RFC Dallas Flying ClubNewsletter

Spring 2017Editor: Charla Dumas | charladumas@gmail.com rfcdallas.com

Club Meetings:RFC monthly meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month (except December) at 7:30 pm, at the Addison Airport Fire Station.

Recent Meetings:

Jan: AOPA Regional Representative & RFC Mem-ber Tom Chandler spoke about the 10 Year Master Plan recently approved for Addison Airport.

Feb: Wings of Mercy National Director Grace Spelde spoke about this non-profit that uses GA pilots to fly people with medical needs to treatment centers throughout the Midwest.

In This Newsletter:Challenge Air Fly Day: Volunteer April 8! pg. 2

Breckenridge Air Show pg. 3

Club Operations pg. 4

Flying to Santa Fe (by Stuart Thompson)pg. 5

“Please Call the Tower” (by Blake Gillette) pg. 6

Meet RFC’s New Members pg. 7-8

RFC Payment Reminders pg. 9

Club Information / Hours & Oil Reportpg. 10

Do You Have a Program Idea?

RFC’s Program Director Surry Shaffer, who does a terrific job putting together our programs each month, would love your ideas.

Please send program ideas directly to Surry at sshaffer@rslins.com

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After a 20 year break, the Breckenridge Air Show is coming back. The original air show was started in 1977 by the late Howard Pardue, a legendary airshow performer and air race pilot from Breckenridge. The event was held each year until 1996.

The Airshow is scheduled for May 28, 2017 and will include:

• B-17 and B25 bomber, P-47 and SBD from Lone Star Flight Mu-seum of Galveston

• David Martin will bring a P-51, Bonanza, Cap (aerobatic Brietling Plan) act

• The Texas Flying Legends will bring a Wildcat, B25, P-51, P-40 and a Zero

• Stuart Dawson will bring a Sea Fury• Robert Garriott will bring a P-51• Trent Latshaw, from OK City, will be bringing a P-51 or Corsair• Ed Vesley will be bringing a SB2C• Joe Thibideau will bring a P-51• J.P. Thibideau will bring a Sea Fury• Russell Madden will bring a helicopter and Beech 18• Wyndal from North Carolina will bring a T-28 or Corsair

Breckenridge Air ShowMay 28, 2017

New Certificates & RatingsGregg SayhInstrument RatingInstructor: Brandon Maso

Jack HovingPrivate PilotInstructor: Brandon Maso

First SolosFeng ZhangFirst Solo on Dec 2Instructor: Brandon Maso

Greg GustafsonFirst Solo on Dec 21Instructor: Brandon Maso

Kyle WarnerFirst Solo on Dec 22Instructor: Brandon Maso

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Club OperationsFrom President John Rousseau & Operations Officer Larry Robicheaux

After cleaning the aircraft with the club-pro-vided white terry cloth towels and water spray bottels, you may use the Pledge to put a thin coat of wax on the leading edges, struts, cowling and wheel pants to ease in bug removal. Please use the Pledge sparingly; it is not intended to be used as a cleaner .

Use Pledge Sparingly:

When reserving an aircraft in Schedule Mas-ter, please complete the window provided for your destination. If you are staying local or doing training, choosing one of the options from the pull-down menu will generally be sufficient, but if you are leaving the greater metroplex area, even if it’s just a day trip, please insert the name and/or identifier of the airport(s) you will be flying to. This informa-tion is very helpful to the aircraft owners who are constantly trying to figure out when to schedule the next oil change and/or 100 hour inspection on their airplane(s).

Include Destination on Scheduler:

Ever settle your seat into the seat of one of our planes and have that uncomfortable feeling that you are sitting on a lap belt that has been buckled after the last flight? Well, that’s what it supposed to feel like—otherwise you are sticking your hands between the seats, scraping and cutting your hands searching for the end of the seat belt to secure yourself and your passengers in the cockpit.

