Close to home: AOPA’s first fly-in of 2017 will be in Camarillo, April 28/29. Photo by Mike Fizer.
Chairman’s Message
By Anele Brooks
When Patty Lynn(Santa Maria Valley Chapter) sends out a FAAST flyer that advertises Dessert and Coffee only you know it is an important meeting! The Annual Tower Manager Meeting is always interesting and our local towers are well represented. This year Santa Barbara Tower was represented by three people, Todd Smith, Tower Manager, Malia Sharkey, Plans and Procedures, and Alan Jockey, Sr. Controller. Todd let us know that SBA is being used as a training tower. The SBA Tower has 21 fully rated controllers and 14 trainees. He asked us, as pilots, to please be patient and if something is confusing to please ASK for clarification! I certainly remember controllers cutting me slack when I was a student pilot and I have no problem paying it forward!
Malia reviewed the UAS(Unmanned Aerial System, remember there is a vehicle and a person on the ground controlling it) changes. FAA Order JO 7200.23 took effect in August 2016 and is specifically written for UAS's. Drones are allowed to operate in Class B/C/D/E & G airspace. They must notify the local tower if they are planning to operate within five statute miles of the airport, however, they do not have to ask permission. Santa Barbara Tower will ask the operators for their name, phone number, location, start time and date, duration of flight, maximum altitude and registration number, the call will be acknowledged but the tower has no authority to approve it. A drone operator at the meeting let us know that some of the newer drones have a chip that prevents them from operating within 5 miles of an airport, and if the firmware in the drone is not updated the drone will not start. UASs are supposed to give way to manned aircraft, however, Randy Jackson, Chief of Flight Safety, at Vandenberg AFB warned us all that he has seen the screens the operators use and the visuals are poor and they have no sweep vision, so although the UAS is legally required to give way it is much safer for us, as pilots, to see and avoid them whenever possible! He also let us know that Vandenberg will be the host to many drones programs, most of which will not interfere with our flying.
Rick Czap, Vandenberg AFB Tower Manager, let us know that there will be more airspace closures over the base in order to keep the UAS traffic away from the manned aircraft traffic. He announced that the base now has its $3 million approach lighting installed, runway 12 and runway 30 each have an ILS. You can contact the tower on 124.95 to ask for permission to make practice approaches, no touchdowns allowed. The Tower is open Monday through Friday from 8 – 5, so please someone go and visit them! They are lonely!! Rick is also willing to plan a Tower Tour for us if we have a small(5 – 6 ) group who would like to see their tower. We can discuss that at our next meeting.
Lastly, and the reason for the cake and champagne, was the official announcement of Jim Jones retirement. Jim has been the Tower Manager at SMX since 1997 and has been a controller there since August 5, 1996. In 1982 he was assigned to the Tower at VAFB and became the Tower Manager there. He was Rick Czap's trainer when he arrived at Vandenberg, so he has had a long presence on the Central Coast. He is moving to Florida to be close to his mother and grandchildren. We wish him all the best and thank him for his service in the Santa Maria Tower.
The Santa Maria FAAST team's next meeting will be in June. They are moving to a quarterly schedule due to the challenge of getting speakers every other month!
Camarillo Fly-In, April 28/29
Minutes of General Meeting
By Anele Brooks
March 1, 2017. Attendees: Susan Steeb, Elizabeth Dinan, Jolie Lucas, Janice Odell, Marina Luckow, and Anele Brooks.
Jolie Lucas gave us an update on the AOPA Regional Fly-In, April 28 and 29, to be held at the Camarillo Airport[seeDates and Schedules below]. She and Jan Maxwell will be presenting their“Pilot Plus One” class on Friday, April 28(as well as at the other three fly-ins). The class was created to help bridge the approximately 10 year gap between when children discover they love planes and want to fly and their ability to learn to fly. The class focuses on the person in the right seat; familiarizing them with the aircraft, addressing fears of flying, aircraft control, communications, landings and even a segment on photography! The hope is that the“right seat” partner will eventually earn his/her pilot's license. She also announced that AOPA is encouraging fly-outs to Kern Valley, Catalina, and Oceano. We discussed the possibility of our 99's sponsoring a“movie night and burgers” for the fly-out participants. It will allow us to raise money to fund our Scholarship. Friends of Oceano Airport has the equipment and a couple of volunteers, we need to provide bodies and organization.
