A mere 10 hours on a Tomahawk two-seater trainer has qualified
me to attend this month’s meeting of the South County Airport
Pilot’s Association.
A mere 10 hours on a Tomahawk two-seater trainer has qualified me to attend this month’s meeting of the South County Airport Pilot’s Association.
To tell the truth, this generous group of local pilots welcomes anyone interested in planes or flying to their monthly dinner and meeting. Student pilot Jane Zhian found the organization on the Internet and attended her first barbecue and meeting last Tuesday evening at the Wings of History Museum. True to the methodical nature of a pilot, Zhian came to talk with experienced pilots and gain moral support for her new venture.
Through an invitation from two members of its board of directors, Mark Sochan and Tom Monti, I joined the group known as SCAPA (South County Airport Pilots Association) for a social hour, a tour of a gorgeous nine-seater Mitsubishi twin engine plane owned by Larry Fernandez, dinner and a presentation by local pilot Winfried Wilke. Bill Currie, Rod Pharis, Pat Belanger, Paul Marshall and Tom Lambruck as well as a room full of other members sat attentively listening to account of the Bahamas adventure with the promise of mermaid sightings. Wilke recently returned from flying his Bonanza A36 to the Bahamas to satisfy his other love – diving.
Close encounters with sharks was what Winfried was after, but the challenge of piloting such a long journey in a small plane during thunderstorm season made the feeding of the black tips more like feeding guppies. Balancing a load of 22 lbs. of approach plates and maps was just the start of the preparations necessary. Wilke also stressed the need for survival gear when flying over large bodies of water (and no attendant to ignore while demonstrating the emergency procedures). Flying at an altitude of 11,000 feet required oxygen monitoring and the cockpit picture of Winfried with the nasal canula made him look like a black lung survivor. Suddenly, Southwest doesn’t seem so bad.
Other adventures shared during the evening included a recent flight to take a 5-year-old boy by the name of Ben Murphy to St. Paul, Minn. Ben and his family weren’t out looking for a joy ride. The Murphys had a dilemma and brought it to the attention of SCAPA members. Ben suffers from leukemia and had a recent bone marrow transplant which precluded his ability to take a commercial flight because of lowered immunity. Through the generosity of SCAPA members, the Murphy family was flown by Larry Fernandez, who assisted by Mark Sochan filling in the roles of navigator, co-pilot and cabin boy.
The 10-hour roundtrip touched down in Spanish Forks, Utah due to weather before finally landing at Holman Field in St. Paul. The $4,000 fuel bill was picked up by Larry and donations from SCAPA members. Two Genes Aviation gave them a discount on fuel.
This group is action-oriented, putting their wings to work for the community. SCAPA has also set up a scholarship fund through Gavilan College for the Aeronautics Program. Three $500 scholarships have already been awarded. As Winfried says about flying, “I firmly believe that one can always make a small fortune in aviation if one starts with a sufficiently big one” (I think the low oxygen may be drying out Winfried’s sense of humor).
Ciao for now.