All of our planes are different and it may not make sense to secure a lap belt with the shoulder strap or harness (like the Cherokee), but the seat belt may be buckled while leaving the shoulder straps dangling behind the seats. Rear lap belts should always be organized and, if appropriate, buckled after each flight. Seat belts, like most air-craft accessories, are expesive. So please do your part to keep our seat belts in good shape.

Buckle Seatbelts After Flight:

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We RFC Dallas pilots are very fortunate to be situated here in North Texas, halfway between great mountains and beautiful beaches. I usually head to one or the other, depending on the time of year. The mountain spots are usually in Colorado or New Mexico; the beaches are in the Florida panhandle. The speed and range of our Bonan-za’s afford us the ability to fly non-stop to many mountain towns, with Santa Fe (KSAF) being one of the closest and easiest to fly to. With 550L the flight takes only 2 hours and 45 minutes.

I first flew to New Mexico to snow ski in Taos. The year was 1994, and I had just purchased my first Bonanza a few months earlier. Having no mountain flying experience at the time, I wanted to fly the lowest terrain route pos-sible. We flew 485 nm direct to KSAF with the highest terrain at 8,500 ft, and then up the valley for the 54nm leg to Taos (KSKX). It made for a very simple flight flying at 6,500 ft initially, then climbing to 8,500, and then 10,500 as terrain dictated.

Santa Fe, founded by Spanish colonists in 1610, is the oldest state capital in the United States. Santa Fe means “holy faith”in Spanish. The Spanish laid out the city in ac-cordance with the planning rules established by KingPhilip II in 1593, whereby the the town was built around a central plaza. On the north side of the plaza, the Palace of Governors was built, and it’s still there. Several beautiful churches were also built in the plaza.

The architecture, culture, food, and history of Santa Fe make it a wonderful destination. It is a very spiritual place. The crisp, cool, clean air is very welcome in the summer. Scores of artists and chefs have flocked to the city, and the galleries and restaurants there have benefited greatly. It is an excellent place to sit back and relax, and reflect on the more than 400 years of history that came before us. Native American Indians sell their handcrafted jewelry of copper and silver in the plaza at excellent prices. I highly recommend the rooftop bar at the Bell Tower in the La Fonda hotel for a cocktail at sunset.

I normally stay at Hilton properties and the Historic Santa Fe Hilton is conveniently located just a few blocks west of

serve fuel is available north of the control tower at a good price, currently $4.05.

Rent cars are available in the terminal just north of Signa-ture. Enterprise can save you some money with their off airport location and will drop off at Signature if you set up payment in advance.

By Stuart ThompsonFlying to Santa Fe the plaza. The Hilton Buffalo

Thunder is a beautiful resort property 12 miles north of the city with a casino and golf course. I’ve also stayed at the Doubletree close to the airport.

The towered airport is lo-cated at 6348 elevation. It has three runways, all over 6,300 ft. long. Signature bought Santa Fe Jet last year. Piston aircraft parking is on their east ramp. Self

If you are looking for a quick flight to the mountains to cool off during the sum-mer, it doesn’t get any bet-ter than Santa Fe. I always depart for Santa Fe early morning to take advantage of lighter winds and less turbulence and get a longer first day there. You also get another hour of daylight on mountain time. Departure is usually mid-afternoon.... always out of the mountains and terrain before dark. Happy Flying!

Finding myself on the receiving end of one of those dreaded “please call the tower” requests recently, I was asked to share my experience with the Club in the hope of maybe lifting some of the mystery and fear that can associate such a call.

Early on a Sunday morning in June 2016, I was set for a quick cross country flight in 3077U to Arkansas and back. After start up, ATIS was tuned in and received just fine. I then tuned to ground for taxi clearance. After several failed attempts with no responses from ground, I came to the conclusion the tower had not yet opened for the day. It was an early Sunday morning and it just made sense. As I later found out the tower was indeed open and they were hearing my transmissions but I was not hearing their responses. My subsequent actions after that were consistent with those expected at a non-towered field: Announce taxi to run up area, announce taking the active for departure, clear landing traffic and depart. My flight to Arkansas and back was uneventful with successful radio function all along the way, so the radio issue still remains as a mystery.

