The Hammerhead Times
-An IAC 36 PublicationVolume 4
Issue 1
March 2012
www.iac36.org
CHAPTER OFFICERS
Gray Brandt
President
[email protected]
Is it time to paint (or wash)
your plane?
Norm Manary
Vice President
[email protected]
Yolandi Jooste
Secretary
[email protected]
Bill Hill
Treasurer
[email protected]
DIRECTORS
Casey Erickson
[email protected]
Randy Owens
[email protected]
Brenda Frazier
[email protected]
Jerb Johnson
[email protected]
Anthony Oshinuga
[email protected]
PRESIDENT EMERITUS
Bob Branch
[email protected]
WEBMASTER
Randy Owens
[email protected]
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Brenda Frazier
[email protected]
-In This Issue*Let the 2012 Competition Season Begin
*Contest Fee Increases
*2012 Borrego Hammerhead Roundup
*Best Way to Open the Borrego
Aerobatic Box
*The Checklist
*Help Wanted
*A Note from the Editor
Aerobatic Box. We encourage all members to make use of
the Borrego Aerobatic Box in preparation for contests. It
LET THE 2012
is arguably the best aerobatic box in the country and an incredible resource to have here in Southern California. The
COMPETITION SEASON
current waiver for the box can be found on our website
at www.iac36.org. Please read the waiver and be familiar with all the provisions. The club calendar is kept up
BEGIN!
to date with all box closings, waiver blackout dates, and
contests. Please go to the website and check the calendar
The start of the 2012 California competition
before you leave for Borrego to make sure nothing has
season is just a few short weeks away. IAC Chap- changed with box availability. All pilots flying in the Borter 36 is already ramped up in preparation for our rego Box outside of contest days must be a current 2012
first contest, the Borrego Hammerhead Roundup, IAC Chapter 36 member. If you plan on heading to Borwhich will be held April 12th to the 15th. Please rego for practice with a group of friends please make sure
go to www.iac36.org for contest
information and preregistration.
Come to Borrego a few days
early and get ready for the contest. The Borrego Box will have
a fresh coat of paint and will be
open all day for IAC Chapter 36
members the week of the contest starting Monday April 9th.
Remember you must be a current
2012 member of IAC Chapter 36
to use the Borrego Box outside
of contest days. If you have not
renewed your membership yet
for this year it can be done easily
at www.iac36.org.
IAC Chapter 36 would
like to welcome two new members to the Board of Directors. Randy Owens
everyone is a current member of the chapter. If someone
has come out of a year of hiding and rejoined the needs to renew or become a member that can be easily
Board of Directors. Expect to see Randy compet- accomplished at the IAC 36 website. Just click on CLUB
ing at a contest near you soon. Brenda Frazier,
and then JOIN/RENEW MEMBERHIP and follow the
our excellent Contest Registrar, has also joined
directions. Please make use of the box as much as you
the Board of Directors. Not only is Brenda a
can. It is there to be used and your chapter dues go toDirector now she is also taking on the role of
wards maintaining the box twice a year and supplying the
Newsletter Editor for the Borrego Hammerhead
Suzuki for transportation while you are in Borrego.
Times. The IAC Chapter 36 Board of Directors
Have fun and fly safe. Hope to see you in Borrego.
contains nine members and their names, posiGray Brandt
tions, and contact information can be found at
President IAC Chapter 36
www.iac36.org. If you have any ideas or con
cerns about the chapter please feel free to contact
any of the board members. Also, all members are
welcome to attend board meetings. We will send
out an email announcing meetings and they will
also be posted on the website in the club calendar.
The club website is kept up to date with the latest
news and information about the Borrego
IAC Contest Registration Fee Increases
The IAC has doubled the fee it charges IAC Chapters to hold a regional contest. This is going to cause
contest registration fees to go up around California and the country. I think the best way to inform all contest pilots as to why this is happening is to just reprint the email (read below) sent to all chapter presidents
on March 1st. We were informed of this change too late to alter the registration fees for the Borrego Hammerhead Roundup so IAC Chapter 36 will cover the increased cost out of our general account. However, do
not be surprised to see contest registration fees go up for other contests and understand what is happening by
reading the following from IAC.
Hello All~
HQ has gotten a few questions about the Per Contestant Fee: how we reached the number and what it all
goes towards. Below is Doug Bartlett’s explanation.
