November 2009

This is a regular informational bulletin published by the Western Powered Parachute Association, LLC, devoted to promoting the sport of powered parachuting through education, communications and participation.  If you would like to be removed from the mailing list go directly to the distribution site email maas0755@comcast.net   

 

“The mission of the Western Powered Parachute Association is to promote the sport of powered parachuting in the Western United States through Education, Participation and Resources.”

 In This Issue:

•        The Few, The Proud, The Cold!
•        Scanning the Horizon (Calendar)
•        Training Corner- -Seeking a Few Good Aviators (CFIs) Again!
•        Resources

 

Published by Western Powered Parachute Association LLC westernppa@comcast.net Doug Maas 360 771-4047Maas0755@comcast.net

Website: http://westernppa.org Newsletter Distribution Group Site: http://sixchuterwest.com 

 

Sign up to receive this monthly bulletin at www.sixchuterwest.com Just fill out the news request form on the front page. While you are on the Six Chuter West website, explore the many other “articles” in several categories.  These articles are published weekly and are archived in the various categories.

 THE FEW, THE PROUD, ….THE COLD!

 As the cold and wet weather set in during the month of November I came to realize that all powered parachute aviators are not equal.  There seem to be three distinct types in the Pacific Northwest.

•  The most common are those who simply park their aircraft and will wait until the rain stops.  This is usually in the late spring.
•  The second category is those who are posting those messages on our club site about how great the flying is in Arizona and other areas of the winter sun belt!  Honestly I wish I were solidly in this category of snow bird at this point in my life!
•  The third category are the very few, I think proud and I know cold pilots who will fly every chance the weather allows during the winter.  This category includes a very few students who are gritting their teeth and trying to get training done now so that when the Spring indeed comes they will be ready to enjoy the sport.

 The pilots who are watching the weather on nearly a daily basis for the chance of capturing a cool, clear, windless day will be those who enjoy some of the most awesome flights of the year. Here is a great post on the PPC Coalition club website:

 “I love this time of year. A good heavy overcast but the air is still warm and no turbulence. The leaves are changing colors, and the dust is settled so you can see forever it seems.I have never understood why so many people pack their machines up for the winter. I fly year round and tend to still my average days of fight per week up pretty good in the winter months.

Luckily I fly from a bunch of different hay fields around hear. Many of them are cut real short (to avoid having to burn them I think) but more importantly they sit on top of the south Salem hills. If it POURS down rain one day, they are flyable the next.

It has to dip below mid 20′s to keep me down. Anyone else kinda ‘die-hard’ in the area? I am always looking for someone new to fly with. Let me know if you want to join me sometime. I know lots of fun places to go.

Jason
Salem, OR”

 It is also this category of pilot who is in training that I encourage to hang in there and train if and when they can during the winter months.  Beyond the fact that indeed this can result in some of the best flights of the year, the training schedule is much more open than in the spring.  When you read our training report monthly you will continue to see nearly sixty students waiting in line for attention from about five active Certified Flight Instructors.  And inevitably what occurs in the spring is that EVERYONE wants to schedule time, at the same time!  And that occurs when our events begin that makes access to CFIs even more difficult. (See Training Corner on Seeking a Few Good Aviators)

 Those who coordinate closely with instructors and get as much flight training and ground school done during the winter will indeed be the winners in the spring of 2010.

 Scanning the Horizon

 Just a few things that we are working on or at least thinking about for the year ahead:

1. More Discover Powered Parachuting courses will be schedule this coming season.  These are full half day sessions to supplement the brief discovery flight experience.  Our first session sponsored by Central Washington Powered Parachutes in Quincy this season brought 12 prospective pilots to us and resulted in several who signed on to advanced training.
2. Six Chuter Inc. celebrates 20 Years in 2010 and will sponsor the “20^th Annual Memorial Day Rally” this year.  Based on current planning we will be back at twin firs turf farm in May 2010.
3. Another Western Regional PPC Competition is being discussed.  WPPA sponsored and hosted the 2004 western Regionals and it seems time for another.  There is a lot to consider, but we are serious about putting it together.
4. Fractional Ownership Clubs are being discussed among a few business partners.  These would be clubs in three locations around the Pacific N.W., that would allow an entrance point for prospective pilots and owners who aren’t quite ready to step up to owning their own ppc.  We are in very early planning for clubs with two ppcs at each location in the Portland-Vancouver, Arlington and Quincy areas.
5. A full season of rallies is of course being planned by the N.W. Powered Parachute Coalition.  Partly based on this year’s success in Madras, the club is considering adding a Central Oregon rally to the already packed schedule.
6. Sport Pilot Academy continues to evolve with more and more resources and training available on line. http://sportpilotu.com/

 Needless to say, many of us will be busy trying to keep the activity rolling and to plan for yet another banner year in 2010. 

