Dedicated to Aviation, Safety, Friendship, Community Involvement, and Education since 1984
DEDICATED TO AVIATION, SAFETY, FRIENDSHIP, COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, AND EDUCATION SINCE 1984
propwash
february 2026
© Photographer Name
Photo courtesy of Mark Thomas
President's Message As the Prop Turns Flying a Safe Traffic Pattern at KAUN Flying the Waco UPF-7 Happy New Year Fellow Flyers
MISC.
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In This Issue
Guerilla Ground School Event 2026 Aviation Career Day 2026 Aviation Scholarships AAA Redbird Recognition Plaque Redbird Simulator Rates Michelle White Book Promo AOPA: ADS-B Misuse Call to Action Support AAA Endowment Join Us!
ARTICLES
INFO of INTEREST
PRESIDENT‘S MESSAGE
Hello All, AAA Media/Content Director David Sanborn, and yours truly, will be at the airport sometimes filming for AAA/KAUN. That's right, AAA will soon open our YouTube channel, but not now. Currently, if you have LinkedIn, associate yourself with the AAA page. It is up and running. Officers/Senior Mentors past or present, it's imperative that you as well do this. Mentors/Student pilots at any level, a LinkedIn profile should already be in you're arsenal, regardless of career track. Especially those with eyes for 121/135. Scholarship applications will be closed when we meet next. If you happen to be selected, understand what is required of you, what is expected from you, and what gets another scholarship from AAA. ... We are thrilled to share some exciting news: everyone, please join me in welcoming the newest Aviator to the AAA family!! Our very own Brooklyn Brown, who handles all of our Propwash, is expecting a baby boy! VERY SOON! We are all very happy and excited for Brooklyn and her husband, we only wish they were here. I wouldn't be at KAUN if it weren't for Brooklyns' kindness and hospitality; she was the first person my son Leonidas and I encountered up here, being so incredibly friendly and welcoming towards us. Thank you, Brooklyn! We wish y'all health, happiness, and sleep. CONGRATULATIONS! ... Another exciting update: keep an eye going forward in this newsletter for Michelle White’s promotion of her new book. She is delighted to share her poetry with us, with the hope that it encourages every reader. We invite you to take a look and consider supporting her work. Enjoy this edition of the Propwash! We’ll be back with more next month. Fly safe. SEEE YA!!
Nebil Almakdeshi, AAA President
Main Dish: A-L Side or Salad: S-Z Dessert: M-R
Join us for our monthly membership meeting and potluck dinner. We’re excited to welcome DPE Mark Montague as this month’s speaker. Many of you at KAUN know him well from your checkrides and ticket sign-offs. If you don't bring food, Venmo and cash donations will be accepted to help pay for supplemental pizza. This is an in-person meeting. Guests and non-members are welcome!
General membership meeting menu
this months speaker(s)/entertainment
this months speaker(s)
Join us for our monthly membership meeting and potluck dinner. If you don't bring food, Venmo and cash donations will be accepted to help pay for supplemental pizza. This is an in-person meeting. Guests and non-members are welcome!
please provide according to your last name
*This program also offers FAA WINGS credit for all who attend, see next page for details
click here
"These poems were written over more than thirty years of my life and represent how spirit speaks to me — providing healing, hope, comfort, and joy through all seasons of living. About ten years ago, I decided to gather them into a book and took the step of securing a self-publishing contract. Each poem reflects moments of growth, heartbreak, celebration, and deep listening, and together they form a journey of the soul. My greatest hope for this work, as I wrote in one of my earliest poems, is to encourage people “so that their soul shines brightly beneath their skin.” I’m incredibly excited to finally bring this collection to life and share it with the world." - Michelle White
Discover Michelle White’s newly published poetry collection — and consider showing your support for her work.
