December Rambling from the President...

First off, since our email client is somewhat difficult to use and my personal email address is probably sent to so many junk email boxes, I’ve decided to post this “monthly recap” here in the forum. For those of you still reading this, thank you!

Here is your typical boring stuff. In November, you guys flew 194 flights totaling 349.2 hours and using up 2502480 pounds of fuel. As always, good job. Also, this months top flyer was actually me with 16 flights, but that isn’t fair so this months high flyer will go to one of our ex Presidents, Mr. Dave Matteson. He flew 15 flights, logged 19.5 hours and burned 43328 pounds of fuel. Congrats to Dave!

I’ll keep the rest of this short. Our webmaster Naresh is looking for a few songbirds that would be willing to sing one (maybe more) verses of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ on video. Once we have all 12, he is going to compile them into one SPA Christmas video for everyone else’s enjoyment/laughter. There should be a post in the forum somewhere so if you are interested, let yourself be known there.

Robert Thompson has been heading up our newest VATSIM endeavor. If you are a member of VATSIM, please email him your VATSIM I.D. so that he can add you to our vRoute community. Flying on VATSIM isn’t really as hard as some of you might think and as always, I urge you to at least give it a try. I was hooked after my first flight. Oh, and thank you Bob for all of your work.

The only other thing I have is that I would like to wish all of our members and their families a very Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday season and best wishes for the coming year. I’ll leave you with this little bit of aviator “Night Before Christmas” humor that some of you may have seen before. Even if you have, it gets funnier every time I read it.

Enjoy, Merry Christmas and keep the dirty side down!!

'Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp
Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ.
The aircraft were fastened to tie downs with care,
In hopes that come morning, they all would be there.

The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots,
With gusts from two forty at 39 knots
I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up,
And settled down comfortably, resting my butt.

When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter,
I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter.
A voice clearly heard over static and snow,
Called for clearance to land at the airport below.

He barked his transmission so lively and quick,
I'd have sworn that the call sign he used was "St. Nick".
I ran to the panel to turn up the lights,
The better to welcome this magical flight.

He called his position, no room for denial,
"St. Nicholas One, turnin' left onto final."
And what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a Travel Air sleigh, with nine radial Reindeer!

With vectors to final, down the glide slope he came,
As he passed all fixes, he called them by name:
"Now Ringo! Now Tolga! Now Trini and Bacun!
On Comet! On Cupid!" What pills was he taken'?

While controllers were sittin', and scratchin' their head,
They phoned to my office, and I heard it with dread,
The message they left was both urgent and dour:
"When Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower."

He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking,
Then I heard "Left at Charlie," and "Taxi to parking.
He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh
And stopped on the ramp with a "Ho, ho-ho..."

He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk,
I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks.
His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost
And his beard was all blackened from Reindeer exhaust.

His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale,
And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn't inhale.
His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly,
His boots were as black as a cropduster's belly.

He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red,
And he asked me to "fill it, with hundred low-lead."
He came dashing in from the snow-covered pump,
I knew he was eager to be drainin' the sump.

I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work,
And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk.
He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief,
Then he picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief.

And I thought as he silently scribed in his log,
These reindeer could land in an eighth-mile fog.
He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear,
Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, "Clear!"

And laying a finger on his push-to-talk,
He called up the tower for clearance and squawk.
"Take taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction,
Turn right three-two-zero at pilot's discretion"

He sped down the runway, the best of the best,
"Your traffic's a Twin Beech, inbound from the west."
Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed thru the night,
"Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight."