Website http://co-opa.com November 2015, Vol. 15, Issue 10 President's Message: EAA 1315 has invited us, and other local aviation types, to be part of their Xmas party. It will be on December 9th, 6pm at the Bend Black Bear Diner. If you are coming be sure to RSVP to Thomas Phy or to Charles Brown . We will make that our December meeting, so take note of the change in regular meeting date. So this makes November our last regular meeting of the year. Be sure to be at the KBDN Flight Services Building this Thursday, the Third Thursday, 19 November, around 6pm. Pot luck at 6:30pm, and the usual 'formal' meeting at 7pm. The weather for our meeting looks to be low IFR, so be sure to get a clearance before driving in. On the flip, the weather is looking good for our Saturday Fly-out, come vote for your favorite destination. Calendar: Note changed date of the December Meeting! 19 November – Monthly Meeting 21 November – Monthly Fly-out 9 December – Holiday Party! TBD December – Monthly Fly-out 21 January – Monthly Meeting 23 January – Monthly Fly-out 18 February – Monthly Meeting 20 February – Monthly Fly-out October Fly-out (not): Ugh, a month of pretty good weather, then bang, rang in the forecast. Not to worry, a good time was had by all that attended our Drive-In breakfast at Jakes. Our good friend Ed Endsley even showed up. Best wishes for a quick recovery. Fingers crossed for November's fly-out. Airspace Changes (SLE): No charts show it yet, but the Salem McNary Airport (SLE) is now in its third revision, with more changes to come. It only took a short period of time before dangerous incidents starting happening at Independence Airport (7S5) due to the uncharted changes. Traffic on the 45 to Runway 16 at 7S5 were on SLE tower frequency. Traffic on the 45 to runway 34 were on the 7S5 CTAF of 122.975. You can imagine what happens on a calm wind day: traffic landing both ways no knowing about the other traffic. No one got hurt, but the SLE airspace was quickly changed to exclude that traffic on the 45 for 16. Except none of this is charted and unless you read the Federal Register you would have no way of knowing. And yes, SLE ATIS now tells you to read the Federal Register for airspace details, so be sure to keep a copy in your airplane. OPA, and other aviation interests have served the FAA with a FOIA request to see how such a mess came about. It seems that even the SLE tower was not away of the changes until they became effective. Airspace Changes (MOA): Controversy is heating up about the proposed Redhawk MOA. The MOA is from 11,000 feet up to just below FL180. In encompasses much of the area east of Hwy 97, west of Hwy 395, from just south of I-84 to just south of Hwy 26. Kimberley VOR (IMB) its in the middle as does V121, V182, V497, V500 and V536. V121 has an MEA of 9,000 and V536 is 10,000. Pretty much blocking all east/west IFR routes in the northern half of Oregon. The OPA board is watching this situation closely and is looking for any and all input from the membership. Solar Farms: Deschutes County has approved the proposed solar farms near Bend Municipal Airport (KBDN). With the provision that they not create a hazard with their glare and a 24 hour number to report any glare. Local pilots can now rest assured that any problems will be mitigated with enforcement by the county. Chiloquin Airport (2S7) has a proposed solar farm before the Lake County Planning Commission. The farm would be 2 miles north and 0.5 miles east of the north end of runway 17. Preliminary analysis show no glare hazard for aviation, but OPA is working with the county to get assurances written into the conditional use permit. Solar farms have a less than 30 year economic lifetime and a bond is usually posted to ensure their removal at that time. Web doings: Check out current and past CO-OPA newsletters, view our membership list and view hot aviation links on our website at: co-opa.com To access the members only areas the username is “BDN” and the password is “123.0” Newsletter Inputs: Send your newsletter tidbits to: