From the Left Seat

Well, our summer of flying is now in full bloom. The weather is fantastic and I hope you’re having fun with airplanes. I have recently had some real flying adventures in Idaho and the Northern Cascades. That caused me to miss the June Gathering that cerebrated David Miller’s FAA Master Pilot award. I could just imagine him traveling in a B737 when the scared flight attendant was asking if anyone was a pilot, and he would stand up and say “I’m type rated in this baby!” Congratulations David! By the time you read this, we will have completed our third young eagle rally at Port Townsend. Thanks to all the pilots that offered the generous gift of letting young people experience aviation in your airplane. Thanks also to all of the volunteers who helped this year and especially to Tracy Halsted and Bud Davies for being our coordinators. There are several aspiring aviators that have come out of our aviation outreach this year with young eagles, flying start, and the light flyer breakfast. They are looking to join a study group for aviation ground school. If you have any interest in assisting or hosting this group, please let me know. It could be a very fun and rewarding activity. Also, David Miller, scholarship chair, will be looking into certifying the chapter to host a Ray Foundation Scholarship this coming year. The scholarships provide up to $11,000. If you haven’t been to the VMC/IMC monthly meeting, you might want to check it out. Harry Cook had the largest attendance ever last meeting, and he covered some really interesting topics. It’s always held on the second Wednesday of the month at the Mariners Café.

Our tool crib needs to move, and we thought we would consolidate and get rid of things that don’t belong. All of our Tech Counselors came together on July 2nd and inventoried the tool crib. There are a lot of instruments, O2 tanks, hardware, and various other items that don’t belong in a tool crib. We have separated all of the items that are not useful and will offer them to the membership following the July Gathering. After the meeting you can check everything out in Hangar 17. The doors will be open.

Unfortunately, I am going to miss you again at the July gathering as I plan to be attending Air Venture 2023 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I’m going to go commune with 650,000 of my closest friends and fly in with 10,000 of the finest aircraft in the world. It’s a bit of a commute at almost 1500 NM each way, but Lisa and I are looking forward to the trip and camping under the wing.

Be sure to check out the rules and procedures for this year’s Poker Run. Contact Barry Halsted if you have any questions or need more information. The more people play, the bigger the prize gets. And passengers get to play if they enter. Let’s go fly!