Of course upon returning to ADS I was instructed to call the tower, which I did, and received a pretty good dress-ing down from the guy who was on the tower frequency earlier in the day. I was courteous, apologetic and tried to explain what I believe had happened, but I realized pretty quickly this guy wasn’t interested in explanations. He seemed personally offended that I had violated his environment and ignored his light signals. Of course my response to that was why on earth would I be looking at the tower for light signals when I thought the tower was closed. I decided to call the tower on Monday morning and talk to the manager, which I did, and spoke with Mar-ty. He mentioned that he was vaguely familiar with the in-cident and after a brief and very respectful discussion, his assessment was that it appeared to be an honest mistake resulting in no ‘loss of separation,’ but that he was none-theless obligated to report the incident up the chain. He also stated that he didn’t anticipate any actions other than an interview due to the low-level nature of the incursion.

In November I was made aware of a letter sent by the FAA to the aircraft owner, and I made immediate contact

with the FSDO office. It may be instructive that it took FSDO 5 months to send the letter, then over 3 weeks to return my call, and finally another 2 months for the final session that put the issue to rest. My guess is this oc-curred because it was a low-level beef, but that’s a long time to be left wondering about an outcome. The letter I received included information regarding a relatively new operational philosophy implemented by the FAA under the direction of FSDO known as “Volunteer Compliance Action,” which according to their flyer is “a non-enforce-ment method for correcting unintentional deviations.” It does, however, come with an acknowledgement of having received a copy of the “Pilot’s Bill of Rights,” so I would just advise caution. All deviations are not equal particularly in the professional pilot world, and while the flyer does state that “the Volunteer Compliance Action is not adjudication, nor does it constitute a finding of viola-tion,” it may serve members well based upon the advice of our fearless leader John Rousseau to take advantage of legal services offered by AOPA prior to making a deci-sion to go the ’volunteer compliance’ route. Since 100% of my flying is personal I wasn’t particularly concerned about my standing, and so this route seemed to make sense.

I found the experience very non-threatening and pleas-ant. It amounted to a 30 minute conversation with a de-lightful young lady who appeared to be filling out a form in an interview setting. She completed the interview with a statement that she didn’t believe further action would be necessary, but that decision would be made by her superiors. I received a follow up call from her in mid-Jan-uary, and she conducted what I believe was a ‘counseling session,’ in which she posed a series of questions around my awareness and knowledge of operating aircraft in controlled environments.

The teachable aspects of my experience are listed below, with the progress of events fol-lowed by actions I will take in the future should something similar happen:

• Early on Sunday morning, unfamiliar with hours of operations. Lesson: Familiarize myself with hours of operation and/or call the tower on my cell number to make sure there’s not an issue.

• Tuning and receiving ATIS followed immediate-ly by no success at contacting ground led me to an incorrect conclusion that the tower was closed. Lesson: Do a more thorough diagnosis of all radio equipment including trying another radio, and glance at the tower in the event they may be shooting light signals

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The Dreaded Request to “Please Call The Tower”By Blake Gillette

Meet Our New Members

Paul MolnarI grew up as an Air Force brat overseas. I remember taking MAC hops all over the world with my parents, flying on C141s, C5s. One time when I was about 10, on our way into Rhein Main, I was in the cockpit and the pilot let me sit in his seat, disengaged the autopilot, and let me gently roll the plane side to side.

In 1992 I began jumping from planes and got a class A license. In 1995 I went into the Army where I also jumped from planes and ended up riding around in helicopters a lot.

