Bel-Air Associates

Congratulations to Sherry Anuao of Batavia. August 26, 2020 was the day she traded in her student pilot certificate for a shiny new temporary aviator's certificate for Private Pilot. The checkride in her Cherokee 140 went off without a hitch as she easily nailed all the tasks in the ACS. Good job, Sherry. Be safe.

A busy two weeks as I slowly return to flight testing! Syracuse has two new "Double Eyes" to help with all our instrument training. Kent Young closed the deal on August 17, 2020 and Ian Crawford added that additional rating to his CFI on August 28.

It's been a long "shelter in place". With the COVID numbers finally looking better, I am very cautiously getting back to work. Penn Yan was my first stop and yesterday, August 14, 2020 marked my return to the DPE dance. Brian Gruschow of Branchport, N.Y. took me for a lovely 2 hour ride in his Flying Club's Skyhawk. I enjoyed the beautiful Finger Lakes wine country, while all Brian saw was the view from under the foggles. COVID protocols were observed throughout the day and Brian walked away with a shiny new instrument rating. Awesome job, Brian. Stay safe.

Day 5 of shelter in place. I guess I wouldn't be administering any checkrides today anyway. Data at: 1716 UTC 23 Mar 2020 KSYR 231704Z 09009KT 1/2SM R28/1400...V1800FT SN FG FEW004 OVC007 01/M01 A3025 RMK AO2 P0005 T00061006 KSYR 231606Z 2316/2412 10010KT 3SM -SN BR OVC025 TEMPO 2316/2319 1 1/2SM -SN BR OVC018 FM231900 12010KT 5SM -RA BR OVC017 TEMPO 2319/2323 2SM -RASN BR OVC009 FM240200 12006KT 5SM -RA BR OVC013 FM240800 30004KT 6SM BR OVC009

March 8, 2020 turned out to be a beautiful day weather-wise and checkride-wise for 20 year old Jack Cavallaro of Auburn. Even though he is majoring in Biology as a Junior at the University of Buffalo, he went totally "old school" with his Dad's vintage Piper Arrow to nail all the tasks in the Instrument Pilot Airman Certification Standards. With only 2 VOR receivers, one glide slope receiver, marker beacons and a clock, he KILLED IT!!! No GPS and no DME in this old ship. Y...es, he brought his I-pad, but the danged old examiner made him turn off "own ship tracking", so he could only use it to depict the charts. He brought along paper charts just in case it got really nasty! He intercepted and tracked his courses the old fashioned way using the Omni Bearing Selectors, and on both non-precision approaches, timed his journey from FAF to MAP with the ancient panel mounted analog clock. Two of the approaches, the LOC 7 and the VOR 7 were executed with the wind from 250 at 12 gusting to 19, so the timing adjustments were substantial. The last approach, the VOR 7, was performed with simulated partial panel, so in addition to everything else, he had to time his turns and rely on the compass. This is when Mr. Murphy (not the examiner) decided to cause the compass to go stupid. As it swung around lazily, not stopping on any particular heading, Jack decided to grab the thing and squeeze. For the rest of the approach, squeezing the compass would stop it from swinging, but as soon as he would let go of it to actually fly the airplane, it would start swinging again. Talk about partial panel nightmares! But it was a no-brainer for Jack and he was able to nail the approach, followed by a circle to land on runway 25. Awesome job, Jack. Start your commercial training as soon as you can. See more

February 17, 2020. A nice cold, clear and crisp day for a private pilot checkride. I met Bob Kratzenberg out at the Boonville Airport and he totally crushed it! The oral for his private pilot evaluation went smoothly and the flight in his beautifully maintained Super Cub on skis was, well..... I guess CHILLY would be an adequate description. Seriously, though, he demonstrated all the required maneuvers to the standard and the take off and landing on Boonville's powder was a joy to behold. Good job, Robert. Be safe!

I called the private pilot applicant this morning in Rochester. He decided to cancel his checkride. Good ADM... Data at: 1205 UTC 07 Feb 2020 KROC 071154Z 03012KT 3SM -SN BR OVC009 M04/M06 A2923 RMK AO2 SLP908 4/004 P0001 60015 70036 I6000 T10391056 11028 21039 58016 KROC 071121Z 0712/0812 02012KT 3SM -SN OVC008 FM071300 01016G24KT 1/2SM SN BLSN OVC008... FM071900 32014G22KT 1SM -SN BLSN OVC010 FM080000 30012KT 3SM -SHSN OVC015 FM080400 29008KT P6SM BKN040 See more

Sometimes life gets in the way. Here's a story about two aviators who persevered. I taught Steve Jewell to fly back in the last century. He got his private certificate in 1989. He gathered hours in his logbook here and there while working for a living (sound familiar?) and keeping his family intact. I gave his last flight review in 2004 and he stopped flying shortly thereafter. Life just got in the way and here we were, January 30, 2020. It's 16 years later and we're g...etting him ready to flex his wings again. Five hours of ground prep and almost 2 hours in the airplane and Stevie has a shiny new flight review. Party on, brother. Stay safe! But wait, there's more! Same day, later that evening, Brent Bowden finished all the requirements for his instrument rating. As I punched a hole in his private pilot certificate and issued the temporary airman certificate adding Instrument Airplane, he mentioned how obtaining the Instrument rating was the culmination of a 30 year dream. For Brent, (like most of us) family and career got in the way since getting his private pilot cert. Awesome job, gentlemen. Keep dreaming. See more

Amen, Brothers.

January in Upstate New York is always a challenge, weather-wise. Even though my dance card is full, I do manage to squeeze in postponed checkrides if the environment and the applicant's timing coincide. Such was the case on January 20, 2020 and again on the 24th. On the 20th, Bob Newman and I knocked out the commercial pilot certification in his well maintained Grumman Tiger based in Cortland. Success after 5 weather postponements! Once again his CFI, Jim Spaller of 7:47... Aviation, did not disappoint. On the 24th, Rochester Air Center's Ron Mead had a chance on his 4th weather postponement to easily nail down his private pilot checkride. Excellent job by his CFI, Maggie Pickard. Both of these aviators easily met all the tasks in their respective Airman Certification Standards and walked away with shiny new certificates. Great job, Lady and Gentlemen. Be safe! See more

Happy New Year, everyone!

Twenty years ago tonight, Joan, Joey and I jumped into N269LP to test the Y2K panic theory. It was 5 minutes before midnight when I called the Tower for takeoff, with the idea of circling the Syracuse Airport when the clock struck twelve and the year 2000 would begin. Were all the computers going to crash? Was ATC going to be brought to its knees? Would the airport go dark? We would find out soon! The sky was clear, temp was in the 20s and there was no traffic. As I ci...rcled at pattern altitude somewhere near the left downwind for 28, the fateful hour came in with a whimper. Peg Armstrong was working local control and decided to shut the lights off manually one by one to see if they would come on again as they were programmed to. Remember, everything was hooked up to 20th century computers and the fear was that nothing would work because nobody had thought that the year should have been 4 digits (1999 for example) instead of 2 digits (ie:99) when they were installed. OH NO! Would the computers recognize the year 01/01/00? Off went the runway lights... yup, back on! Approach lights off? Quickly back on. The rabbit? Off then on. Taxiway lights off.... easily back on! Finally the rotating beacon. Off, then.................................................? Nothing! It wouldn't come back on at all. YES! The Y2K bug had infested the beacon! All this was observed and verified by yours truly. I wish I had my GoPro back then. Happy New Year, all! See more