OK Guys, here's my first cut at an announcement for our up-coming June Squadron Fly-In & Weigh-In Event. I'll add to it below as I learn more, have second thoughts, etc.; but I wanted you to get it in the calendar and to start planning to attend. If you have questions, suggestions on how YOU can contribute, or whatever, fire away by responding below. Also, it would be really helpful if you could give me some idea if you are planning to come so I will have some sort of clue as to what to tell EAA 14 to expect. You can leave me a message in my forum mailbox and I'll try to remember to look for it, or you can email me at home at: dpatch1 at san dot rr dot com.
First, some 'History', then 'The Deal'.
The History:
The San Diego EZ Squadron has held a summer picnic/gathering (usually in June) for many years. Some were potlucks at the Greider's house, but many were BBQ's at the Ramona Airport hosted by our local EZ guys - Harry Abbott, Bobby and Ginny Greider, John Dee, et. al. After losing one of our LEZ pilots to an unnecessary density altitude accident a number of years ago, the SDEZ Squadron bought a set of scales and made a free and efficient weigh-in part of our annual event. (The Squadron also dreamed up the Squadron Safety Officer position, but that's another story.) Over the years we weighed a lot of planes. LA & So. Cal. EZ guys were informally invited to join us, but generally we only had one or two come. Most of the EZ Squadron members turned out, and some SDEZ guys (like Bill Lermer) who had moved to the Phoenix area came too. A couple of the Ramona picnics featured some excellent seminars from folks like the Velocity Factory and Craig Cato (maker of great props!). For lack of leadership/(followership?) in the squadron, the summer fly-in didn't happen last two years. We don't want to drop the ball again this year! This years fly-in should be listed in Tiger's and Beagle's EZ Event calendars, and with any luck we hope to have a better turnout from the LA-So. Cal. area this year.
The Deal:
This year the San Diego EZ Squadron is holding it's annual picnic/Fly-In at Brown Field on Saturday, the 18th of June. Rather than aiming for some type of big extravaganza, the concept is to hold an informal get-together that So. Cal. EZ guys can just drop in on, pretty much like past Ramona Fly-Ins. Chapter 14 will be doing a lot of the work by cooking up free eats for any canardians that fly in and doing the dishes afterward. A mid-morning arrival (like 9:00 AM or so) and early/mid-afternoon departure (or whenever you want) would be a guide to the timeline. Eats are likely to be around noon or a bit before (the EAA 14 guys seemingly are a hungry bunch).
We WILL have the scales available for anyone who wants to generate a current weight and balance for their plane; and we DO have an excellent computer program that will run the W&B numbers for you and print out a professional-looking summary for your records. Al Hodges is signed up #1 on the W&B list! Also, the Trio Avionics guys (Chuck Busch and Jerry Hansen) are coming down from Gillespie with a short audio-video presentation and a hands-on, show-and-tell for their autopilot system, including their brand-new, altitude hold system which I predict is going to be awesome. I have a lead on several other EZ-centric videos to show too, so we'll see about that.
So make plans and let me know what they are.
Dan Patch
SDEZ Sq. Safety Officer
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