Time and talent

The church my family attends makes available to all comers a time and talent sign-up form. Our church, like most churches, has far more needs, and desires, than the paid staff can, or should, reasonably accomplish. As a result, we’ve created this sign-up form to tap the collective knowledge and labor base that is the membership.

The aviation-related organization I can think of that taps the time and talent of its members the best is the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF). While its scope is narrow — backcountry and recreational airstrip accessibility — its needs, like all organizations, are broad — advocacy, fund-raising, member management, communications and more. RAF leadership has learned what gets its members excited and targets their tasks. They know it makes little sense to ask all members to fly to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress when they know a few who are more than willing to answer that call.

As we were walking home from church one Sunday, I got to thinking about the potential for a time and talent sign-up for aviation. While our scope varies by areas of interest, I believe all — or almost all — aviators would like to contribute to the broad mission of making all aspects of aviation accessible to whoever so desires.

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Wipaire expands south

“A lot of little things added up,” said Wipaire president Chuck Wiplinger, when I asked him about their expansion to Leesburg, Florida. “A great customer base in the immediate area and the growth of our government contract work are just two of the reasons this test makes sense.”

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The Mooney Flyer December issue available

The Mooney Flyer is the official online magazine for the Mooney community. The December issue can be seen via PDF download or online as a Flipbook.

December Flyline available

The December 2012 issue of The Flyline (the newsletter for the Idaho Aviation Association) is available for download.

CALPILOTS Nov./Dec. newsletter online

The November/December 2012 edition of the California Pilots Association newsletter is online and can be downloaded here.

Cessna endorses OpenAirplane

Cessna has named OpenAirplane as an Endorsed Partner to the Cessna Pilot Center program collaborating to make flying even more convenient for pilots.

“Cessna Pilot Centers are a foundation of our aviation community,” said Rod Rakic, co-founder at OpenAirplane. ”We’re excited to be working with the team at Cessna to enhance our product, and deliver a great experience consistently wherever our pilots want to fly.”

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Locals, CALPILOTS to fight hotel near CA airport

The City of Tehachapi has approved the building of a motel in the airport’s safety zone. Airport hangar owners, led by Ken Hetge, have filed an appeal. Thanks to California Pilots Association and Mitch Latting for bring this to our attention.

Compatible use

Recently my wife, kids, Mom and I all flew to Des Moines, Iowa, for the wedding of one of my cousins. While in Des Moines, we drove east to Newton to see where my Mom grew up. On our way in, I drove past the town so we could visit the Newton Municipal Airport (TNU). I remember flying in with Dad and Mom years ago as a kid and wanted to see it…30 years later.

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beyerdynamic headset quiets ride home

“Do you have a headset?” Ivy McIver asked after I said “Yes,” to the offer to fly home with her from AirVenture in a Cirrus SR22T. “Uh, no, but I’ll get one.”

As luck would have it, my wanderings around AirVenture took me into Hangar C, where I found beyerdynamic. I explained the opportunity of flying 8-plus hours in a Cirrus, to New York-based beyerdynamic sales manager Peter Carini, and he kindly offered the company’s flagship HS 800 to sample. “The pilot will be using a Bose A20, so this will give me a chance to compare the two fairly easily,” I mentioned.

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CALPILOTS Sept/Oct 2012 newsletter available

The September/October 2012 issue of the California Pilots Association newsletter is available for download. See CALPILOTS newsletter archives here.