HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!We had a great time at the Christmas Party! Thank you so much, Denise, for sharing your beautiful home with us. Never saw so much food - and really tasty too. Those attending were: Patty and Ben Taylor, Patty's mom, Nell, Laura Richter, Alice Foeh, Jo and Conrad Housler, Reni and Roger Moczygemba, Nancy Aldrich, Cheryl and Max Casillas, Barbara and Jack Moore, Denise Pride and friend, Sarah Larson, Marty Goppert, Sherry Walker, Margaret Cosby and friend, Claire, Terry Hepworth, Winnie Clements, Betty Sue Basham and Willie Nunez and Gloria Blank.
Next Meeting - Saturday, January 10th, 10 AM at Lion and Rose Restaurant, 700 East Sonterra Blvd. 78258. Phone 210-798-5466. Take IH 281 North. Sonterra is the next exit after you go under 1604. You will go east (right) on Sonterra. Pass Hardy Oak and just after you pass Sigma, look for Lion and Rose on your left. (This is NOT the same one we went to before.) Cheryl Casillas will present the safety program.
Zonta Amelia Earhart Dinner - January 21, 2009, beginning at 5:30 with cocktails, dinner at 6:30. Petroleum Club, top floor Energy Building, Cash Bar. Dinner is $25, pay when you arrive. The speaker will be Col. Jacqueline Van Ovost, Commander of the 12th Flying Training Wing, Randolph AFB, with many impressive credentials. She is also a member of the 99s. Reservations are due to the Zonta club by January 18, so please call or email Patty Taylor ASAP, so she can give them our headcount before that. Phone: (h) 210-695-3032, (c) 210-317-8348, email Patty99Pilot@aol.com It has always been an enjoyable evening and we appreciate their invitation. Address: 8620 N. New Braunfels. From Loop 410, turn north on Broadway, right on Cheever to New Braunfels. The building is right there.
The 2008-2009 International Membership Directory is due to be delivered soon.
Sure everyone has their 2009 calendars now (you probably got a dozen in the mail) - so be sure and put the Section Meeting in Granbury, TX down May 15-17 and the International Conference in Chicago July 22-26.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANUARY BABIES: Barbara Moore (1st), Reni Moczygemba (13th), Michelle Achorn (13th), Sharon Homuth (15th), Laura Richter (16th), Winnie Clements (19th), Jo Agee-Housler (21st) and Gloria Blank (29th).
99s JANUARY MEMBERSHIP ANNIVERSARIES: Pam Crane (40 years), Jana Drane (14 years)
CONGRATULATIONS, PAM, AND THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH FOR YOUR 40 YEARS AS A DEVOTED SAN ANTONIO CHAPTER 99!!
Cheryl's email (below) really gets you to thinking . . . how well do we know the planes we fly! Maybe we need a refresher course. DON'T MISS THE MEETING SATURDAY AND CHERYL'S SAFETY PRESENTATION.
HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE MEETINGS THIS MONTH!
~ Gloria
This originated with Bob Bruce. Thanks, Cheryl, for sharing with us.This is absolutely unbelievable...know your airplanes please!! His primary instruction was sorely lacking, or the use it or lose it scenario applies. Review your emergency procedures and systems often, especially when you fly different aircraft, rentals, etc. Forever skyward, Cheryl Casillas
This is the kind of stuff that makes my stomach sour. From an airline captain that was "there".
Good Morning Bob, I heard a sad conversation on the radio last night and thought about passing it on to you to pass on to your instructors.
Weather in Houston was less than a mile with fog and all the surrounding area was that bad or worse. I took off from Hobby at 5:30 pm and was heading southeast. As I contacted Houston Center they were talking to a pilot flying a Bonanza who was having electrical problems. He was uncertain of his electrical system but said he had only 10 volts left and expected to lose all electrical power shortly. He wanted vectors to a close VFR field. EVERYTHING close was less than a mile visibility. Some field in Louisiana was 7 SM but was 70 miles away. Here is where it gets bad: The pilot asked the controller if his engine would quit when he lost his electrical system! I couldn't take it. Although I was busy and so was the controller, I called the pilot up and asked him what type of aircraft he was flying. He said a Bonanza. I told him he would not lose his engine but that lights and radios would be a problem when the battery went dead. I had my F.O. pull up the wx for Corpus and San Antonio and both were less than a mile. It was very dark, no moon, and lots of fog although wx to the East was better. ATC started asking the guy for fuel on board, souls on board etc. I again stepped out and advised ATC that talking on the radio was not a good idea since it would run the battery down faster and that a vector to a field is what he needed. As we got handed off to another freq another controller was advising the Bonanza to start reducing his electrical load. Now he was getting better advice. Unfortunately I do not know how the story ends. I am going to contact AOPA and see if they can help. Here is the issue for me. A guy buys or rents a complex high performance aircraft and flies into bad weather and he does not know if his engine will quit when his battery dies! I wonder if he had a flashlight or knew how to lower the gear with no electrical power?
If you hear of anything, I'd be interested. [name removed for privacy]