2008 PAPA ACE Picnic
Wednesday, Aug 27th
Don’t forget that this year’s PAPA ACE Annual Member Picnic
will be held in a new location. The picnic starts at 6:30 p.m.
in Hangar 13, behind the motel and the 1098 building off
Milwaukee Ave.
Hangar 13 belongs to Jim McLennan, who has volunteered
it for our picnic this year! Please set aside this date and
join us for an evening of socializing, good food and
scholarship awards presentations.
PAPA Picnic Committee members include Bob Hanaford and
Mike Ballenger, who are arranging the food. Dennis Rouleau,
airport manager, has offered us, on behalf of the airport,
the free use of some of the tables and chairs we will need
and tubs for icing down the drinks.
Thunderstorm Season Is Upon Us
By Sheila Macomber
It’s August in Chicagoland – which means hot, humid weather
and almost daily thunderstorm forecasts. Although they
don’t always materialize, they still should earn our respect.
I prefer to give them a wide berth – unless I am safely on
the ground where I can photograph the clouds and then
dash inside.
Life cycle: Warm air has a lower density than cool air and
rises within the cooler ai. Clouds form as warm air carrying
moisture rises within cooler air. As the warm air rises, it
coolsand the moisture begins to condense. This releases
energy that keeps the air warmer than its surroundings, so
it continues to rise. If enough instability is present in the
atmosphere, this process will continue long enough for
cumulonimbus clouds to form. All thunderstorms, regardless
of type, go through three stages: the cumulus stage, the
mature stage, and the dissipation stage. Depending on the
conditions present in the atmosphere, these three stages
can take anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours to
occur.
As always, current PAPA members attend free, and there
will be a nominal charge of $5 for each guest.
Cumulus stage: The first stage of a thunderstorm is the
cumulus stage, or developing stage. In this stage, masses of
moisture are lifted upwards into the atmosphere. The trigger
for this lift can be ground heating producing thermals, areas
where two winds converge forcing air upwards, or where
winds blow over terrain of increasing elevation. The moisture
rapidly cools into liquid drops of water, which appears as
cumulus clouds. As the water vapor condenses into liquid,
latent heat is released which warms the air, causing it to
become less dense than the surrounding dry air. The air
tends to rise in an updraft through the process of convection
continued on page 3
PAPA SEZ
August 2008
page 2
2008 OFFICERS,
DIRECTORS & CHAIRPERSONS
PRESIDENT
S. Guru Prasad
847-921-3462
[email protected]
VICE PRESIDENT
Sheila Macomber
773-578-1553
[email protected]
SECRETARY
Steve Sandler
847-634-8168
[email protected]
TREASURER
Ken Riesterer
847-456-1791
[email protected]
DIRECTORS
Mike Ballenger
Bob Hanaford
Len Jablon
Jim Kwasek
Rob Mark
847-609-2238
312-899-9020
847-309-1885
847-322-7117
847-864-9780
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS
AIRPORT SUPPORT NETWORK REP
Howard Levinson 847-480-1118
[email protected]
AWARDS/SCHOLARSHIP
Ray Chou
312-656-2696
[email protected]
BYLAWS/LEGAL
Bob Hanaford
312-899-9020
[email protected]
MEMBERSHIP
Ken Riesterer
847-456-1791
[email protected]
SAFETY/PROGRAM
Jack Sheridan
312-909-2500
[email protected]
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Barry Axelrod
847-217-0707
[email protected]
Mike Ballenger
847-609-2238
[email protected]
WEBMASTER
Jim Kwasek
847-332-7117
[email protected]
NEWSLETTER
Sheila Macomber
773-578-1553
[email protected]
PAPA 2008 EVENT SCHEDULE
All Board Meetings will be held at
Atlantic Aviation at 7:00 p.m.
Pilot Meeting locations to be decided.
Please check PAPA SEZ or
www.pwkpilots.org for information.
Meeting Dates 2008
August
13
27
Board Meeting
Members Hangar Picnic
6:30 p.m. in Hangar 13
(behind the 1098 Building)
September
10
24
Board Meeting
Pilot Meeting
October
7
Board Meeting (Tuesday)
November
5
12
December
3
10
13
Board Meeting
Annual Meeting & Election of
Officers & Directors
Board Meeting
Holiday Dinner
Toy Drop
Membership Report
No New Members
PAPA SEZ is published monthly by PAPA At Chicago Executive (PAPA) - a non-profit organization. PAPA was formed in 1987 as
a forum for the users of Chicago Executive Airport*. PAPA’s mission is to promote the safety of operations and continued
development of Chicago Executive Airport in a fraternal environment with the pilots, users and community. Membership in
PAPA is open to any user of Chicago Executive Airport. Membership dues are $30.00 annually and include a subscription to
PAPA SEZ. *Formerly Palwaukee Municipal Airport.
