|
Fall 2010
Dear Fellow Members,
This past month saw an event that has not been around our area for quite some time. An aviation rally organized by Jim Bonelli of West Air Aviation featuring a spot-landing contest coupled with a navigation component for time and fuel burn. The format was good, the weather perfect, food on site and an ideal location at the Jean Sport Field. My beef was and is that it was not well supported first by our Department of Aviation who were not terribly helpful and last with a certain degree of oh hum on the part of local pilots.
This rally had all the elements we generally look for on a flying weekend: a place to go; food and a chance to talk about our planes, along with the opportunity to demonstrate our skills and the usual swapping of stories with good friends. So where were most of you? A student from Rancho High School’s aviation program showed us all how it should be done, as he took overall honors in the navigation component being off by 37 seconds and 4/10ths of a gallon. It was a great time for those of us who participated and I hope this will become an ongoing event. Jim Bonelli and his West Air instructor team did an outstanding job and I also hope they will not be discouraged by the poor turnout from the local aviation community.
On the other side was the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the DOA. Here was an opportunity to breathe some life into a faltering General Aviation by making it easier to organize an event and generate interest in aviation (and also bolster DOA business), but their foot dragging almost scrapped the entire project. It comes down to DOA treating General Aviation as if it were McCarran. One might ask when will they recognize that one size does not fit all when dealing with General Aviation. Perhaps a further drop in activity at the GA airports in the Valley will provide them a wake up call. Or is this really the goal of the DOA to keep whittling away at GA to reduce it to a negligible blip on the so-called scope? One wonders given the DOA’s track record.
With fall coming the weather should begin to relent and give up the three digit days. Hopefully a better flying season is just ahead. So I’ll end on that happy note and wish you all safe flying.
|