In 2000 I began flying with the Eielson AFB (Alaska) flying club. My CFI had one eye and wore glasses. He had lost an eye when something exploded on his F86. My Check ride was done by a former B17 pi-lot who couldn’t get a medical anymore but was allowed to work as a DE. For me, aviation is the synthe-sis of technology (I’m a E.E.), history, adventure, national pride, combined with the function in transporta-tion. It allows for us to travel as a family, and we love traveling. Flying is a hobby that keeps me mentally active and involves my wife Dana (she’s my navigator and weatherman), and eventually my son.

I have been a member of flying clubs in Louisville KY, Heidelberg Germany, Fairbanks AK, and in the last 12 years the North Texas Flying Club, Burleson & Mesquite TX. I look forward to flying the Bonanzas, since my children are growing up and I need something that can haul my family.

Here is a little background on some of our newest members.

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• Kyle Warner• Tom Chandler• Sean Burke

• Bill Rutledge• Paul Molnar• Marc Finlen

Kyle WarnerOriginally from Corpus Christi, I moved to the Dallas area after college at Texas A&M for work. I’ve lived here in the metroplex since 2007. I’ve always loved aviation and would prefer an air show to Disney World as a kid. I’ve done a number of discovery flights and attempts to start flying, but life always seemed to get in the way. Now that my wife (Amanda) and I have a baby on the way (May 2017), I decided I better get my license before I really run out of time.

When I’m not in the plane getting corrected by Brandon Maso, I travel for work pretty regularly to the Pacific Northwest as an IT Project Manager.

• Gene Vertkin• Kevin Bogenreif• Kyle Crothers

Bill RutledgeI have been flying over 40 years, 29 with airlines. I’m currently based in DFW flying 767 International, and I’m married and live in Grapevine.

I have owned several planes but have not flown GA in about 20 years til last year. I got typed in the DC-3 Southern Cross at Meacham last October and get to fly it on a volunteer basis. I build and fly scale R/C planes and enjoy taking long trips on my Harley

Sean BurkeI live with my family in Coppell, and I am employed at the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) as a contracting officer, where I have been for the past six years.

Prior to that I’ve had a wide ranging career including work as an Investment Banker (Principal Fi-nancial), Geophysicist (Raytheon), and Director of Strategic Planning (Marconi, plc). I have trav-elled quite a bit, including my first four years out of college when I lived and worked in the jungles and deserts of Venezuela and Colombia, and a later job where I traveled regularly to the UK and Italy. In 2012, I was deployed to Western Afghanistan (Shindand Airbase) as a Contracting Officer in support of five area forward operating bases (FOBs) which I got to travel to in a variety of aircraft.

Fun fact: On a high school senior road trip to Las Vegas many years ago I had the honor of meeting Joe Louis, who was working at Caesar’s Palace.

Kevin BogenreifKevin Bogenreif is a Corporate Banker in Dallas with Texas Capital Bank, where he focuses on the banking needs of lower/middle-market companies and supports private equity investors with their M&A activities both locally in Texas, and nationally.

Kevin’s background in flying began at a very young age as his father and older brother were both certificated pilots. His father is a 1,500+ pilot, and his brother is an ATP flying A329/A321 for JetBlue. Since age 3 he’s been around airplanes. At 14 he took his first ‘actual’ lesson, and later completed his PPL at age 17 in a Beech Skipper. He completed his IFR training and check-out at 19 in a Cirrus SR-22. Kevin has been out of flying for 6 years as a result of launching his career, but is excited to get back to flying. He has approximately 225 hours, with 150 hours in an SR-22 that are logged however he estimates he has additional ‘un-logged’ hours (stick time with the fami-ly) in excess of 150 hours in the family’s previous Piper Seneca. Kevin is married and lives in East Dallas / M-Street’s area, and works in downtown Dallas.

Meet Our New Members continued ...

