Around the world in a 115 horsepower 4 seat Sling
The September 19th DAF dinner at the Palos Verdes Golf Club included a wonderful and interesting presentation about the ground breaking around-the-world flights by the designers and manufacturers of the Sling Aircraft from The Airplane Factory. Jean d’Assonville presented highlights of these adventurous undertakings in 2009, 2011 and 2015, and brought us up to date with the latest about the Sling Aircraft. This is an amazing adventure to learn about, and entertain our flying spirits with what it takes to fly around the world in a Sling airplane!!
The [DAF] Force is strong with this one
This Year’s Hangar Potluck took us to a Galaxy Far, Far Away! Over 90 adventurers, including members of the Rebel Alliance and Empire, as well as droids, villains and other colorful characters from the far reaches of the galaxy, descended on the Mos Eisley Cantina at Space Port -TOA to attend this year’s Hangar Potluck. This year we were able to use TWO adjacent hangars for the event! One with the bar and potluck dinner and one for dancing and enjoying the band, The Killer West. A big thanks to Dave & Song Klein and Craig & Hanne Ekberg for letting us use their hangars! Although, the Vader-Ade Punch seemed to be a big hit, an unexpected shift in beverage choices of the attendees (from previous parties), required some to be a bit more flexible in their beverage, our apologies. For dinner, Mitch Taylor provided his famous brisket and the guests provided a great assortment of potluck items. The band had a good crowd on the dance floor after dinner, and a great time was had by all!
Many thanks to the Hangar Party Committee ably led by Linda Howard and the DAF board members who helped make this party happen. Thanks to TAA, WMoF, Wayne Grau, Larry Chapman and a few others for allowing us to borrow chairs, tables and equipment. And thanks to Mitch for the great photo-op backdrop and Star Wars photos. There were fewer volunteers this year for set-up, party staffing and tear-down; so a special call out to those that helped including: Wayne, Larry, John Bucher, Jim Gates, Al Gibbs, Cliff Tatum, Susan & Arvi Von Nordenflycht and Kelly Clark.
And of course, a big thanks to all that attended, it wouldn’t be a party without YOU!
A couple side notes…
This year we lost our storage location for our party supplies and furniture, so a big thanks to TAA for allowing us to store our party supplies with you. We donated our chairs to WMoF and our tables are at the E-T’s ‘recycle site’ if you need one. Thank you to Susan and Arvi Von Nordenflycht for storing the large photo backdrop.
Also, in the weeks leading up to the party, DAF, 99s and TAA members worked with the City to clarify their policy for informal gatherings at the airport, like our Potluck. A big thanks to Patti LaGrelius, Jim Gates, Cliff Tatum and Anne O’Brien; also to Councilman Tim Goodrich for his guidance. This party may not have happened without their efforts. And as a result, the city and DAF now have a clear policy to follow for such events.
Bryce Canyon National Park Fly-In
Eight airplanes and sixteen DAFer’s enjoyed a colorful and scenic fly-in to Bryce Canyon. While many enjoyed the fascinating and informative park sponsored tour that took in the spectacular views of the entire park others enjoyed hiking or horseback riding down hundreds of feet among the hoodoo formations. The hardy ones were up before dawn for sunrise photo opportunities at the rim of the canyon. Of course, dining and refreshments are always part of the fun of socializing with the fly-in participants. Friday’s happy hour entertainment included watching the later arrivals on skirt the clouds on Robert and Mitch’s devices. Another bonus of this fly in location was the various flight seeing routes the flyers chose to take including Lake Mojave, Boulder Dam, Hurricane airport (Hi Jennifer!) Lake Powell, Monument Valley, and others. Thanks Steve and Nancy for organizing this event!Flying Inside the Box
Susan also gave us a fun demonstration of how a competitor practices their “known” routine on the ground. Susan also encouraged pilots to improve their margin-of-safety by taking an Unusual Attitude/Upset training course (locally offered at Santa Paula Airport).
Thank you Susan Bell for a fascinating, fun and energetic look into the world of competitive aerobatics and for sharing your passion and enthusiasm for the sport. Please also check out Susan Bell's Facebook page.
The Fire's Out, The Brisket Goes On!
The DAF returned to Agua Dulce for the biggest Flaming Brisket Fly-in ever. 51 DAFers and 99s brought 18 aircraft and 2 cars to the picnic. The weather was warm, with some wind gusts, but with the trees and the umbrellas it was quite pleasant in the shade. The folks at Agua Dulce were friendly and very helpful; you couldn't ask for a nicer place. The arrivals got a little hectic, with quite a few aircraft arriving at the same time, but everyone kept up the communications and there weren't any problems. Mitch brought about 20 pounds of brisket, and there wasn't much left; at least the aircraft was lighter on the way back! All in all, a great day, and we hope the 99s will join us again for more fly-ins.
June 2018 dinner: Goodyear and its Wingfoot 2 Zeppelin
Our June program featured a lecture by Captain William Bayliss on the history of the Goodyear blimps and the new Goodyear Wingfoot Two Zeppelin. Bill shared some amazing facts about these magnificent airships which have been flying around the South Bay for decades and used by Goodyear for advertising since 1925. Back then, Goodyear launched a blimp called the Pilgrim and over the past 90 years dozens of blimps of various types have served as “Goodyear Blimps.” But now, for the first time in its long history, the “Goodyear Blimp” technically isn't a blimp at all as they've recently replaced its fleet with semi-rigid Zeppelin NT airships. Unlike a blimp, which has no internal structure and maintains its shape from the pressure of the gas inside, the Zeppelin is built around a framework of high-strength, lightweight carbon-fiber and aluminum, and all the ship’s major components — cabin, engines, and tail assembly — are mounted on the rigid structure. Plus, as Bill happily reported, the new zeppelin is also significantly faster than the old blimps; the new airship has a maximum operating speed of 73 mph (compared with the 50 mph for the blimps).
Thanks again to Captain Bill and we look forward to sharing the South bay skies when the airship returns from it's scheduled annual in Akron, Ohio! Captain Bill might be returning in the brand-new Wingfoot 3.