dinner meeting shalom-adios-adieu auf wiedersehen arrivederci … · official publication of...
TRANSCRIPT
Official Publication of Airventurers, a Non-Profit Pilot’s Association Volume 53, No. 12, Dec. 2013
BOARD MEETING
Saturday Dec. 28th
Everyone’s Welcome
(and we have donuts!)
To reach the editor:
we’d like to hear what you have to say
DINNER MEETING
Sunday, January 12th
Marie Callendars
Sherman Oaks
Cocktails at 6:oo Dinner at 7:00
$26/person
RSVP on line or to
Speaker Nick Sparks is an Emmy
award winning film maker and
writer who is making a documen-
tary film about Jessica Cox. Born
without arms, Jessica now flies
airplanes, drives cars, texts, types
on a keyboard, plays the piano and
otherwise lives a normal life using
her feet as others use their hands.
She holds the Guinness World Re-
cord for being the first armless
person in aviation history to earn a
pilot’s certificate. It took three
states, four airplanes, two flight
instructors and a discouraging
year to find the right aircraft: a
1946 415C Ercoupe.
SHALOM-ADIOS-ADIEU
AUF WIEDERSEHEN
ARRIVEDERCI
SO LONG
It was an honor and a privilege to be the
President of the Airventurers this year. I am proud of what we, as a club, have
accomplished.. The dinner meetings with great speakers, the organized and ran-
dom fly-ins almost every month, the monthly board meetings, the picnic and
holiday party plus we hosted a Foreflight Seminar with 100 attendees that re-
sulted in our getting some new members.
It could not have been done without a lot of help from the officers who served in
2013; Vice President Mike Savage, Treasurer Judy Rifkin, Secretary Bernie
Harris and Past President Al Lane.
Thanks to all that attended the board meetings, including board members Mark
Cheer, Claudio Losacco and Cliff Busick, who gave their opinions and advice
on how to best run our club. Dinner meetings were well attended and speakers
were high caliber thanks to Al Lane.
Fly-ins are an important part of what we have to offer our members. Thanks to
Joel Kirschner and the hosts and co-hosts for providing us with very interesting
and varied places to fly and to Claudio Losacco for organizing our new random
Saturday fly-ins. Membership is the lifeblood of our club. Without new mem-
bers our club could not have lasted since 1966. Thanks Don Eisenberg and Joel
Kirschner. (We still need lots of new members)
Must not forget to thank Sunshine Chairman Lorraine Simansky and Yoni Boujo
for chairing both the picnic and the holiday party (I think Irene helps him out)..
It sure looked like it was going to be a long
year last January but here we are and the
year has flown by rather quickly. Unlike an
old soldier, I am not fading away. Too much to do. Lots of flying, on the board
as past president, dinner meeting chairman and host of the Lake Havasu fly-in.
See you soon.
Marv
2014 Fly-Ins (not carved in stone) Jan. 17-18 Havasu Balloon Festival - Rifkin, Cashin
Feb. 14 Body Art Expo, PHX - Kirschner
Mar. 6-9 Whale Watching, Loreto - Djanogly
Apr. Palm Springs Follies - Busick
May 3rd Annual Poker Run - Savage
June 15
July 4 -6 Prescott AZ Rodeo - Simansky
Aug. Club Picnic, Boujo
Sept. Underground Gardens, Fresno - Seibold
Oct.
Nov Football ??? - Hultman
Dec. Holiday Party
Ideas/Suggestions ??Volunteers???
AIRVENTURERS APPLICANT CHECKLIST
DATE APPLICANT
SPONSOR FEE DINNER MEETING
co-host add’l
FLY-IN
co-host add’l
4/12 Tabor McMullen Y Y Y
3/13 Figueroa Harris Y Y Y Y
7/13 Franco Kirschner Y
10/13 Cashin Charlin Y Y Y
11/13 Klenner Kieschner Y
12/13 Morris Kirschner Y Y Y
Michael Klenner (Cheri Gerson) is an interesting guy. Michael has overcome physical problems (and the FAA) to
earn his PVT, and is also a survivor of several hundred skydives.. He flies a Liberty XL-2 out of VNY. Reach him at
818-350-3324 or [email protected]. Welcome back to the Figueroas. Robert Morris (Jana) is our newest appli-
cant. He has only been flying since 2005, bought his Cessna T337C in 2007 and has too many ratings to list here.
