Another winter month has gone by at Ponderosa Aero Club. We are getting excited that the weather is going to make a turn for warmer temperatures soon, presenting more flying opportunities for our members. You may have noticed a raging Boise River, or Is-lands along the Snake River that have been submerged by higher water levels. Or, if you haven’t noticed from the air or on the ground as you pass under the light bridge on Or-chard Street, the New York Canal is diverting water, and is almost full and it’s only FEB-RUARY!! On a flight to Sun Valley I was able to get a look at the reservoirs, and they were packed with snow. If you’ve had a chance to fly around the state, you know that the scenery is stunning and it is pretty interesting to observe from the air the excep-tional winter we had. If you took some pictures and have a story please contact Sharki, as we would love to put it in a future Newsletter.

The Winter Party was a success. Many of you participated in the crazy hair theme. I’d like to say thank you very much to all who attended. See photos on Page 4.

Things are getting ready to be ramped up here at the club as we are finally reaching equilibrium of good weather and airworthy airplanes. Cessna 172 N2863E is getting painted with its new STOL kit today. I was able to take it for a test flight before hand. All I can say is wow, the airplane was already a great performer with its new engine, now even more with the STOL leading edge kit. I know many of you will be thrilled to finally

get back into it. Our complex Arrow III N9099K is getting the finishing touches done for the installment of its new engine. After it gets a pitot-static inspection in the up-coming week it should be ready to go second week of March. The rest of our airplanes are refreshed from their winter blues, and are ready for a busy summer. The staff appreciates your patience these last few months, and we are looking for-ward to seeing all of your smiling faces soon.

Ponderosa Board of Director Elections are taking place on Tuesday, April 18th. See some of nominees’ bios and photos starting in Page 7.

Manager’s Desk 1

Safety Tutorials 2

Pilot Accomplishments

in February

2

Pilot’s License to Learn

Q&A

2

Flying Companion

Seminar

3

Ponderosa Annual

Winter Party 2017

4

Penetrating a Thunder-

storm

5

Board of Directors

Nominees

7

Answers to Pilot’s

License To Learn Q&A

11

Manager’s Message

AeroTalk!

March 2017 Volumn 1, Issue 3

Inside this issue:

Safety Tutorials

AeroTalk! Page 2

TITLE: It Could Happen to You!

WHEN: Wednesday, March 15th

TIME: 6:00 pm

LOCATION: Ponderosa Aero Club Aero Club lobby and Hangar

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: You may know that Ponderosa Aero Club has a fantastic relationship with our local FSDO, one that many flight schools would be envi-ous of. Jack Pahlas, our former FSDO POI (Principal Operations Inspector), has moved on to another position and Jeff Erickson has taken his place. We have been working with Jeff for a few months now, and would like to introduce him to our members, give you an opportunity to ask questions, and learn what our FSDO does for us. In addition, two members at Ponderosa Aero Club will share an event that happened to them re-cently proving that an incursion or accident could happen to YOU! You probably don't know about it yet, and it's be-cause our FSDO takes our pilots' privacy and protection seriously. Cliff Smart, our local FAAST (FAA Safety Team) Wings representative is going to spend a little lime explaining how to participate in the Wings program and why it's important to our pilots and community.

EVERYONE in the community is welcome to attend, call us at 208-344-5401 for questions, text 714-609-4233, or email acesharki@gmail.com.

UPCOMING TUTORIALS:

ForeFlight Tutorial for VFR and IFR pilots. Back by popular demand.

Ron “Chester” Hedges with the Idaho Air National Guard will talk about the Snowbird and Thunderbird Airshow that is coming to Boise and affecting Gowen Field October 13th - 15th.

Pilots License To Learn Q&A

1. What type of weather should you expect with the passing of a Cold front? Warm front?

2. When listening to the KBOI ATIS you hear "...field condition 5...5...5..." what does this mean? Answers on

back page.

Pilot Accomplishments in February

Brad Wood passed his Commercial Multi-Engine checkride in our Seneca PA34-220T on February 15th. Brad's examiner was Scott Curtis and his instructor was MEI Rick Reierson. To begin his career as a professional pilot, Brad will be starting ground school in March to fly a Beech 1900. Brad lives in Sun Valley, Idaho and drove to Boise regularly to accomplish his ratings and certificates, primarily at Ponderosa Aero Club. Brad trained with Rick Reierson to achieve his instrument rating, commercial certificate then adding multi-engine privileges.

