We Remember...and Site Archives

We Remember...

Reggie Webb is remembered as one of the original members of the California RedTails. Reggie served as the RedTails Chapter Secretary and was always looked to as a resource to assist and lead the Chapter's short- and long-term planning efforts. Known for his epic cross-country high-altitude flights in his Lancair VI-P Reggie was always willing and able to make a flight. His generosity and commitment to our Chapter, the Black Pilots of America and any one or organization that was an advocate of General Aviation was authentic. He's been cleared on a westerly heading and climbing beyond the Flight Levels. Reggie is missed by many.

Jim Reynolds will be remembered as one of the early members of the California RedTails. Jim was part of that very first group of pilots who met in Ron Lisberg's hangar back in the early 2000's. As a USAF veteran Jim was ever ready to share a story of his time in service which was always educational and entertaining.
As a link to his service in Vietnam Jim's aircraft of choice was the Cessna 337 Skymaster, also known as the "Oscar Deuce" and Jim never liked anyone calling Two Charlie Yankee a "Mix Master".
Jim's commitment and dedication to the RedTails contributed to where our organization is today.
Jim's now on that Two-Seven-Zero heading and is missed by many.

Eric Williams is remembered as one of the earliest members of the California RedTails. Eric served multiple terms as the RedTails Chapter Vice President and was a dedicated supporter of the Black Pilots of America. Eric was also an accomplished pilot who was the first RedTail to win the "Top Gun" award at the Black Pilots of America annual Pilot Proficiency Competition at during Operation Skyhook in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Eric was an A-model Bonanza driver but also a Cessna 310 pilot and could be counted on for that short hop or the long cross country. He's flown west now and will certainly be missed by many.

Horace Noble will be remembered as the consummate aircraft pilot, owner and operator. His accomplishments spanned many years. As a member of the United Sates Marine Corps, a law enforcement officer in the City of Chicago, a 20 year success story as an the CEO of Noble Automotive Group. We remember Horace as a man of principle, of confidence and most certainly living life to the fullest. The most accurate count we can find is that Horace owned and flew at least thirty-nine (yes, 39) aircraft during this lifetime. Each and every RedTail, past, present and future owe a debt of thanks to Horace for the time, talent and treasure he devoted to the California RedTails.
He's indeed "Slipping the Surly Bonds" and is missed each and every day.

Jay Ferrell will be remembered as a California RedTail Comanche Driver, a storyteller and a Scientist.
After retiring in 2002 from the Lockheed Martin Skunk works, Jay worked as a consultant for Rocketplane LLC. While at Lockheed Martin he was the U-2 Reconnaissance Airplane Project Engineer. Previously, Jay was a Project Engineer for "DARPA". Jay was also a L-1011 Design Specialist & Lead Systems Engineer for both the Digital & Analog Auto Flight Control System and also a FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER).
Jay knew his stuff and was always willing to share. Gone West, but not forgotten.

President Emeritus, Ron Lisberg (RedTail 1), progenitor of the chapter and sole reason the California RedTails even exist. Ron served as the Chapter's first President, Operations Officer of the Black Pilot's of America and shepherded the chapter from it's nascent stages to becoming one of the premier chapters of BPA.
A skilled, knowledgeable and competitive pilot Ron will be remembered for his love of all things aviation with a sense of style, foresight and humor.

A smile for all and always a kind word. Ron Jenkins was one of the early RedTail members. He flew a Cessna 177 Cardinal with us, served as Sargent-of-Arms and was always supportive of any opportunity for flying and friendship. We certainly are saddened by his flight west. He will be missed by us and many more.

Our friend, brother, and fellow RedTail member, James "Snake" Wilson was granted wings on September 1, 2015 and flew off to meet his maker. Instead of grieving for my good friend, I rejoice for him. The tears I shed are tears of joy. I know that I, like the rest of us, will meet him again someday. ~ X.M.

We fondly remember William J. Parker.
We knew him as "Crook" who served as a faithful member, wise counselor and the RedTails' first Chapter treasurer.
There's a saying often used in aviation; we say "He's gone west." This phase has been historically connected with the direction of the setting sun, symbolizing the end of the day and figuratively an airman's passing. We still miss "Crook".

Blog Posts

Want some historical perspective about the California Redtails?

Well look no further than below. Many of these posts were penned by our late President Emeritus, Ron Lisberg (Redtail 1), and have been saved here from the chapter's previous website.

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2012

Feb – Visit SoCal TRACON

April- BBQ @ KDLO

July – Discounted Fuel & Lunch @ KWVI
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2011

February- Sedona Arizona
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2010

January

Egg Nog Social A few pictures of the California Redtails 'Egg Nog Social', an annual event held to kick off the New Year's Redtail activities

Redtail Monikers

Several years ago the Redtails came up with another system of call-signs in the air and here those call signs that are used sometimes in place of our Redtail Call-signs

Ron ----------------Redtail 1:---------- “Black Ace”
Bennie -------------Redtail 2:---------- “Sky King”
Rayvon ------------Redtail 3:---------- “Mentor”
B.J.------------------Redtail 5:---------- “Captain Cool”
Forest------------- Redtail 6:---------- “Cash”
Steve-------------- Redtail 7: ----------“Buster”
Mark--------------- Redtail 9:---------- “Driver”
Maurice------------ Redtail 11:--------- “Kickmaster”
Stanley------------ Redtail 12:
Earline-------------Redtail 13F:-------- “Little One”
Charles------------ Redtail 17:--------- “The Flying Farmer”
Julie-------------- Redtail 17F:
Reggie------------- Redtail 19:--------- “Dreamer”
Harold------------- Redtail 20:--------- “The Beaver”
Gene--------------- Redtail 23:--------- “Two Star”
Kurk--------------- Redtail 27:--------- “Mag”
Ron---------------- Redtail 31:--------- "Thurdy One"
Lincoln ------------Redtail 34:--------- “The Tuskegee Kid”
Merritt ------------Redtail 38:--------- “Right Rudder”
Darryl------------- Redtail 40:--------- “Ace”
Jackie -------------Redtail 42:
Norris------------- Redtail 43:
Rick--------------- Redtail 44:--------- “Slick Rick”
David-------------- Redtail 49---------- “Doc”
Norse-------------- Redtail 51:--------- “Fiddy One”
Ozell-------------- Redtail 55:--------- “Comanche One”
Jim---------------- Redtail 57:--------- “Super Sport”
Henry-------------- Redtail 59:--------- “The Bear”
Charles------------ Redtail 62:
Fredrick----------- Redtail 64:
Eric--------------- Redtail 66:--------- “E”
Ken---------------- Redtail 69:
Jarvis------------- Redtail 71:--------- “No Neck”
Michael------------ Redtail 73: ---------“Hollywood”
James-------------- Redtail 75:--------- “Snake”
Don---------------- Redtail 77:--------- “Ice Man”
Jay---------------- Redtail 80:--------- “Night Owl”
Tim---------------- Redtail 89:--------- “Sweetwine”
Chuck-------------- Redtail 90:--------- “Batman”
Troy--------------- Redtail 96:--------- “Too Fly”
Xavier------------- Redtail 99:--------- “X"

April Lunch @ Bakersfeild

November - AOPA LongBeach
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2009

Santa Ynez

A great time was had at Santa Ynez Sunday. The tour bus took us by Neverland on the way to a fabulous buffett. Randy showed the Casino Boss his Players Card and got everyone a $10 discount on the buffett.
After the Brunch we moved to the shelter of the 'Big Tree' to try and digest the huge meals.
The ramp was full of Redtail's airplanes (pictures to follow)
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2008

Fresno March 29 2008

Slapdown February 2008 Calexico, Mexico

A Redtail Experience at Slapdown by Eric Redtail 66.

"Just after we touched down on the runway, I noticed that a crop-duster pilot was landing in the opposite direction!!!
He was landed against the traffic. The runway in use was 26 with a right-hand pattern. He came straight in runway 8!
So after I saw him, I ordered Darrell to "go around...go around now...GO!"
When he saw us lift back up in the air, he made a "left" turn out the way, which was against procedure because you're suppose to pass to the right. With him out the way AND IN SITE, we continued upwind and enter the traffic pattern again and landed.

So, I was ready to give that guy a SERIOUS East Oakland BEATDOWN!!!
He walked over and said, "Were you the pilot I made go around?" I said "Yeah, what the hell were you doing!
The runway in use was 26 and everyone was calling in entering on 45 right downwind for it!"
He response..."Oh, I don't have a radio...we just use whatever (runway) we want out here!"
My last response was "That's bullsh*t!" And, I walked away cause I was still very heated.
It goes to show you to fly the airplane and be in your P's and Q's all the way to engine shutdown!"
"E"
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January MLK Celebrations....North and South

January 21, 2008

NoCarl Redtails over Hayward…Honoring the dream and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. continues to be an important part of the American landscape. Recently the citizens of Hayward, California paid tribute to Dr. King with a series of free events for the community.