CALL TO ACTION - CONTACT CONGRESS TO STOP ADS-B MISUSE
As the prop turns
Mike Duncan, Sunshine Flyers
Our year is starting off well with new students soloing and new ratings despite the weather not cooperating. Caleb Wiseman was our first solo of 2026. He soloed on the 11th of January 2026 with Vinh Truong, as his instructor, in a C-172. Beth Irvine was able to solo her family C-182 out of Grass Valley/Nevada airport with Chis Hale as her instructor. She soloed on the 31st of December 2025. Shaea Payne passed her Advanced Ground Instructor written and is now a ground instructor. No flight test is required for ground instructors and I encourage everyone to go for those ratings. It involves two written tests; the Advanced Ground Instructor (AGI) and the Fundamentals Of Instruction (FOI) is the other written test. Shane McAlister is not to be forgotten! Shane passed his CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) rating with Mark Montague out of the Truckee airport. Scott Woodland was his instructor. The weather started off poorly with dense fog and he almost had to cancel his check ride, but it cleared up later that morning and the ride itself went well. Congratulations to all on a job well done! Some of you may have noticed a new airplane in the pattern. It is neither a high wing nor a low wing aircraft but, with all the bad characteristics of both. In addition it is loud and very windy with little or no instruments or navigation equipment. Check out the pictures of the panel. I think the pilot is a little nearsighted because he tends to fly a very close and tight pattern. Actually, it is Don Wolfe’s new airplane, an open cockpit Waco UPF-7 biplane. Flying it is a lot like riding your motorcycle at 90 miles per and just as much fun. The visibility over the nose, on final, is terribly blind, hence he flies a very tight circular approach in order to see the runway off to the side. Be on the lookout for Don’s airplane he loves to talk about it and show it off. If you see him on the ramp please say “Hi” to him and ask him about it. Don’t forget Valentine's Day is on the 14th. Perhaps a day of Rainbows and Rose should be on your agenda. Hopefully mother nature will be helpful to supply a few clouds that day to make your rainbows. Then it will be up to you to supply the roses. Well that is about all for this month. Good Night Miss Daisy. The Prop Turner, Mike Duncan
flying a safe traffic pattern at kaun
Don Wolfe, CFI
Any given Saturday or Sunday you can park your car out there by the disabled Aero Commander at KAUN and watch the show. Transient aircraft arrive from the surrounding area, turn downwind 2 miles south of the airport. Slow to 90 kts, drive east to the freeway where they finally turn base. Then it’s a 2-mile final approach, usually sinking low in the trough east of the runway. They power up to get back on glidepath and cross the threshold of the runway high and hot. Finally, they touch down with 1000’ remaining and jump on the brakes. I’m surprised anyone in the airplane has an appetite to eat after riding through something like that. Ladies and Gentlemen, this has become known as the “Foresthill One Visual- Runway 25”. Is the Foresthill One Visual Runway 25 really a bad idea? As pilots, we can reduce risks by taking control of as many variables as possible during every flight. By putting our aircraft in a favorable position and configuration we can make it to the airport in the event of an emergency. Most light aircraft have about a 9 to 1 glide ratio. Entering the downwind inside of 1 nm from the runway at 1000’ AGL, an airplane with an engine failure will glide 9000’ horizontal distance (no wind) enabling you to make it to the runway. My engine always runs great, I can fly any size pattern I want. That may be correct, it runs great until it doesn’t. Carburetor ice, empty tank selected, engine boost pump failure, air filter blockage, fuel contamination, mechanical malfunction, and bird strikes are a few things that can ruin your day. The engine in my RV-6 “gave up the ghost” a few years ago when I pulled the power back on downwind. Fortunately, I was on a tight downwind inside of Bell road and easily glided to runway 25 with a windmilling prop. I had no control over the clogged fuel filter and contaminated fuel bowl caused by an Irresponsible mechanic, but I had full control over placing myself in a favorable position in the traffic pattern when the engine quit. If you like to carry power on final, be on speed and change your aimpoint to 500’-1000’ down the runway. You’ll have extra energy to make it to the runway if needed. Yes, but my student needs time to get everything done and we’re often out by I-80 before they’re ready to turn base leg. In this case I would argue that one more pilot is being trained to fly beyond gliding distance of the airport where the 2-mile final becomes “their normal” pattern. Allow me to flash back