Letters to the Editor, Feedback, Concerns, and Questions
Letters to the Editor and any articles submitted for publication must be received by the 15th of the month, will be printed
on a space available basis, and may be edited for style and length. PDF or e-mail text OK but Microsoft Word files preferred.
Please email to: [email protected] or send to:
EDITOR, PAPA SEZ
1005 S Wolf Road Suite 106
Wheeling IL 60090-6408
Visit the PAPA Web Site: http://www.pwkpilots.org
PAPA SEZ
August 2008
page 3
Executive Short
Approach
Thunderstorm Season
continued from page 1
By Lou J. Wipotnik, ATP - MCFI
(hence the term convective precipitation). This creates a
low-pressure zone beneath the forming thunderstorm. In a
typical thunderstorm, some 5×108 kg of water vapour are
lifted, and the amount of energy released when this
condenses is tremendous.
Would the last one out, please turn off the lights!
On June 31, I had the displeasure of departing with the last
aircraft from Hangar One. I taxied Cessna 747KA from hangar
1 to its new and maybe temporary home in hangar 5.
Mature stage: In this stage of a thunderstorm, the warmed
air continues to rise until it reaches existing air which is
warmer, and the air can rise no further. The air is instead
forced to spread out, giving the storm a characteristic anvil
shape. The resulting cloud is called cumulonimbus incus.
The water droplets coalesce and freeze to become ice
particles. As these fall they melt to become rain. If the updraft
is strong enough, the droplets are held aloft long enough to
be so large that they do not melt completely and fall as hail.
While updrafts are still present, the falling rain creates
downdrafts as well. The simultaneous presence of both an
updraft and downdrafts marks the mature stage of the storm,
and during this stage considerable internal turbulence can
occur in the storm system, which sometimes manifests as
strong winds, severe lightning, and even tornadoes.
This usurers in the end of an historic landmark of the 1920’s
Old Palwaukee Airport. When you think about it, what
actually remains of the old PWK? Nothing, except the actual
location of the airport, at Palatine Road and Milwaukee Ave.
(Pal-Waukee = PWK). Pardon me, the old T’s are still standing,
what’s holding them up (literally)? With the advent of our
soon to be new terminal, the current name of Chicago
Executive will finally fit. However, the name – Palwaukee will
die hard, as long as PWK remains the identifier. Something
to think about!
This month will mark my fifty first year since I soloed at
PWK, and I have seen many changes, most of them good.
While I was president of PAPA, one of my goals was to see
lower fuel costs, maybe through self-serve fuel; we are all
still waiting for that day. Another goal was to see more Thangars at a reasonable cost, why is that taking so long?
Why does everything move so slowly at PWK?
We all realize that change is inevitable, and with the airline
industry is in a nose dive, executive airports like PWK should
be growing, especially ones with a good location. But,
airport managements must be considerate of ALL users of
the airport, as each user brings in revenue, no matter how
small, but at least on a continual income basis.
Have you looked at the number of airplanes in areas two
and three lately, except for the flight school, they’re on
the decline. There are many reasons these days why pilots
are leaving not only PWK, but aviation in general. We have
got to stop that spiral descent in general aviation, and the
best and least expensive way I can think of, is with a
responsible and friendly atmosphere. In my opinion, that’s
the first step, from then on it’s up to the big thinkers in
management and on the airport board to make the changes
necessary to save ALL general aviation at Chicago Executive.
Typically, if there is little wind shear, the storm will rapidly
enter the dissipating stage and ‘rain itself out’, but if there
is sufficient change in wind speed and/or direction the
downdraft will be separated from the updraft, and the storm
may become a supercell, and the mature stage can sustain
itself for several hours. In certain cases however, even with
little wind shear, if there is enough atmospheric support
and instability in place for the thunderstorm to feed on, it
may even maintain its mature stage a bit longer than most
storms.
Dissipating stage: In the dissipation stage, the thunderstorm
is dominated by the downdraft. If atmospheric conditions
do not support super cellular development, this stage occurs
rather quickly, some 20-30 minutes into the life of the
thunderstorm. The downdraft will push down out of the
thunderstorm, hit the ground and spread out. The cool air
carried to the ground by the downdraft cuts off the inflow
of the thunderstorm, the updraft disappears and the
thunderstorm will dissipate.
