Short Wing Piper Club
Northeast Chapter Flyer
EDITORS REPORT
We certainly have been lucky lately with the weather. Another fine gathering was held, this time at Cooperstown. Dale and I enjoyed lunch in one of the many restaurants along with Mike Hirsch, Phil Jacobus and Theresa Filkins. My BFR was due last month and I asked Mike Hirsch, whom is now an instructor, if he would do the honors. I was his first BFR and I must say he did a very professional job. I consider myself a better than average private pilot having twenty five years and almost 2000 hours under my belt. I also have the distinction of being one of the very few that has walked away from a plane that fell out of the sky and crashed into a mountain. Actually their were four of us that day that shared that experience. Then there was the incident over Lake George where my engine swallowed a valve on the way to Basin Harbor. Mike was flying along side in his plane when that happened. What I find so exciting is that we never stop learning regardless of years and hours of flying, there is always something that you never did get to learn or have forgotten. I learn something new almost at every BFR and this one was no different. Mike put me through some maneuvers and explained to me why the plane was reacting the way it was in a way that was never explained to me before. Then again, flying is his livelihood. This is one law, the Bi-annual Review, that I think is an excellent idea. Years ago when I first started to fly I went to Radio Schack and bought a cheap radio that I could listen to the planes on. One day I heard this pilot explaining to the tower that his grandson had move the dial on the altimeter and he didn’t know now what his altitude was. The tower was instructing him how to place the altimeter setting in the little window but the pilot kept insisting that the kid had mess it up and he now he’s confused. This went on back and forth for a while. I don’t think this guy should have been flying with his grandson in the plane. This was very common in those days for a pilot not to fly for a long time and then go up without proficiency. Thumbs up for BFR’s. We did the Review at Cooperstown after lunch. The weather that whole weekend was excellent so I visited with my son and his family in Saratoga being I was up that way and got to play some golf with Mike Archambault that Sunday at Columbia County. We had a fine time but if Mike and I fly our planes the way we play golf the Friendly Skies would not be so Friendly.
Some of you have gotten to meet George Fruehauf at our Conventions, he was President of the SHORT WING PIPER CLUB some years ago and has been very active as the Chapter Coordinator and in the Scholarship fund. George past away last month and will missed by many of us, especially at the Conventions.
A few Sundays ago I went up to Sky Acres for lunch with a pilot I met recently at Farmingdale and then checked out Kobelt Airport in Walkill, NY. I hadn’t been there for years and there is a restaurant I use to go to right on the field. Well the restaurant is closed now but I noticed a fine looking Pacer on the other side of the runway and decided to get a closer look at it. It turns out that this is the plane that Bill Fenn owned before he died. Some of you will remember him, he was with our chapter a short while before he died. The last meeting he attended was the one at Ellenville in 92 when a group of us were treated to lunch at the hotel that was to house our Convention in 93. He was in a wheelchair having had a recent operation. I met the new owners Rich and Monica Pedulla. Rich had made some modifications that would be of interest to us. I encouraged him to enroll in our Chapter as I found him to be a heck of a nice guy and that’s one of our requirements. I am going to send him a few complimentary issues of our letter and hopefully we will have him and his wife interested. For more info on the Chapter Rich, dial our toll free number 1800 333 SWPC.
Next month I am going back to work, I will be getting involved again in my Deli here on Long Island. At this point I am not sure of how much free time I will have at first so I asked Noel Anderson if he could take over the Newsletter for me. I have to admit I really enjoy putting this thing together but I’m afraid I won’t have the time to do it right.. Noel agreed to do it and I think he will do a fine job. I get the impression that he has a lot more knowledge than I do when it comes to computers and he is also motivated so the quality of the letter should be enhanced if anything. Hope to see you at Groton.
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