Three pilots of the California Redtails: Jarvis DeLaine, Eric Williams, and Rayvon Williams, volunteered and answered the invitation to join the celebration in a meaningful and exciting way; the best way a California Redtail could celebrate, by flying!

During the MLK Jr. rally and march at Hayward’s City Hall Plaza, just prior to the reading of speeches and music by local choral groups, a two ship flight element commanded by Redtail 71 Jarvis Delaine with Redtail 3 Rayvon Williams as his wingman approached from the south. Lester Patilla, from the Bay Area Black Pilots Association, flew right seat in the second aircraft and served as the formation flight photographer. Upon reaching City Hall, the lead Cessna 172SP with the Bonanza S35 in echelon right made a slow turn to the west. As the turn continued, Redtail 71 noted he could see the parade marchers waving at the formation from the street.

“Redtail Three, Redtail Seven-one; can you see those people? This is great. They are waving at us! Redtail Seven-one, Redtail Three; I don’t see anything but your wing strut on my reference point…wave back at them for me!”

As the 270 degree turn headed back east, the two ship formation held tight with a pass down the parade route. During the reconnoitering on the previous Saturday, both Redtails met with Redtail 66 Eric Williams and agreed the final past over City Hall should be a two abreast with left and right breaks then a return to the airport. Just as planned, the Cessna and Beechcraft made a slow turn to the south; rejoined line abreast tracking along the BART tracks and headed into downtown Hayward. As both planes reached City Hall and on Redtail 71’s call to “Break!”, each aircraft peeled into a 70 degree bank and rejoined for the return to KHWD.

During the de-brief at Hayward Airport, both Redtails contacted the Hayward MLK march organizers and were please to hear the flyover looked professional and was much appreciated. “We hope you will join us again next year!” was the request and Redtail 71 has already committed to lead a four-ship flight in 2009.

So Cal Redtails over LA…..After a day before of practice and dry runs, more briefings and de-briefings, some weather issues the Redtails took off Monday to fly over the 350,000 folks on the ground for the Martin Luther King "Kingdom Day" parade.

The flight took off from Whiteman Airport were we joined up directly in Burbank's class "C" airspace. Burbank was aware of what we were doing because we had done it in our practice on Sunday and the guys in the tower at Whiteman had to pass us off to them before heading us in that direction.

The join-up went as practiced with #2 Bob Caprioni in his Comanche coming up on my left, #3 Ron (Redtail 31) with his observer Jim (Redtail 57) coming up on my right and Dave (Redtail 79) with a camera and sound man reporting in in the slot or #4 position. Troy (Redtail 96) drove down to be my observer and help out wherever he could.

We had briefed that we would come east of the downtown area at 1800ft MSL as opposed to our practiced west of the downtown area because that would give us a straighter shot at lining up with the parade route. The plan was to go east of the downtown area, locate the Los Angeles Coliseum the line up with the parade route's Martin Luther King Drive. Since the time over the target was 1115hrs. the Sun was high in the sky but the ceiling was about 4000 broken so we would have pretty good visibility but the rain showers where over the parade route. I had put in VPCLL on my MX20 and that would give me a course to head in on.

Approaching Dodger Stadium TV4 from NBC (who we had breakfast with and attended our briefing) came up on the Redtail "Black" Frequency and our man on the ground liaising with the Radio and TV stations Alonzo (Redtail 54) also came up on frequency. Alonzo was giving the radio folks our position and TV4 was on his job for the TV stations.

After id'ing the Coliseum and MLK Boulevard I gave the command to "tighten up, straighten up and fly right" to which I heard "2", "3","4" (music to my ears).

We had come down in altitude to 1000ft AGL and 110mph to give the masses a good look at us trough the misting sky. When we arrived at the parades end we would make a slight turn to the right (about 30 degrees) fly that heading for a minute or so then make a left 180 swinging around to put us back on a course to intercept the parade centerline again.

Well, when we made the slight turn to the right. I got real busy and before I knew it I put us in Santa Monica's Class "D" airspace (surface to 2600ft) after a minute or so on that course. Fortunately I had called the day before and warned them of this maneuver and they knew who we were when we busted into that airspace.