NOAA National Weather Service diagrams. Photo by Sheila
Macomber
PAPA SEZ
August 2008
page 4
99s Air Meet Set for September 21st
The Chicago Area Chapter of The Ninety-Nines invites pilots
in the greater Chicago area to gather at DeKalb Airport on
Sunday, September 21st, and celebrate our 60th Air Meet!
10 am to 1 pm, when lunch is served and awards are
announced. Plan to be in DeKalb by 9:30 at the latest, to
give yourself enough time to top off your tanks and have a
cup of coffee before the race briefing.
Come one, come all, there are only a few requirements to
participate. First, a 99 must be in the cockpit, either as
“first officer” or pilot-in-command. And of course you must
bring all the usually-required FAA documentation in your
aircraft. Don’t know any 99s? Contact Ruth Frantz at
[email protected] or 847-669-3821 and she’ll help you find
a current member to meet the requirement.
The 99s is the international organization of women pilots,
and the Chicago Area Chapter (CAC) is the largest chapter in
the organization. The CAC Air Meet is an annual proficiency
competition flown in VFR conditions, with entrants estimating
their time to complete a triangular course approximately
150 nautical miles in length. The route is secret until the
pre-race briefing on the morning of the event, and with
sectionals, E6Bs, and pencils sharpened, pilots calculate their
time and estimate the amount of fuel they’ll consume over
the course. And no Air Meet is really over until the spot
landing contest has been decided.
Joan Kerwin, left, and Leslie Prellwitz, 2007 Spot Landing
winner
Even if you’re just thinking about joining us, why not get in
touch with Ruth Frantz today to obtain a briefing package in
advance: contact Ruth at [email protected], or by phone
at 847-669-3821. See you in DeKalb!
Is It Really Dead?
By Ray Klaus
Pilotage and dead-reckoning appear to be a lost art. The navsystems chapter in the FAA Flying Handbook discusses VOR,
ADF, RNAV, LORAN and GPS exclusively.
Gail LaPook and Mary Lou Mueller, 2007 First Place winners
In addition to bragging rights for your spot-on squeaker of a
landing, you’ll be competing for first, second and third place
trophies. First place is awarded the Joan and Walter Kerwin
Perpetual Trophy, in honor of long-time chapter member
Joan Kerwin’s late husband, pilot Walter Kerwin. First-time
entrants in the Air Meet are eligible for the Mary B. Shumway
Perpetual Trophy, which recognizes the highest scoring PIC
who flies in the Air Meet for the first time. So if this is your
first time flying the CAC meet, you could walk away with
three trophies, plus a small cash purse! And the winners’
names are engraved on the perpetual trophies, which remain
with the winners until the 2009 air meet. Of course this
year’s winners may have to fly in to the 2009 event to present
the trophy to next year’s winner!
DeKalb-Taylor Municipal Airport is about 60 miles west of
downtown Chicago, and the air meet usually runs from about
In days of old, bold pilots navigated the oceans, continents
and North and South Poles without any high-tech, electronic
stuff. They simply did it with a compass, clock, some charts,
a navigation log and a pair of eyeballs.
The wonderment of GPS navigation and WAAS approaches,
along with weather and traffic interfaces in now part of our
aviation lifestyle. Can we ever navigate without it?
We have come to regard satellite navigation as bulletproof.
We expect it to always be there for our use. But, there is no
guarantee. The system was created for the military to use in
weapons targeting. It provides the high ground from which
to watch, listen and direct military forces. The revolution in
military technology is at heart a revolution in the use of space.
Civilian users are beneficiaries of the system so long as the
government doesn’t turn it off for security reasons, or some
space debris doesn’t damage our satellites, rending them
useless.
Continued on next page
PAPA SEZ
Is it Really Dead?
Continued from previous page
The January 19th, 2008 edition of The Economist featured an
article on “The Militarisation of Space.” It contends that our
growing reliance on space and cyberspace could become a
dangerous dependence. Satellites move in predictable orbits.
Anybody can reach space can, in theory, destroy a satellite,
even if only by releasing a cloud of “dumb” pellets in its path –
using a shotgun rather than a rifle to kill the orbiting “bird”.
What would happen if a major power such as Russia or China
were able to intercept our space assets with missiles and “space
mines,” or disable them with laser and electronic jammers?
The Chinese routinely turn powerful lasers skyward
demonstrating their potential to dazzle, or permanently blind,
our spy satellites. We have backups, but our space architecture
is fragile. Space is no longer a sanctuary. It is a contested
domain.
