Letters

I just wanted to extend a thanks for the article Alicia Herron did on our little airport here in Lone Pine (“Once Upon a Time in the West,” March 2023 AOPA Pilot). I fly a Beechcraft Bonanza A36, used to fly Black Hawks in the Army, and the airport is dear to my heart. My grandfather flew for Bob White’s Flying Service (in the Tunnel Aircamp Hangar) for most of his adult life. We own the Best Western right next to the airport and get to keep a good eye on the place.

Travis Powell / AOPA 9285376
Lone Pine, California

Thank you for Alicia Herron’s eloquent love letter to backcountry flying, and for Chris Rose’s photographs that beautifully illustrate the essence of her words. This is the kind of story I come to AOPA Pilot for.

David Pablo Cohn / AOPA 968785
Port Townsend, Washington

At the Edge of the World

I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the articles on fun “Destinations,” (March 2023 AOPA Pilot).

Since I have been to Tofino multiple times in my sailboat and once in my Cessna 172 I especially enjoyed reading your article on that destination (“At the Edge of the World”).

When I flew there, I had not gathered enough info on the proper radio procedures and was admonished by Nanaimo. So, I found it odd that, while all the other destinations articles had information which would help the average GA pilot like me plan a trip there, this article did not. And even more odd that the only mention of the very nice airfield (CYAZ) at Tofino was in the “Getting There” paragraph.

Julie Summers Walker’s observations on the beauty of the area, the character of the town, and the characters who populate the place were fun to read and familiar from my trips there.

Jim Llewellyn / AOPA 5957276
Bainbridge Island, Washington

On Course: Chart Circles

I read with interest Kollin Stagnito’s column “On Course: Chart Circles” in the March 2023 issue of AOPA Pilot. I have a similar bent. I started flying in 1966, and have accumulated approximately 6,400 hours, all single-engine land, and all Part 91. Early on I came across some operational navigation charts that are half the scale of sectionals. So, I decided to mark the airports I had flown in or out of as PIC. Instead of circling the symbol, I filled in the airport with a red marker. I learned to fly in Southern California, so that’s where red dots started accumulating. I hung the chart on my office wall to vicariously relive all the diverse places I had been.

Over the years my range expanded. Now the red dots extend from Portland, Maine, in the east, to Cabo San Lucas in the south, to McKinley Park in the north, to Kona, Hawaii, in the west. After a while, flying into a new airport has become kind of an obsession, so every time I go to some distant destination, I try to stop at a place I had never been before; it gets harder all the time.

Of course, I recorded all of this in Excel to keep a count. My most recent entry was BXK, Buckeye, Arizona, to attend the AOPA fly-in. It is number 615 on the list.

Roger Bourke / AOPA 731702
La Cañada, California

Just read Kollin Stagnito’s article in the March magazine about chart circles. That’s exactly what I do, too. I learned to fly in 1993, but after contracting diabetes and becoming insulin-dependent, I had to stop flying until the LSA rules came in. In 2004 I moved to the United States and switched to learn weight-shift trikes. After about 10 years of that, I was frustrated by the rather pathetic radius of the circle I had plotted as the maximum excursion in all directions from my home airport, so in 2015 I switched to gyroplanes, and have had a ball ever since.

It’s a shame the FAA doesn’t print them anymore, but I managed to get some of the old 1:1M sectional plots and put three up next to each other on a wall. This gives me a fantastic map with its four corners as far afield as Eugene, Oregon; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; San Diego, California; and Tucson, Arizona. I put a pink highlighter dot on an airport when I’ve landed there, so my map is gradually growing what looks like a rash. As highlighter fades over time, I have also started re-covering the dots when I do a repeat trip, so it’s possible to see where I’ve been recently and where I’ve been a while ago.

I live in California and although gyros aren’t famed for their speed, I have now visited 168 airports and six states and am planning my next trip up to Seattle to add a seventh as soon as the weather warms up (the gyro is open cockpit).

Paul Hollingworth / AOPA 6065744
Santa Rosa, California

Test Pilot

Being a former Northwest Airlines employee, I was interested in the question about the Cooper Switch (“Test Pilot,” January 2023 AOPA Pilot). While I never knew the intimate installation or workings of the Cooper Lock—as it was called by those who worked in our hangars—I did give a few a twists over the years. I worked on the Northwest 727s—both -100, and -200—for over 29 years, cleaning, then turning wrenches, and for 23 and a half years running maintenance, mostly sheet metal repairs and complete interior repair and replacement.

To my knowledge, the Cooper Lock is an airstream operated vane, with a semi-circle flange at its base. It has a light spring, which causes it to be kept perpendicular to the flight path, when not in flight. It is installed about halfway back, along the right side of the rear air stair opening, mounted into the fuselage structure. They rotated easily.

There was a maintenance test where you would raise the rear air stair, then someone would rotate the vane just like the air flow in flight would. The semi-circle base would then swing under the edge of the stair. A mechanic would then operate the handle to drop the rear air stairs, which then could not open against the vane base.

To my knowledge there was no switch, but there could have been to light a cockpit light, to let the pilots know it was in place as they flew, but I doubt it. The vane was not run by an electric motor, hence no switch.

Craig M. Lieberg / AOPA 783412
Clear Lake, Minnesota

Best Flying

AOPA Pilot Video asked what was the best flying. For me, it is hang gliding—flying like a bird and with them. Sunsets, early morning, and mid-day roller coasters, it is beautiful.

I learned to fly in 1994 at Wallaby Ranch in Davenport, Florida, just north of Orlando. Up over orange groves where you can smell the orange blossoms and fly with eagles.

My dream come true.

Doralisa Sherrod / AOPA 5839472
Orlando, Florida

Errata

“Southern Charm” in the March 2023 issue of AOPA Pilot misstated the year in which the Allies landed in Normandy, France. It was 1944.

Joby’s RV–8 is not on the company’s Part 135 certificate (“Coming to Your Airport in 2025?” April 2023 AOPA Pilot). The company says it has now completed 94 percent of its means of compliance. In the event of motor failure, the aircraft can fly under power to land.

More information about the eVTOL can be found at jobyaviation.com.

We welcome your comments! Send letters to [email protected] or Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701. Letters may be edited for length and style.