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July 21-24, 2011.  After watching the weather for weeks and seeing nothing but thunder storms day after day, 32 Del Amo Flyers launched into what turned out to be absolutely wonderful weather.

Not only did we have clear skies but also a nice tail wind. Some of us flew to the south of the Grand Canyon no fly zone and got a great view of Monument Valley. Others flew to the north.

Lisa and Stacey had cocktails in their room Thursday night and we all had dinner on our own that night. Friday we toured the town trying to get used to the 9100'+ elevation which turned out to be much easier after the lunch time beer. Friday night Lisa arranged a wonderful group dinner at Restorante Rustico.

Saturday morning we picked up our Jeeps and headed out for a full day of trail riding, a nice picnic in Silverton, a tour of the town, more jeep riding including a stop at a ghost town, a tour of Ouray followed by MORE jeep riding. We took these jeeps up to 12,500' in one area and up to 13,000'+ in another area, not to worry, the drop off was never more than a few thousand feet.

Sunday morning we awoke to beautiful skies as we all departed for home or other locations. A good time was had by all and once again Lisa planed a great trip and executed it to perfection.

A big hand to Lisa from all of us.

...Wayne

RamonaRamona---B52-EjectThe July Program featured DAFer Ramona Cox aka Sky Chick and Dave Hall, owner of MotoArt. Remember the Discovery Channel Series "Wing Nuts"? It was one of the first reality TV shows where two crazy guys decided to rummage through aircraft bone yards and start a business making furniture from recycled aircraft parts. Ten years later, MotoArt has captured the hearts of aviation enthusiast with a line of functional aviation furniture that has hit virtually every continent on the globe and found its way into the offices of dozens of fortune 500 companies. What's the attraction? Perhaps it products like the B-25 Bomber Elevator Desk, the huge PW-747 Cowling Reception Desk, the "politically incorrect" bomb tables with photo shoots to match, the coffee tables made from F-4 Phantom Burner Cans or the notorious Mile High Bed fabricated from two DC-9 stabilizers and a C-130 inner flap (now motorized to use at Burning Man) We heard "behind the scene" stories of dodging scorpions while scouring aircraft bone yards, watching their first big sale burn to the ground in the back of an old pick-up truck and the happy client who found out his Fuselage Picture Frame was chopped out of an Air America CIA plane! With Dave Hall, owner of MotoArt and Ramona Cox (DAFer, bush-pilot, Skychick) as presenters, we were guaranteed a lively and entertaining evening complete with lots of photos and video. joomplu:1559All attendees will get an invitation to the upcoming MotoArt bash where we will be breaking in our latest furniture piece, the 12-Foot Jet-Set Fuselage Bar. For a peek of their unique products, check out www.motoart.com.

Many thanks Dave and Ramona.

joomplu:1613Dave and LTJG Mat StuberThe June Program featured LTJG Mat Stuber, United States Coast Guard. The USCG Air Station Los Angeles missions include search and rescue, homeland security, and environmental protection. It provides a search and rescue helicopter that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. About 200 search and rescue missions are flown from USCG Air Station Los Angeles each year. You don't want to miss this presentation."

The LTJG gave a great talk on the local operations of the USCG. Thanks, Mat.

June 16-19, 2011.  Jim Piper planned a great trip to see the Spruce Goose, the war birds, and the Space Museum in McMinnville, OR. He also arranged a great tour of some local Wineries in the DAF Wine Wagon. See our web site for Wine Wagon pictures. Six aircraft and fifteen DAFers attended. Jim also made dinner reservations for us at some of the local eateries. I especially enjoyed the "Rack of Lamb" at Nick's Italian Café. Wayne, in what can only be described as a gastric orgasm, wolfed down Nick's famous Lamb Sausage Tartare. Fortunately, he washed it down with a large snifter of Grappa. A great time was had by all. Many thanks, Jim and Diana.

...Joe

Sadly, Jim & Diana returned to Torrance on Friday to attend DAFer Jake Clark's memorial service.

joomplu:1616Pat Carey The May program featured Pat Carey. Pat has a huge amount of experience in aviation including a stint as FAA examiner designee, experience as an Army pilot Vietnam, experience as a King Air pilot, and as a test pilot and corporate pilot on the Gulfstream. Pat's presentation was titled "Changes and How to Stay Out of Trouble in LA Airspace"

Pat did a great job in making a dry topic pretty darn interesting. Thank you Pat!

May 13-15, 2011.  23 people in 9 airplanes and one car showed up for another one of Jim and Diana Moreno's great flyins. Friday evening everyone meet at the Paso Robles Inn where Jim and Diana hosted a DAF tradition, "the cocktail party", after which we all went in a few different directions for dinner. It came as a surprise to some that not only has the airport restaurant closed, but Michaels in town has also closed. Saturday morning a number of us stopped by the airport museum for the annual wings and cars show. This turned out to be one of the nicer car shows I've been to in a long time, well worth the wait to get in.

Then at noon we all meet at the Pianetta Winery where John Pianetta and his daughter Kaitlin treated us to some wonderful wines and allowed the use of their property for a great BBQ. We couldn't have had better hosts. At the end of the day most of us filled our trunks and headed back to our hotel to redo our W&B for the flight home.

The flight home was pretty uneventful for most because they chose to go VFR under the cloud deck I filed to go over the top at 11K. The only problem was the 50 minutes it took to get a clearance. Live and learn :>(

Jim and Diana, once again you've outdone yourselves, thank you again for a great trip.

...Wayne