August 2008
page 5
Have You Renewed Your PAPA
Membership Yet?
May was membership month for PAPA At Chicago Executive.
Many of you promptly returned your membership forms
with a check, and for that we are grateful. You have joined
in supporting the oldest pilot organization at Chicago
Executive Airport. Our work representing you and the other
users of PWK will continue.
It is especially interesting to note that in the past 14 years
operations at PWK have declined radically, and yet our
membership numbers have stayed virtually the same. Looking
at the chart below, you can see that while aircraft
movements went from a high of approximately 200,000 to a
current low of about 100,000 per year. During the same
time period, PAPA membership numbers have remained
relatively consistent.
On January 11, 2007, China fired a missile from a mobile launcher
deep inside China. It intercepted one of China’s aging weather
satellites. The impact created a huge field of debris now floating
in space. The weightlessness of space means that this debris
will keep spinning around the earth for years, if not centuries.
America did the same thing earlier this year. Apparently, they
are not concerned about littering the low-orbit, where half of
the active satellites are located, and potentially making it
unusable.
Some strategists argue that America’s space system vulnerability
if closer to home. Ground stations and control centers,
particularly those of commercial operations, are exposed to
conventional bombing. Communication links to and from satellites
are open to interference. Critical parts of the space system
could be attacked from distant computers. In addition, American
Military Forces have an on-going struggle to find enough bandwidth to prevent the myriad of electronic systems from jamming
each other.
Hopefully, our satellite systems will prove to be not as fragile,
or as at risk, as The Economist article implies. But, wouldn’t
you feel more secure knowing that you can still draw a line on
a Sectional Chart, prepare a flight log with times and distances
between visual waypoints, and reach your destination as
predicted? Even aircraft electrical systems have been known
to fail.
With the warm weather season upon us, I’m going to practice
some of that dead-reckoning and pilotage stuff, enjoy looking
out the window and visiting those little country airports with
sod runways and friendly people. Ideally, I’ll do it in a tailwheel
airplane. Would you care to join me?
Editor – Ray Klaus, a PAPA member, is a CFIA-II-MEL and has
received the designation of Master Instructor from the National
Association of Flight Instructors and has been awarded the FAA
Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. Ray is a sport aviation
enthusiast.
As new members are the life blood of any organization, we,
of course, would like to increase our numbers. We welcome
any new members who wish to join in. But we find it
particularly interesting when student starts are down,
aircraft sales are depressed, and operations at the airport
are half what they were 14 years ago - that we remain
strong. Thanks to all of our renewing members who make
our educational, representation and social efforts
worthwhile.
If you haven’t yet renewed, there is still time. Please send
in your check and your renewal form TODAY! See our
website, www.pwkpilots.org, for more renewal or new
membership information.
New to the PAPA website is the option to use your PayPal
account for memberships, scholarship donations and, in
the future, the purchase of PAPA merchandise.
PAPA SEZ
August 2008
page 6
Are You the Owner of an
Aircraft?
PAPA Fly Market
Classified Ads are FREE TO PAPA MEMBERS
PAPA SEZ is looking for PAPA member aircraft owners
For Sale - Aviation Headset:
Telex Headset with Boom Mic 5X5 Pro. Make an offer. Call
Barry Axelrod at 847-217-0707 or email: [email protected]
for a series of feature articles. The articles would
be about the airplane, the pilot’s history with flying
and the airport. We would also include one or two
photos of the pilot and his/her aircraft.
Anyone interested in flying American Champion’s Light
Sport Tailwheel Airplane - the Champ? Doc Eberhardt,
some other folks, and myself are working on a shared
ownership plan with four pilots per plane, and qualitycontrol structure. Let’s keep flying safe, fun and affordable. If
interested contact Ray Klaus at: [email protected], or
call 847.823.5995.
Anyone interested in being featured should contact
Rob Mark at: [email protected].
WriteUps
Subscribe electronically to the Chicago Executive Airport
newsletter by emailing: [email protected].
Enter “subscribe” in the subject line.
We are looking for aviation stories,
comments, anecdotes, travelogues, or
CLASSIFIED ADS RUN THREE MONTHS
UNLESS CANCELLED OR RENEWED.
PLEASE CONTACT: [email protected]
photos, etc. for the WriteUps Column.
PAPA members may submit material to:
[email protected]
and
put
“WriteUps” in the subject line. Stories
should be 1000 words or less and may
be edited for length or language.
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PAPA SEZ
August 2008
page 7
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