PICTURE OF THE WEEK ~  Nov, 11, 03-- Here's a live shot caught on the fly!(ooh) Is it Warren giving someone a plane ride or is it Wade taking to the skies? If you haven't taken a ride in 43G yet then you have something to put on your "Things To Do" list. (In case your were wondering, this picture was taken from the ground outside of the office area.) 

MORE TFR NEWS ~  Nov, 11, 03-- Another poor sole wanders aimlessly into the Washington DC TFR. However, he did remember how to respond to the Air National Guard F16's, so they let him fly on his way. He must have had his intercept and procedure chart with him. 
Click here to take a quick peek: 1st half, 2nd half 
Or get the AOPA pdf file. (It's 400k) 

Winter Flying ~ Nov. 16, 03-- So the other day, I look out the window and see a beautiful blue sky that keeps calling. A call to FSS (Burlington, this time) and the briefer says, "Well, we haven't had to many calls today. What type of aircraft? A 172? Oh, well ahh, I ahh, well we have an airmet for severe turbulence below 120 and a sigmet for northern New England for occ to mod turb blw 80 with wndsheer blw 20. Winds at Skyhaven were 32/12 g25, at Sanford 29/24 g32. If you decide to go, could you give us a pilot report?" Hmm, I just read an article about extreme cross winds at an airport in Hawaii of winds at 30 g35. In New England, you don't have to go to Hawaii for a challenge. Do any cross wind landings lately? The Cessna  Owner's Manual or Pilot's Operating Handbook, depending on how old the aircraft is, says the maximum allowable crosswind velocity is dependent upon pilot capability rather than airplane limitations, with 15 knot crosswind being average. Oh, in the article, the author talked about landing a 172 in a 28knot wind, 40 degrees to the runway. (I'd like to have a picture of that!) 

Halloween Flight ~ Nov. 6, 03-- Did you stop by during halloween for a flight into the darkness? The staff at OVA got into the halloween spirit with some spooky delites of their own. Click on the skeleton to see what they did! 
 

CONGRATULATIONS! ~ Nov. 4, 03-- Congratulations to Ernie Atwater for making his 1st solo flight in 93G. Ernie completed  his solo flight with our instructor Steve Kolacz. Good luck to Ernie as his continues on to his private pilot license. 

P-51 vs. L-39 ~ Nov 2, 03-- What's faster? A P-51 Mustang or a L-39 jet? I just read an article about a P-51 flying a lap at the Reno Nevada speed racing event at 512 mph. The article went on to say that Mary Dilda won a jet class race with an L-39 at 434 mph. (Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I've heard a rumor that if you put the pedal to the metal in the Albatross the speed brakes come out at .8 mach... hmm. I bet the fuel flow to those engines is faster than the water flow our of the faucet in my kitchen!) 

Aurora Borealis ~ Nov 2, 03-- Did you happen to see the aurora borealis last week? The best story I heard was from our CFII Pete Seavey. He describe a flight with a student making an approach to Pease with the aurora filling the northern sky from the northwest to the northeast with reds and pinks and an umbrella of green that covered them so, it even extended to the south. (Wow! A picture of that from the cockpit might of won first prize in Avweb's picture of the week contest. Did you know that they had to shut down a bunch of satellites and lower the percentage of power on main power transmission lines because of the large solar flare that was responsible for the aurora that became so visible in southern New England? I wonder if it affected the diurnal shift in the ionosphere?) 

GET CONNECTED? ~ Nov. 2, 03-- Did you get a card from the FAA asking you for your email? It's a postcard inviting pilots to register their email that will allow you to update your change of address online. Click on the yellow icon to check it out! 

FAA GRAPHICAL TFR's ~ Nov. 1, 03-- FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told AOPA that the FAA now has a web site with graphical TFR's Check it out! 