By the time we got back on centerline with the street we were looking good again. Here we go again "tighten up, straighten up and fly right", "2", "3","and 4".
We exited over the coliseum and turned north for WHP. When we were just east of the civic center and established in the diamond formation I gave the command "Redtail's, left echelon now" and heard the now familiar "2", "3" and "4".

I knew the next maneuver would be tough on the formation but in order to position ourselves for a right downwind arrival at WHP I would have to turn left into the left echelon formation. a formation no-no. But wait, we briefed it and we are Redtails!

We entered the landing pattern in the "Redtail Overcast" and landed in a shower and a wet runway. After putting our airplanes away we met in the Pilots lounge to debrief and look at the raw high definition video that David had taken.   Another great day in Redtail Country.

Egg Nog Social Jan 2008
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2007

Skyhook 2007 Results

Event Pilot Chapter

Top Gun Rayvon Williams   Redtails

Flour Bomb Drop

1st Place Julius Alexander Raptors

2nd Place Michael Gaillard Raptors

3rd Place John Hicks Tuskegee

Spot Landing

1st Place Mike Young Lynch

2nd Place Kyle Foley Raptors

3rd Place Vaughn Phipps Chapter at Large

Pylon- Fixed Gear

1st Place Mike Young Lynch

2nd Place Anthony Hall Bronze Eagles

3rd Place Will Peace JW Greene

Pylon- Retractables

1st Place Hubert Looney Lynch

2nd Place Julius Alexander Raptors

3rd Place Marvin Smith Bronze Eagles

Pylon- Multi-Engine

1st Place Chuck Reece Redtails

Balloon Burst

1st Place Rayvon Williams Redtails

2nd Place Hubert Looney Lynch

3rd Place Michael Gaillard Raptors

Formation

1st Place Lynch

2nd Place Raptors

3rd Place Bronze Eagles
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Emergency Flyout to Mojave Airport

March 31st, 2007

Because good flying weather was forecasted for the weekend, the fact that the previous weekend was a bust, and the Redtails had nothing scheduled for the weekend to take advantage of the good flying conditions across the state, Redtail 1 called for an Emergency Fly out to Mojave Airport on Saturday. Mojave Airport is conveniently located next to Edwards Air Force Base, and is home to the Civilian Test Pilots School, Scaled Composites, and a host for other high tech, state of the art flying companies. Mojave is also the home to several private companies putting civilians in space.

Knowing we were coming, the Airport Operations Staff on very short notice came in on their day off, had lunch with us and opened their VIP board room to us and gave us a Power Point presentation and a short movie about the ins and outs of what was happening at the airport/spaceport. After the dynamite presentation we had a question and answer session that ran overtime as expected (when pilots get into discussions about aviation and the future operations at Mojave as a space port). Check out Mojave's website an see why the Redtails had so much fun! Thank you Mojave!

Another great week for the Redtails!
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Slow Week for Flying

March 25th 2007

This was a slow weekend for the Redtails. A flight of Redtails attempted to have lunch at one of our favorite airports for lunch at San Luis Obispo but were turned back be the usual coastal fog that hugs the California this time of the year. The group had to turn back inland and settle for a great lunch at the Camarillo Airport and others returned home. What a bummer!
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Redtails Practice for Total Domination at Delano

March 17th, 2007

Saturday at Delano Airport the Redtails held there first practice of the year for Skyhook. with 27 airplanes on the ramp it was an awesome sight! The weather couldn't have been better; 85F clear, and winds light and variable. we might have had more airplanes if the weather had been better along the coastal areas of the California. The Pylon races started about an hour late because we would rather talk about flying at times than fly, plus we were running on CP time. As in Pine Bluff locating the number two pylon was an issue to some of the new guys.

Ron (Redtail 1) was the first to start the action with Tumbleweed. He said he was just trying to improve his technique around the corners because this was a practice and he urged all of us to do the same practice. Being Redtails that was had to to get over to the them that it was only a practice and not for blood.

Next Bennie (Redtail 2) brought out the best of his Bonanza, setting a new course record for his class. We didn't know he could turn that tight in a Bonanza! When he came by the start/finish line on his last lap he had everything dialed in and it sounded like one of those Reno Racers wound up tight! Bennie, an ex Navy pilot must have had a flashback to push his Bonanza like that! Part of what it takes to get good Pylon times is being consistent and smooth, Bennie certainly showed us he had the right stuff!

