December Meeting Minutes
Respectfully Submitted by Jeff Dinius, Secretary

Mike Bond was running late so Dave Nabors called the meeting to order.

Dave pointed out several people building aircraft and had them give a brief update on their progress.

Some building progress is being made on a couple RVs.

A radial Rocket kit was exchanged for a completed Radial Rocket airframe in an effort to speed the completion of the aircraft.

Jerrold gave a brief recount of his latest flying experience in his turbine powered Berkut. The biggest advancement he has made is getting some dual time in another canard type aircraft. The moral to this story is to be proficient in aircraft type before test flying your aircraft.

Mike Bond mentioned the new T Hangers at the airport are nearing completion.

Treasurer’s report: Ernie Stevens reported that several members had paid their dues for 2009 and that increased the amount in the bank. For details of the amount, contact Ernie.

An added note by Mike was to remind everyone that the 2009 dues of $18 should be sent to Ernie for your continued membership in Chapter 515.

On The Spot: John Masslich has been in Loveland since 1943. He is not a native having been born in Chicago but moved with his family to Loveland. John’s first recollection of flight was about 1945 when a relative stationed at Lowry Air Force Base would fly over their house in Loveland.

John was an airport rat when he became old enough. He would hang out at the old Loveland airport (located behind where K-Mart is currently located). He and his friends would look at airplanes and then shoot rabbits on the airport property (in the good old days before Homeland Security). John went to work in 1958 for the Martin corporation.

In 1960 his department had a baseball pool going and finally coerced John to join. He won the $100 and went by an airport on the way home from work. He purchased 10 hours of instruction including the instructor for the $100. He received about 3 hours in a Cessna 120 when someone accidentally cut the tail off with the prop of another aircraft. He then moved to the Cessna 140 but it was in such demand that they put him in a Cessna 150. One day all the training aircraft were busy so he was moved to a Cessna 172. His impression was that he had never been in such a quiet airplane.

John became a missile tech for Martin traveling all around the west checking missiles in their silos. His flying went on hold until about 2 years ago when he began flying a Cub and an Aeronica L bird. This stopped when he found the L bird was not sport pilot qualified. He moved to the Erie airport and began flying the LSAs on his way to the Sport Pilot rating. He has flown a little over an hour as a sport pilot but is ready for more.

Ernie Stevens is the “Spot” person for next month.

Young Eagles: Leslie has 11 first time fliers on the waiting list. There was some brief discussion about another event but the number needed for a formal event is about 20. Some pilots talked to Leslie about taking a couple this weekend so the ones on the list may be handled a couple at a time.

Leslie also mentioned she had received a Young Eagles newsletter. There was something in the newsletter about having given 10+ rides per year earning some sort of credits. Mike stated that EAA headquarters keeps track of the number nut was not aware of what the credits were worth. Seems the credits can be used to offset some of the expense for a Young Eagle to attend Air Academy. Leslie agreed to look into the details and about the chapter sponsoring an attendee to Air Academy.

There was also mention of chapter goals in the newsletter but no one knew what that was about. Again, Leslie volunteered to collect more information.

Old Business: We are still in need of a president for next year. Mike is stepping down and we need a replacement. Derek Johnson volunteered to be VP with all other officers returning for another year of duty.

New Business: Rocky Mountain Regional Fly-in will be moving to the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (Jeffco) for 2009. This will be announced Thursday the 4th of December. Dale will be flying with the “pack” for this event. Dale was not sure of the dates for the fly-in.

The reason for the move from Front Range had to do with a scheduled carrier not wanting to adjust for the event, the cost of fire and rescue support increasing significantly, etc. It is basically a political issue.

Dale also flew for the Veterans’ Day event that included the B-17. They flew a missing man formation.

Program for the evening: Mike Bond will share his experiences in Back Country Flying.

DAVE Nabors introduced the program by sharing his experience flying with Mike in the local mountains. Dave’s main comment was that Mike is very comfortable being close to the trees and rocks. A person needs to know what they are doing. Mike stressed the same thing in that a person needs to be comfortable with their aircraft and know what they are doing before they attempt to fly in the back country.

Mike has made trips to Idaho the last 8 years with the last 6 spent filming the trip. Mike built the videos and still pictures into a nice video that he played at the start of his program. Mike owns a Cessna Skyhawk XP. The XP has a 210 HP engine, which provides him a little extra safety margin for this kind of flying. He attached a video camera to the left strut and some hand held video from the cockpit taken by others.

The first comment from the audience was what do you do in the case of an engine failure. Mike’s comments were to minimize the possibility of failure take extra good care of the engine and the rest of the aircraft. He explained the steps he takes all the time plus the extra steps taken before one of these flights. Mike explained that even an energy dissipation area of 9 feet at 60 MPH is a survivable crash. Mike looks for a clearing that will provide him the maximum slide area possible.

Mike also stressed to keep the airplane light. Density altitude is a large factor in back country flying as the runways are in the mountains. His example of a 30% decrease in performance should be accompanied by a 30% decrease in weight. Keep the airplane power loading as near the same as possible. This will make the airplane perform the same or at least feel the same.

The next point was to fly with an experienced instructor. Each runway has quarks and having someone point them out rather than finding them yourself is very important.

Plan ahead. Prepare for the worst and plan ahead.

Each strip has a go around point. Know it and stick to it. The same is true for take off. Set your abort point and stick with it.

Always have survival gear. Have it close at hand and have it be something you can grab quickly upon exiting a down aircraft. An example was a vest either worn or easily donned before exit.

Know the speeds of your aircraft. Not just the book values but the actual values of your particular aircraft.

Know or look for the condition of the landing strip before touch down. Fly a pass and look for obstacles as well as the materials. Understand the effect of wet grass and gravel on breaking.

Fly early for cooler temperatures and low winds. Usually fly from about 5 AM to 11 AM. Can fly again in the evening when the wind and thermal activity has died down.

Look at the terrain. This will provide clues to the presence of lift and sink. The sunny side of a canyon will warm more quickly and provide thermal lift. Also look for ridge lift from winds.

Last but not least, know yourself. You health and mental attitude is critical. Make sure you are well rested and alert. Know you have sufficient and current training and experience.

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January's Program

The January program will feature Dave & Lyne Biesemeier's 1981 Smyth Sidewinder. It will focus on the designer, the plans and the building and flying of this mid-sixties design homebuilt aircraft.

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