Pacific Perspective - December 2006

	Michael Brown’s beautiful Sea Fury, ‘September Fury’.
	Tony admires the enormous spinner on Will Whiteside’s Yak3U, ‘Steadfast.’ Photo courtesy The Mary
	Bob Hoover’s old mount ‘Old Yeller’ gets some TLC.
	Rare Bear massive new ‘Corncob’ engine is eased into place.
	Vancouver Racer Keith McMann chats with NATA’s  Stoney Stonich as The Mary and Rick Dion ponder the Red Knight’s prospects.

The unsolicited call

“That Tony Swain?” …”Er Yeah?” Slight pause, then, “I bought your old engine. Did yah cash the cheque?” 

Oh oh! This is not good. A guy from Nevada bought Bessy’s spare engine, sight unseen, and some kid with a truck picked it up back in January. Never saw the guy who’s now on the phone. That engine sat on the barn floor over 30 years with oily rags stuffed in all the holes, just what the book says not to do.

He went on, ”Got nervous when there was no sump, so I pulled out that dirty old bit of rag and peered in.” 

Sheesh! That long in a barn over-run with furry things that go bump in the night. It’s a right rat’s nest and rusted solid! The guy wants his money back. Should’ve sprayed it with more LPS 3. Sigh.

“So we pulled a cylinder, and it just soo-ooked off, beautiful! You guys did a great inhibiting job!” 

Thank you Dave Ellison! And that fun afternoon in the flying club, boiling magic oil on the stove, and pumping it in all available orifices. The crank had never moved since, regardless of all the shifting about to avoid the threatened local 100-year-flood. We actually did something right.

SEE YOU AT RENO

“Pulled her all apart and everything was great. Sent it for overhaul at Aero Engine and it’s in my T-6 race plane. Are you coming to Reno?”

“With bells on!” says I “See you there!” 

And that’s how come the ex Copaguy, and The Mary, drove her little old Mazda a thousand miles down to the Peppermill, which we couldn’t find despite staying there before. Seems it’s not exactly downtown.

Reno Races are tremendously exciting, particularly if you understand the race planes a bit, and especially if you actually can count some of the pilots as friends. Over the years we’ve got to know a few of the best, some are even Delta regulars.

A few years ago, The Mary and I were pit crew for Jerry Janes’ fabulous Sea Fury, Cottonmouth. He pitted with the best, Howard Pardue with his Bearcat and Sea Fury, and next pit was the famous Rare Bear.

In those heady days we could chat with Bob Hoover, shoot the breeze with Poberezny, and Mary laughed a lot with Mary Dilda.

This year, we’d be in Dennis Buehn’s T-6 pit. Scarlet red Race 43. Our good friends Bud Granley and Keith McMann were there with their Harvard/T-6’s. So we had lot’s to cheer for.

When we arrived Friday we found that both Rare Bear and Merlin’s Magic had blown engines, and were busily installing new ones. Watching these skillful mechanics switching engines is a real show, and there’s always a crowd.

I counted 10 guys working on Rare Bear’s huge Corncob. The champion Bearcat didn’t make the race, which changed the odds drastically for the unlimited guys.

Dennis’ wife Tami told us that Race 43 had qualified extremely fast, and would be in the Gold race. The crew was real excited, and kept telling people this was our old engine. Turned out it wasn’t really that old technically. While it had been biding it’s time on the barn floor, all the others were flying around and getting overhauled half a dozen times or more. Bessy’s old spare was actually a ‘one time’ rebuild engine. Almost brand new.

GOING FOR GOLD

Our friends Keith and Bud had been busy on their Harvards, and Bud came second in the Silver, Keith had hoped to win the Bronze, but was bumped up to the Silver and was way down the field. The system is a bit complicated for me. But it’s a lot of fun.   

Dennis’s Midnight Miss III crew were really pumped when a major competitor, Warlock, blew an engine, leaving Nick Macy in his SixCat the one to beat. But it was not to be. SixCat won, and Dennis flew flat out for a very exciting second place gold Medal.

We were over the moon. Hugs and kisses all round and Dennis treated everyone to free hot dogs! It don’t get much better than that! Bessy’s old engine did real good!