Here is how we got from $20 to $35 then $40:
First of all we round to the closest $5 for ease of computation and discussion, right or wrong. The biggest
jump came from moving the cost of judges training from the judge to the pilot. In the past, HQ charged
chapters a fee for each judge attending a class. This year no such fee will be charged by HQ. The cost of
training those judges will be paid for by the pilots.
How do we collect this money? First, we make some assumptions: 1) the number of judges going to classes
will be the same as last year, 2) the number of competition pilots will be the same as last year. Next we take
the total revenues and costs of running judges schools (including allocated indirect costs) and mathematically
move it from the number of student judges to the number of competition pilots expected. This came up to
about $15 (rounded).
Over the last two years Bob Hart (treasurer) and I have been working on an activity based costing system for
the IAC. The purpose of this system is to not only look at our financials from a financial point of view but
also from an activity point of view. We want each activity to “pay” for itself. This financial model allows us
to analyze many different options quickly and see how it changes the activities and who is paying for those
activities. In the past five years we have tried to ensure member fees did not pay for competition activities.
The IAC runs very close to a break even budget. Last year the competition activities ran at a loss and were
subsidized by the member dues. Some changes had to be made “in practice” and “in concept”.
For the competition events to break even last year about another $15 per pilot per contest would need to have
been charged. That is on top of the $15 for judges schools. This would bring the total to $50 (see last paragraph) this year instead of the $20 charged last year. Bob Hart and I felt, that although this was fair to all
club members, it would be too big a move in one year for competition members. So we decided to raise it by
only another $5. This change was the “in practice” part. We justified only raising it by $5 by moving some
of the member dues money from club activities to competition activities based on the belief that competition members ( a small percentage of total members) would want some of their dues to go toward supporting
competition activities. This was the “in concept” part.
This gave us a budget that runs at a 2% profit level for this year (EAA guidelines want 3%), and competition
activities being much closer to break even but still slightly subsidized by all club members.
The breakdown is: $25 is allocated to regional competition and $15 is allocated to judges schools.
I would like to point out that just a few years ago HQ charges for insurance and sanctioning fees that
amounted to about $1,400 per each contest regardless of size. Over a three year period we have modified
this to now being $40 per pilot. In the past, on average, it was $50 per pilot AND did not include the subsidy
associated with the judging schools.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call Doug Bartlett at 847-875-3339.
Thanks much,
Trish
INTERNATIONAL
AEROBATIC CLUB
Patricia Deimer-Steineke
Manager, IAC
2012 BORREGO HAMMERHEAD ROUNDUP
The 2012 Borrego Hammerhead Roundup is
getting close. The contest will be held from
April 12th to the 15th. An information flyer
and online preregistration can be found at
www.iac36.org. I urge all contestants to make
room reservations today if you are staying at
the Borrego Springs Resort. The Resort has
many events happening that weekend and is
filling up fast. When you make your reservation make sure to ask for the IAC Chapter 36
Contest room discount. Registration will start
at 8:00 am on Thursday with free hot dogs and
hamburgers being served from 11:00 am to
4:00 pm. The banquet will start at 7:00 pm on
Saturday night and I recommend that everyone
make plans to stay Saturday night for the event.
The banquet is going to be different from others held before and I guarantee it will be worth
attending.
The Borrego Box will be open from 9:00 am to
5:00 pm the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
(April 9th, 10th, and 11th) preceding the contest. All current 2012 IAC Chapter 36 members
are welcome to use the Box on those days to
tune up for the contest. You must be a current IAC Chapter 36 member to use the Borrego Box. If you have not paid your dues for
2012, or are not yet an IAC Chapter 36 member, please go to www.iac36.org to renew or
join. Just click CLUB and then JOIN/RENEW
MEMBERSHIP and follow the directions.
It should be a fun contest and Spring is always
a great time to be in Borrego. I hope everyone can make the 2012 Borrego Hammerhead
Roundup.
Gray Brandt
President IAC Chapter36
The Best Way To
Open The Borrego
Aerobatic Box
To open the box at the start of each day’s use:
Flight Data Desk (928 583-6126) and LA Center
(661 265-8235). The first, a Flight Service facility, can be confused (irritated?) by an apparent
request for NOTAM issuance made unnecessary
because the existence and use of the box is already published permanently in the AFD.
I handle this by making this announcement at the
start of the call: “I am calling from the Borrego
Valley airport. We will be using the aerobatic box
at the airport today from ___ to ___. The box position and hours are already published in the AFD,
but our waiver requires us to call you. Thanks.”
This always seems to work.
