By Jerry Rosie (USUA #A86096)

It's June! And the weather is nice! We should be getting reports of successful fly ins from a lot of the clubs during this next month, but, for this month's collection of Newsletters the report of The Terre Haute Ultralight Club's sponsorship of the Indiana Safety Seminar (which was held way back in March) is the highlight.

The third year that this gathering was held at the Aviation Technology School at the Hulman International Airport, in Terre Haute, saw over 100 attendees despite the pouring rain that marked the day. The nine member committee, chaired by Bob Bedwell, was a bit concerned, initially, because of storm damage inflicted on the facility, but, it did not hamper the Safety Seminar one bit.

LTC Kip Clark of the 181st Fighter Wing was the first speaker to be introduced by the Master of Ceremonies, Lester Morrison. The subject of Colonel Clark's address was the safe sharing of airspace by military and civilian pilots. He emphasized the need to check sectional maps to determine the location of Military Training Routes and Military Operations Areas, and the need to check NOTAMs for recent information as to activities which impact on the safety of flight. In addition to all of the preparations we may make to each flight the paramount rule of "See and Avoid" is the ultimate protection against mid-air collisions. Keeping "your head out of the cockpit" should not be a new concept to most Ultralighters, since most of us don't have all that much inside the cockpit to capture our attention.

Colonel Clark was followed by Dan Grunloh, a 19 year veteran of Ultralight flying and two time National Champion in microlight competition. Dan spoke highly of his trike competition experiences, and endorsed competing as a fun way to increase your skills as a pilot. His suggestions to all who fly were to "Be prepared. Have good equipment, stay calm, fly the entire task, and never give up" To this we might add the Prime Directive "Have Fun!"

The well known personality, Roy Beissewenger, was the next presenter, and called on his experience as an attendee at the first Sport Pilot Designated Pilot Examiner class in Sebring, Florida to "walk" the attendees through obtaining a Sport Pilot Certificate. He broke this process down to three major areas: Knowledge, Proficiency and Experience. Roy cautioned that passing the Knowledge Exam is merely the first step in satisfying the "knowledge" part of the process, as the DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner) will also delve into this area during the Oral Exam part of your 'check ride'. Roy breaks his check rides down into four distinct phases: (1)an Introductory Briefing, (2) an Oral Test, (3) a Flight Test, and (4) presentation of the Results and Debriefing. While studying the FAA bank of questions will prepare you for the 40 question Knowledge Exam, your DPE will want to make sure you know the concepts involved in addition to merely knowing the right choice on a multiple choice exam. He does point out that aids and reference materials (like the FAR/AIM) are authorized and encouraged. Your DPE will give you time to look up answers if you need to, as long as you don't try to look up the answers to every question he asks you.

He will be interested in determining if you know how to read a sectional (maybe even asking that you plan a typical cross country flight), and are knowledgeable about airport operations (the FAA is currently emphasizing reduction of runway incursion incidents). You need to be familiar with the aircraft you will be flying and its many systems so you can detect and take corrective action for equipment malfunctions. You will need to demonstrate to the DPE that you know how to do a good pre-flight and make use of the appropriate CHECKLISTS. (My emphasis). When he is certain that you won't kill yourself and him, you are ready to demonstrate the Proficiency part of the process. You will be required to fly certain designated maneuvers within the tolerances published. These maneuvers and the tolerances are published in the FAA's "Practical Test Standards" available from many aviation publishing houses and directly from the FAA at http://www.faa.gov/education_research/testing/airmen/test_standards/media/FAA-S-8081-6B.pdf.

Roy says, "DPE's look for positive aircraft control and will likely check you on the positive exchange of flight controls. Stall and spin avoidance are important, avoiding wake turbulence, runway incursion avoidance, and check list usage are all significant areas they check."

Following Roy, Jim Stephenson, President and CEO of Aero Sports Connection, a Designated Airworthiness Representative (DAR), discussed all the hoops and hurdles that must be negotiated to register Ultralight Trainers and "fat ultralights" as Light Sport Aircraft. To complete this task, you will need a number of forms and some detailed records for your aircraft. Jim says that the DAR is primarily interested in a positive answer to only one question, "Is this aircraft in a condition for safe operations?"

Our thanks, this month, to John Seifert, whose write up in the Terre Haute Ultralight Club's Newsletter, "Tailwinds", provided the information for this month's offering in Around the Patch. And our congratulations to Bob Bedwell and his committee for organizing such a successful event.

There are still a few items left in the Albuquerque Ultralight Association's tool box:

Whitworth (Metric) Sockets: Once used for working on older British engines and airplanes, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16-inch or 1/2 inch socket for which you've been searching the last 15 minutes.

Telephone (or Cell phone if you are modern): Tool for calling your neighbor to see if he has another hydraulic floor jack. Why? Because--

Hydraulic Floor Jack: used for lowering an airplane to the ground after you have installed your new tires, trapping the jack handle firmly under the landing gear leg.

Fly Safe! and have Fun!