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43 DAFers in 15 aircraft and two cars met up in Agua Dulce (L70) for another successful Flaming Brisket on Saturday, July 13.  Even the threat of a rumble with a local Boy Scout troop couldn't dampen the good spirits our group or create any clouds on a bright sunny day. (Curiously, this was not the club's first run-in with the Boy Scouts.  See the Nov. 20, 1991 issue of the DAF newsletter: "Fistfight at Furnace Creek".  We lost some good DAFers on that sad day my friends).  

As always, Mitch brought the perfectly-prepared brisket while everyone else brought plenty of side dishes.  Mitch and Jan were also the key organizers for this event - so a special thanks to both of them for everything they did.

June 22-25, 2013. 24 DAFers landed on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Victoria, British Columbia for the club's second international outing in two years.

We stayed at Victoria's premier hotel: The Fairmont Empress (Liz Broen had negotiated a great rate for our group). Everyone met up for Happy Hour in Liz and Peter's room which had great views of the city and harbor.

Saturday night was the pub crawl, with Peter laying out plans for visiting up to 8 city pubs. (Un)fortunately, everyone really enjoyed the food and spirits of the first pub, the Sticky Wicket, and maybe we stayed a little too long. Only 10 hardy souls ventured to the second pub, and after that, it was just Peter and Mitch wandering the streets of Victoria.

On Sunday, we all went to the BC Aviation Museum (nice people, good exhibits) followed by Happy Hour and dinner at a nearby restaurant. After dinner, a few of us attended one of the concerts that were part of the ongoing Victoria Jazz Festival (really good music).

On Monday morning, we all caravanned via the scenic coastal route to the world-famous Butchart Gardens. The gardens were stunning - we lucked on the weather and had a delicious picnic lunch.

On Tuesday morning, some of us returned to the US whiles others waited out the weather in Victoria for a trip to Tsuniah Lake.

This trip took a lot of planning - a big thank-you to Peter, Liz and Lisa for putting together such a fun weekend.  Click picture for more photo's.

Our June dinner meeting was a little shorter than usual since our scheduled program did not occur as planned.  There was a miscommunication with our scheduled speaker that resulted in his absence - but the good news is that he has been rescheduled for next month's meeting.  

In a ceremony filled with pomp and pageantry, President Joe Cogan presented Marvin Thatcher with an honorary Del Amo Flyers membership in celebration of Marvin's recent 98th birthday and his extensive aviation experiences in Southern California.  You can read more about Marvin's aviation-filled life through his interview with Anne O'Brien by clicking here.

Our May dinner meeting featured Rick Lach of the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF). The RAF's mission is "Keeping the legacy of recreational aviation strong by preserving, maintaining and creating public use recreational and backcountry airstrips nationwide". Rick's presentation focussed on the RAF's efforts to both expand and maintain backcountry airports in California and the West, including the recently-reopened Chicken Strip airport in Death Valley.

May 10-11, 2013. A dozen DAFers touched down in Oceano (L52) to help celebrate the annual Airport Appreciation Day. Six of us camped out on the airport property, the other six stayed in a nearby hotel.

A hamburger grill took place on Friday night, followed by dance music from the San Luis Jazz Band. On Saturday morning, we woke up to a Lions Club pancake and sausage breakfast and a chance to look at the aircraft static display (which included quite a few Mooneys). A full 16-piece Swing music orchestra entertained everyone until a tri-tip lunch was served by the local Elks club.

Unfortunately, a low cloud layer that stuck around all morning prevented a few DAFers from flying in and joining the Saturday events. This was a nice low-key event that let everyone appreciate our small, local airports.

In the past we've had programs on how to avoid crashing your airplane, and recently had one on how to survive if you do crash your airplane, but our April dinner program focused on something different - finding the wreckage of unsurvivable airplane crashes.  It wasn't a topic that you would normally expect a group of active aviators to enjoy, but our speaker, G. Pat Macha, delivered a very informative and entertaining presentation: "Mysteries Mitigated".  Pat is the author of three books in the field of aircraft archeology, has produced a video on wreck finding and hosted the History Channel program, "Broken Wings".  Pat detailed the tedious work of finding the wrecks, and the emotional experience of connecting family members to their departed loved ones.  After Pat's presentation, the remainder of the meeting was devoted to consoling the hysterical sobbing of some of non-pilot flying companions in the audience.