to a time long ago when I entered USAF primary flight training in the mighty Cessna T-41 “Mescalaro”, the military version of the Cessna 172. After 3 or 4 flights the students were required to walk around the room in a box pattern or “chair fly” at the briefing table the 5 legs of the traffic pattern. Beginning on takeoff leg to final approach, the student was required to recite at least 4 things on each corner of the pattern. Example: Crosswind leg- “airspeed/altitude/power setting is__, clear for traffic that’s entering downwind/on downwind, turn to downwind, radio call is___.” I’ve used the chair flying technique during every aircraft transition course since. As you train, so will you do. What is Chair Flying? This is one of the best techniques for learning to fly and has been used by the military and airlines for decades. The pilot sits in a chair, often with a poster size aircraft instrument panel on the wall going over checklist flows and flight maneuver procedures. When you can get it right in the chair, it will be much easier to get it right in the simulator or airplane. Check out the Flight Leader of the Blue Angels on this YouTube video at about 1:45 and watch a World Class Professional “chair fly” the Blue Angels Demo. When I was on the B-747 Demonstration Team in the San Francisco Fleet Week Air Show we used the very same technique. In the runup pad prior to takeoff the Captain flying would recite the full demonstration from entry to exit while the other 2 pilots followed along on the briefing card. No one ever made a mistake during that exercise or while flying the show profile. If the professionals chair fly, why don’t you? If a student can’t chair fly the traffic pattern with 95% accuracy at the briefing table, they definitely won’t be able to do it in the stressful environment of the airplane. Accepting the risk of flying beyond gliding distance of the airport because the student isn’t prepared is no excuse to put your airplane in a dangerous position. The CFI should consider keeping the airplane within gliding distance of the airport and coaching the student around the pattern. All students need to recognize the importance of knowing their procedures and being prepared to fly the airplane in every lesson. They have a responsibility to themselves and to the other pilots flying out there. Predictability in the pattern. We agree that flying wide and long traffic patterns is a bad idea in the event of an unanticipated engine failure. Flying a traffic pattern within gliding distance of the runway is important also for its predictability. We are always looking for traffic, especially in the pattern. The traffic pattern is one of the most common areas for mid-air collisions and near misses. Why? It’s because we don’t see the other airplane. We looked where we expected to see traffic, but did not see the traffic that was flying outside a normal, standard pattern. Also scan for training helicopters flying a right-hand pattern on Runway 07 and at pattern altitudes 400’ BELOW fixed wing aircraft. Dark colored, slow-moving helicopters are very difficult to see. To our frightened surprise, we discover the traffic came out of nowhere, or outside of the predictable traffic pattern we expected. Takeaways: fly a predictable pattern and look for the pilot flying outside of a standard, predictable pattern. Yes, but I’m flying on Saturday and that Cirrus ahead of me is on the Foresthill One Arrival. When you get to your base leg turn point, turn to base leg, and go around. Proceed to the upwind and accomplish a mid-field downwind entry. If unable, turn to the crosswind leg when you can. Suggested radio call; “Cessna 123 going around from tight base and proceeding to upwind. You’ll be within gliding distance of the airport at all times. GREEN is the Go Around Aircraft and YELLOW the FH One Arrival. Hey, I’ll just do a 360 for spacing on downwind. This could be the most dangerous thing one can do in the non-tower traffic pattern. During 90 degrees of the turn your wing will block the view of the traffic behind you. At 2 points of the circle the traffic behind you will be closing at +70 knots and when you’re beak to beak your closure will be at least 140kts. There’s no requirement to use a radio at a non-towered airport so there can always be someone behind us that we’re unaware of. The 360 on downwind is a bad idea. Well Maverick and Phoenix, there’s some “pilot stuff” for you to think about. I’m open to critique, suggestions and comments. You can send them to flyfund@auburnaviationassociation.org or swing by for a chat out there by the Aero Commander on any given Saturday. Meanwhile, keep your traffic patterns tight and Fly Safe!
Juan Browne and Lee Oman
flying the waco upf-7
Front seat panel with 1942 “GPS”:General Heading-Pressure Gage-Speedometer
Lee Oman “painting it on” runway 25 at Auburn following 6.5 hours of cross country flying from WA.
