WWASHINGTON PPILOTS AASSOCIATION 42nd Year No. 4 October-November 2003 $2.50 Inside WPAWings Another Super From h ! Page 2 Mountain Flying Clinic One Man Makes a Difference President’s Nesko on WASAR Tom Jensen, Airports Director WPA pilots also flew “High Bird” ! Page 3 during the weekend, to provide a high Message Wenatchee, September 12-14: altitude “Air Traffic Control”. WPA How To for Dummies H. Allen Smith ! Page 4 The WPA, WASAR, Wings of Although our flying does not Chapters - Deer Park, Harvey Wenatchee, WSDOT-AD and the include landings, John Black of the “$31.00 a month... do you know FAA again collaborated to conduct Spokane FSDO shared his wonderful how much gas that would buy?” was Field, Spokane th his response. I was at the WPA booth Int’l Lighting System to be the 9 Annual Mountain Flying Clin- backcountry flying presentation ic at Wenatchee. which really gets into the perfor- at the Arlington Air Show and was tested at Sanderson The Mountain Flying Clinic was mance side of that flying. John talking to a gentleman who was look- Ted Turner, Look Out! established as a free public service to Townsley, who recently served as the ing at our booth display. I had just ! Page 5 introduce interested pilots to safe and USFS airspace coordinator for the asked him if he would be interested Oregon-Wright Brthers enjoyable mountain flying. many fires in Montana, presented a in joining our 43 year old organiza- Connection Over a dozen volunteer mentor great tutorial on the five (!) different tion. As I explained that we are the Money Grab at Olympia pilots flew 58 pilots through three types of TFRs. John’s class was par- largest group of pilots representing ! Page 6 General Aviation in the State of Chapters - Green River, Yakima Washington... I saw his eyes start to glaze over. Meet Private Pilot Sewdi Valley ! ! Page 7 In 2000, the Federal Aviation Chapters - Greater Seattle, Administration reported that Wash- Wenatchee, Paine Field ington State was home to 10,500 air- Calendar of Events craft and nearly 24,000 pilots. I don’t ! Page 8 doubt these numbers but the fact is Toys for Tots - July that there are 9,577 Washington pi- lots registered (as of 9/24/03) with the Aviation Division... to me a more realistic representation of the number of folks actively flying around our state in small airplanes. So we have about 10,000 aviators of which about 1 in 10 are card carrying Washington Pilots Association members. Many PAID would say that 10% is a pretty good Permit #5 PRSRT STD. number. I wouldn’t... U.S. POSTAGE Snohomish, WA Photo not at Wenatchee - guess where? Yes 10% is respectable but we certainly can do better. On the na- different mountain courses to inti- ticularly relevant because an active tional scene AOPA’s membership is mately share mountain flying tech- TFR north of Lk. Wenatchee effect- over 50%. 400,000 members out of niques. The courses have been de- ed one of our courses.The local WPA 700,000 pilots. So I wonder why we signed to suit a range of aircraft per- chapter helped out with meals, and are supported by only 10% of our formance and each can be used to Chris MacSpadden was a big help local pilots. I would like to hear from learn skills necessary for the moun- with database work and mailings, you on that question, but meanwhile tain environment. We exposed over even though she could not attend. Al I have a few thoughts of my own... 100 pilots to the ground school taught and Esther Banholzer, Tom Nesko, One reason is that there is a good by Jack Krause; this class was a pre- Gary Evans, and several others helped bit of competition out there for us. requisite to the flying segment and with the many administrative tasks Lots of flying clubs and organizations provided valuable weather and oper- that are required for safe coordination to send your $30 a year in to and sup- ational tips. 8 different WASAR and port. But our real problem is that Continued on page 5 too many think of the WPA only as a social flying club holding potluck Homeland Security Alert dinner meetings once a month. They don’t join because they don’t feel they have time for such activities. But Level “Mauve” AOPA has 5 times (% wise) our mem- Tom Jensen, WPA Airports Director bership and they certainly don’t have minority (that’s us, folks), like im- monthly meetings. People belong to Worry, worry, worry! pose an unneeded TFR. TFRs restrict AOPA primarily for two reasons. our freedom to fly and impede com- They publish a very nice magazine. Ever