January
2010 Newsletter
THOMPSON
VALLEY SPORT AIRCRAFT CLUB
(Member of
Recreational Aircraft Association)
Beautiful
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
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Next meeting: Thursday, January
14, 2010, at 7:00pm.
Location: Clubhouse, Blair Field, Knutsford
I
already got the Yaris stuck in the snow by my
hangar, so be careful where you park at the next
meeting.
Happy
New Year 2010 Everyone!
Rotax Engine
Dan
Berwin sent me a couple very interesting articles
about the Rotax engine. They are well worth
looking into.
One
is called "Tuning The 2-stroke Aircraft
Engine" and can be found at the following
link: http://www.n566aj.com/cgi-bin/bbs/archive.cgi?read=27862
The other is "Two
stroke engine mystery solved" and is here: http://curedcomposites.netfirms.com/twostroke.html
Insurance
Renewal Time
I always renew my aircraft
insurance online. With Marsh Insurance, if you
want the same insurance as last year it takes no
more than ten minutes. You have to be a COPA
member to get the special rate.
Club
Membership Fees
That
is also due. I hope Jim Bottoms can make it to
the next meeting to take your money and give you
a receipt.
Hangar
Fees
All
paid?
2010
Calendars
All
sold, none left!
Why
was there a mistake on the April page? Why did I
show Greg Peterson's Yarrow Arrow instead of Ken
Martin's Raven? Let me explain: my dog ate the
memory card!
Well,
not really! I had the calendars printed by
Staples, and there was a deadline after which the
prices would go up. I was doing it online, where
you have to select the picture for each month,
and the proper caption, then save both and go to
the next month. It turned out that due to a
software problem (at their end...) I could not
get it to save my photos, and after trying for
four days I was getting a bit frustrated!
My
original intention was to have two printings of
25 calendars, with slightly different pictures.
But when the system started to work properly I
rushed with the programming, thinking it might
fail any minute again, and called for 50
calendars, all the same.
Sorry!
My mistake! I don't even own a dog to blame it
on!
For
next year's calendar:
Please take lots of photos, and at the
highest resolution possible!
This time I will get calendars done earlier, and
get someone to help me pick the best pictures.
And if we get enough airplane photos, we will be
able to get 2 or 3 different editions.
Who
Is Flying?
Bill
Huxley sent me some pictures taken when he and
Gerald went flying by the Jacko Lake open-pit
mine on December 19.
Judging
by his altitude, Gerald must have imagined he was
flying my Beaver!
A
closer look; don't worry, he was still far from
the rock wall.
Back
in the Knutsford area. Gerald's place in the
foreground.
I
installed new skis on my Beaver, I do not have
photos yet. But I took it up on January 2nd and
had a ball! Gerry was following me most of the
way in his Power Parachute as I went landing on
the lakes: Edith, Jacko, Makoo, Separation,
Shumway, Trapp, Ritchie, Napier... Also landed on
the slough east of Blair field, and a hillside by
Edith Lake. Great skis! I will have to spray
silicone on them so the snow does not stick to
the top side.
Now
I am looking forward to the next nice day to go
to all the small lakes on the way to Brigade Lake
(AKA Long Lake) . Walker Lake is also on the
list, so are Campbell and Scuito Lakes.
New
Aircraft at The Strip
A
new fellow from the Fraser Valley has rented
Hangar #5 and will bring his ultralight; I don't
know when, or what ultralight.
RETURN
TO SIMPLE FLYING
By Barry Meek.
I don’t
suppose I’m much different from other
pilots, particularly the ones with the private or
recreational licenses, when it comes to the
aircraft we’ve flown. While some are
happy to own and fly one or two planes during
their entire adult life, others have a big
collection in their log books.
You
could probably count me in the second
category. There are no less than fifteen
different aircraft listed in my book, including a
few ultralights. The bigger, more complex
machines came because of my commercial license,
which gave me the privilege of flying airplanes
that would be otherwise unaffordable.
It’s rare to have the opportunity for a job
where you can truthfully say, “I can’t
believe they pay me to do this.”
The
bigger they are, the more power they have, the
faster they go and the more they can carry.