Michael Church
The Checklist
by Ron Rapp
take for someone with his military
and commercial airline experience.
Ah, the checklist. If Shakespeare Initially, I concluded that even afwas a pilot, he’d have written an ter all those decades in the air and
ode to it. Once confined to the
thousands of hours logged, he still
world of aviation, formal check- doesn’t understand the purpose of a
list discipline is now common in
checklist. Is that possible? Or was
hospitals, assembly lines, prodhis piece merely designed to provoke
uct design, maintenance, and just a strong response from the reader?
about any other instance where
loss of essential time,
After re-reading the article, I’m
money, or bodily function can re- starting to believe that Mr. Lamsult from improper procedures or ing has just encountered too many
forgotten items. Some pilots can’t badly-designed checklists. As anyimagine flying without one. Like a one who’s operated a wide variety
child wandering the yard without of aircraft types (I’ve flown over
their favorite blanket, they’d quite 60) can tell you, poor checklists
literally be lost without that lami- are more often the rule than the exnated piece of paper guiding them ception, and the worst of them will
through each
leave a long-lasting bad taste in
phase of flight. I’ve seen pilots
your mouth. They disrupt the flow of
who seemed to enjoy using the
a flight much the way an actor with
checklist more than the actual fly- poor timing can disrupt a scene.
ing. Others have a difficult time
One of the great aviation mysteries
understanding why a written list is why so many lousy checklists conis needed at all, especially in sim- tinue to exist. They’re not limited to
ple or
small aircraft, either. The manufacfamiliar aircraft. “Use a flow or turer-provided checklist for the Gulfmnemonic and let’s get going!”,
stream IV, for example, is comically
they’d say.
long. I don’t know who designs these
John Laming seems to fall into the things, but I highly doubt it’s the line
latter category. Mr. Laming repilot who’s going to be using it day
cently wrote an Air Facts opinion in and day out.
piece entitled “Is Your Checklist The answer to such cosmic riddles is
Really Necessary?” (http://www. far above my pay grade. What I can
airfactsjournal.com/2011/11/issay for sure is that it’s vital for aviayourchecklisttors to understand both the purpose
really-necessary/) where he arfor a checklist and the proper way to
gued that these tools are unneces- use one.
(continued...)
sary for many aircraft. It’s an odd
haven’t forgotten anything.
In my experience, it’s not the neoThe purpose should be self-eviphyte who is at greatest risk for
dent: to ensure that nothing immissing something, it’s the grizportant gets missed. Lowering
zled veteran who whips through
the landing gear, setting the presthe flows at lightning speed and
surization controller, those sorts
then neglects to use the checkof items. The key word is important, and I think that’s where many list at all. It’s overconfidence.
They’re so sure they haven’t forchecklists fall apart because once
gotten anything of life-altering
the document gets too long, human nature dictates that pilots will consequence.
And to be honest, they’re usueither skip items inadvertently or
ally right -- but remember, if the
leave the entire thing stowed.
list really is limited to the critiProper checklist usage, now that’s cal items, you only have to miss
a thing once to create a potential
something a bit more complex.
safety hazard. I can vouch that
When an aviator is new to an airit’s a bit embarrassing to read
craft, the checklist serves as a
a stone-simple instruction off a
“do” list. In other words, each
item is read and then the action is page right in front of your face
and still fail to complete the task.
performed. Even if a cockpit flow
“Can’t you read??” Well, apparexists and is being taught, the list
will have to be read and performed ently not…
one step at a time because the pilot I see this kind of failure quite freis simply unfamiliar with the loca- quently when flying glass panel
aircraft with pilots who are comtion of switches and controls.
puter geek Type-A personalities.
As time goes by, the flow and/or
They’re literally too fast with the
checklist is slowly memorized.
flows and need to slow down a
Eventually the pilot reaches the
point where they’re actually faster bit.
and more comfortable performing Caution is also warranted when
the items from memory. There’s ab- circumstances force a pilot to
perform tasks out of their normal
solutely nothing wrong with that.
order. Often this happens due to
In fact, it’s a good thing, because
interruption from ATC, line perit allows the checklist to serve as
a CHECK list. Once everything is sonnel, passengers, weather, or
done, you quickly read through the even another pilot.
items on the page to ensure you
(continued...)
Speaking of weather, here’s a
case in point: I was in New
Jersey getting a Gulfstream
IV ready for departure during
a strong rainstorm. We had
started up the airplane to taxi
to a place on the ramp where
it was somewhat protected
from the weather so our passengers wouldn’t get quite as
soaked when they arrived.
