President’s Message

What a difference a day makes! For the past three fly-ins, weather has forced us to go with the alternate date. In each case, the date turned out significantly better. The Garnsey fly-in originally had bad tstms forecasted for the area and the alternate date turned out perfect (but the turnout was less than stellar). The Kline Kill date had the remnantsof a hurricane blowing thru the area, but the alternate date did bring good weather (along with residual winds). Then came Basin Harbor and a cold front.

We all agreed that the Sat. date wasn’t going to work and Steve Sevits changed the phone message Fri. night. The FSS briefer that I spoke with on Fri. night said that while Sat. would have the front moving thru the area with some potential nasty weather, Sun. should be good VFR and the winds usually associated with a strong cold front would die down quickly. That’s exactly what happened. The winds at HPN were 010 at 18 gusting to 24 at 6:00 am but were 020 at 10 when Marc Pekowsky & I tookoff at 9:45.

It was a spectacular fall day for flying in the northeast. Down our way in the NYC area, the leaves were just starting to change. The farther north you went, the better the colors. The air was smooth and you could see forever. The winds aloft really

didn’t effect the ground speed too much. The cool air aided in the plane’s performance. It was a great flight up and back.

I had to drive to the wilds of inner Brooklyn for a family obligation when I returned, so I felt that a fuel stop at Glens Falls, N.Y. on the way up, would make for a quick non-stop flight home (and it did). Glens Falls is one of those “$100 breakfast/burger” destinations with its restaurant in the terminal. From the time we took off from GFL, until arriving at Basin Harbor, all we heard on Boston Center & Burlington approach, were planes going to Basin Harbor. This place could be considered one of the ultimate “$100 B/B” destinations!

First of all, the turf runway there is about 3000’ of putting green surface (it’s right along Basin Harbor’s golf course). Secondly, the Red Mill restaurant is adjacent to the runway. Thirdly, the resort offers some great scenery for walking around the grounds (and swimming in season). Last, but not least, the scenery in the area (mountains, Lake Champlain, Lake George, Fort Ticonderoga, and the farm lands) make the flight worthwhile. This is usually a popular destination for us and thankfully, it was again, a huge success. We had a very good turnout (for our chapter)

of both planes, members, and potential members.

When we have a turnout of 14 people and 9 aircraft, we consider it to be a great turnout and that’s what we had. I flew up from White Plains,N.Y. with Marc Pekowsky in my Tri-Pacer, Steve Sevits came from Columbia Co. in his Tri-Pacer, Gary Collins from Sharon Springs in his Vagabond, Nick Frirsz from Saratoga in his award winning Vagabond, Mike Hirsch & Bruce Clark from Beverly, Mass. in Mike’s PA22/20,Richard Maule in his Ravenswood Titan ultralight from the Glens Falls area, Rico Cannone in his Tri-Pacer from Saratoga, Fabio Schulthess,Sylvia Heise, & Brenda Shea in Fabio’s PA22/20 from Sugarbush, Vt., Sandi & Fred DeFilippis in their C-172 from White Plains, and Wendy & Jay Ellis drove over from Sugarbush. Jay is Julio Iglesias’s personal pilot in, I think, a Gulfstream 4. A very good turnout on a spectacular day for flying!

Here’s an interesting thing. Nick Frirsz’s Vagabond, which is a prize winner, was on a recent cover of the Short Wing Piper News. It turns out that it used to be Bruce Cark’s many hours ago. I think Bruce put in more than a 1000 hours on the Vagabond. Remember that these are old 1940s vintage birds. The other SWPs are 1950s vintage. It is not a rare coincidence, that one of our planes

could have belonged to, or were a

“first flight” plane of another member.

Another thing to remember about the Vagabond is that it is the only Short Wing Piper to qualify for the new sport pilot certification. These planes will see their value soar in the near future!! Plus they are great, fun planes to fly.

We really didn’t have a formal meeting. Due to the hour, the chance to walk around and see the resort’s beautiful grounds, an antique boat show at their marina, and some of our schedules, we scattered to the winds. Fabio flew back over to Sugarbush with Nick, to give one of Fabio’s friends a ride in the Vagabond. The friend is considering buying one, but had never been in one.

Much business had been taken care of at our Kline Kill meeting. We mourn the loss of Margaret Archambault as our treasurer. In the event that she won’t re-consider, member Gary Collins said he would pitch in. Until things have been formally transferred, please send any dues to either Margaret or me. Check the expiration date on your mailing label. If you are not sure, call or e-mailme and I’ll let you know. Some of you have sent me your e-mail address. I will list those of you that haven’t. Perhaps you forgot or do not have e-mail? We need to know this so we can start e-mailing the newsletter and save on time and postage.

In attempting to e-mail our last newsletter to a few folks, I found out that the e-mail was returned because it had too much (the pictures). I will attempt to do this with this newsletter and put the pictures in as an attachment. Let’s see if this works. If any of you have suggestions, I’d appreciate them. I do the newsletter in MS Word, because that’s the program that Dennis Wheeler, our “webmaster” uses.

Here is a list of members that I need e-mail addresses from (if you have e-mail):

Mike Archambault

Mike Berry

Fred DeFilippis

James Fields

Zene Garnsey

Will Gomez

Phil Jacobus

Bev Jewett

Colbeth Killip

William Piggott

Gary Rossman

Ed Shancey

Craig Smith

Stuart Tinker

Jacqueline VanValkenberg

If you could just send a simple e-mail response, we can get this up and running asap. Most other chapters & clubs are doing this and it seems to work well. You can always print it out .

We have set the Nov. & Dec. meetings. Our next fly-in will be on Sat. Nov. 20th, with the 21st as the alternate, to Hampton, New Hampshire (7B3). It has a good 2100’ turf runway, CTAF is 122.8, fuel is available, and they do have a restaurant on the field. This is a popular “good old days” airport.

We’ll meet at the EAA hangar at noon and take it from there. No doubt, we’ll have some lunch before the meeting. Bruce Clark is making the arrangements; he is a member of the local EAA chapter.

Bruce has been a member, both active and inactive, of our chapter for longer than I’ve been around. If anyone is an “ expert on the technical aspects” of Short Wing

Pipers”, he’s the one. He has flown, owned, restored, and re-built more of them than most of us could believe!

On the subject of the Vagabond, he is a wealth of knowledge. I know that any time hes shares his knowledge with us, we come away with more of an education. This could be a reasl learning experience (whether you fly a SWP or not).

Steve Sevits brought to my attention the “great white arc” on the current New York Sectional chart. All this is , is an expansion of the TFR around P-67, that is active when the current or former Bush is in town. As the chart says, make sure you contact FSS to find out about the status of this, and any TFR, before flying. This goes for any flight one makes these days. I’m sure that I don’t have to remind you that things are different since”9/11”. If, for any reason, the TFR is in effect on the 20th or 21st, please be sure to check the 1-877-SWPCNE4 # for a status update as to where we’re going.

The December meeting will be our annual Holiday gathering at the Meadowgreens, north end of Columbia County Airport (1B1) in Hudson, N.Y. os Sat. Dec. 18th with the 19th, the alternate. If it happens on Sun. we will have the famous buffet brunch. Steve Sevits has arranged for a speaker from the Albany FSDO, as well as the person that does the embroidery for the shirts, caps, etc. We will also have our holiday $$ drawing for paid up members. All of a sudden, we have

alot of activity and good turnouts! I hope to see you at Hampton on Nov.20th. Safe flying to you – Andy.

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