Weekend Mountain Flying Clinic
5-6-7 September 2008 in Santa Fe, NM

Once again the New Mexico Pilots Association (NMPA) is presenting its annual weekend mountain flying clinic on 5-6-7 September, 2008. This begins with a mountain flying ground school Friday evening covering flying safely in the mountains. There will be a half day flying in the mountains with a highly experienced and qualified mountain CFI. Upon completion of the seminar and the flying, each pilot will receive a clinic completion certificate. Many insurance companies give a premium discount for completion of this clinic.

This FAA approved course consists of a mountain flying ground school, and three hours flying with mountain flying CFIs. The WINGS safety seminar will be held Friday evening, 5 September at the Holiday Inn Santa Fe at 4048 Cerrillos Road from 6-8 pm. While this seminar is for the mountain flying pilots it will also be open to the public and free. The pilots taking this clinic, though, will additionally get the Mountain Flying Clinic Booklet. The ground school will cover all aspects of flying techniques in and over mountains as well as landing and taking off from high altitude/high density airports. This seminar will also cover where the flying will be taking place, in the rugged mountains of northern NM and southern CO where many peaks exceed 13,000 feet and most airports range between 6,000 and 8,000 feet MSL.

The mountain flying part will be conducted on Saturday and Sunday mornings where each pilot will fly his/her plane in the mountains with a CFI who flies regularly in these mountains. The flying in the mountains will be spectacular as it will be in the height of the fall foliage color changes. Each CFI will fly with one pilot in the morning on each day. In a weekend NMPA can accommodate 10-12 pilots.

The cost of this mountain flying clinic is $200 for NMPA members and $225 for non-NMPA members. The extra $25 goes to joining NMPA. To join NMPA before the clinic see www.nmpilots.org. The cost covers the ground school mountain flying booklet prepared by the clinic presenter Jim Van Namee and Amanda Sullivan, pre and post flight briefings, and the flying, landings, and take-offs, in the mountains with a CFI.

To take this course each pilot must have a private certificate or higher and a current medical. The airplane must have a current annual and liability and medical insurance, and a POH. Proof of the above must be brought to the clinic Friday evening. Each plane must also have survival gear on board (food, water, shelter, signaling equipment, and warm clothes) and current Denver and Albuquerque Sectional charts. Bring these charts and your Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) to the class. NMPA will provide airport information charts. The cut-off date for reserving a slot for the flying portion is 7 September. Send your name, address, phone number, email address, certificates and ratings, flight hours and type of experience, and the year, make, and model of plane you will be flying. Send this information and a check (made out to NMPA Mt Fly Clinic) to Jim Van Namee, 9611 Carriage Creek Point, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. For more info contact Jim at jvannamee@gmail.com or 719 282 8547 or 719 310 9150. Pilots who want to take this clinic but don't have a plane contact Jim to make arrangements for renting a plane.

Holiday Inn Reservations: The cost of a room at the Holiday Inn on 4048 Cerrillos Road will be $79 per night plus tax. The cutoff date is 8 August. Call 505 473 4646 for reservations or go to www.holiday-inn.com/santafenm.

NMPA 2008 FLY-INS AND SAFETY SEMINARS

Reminder: The old FAA WINGS program has ended and to receive credit under the new FAASTeam WINGS program, you must register to join the new program on www.faasafety.gov and then register on the internet for each seminar and attend to receive credit. So here is our safety seminar schedule for 2008:

January 12, 2008 - Deming: Safety Seminar and Cookout

February 16, 2008 - Alamogordo: Safety Seminar and Lunch

March 8, 2008 - Roswell: Safety Seminar and Cookout

April 19, 2008 - Albuquerque: GPS Seminar

May 17, 2008 - Silver City: Safety Seminar and Cookout

June 14, 2008 - Double Eagle II: Annual Meeting / Bash

July 19, 2008 - Belen: Safety Seminar and Lunch

August 30, 2008 - Farmington: Safety Seminar and Lunch

September 5-7, 2008 - Santa Fe: Weekend Mountain Flying Clinic

October 18, 2008 - Las Cruces: Safety Seminar and Cookout

November 8, 2008 - TBA: TBA

December 2008 - No December Fly-in Or Meeting