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January 2008
Next meeting: Thursday, January
10, 2008
Clubhouse, Knutsford Strip.
Time:
7:30pm.
This
site hosted by OCIS, On Call Internet Services.
376-3858
Due
to the limited space available, the archives will
not contain anything older than one year. For
members only: If you need to look at a specific
newsletter from previous years, please let me
know, I will e-mail you the file. villeneuve@shaw.ca
President's Letter
Hello
Everyone:
Happy
New Year to everyone!
I hope
that everyone had a great Christmas season, Santa
was good to all and that you didn't eat too much
turkey!! A few airplane parts under the tree
would just top things off perfectly!
There
has been some flying in Knutsford on the very
nice days. Gerald has been out enjoying the
perfect flying conditions on several sunny days.
The way the winter is progressing more of those
days are sure to come.
I
received a letter from Gary Wolf and he was
commenting on the great deals on Ultralights to
be had south of the border. Apparently for some
years the overseeing body in the U.S. overlooked
the weight of a lot of the Ultralights that were
flying. Now that the date has passed where the
owners could get their planes inspected and
licensed, there are a lot of deals. Check out www.barnstormers.com .
Pursuant
to the article from Gary Wolf last month about
the use of certified parts, there is an update as
of the end of December: Here is the
policy as of the last week of December 2007: the
use of minor components such as gascolators is
unaffected by this new Transport policy change.
However the incorporation of major components
must be approved on a one-off basis by Transport.
You may still deregister a certified plane and
call for a 51% MD-RA inspection for a project
that would incorporate these components. The 51%
evaluation will give no credit for major
components from certified aircraft, so it is
likely that you would end up scratch-building a
larger portion of the project than was required
in the past.
If you currently own a large
pile of certified components and you wish to
incorporate them into your amateur built project,
you will have to open a file with MD-RA and call
for a 51% determination. If your pile of parts is
too comprehensive and it does not make 51%, you
may remove parts from the collection until it
does qualify for 51%. You will be spending nearly
$500 to get to this point, but once your
collection meets 51%, you may go ahead with
construction. Alternatively you may sell the
project and the purchaser will have the assurance
that this collection will qualify for the
construction of an amateur built plane.
Are you out shopping for a
project? If it incorporates many major components
from a certified plane, make the purchase
contingent on the receipt of a favourable 51%
determination. Transport's Chief of policy has
assured RAA that any project that has already
received a 51% wll be allowed to proceed. However
he cannot promise anything about how the FAA will
deal with these aircraft.
Are you hoping to sell into
the US and amateur built that has been
constructed from major certified
components? Before it may be registered in
the US, it must be deregistered in Canada. If the
deal failed because of an interpretation by the
local FAA office, either the seller or the buyer
would be very unhappy. Who would be the unhappy
person depends on whether payment had already
been made.
Hopefully
these changes won't affect too many people. It
does sound like quite a mess for now. Another
topic that is arising soon for general aviation
pilots is the ELT changeover. According to the
article in COPA it sounds expensive! Right now
there is no cheap alternative to the upgrade to
the new ELT.
I have
completed my rib stitching on one Super Koala
wing and am just about ready to do all the spray
finishing. The goal is to have that one wing
completed by the end of January. Hope to have the
Koala airborne this year.
The
Christmas party was another roaring success. With
35 people in attendance a good and humorous time
was guaranteed to all!! The gift exchange was as
always a hoot! I cannot remember who ended up
with the pink BOA, I do remember J.B. modeling it
at one point throughout the evening.
Photo
by Dan Nelson
Last
but not least the 2008 Calendars are selling
fast. $10 will get you a beautiful remembrance on
why we fly! Some great pictures and scenery!!
Contact me or Camille to purchase.
Bye
for now!
Dick
Suttie.
Winter Flying
Dan
Berwin is having fun with the skis he just
installed on the Challenger: in their previous
incarnation they were snowboards, but Dan
re-incarnated them in their new function. The
assembly seem to be very solid, as you can see
here:
The
small scooter wheel is to allow for landing on
the paved runway. For a video of the action on
Barnes Lake, click this link: http://www3.telus.net/public/berwin01/20071230Challengeronskis.wmv
Editor's
notes
Note that the 2008
membership fees are now due. It will be $35. as
usual, and only $20. if you are an RAA member.
Thanks again to Gary Meek
for his very interesting articles all thu the
years.
And thanks to Dan Nelson
for the pictures he took at the Christmas Dinner.
Dan also sent me this:
"The blue cub is mine
the red one is Brian Truittes we were up on a
gravel bar north of Wallys on the North Thompson
river today. (Dec.17)"
THE
AIRPORT UNDERGROUND SOCIETY
By
Barry Meek
An airport is an intriguing
place to spend time. Any airport, big or
small. The big ones, like Toronto,
Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and so on, offer
some of the most fascinating ‘people
scenery’ you’ll find. Unlike a shopping
mall, the clientele at an airport offers more
diversity, mystery, wonder. People from all
over the world arrive, and locals depart.