Rayvon was up next in his 'S' Bonanza. Rayvon was parked quite away from the viewing area and Ed (Redtail 8) was seen walking with him, giving him pointers. Well when Rayvon lit the fire and started to taxi past the reviewing stands Ed was sitting in the co-pilots seat. Everyone knew Rayvon was going to be turning some very hot lap times with Ed in the airplane giving him on the spot advice. Well the first two laps looked like the usual Rayvon heavy footed high horsepower laps, but something changed on the third lap. the turns were steeper, there was no altitude gain or loss on the turns, and the speed picked up a bunch! We wondered if that throw over yoke had been thrown over for that last lap?

It was then time for Jim (Redtail 57) to make his Twin Turbo/Pressurized, Satellite radio equipped Skymaster to take its turn on the course. Jim swaggered out to his stead, Started the rear engine first, and when all eyes were on him he started the front engine. The sound of those two engines in sync while warming up was music to our ears. As he taxied out to the run-up area the airplane look like it wanted to lurch forward just taxiing. As he was doing his run-up the excitement grew. We knew something special was about to happen. He eased it on to the runway and stopped, probably to catch its breath, Jim lead with the rear engine then brought the front engine up to match and it was like a sprinter at the crack of his starting pistol. The airplane with that Robinson STOL kit lightly loaded seem to travel all of 100ft on it and it was airborne. Before he had traveled the length of the runway the gear and flaps were up and Jim was bringing the engines into sync. The rest is history. Jim broke the long standing club record for twins held by Gene (Redtail23)in his Beech Duke (with air conditioning) by 4 seconds. For the rest of the day Jim was wearing a wide grin mumbling something about kicking some Baron A@# when he gets to Pine Bluff!

Steve (Redtail 7) was next on the tarmac. Steve had never run the pylons in his present airplane (Glasair II) and what a difference it was since last year when he brought a fat wing Cherokee to run. Steve was the first one to miss the second pylon and went half way to Sacramento on his first lap. On his second lap we had to call and turn him and he saw it! since this was practice Steve started over. His first lap was faster than anyone! the second and third laps were faster by 2 them 5 seconds! We all wanted him to continue but he landed to take on gas and lunch. Can you imagine what the next time he gets on the course the possibilities?

Just before lunch Ed (Redtail 8) decided he needed to shrink some of our swollen heads and build up his appetite so he fired up his RV3. He then proceeded to break the Redtail and course record by 3 seconds! This was expected though. Ed, who races his Cassett are Reno every year could be classified as a professional and the record would not count, but he is a Redtail first and a professional racer second so it counts!

Lunch was provided by Norse (Redtail 51). A four course meal featuring some of the tastiest BBQ know to man with all the trimmings. The Redtails came together each providing their touch to the meal, down to the trash bags to clean up after the meal. Thanks, Ravon, Eric, Troy, Shirley, and any I missed in this article.

After lunch we started the Balloon Burst Practice. This time as in the Pylon Race we had promised a much more organized approach to airspace management and our Flight Leader for this event was 'E'. Eric (Redtail 66) had us running like a smooth running clock. Our practice is set up so that each Redtail can take as many chances at hitting a balloon as he wants. As usual this was a crowd favorite. The Redtails spent over three hours chasing balloons out of the sky and working on different speeds and distances to call for the balloon release.

At the end of the day we were all worn out from a great day of flying. The weather as promised was ideal. Our new members got to see and do Pylon Racing and Balloon Bursting for the first time and the next time we get together they will be in the thick of it.

Several members took the local spectators and all the children who wanted to on rides.

"Crook" (Redtail13) showed up to inspire us on.

Several of our Redtails who we hadn't seen for some time joined us.

I wish I had the space to tell write about all the other Redtails who participated and made this one of our best days for us as Redtails but . . .

It was a great Redtail weekend! More to come in pictures next week.
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Redtails plan for Delano

March 11th, 2007

This week the Redtails took advantage of some unseasonably warm weather to attend meetings of the CBAAI and BABPA on Saturday and a few flew to the San Diego area for lunch Sunday. Everyone is excited about the practice session next weekend at Delano. The airport at Delano is very similar to the one at Grider Field in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and the Redtails always have the field to ourselves. We are looking forward to introducing all of the new members to Balloon Bursting and Pylon Racing.
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Weather Strikes Again!

