Hangar Flying

OK San Diego area Canardians, by now you already know the drill.  It's time for our monthly meeting at the Casa Machado restaurant THIS THURSDAY, August 18th at 6:30 PM.  The Casa Machado is located on the second floor of the main terminal-operations building at Montgomery Field.  

As always, anyone building an LongEZ, VariEze, Velocity, Cozy, or composite airplane; interested in buying a flying EZ-type; or already flying a composite airplane is invited to attend! Heck, we're even glad to to have RVers like Denny Culum.  Some of us have been off to Oshkosh since the last meeting (I know of at least five SDEZ guys that were there), and I'm sure that we all promise not to bend your ear about OSH, (at least until one of us brings the topic up).  And then there is the upcoming Kanab RACE event set for Labor Day weekend. I may even have some info. on the annual Fall trek to Mexico for the not-stay-at-home types.

So, bring your construction questions if you are building. Share your latest improvements and flying stories if you are flying. Bring any safety tips or concerns. There are new pilots, builders and up-coming flying activities that are just getting going, so let's let the EZ Squadron members know about them. And don't forget to bring your best gal (or guy if he's the back seater)!

Hope to see you on the 18th,

Dan Patch
San Diego EZ Squadron Safety Officer

Well, the weather gods smiled on us!  What great weather (finally)!  Slightly sketchy VFR conditions a few places inland before about 8:00 AM, but everywhere else had excellent flying conditions from the get-go, and we had clear skies and perfect temperatures by mid-morning throughout the San Diego air basin.  So that was a relief after suffering through several weeks of heavy marine layer glunk.  

Anyhow, we had four EZ's from out of the SD area make the flight in, which was a record high number as best my memory can recall for our June picnic event - Thanks one and all of our visitors for your support, it was really great to have you make the effort to come!    

David Kolstad (VariEze N506D) and Jeff Gress and his wife (VariEze N34EZ) flew in early in the morning from Whiteman and Fullerton, respectively.  They both took advantage of the chance to get a fresh weight and balance done.  Dave said that it had been twenty years since his last (original) was done, so I suspect there may have been a change since then.   :?  Perhaps his baggage pods are really baby stealth derigibles filled with helium and his plane is lighter!  

I also spotted Long-EZ N606TT on the ramp, but not until after lunch when it was time for him to depart.  Beagle’s Sq. III directory (and the FAA) list 6 Tango Tango as belonging to Torger Totusek, also out of Fullerton.  I’m bummed that I didn’t get a chance to visit with Torger!  :cry:  I guess I must have been too heavily involved the the W&B project to be properly paying attention to what was going on – my bad, but next time.

Distance award goes to Bill and Julie Lermer from the Phoenix area - the Lermers are good friends and loyal ex-SDEZ squadron members who have made all or nearly of the Squadron June gatherings in years past. Bill and Julie were the first members of the SDEZ Squadron to finish a VariEze - in 1978 - and they are still flying!  Bill sold their VariEze at one point, and then discovered that life without a VariEze just wasn't EZ, so he bought another Squadron member's plane when it became available.  

Three Long-EZs carrying Trio Avionics’ trio, Chuck Busch, Jerry Hansen and Sid Tolchen arrived together just in time to make the free breakfast for EZ-folk; and they went on to give an outstanding presentation outlining their GPS-friendly autopilot and soon to be released (2-3 weeks) altitude-hold autopilot.  Judging by the mob around their show-and-tell display after the presentation, they certainly captured a lot of interest.  So, again thanks to you guys for your support and fine presentation!

In addition to Dave and Jeff’s VariEzes, three local planes were weighed – Sid Tolchen’s and Al Hodges’ Long-EZs, and an EAA Chapter 14 “Pete-’in-Paul”.  Many thanks to Harry Abbott who made it happen by supplying the computer, a printer, and by crunching the numbers so that everyone had completed documentation; and thanks to Larry Rothrock (EAA 14 Prez, hanger mate and SDEZ Squadron guy) for W&B setup, plane shoving, and tear-down.  Thanks to the many other helping hands for fixing lunch, shoving planes, preparing the scales (that's you Ryan), and all the other tasks that got done!  

So it all came together, the weather was great, we had fun, the presentation was excellent, the atmosphere was relaxed (as was Al Hodges' grip on his Long-EZ, but that’s another story), and I got to meet a new EZ builder (Berkut) and a potential EZ buyer.  I never got anything like a firm head count, but several dozen EZ pilots stood up at the meeting, and plenty more came after that.

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

The bi-monthly San Diego EZ Squadron meeting will be held on Thursday, March 17th at 6:30 PM, at the Casa Machado restaurant at Montgomery Field - a week later than our usual second Thursday meeting night.

The January meeting had the best turnout in quite a long while, and the Squadron is again picking up momentum.  Indeed, the group was too large for the usual dining area, and it was obvious that something better is needed.  In particular, we had a number of possible discussion topics for the last meeting that didn’t get covered because of the relatively poor setting.  So the plan is to move the group out to the enclosed patio/meeting area of the restaurant.  

For many years SDEZ Squadron meetings were rather well organized affairs that ultimately ran longer than some members liked.  Then the format shifted to relatively small social dinners with only a few, long-time EZ pilots in attendance.  I think that with a new crop of builders coming aboard, something between these two meeting models is desirable.  In particular, I think that we need to better focus on addressing the interests, questions and needs of new builders, so we will set aside some time to give new members a chance to properly introduce themselves (what they are building or flying, construction issues, etc.) and to get the group’s input (time, place and content) on how to make future Squadron meetings both valuable and enjoyable for all.  

Bring your questions if you are thinking of building, and your construction issues if you currently are building.  Share your latest improvements and flying stories if you are flying.  And don't forget to bring your best gal (or guy if he's the back seater)!  With any luck, Bill Ingram will bring his new cowl for show-and-tell.
 
Dan Patch (DeltaPop)
SDEZ Squadron Safety Officer