President's MessageJanuary 2001We finally got a good day to fly and have a fly-in! There was goodVFR in the area forcast and no adverse weather for the entire day. This was good for the entire New England area as well as eastern New York. I realize that this was an alternate day for an event that was a month ago postponed. My friend Mark Pekowsky, new to aviation and eager to see how a "club" works flew with me from White Plains. It was smooth as glass with good visibility below the high overcast. We landed at Columbia County and the traffc was brisk in the pattern. Being that it was cold, we beat a path into Richmor Aviation's warm office to await the arrival of some Short Wings. I was surprised that Steve Sevits, who bases his Tri-Pacer here, or the Archambaults who live across the river were not here. After waiting about a half an hour and seeing only Cessnas, Beech, and Long Wing Pipers land, Mark and I walked up the taxiway in hope of finding some path through the snow leading to Meadowgreens and Lo and behold, upon entering the restaurant we were greeted by Mike and Margaret Archambault, Steve Sevits, Tom Benenson, and Mike Berry. It seems that while Mark and I were taking the walk, Mike landed his plane and was picked up by Mike Archambault who drove back to the airport. This was it folks. We had a very cozy time, enjoying the buffet and informal aviation talk. Mike Berry is an ATA captain who
bases his Tri-Pacer and Apache at Worcester, Mass. His schedule is such that
Sundays are best for him and this worked out well. Mike is an A&P
(A&I?)and a consultant to an aviation insurance company. He also does some
writing for some aviation publications. Hopefully he'll write a thing or two
(we'll settle for one just now) for us. Speaking
of aviation writers, I'm sure many of you recognize the name Tom Benenson. He is
a senior editor for Flying Magazine and bases his Cessna Cardinal at Columbia
County airport. Tom has joined us before and spoke on various subjects such as
long range flight planning. This was going to be our belated holliday event with
a raffle for $$$ (which we did not have) and Tom was gracious enough to bring in
a shopping bag filled with aviation goodies that he amassed over the last year
for us to raffle off (we did not and no-there wasn't a portable GPS, headset, or
intercom). We thank Tom very much for his generous gifts and even more, that he
joined the chapter! We really didn't come up with much in the way of nailing
down a calendar because of the lack of people. The best we could determine is
that the fly-in on the ice on Lake Winnepesauke in New Hampshire on Sat. Feb.
10th is an event that could be popular with many of you. This will not be an
official chapter event but one that may bring some of you together. This
event is run by the New Hampshire Pilots Association and I believe its
president is Paul Flemming, a member of our chapter. We will try Columbia
County/Meadowgreens again on SUNDAY Feb. 18th for the buffet
brunch/meeting/raffle with more prizes. Try to get there by noon. Sunday March
18th will be the following date with the location to be determined. If we
did not get in our Feb. 18th at Columbia County, that's where it will be held.
Member Jim Ozias is interested in hosting a fly-in to Nantucket, Mass. in the
spring - it will probably be May. Noel Anderson is proposing a possible weekend
event this summer or flying to Brookhaven Airport on Long Island this summer for
the L.I. Antique Airplane Assn. fly-in. I suggested that a possible weekend
event could be our beach party at Montauk, N.Y. where on field camping is
available and a restaurant is across the street as well as a motel. Just
remember that any beach area gets pricey during the summer and looks for a
weekend guarantee, something that weather can make tricky (and expensive). All
of this is in the future. Let's see if we can have a turnout on SUNDAY Feb. 18th
at 1B1 Columbia County.
Safe flyingto you all. Andy Seligson  |
