What's Up With LOBO Lately?
by george rosel
Although most of us are consumed with daily updates on the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the relentless political rhetoric, your LOBO board continues to forge ahead.
Our October Board meeting, held Wednesday October 14th, was full of discussion and planning. After two hours and 45 minutes that felt like fifteen, I finally moved to adjourn. Most of our meetings are similar—full of excitement, ideas, and much dialog—and October's meeting was no different.
While waiting for all of us to log in, I reflected on how fortunate I am to serve on the LOBO board. Rubbing elbows and sharing ideas with my flying friends is a real treat. It’s like meeting at one of our annual LOBO Landings or Oshkosh, only we do it every month. By the way, have you reserved your rooms for the LOBO Landing set for April in Las Vegas? You better hurry! As of today, our blocked rooms are over 70% booked. You can cancel without any penalty up to 72 hours prior to your arrival, so what are you waiting for? Click here to reserve your room now.
Rescheduling to ensure a full board attends each meeting is often very challenging. This month we pushed the meeting two days to accomodate director of safety and training Jeff Edison, who was on another around the world trip in his Boeing 777. Well, not his, FedEx's. Soon after Jeff logged in, here comes Sandy Gainza popping up with a great smile from her home at Lake Tahoe. Next chimes in Mark Sletten, our webmaster from St Louis with his usual wit and humor. He also had a noticeable tan and shared a great photo of a recent trip to Florida with his family. Steve Bradford, our Treasurer/Legal Advisor zoomed in with great excitement and news from a recent Evolution training event at Bend, Oregon. Finally, Mr. Bob Pastusek LOBO’s Director of Maintenance, spoke up while already zooming around the computer screen like the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz. Bob, one of LOBO's founding members, has infinite wisdom when it comes to Lancair maintenance and LOBO business. Then it was my turn. “Let’s get started everyone. We have lots to talk about.”
Recent Incidents
As always, most of our evenings are focused on safety and training. We began with a special guest, a Lancair IV-P pilot, invited to report on his recent engine failure, followed by a successful highway landing just west of Odessa, Texas. Just after takeoff, and only 1500’ AGL, his engine surged, exceeded maximum RPM, and immediately lost power. The PIC clearly maintained control and landed safely with no injuries or any damage to the aircraft. A great success story of a pilot who trained with one of our recommended instructors using our LOBO syllabus.
Another Lancair IV-P—within just a few days of the incident described above—also experienced engine failure, although this time the pilot was successful in getting the aircraft to an airport runway. As with the first incident, there were no injuries, but the pilot reported a flat tire following landing. The pilots involved in these incidents credit their training for the safe outcomes. Jeff Edwards, whom we invited to listen in on the incident report, provided his perspective on emergencies and accidents—something the board always appreciates. Expect a full report on these two engine-out success stories in the near future.
Up And Coming
Our soon-to-be-launched TRUST (Tracking, Records of Users, Standardized, Training) system is almost ready for review. Virtually all known Lancair instructors (EPS, LOBO, HPAR, etc.) are 100% on board and anxious to see the TRUST system prototype. Full collaboration between these training groups has been realized, bringing together training programs from each to realize a standardized approach to Lancair training. In a way, everyone is a stakeholder in this program. Our instructors are excited and ready to see its implementation.
Additionally, thanks to Bob Pastusek, Jeff Edison and Paul Miller, our new LOBO forums on LancairTalk.net are up and running. LancairTalk owner Paul Miller has provided LOBO with three separate forums for you to discuss LOBO training, owner initiatives and outreach efforts, and member communication. Please feel free to log in there and post your questions/comments, and don't forget to thank Paul Miller!
New Training Forms
LOBO board member Steve Bradford presented finalized redrafts of LOBO’s training forms outlining prerequisites regarding the use of your aircraft for flight training, as well as LOBO’s release and hold harmless agreement. These documents are now reposted on our website. Please review these before your next flight training session.
Money Matters
Financially speaking, LOBO is very sound with approximately $277,000 in total assets. Membership dues and new signups are coming in better than ever!
Time to sign off for this month. Don’t forget to vote on November 3rd! Oh, and Happy Halloween!