That simple action broke up
the usual pre-flight exterior
flow and as a result I neglected to remove the three landing gear pins. Thankfully the
other pilot caught it during
his walk-around, but it shows
how easily that sort of thing
can happen.
The best checklists, the ones
that are truly effective, share
some common traits. For one
thing, they’re short and sweet.
They hit the critical items in
a logical order and leave the
rest out.
In an aerobatic aircraft, a
pre-takeoff check would cover
the fuel selector, canopy, fuel
mixture, flight controls, etc.
In a swept-wing business jet,
on the other hand, the critical
items are different. Flaps
become a vital item, because
unlike other aircraft, if those
aren’t set right the airplane
can use far more runway than
you’ve got available. It may not
even fly at all.
Checklist design and usage is an
under-appreciated skill. As with
many things in aviation, when it’s
done right it’s a thing of elegance.
Art, almost. So next time you’re
flying, take a critical look at your
checklist and the way you use it.
How do you -- and it -- measure up?
Ron Rapp (www.rapp.org) flies the
Gulfstream IV and is a CFI-I/CFIME specializing in tailwheel, aerobatic, experimental, formation, and
glass-panel flying. He is also an
aircraft owner, Advanced competitor and a National-level judge.
Don’t miss out on your chance to use
The BEST Aerobatic
Box in the WEST!
-Be Sure to Pay the Treasurer-
- HELP WANTED!! -
Before you climb into your cockpit to compete in your next contest ask yourself this question:
How many ground volunteers does it take to staff a contest so that I can compete in the category of my choice in the Known, Free, and Unknown and/or Four Minute Free sequences?
1 Contest Director to coordinate with IA to obtain contest sanctions and insurance,
recruit volunteers to staff the contest, and manage the contest.
1 Volunteer Coordinator to assign volunteers to necessary contest positions and assure
that they are in the right place at the right time.
1 Chief Judge and 2 Assistants and 1
IAC Chapter 36 is lucky that we have a large
Runner.
1 Starter to coordinate pilot launches. membership and always seem to be able to
fill key positions that can’t be filled by pilots
1 Registrar to process your entry to
competing or by their family and friends that
provide paperwork for the judges, starter and
corners, determine the orders of flight, and com- arrive with them. These positions include Conpile your food orders for breakfasts, lunches, and test Director, Registrar, Volunteer Coordinator,
and Scorer. IAC Chapter 49 needs your help
the awards banquet.
in filling three of these positions for the Apple
1 Techer to assure that your plane is
Valley Contest. The positions needed are Regflight-worthy.
istrar, Volunteer Coordinator, and Scorer. I
2 Corners to record your outs.
5 Line Judges assisted by 5 Callers and know from experience that it can be difficult
5 Recorders for three flights each per competitor. to organize a contest and it can be especially
panic ridden if you are scrambling (begging)
1 Scorer and 1 Assistant to call and
enter your scores, publish and post them timely. to fill these positions. If anyone can fill these
1 Facilities’ Manager plus 2 Assistants to trans- positions or knows someone that could, for
port the necessary chairs, tables and sunshades the Apple Valley contest, please contact Casey
from storage, assemble them on the judges’ line, Erickson at [email protected]. Your help
then tear them down and return them to storage would not go unappreciated.
Gray
at the conclusion of the competition.
1 Ad Solicitor to obtain ad sponsors for
the program and water bottles.
1 Program Compiler to design and
publish the contest program.
2 Box Maintainers to clean and repaint the box markers in advance of the contest.
1 Web Master to publicize upcoming contests and design and modify the chapter
web site for you to preregister for contests and view results.
This is an amazing total of thirty-six (36) volunteers required for you to compete, but doesn’t
include the “chef” to man the Bar B Queue for the Hammerhead Roundup and Akrofest to
provide hot dogs and hamburgers on practice day. Please ask yourself what you can do to
man some of these positions and encourage your mate, significant other, and /or family and
friend to join you at the contest to help assure the success of contests.
Barbara and Bill Hill
-A Note from the EditorI am pleased to step in as the Newsletter Editor for IAC36. I will be taking on
the Registrar duties for the Borrego competitions this season as well, and look
forward to seeing you at the Spring and
Fall contests. If you have anything to
add to the newsletter please contact me
at [email protected] and I will
be happy to include your information in the upcoming issue
of The Hammerhead Times.
Brenda Frazier
Board of Directors
When the paint is dry, it’s time to Fly!