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.

May 2018 dinner: The Dreaded Annual with Dan Torrey

The Dreaded Annual was presented by Mr. Dan Torrey, owner of MARS Aviation, Santa Paula, CA.  Mr. Torrey is well known as a Bellanca Viking A&P with multiple award winning honors. DAFer's learned about many interesting repair jobs.  These included everything from owner assisted annuals to broken spark plugs, motor mounts, oil filters, camshafts, oil separators, bent oil filters, spinner back plates, exhaust pipes, filter screens, suction screens, seat belt data plates, propellers and a few more items!  Mr. Torrey appeared to have a bottomless bag of show and tell examples he handed around for all to see. Somehow this one small box produced many items, which seemed to appear from nowhere! It looked like he had enough parts to rebuild a whole airplane. By the end of the presentation we also learned one more phrase everyone had a good chuckle over the chorus: "Two Weeks, Send Money"!

(not very) Placid in Placerville

Larry and Jodie went all out for the DAFer's Placerville fly-in, and it was a wonderful weekend. From the welcome party and dinner at their new digs to the wine tasting picnic Saturday, they had things organized perfectly. 26 Flyers made the trip, arriving to perfect weather Friday afternoon. Larry's ferry service down to Enterprise went off well, and his foresight in leaving an extra car at the airport paid off for Mitch, Jan and Nancy. The barbeque dinner that night was excellent, and the evening was warm enough for sitting around the fire into the night. 

Saturday's picnic lunch at Sierra Vista Winery kept everyone happy for hours. The tasting included every wine they make, which was quite a long list. The DAFer's reciprocated the hospitality by stocking up, and quite a few aircraft needed new weight and balance calculations for the trip home. The sandwiches had some unique combinations of ingredients, and were very tasty. That evening, a slightly more muted group headed out on their own for dinner. Fortunately, there were plenty of local options for dining.

Sunday morning, most of the group headed up to the Gold Bug mine and park for a tour of the mine and a look at the stamping mill and blacksmith shop. Some new dents and scratches were put in the hard hats during the mine tour; tall people were at a distinct disadvantage as miners! After the park, people headed back to the airport for departure. Once again, Larry went to work ferrying people from Enterprise back to the airport. The weather for the flight back was great, and everyone returned safely.

Thanks to Larry and Jodie for their hospitality and hard work. They went over and above to make it a fantastic weekend!

April 2018 Dinner: a Larry Chapman educational film

The Del Amo Flyers unofficial "videographer", now rarely seen in SoCal for some reason, Mr. Larry Chapman, delighted our nearly internationally known group of wild and crazy pilots with the third installment of our aviation education video series. In this series DAFers have learned how to safely fly through active volcanoes and time portals. In this installment we had the unique premier viewing of the newest episode of the series which deals with the frustration and irritation that every pilot experiences when they discover that cyber-criminals have planted a bomb on their aircraft (and who hasn't been there??)

This video was filmed over the Los Angeles basin, downtown LA, Port district, rivers, Hollywood, and included all your favorite characters from SoCal Tracon, ATC, the US Marshall's - maybe, Homeland Security and at least one unnamed controller we all have heard from an unnamed local airport. Kudos to Larry for his educational insights that always prove most useful to our flight experiences!!!

Delano Fly In - A Sure Bet

On Saturday April 14th 31 DAFERS in 13 aircraft flew out to Delano Airport in clear blue skies and light winds.We walked to the Aviator Casino Restaurant and had lunch. The restaurant had extra staff on hand to handle our large crowd and the food and service were excellent.
After lunch a group of DAFERS went to the casino to try their hand at cards. It couldn't have been all bad for Liz, as Peter still had enough money to buy Avgas before departing for home.
All in all a great day for flying with perfect clear weather, a really good lunch and excellent company!

Tucson Fly-In report March 2018

TERRIFIC TUCSON WAS THE PLACE TO BE…..

Oh what a weekend!! After wondering for several days about the weather, 11 of us arrived at Marana Regional Airport on Friday, March 16^th, to begin a busy weekend. Between us, we saw 80 acres of aircraft at the Pima Air Museum and visited Tubac, a town with over 100 eclectic shops and world class galleries.

One of our members “turned the key” as the Missile Combat Crew Commander of the Titan Missile, while others learned from a docent, all the ins and outs of life as a prairie dog, at the Sonoran Desert Museum.

Poor weather led half of the group to cancel, but those who came laughed till we cried at “The Lone Stranger,” a melodrama where we ate ice cream, booed the bad guys, and laughed at some redneck jokes that came shamefully close to identifying with a couple of us. The Lodge on the Desert was a welcoming venue with a southwestern theme, beautiful grounds, a lovely breakfast each morning and room for a dinner together one evening. Our rooms were spacious, perfect for our happy hour get togethers! It was a really nice time to hear from each other about new places discovered, tasty food enjoyed, and the unusual beauty of the desert.

We will not soon forget the towering Saguaros, the colorful sunset, or the time together with friends in this diverse and entertaining city.

A special thanks to Eric and Sally Kinder for organizing such a terriffic fly-in.