Safety Tutorials

AeroTalk! Page 4

Annual Winter Party Photos

Penetrating a Thunderstorm...by Kevin Braley

AeroTalk! Page 5

I’d like to write about an experience I had as a junior Naval Aviator that will forever be etched in my mind. And, hope-fully, it will serve as a “I Learned About Flying From That” story that is equally applicable today in our general aviation experiences.

My story starts as a junior Naval Aviator in my patrol squadron deployed to Diego Garcia – a tiny atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Part of our tasking included having a “ready alert” aircraft standing by and ready to launch on a one-hour’s notice for search and rescue, medevac, and other urgent missions. It was while I was on a ready alert crew that I learned that we were launching for a medevac flight to Singapore, which had the nearest major hospital several miles away on a 7 1/2 hour flight in our P-3C aircraft.

The flight from Diego Garcia to Singapore is relatively straightforward with a transit over the eastern Indian Ocean. However, Singapore’s position at the southern tip of Malaysia meant we had to either fly over Indonesian airspace – and get all of the necessary diplomatic clearances. Or we could fly straight down the centerline of the Strait of Malacca, a narrow body of water separating the Indonesian island of Sumatra from Malaysia. Under international law provisions of tran-sit passage, we could fly down the centerline of this vital waterway without need for diplomatic clearance. We chose to fly the Strait, be-cause: (a) it would save the time of getting the necessary clearances: and (b) it’s something we always did as a matter of course to confirm the Navy’s right to transit.

The flight and arrival at Singapore Changi Airport were uneventful and our patient was taken to a waiting ambulance. We then departed the following evening. As the most junior of the three pilots on the crew, I didn’t get to fly the de-parture. Instead, I went back and jumped into the pilot’s bed to get some rest before I would need to jump into the seat. The bed was essentially a top bunk that put you maybe 18 inches below the aircraft top bulkhead. A lone belt at your waist was designed to keep you there if the plane hit turbulence. I didn’t nod off for long before, to be blunt, all hell broke loose. We hit the worst turbulence I have ever experienced in my life. And it lasted for sev-eral minutes.

Even though I was strapped in, my head hit the bulkhead. The noise was deafening, the large four-engine plane was being thrown around like a toy, and the constant flashes of lighting were an other-worldly green color. I re-member thinking to myself “this is how I am going to die, strapped into this bed in

Article cont. next page

This was a boarding pass that they made us use to get to our own plane at Singapore Changi. I always

thought it was funny that they gave us our own gate to fly back to Diego Garcia.

Penetrating a Thunderstorm...cont.

AeroTalk! Page 6

the aft end of an Orion.” After what seemed like an eternity, the air smoothed out, the lightning stopped, and the rain and hail ceased. After gathering my wits, I hopped down from the bed, and went to find out just what had happened. The crew in the back of the aircraft were stunned. Electronic panels had popped open and crashed to the floor, the galley was a mess of coffee, utensils, cups, and personal items. I walked by our radar operator’s station where he told me he had not been strapped in to his seat and hit his head on the ceiling – a good four feet over his head.

I then walked up to the flight station to talk to the two senior pilots. The aircraft commander’s first words to me were “Were you scared Crash?” Being the new guy, I lied and said, “Not really.” His response was, “Well, we were scared sh%tless. We thought for sure the hail was going to destroy the windshield.”

It turns out we had penetrated a very big and very mean thunderstorm cell that was parked over the Strait of Malacca. And rather than risk a diplomatic mess, we had flown into the storm cell.

As a very junior pilot, I can’t say whether or not I would have done the same thing, but to this day it remains the scariest moment of my life.

We continued back to Diego Garcia without any major issues – other than an inoperative front radar. So, every 120 or so miles we would have to do a 360-degree turn to check for weather with our rear radar unit. When we landed back at our home base, I was tasked with the post-flight walk around. And it was during this post-flight inspection when I learned the reason for our radar problems. The front radome – the fiberglass radar housing on the nose of the aircraft – looked like it had been on the receiving end of both barrels of a shotgun blast. There was probably a 12-inch hole in the radome and a clear view to the damaged radar antenna in-side. I later learned that our commanding officer gave the aircraft commander a good chewing out regarding his choice to penetrate the storm cell. The aircraft was fixed and I never flew into a thunderstorm again.