March 5th, 2007

This week the weather again stalled the flying plans for the Redtails with most of them sitting around the airports looking up at the sky knowing it wasn't going to clear up!

With Daylight Savings Time ending in March 11th this year we are assured of more flying time. Several of the Redtail airplanes and doing annuals. Ron (Redtail 1), Ron (Redtail 31), Ron (Redtail 88), Kurk (Redtail 27) all had their propellers balanced this week at WHP. What a difference it makes!

Several new members have joined the Redtails and we will be featuring them in the coming weeks and updating our pictures.

Editors Note: I was threatened with sanctions for not updating the website every week like I have for the last few years. They have promised to provide me with more pictures this year. I have been also been promised a 200% pay raise if I can continue to update it weekly.
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Redtails fly to Santa Ynez for Lunch

February 24th, 2007

This week saw simply gorgeous weather for the whole state for out fly-in to Santa Ynez Airport. Santa Ynez Airport doesn't have a restaurant on the field so everyone brought a box lunch. The surrounding area to the airport has great scenery of rolling hills and the Danish themed town of Solvang nearby plus Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch to only be seen by air. A great day to sit at the airport picnic area fellowship with other Redtails and enjoy flying with your brothers.
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Redtails Weathered in for a week

February 18th, 2007

After 'Slapdown' the Redtails came back to marginal weather on the California coast and have been grounded all over the state by the weather for the last week. Several of the Redtails obtained hangars at Compton Airport and have been accessorizing them with the help and supervision of the others. It would be a shame if you walked into a Redtail's hanger and were not offered a cold drink or a cushy seat to sit an discuss the fine art of hangar flying! Those who now have new hangars are Darryl Mack (Redtail 40), and Alonzo Jones (Redtail 54).
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Redtails host "Slapdown"

February 12th, 2007

The Redtails and the Bronze Eagles Flying Club of Texas got together for their annual "Operation Slapdown" in El Paso, Texas this weekend. As it has been in the last few years the Redtails dominated the flight line far outnumbering the Bronze Eagles in airplanes and members present. The weather cooperated with all but the Redtails had the advantage of having a great tailwind component all the way from California while the contingent from Texas bucked those same winds as headwinds. (Editor's note: this has been the weather pattern for the last three years! I have to wonder if there is a divine guidance involved?)

The Bronze Eagles put up a good fight in the wolf ticket selling, and are formidable foes in this department but the overwhelming numbers for the Redtails shouted most of the hot air coming from Texas.

It was as usual a great time breaking bread and fellow-shipping with our brothers from Texas!

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Redtails Host the Black Pilots of America Board of Directors Meeting

January 12th, 2006

The Redtails began the year by hosting the Black Pilots of America's Board of Directors meeting. The meeting was held at the Airtel Plaza Hotel on the grounds of the Van Nuys Airport. It started on Thursday and ended on Monday with a fly-over of the Los Angeles celebration of the Martin Luther King day parade which eight airplanes participated.

During the weekend the were several seminars presented on Search and Rescue ground signaling devices and aircraft engine management. After Saturdays meeting we had a big "throw down"! Dinner featured a choice of Lamb Chops, "yardbird", or Swordfish Steaks. After dinner the band and singing group of "Seville" where we danced to the oldies most of the night!

Another great weekend for the Redtails
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Redtails Prepare For BOD Meeting

December 10th, 2006

Wow! another year almost gone!

The Redtails meet this weekend to further the plans for the Black Pilots of America National Meeting at Van Nuys, California next month. Assignments were volunteered for. Several of the members came up with additional activities and the committee discussed and implemented them into our master plan.

Otherwise the Redtails attended the BABPA meeting at Hayward, California in Northern California and those in Southern California attended the CBAA meeting in Compton, California.

The Redtails also published their flying calendar for 2007. The big question on all the Redtails mind is will the Bronze Eagles from Texas participate in Operation Slapdown this year? We understand Southwest Airlines (the official airline of the Bronze Eagles) has canceled some of it's flights to El Paso lately. Most of the Bronze Eagles have a 300 mile limit on their flying so things don't look to good for them unless Jet Blue or someone picks up the flights to El Paso.
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Redtail Family Gets Larger!

