Waypoints

There’s something fraternal about aviation—in a unisex kind of way. I’m not usually one to go out of my way to talk to strangers, but if the person behind me in line at the supermarket is wearing a Cessna or Piper baseball cap, you can bet that I’m going to inquire about his or her flying status. Likewise, someone getting out of a car with an AOPA or other aviation sticker on it will likely get the third degree. Want to know who’s an airplane enthusiast at the ball game, park, or other outdoor venue? Just notice who looks up when an airplane flies over. It doesn’t matter how high the airplane, how big, or how noisy or quiet—or how often—pilots always look up.

As pilots, we tend to look out for one another, seek companionship, and appreciate one another’s opinions and experience. Certainly one of the best ways to experience the fraternity of aviation is to belong to an aviation organization. AOPA members wear AOPA hats, shirts, jackets, and other logo merchandise to not only tell the world that they are pilots, but also so that other pilots will know to seek them out for a few minutes of hangar flying. This fraternalism shows up in other organizations as well.

After buying a Beech Bonanza last summer, I joined the American Bonanza Society. The knowledgeable staff at ABS helped me with a number of issues while I was buying the airplane, so after I got it home, I wrote them a check for membership to take further advantage of the many good services the society offers. One of the best services such type clubs offer is the expert knowledge of their staffs when it comes to parts and repairs. My elderly A36 did not have a control lock. I perused the ads in the ABS magazine for various parts suppliers and checked around on numerous Internet sites, but couldn’t find a control lock. I e-mailed the ABS staff to see if they knew where to look. They e-mailed back with contact information for several salvage yards, which I called—to no avail. Apparently they’re a hot item.

I had mostly forgotten about the request when one evening a few weeks later the telephone rang. My seven-year-old daughter answered it and then handed the receiver to me, saying it was someone calling about a lock. The voice on the other end started right in. "I have a simple design for a control lock that you can use…." After a minute, I got the caller stopped long enough to tell me what he was calling about. It seems that ABS had printed my e-mail message in the "Colvin’s Corner" section of its magazine where experts Neil Pobanz and Glen "Arky" Foulk answer member questions. I hadn’t seen the magazine yet, but the caller had. It listed only my name, city, and state. He had apparently taken it upon himself to call directory assistance to find my home telephone number and then called me to share the details of his homemade control lock.

A few days later I received an e-mail from another ABS member who had seen my query in the ABS magazine. He recognized my name from these pages and sent me an e-mail at the office. He, too, had a homemade control lock that he believed was easier to use than the factory original. I called him and we discussed his design. Eventually, he mailed me his. I used a digital camera to photograph it and then e-mailed the photos and dimensions to my father. He made me one that, with a bit of filing and honing, works just fine.

And then, a couple of weeks later, I heard from the original caller again. He said he was about to make another control lock for someone else, and if I hadn’t found one he’d be glad to make me one too. This wasn’t someone looking to sell me something. It was just a regular guy who loves his Bonanza and wants to share the aviation experience with another pilot.

ABS also offers service clinics. ABS experts, with support from Continental Motors and other vendors, travel around the country and host in-depth aircraft inspections. One of the inspection clinics in Florida coincided with a business trip I had planned there, so I signed up.

The event was hosted by husband and wife Jim and Reese Leach of Windward Aviation at Palm Beach County Park (Lantana) Airport. I arrived the evening before the clinic as Reese was closing up shop. With a tug, she expertly maneuvered my Bonanza into a tiedown for the night and arranged a ride for me to a nearby hotel. Windward provided discount coupons for nearby restaurants and hotels to those attending the clinic.

By early the next morning when I returned to the airport, the Windward and service clinic staffs were already at work setting things up. My airplane was first through the process. They tugged it into the hangar and immediately set about removing several fairings and inspection panels. Meanwhile, John Black and Phillip Grice from Continental, along with the Windward staff, started on the engine compression check and borescope. Fortunately, everything up front looked just fine.

Bob Olson, the ABS inspector, began the airframe inspection, dictating squawks to me to record on a form. An hour later, I had a list of items to address with my shop as I prepare for my first annual inspection with the airplane. None of the items found at the clinic was serious. Most are normal wear-and-tear items that begin to show up on an aircraft as it approaches its thirtieth birthday—worn bushings on the elevators, tattered brake lines, a few worn rivets, and an elevator bellcrank that’s worn enough to elongate the hole in the connector. The left aft wing attach bolt has a small amount of corrosion, so it must be changed soon. The items that caused the most concern were the springs in the gear retraction system. If they break during retraction, the gear may—or may not—come down. The ones on my airplane showed quite a bit of corrosion. Olson pointed it out and later, obviously concerned, said, "You know, I bet Windward has a set of springs here and they can probably change those in a few minutes." Jim Leach replied in the affirmative and minutes later the airplane was sporting a new set of springs, which go for all of about $10. In the end, Windward didn’t even charge me for the springs. "With the salty air, we have to change them on local airplanes every annual. We’ve got lots of them around here. Don’t worry about it."

At the end of four days, the efficient crew had moved 32 airplanes through the inspection. All of the owners flew away feeling as if they knew their airplanes a bit better and with a better understanding of where to focus their maintenance dollars.

Meanwhile, I’ve also joined the Northeast Bonanza Group, a regional subset of ABS. NEBG has its own newsletter and an organized fly-out virtually every month for its members. I haven’t been able to attend any yet, but just reading the list of events has given me some good ideas of places to fly even if I can’t arrange to be there with the rest of the NEBG members.

This ownership fraternity isn’t limited to just Bonanza owners. Virtually every aircraft make and model has a type club to support it. The members of the International Comanche Society, the Mooney Aircraft Pilots Association, the Cessna Pilots Association, and the Piper Owners Society—to name a few—are just as enthused about their brands. And every one of them hosts regular events and meetings around the country to address the needs of its members. For a complete list of type clubs, including contact information, see page 1-10 of the 2000 edition of AOPA’s Airport Directory or visit AOPA Online (www.aopa.org/members/databases/).

If you’re not an aircraft owner, don’t feel left out of the fraternity. An active flying club offers many of the same benefits on a local scale. Seek out one that puts as much emphasis on the social aspects of flying as on the minutia of whose turn it is to wash the airplanes. For many pilots, particularly those with reluctant spouses, the quality of the social experience surrounding aviation often determines how much or little time and finances are available for the avocation. If the spouse isn’t happy, you can bet the pilot won’t be hanging around the airport much. But bring on a bunch of enthused and interesting pilots and their equally enthused spouses, and just about anybody can be turned on to aviation. Before you know it, everyone at the garden party will be looking up every time an airplane flies over.

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