event. Some wandered back to their hangars. Two club members climbed into a scissor lift so that they could replace light bulbs on the lampposts by the fuel farm. There will always be mowing, or painting, or cleaning club aircraft, but Williamson Flying Club has plenty of willing hands and hearts to tackle those jobs. AOPA jill.tallman@aopa.org CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Alan Verbridge and Mike Shippers fuel up after a morning flight; club member Aron Zbick hopes to be a professional pilot; a Piper Cherokee is one of the stalwarts of the club s fleet. 86 AOPA PILOT December 2017

8 FIND A CLUB; FORM A CLUB Flying clubs offer affordable access to aircraft and a shared community of ownership, flying, training, and safety, as the Williamson Flying Club illustrates. Is there a flying club near you? See our Flying Club Finder ( Want to start your own club, but not sure how? AOPA s Flying Clubs Initiative, part of the You Can Fly program, has a checklist for starting a club as well as resources on financing, insurance, and much more. See the website ( or contact AOPA s flying club staff at flyingclubnetwork@aopa.org or by calling 800-USA-AOPA. AOPA PILOT 87