December 3rd,2006

This time the Redtails grew in family as opposed to members and airplanes. In a dramatic act of courage, Xavier (Redtail 99) while presiding over the CBAA Christmas brunch this morning went over to Pei-Yu knelt down in front of her and asked her to marry him, which she said “YES”. There were protests from several of the Redtails when they saw him kneel before her and figured what was coming next. There were shoots of “get and airplane first” before he asked her, and several were heard to say “don’t, until she agrees to an airplane first”! But, as we married men knew, love concurs all, and to have the most beautiful girl in the world in front of him, Xavier looked into her eyes with all seriousness and asked for her hand in marriage! Up until that time it was entertainment for us, but when she said YES there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

The Redtails were privileged to witness this event and wish Xavier and Pei-Yu happiness and tail winds for the rest of their lives.

The rest of the morning was anticlimactic compared to what we had just witnessed. All the wives looked great! With the exception of the outburst when Xavier knelt down before Pei-Yu, the Redtails were perfect gentlemen. We kept them from talking within themselves so they couldn’t get together and talk about their uneasiness about flying with us! That would have been a disaster!

Another great week for the Redtails!

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Emergency Fly-out

November 26th,2006

Every once in a while the need to fly overwhelms the Redtails, and to fill that need we have to fly! Recognizing the need to get out of the house and away from in-laws, family, and friends after the Thanksgiving celebrations President Ron called for an Emergency Flyout to Paso Robles airport on Saturday. The Redtails responded in force and meet at the Paso Robles Airport for lunch. It was just the break we needed. Paso Robles is about 135 miles from both the San Francisco bay area and the Los Angeles basin. As called for the Redtail airplanes entered the pattern about 1230hrs. As usual we took over the restaurant for a couple of hours and were seated looking out on the airport. The food was 5 Star, not what you would expect at an airport restaurant. Everyone left the restaurant saying this was a place to return in the future. As a side Ozell (Redtail 55) wore a Pink Shirt to the flyout! This is by no means is indicative of the Redtails and he was relegated to sit at a table away from the main area of the Redtails. Another great Emergency Flyout for the Redtails!
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Redtails Plan for Board of Directors Meeting

November 19th,2006

The Redtails meet to discuss and plan our hosting of the Black Pilots of America's Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting planned for January 11-14, 2007. The meeting was held at the Airtel Plaza Hotel on the grounds of Van Nuys airport, the location of the BOD meeting. Plans were made for each day and evening of the meeting. Everyone left the meeting excited about the interesting seminars and entertainment planned for our guests. Of course most of the Redtails flew their airplanes to the meeting, even though for some it was only a seven mile trip for some (any excuse to fly!)

The Redtails on Saturday attended the Bay Area Black Pilots meeting at Hayward Airport for those in Northern California, and for those in Southern California attended the California Black Aviation Association meeting at Compton Airport. Plans were made for the respective groups Christmas Parties and calendars planned for 2007. What on earth happened to 2006? How time flies when you are flying every weekend or so with your fellow Redtail brothers.

The Redtails picked up a few new members in October and a few at the AOPA Convention in Palm Springs, California last week. 2007 looks to be a fun year for the Redtails! These Redtails will be spotlighted in upcoming weeks in this section.
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Redtails Attend AOPA's Convention in Palm Springs, California

November12th,2006

This weekend the Redtails ventured to Palm Springs, California to attend the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's (AOPA) yearly convention. The Redtail plan was to attend as many of the technical sessions as possible and work the convention floor then meet for dinner and discuss their day at the convention. This worked out to be a great plan. Most of us arrived on Thursday checked into our hotel and hit the convention running. We had reserved a block of rooms months ago and this paid off because rooms were scarce as hens teeth in the Palms Springs area for the weekend. Each night we assembled in the hospitality suite and everyone discussed what they had seen over dinner.

There was a lot to cover and most of us didn't have the time to see everything so sharing the information with each other worked out great!

We were able to build some strategic alliances with several of the vendors which will come into play in 2007.
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Redtails Fly to Chino Planes of Fame Museum

November 7th, 2006

Ron (Redtail 88) and Michael (Redtail 73) flew to Chino (KCNO) on Nov 7 to see the Planes of Fame Museum and got to see some incredible aircraft. We drooled over a North American F-86 Sabre (which we saw start up and taxi!), several North American P-51 Mustangs, a North American T-6 Texan, a P-40, a Boeing P-26A "Peashooter", a Mitchell B-25J, a Beechcraft "Staggerwing" Model 17, among many other birds! We recommend people go see these planes if they haven't done so already, We even almost rubbed elbows with former astronaut William A. Anders!