I learned a couple of valuable lessons from that experience that I take with me every time I fly today. First, safety of flight is our number one priority. Our Navy crew should have taken action to avoid the storm cell and worry about the diplomatic consequences later. You can’t discuss a deviation into sovereign airspace with agitated embassy staff if you

and all of your crew are dead. The same can be said for what we do every day in general aviation. As the FAA has said, part of the pilot in command’s responsibility for pre-flight planning and conduct of flight is to avoid situations that require a choice between breaking regulatory barri-ers (e.g., Class B airspace) and breaching physical barriers (e.g. the ground or an obstacle). But when such a choice must be made, it’s important to evaluate the risk, make the best choice for safety of flight, and remember the mantra to aviate, navigate, and communicate. See “Fly the Aircraft First,” FAA Safety Briefing, https://www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/2016/media/SE_Topic_16-08.pdf. Second, I have a healthy respect for

Article cont. on back page

Annual Meeting and Board of Directors Election

AeroTalk! Page 7

At the Annual Meeting on April 18th, 2017, our club members will elect the 2017-2018 Ponderosa Aero Club Board of Directors. Everyone needs to vote in person or by proxy to meet the by-law quorum requirement.

After the election Rick Reierson will present his Backcountry Ground School. If you plan on doing back country flying this year in a club aircraft, this ground school is required. If you aren’t inclined to aviate to the back country strips it is still highly recommended that you stay for the session. After all, flying in Idaho means eventually flying over and around the mountains. Idaho is known for its numerous airstrips in high terrain, density altitude and leaning properly, along with mountain waves and towering cumulonimbus clouds that tend to build in the afternoons in Idaho. The backcountry ground school is free to members on this night only, so take advantage of the opportunity.

We’ll serve refreshments and non-alcoholic beverages, and will provide ice and coolers if you wish to bring something deliciously adult yet not-flying friendly. We also know that it can be difficult to find a babysitter, we’re okay if you want to bring your family’s future student pilot.

Any active member in good standing may run for a board member position. The Board is comprised of up to seven members. Once elected, the board members meet in the training room upstairs for 60-90 minutes on a selected day of the month. Lunch is provided. It's a great way to get involved and collaborate ideas regarding the direction of the club, membership and aircraft resources. The nominees are published in this month’s, and again in the April newslet-ter. Club management truly appreciates your interest in running for a position. Member involvement is what makes this club run most effectively. Every year’s election brings with it fresh board members with new ideas, experiences and enthusiasm.

If you are interested, please send your short bio and a photo so members can "see" who the candidates are. Sharki - 714-609-4233, acesharki@gmail.com or Brett - 208-344-5401, manager@ponderosaaero.org

Following are some of the nominations Ponderosa has re-ceived so far. It’s not too late to submit your bio and photo.

Tom Mahoney

Tom Mahoney has been a Ponderosa Aero Club member for over 15 years and served on our board for several of those years. Tom was such an asset to Ponderosa Aero Club and the board that he has been asked by his peers to come back and serve on the board again if elected.

Tom is a CFII and is rated in single engine aircraft, multi-engine aircraft, and gliders. He was a part owner of our club’s previous Cessna 182 N3549Y and is a proficient Cessna 172 tailwheel pilot (aka Frankenhawk), which he flies in the Idaho Backcountry often. A retired USAF Weapon Systems Officer, Tom enjoys the reward of raising his two boys with his physician wife, Valerie and working with a venture capital group.

Board of Directors Nominees...cont.

AeroTalk! Page 8

Cheryl McCord

I would like to become a Ponderosa Aero Club board member to help build upon the success of the Club and its mem-bers. Ponderosa Aero Club is a great place to experience flying because of an atmosphere that encourages continued learning with a fun and safe approach. I have been a member for three years. I have enjoyed the support and camara-derie of the management team and club members while earning my private pilot certificate and participating in many club activities.

My work experience includes 25 years with Hewlett Packard. I managed spending for an operations team of 2,000 people in over 50 countries. Cur-rently I work with a sales team negotiating print services contracts. I founded and managed the Kuna Farmers Market. I managed our family dairy before obtaining Accounting and MBA degrees from BSU.

I volunteer at aviation events including Fly It Forward, The Art and Science of Flying, BSU STEM Day, and Ponderosa’s Annual Warm Springs airstrip maintenance. I am also involved in the 99s organization of women pilots and the Idaho Aviation Association.