But I reckon that’s not the ultimate
ambition for many pilots. Some would rather
be on their own schedule, going to places of
their own choice and staying as long as they feel
like staying. Commercial pilots can’t
do that. There are deadlines, schedules,
rules, commitments, and worst of all, you have to
be there every morning to fly. As
unbelievable as it sounds, some days, you just
don’t want to do it.
Full time flying will usually, like any other
occupation, become a job sooner or later.
I’m fortunate to be doing it only on a
seasonal basis, and have not become bored or
tired. It’s still something to look
forward to with great anticipation.
Before going to
work and earning money in an airplane, there were
several years of wonderful, carefree adventures
in the air and at destinations of my
choice. On a typical Saturday, several
fellow pilots would gather at the local airport,
some would bring along a friend, we would all
jump in our planes and away we’d go.
Off on a short flight to the next town where a
coffee shop served us lunch. From there, it
was on to sightseeing over the local mountains or
nearby lakes, then to another airport for
afternoon coffee and more discussions. We
would tell stories, get and give advice, compare
technical information, and enjoy the scenery,
both on the ground and from above all the
unlucky, earth-bound souls below. At the
end of the day if anyone asked what we did,
despite the hobbs meter showing maybe only 2
hours, the best way to answer the question was,
“We went flying”.
The following day, the Sunday fly-ins and
breakfasts would supply more reasons to fly.
Nobody had a high-performance plane back
then. We were all private pilots who flew
Cherokees and Champs, T-Crafts and Cubs,
ultralights and 150’s. No one seemed
to care about the price of gas, the rules of the
control zones, the nonsense that comes from
Transport and Nav Canada. We were under the
radar, so to speak. Nobody much cared what
we were doing out there flying off little grass
strips and gravel airports. Rarely did we
get into paved runways, and even then there were
few control towers in our area of
operations. It was all just plain
fun. Many talk about the thrill of flying
low and slow in an open cockpit plane, and how
you can smell the freshly cut hay, the ripe corn
and sweet strawberry fields below. My first
encounter with an experience like that was in my
Renegade, over a feed lot. Not so
nice. That Renegade often sought out the
eagles and other soaring birds, then flew in
close below them to enjoy the free lift of a
thermal. There was no place to go, so why
not?
Bill Ross landing
his Renegade at Quilchena.
Every pilot should have his own small airplane
even if it’s just once. Maybe an
ultralight. No, let’s say
“particularly an ultralight”.
You’ll hone your skills and get the feel of
seat-of-the-pants flying, which will go a long
way in your flying career. Best of all,
you’ll find a circle of friends who also
enjoy the freedom of flight. Your summer
weekends will forever be remembered as the lazy,
crazy days when flying was strictly for the fun
of it.
bcflyer@propilots.net
To read all of
Barry's previous articles, go to http://www.ocis.net/tvsac/BMLetters.html
New
in the Buy&Sell
Two: Sylvaire M.F.G Bushmaster II
Specs
with 582 Rotax: Rate of climb 600 - 1000
feet/min, Max speed 100 mph, cruise 73 mph,
wing span 36 feet, wing area 162 sq
feet, empty weight 450 pounds,
Gross Weight 1200 pounds,
stall speed power on: 35 Mph stall
speed power off: 43Mph, 2 seats
side-by-side, Cabin 44 inches wide.
Cabin Heat, Radio,
intercom, 1 set of skis , GPS, Very
nice condition.
Modified
C-IHWE powered by new Rotax 582. Type C gear box.
$25,000.
C-IEYB
is powered by a Subaru EA81 $27,500
obo.
Call
Jason at 306-628-8127 email jagizen@sasktel.net
(09/12/18)
Prop. Hub, wiring....
Three
bladed GSC Prop. hub $100.00
Strobe
lights wire $50.00
Wally
Walcer, wwalcer@shaw.ca or 250-578-7343
(09/12/17)
This
site hosted by OCIS, On Call Internet Services.
250-376-3858 Check
their Website here: http://www.ocis.net/
Due
to the limited space available on the server, the
archives will not contain anything older than one
year. I
welcome your feedback. Do you have any
contributions for the newsletter? Photos would be
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stories, project updates or tall tales... Contact
me: Newsletter Editor: Cam Villeneuve
1-250-374-4181 villeneuve@shaw.ca
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