Welcome New Member Jim Westfall

Hi,

My name is Jim and here is a little blurb about me:

I am currently flying a 1947 Aeronca Champ and have a private pilots license with tailwheel, complex and high performance endorsements. I originally started flying after helping restore a Aeronca Chief in 1971 at the age of 16.

I have owned a Cessna 150, 1946 Aeronca Champ, Maule M4, Maule M6, Cessna 177RG, Luscombe 8E, Piper Cherokee 180 and now a 1947 Champ. I have flown solo cross country VFR from California to New York and back and have spent many years flying over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and up and down the Central Valley and coast of California.

Before joining EAA Chapter 430, I was a member of the EAA chapter (now many years defunct) at the Georgetown California airport (E36) which has been my home airport for many years.

I have had to circle in thermals over the Sierras to gain altitude so that I could fly back over the passes, lost partial power during initial climb out twice, experienced loosing power in one cylinder while flying over the mountains and had one of the injector lines break, spewing gas on the engine, causing me to make a emergency landing. I also had landing gear sensors malfunction (sensed gear down and locked when not… verified by mechanic) causing only minor prop strike after quick recovery.

I grew up on the East Coast and moved to the West Coast in the early 80’s. I am in the process of moving to Sequim with my partner, Diane, from Northwest Montana. I am retired from a 39-year career (1978-2017) in the microelectrics industry as a engineer and technical manager.

Besides flying airplanes, I enjoy hiking, biking, skiing and kayaking. I also am a home brewer and have a pottery studio in my garage to feed my creative side.