The Training Corner “Seeking A Few Good Aviators (CFIs)..Again!

 This is a reprint from about a year ago.  The reason for updating it and distributing it again is that despite the growth in our instructor ranks we continue to be pressed to keep up with the student load.  I continue to profess that the biggest inhibitor to growth in light sport aviation is simply the lack of instructors. That continues to seem curious to many who think our N.W. network of ppc instructors is one of the largest anywhere.  I encourage anyone with even a passing notion to instruct in powered parachutes, to read the article and give it some consideration.  We’d love to help you get started down this path.

 “Yah right”, is the response I get from most folks when I make the pitch for becoming involved in the world of Powered Parachute flight instruction.  Their natural question is, “if it is such a great job or opportunity why don’t you have enough of you?  Well they caught me there.  So I have pretty much quit sugar coating my recruitment efforts and am frankly more devoted to finding a very few, very good folks and spending considerably more time to make them successful.  Let’s start with a description of the current condition.  Then I will try to honestly provide you with the upside and downside of this glamorous job.  Oops, there I go again!

 THE CURRENT SITUATION

 In the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), we now have eight FAA Certified Flight Instructors, powered parachute qualified.  Seven are actually in Washington with Perry Robertson, P-3 sports being the sole ppc qualified flight instructor in Oregon.  In addition to our eight instructors we have three FAA designated flight examiners, and one designated instructor flight examiner.  Four of us can even provide private pilot powered parachute level training. If you look around the remainder of the U.S. you will discover that we really seem to be in quite an enviable position, which is better off than most anywhere else. So what’s the problem? Reality is the problem.

 More than half our instructors actually have real jobs (doesn’t currently include me)!  Thus their availability for full time instruction is limited by the reality of making family wages.  And those of us who have more time to exercise our instructor privilege actually have other things happening in our lives that detract from “instructing time”.  I spend a great deal of my time, as an example, managing a couple of businesses on the side and trying to be a good grandpa. Add to that the reality of the weather, the fact our students have lives and schedules too, and the shear numbers of interested parties and you can quickly calculate the basic problem.

 

Another issue in “current situation” is geographic.  We have only one CFI in Eastern Washington and only one in Oregon.  We are all concentrated in Western Washington.  Again, compared to many areas of the United States where instructors are thousands of miles away this shouldn’t be much of an issue to whine about.  But we have set the bar higher for ourselves in the Pacific Northwest.  Unless you have the means to sign into one of our 12-day courses and travel to us, the normal reality of trying to schedule a routine of lessons that will lead you to your sport pilot license is daunting. Thus the problem is an acute shortage of willing, and able instructors to keep up with the demand. On various scales I challenge that this is the fundamental inhibitor of the sport throughout the entire United States.

 WHY NOT?

 Now let me outline the “challenges” of becoming a qualified instructor.  I will warn you ahead of time that this list is not for the faint of heart! All of this is offered to help you “weigh the scales” and decide if this is for you.

 Meeting The Basic Requirements 

Getting to the starting line is the first challenge.  The following table displays the basic requirements.  The average powered parachute pilot probably logs only 50 hours a year.  Several of our best candidates in the northwest are simply trying to get to the starting line. 

If you are applying for a flight instructor certificate with a sport pilot rating for . . .	Then you must log at least . .	Which must include at least . . .
g) Powered-parachute category privileges,	(1) 100 hours of flight time as a pilot,	(i) 75 hours of flight time as pilot in command in powered aircraft, (ii) 50 hours of flight time in a powered parachute,
		(iii) 15 hours of cross-country flight time,
		(iv) 5 hours of cross-country flight time in a powered parachute, and
		(v) 15 hours of flight time as pilot in command in a powered parachute that is a light-sport aircraft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Passing the Tests

 Assuming you build the minimum time required then you get to prepare for the tests.  These include two FAA written tests, the dreaded fundamentals of instruction, and the instructor pilot knowledge tests.  Let me warn you neither is easy and if the sport pilot written intimidated you then these two will certainly challenge you. There is simply too much material to play the memorization game.  You actually need to know all this stuff! And, unlike the powered parachute specific test you experience at the sport pilot level, you are studying for tests that require you to know the information for all categories of aircraft because you can teach in any aircraft you are qualified in, once you have the certificate. And once you are successful in passing (after paying of course) both these written tests then you get to have another FAA flight examiner in your back seat.  Actually in this case you may find the examiner in your front seat playing the role of student.  If you have really prepared and are truly ready the practical test flight portion is really kind of fun.  On the other hand the ground portion of the practical test is rather grueling.  The average time for ground portion of the sport pilot practical test is one and a half hours.  Compare that to the average time for the same portion of the instructor exam of three and a half hours! You REALLY need to know it by the time you get to this level.  The examiner will pass you only when they can sincerely report that you meet the practical test standards and have a personal comfort that you will indeed have the “right stuff” to be an instructor.

