Whiteplains Calendar March 2009

Happy Birthday to the following members:

March 03 - Micha Froese
March 04 - Dough McKay
March 05 - Rich Mochak
March 14 - Julie Lucas
March 26 - Dennis Perry
March 28 - Posie Cook
March 29 - Dennis Ramsey
March 31 - Dough Sowder
March 31 - Nancy Bonacum


SCBC Dates:

March 08 - Rock Hill (UZA)
March 22 - Sumter (SMS)

Other Dates:

March 08 - Daylight Savings Time Begins - Spring Forward!
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
March 28 - Whiteplains Young Eagles Day 9:00 AM - Rain Date 4-4-2009

In Memory of Lee VanWormer

Lee and his Jeep. All aboard!

Fog rolls in at Whiteplains.

I wanted to share two pictures of Lee that Nancy sent to me. It has been two years since his passing.

We miss you Lee, and appreciate all that you have done for Whiteplains.

Don Cook

Whiteplains K-Club Trip to Ft. Gordon

K-Club members went to see the Ft. Gordon Signal Corps. Museum yesterday. We had an excellent time and got to see some old and newer communication equipment. Bob Anzouni did an outstanding job of sharing the history of the Army's Signal Corps.

Steve Sanderson is working on a tour of the classrooms at Ft. Gordon Signal School. Stay tuned for more information.

Pictures of Micah Froese Plane

I finally had some time to take some pictures of the finished plane. Thanks to my neighbor Michael Branning, his expertise, and professional equipment, we were able to get some very nice shots. Here's the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/micah0303/N171MFPhotoShoot#

Runway Light Project

Whiteplains Pilots,

As of this past Sunday, Phase I of the runway lighting project has been completed. The new lighting system consists of FAA approved fixtures with 65 watt light bulbs. The old lighting system had a maximum bulb wattage of only 15 watts. While this was suitable for ambient neighborhood lighting, it was minimally adequate for night landings, and made the airport very hard to find at night. The new lights come on automatically at dusk at a lower power setting which will provide the same lighting as the old system. However, for night operations, 5 clicks on 122.9 will bring the lights up to full brightness, and also turn on the VASI's. Once turned up, the lights will stay at full brightness for 10 minutes, and then go back down the lower power setting. When bringing the lights up space your clicks apart like this: click - one potato - click - two potato - click - three potato -.......

Thanks to Ken Plesser for putting this system together. From designing and building the controls, to acquiring the light fixtures, to putting the whole system together, Ken has worked tirelessly on this project. A bigs thanks also goes out to all those that helped with bead-blasting, painting, assembling, installing, testing, trouble shooting, and cleaning up the old system for resale.

Great job!

Micah Froese

PresidentWhiteplains Plantation Association

Runway Lights Video

Saturday was "Runway Light Work Day" at Whiteplains. A big thanks to Ken Plesser and all the guys that turned out a brisk morning to get the old lights out and the new ones in. Below is a short video of today's activities.

Pilot's Association: Saturday workday at Whiteplains‏

Pilots,

We will be installing the new runway lights this Saturday 2/21/09, starting at 9:30 AM in Ken Plesser's hangar. The last two weeks have been spent cleaning, bead blasting, painting, and assembling the lights.

Provided everything goes as planned, we will have a runway lighting ceremony at 8:00 PM that evening at the Gazebo. Bring a beverage of your choice.

See you there,

Micah

Runway Lights Update 2-17-2009

Thanks to Steve Sanderson for sending in the pictures of the new runway lights. Today was a very productive day, as can be seen from the pictures.

Another thanks to all the people that helped. Jim Causey, Steve Sanderson, Bill Como, Ken Plesser and his wife Peg. Great job folks!

AOPA New Flight Planner

AOPA released a new Flight Planner for Internet use. The old program is no longer supported, but is still working for now. This version is much better then the old software and places weather information right over your route. Best of all, if your an AOPA member it is free.
Click on link below: You need to enter your log on name and password.
https://www.aopa.org/login/index.cfm?method=loginrequired

Runway Light Update

Mixing the paint.

Doughnut Time....

First, we had to remove the sail plane from the paint booth.

Jordan at the controls.... Up...UP and Away!

For the last couple of days, several of us have been busy bead blasting 50 landing light bases. This morning was paint day over at Ed's hanger. After moving a glider out of the way, we managed to get all of them hung and cleaned up, ready for Ed to do his magic in the spray booth.

Thanks to Steve Sanderson for the photos. More later.

Whiteplains Pilots Meeting 2-09-09

Below is a short Video of Monday nights Pilots Meeting. Some of the items covered: The new Customs rules that go into effect in May. This information is going to be covered again at Owens Field on 2-10-2009 starting at 7 pm. Ken Plesser reported on the runway light upgrade. He was given the green light on preceding with the upgrade. Jack Fastnaught reported on tire safety. Also covered was the need to turn 20 degrees right after take off when using runway 27.
Next pilots meeting is going to be in April to cover this years up coming SCBC.
Note: Video of last years SCBC well be shown at this meeting.



Video by: Don Cook

Meeting - US Customs "know BEFORE you go"

Everyone is invited to hear about the new Custom Regulations that go into effect in May. Meeting is being held at Owens Field at 7:00 PM. If you ever fly out of the country you need to attend this meeting. All pilots are urged to go. Many new changes and big fines if you mess up.

Sights & Sounds @ Whiteplains

Night landing at Pelion and a short video as we took a walk around the runway at Whiteplains Plantation. Sunday 2-08-2009.



Video by: Don Cook

Saturday Trash Pick Up - Windy Road

Steve Sanderson sent in this picture of the people that took part in the Whiteplains' Plantation community Windy Road trash pickup. Due to server problems, many people didn't get the word on time. Hope to see you at the next one.

Whiteplains' Blog Update

I've added a few new gadgets to the blog. One is the slide show. Anyone can add slides to this show. Just send to duckey123@hotmail.com to have them added to the blog.


Also added a link to "Front Page Headlines", of papers from around the world. It is updated every day. Check out your favorite city today! Double click on page to see full size.

Two additional gadgets are located at the bottom of the bog. One lets you log on as a follower of the bog, and the second one lets you play a nice game of Pac Man.

Micah Taxi Test Run

Steve Sanderson was able to get some shots of Micah's plane while he was doing a few high speed taxi runs this morning. Short Photoshow below.

Video of Michael Benton's T/L Check Ride

Below is yesterdays take off and landing for Michael Benton's private pilots check ride. Dispite a strong cross wind, he did an outstanding job and passed.

New Pilot - Michael Benton Passes Check Ride!

Congratulations goes out to Whiteplains Plantations' newest pilot, Michael Benton, just passed his private check ride. See slide show below. Great job Michael.



Pictures by: Steve Sanderson

Sisler Hanger Door Goes Up

Thanks to Steve Sanderson for providing the photos of Sislers new hanger door going up.