My husband Bill and I own a Cessna 185. We enjoy flying to the Idaho back-country and visiting family in Moscow, Portland, Seattle, Denver, and as far away as Traverse City, Michigan.

With my business background and enthusiasm for flying, I believe I could make a significant contribution to the Ponderosa board.

Gail Frasier

If you’re an old time member of Ponderosa Aero Club, you know me. If you’re new to the Club in the last five years, let me introduce myself. My name is Gail Frasier. I started flying in 1976 when I was working at Western Sky Aviation in Hailey, Idaho, the airport that serves Sun Valley. That was the name of the FBO there before it became Sun Valley Avia-tion and then Atlantic Aviation. I received my private pilot’s license in 1976. It was an amazing aviation time, and I got to fly and fly in a lot of various types of aircraft and met a lot of the Idaho pilot legends. At that point I was completely besotted with aviation and made it my world. I took a break in the 80’s to raise two children, but jumped back in around 1990, when I got my instrument, commercial, and CFI ratings. While working on my CFI, I found Ponderosa

Aero Club, got my CFI there in a week, started instructing in Hailey, but six months later I packed up kids and all, and we moved to Boise where I went to work as a full time instructor for Ponderosa. I did that for five years, at which point I received the honor of being asked to be Manager of the Club, which I did for 15 years from 1996 to 2011. I met my husband Jon Frasier here, as he had been maintaining the Club aircraft since 1982. We made a good team for the Club! PAC was my baby for those years; not so much a job as a 24/7 labor of love. I knew Pat Peterson, the founding father of the Club, and almost all of the managers after that, so I always felt it was my job to carry the torch for those who came before me; make changes as the times dictate, but keep the solid foundation that made PAC a success for all those years. I would love to be involved with the Club again, to bring the historical perspective to the table, and my years of experience with Ponderosa. If you will allow, I would like to serve the Club again as a Board Member.

Board of Directors Nominees...cont.

AeroTalk! Page 9

Travis Shelton

I have been a PAC member since December 2016, training with CFII Jamie Boesiger and earned my private pilot license in No-vember 2017. Since I’m not quite as fortunate as those who fly for a living, I have a “real job” as a construction Project Man-ager. I received my Construction Management Degree with a Minor in Business from Boise State University in 2004 and worked my way up through the ranks from a laborer to project engineer to project manager. I currently manage projects of all sizes and complexity ranging from $300,000.00 cast in place pipeline replacements to $50M+ new Hydroelectric Power Plants. Doing this type of work requires me to be a leader within my organization and be highly self-motivated in order to take projects from early inception and drive them through to comple-tion. I work directly with corporate leaders of large companies as well as hand in hand with my laborer crews. I have never been afraid of a hard day’s work. To be a successful project manager you have to have excellent communication, organization, planning & scheduling skills, as well as the ability to work well with groups or on your own.

In my short time with Ponderosa Aero Club I’ve noticed that we have a very well run club, it functions with more preci-sion than many “for profit” businesses that I’ve come across in my career. I also understand that there is always room for improvement and the need to continually evolve in order to stay competitive in our marketplace. If elected I would enjoy getting to know more club members, understand concerns, and help the board to adjust current processes or install new one in order to provide an even more enjoyable guest experience for all our members.

Michelle Tonnessen

I began flying after college because of my families passion of aviation. My father was a pilot in the air national guard flying KC 135's, my two older brothers have followed in his foot steps. I pursued a different path and went to college at The Ohio State University where I majored in strategic communication and played four years of division one women's ice hockey. After my first flight with a instructor after college I fell in love with flying. While working on my private pilot

license in Ohio I began working for The North Face. After earning my private I moved to Boulder, CO with The North Face where I began my instrument rating. While in the proc-ess I was offered the store manager position in Boise. Once settled in, I found Ponderosa Aero Club and continued my instrument training. I currently posses my private pilot li-cense, instrument rating and am building hours to work on my commercial license. I hope to one day fly professionally. In addition to aviation I also enjoy ice hockey, backpacking, hunting, fishing, running, beer and the outdoors. As a poten-tial board member I feel I would influence Ponderosa posi-tively by bringing a different prospective with my unique background and career goals.

Board of Directors Nominees...cont.

