Official Publication of Airventurers, a Non-Profit Pilot’s Association Volume 53, No. 12, Dec. 2013

BOARD MEETING

Saturday Dec. 28th

Everyone’s Welcome

(and we have donuts!)

To reach the editor:

judyrifkin1@charter.net

we’d like to hear what you have to say

DINNER MEETING

Sunday, January 12th

Marie Callendars

Sherman Oaks

Cocktails at 6:oo Dinner at 7:00

$26/person

RSVP on line or to

mrifkin397@aol.com

Speaker Nick Sparks is an Emmy

award winning film maker and

writer who is making a documen-

tary film about Jessica Cox. Born

without arms, Jessica now flies

airplanes, drives cars, texts, types

on a keyboard, plays the piano and

otherwise lives a normal life using

her feet as others use their hands.

She holds the Guinness World Re-

cord for being the first armless

person in aviation history to earn a

pilot’s certificate. It took three

states, four airplanes, two flight

instructors and a discouraging

year to find the right aircraft: a

1946 415C Ercoupe.

SHALOM-ADIOS-ADIEU

AUF WIEDERSEHEN

ARRIVEDERCI

SO LONG

It was an honor and a privilege to be the

President of the Airventurers this year. I am proud of what we, as a club, have

accomplished.. The dinner meetings with great speakers, the organized and ran-

dom fly-ins almost every month, the monthly board meetings, the picnic and

holiday party plus we hosted a Foreflight Seminar with 100 attendees that re-

sulted in our getting some new members.

It could not have been done without a lot of help from the officers who served in

2013; Vice President Mike Savage, Treasurer Judy Rifkin, Secretary Bernie

Harris and Past President Al Lane.

Thanks to all that attended the board meetings, including board members Mark

Cheer, Claudio Losacco and Cliff Busick, who gave their opinions and advice

on how to best run our club. Dinner meetings were well attended and speakers

were high caliber thanks to Al Lane.

Fly-ins are an important part of what we have to offer our members. Thanks to

Joel Kirschner and the hosts and co-hosts for providing us with very interesting

and varied places to fly and to Claudio Losacco for organizing our new random

Saturday fly-ins. Membership is the lifeblood of our club. Without new mem-

bers our club could not have lasted since 1966. Thanks Don Eisenberg and Joel

Kirschner. (We still need lots of new members)

Must not forget to thank Sunshine Chairman Lorraine Simansky and Yoni Boujo

for chairing both the picnic and the holiday party (I think Irene helps him out)..

It sure looked like it was going to be a long

year last January but here we are and the

year has flown by rather quickly. Unlike an

old soldier, I am not fading away. Too much to do. Lots of flying, on the board

as past president, dinner meeting chairman and host of the Lake Havasu fly-in.

See you soon.

Marv

2014 Fly-Ins (not carved in stone) Jan. 17-18 Havasu Balloon Festival - Rifkin, Cashin

Feb. 14 Body Art Expo, PHX - Kirschner

Mar. 6-9 Whale Watching, Loreto - Djanogly

Apr. Palm Springs Follies - Busick

May 3rd Annual Poker Run - Savage

June 15

July 4 -6 Prescott AZ Rodeo - Simansky

Aug. Club Picnic, Boujo

Sept. Underground Gardens, Fresno - Seibold

Oct.

Nov Football ??? - Hultman

Dec. Holiday Party

Ideas/Suggestions ??Volunteers???

AIRVENTURERS APPLICANT CHECKLIST

DATE APPLICANT

SPONSOR FEE DINNER MEETING

co-host add’l

FLY-IN

co-host add’l

4/12 Tabor McMullen Y Y Y

3/13 Figueroa Harris Y Y Y Y

7/13 Franco Kirschner Y

10/13 Cashin Charlin Y Y Y

11/13 Klenner Kieschner Y

12/13 Morris Kirschner Y Y Y

Michael Klenner (Cheri Gerson) is an interesting guy. Michael has overcome physical problems (and the FAA) to

earn his PVT, and is also a survivor of several hundred skydives.. He flies a Liberty XL-2 out of VNY. Reach him at

818-350-3324 or flying@klenners.com. Welcome back to the Figueroas. Robert Morris (Jana) is our newest appli-

cant. He has only been flying since 2005, bought his Cessna T337C in 2007 and has too many ratings to list here.

Reach him on his cell at 704-277-6842 or rmorris@agsi.us.