This is a Waco UPF-7, built in Troy, Ohio in August 1942. Only 65 more UPF-7s were built after N39727. This aircraft was originally assigned to the civilian military training fleet as a PT-14 at Kadett Aviation, Inc. in Kingsville TX. Don Wolfe purchased the plane from AAA Life members Ken and Cate Horwitz in Washington. The plane was delivered to KAUN by Lee Omen arriving Saturday, January 17th and escorted by Juan Browne in his beautiful red Waco YMF-5. Lee Omen spent three days in Auburn checking Don Wolfe out in the airplane. Lee also showed A&P’s Greg Foss and Rick Hammer the “ins and outs” of maintaining the UPF-7. Lee Oman is not only a talented pilot and mechanic with over 3000 hours in Waco’s, he is also famous for being a wing walker on Jimmy Franklin’s Waco UPF-7. Lee and Jimmy performed at air shows through out the United States as well as over seas. Lee is still available to fly his Stearman and T-6 at air shows and he still races T-6’s at the air races. This Waco UPF-7 has a Continental 670-23 radial engine developing 240 hp. The empty weight, gross weight and horse power are similar to a Cessna 182, but the Cessna will cruise at about 150 mph while the Waco will do about 100 mph. The aircraft has been restored several times over the years. It has about 150 hours of flight time on the most recent restoration which included a rebuilt engine and constant speed prop. The plane will be flown locally and displayed at various aviation events in California.
Christmas Lights Tour 2025, Sacramento's Fab Forties
happy new year fellow flyers
Hope everyone is having an abundant start to 2026! Instructor NEWS: You may have noticed a new face at the airport. Brennen Going - CFII, joined us last year from Utah. He brings a multitude of academic knowledge and resources with him, adding special value to Sierra’s training culture. A returning face, Shawn Peterson, brings additional experience from his travels as a CFI. Our students benefit from his real-world perspective, incorporating that with his training. This month we say goodbye to a long time Student-to-CFII, Dylan Yack, who kept safety as our number one priority and knew the FAR AIM better than anyone we’ve ever met. Congratulations on exploring into new heights at Papillon Helicopters in Nevada! Student NEWS: Amy Mathews, our student since 2022, PASSED her Instrument Rating Check ride in December 2025, with Brennen as her Instructor. Celebrating Solos: Kol Hansen - Cross Country Solo and Night requirements Dylan Dingman - Cross Country Solo and Night requirements Ryan Baird - Solo in the R44. Solo Prep: Michael Reese – Solo set for February 2026 Returning Students: Welcome back Brian Nipper – A Fixed Wing CFI training for his Rotorcraft PPL Add On. COOL Stuff: …Until next time, safe travels!
Captain Camille Tricomo has completed her Initial Operational Experience training and has been cleared to full operational duties
this is your captain speaking
"tols"
N9860G taking off of runway 07, courtesy of David Sanborn
cloud surfing
A little bit of VFR-on-top flying from the view of Tyghe Richardson's Mooney, courtesy of David Sanborn
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Scholarship Winners/Lifetime Members
GENERAL MEMBERS
OFFICERS President - Nebil Almakdeshi - president@auburnaviationassociation.org Vice President - Doug Bolsover - vp@auburnaviationassociation.org Secretary - Doug Fee - secretary@auburnaviationassociation.org Treasurer - Deborah Sandbank - treasurer@auburnaviationassociation.org BOARD MEMBERS Past President - Chris Haven - pastpres@auburnaviationassociation.org Scholarship Director - Don Wolfe - flyfund@auburnaviationassociation.org Assistant Scholarship - James Jacobson - skyfund1539@gmail.com Membership Director - Andrew Van Wagner - membership@auburnaviationassociation.org Publicity Director - David Sanborn - publicity@auburnaviationassociation.org Propwash Editor - Mike Duncan - duncan7kcab@sbcglobal.net 5AC Chair - Ken Dwelle - 5ac@auburnaviationassociation.org Board Member at Large - Joanie Mooneyham - joaniemoon05@gmail.com Donations Coordinator - Nancy Benjamin - don_benj@pacbell.net Special thanks to Brooklyn Brown for laying out the newsletter and David Sanborn for managing distribution of the newsletter.
2026 AAA Board