AeroTalk! Page 10

Gil Kirkpatrick

My mom (who is 95 years old this year) tells me I’ve loved airplanes since I was 2 years old. I would take the clothes-pins she gave me to play with and make them into little airplanes that I would zoom around the playpen. It wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I started flying gliders in 1980 in Warrenton, VA. After a brief flying hiatus, I got my private glider certificate and later worked weekends as a commercial pilot and CFI-G at the Plymouth, MA airport during the 80’s and 90’s. After getting married and moving to Phoenix, AZ in 1994, I got my SEL certificate flying Cessnas out of Sky Harbor. I raced gliders cross country from the Sonoran Desert all the way up to the Grand Canyon, and I was President of the

Arizona Soaring Association for a while. My wife and I (now with three kids) moved to Australia in 2009 where I flew LSAs and ul-tralights, and also served as the Vice President of the South Coast Recreational Flying Club based at Jasper’s Brush, NSW. We moved here to Boise last year, in part because I’m really interested in back-country bush flying. Somewhere out there is a Husky with my name on it!

Personally, Kiry and I have been married for 25 years this year, and have three children. Molly and Scott are attending the Uni-versity of Wollongong in Australia, and my youngest, Ryan, is a junior here at Boise High School. Molly has her Australian LSA license.

Professionally, I’m a software guy specializing in network security, identity, and access control. I’ve been involved with small software startups most of my career, and I’m currently the Chief Technology Officer for an Australian software company based in Melbourne. If I’m not working out of my home office, I’m usually travelling somewhere.

I love flying (of which I don’t do enough), and I love introducing people to flight, particularly older kids and teens. I’m eager to join the Board to help create ways to get more people flying more often. For me, that’s the measure of success for any flying club.

Reed Disney

Reed Disney joined Ponderosa Aero Club in 1999 to learn to fly. Balancing work, fam-ily, and training he took his time and earned his PPL in July of 2001 in Cessna 28G, and has been an active member ever since. He has endorsements for high performance and complex retractable and currently enjoys flying the Arrows. Reed has over 15 years of experience in the business of operating critical IT infrastructure, networking, and Internet services to clients in the US and internationally. Reed offers significant business experience with fiduciary responsibility, team leadership, and a passion for aviation. His vision as a Ponderosa Board Member is to keep the club thriving with leadership that brings great pilots together with well-maintained airplanes.

Be Smart, Fly Safe and Have Fun!

Article cont. from page 6 weather and what it can do to an aircraft. There is tons of information available publicly on aviation meteorol-ogy, obtaining weather briefings, setting per-sonal weather mini-mums, and assessing weather risks. This in-formation is there to assist us to develop our own standardized proce-dures to make good pre-flight and in-flight weather decisions. A key element of this is the decision-making re-quired when conditions change and pilots must go with “Plan B” or even consider other options. And always, always go with Plan B if Plan A in-volves penetrating a thunderstorm.

Page 11 AeroTalk!

Ponderosa Aero Club, Inc.

4888 W Aeronca Street

Boise, ID 83705

KBOI - Gowen Field

208-344-5401

www.PonderosaAero.org

1. With the passing of a cold front you can expect atmospheric instability, towering cumulonimbus clouds, heavy rain and lightning. With a warm front, you can expect stratus clouds, drizzle, and decreased visibility.

Cold fronts tend to move faster than all other types of fronts, associated with the most violent weather among all types of fronts, move the farthest while maintaining their intensity. Cold fronts can be associated with squall lines

Warm fronts tend to move slowly. Warm fronts are typically less violent than cold fronts. Warm fronts are usually preceded by cirrus first (1000 km ahead), then altostratus or altocumulus (500 km ahead), then stratus and possi-bly fog.

Fronts are also characterized by changes in barometric pressure. During the 24- hour period immedi-ately preceding a front, a barometer records falling pressure.

2. The runway is divided up into thirds (touchdown, midpoint, and rollout) and the slick-ness of the the surface is rated on a scale of 0 (the worst) to 6 (bone dry). Airports are required to include this information in the ATIS when-ever one or more sections is a 5 or less.

Answers to Pilot’s License to Learn Q&A

Penetrating a Thunderstorm...cont.

Photo of writer Kevin Braley and his wife Maureen. She’s glad Kevin survived and made it back from that fateful flight.

We would like to include your aviation story, experience and photos in our next newsletter.

Contact Sharki at 714-609-4233 or acesharki@gmail.com