Thirty people attended our last meeting. President Jim reported that the Roster is getting some personal attention, and that it will be forwarded to all members with "bcc" addressing to avoid easy access for "spamers." He also reported that several members and guests participated in the Sedona fly-in on Saturday 2/14. Here is picture of Jim in his F-4 in hot pursuit of some more email addresses.

Engineers tell us that a propeller converts engine torque to thrust to power the airplane. They leave out the part about keeping the pilot cool. If you don’t think that is important, just watch the pilot sweat when the propeller stops!

Both President Jim Thornton and Vice-President Bob Winski were speakers. In addition, many attendees were active in the discussion and several attendees brought their personal survival kits for display and discussion. The ingenuity of our members in finding the components of their quality survival kits at reasonable cost was very impressive.

Jim discussed his military experience and training in survival. His presentation followed the outline below.

1. Terrain and cover
2. Exposure
3. Water
4. Food

1. Dress
2. Survival equipment on board
3. Think survival (e.g., preset you radio to 121.5)
4. File a Flight Plan (and alert your loved ones)

1. Know where you are
2. Watch for emergency landing sites
3. Practice with a your GPS

1. Use best guidance to best landing spot
2. Fly – don’t stall it in
3. Tighten seat belts
4. Shut off fuel and electrics
5. Exit A/C immediately with survival equipment
6. Treat injuries

Bob discussed his experience and training largely in connection the CAP. His presentation followed the outline below.

1. Organize your signal gear immediately
2. Check you ELT with your hand-held radio
3. Attach your signal devices to yourself
4. Keep your hand-held on your belt
5. When you see/hear, turn off your ELT and use you hand-held
6. Prepare a signal fire – light it at the right time
7. Build a shelter

1. Bob has a list and a CAP protocol summary
2. John Ball has some ready-made kits
3. Jim’s kit and Paul Staby’s kit are excellent examples

One member added that (1) the airframe is an excellent resource and he carries tin snips in his kit to access airframe sheet metal for shelter, etc. and (2) he carries appropriate IFR charts to provide frequencies to communicate with overhead airliners, and thus get around the line of sight problem with Search and Rescue frequencies.

Overall, this was a very informative meeting. Even "old salts" had an opportunity to learn from the discussion. The program could probably be recreated at a later date if there is enough demand.

This is a Thunderbird pilot ejecting from an F-16 at an air show in Idaho. The story that came with the picture said that no one was injured, and that the problem began with a miscalculation of the proper starting altitude for a "Split S" maneuver. The pilot applied maximum pull-up stick force and some roll when he recognized the problem. He ejected at 140 ft. AGL, only 8/10 second before impact. His action to roll the aircraft put the impact away from the spectators.