By Jerry Rosie (USUA #A86096)

It is easy to tell what time of the year it is just by reading the newsletters from the various USUA-affiliated clubs around the country. This month most of the newsletters are of the "we did this" category, as opposed to the usual "we are planning this" category. This reflects the imminent annual hibernation of ultralight airplanes and their devoted drivers.

There is one notable exception. Lester Morrison, of the Terre Haute UL Club (USUA #195), announced that their club will be hosting the Indiana Safety Seminar on 13 March 2004 at the Ivy Tech Aviation Maintenance Center at Hulman Regional Airport (KHUF) in Terre Haute. Anyone interested in further details should contact Dave Atlogic or Lester Morrison.

We also received a "non-USUA" newsletter from the Potomac Airfield in Ft. Washington, MD. This well written and lighthearted newsletter promotes the Potomac Airfield and tells us that (unlike many locations with which we are familiar) there are hangar and tiedown spaces still available for rent. They also say that there is a clearance program available that makes flying in and around the Washington, DC ADIZ much less of a pain in the patootie. More info is available at bigcheese@potomac-airfield.com or by calling Dave Wartofsky at (301)248-5720.

Weather in the East continues to be less than cooperative as Jerry Jackson of the North Coast Lite Flyers in Ohio reports. Heavy rains have again terminated that group's planned flight to Kitty Hawk. The lead element of the group was turned back twice by the weather. After the second time, they decided to scrub the project for 2003.

Apparently, one group was able to make the flight to Kitty Hawk. "The Ultralog," newsletter of the Ultralight Squadron of America from Perris, California, reports that one if its members, Dave Gardner, made a flight from Dana Point on the Pacific Coast to Dayton, Ohio. Here he joined a group of 21 ultralights and then continued on to Kitty Hawk. What is remarkable about Dave's flight is that he made the entire trip without a GPS. That, folks, is navigating!

Navigation is what Lloyd "Doc" Burns from the Georgia Sport Flyers Association of Marietta, Georgia, wrote about in "The Sport Flyer," newsletter of USUA Club #960. Doc was the youngest First Pilot flying B-17's during WWII. His series of articles in that organization's newsletter gives us a look at what it was like back then. As of this writing, he has completed his basic training, gotten married, and been introduced to the B-17. His next article will introduce us to his crew. Further exploits will follow in future articles.

Newsletter editor, Steve Clements, of the Top Fun Flyers (Club #45) shares an account of his trips to Glenns Ferry, Payette, and Smith Prairie, Idaho. Steve is lucky enough to have a long trip in his favorite airplane with his best friends nearly every weekend. Some guys have all the luck!

To wrap it up for this month, folks, I completed my flight from just north of St. Louis, MO to Bermudian Valley, PA in my Aeronca Chief (in preparation for Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft). It was quite an adventure (including the thrill of wiping oil off the windshield ala WWII the fighter pilots returning from a raid on Japan). I'll save the details for a future posting of "Around the Patch" if anyone is interested in the gory details. As winter sets in, that's when hangar flying gets a little more active.