since Saturday Night Live merce without returning a compen- And they represent General Aviation parodized the Dept. of Homeland sating security benefit. pilots on the national scene. The Security’s terrorist alert warning col- To fend off even more bad ideas, Washington Pilots Association publish- ors, I don’t know what to do when the AOPA reached out to the TSA es a great newletter and works very they switch the alert level from “OR- (Transportation Security Admin.) hard representing WA pilots at many ANGE” to “MAUVE”. with their “Airport Watch” program. venue’s. These nonspecific alerts raise the This program uses the more than Let’s think again about Cap- paranoia level of the general public. 650,000 pilots as eyes and ears for tain Sewdi (Someone Else Will Do General paranoia then makes it accept- observing and reporting suspicious It). My response was to ask him how able to the majority when the guva- activity. We must do our share to many hours he flew each year. “50 mint does something irrational to the Washington Pilots Assoc. PMB 397, 227 Bellevue Way NE Bellevue, WA 98004-9721 Address Service Requested Continued on page 11 Continued on page 3 2 Washington Pilots Association October-November 2003 friend to arrive for a flight to Yaki- Membership ma. One of the fellow pilots I knew Nesko on WASAR was at his hangar washing his pickup Report (his plane was already sparkling With the onset of good flying clean). Eager for some hangar flying, weather, the past few months have Paul J. Grey, WPA Membership I approached him to talk about his not been good as far as safety issues. Director summer’s activities. As I expected, it In June, the NTSB reports in the state It’s been a great summer for fly- had been an exceptional year of blue of Washington, 10 incidents (2 fatal) ing and an equally good time for skies and many trips to the San Juan and in July, 15 incidents (3 fatal). The WPA memberships. As you know, Islands. This person loves to crab and Aviation Division reported the usual the strength of our organization is uses his float plane instead of a boat ELT’s requiring response. The fol- dependent upon the size and quality to get to his favorite spots. Does it lowing statistics were provided by of our members. In terms of size, the get any better? Well, after some con- SAR Coordinator Tom Peterson. Association has been growing steadi- versation, I asked him why he is in ly month over month this year thanks WPA. He thought for a second and ELT/EPIRBOVERDUE A/C to the recruitment efforts of each replied, “because I know the Associ- June 12 ELT / 2EPIRB 4 chapter. Yes, we have lost members ation is watching out for us pilots and July 12 ELT / 1EPIRB 7 for various reasons, but the net has our airports”. Yes, advocacy is one been positive. This is especially en- of the objectives of the WPA and As you can see, it is incumbent couraging considering the economic you’d be proud to know of all the upon all of us to check and insure that times. The two largest boosts in en- behind-the-scenes work done by folks Lost C-320 Found! our ELT is not transmitting after rollments occurred during the North- like Tom Jensen, Al Banholzer and landing. Simple way: check 121.5 be- fore shutting down. RE overdue sta- west Aviation Conference in Febru- H. Smith in fighting for our rights as Tom Nesko, WPA WASAR Director ary and the Arlington Fly-In in July. tus, let’s be sure to close out flight GA pilots. As many of you may have read, I’d like to again thank those volun- plans upon arrival. Peterson also re- Personally, WPA gives me a the missing Cessna 320 has been teers who helped staff the booth and ported one hoax of transmitting a chance to BELONG to a kindred found. The aircraft departed represent our Association so well. ”mayday” on 121.5 . Why, you spirit of special people who share my Wenatchee’s Pangborn Field on April I’m always curious about why might ask, would someone do this? love for flying and airplanes. A few 17th. The aircraft went missing and folks belong to the WPA. Most re- Pretty dumb if you ask me. recent examples are still fresh in my without any information i.e. a flight cently, I was standing around at the Speaking of the Aviation Divi- mind. At our last chapter meeting plan, destination, direction of flight, Bellingham airport waiting for a we heard from an author and past sion, Director John Sibold is conduct- the Aviation Division conducted a ing several study groups, one of which FAA examiner Mick Wilson about two week search.