Since he hasn't been at meetings lately, late payers and other slackers get a break…

Next Meeting - The next meeting will be Monday, Sept 13 at 7:30 p.m. at GMU - Greenville Downtown Airport. All members and guests are invited to attend.

SC Airplane Tax - I'm on a Piper newsletter, and one of the topics is state registration of aircraft and pilots. Couple of states want $5 - $10 and the money goes to Search and Rescue, or for a state's airport directory. Some have a yearly decal or pilots' listing, most do nothing with the information. Most are voluntary in nature, some scour the state airports for N numbers.

Safety NOTAM - From the SC Flight Standards District Office, a gentle but honest nag about the #1 cause of unscheduled landings - running out of fuel. 2 ways it happens - no more fuel and fuel that can't get to the engine. Solution - know your fuel system and how it operates. Know how much fuel you burn at any given power setting and how many hours of operation that gives you, then add a reserve AND DON"T USE IT!

It's not the 30 minutes/45 minutes/ alternate plus 45 minutes in the regs - it's the buffer added so that when all goes wrong and you still haven't found a good place to stop, you've got a plan B.

AGL - A Good Laugh - More chuckles heard from the tower…

-- "I am way too busy for anybody to cancel on me."

-- "You got any more smart remarks, we can do this holding over South Bend...go ahead."

-- "You're gonna have to key the mic. I can't see you when you nod your head."

-- "Put your compass on 'E' and get out of my airspace."

-- "Don't anybody maintain anything."

-- "Approach, how far from the airport are we in minutes?"

"N923, the faster you go, the quicker you'll get here."

-- "Air Force Four-Five, it appears your engine has...oh, disregard...

I see you've already ejected."

Young Eagles Update III - Danny told me about the show Stevens Aviation is planning. FOX21 will be there, the CAP, a flight simulator, skydivers, aviation career counselors, Western NC museum pieces, Rock 101, bingo, face painters, a maze and moonwalk for the kids, static aircraft displays, helicopters, food and drinks, lots of take-home goodies, clowns, AOPA rep. - his words said it all - AMAZING! Saturday, September 25 at GSP from 10 AM 'til 4 PM - they always put on a real professional show. Free fuel for all the Young Eagles pilots and hats and mugs, T shirts, etc. Call 879-6000 if they missed you.

Aircraft Builder's Workshops - About those Alexander's courses - has any member been to one? Please to comment for the group's knowledge…

Yakity YAK - How about a chance to buy a real warbird (relatively) cheap? www.yakity.com will fill you in on the YAK of your choice with new annuals, 0 time engines and a full set of A&P manuals (in Russian, maybe Chinese). Boy, peace breaks out and they start selling all kinds of toys!

Websites - Some sites with aviation-related weather topics, etc. =

http://tgvs7.nws.noaa.gov/weather/index.html - METARs

http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/bigmain.html - weather videos

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/model.html - aviation weather models

www.rap.ucar.edu/largedrop/integrated/index.html - icing forecasts

Another one for local EAA events in the SC/GA/FL area (fly-ins, pancakes and hangar talks, etc.:

msadams@mindspring.com

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Flying Tales - JFK, Jr. Déjà Vu

I was trying to figure out NDBs in the recent past one night at Donaldson. CFII and I were gonna launch right at dusk and do a few hours of "2 miles southeast of DIANA, level at 3 thousand". We phoned for a clearance void time and got ready. I took off mVFR and got set in a climbing left turn, had the hood handy but not on. At about 500 feet, I looked west just as we went thru some scattered clouds and turbulence. The sensation was terrifying - I instantly went from half-way decent scans in dim light to a man with pinball eyes looking at a white dashboard!

I couldn't focus well after the flickering and vibrations - something I've never experienced before - and the climb quickly crumbled into a diving turn. The wind noise came up, but I couldn't see any gauges and a bunch of right rudder did nothing. One of those 10 seconds to live moments. CFII said 'my plane' - what a great phrase - and then added ' work the radios'. Good idea, otherwise I'd have probably melted into the floorpan and had an AD named after me… Kept me focused on something I could do while calming down. Never happened before or since, thank god. No one will probably know what really happened to the man, but we all know how quickly things can get out of hand when limits are exceeded. The plane knows how to fly, it's up to the pilot to point it in the right direction. Everyone is sad when a pilot falls; hopefully we learn from this. Be safe up there.

E.A.A. CHAPTER 249

P.O. BOX 5792

GREENVILLE, SC 29606