 Positioning Yourself to Actually Instruct

 Congratulations you have your certificate!  Now you get to face the operational realities of instructing.  These might include some of the following:

 Liability.  Most of us have been operating without benefit of credible and affordable liability insurance.  That is now available, at a cost of course, yet understanding and managing liability will hover over you so long as you instruct.

Equipment=SLSA. Here is a challenge.  Assuming you were able to meet all the qualifications and pass the tests, you have until January 2010 to purchase and operate a Special Light Sport powered parachute!  That is, if you want to train others in your[1] aircraft.  If you are shopping you will quickly discover that it is unlikely you will find a special light sport powered parachute for under $20,000.  Currently, there are only Three “SLSA” powered parachutes in the Pacific Northwest.  One is in Arlington, WA, the other Quincy, WA and third in the Portland-Vancouver region. And once you have your “SLSA” you will quickly discover that you can’t do anything but preventative maintenance.  Annual inspections are preceded by 100 Hour inspections, all of which need to be done by A & P qualified or persons with specific repairman certificates.

Operations.  Then of course you need to be in actual position to have students show up, study with you and fly.  Access to equipment, airfields and all the training resources is required. My simple learned lesson on this one is that it is a rare individual who will be able to do all this on his or her own.  If you are blessed with owning your own perfect powered parachute airfield, have the equipment, classroom, and access to training resources you are among the rare.

The Work. Being a flight instructor may at first glance be a very appealing goal.  When the reality of the daily schedule hits, it may be entirely different.  Don’t forget that we need to be up most days before the sun is up.  And an “hour” long lesson in a powered parachute usually turns into a four-hour “logistics” exercise due to staging of equipment.  And of course we expect you to do this while actually working for a living elsewhere! More on this later.

 Being Successful.

 This is for me the big deal.  This is the reality that being a great powered parachute pilot does not equate with being even a good powered parachute instructor. My experience is that there are nearly two totally different, yet compatible, skill sets here.  Yes you need to know how to fly a powered parachute.  Yet being a good instructor requires an incredible additional array of skills in communications, people skills and pure teaching ability. I will never encourage you to go through this gauntlet unless you first inventory your knowledge, skills and abilities and can honestly say that it is your love of teaching others to fly that is leading your forward.

 And I want you to really think about what the nature of instructing is.  Imagine strapping yourself in the back seat of the powered parachute and giving up control at several points during your aerial adventure to a person who doesn’t initially have the appropriate experience to do what you are asking them to do!  In many ways I think instructing in powered parachutes is a job for a younger person (Younger than I anyway).  Yet the catch 22 is that by the time most have all the assets required to be an instructor we have exceeded that ideal requirement.

 Keeping It.

 Assuming you made it through the gauntlet congratulations!  Did I forget to mention that unlike your sport pilot certificate that is good for life, your instructor privilege expires every 24 months?  Yes there is an expectation that you are actually going to instruct and that requires proof of ongoing activity, and knowledge.

 WHY?

 Whew!  After all that what incentive is left to step up? Well actually a lot.

 The Sport Needs You.

 If indeed you have the right stuff and have some interest in seeing the sport survive and thrive then one reason to consider stepping up is simply because we need you.  If you ask most of the current instructors in the Pacific Northwest why they bothered their response will likely include, “somebody had to.”  This reason, in and of itself, of course is insufficient.  Nonetheless this needs to be a consideration.

 You Can Make Money.

 I don’t know of any powered parachute flight instructor who is making a living simply by flight instruction.  Nearly all the top-notch ppc instructors I know are retired or have other supplemental businesses or income.  However, if you have realistic goals you can indeed make money through professional flight instruction.  You might pay for your own flying gas, your own flying machine, or actually supplement other income with money from your instructing.

 You Don’t Need to Do It All.

 Being a Certified Flight Instructor does not imply that you need to participate at all levels of flight instruction.  A CFI certificate means that you can actually charge for “discovery flights”, the practice of taking somebody up for a one-time flight.  In the Pacific Northwest these flights usually are $75 for an hour of your time.  All Sport Pilots need a biennial flight review.  This means that you could decide simply to provide the minimum one-hour ground and one hour flight time to pilots who line up at our flight rallies to stay current.  We have a strong team approach to instructing in the Pacific Northwest and having CFIs taking care of these two activities frees time for others to do the more challenging work of soloing new students.  And our network provides you with access to all the resources you need and support to help you get started.

