Terre Haute Ultralight Club
              Club Web Site:   http://thuc.evinger.com/         KeeDot GPS  39-21-42 x 87-29-00        March 26, 2008  

Minutes February 22, 2008 meeting of the Terre Haute Ultralight Club    
 Submitted by:  John Hill, Secretary

President Terry Brentlinger called the monthly meeting of the Terre Haute Ultralight Club to order on February 23, 2008.  The meeting was held at the Prairieton Methodist Church.

Next meeting 10:00 a.m. March 29, 2008 at Prairieton Methodist Church.

The following members were present:  Bud Anderson, Dale Barkley, Ted Brentlinger, Terry Brentlinger, Terry Bergdolt, John Hill, Darren Krockenberger, Dick Lutz, Alan Neal, Pete Peterson and Jim Wolf.

Treasurer Niles Newton was not present, no treasury report this month.

Terry Brentlinger reported he received a request for use of Keedot field as a landing site for a State Police helicopter.  A meeting was being held at the Prairieton Firehouse in connection with Wabash River Flooding and Levee Issues.  It was understood that Gov. Daniels and Federal Officials were in attendance and a landing site close to the meeting location was in need.  Terry gave the okay.

Ted Brentlinger passed around a new ICOM radio he purchased to be used as a base station at Keedot.
When the weather breaks he hopes to install a new antenna.  Our old radio was only a monitor to receive transmissions.   

Insurance update:  Last month we reported Alan Neal’s difficulty in finding a liability insurance carrier.  Alan submitted forms requesting insurance to a USUA Insurance provider but  to this date has received no answer.

Alan Neal announced his son, Brad will be visiting  our March meeting.  Brad a NASA engineer has agreed to talk on a NASA topic.  In August Brad gave a power point presentation on project SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy).  Plan to attend our March meeting for this special presentation. Brad is an Operations Engineer working for NASA at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California. 

Terry Bergdolt had another story for us.  Terry decided on a early morning flight in January.  The conditions were 29 degrees, low overcast skies.  After Terry became airborne he found the ceiling to be lower than he anticipated.  He became somewhat disoriented and encountered icing on his face shield and his glasses.  When he landed his parachute and lines had heavy frost and/or ice.  Terry was glad he was  flying the wide open farm land of Illinois (Editor’s note:  See Terry’s story page 2).

Thanks to Alan Neal for serving biscuits and gravy again!

 John Hill volunteered to provide donuts and coffee at our next meeting.

 Motion to close the meeting by Darren Krockenberger and seconded by Terry Bergdolt. 

Did Governor Daniels lands at KeeDot?         by Terry Brentlinger

After some rather heavy rains about the middle of February, local citizens and officials of Prairieton and Sugar Creek townships met to discuss flooding and the condition of the levee along the Wabash River west of KeeDot Flight-park. Officials at the meeting discussed the possibility of the levee’s breaking, as water was already coming over the top. It was felt that an aerial view would give the best overview of the situation and  state officials when contacted asked if there was anywhere close that a helicopter, possibly with the governor and other state officials, could land to pick up local officials and view the flooding.

It was a Sunday afternoon when I received a call from an official with the County Emergency Management Office asking permission to allow the state police helicopter to land at KeeDot  and use it as a staging area for picking up local FEMA and Homeland Security officials. It wasn’t for sure if they could get there Sunday as the weather wasn’t all that cooperative with the winds really strong. As it was there was no landing that Sunday; however early the next Monday morning there were several state police vehicles at KeeDot awaiting the arrival of a helicopter with several of the states top officials.

Since no one knew what time the helicopter carrying the governor and his aids would arrive, there was no welcoming party except my cousins Tim and Tom Moore  and  my Aunt Jo Moore who live next door to KeeDot. They heard the commotion when the helicopter landed. Cousin Tom said  says he has pictures so on one of the next good flying days I will go down to the KeeDot and visit the relatives and see if they will donate one or two for the wall.
Oh, yeah, Tom says Governor Daniels was not with the group. But members of Homeland Security and FEMA were aboard, according Vigo County’s Emergency Management office.

Ice on your parachute is not cool  by  Terry Bergdolt

   About a month ago, I got up one Sunday morning at dawn to go flying.  I had checked the weather the night before, and it was favorable for a flight.  I fly year round, and this winter, there have been fewer chances to fly than usual, so I really wanted to fly.  After getting all my winter flying clothes on (that takes about ten minutes) and getting my powered chute out and doing my preflight, I was ready to go. 

The visibility was good, the wind was calm,  and the temperature was 28 degrees.  After a good take off and about five minutes of flying, a fog started to come in.  I was not worried at first, but that soon changed.  Not only did the fog get thick in a hurry, but it was also a freezing fog.  I couldn't get over 200 feet AGL without loosing sight of the ground.  First I had to remove my helmet shield, for it iced over, and next I had to remove my glasses (this was not good) for the same reason.    Once, I got up to 250 feet and completely lost sight of the ground, and that gave me a very uneasy feeling. 

I had to stay low enough to follow the roads back to my landing strip to know where I was going.  After landing, I found a coat of ice covering every line as well as the chute and my machine.  I had to put everything away with the ice, which met a very wet chute bag.  I got everything out the first sunny day to dry out my lines and chute.    The ole flying saying of "there is one thing worse than being on the ground and wishing you were in the air, and that is being in the air and wishing you were on the ground,"  really hit home for the second time in my few years of flying experience.

Come on guys, quit landing on the taxiway (or is it the hayfield?)
 (Most of the following abstracted from the Palm Beach Post story by Jennifer Sorentrue )

Friday, March 21, 2008: Since the start of 2007, 17 pilots have mistakenly landed on Taxiway Lima at the Palm Beach International Airport. Crews will paint the taxiway's shoulders green to make the asphalt appear slimmer from the sky. The taxiway is longer and wider than the 3,210-foot runway, which runs parallel to it. And its size is apparently confusing some pilots of small planes.
In 2006, airport officials painted the word "taxiway" in 50-foot yellow letters at three spots on the pavement. It didn't work.
They also tried installing lighting at both ends of the general aviation runway to help set it apart from the taxiway. That didn't work.

Then this year, officials agreed to pay a company $50,000 to paint the shoulders of the taxiway.

Scott Friday, representative for The Air Traffic Controllers Association said, “The first incorrect landing occurred before Taxiway Lima officially opened in December 2004.” FAA officials are recommending that pilots who incorrectly land on the taxiway lose their license for 30 days.

KeeDot shares the problem with PBI.  Terry solved our problem by installing neon yellow-green styrofoam noodles along the edges of  the runway. Now if we can just get the birds to quait tearing up the noodles.