One time Bessy engineer Judy Webber came by with congratulations, and whisked us off to her company ‘box’ among the VIP’s in front of the stands. Judy is now Senior V.P. of Willis Lease, where the big airlines get their engines, and she was there with her fella, ex Western Warbird B25 driver, Harry Kelly.

So we got to watch the formula One and Unlimited races in grand style. Judy tried giving complimentary box tickets away to people with kids on the midway, but folks thought it suspicious, and turned her down! Just one elderly old guy was glad of a seat and got front row! She and Harry had boxes of food and stuff for such guests, and sadly had to throw it away.

DYNAMITE GIRL

I wandered about a bit and found the Cascade Squadron guys down a ways. A surprise big hug from behind revealed April Zelesky, the Dynamite Girl, a bonzer pyrotechnic expert for the show circuit.

So off we strolled to ‘the Box.’ I felt quite the lad, squiring this lovely lady down the Midway! But, what she wanted to know was “Where’s The Mary?” Sigh.

They chattered away about Texans, Mustangs, Sea Furies, and stuff, and how it was too bad Mary Dilda wasn’t there to show up the guys. Double Sigh.

Well, the Merlins had a bad day, and Sea Furies swept the field with nary a P-51 in sight. A lone Yak 11, Czech Mate, snuck into second place. The big winner was Mike Brown in September Fury. And that was it. We caught the bus back to the Peppermill to relax in standard casino splendor.

Next day we stayed on a friend’s ranch near Sacremento, then out to the fabled coast Hwy101 and points north, to spend the next night at Crescent City after a proper fish and chip supper.

This is the place where sea lions have established a noisy colony on a bunch of marina yacht berths, where some boats are still moored.

The 101 is a spectacular drive, wonderful seaside towns and fabulous beaches. We visited a number of friendly airports, Gold Beach, Newport, Florence, Coos Bay, and the awesome Aviation Museum at Tillimook. Incredible.

We followed Hwy 101 up the Olympic Peninsular to the historic old town of Port Townsend and pondered staying the night for a look-see in the morning. But naah, we caught the last ferry so as to be at home in our comfy bed that night.

We slipped through Canada Customs about 1 am no sweat. We awoke next morning to CTV yapping about our customs being on strike, and chaotic scenes at the border - go figure!

Many years ago we flew Bessy down this coast to Chino near Los Angeles. A tremendous adventure then, and it would be no less now. Everyone should do it once. See you at Reno next year.             

GREATER VANCOUVER AIRSPACE REVIEW

Nav Canada has plans for your Vancouver area airspace. Over 40 concerned G/A pilots attended a recent Nav Canada information meeting, and they hopefully had some impact on the process. The meeting was presented by Don Henderson.

It seems that YVR Terminal is in a serious operational crisis and the answer is not clear. There appear to be two main issues. First, the increasing intrusion of scheduled airlines, particularly Westjet in the east sector, and their growing need to access Abbotsford.

And second, NavCan's problems in qualifying terminal controllers, due to system complexity and regulatory interface.

Pilots present reported talking to the same terminal controller at 08:00 hours and 20:00 hours on the same day. Is this a safety issue?

A number of informed suggestions came from the floor, and noted by Henderson. Complaints about the consultation process were aired. The issue of poor communications and short notice was raised.

It seems that GA has had minimum input to date, and that previous briefings had not been well attended. The attendance at this meeting was due to COPA and others going out to "beat the bushes." There are more meetings to come. Please stay aware of such meetings. And please, attend these meetings. It’s your airspace at stake here!

COPA AWARDS REMINDER

It’s time to be thinking of who in your area deserves to be honoured by COPA. Surely there is someone in your flying sphere deserving of a high COPA Award.

Such people are extra-ordinarily helpful and cheerful in their dealings with COPA Members and other GA operators. We need to nurture such people, and recognize the effort they make to keep our flying pleasant and efficient.

Mary and I were particularly pleased last year to see our old friend, Ray Fiset, of Quebec City, receive the COPA Award of Merit for his long time support of General and Recreational Aviation. There are more like Ray out there. Tell us about them!

Fly Safe, and Merry Christmas!

Tony Swain is a recently retired COPA director and has been a COPA member for more than 20 years. He and his wife Mary continue to be active participants in personal aviation.