Class III WAAS [Wide Area Augmentation System] ~ Nov 1, 03-- It appears the next level of GPS is not to far around the corner. From what I understand, Class III WAAS will give GPS the capability to do ILS type approaches to airports like Skyhaven without installing the conventional ils equipment. It will allow for approaches to 250-foot minimums. However, they are saying that it won't be available for another 24 months. I also read someplace that the VOR system might be phased out by the year 2008. (That's only four years from now!) 

PICTURE OF THE WEEK ~ Oct 29, 03-- Did you know that 93G is equiped with a STOL kit? STOL stands for "Short Take Off and Landing" .When it comes to performance 93G is an impresive plane to fly. Need a little extra carrying capacity? Check out the stats on the weight and balance for 93G. Not all Skyhawks are equal. 

Congratulations! ~ Oct 24, 03-- Congratulations to Mike Kaichen on receiving his Private Pilot Certificate. Congratulations also to Doug Beaver on receiving his instrument rating in his Cherokee 180 

FAA Safety Schedule ~ Oct 24, 03-- In the right column you'll notice an update to the FAA safety schedule that now has a direct link to the Nov. and Dec schedule.  

657 HAS NEW AUDIO PANEL ~ Oct 21, 03-- Did you notice something different in 657? For anyone who hasn't flown it for a while you'll see a new Garmin audio panel. 
Click on the Aircraft Picture menu to see the updated radio panel and some close ups of the Garmin audio panel. 
To get more information go to the link page and click on the "GPS Manuals and Simulators at AOPA" link. 

NEW AIRPORT PICTURE PAGE 3 ~ Oct 20, 03-- Page 3 has been updated with some new and unusual aircraft. You just never know what you're going to see here at Skyhaven. Our updated page 3 in just 47 pictures covers everything from a Sikorski one of a kind aircraft to ultra-lights, helicopters, new state of the art composite aircraft and another L-39 passing by. If you like page 3 you might also like page 4 that's currently in the making... 

ARE YOU READY FOR A 'FRIGHT FLIGHT'?  ~ Oct 14 03 On Oct 30 and 31 we are planning on some spooky activity at the airport. Come on down if you dare... 

STUDENT PILOT SOLO'S  ~ Oct 15, 03 Be sure to check out the student pilot solo page to see the latest updates. This past summer has been busy with all kinds of activities and student solo's has been one of them. Look for your shirt on the solo page. If it's not there, let me know and we'll get one there ASAP. 

PRIVATE PILOT GROUND SCHOOL  ~ Oct 14, 03 Steve Kolacz will be having a private pilot ground school class starting Oct 16, 6pm to 9pm, for 8 to 10 weeks. Cost is $150. For more information call the office at 332-0005 
  
Congratulations Oct 13, 03 Congratulations to Mary Ann Croker on completing her solo flight in 657. For those of you who haven't flown 657 recently, you'll find a new Garmin audio panel. You can download a manual of the audio panel from the Garmin website. Just move your cursor to the "download" menu and click of the Garmin link. I have some closeups of the radio stack on 657 I'll be posting soon 

PICTURE OF THE WEEK ~ Oct 13, 03 Believe it or not, this is a fairly new C-150. When Glen, Jim and the team at OVA get done with this bird it'll be a thing of beauty sitting on the ramp begging someone to take her for a flight... keep watching. 

FALL FLYING ~ Oct 17, 2003  It's that time of the year again. The leaves are turning and the wind is blowing. I might add that the final approach to 33 can get what I would call "a little squirrelly". With the fall winds, like a squirrel, one minute you're going one way, the next moment you're going another way. A peek at the wind sock on final will give you a clue on what to expect. Sometimes the windsock points down the runway and sometimes it points across and sometimes it goes back a forth. Fall flying is a great time of the year to go flying and the added boost from the cool dry air and wind gives you performance levels you can't get in the summer hot humid days. It's a good time to tune up your flying skills. If you haven't been out in the wind for a while be sure to call your instructor for a tune-up.