 Building Time and Experience.

 Historically the main reason for instructing in the general aviation arena was to build time and experience that counted towards higher ratings and ultimately to qualify you for a job in commercial aviation.  That isn’t all practical in powered parachuting, but indeed much of your flight time can be used to earn higher pilot ratings.  So if you are working upwards towards a career in general aviation the experience of instructing is valuable.

 You Got to Love It.

 All of the reasons cited so far likely will not outweigh the considerable challenges I have written about.  But one will.  That is a fundamental love of flying and teaching others to fly.  I have often said that I love flying, but my closest second is helping a person realize a lifelong dream of flying and leading them through their first solo flight.  I have seen grown ups nearly in tears with so much joy upon landing after their first solo flight. And back to being successful.  That is very unlikely to happen without this attribute.  No matter how well positioned you are to flight instruct and no matter how well you did on the tests, you are unlikely to become a truly good flight instructor if you don’t just love it!

 ACCELERATED FLIGHT TRAINING

Our 4 day student pilot or ultralight pilot course has been our most popular this year.  We have graduated over a dozen thus far and continue to have folks sign up.  This course is made more popular because we are hosting it with the help of Central Washington Powered Parachutes in Quincy, Washington, as well as at our primary accelerated training location at Arlington.  As the training season nears end of summer we will increasingly be “stretched” to accommodate the training load in this class.  If you have folks who are interested in signing up for the course have them contact Doug at maas0755@comcast.net ASAP. Keep an eye on the training schedule at http://sixchuterwest.com/?page_id=259

 Road Map to Staying Connected

 WPPA BULLETIN If you want to receive regular information about the sport, events, training and news on the West Coast, you will receive this bulletin.  If you have someone who would like to join this bulletin list steer him or her directly to http://sixchuterwest.com/?page_id=259.  You will find a page to download the most current training catalogue and a “news” form on the lower right hand side of the page.  Fill that out to automatically receive the monthly news.

 EAA ULTRALIGHT CHAPTER 127 If you want to network directly with other PPC enthusiasts in the Northwest, check out the N.W. Powered Parachute Coalition at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nwpoweredparachutecoalition/

 SIX CHUTER OWNERS If you own a Six Chuter powered parachute join the Six Chuter Owner’s Website at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sixchuterowners/ Just go to the site and “request to join”.  This site provides an exclusive site where Six Chuter owners can access resources specific to their powered parachutes, and exchange ideas among other owners.

 If you want to receive free regular information on Six Chuter Inc. powered parachutes you may receive a monthly free E-bulletin from Six Chuter.  If you are not receiving this bulletin already go to this site and sign the “news” form on lower right hand side of the page. http://sixchuterwest.com/  

 PPC SALES If you are in the market for a new or used powered parachute and would like to review monthly classifieds and other information about aircraft and support services check out http://sixchuterwest.com/?page_id=8 

 PPC ACCESSORIES If you are shopping for powered parachute accessories up to and including canopies, go to https://1spa.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp  

MAINTENANCE If you need service on your Rotax engine there are three authorized Rotax service stations in the region:

• Portland-Vancouver Vancouver Ultralight Services, Rolando Santiago 360 904 8766 http://sixchuterwest.com/?page_id=294
• Eastern Washington-Oregon Freedom Aerosports LLC, Steve Camp, sbcamp@wildblue.net 5095493321 www.freedomaerosports.com
• Puget Sound- http://www.rainierultralightengines.com/ Clyde Poser Phone: 253-447-4398 Tech support: tech@rainierultralightengines.com Information: info@rainierultralightengines.com
• Portland-Vancouver Perry Robertson, CFI, Repairman, Troutdale, OR 503 913-8536 perrobertson@comcast.net HTTP://www.p3-sports.com

 SPORT PILOT TRAINING AND TESTING

If you are not receiving the monthly Student-Testing supplement from WPPA and would like to, email Doug Maas at westernppa@comcast.net  this report tracks our students, our testing schedule and instructor assignments. If you would like to receive a copy of “Sport Pilot Maneuvers” you can request a copy from the same email address or download from the “files” section of the club website.  Go to the WPPA website www.westernppa.org to download the current year training catalogue and find other resources

 [1] FAA recently adopted a process to extend your ability to use your ELSA to train others if it has been previously certified for that.