Kyle CrothersKyle Crothers was in high school when he took advantage of a perk of his father’s em-ployment at E-Systems to learn to fly under the instruction of Harry Andonian at Majors field in Greenville, Texas. Harry soloed Kyle with just 6.3 hours in a Cessna 150. De-spite Kyle’s father’s hope that he would finally take an interest in something he could make a career of, Kyle was satisfied with finding all of the secret fishing spots around Lake Tawakoni from the air and, with 25 hours of training, his flying career stalled out.

Kyle graduated from Baylor University with a degree in computer science. Two years later he started his own company and traveled across the United States as a technical consultant for Lawson Software. After twelve years of living out of a hotel during the

workweek, Kyle decided it was time to settle down. He met a great gal, got married, and put down roots in Dallas. But the steady life of an 8-5 job can make a guy antsy, and Kyle decided it was time to take to the skies again. With his beautiful wife’s support and encouragement, Kyle resumed flying lessons and achieved his pilot’s license in 2016. He and his wife look forward to regular weekend get-aways with hopes they will make the workweek bearable until retirement, hopefully by age 50-ish.

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Payment in full is due each month on or before the last day of the calendar month.

Payment by check: Your check must be in the RFC P.O. Box on or before the last day of the month (the full address is on our website). Please allow at least 3 to 5 days for the mail system to deliver. If your payment is late, the outstand-ing balance on your account plus a 3% credit card fee will be charged to the credit card you have provided to the club. Once the card is charged it cannot be credited back. Additionally, once RFC receives your check, it will be cashed and the amount collected will be credited to your account.

Payment by Credit Card: If you have a credit card on file with a signed agreement that this card is to be charged each month, then that card will be charged monthly with the appropriate fee. All credit cards have Expiration Dates; please check your card this month to see when it expires. Even if the number does not change when your Bank or Card Company issues your new card, we must have the new expiration date to charge your account. Failure to provide this new information may result in a finance charge being applied to your balance for carrying over a balance.

The same goes for cards that have been compromised. As soon as you know your card is being replaced, please provide the following information regarding your new card to the RFC Treasurer: Type (e.g. Visa), Card Number, and Expiration Date.

*** Send all updated or new card information to rfcdallastreasurer@gmail.com as soon as possible when changes need to be made. ***

We have over 100 members who must be billed each month. Our Treasurer, Jim Leverett, manages this job as a volunteer. Jim does an excellent job and needs everyone’s co-operation to keep billing and receipts ac-curate and posted in a timely manner. Thanks for your help and co-operation.

RFC Payment Reminders:

Club InformationRFC Board of Directors & Officers

• President – John Rousseau*• Vice President of Membership – Surry Shaffer*• Treasurer – Jim Leverett*• Secretary – Kris Lonborg*• Operations Officer (except oil) – Larry Robicheaux*• Operations Officer (oil only) – Stuart Thompson• Safety and Training Officer – Tom Johnson*• Maintenance Officer – Bruce Hanson*• Flight Instructor Coordinator – Tom Johnson*• Program Director – Surry Shaffer*• Social Director – Colin Hassell• Newsletter Editor – Charla Dumas• Webmaster – Ed Wagner

*Member of Club Board of Directors

RFC Club Checkout Instructors

• Richard Aron• Kenneth Campbell• Mike Howle• Chris Hubbard• Tom Johnson• Brandon Maso• Bob Schneider• Surry Shaffer • Stuart Thompson

Bios and contact information for instructors are available at rfcdallas.com

Current Aircraft Rental Rates (Wet)

N4746L (Cherokee) .............. $98/hrN631S (C182) ...................... $130/hrN87MT (Bonanza) ................ $160/hrN550L (Bonanza).................. $182/hr

Current Dues & Fees

Membership Deposit .....................$500Initiation Fee ...................................$65Monthly Dues: Cherokee only ............................$45 Cherokee/Arrow/182...................$55 Bonanza/Cherokee/Arrow/182....$65

For more information, visit rfcdallas.com

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Hours & Oil - 2016 Report