2014 Meetings (not carved in stone)

Board Meetings Dinner Meetings

January 25 12

February 22 23

March 29 20 Thurs.

April 26 13

May 31 18

June 28 22

July 26

August 23

September 27 18 Thurs.

October 25 19

November 29 16

December 27 Holiday Party (TBD)

If you’re really clever, you can check on the web about how to make an envelope out of 8.5 x 11” paper. Page 8 is

already addressed to me...you just have to print it, fill out page 7, make a few folds, maybe use a bit of scotch tape,

enclose your check, stamp it and send it off. Easy, n’est pas? Or just do it the old-fashioned way

2014 Fly-Ins (not carved in stone) Jan. 17-18 Havasu Balloon Festival - Rifkin, Cashin

Feb. 14 Body Art Expo, PHX - Kirschner

Mar. 6-9 Whale Watching, Loreto - Djanogly

Apr. Palm Springs Follies - Busick

May 3rd Annual Poker Run - Savage

June 15

July 4 -6 Prescott AZ Rodeo - Simansky

Aug. 9 Club Picnic, Santa Barbara - Boujo

Sept. Underground Gardens, Fresno - Seibold

Oct.

Nov Football ??? - Hultman

Dec. Holiday Party

Ideas/Suggestions ??Volunteers???

All the pictures from the

Holiday Party will be on

the web shortly. Keep

checking the photo page

on our site:

www.airventurers.org

more pictures at

Why Pilots Love to Vilify Other Pilots

The desire to find easy answers to incidents like the wrong-airport landing of the 747 in Wichita isn't that

hard to understand. By Robert Goyer / Published: Nov 25, 2013 Reprinted for educational purposes from Fly-

ing Magazine Online Nov 25, 2013

Soon after the wrong-airport landing of the Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter at Wichita's Jabara Airport became

national news, the race was on to explain how it could have happened. Sadly, the answer that many came up

with was that the pilot was a blooming idiot who was so inept that he didn't belong at the controls of an ul-

tralight just going around the pattern.

I don't know much about the pilot of that gigantic Boeing that wound up at Jabara, but I can tell you a few

things. He's the captain of a 747-400 Dreamlifter for Boeing. He didn't get that gig because he's an idiot. I'd

bet a month's salary that he's a high-achieving, top-of-his-class type who holds a wallet full of type ratings for

some of the coolest airline-style hardware going. I have no doubt he could fly circles around the average pilot

or me for that matter.

The idea that the 747 pilot is some kind of an idiot is, forgive me saying, pretty idiotic itself.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, I spoke with a couple of pilot friends, high-time guys who today

fly turbine hardware, and both admitted to nearly landing at the wrong airfield on a couple of occasions. I've

done it a couple of times myself, including at El Paso, whose military neighbor Briggs Field's Runway 21 is a

near twin of El Paso's Runway 22, which is located a mere three miles away. As I was lined up for Biggs' al-

luring field, just starting to wonder if something was amiss, the tower controller at El Paso came on fre-

quency and suggested calmly that I aim a little more to the left. It wasn't the first time he'd made the sugges-

tion. It might not have been the first time that day.

The sin I was guilty of wasn't being stupid; it was complacency. I should have had the approach loaded and

followed it. Instead, I took the visual, spotted a pretty runway and headed for it. The only difference was that

I had a voice in my ear (both literally and figuratively) telling me to change course.

It's tempting to vilify other pilots when they make mistakes not because we're better than they are (though

occasionally we are) but because more commonly, we're not better and we know it. By dismissing such

highly public mistakes as cases of bumbleheads somehow finding their way into the cockpit of a major indus-

try's heaviest hardware we immunize ourselves psychologically by saying that it could never happen to us,

because we're better than those lame brains.

The real lesson here is that it really could happen to us. The real lesson here is that we need to fight compla-

cency. I'm certain that the fine airman flying the 747 into Wichita the other night today knows that lesson

very well. I trust he'll find the right airport now for the rest of his flying days, of which I hope there are many.

Claudio Losacco, Safety Officer

2014 Dues are $70

You May Pay On Line With a Credit Card ($72.40)

Thank You for Your Prompt Payment

(if you applied in the 4th quarter, your dues are covered for 2014)

AIRVENTURERS

c/o Judy Rifkin

29630 Ridgeway Dr.

Agoura Hills, CA 91301