Reach him on his cell at 704-277-6842 or [email protected].
2014 Meetings (not carved in stone)
Board Meetings Dinner Meetings
January 25 12
February 22 23
March 29 20 Thurs.
April 26 13
May 31 18
June 28 22
July 26
August 23
September 27 18 Thurs.
October 25 19
November 29 16
December 27 Holiday Party (TBD)
If you’re really clever, you can check on the web about how to make an envelope out of 8.5 x 11” paper. Page 8 is
already addressed to me...you just have to print it, fill out page 7, make a few folds, maybe use a bit of scotch tape,
enclose your check, stamp it and send it off. Easy, n’est pas? Or just do it the old-fashioned way
2014 Fly-Ins (not carved in stone) Jan. 17-18 Havasu Balloon Festival - Rifkin, Cashin
Feb. 14 Body Art Expo, PHX - Kirschner
Mar. 6-9 Whale Watching, Loreto - Djanogly
Apr. Palm Springs Follies - Busick
May 3rd Annual Poker Run - Savage
June 15
July 4 -6 Prescott AZ Rodeo - Simansky
Aug. 9 Club Picnic, Santa Barbara - Boujo
Sept. Underground Gardens, Fresno - Seibold
Oct.
Nov Football ??? - Hultman
Dec. Holiday Party
Ideas/Suggestions ??Volunteers???
All the pictures from the
Holiday Party will be on
the web shortly. Keep
checking the photo page
on our site:
www.airventurers.org
Why Pilots Love to Vilify Other Pilots
The desire to find easy answers to incidents like the wrong-airport landing of the 747 in Wichita isn't that
hard to understand. By Robert Goyer / Published: Nov 25, 2013 Reprinted for educational purposes from Fly-
ing Magazine Online Nov 25, 2013
Soon after the wrong-airport landing of the Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter at Wichita's Jabara Airport became
national news, the race was on to explain how it could have happened. Sadly, the answer that many came up
with was that the pilot was a blooming idiot who was so inept that he didn't belong at the controls of an ul-
tralight just going around the pattern.
I don't know much about the pilot of that gigantic Boeing that wound up at Jabara, but I can tell you a few
things. He's the captain of a 747-400 Dreamlifter for Boeing. He didn't get that gig because he's an idiot. I'd
bet a month's salary that he's a high-achieving, top-of-his-class type who holds a wallet full of type ratings for
some of the coolest airline-style hardware going. I have no doubt he could fly circles around the average pilot
or me for that matter.
The idea that the 747 pilot is some kind of an idiot is, forgive me saying, pretty idiotic itself.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, I spoke with a couple of pilot friends, high-time guys who today
fly turbine hardware, and both admitted to nearly landing at the wrong airfield on a couple of occasions. I've
done it a couple of times myself, including at El Paso, whose military neighbor Briggs Field's Runway 21 is a
near twin of El Paso's Runway 22, which is located a mere three miles away. As I was lined up for Biggs' al-
luring field, just starting to wonder if something was amiss, the tower controller at El Paso came on fre-
quency and suggested calmly that I aim a little more to the left. It wasn't the first time he'd made the sugges-
tion. It might not have been the first time that day.
The sin I was guilty of wasn't being stupid; it was complacency. I should have had the approach loaded and
followed it. Instead, I took the visual, spotted a pretty runway and headed for it. The only difference was that
I had a voice in my ear (both literally and figuratively) telling me to change course.
It's tempting to vilify other pilots when they make mistakes not because we're better than they are (though
occasionally we are) but because more commonly, we're not better and we know it. By dismissing such
highly public mistakes as cases of bumbleheads somehow finding their way into the cockpit of a major indus-
try's heaviest hardware we immunize ourselves psychologically by saying that it could never happen to us,
because we're better than those lame brains.
The real lesson here is that it really could happen to us. The real lesson here is that we need to fight compla-
cency. I'm certain that the fine airman flying the 747 into Wichita the other night today knows that lesson
very well. I trust he'll find the right airport now for the rest of his flying days, of which I hope there are many.
Claudio Losacco, Safety Officer
2014 Dues are $70
You May Pay On Line With a Credit Card ($72.40)
Thank You for Your Prompt Payment
(if you applied in the 4th quarter, your dues are covered for 2014)