Our next meeting will be a Young Eagle Rally held at the Red Baron (log) hangar on May 28.

Please come even if you are not planning to fly kids as we will need all the help we can get explaining airplanes, escorting kids, and with paperwork. Please arrive at 0830 so we can get organized and start flying kids by 0900. This rally will be coordinated with Jared Aicher of Boise who is stopping here on a nationwide Young Eagle publicity tour, and he will speak to us briefly about his tour.

We will be limited to flying 50 kids, so we are not doing wide scale publicity. Please announce this event or pass out flyers to your school/church/Boy Scouts/other civic organizations with the following information:

Free plane rides for kids

Ages 8 through 17

Through the Young Eagles Program of

The Experimental Aircraft Association chapter 407

Saturday, May 28, 0900 at the Red Baron (log) Hangar

(at the north end of Foote Drive)

9 AM till noon, weather permitting

must be accompanied by parent or guardian

(we will be able to fly the first 50 kids)

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The April meeting of EAA 407 was held at Aero mark on 4-16-5 with Gary Shipley presiding.

Williams Turbine cancelled our tour of their Ogden facility scheduled for May, and we have received a request from Jared Aicher that we support his Young Eagles tour on May 28. There was a concern about how many members would be available to support this event on the first day of Memorial Day weekend, but Hal, Gary, John Bakken, and Harold Mothersill committed to be there, and possibly others. A motion was made and passed that we hold a Young Eagle rally on May 28 that incorporates our May meeting.

Our special guest speaker was Pete Nelson, owner of Middle Fork Aviation in Challis. He has been operating a part 135 air charter service there since 1996. He has Cessna 182 and 206 aircraft, and does the office work and aircraft maintenance while his staff pilots do the flying. (It is bad for pilot morale for the boss to fly while they sit in the office.) Pete’s informal presentation sparked a lively discussion for over an hour. The airstrips mentioned here are in the Fly Idaho book, so you can refer to your copy as you read this. The romance of being a real bush pilot holds a powerful allure for lesser aviators, and most of us were wishing we could be him.

The primary destinations are Lower Loon, Indian Creek, Thomas Creek, and Mahoney Creek, generally in the upper middle fork and Big Creek areas. Pete is a cost-conscious businessman, and these are places where he can compete favorably.

The main hazard at Indian Creek is traffic during the summer rafting season. This is a major re-supply point on the river. Deer pose a risk at Thomas Creek. They are hard to see until it is too late. The local staff is supposed to shoo them away for landing aircraft, but they don’t always get it done. Someone put in a salt block at Mahoney, which attracts elk. Lower Loon is short (860 feet) with a sharp turn on short final and no go-around. There is also no go around at Bernard, and Cabin Creek and Soldier Bar are still more challenging. Cabin Creek is plowed with a horse drawn plow (this attracts deer). Most flights are in the morning as it is too hot to fly later in the day. Pete has trained himself to avoid go-arounds as these are impossible at most of his destinations.

The four worst airstrips in the state are Mile Hi, Vines, Simonds, and Dewey Moore. Pete has flown into all of them. He says Mile Hi is fun in a Super Cub. You come in low at full power and pull up steep enough to match the terrain slope with your climb angle. This reduces your visibility severely for a short strip in rough country. He took a guy in a wheelchair there for a hunt, and hauled an injured man out. An obese guy didn’t want to walk there from Cabin Creek, and he told him to lose some weight. If your engine fails over Mile Hi, crash down on the creek bank.

Pete has used a ski plane, but no longer does. He told of a takeoff at Chamberlain when a moose wandered out in front of him. He went to full flaps, hopped over the moose, returned to normal takeoff flaps and set back down on the mains to continue the takeoff roll.

The 206 will haul 1000 pounds. Once he ferried in 6 semi-truck loads of concrete mix for building a lodge. Anything 12 feet or shorter will fit inside. He once carried a ping-pong table externally. The FAA takes a dim view of external loads except in Alaska. Pete thinks circumstances should dictate this rather than which state it occurs in (stupid FAA rules). He has hauled llamas in as pack animals. Be sure to snub them down on a short leash or you will have unwelcome guests in the cockpit.

Some of these back-country strips are rough. Use soft field technique to keep minimum weight on the gear. Larger tires are better, but don’t be silly about it. The Forest Service owns many of these strips and maintains their own. The state makes some attempt to maintain theirs. Heavy use with heavy planes is hard on turf and tends to bring rocks to the surface.

Economic realities control this business. A good year is 1500 hours. Real years are more or less due to random fluctuation, so business tends to be too busy or too slow. Pete likes old 206s, which are cost effective. Beavers and Otters are too expensive, since $1000 interest per month is too much. Most clients are middle class hunters and rafters, so Pete must control costs. At current rates a trip to Indian creek costs $240. Primary customers are rafters in the summer, hikers, then hunters in the fall. Old planes are getting harder to find. Pete likes them with 2000 hours on the airframe, but now most have 6000. He did have a final encouraging word of advice about airplanes. He said to buy them and then figure out how to pay for them. Turbine aircraft tend to be too expensive to obtain and operate.

Here are the main hazards of mountain flying

Late go-around decisions

Macho - (I spent big bucks on the best stuff so I’m prepared)

Inexperience - (go with someone else first)

Gadget minded- fly the airplane and the terrain - not the GPS course

Control airspeed - don't chase it

You must have a comfort level with terrain above you, canyon turns, etc

Bill Smith won the bring-a-buck drawing, refreshments were served, and a good time was had by all.