Ryan Kittell, National Weather Serivce

Our guest speaker for the month of February was National Weather Service Forecaster, Ryan Kittell.

His presentation included a wonderful overview of the aviation services provided by the National Weather Service. Ryan answered a variety of questions throughout his talk and concluded with an interesting look at our local weather phenomena.

No Backspace Key at 10,000 Feet

40 DAFers in 13 aircraft descended into Chino on a warm and beautiful Saturday to visit SkyTypers, the nation's premiere   skywriting company.  Stephen Stinnis, grandson of the company's founder, along with his colleague Darwin could not have been more hospitable to our group.  They had chairs and water waiting for us along with a fascinating display of SkyTypers history.  After spending quite a bit of time answering many questions from the attentive DAFers group, Stephen let us view a recent video profile of SkyTypers produced by a German documentary company (the film is now making the rounds at various film festivals and receiving great reviews).  After a few more questions, DAFers were given the opportunity to have a close-up inspection of the specialized aircraft used for sky typing.  Our fly-in ended with a nice lunch at Flo's Airport Cafe.  A beautiful day for flying combined with some aviation education and a great lunch - who could ask for more.  Thanks to Larry Chapman for putting the event together.

Mullin it Over

January's fly-in was a visit to the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, for a tour of their current exhibition on Citroen. 15 DAFers flew into Oxnard Airport, and another 4 drove up for the day. After some contortions getting in the the SUV as Mitch ferried people from the airport, the docent led tour was amazing. Our guides were informative and extremely knowledgable about the cars and the history behind them. The collection has some very unique cars, as well as examples of the ubiquitous 2CV. After the tour, we adjourned to CJ's Barbecue for lunch, followed by an easy trip home. A little windy, but otherwise a great day.

Rob Reddeg from SOCAL TRACON

In January, we all enjoyed Rob Reddeg from SOCAL TRACON. Rob gave us insight on what it is like to work at the "Worlds Busiest Terminal Facility" SOCAL TRACON. He provided information not only about SCT itself but also taught us some great techniques on how to navigate our complex airspace and keep the airways safe here in Southern California! As Rob pointed out, with traffic continuing to rise year after year, especially with GA aircraft, it's extremely important that we work together to keep our airspace safe. This is a guest we should definitely invite back again soon!