May 12 and 13 will be the 9th Annual Oceano Airport Celebration. Dancing and burgers on Friday night and Pancake Breakfast, free for Veterans and Active Military Personnel. We discussed having our Children's Booth at the event, perhaps we can raffle off Elizabeth's drone. Anele is checking with the CCNTH Leo Club for teenager volunteers to help man the booth and the event. Set up is from 10-2 on Friday afternoon, the event starts at 5:30. Jolie asked us to save our small travel bottles of shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc to donate to our soldiers. Sy Tannenberg will be there to collect donations for our soldiers.
An ASOS in being installed at L52 and there will also be webcams.
Janice Odell announced that her niece, Olivia, would be soloing on the Saturday after our meeting and that she will be attending our April Meeting to tell us about her lessons and her solo!
Lastly, ACI was awarded the FBO contract at John Wayne – Orange County Airport, replacing Signature.
A memorial service will be held for Criss Yecny April 22, 2017 at 1:00 pm at the Olson Barn located at 4848 Caballeros Ave., San Luis Obispo, CA 93405[see article below]. An obituary will be published in the Telegram Tribune within the next couple of days[link:http://bit.ly/2nuoG3j].
Al, Criss's husband, has asked that in lieu of flowers consider making a donation to Woods Humane Society 875 Oklahoma Ave, San Luis Obispo.
My[Maureen Curran] husband, Dave, and I have volunteered to help with a barbecue that will follow the services and to coordinate a fly-over. Elizabeth Dinan will ask for other volunteers to help with the food service and/or the participate in the fly-over at the SLO 99s meeting next week. I won't be at the meeting, but if you are interested in helping, please let Elizabeth know or contact me directly.
Criss Yecny
By Grace Crittenden
I wrote this biography years ago about Criss:
Criss is one of the charter members of our chapter of the Ninety-Nines. She grew up in Clear Lake. Her father was a farmer and an avid pilot. Her earliest memories include being tucked in the back seat of a Piper Cruiser. She was active with 4-H as a youngster.
In high school she started taking flying lessons with her mother and when she started at Cal Poly, she joined the Mustang Flying Club. She was one of two young women in the club, and at first she had a problem finding an instructor. They wouldn't teach a girl how to fly. Finally one agreed to take her as a student and she got her license in 1967. Soon she was involved working with the local FBO, and one of the pilots had also been a member of the Mustang Flying Club. Soon a relationship was developing. In December 1973 they were snowed in while visiting her parents in Clear Lake. They decided to get married the next day. They called Al's parents, who arrived the next day with a wedding cake his mother had made, and arranged for a justice of the Peace. The next day the clouds opened to reveal a bit of blue shy over the lake. They loaded both sets of parents in a Cherokee with the Justice squeezed in the middle in the second seat and were married at 5000 feet.
Because of the extra weight, Al had inflated the tires a bit extra, and on the landing they had three good bounces- not one of Al's usual perfect landings. They have worked together ever since, first with Coastal Air, instructing and selling Cessnas. Then in 1976 they started Air San Luis. At first they were working from their home and then moved to the hangar where they are now. Criss was instructing until the birth of their second child. Then she put her energies into raising two boys always being active with the business. Since she has a pro in the pilot's seat who is happy to do the flying, she leaves the flying to Al. She says if there is ever the need she will get back into flying but right now she is along for the ride.
Comments, corrections, and suggestions are welcome. Fly-outs: any dates are flexible and we will confirm plans and set times at the chapter meeting before the scheduled fly-out. Seats will be available for non-pilots, students, and pilots without wings. We want every seat to be filled, so let us know if you want to come along.
April 5
Chapter Meeting at the Spirit of San Luis at 6 pm, social gathering starts at 5:30 pm.
Chairman’s Message
Minutes of General Meeting
Criss Yecny
Dates and Schedules