VG-21 Squadron |
NewslettersVarga/Shinn VG-21 Squadron No. 16 Sept. 5, 1993 ANNUAL MAINTENANCE SEMINAR, LAMPSON FIELD, SEPT. 25 & 26. Hope many, many of you can attend! For those of you who want to make a weekend or overnight trip, listed below are local motels and car rentals. This is the same weekend as that of the seaplane splash-in in the lake, so don't waste any time in making your reservations. There are no motels at the airport. Your first choice of rental car should probably be Lake County Rent-A-Car, mention the Varga fly-in and our names. He may be able to give you a discount. Anchorage Inn 263-5417; Best Western El Grande 994-2000 (several miles distant); Skylark Motel 263-6151; Clear Lake Inn 263-3551; Creekside Lodge 279-9258; Kelseyviille Motel 279-1874; Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa 279-4281 (the "fanciest" and probably the most expensive); Mallard House 262-1601; Super 8 Motel at Upper Lake 275-0888 or 800-800-8000. ALL ARE IN AREA CODE 707. Lake County Rent-A-Car 263-4036; U Save Auto Rental 263-8744 or 263-1240; Rent-A-Wreck 263-6962 or 800-274-7651. AGAIN, ALL ARE IN AREA CODE 707. Please try to let me know if you plan to attend so that I can give the Skyroom Restaurant (on the field) a headcount for lunch! Our phone number is 707-279-0259 or drop us a note. So far, we've heard from Del Lutz who plans to fly in from Dallas, and John Vance who sends his regrets due to a business trip back east. If you do attend, bring your questions with you along with your problems and solutions. This is your opportunity to help the rest of us! And, Carl Sigg, how about driving up and sharing your re-build project with us. You're running into things and solving them that would sure be of benefit to all of us! The nicest people own and fly Vargas! Jane and Walt Ruehl phoned one night to say they were in Lakeport and could we meet for breakfast. What a wonderful surprise. They spent the next night with us and we had a wonderful visit. We truly enjoyed it! Chet & Mary Sweeley, we apolgize! We did drive to Tucson and at some exit along the highway, we pulled off the road and tried to use the pay phone to call you so we could possibly meet somewhere nearby. After spending a fortune on the phone and running out of change, we decided the phone just wasn't going to work. Our return trip began at 4:00 a.m. due to predicted 1120 to 1140 heat so the timing to call you was just all off. Maybe we'll have better luck next time. We have a couple of new members who phoned us while they were in the process of buying their Vargas. Antonio Leza of West Palm Beach, FL, purchased N8291J from Alan Molner. Antonio had his ACP call and we fared some maintenance info to him - including how to get fuel tank shut-off valves to turn. Mike Wilson called from Des Moines, Iowa (at the height of their terrible flood) to say he was leaving in a few days for Ohio to pick up a Varga he was buying, a 1978 N4638V, with 70 hours on a factory rebuilt engine. And we heard from Jack De Marsh of Canton Ohio who purchased N5083V in May of this year. (Jack, the requested copies of back newsletters & maintenance items will be in the mail at the same time as this Newsletter!) -2- No. 16 Don Tate can't be all bad? Convinced that we thought he was the biggest jerk who ever owned a Varga, has redeemed himself by sending some wonderful pictures and a great letter. Don bought his Varga from former member Jay Humphrey and now N5077V makes its home at Tightsqueeze Field (no joke) near St. Louis, MO. Without Don's permission, thought you'd enjoy knowing a little about him so am sharing his letter with all of you. Don was born and raised in the Ozark Mts. of South Central MO, served as a mechanic for four years in Naval Aviation in Memphis, working as gas boy nights and weekends at local civilian airport to pay for flying lessons. After the navy, returned to Springfield, MO and pumped more gas until he worked off his C.F.I, He taught flying for two years and in 1967 went to work for Ozark Airlines as DC-3 co-pilot. Be must have been pretty good, because they let him fly co-pilot on FH-227 and DC-9's, too. In 1979, Don convinced them he was really good and they let him check out as a DC-9 Captain! In 1971, he married a flight attendant, started looking for a place to build a home (with enough room to build a runway), and bought 64 acres in 1973. In 1974 he divided it and sold two 20 acre parcels to two other Ozark Airline pilots. They all built their homes in 1975 and build the runway in 1979. He bought a C172 with Robertson STOL kit in 1980 and it shares the hangar with his Varga. In Don's spare time, he flies Captain for TWA. He really doesn't have too much time to devote to TWA - he's too busy flying 77V. But it's more fun than being a gas boy. CARL SIGG - A MILLION THANKS FROM ALL OF US! Enclosed is a new membership list thanks entirely to Carl Sigg and his never-tiring efforts on our behalf. If you could see the scribbled mess I mail Carl when he updates the list, you'd wonder how in the world he ever figures it out, much less gets it put together. But as busy as he is, and as messy as I am, somehow he gets it done! Carl, you'll never know how much I appreciate it. HELP! If any of you have 337's you haven't mailed to us, please make copies and get them on their way. If any of you want copies of anything, let us know. We do our best to keep up with all of this, but, God Forbid, if anyone has requested copies and haven't gotten them, let us know. John Vance mailed us a write-up, "Varga Flight Tips - Flying the Overhead Break" for inclusion in the next Newsletter. Thanks a million, John, and we'll be sure to include it. He also enclosed a note to let us know that since his engine re-build, the plane has "run super" with noticeably cooler oil temp even in the summer heat. We flew from Chino to Deer Valley airport in Phoenix at 7500 ft, averaging 115 to 118 knots true at 2500 rpm and a fuel burn of 9.0 GPH. He had just returned from N.A.S. Miramar Air Show where, as always, the Varga was a big attention-getter. 36 members have mailed photos far album - and the rest of you have run out of excuses! Come on, now, get busy and get those photos to us! Remember, this is your album, so if you want to see it, just let us know. We'll UPS or mail it to you. The only thing you have to do is keep it no longer than a week and get it back to us! SEPTEMBER 25-261 LAMPSON FIELD, MAINTENANCE SEMINAR - TRY TO JOIN US! Pat |