The Tau of Taos
Friday morning arrived with new and different weather challenges. For the Sedona group, the flight to Taos was split between IFR and VFR operations with all crews making the flight relatively uneventfully. For the crews that left Torrance on Friday, the task was much more challenging. One crew flew the mission VFR under the clouds following a somewhat circuitous routing and arrived successfully. Another crew stopped in Phoenix for lunch and to review their Cirrus flight manual to confirm that they were approved for known icing and thunderstorm penetration. Upon failing to find such approval, they wisely decided that Torrance was not a bad place to be.
Eye in the Sky
The June program featured Photographer Dan Wolfe, who shared some of his amazing aerial photoraphy and videos. We enjoyed learning how his team uses their unique aerial camera system (Gyron) for aerial photography. Dan, along with Jesse, one of his Wolfe Air Aviation Photographers, added color to the challenges of filming while flying (e.g. how not to get air sick while looking at a small screen in a wildly maneuvering aircraft) and the choreograhpic art of capturing those amazing images between tow or more aircraft, the landscape and the light. More photos here.
Grin and Bear It
Stormy Weather
The April fly-in to Placerville was a victim of the weather. As Friday approached, the forecast was for rain and possible thunderstorms for the Placerville area, from Friday afternoon on through Saturday. After careful analysis of the outlook, Larry and Jodie made the call to cancel the fly-in, and put Placerville on the list for another day.
Pie in the Sky (and other great meals)
The April dinner meeting's presentation featured author Richard Foss who entertained us with both the history of Ballooning and Zeppelin travel as well as the dining while aboard these airships. It was fascinating to learn about the technology that enabled the dining experience during the glamorous days of the early air travel era of giant airships. If anyone is interested exploring air dining further, Richard will be giving a free program on "Food in Outer Space - From Tubes and Cubes to Space Espresso" for a meeting of the Culinary Historians of Southern California (Mark Taper Auditorium, L.A. Downtown Central Library) on June 13th at 10:30 AM.
Future Programs: If you have any ideas for a program or you would like to present a program, please email or contact Steve Sappington and Nancy Schunke at 310-375-6598.
LA Wins the Skies in WWII