Most appear to be in a hurry, stressed. So
stressed in fact, that statistically, you’re
more likely to have a heart attack while
you’re at an airport than any other place
outside of a hospital. And incidentally,
the third most likely place is on a golf
course.
Flying into and out of a
major airport affords pilots a look at some of
the inside workings and secrets other members of
the public rarely see. I always enjoy a good
stroll through the terminals, just watching the
people. But I was even more fortunate to be
stationed as a first-response paramedic at
Vancouver (YVR) for a period of six years. The
people-watching became somewhat routine within
the first twelve months.However, there is always
lots more to see. U.S. Customs and Border
Protection was always a good spot. Their officers
have a reputation for being hard-nosed,
particularly since 9-11. Their security is
at high levels, and they don’t fool around.
Sometimes their own citizens are refused entry
and find themselves unable to get back home.
I wondered where these people went after
being bounced out the door back into the Canadian
side. But I had little sympathy ... they
knew the rules.
Canadian Customs and
Immigration on the other hand, is quite the
opposite. They seem to welcome new arrivals
to this country with open arms, including refugee
claimants and illegals. We’re known as
an easy mark for almost anyone wanting to get in.
The joke around the airport was “US agents
carried guns on their belts. Canadians
carried rubber stamps”. There are
holding cells for the questionable ones, where
they were fed meals catered by a 5-star hotel,
while the guards ate their tuna sandwiches from
brown paper bags.
There is no shortage of
surprises at Canada Customs secondary line, when
the suitcases are opened and inspected.
Once I saw them pull out a car radiator from a
passengers bag!
Our level of security
clearance allowed us access everywhere except
outside on the ramp. A special drivers
license is required to be there. It was a
funny regulation given that with my pilots
license, I could taxi an airliner around, but
wasn’t allowed to drive on in a golf cart.
Deep in the bowels of the
terminal, down in the baggage handlers area, a
secret corner at one time housed a lounge area,
complete with a pool table brought in by some
enterprising ramp workers. It lasted until
it was discovered by management, then dismantled.
In one of the staff parking
lots, several campers and vans were set up along
an out-of-the-way fence. Due to the nature
of shift work, some employees, from ticket agents
to pilots, used their own facilities for sleep
and rest periods. That came to an end with
a memo one day, which stated that motorhomes,
campers and similar vehicles would not be allowed
to park long-term out there. The reason was
that a cook stove in one had started a fire, and
burned up the camper along with vehicles parked
on both sides of it.
The R.C.M.P. always keep a
visible presence at international airports.
At YVR, there were plain-clothes members too, on
the lookout for shoplifters, pickpockets, and
smugglers. From the police I learned the
scams these undesirables utilized. The
thefts went down mostly in the international
arrivals area where Asians were targeted, mainly
because they always carried large amounts of
cash. One or two bad guys would distract
the ‘mark’ while their accomplices made
off with hand luggage. They were slick, and
rarely caught.
In the movie
“Terminal”, actor Tom Hanks plays a man
from a fictional country, Krakozhia, who arrives
in New York to discover that during his flight,
his government has been overthrown by rebels,
invalidating his passport. He finds himself
trapped in a lost dimension of absurd
bureaucratic entanglement. Unable to enter
the United States, or return to his home country,
he is forced to live in the JFK airport
terminal. Essentially a man without a
country, who spoke no English, he befriends
employees at the airport, including the
ever-present construction workers, who are
suitably impressed with his work.
The movie is based on a true
story, although one which involved an Iranian man
trapped in the airport in Paris. Having
seen first hand the workings and intricacies of a
large international airport, I have no trouble
believing that a story like this could actually
happen. Although the movies embellish the
actual facts, there remains a certain element of
truth. Several times during my stay at YVR,
I ran across homeless individuals who came in out
of the cold, and made themselves quite
comfortable. Their stays were generally of
short duration however, due to the diligent duty
managers and police presence running interference
on their activities. Usually a bus token
back to the downtown east side got rid of them.
There’s a story behind
every passenger, some good, some bad, some happy
and others very sad. Just when you think
you’ve seen and heard them all, another new
one comes along. After six years, there are
still surprises, and after a lifetime, there will
be more. A major airport supports not only
the infrastructure, but it’s own culture,
society, and
community.
bcflyer@propilots.net
New in the Buy&Sell
One new ads! A few
aircrafts have been sold too! And some price
changes! Have
a look! http://www.ocis.net/tvsac/buyandsell.html
Newsletter
published by Camille
We
welcome your feedback. And we could also use some
help with the newsletter. Photo would be great!
And articles of any length will be gladly
accepted! If you would like to contribute with
photos, flying stories, or project updates,
contact:
President:
Dick Suttie, 1-250-374-6136 richard_suttie@telus.net
Vice-President: Dennis Seib 1-250-573-3714 dseib@mail.ocis.net
Newsletter Editor: Camille Villeneuve
1-250-374-4181 villeneuve@shaw.ca
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