Spring
Cleaning
As
the Santa Ynez Valley is afflicted with good weather most of the year, local
airplanes are not subject to the harsh conditions that keep many small
airplanes unused in other parts of the country.
But as spring brings flowers, so too it brings nests and other homes to
critters small enough to get into the many nooks and crevasses of a small airplane.
Pilots
are reminded to do careful pre-flight inspections anytime, but especially after
a long period in inactivity. A cozy
sparrow’s nest built atop the number 3 cylinder and not found during a
pre-flight inspection is a sure cause for poor airflow around the engine with
the very real possibility of smoke or even fire in flight.
Using
a good flashlight, even during the daylight hours, allows a better inspection
of the openings in the fuselage and wings.
Access for landing gear and control linkages are open doors to winged
and ground-dwelling creatures.
Waving
red streamers saying “Remove before flight” are often found on aircraft pitot tubes when a plane is parked. The pitot
tube has a small hole exposed to the oncoming airflow and is part of the system
used to measure the airspeed of the airplane.
In springtime, bees, wasps, or other small flying insects may try to
build a nest inside the small opening, causing a blockage of the instrument,
and an incorrect airspeed reading on the airspeed indicator. This is a potentially serious malfunction in
an airplane, and a good inspection will expose this fault before flight.
A
good cleaning of the aircraft is beneficial to its safe operation and allows
close inspection and maintenance of the aircraft.
Sport Aviators
’Hanger Sale’
The
local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association will have a garage sale,
of sorts, after its next monthly meeting on April 19. Hundreds of tools, wrenches, hammers, sockets
and socket sets, micrometers, screwdrivers, clamps, and other assorted tools
will be auctioned to the highest bidder.
Auctioneer Don “Crash” Noonan will be in charge of the bidding, and all
funds raised will go to the local chapter.
Inspection of the tools will begin at 10:30 AM, with the first lots to
be auctioned starting at noon.
The
EAA hanger, J-6, is at the far western end of Airport Road.
Spring and summer months bring more and better aviation
events. Here is a compilation of some
upcoming local and national aviation events:
Event dates Event
Name Event Location
April 8-13 Sun
‘n Fun Fly-In Lakeland,
Fla.
April 19 Warbirds in Action Minter
Field, Shafter
April 26 Calaveras
County Air Fair Calaveras County
Airport, San Andreas
April 26-27 Pietenpol Gathering Flabob, Riverside
May 2-4 Ercoupe Owners Club, Region 7 Fly-in Columbia Airport, Columbia
May 3-4 Fleet
Week San Diego Sea and Air Parade Waterfront
from Shelter Island to Broadway Pier, San
Diego
May 3-4 Airfest ‘08: Thunder Over The
Empire March Air Reserve Base,
Riverside
May 3-4 Cessna
Pilots Association Open House Santa Maria
May 10 Modesto
Air Show Modesto
City-County Airport, Modesto
May 10 Redlands
Airport Open House Redlands
Municipal, Redlands
May 16-18 Gathering
of Luscombes Columbia
May 17-18 Planes
of Fame Air Show Chino Airport,
Chino
May 23-25 Watsonville
Fly-in & Air Show Watsonville
Airport, Watsonville
May 24-25 “World’s
Smallest” Air Show Brian Ranch Airport,
Llano
June 6-8 Golden
West EAA Regional Fly-In Yuba County
Airport, Marysville
June 14-15 Virginia
Regional Fly-In Suffolk Executive
Airport
June 17-21 Sentimental
Joury to Cub Haven Fly-In William T Piper Intl. Airport, Lock Haven, Penn.
June 27-29 Rocky
Mountain EAA Regional Fly-In Front
Range Airport, Watkins, Colo.
July 4 Santa
Ynez EAA491 Chapter Spot Landing Contest & Barbecue Santa Ynez Airport, Santa Ynez
July 9-13 Arlington
Northwest EAA Regional Fly-In Arlington
Municipal, Arlington, Wash.
July 28-Aug. 3 EAA Airventure 2008 Wittman Regional Airport, Oskosh, Wisc.
Aug. 25-26 EAA
Mid-eastern Fly-In Mansfield Lahm Airport, Mansfield, Ohio
Oct.
23-26 Copperstate
Regional EAA Fly-In Casa Grande
Municipal Airport, Casa Grande, Ariz.