Pictures on the test photo tab. A good day it was.
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Redtails Cancel Delano and go to Apple Valley

November 5th, 2006

This week the Redtails canceled our regular Skyhook Practice at our home airport, Delano and instead meet at Apple Valley restaurant for lunch. The food was good and the fellowship was great!

Plans were made for our field trip to the AOPA convention next week in Palm Springs, California. We have a block of rooms reserved and plan to meet every day for dinner to discuss the days seminars and activities. This should be a productive and rewarding field trip for all. It will be a short work week for us because we plan on arriving on Thursday and departing on Saturday evening. Several Redtails are staffing a BPA seminar on Friday and we hope to represent well!
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Redtails Renew at a Record Rate 94%

October 29th, 2006

The Redtails this week had good news for the membership renewals. 94% of our members renewed their membership for 2007 and we had six new members join in October! The Redtails must be doing something right!

The Redtail 2007 planner was written and will be published on this website next month. It’s an aggressive plan but very doable for us. The only question on the calendar was if the Bronze Eagles of Texas would show up if we held another Operation Slapdown in 2007 or have they been humiliated enough!, after all we have to come to Texas every year and they don’t have to leave their home state! We have to cross Arizona and New Mexico to get to Texas. We wonder if they ever fly out of the State of Texas!

It seems that this time of year a lot of the Redtails are in for annuals so there wasn’t much flying this week other than a few of us flying down to Hawthorne Airport and watching USC and UCLA loose their football games.

Note: Watch for Redtail 73 in the British Airways TV commercial going to sleep on one of their seats. Michael, a recent transplant from New York City (who has had trouble adjusting to the good weather and good life in California) flies his own Piper Warrior out of WHP. We Fly!

Redtails Enjoy Another Weekend at Harris Ranch

October 22nd, 2006

This weekend the Redtails meet at Harris Ranch for what turns out to be an annual fly-out. The ladies in attendance were all given a red Redtail silk scarf and a red Redtail throw blanket for their airplanes to use when flying with us! This year we had 26 airplanes on the tarmac and the overflow grass parking area. Some of the pilots that we haven't seen much through the year always seem to make it to this now annual event at Harris Ranch, a spot on Highway 5 in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley.

At this meeting two new members join the Redtails; Shirley Rodriguez and Charles "Chuck" Reece who brought his wife in their beautiful Cessna 310. The Redtails grow again with two quality members! The Redtails had lunch and dinner together in our reserved dinning room. Between the lunch and dinner we conducted the meeting meet in the hospitality suite where we planned our calendar for 2007. 2007 looks to be another great year for the Redtails!

All the speed merchants were there; Darrell (Redtail 00) brought his Cessna 310 out of a long annual, Reggie (Redtail 19) brought his "I can do 350mph" Lancair 4P, Cash (Redtail 6) brought his RV6, Ed (Redtail 8) brought his RV4, Setridge brought the "Intimidator" Lancair Legacy, and of course Chuck's 310 was in the mix! There was a ton of Redtail speed on the tarmac.

We were the topic of discussion both days in the restaurant seeing us all together. You could hear a pin drop as we entered the area and you could here the spectators say "there's those pilots from that group" as we walked through the restaurant area going to our dining room!

Below are a sampling of the pictures taken over the weekend more to follow during the week, stay tuned!
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Redtail Fleet Grows Again

October 15th, 2006

The Redtail Fleet grew with the addition of Reggie's (Redtail 19) Lancair 4P, now fully operational and painted, ready for some serious cross country work! Reggie brought it from the paint shop on Friday and it's gorgeous! (pictures next week), The Redtails also have a new member Alonzo Mike (Redtail 94) who owns a plethora of flying machines including a Quicksilver Ultralight, a powered parachute, and a Cessna 150L. We look forward to Alonzo's experience with the alternative flying machines.
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Redtails Camp at Oceano Airport

October 8th, 2006

This week the Redtails ventured to our annual campout at the Oceano Airport (next to the Pismo Beach Dunes) to brave the fog and cool weather out in the open. Well, this weekend there was no fog and the weather was wonderful!

The food was great and the campfire was toasty! Hamburgers with all the trimmings and Steaks, Tri-tips, Salmon, with Baked Potatoes, and Baked Beans we the bill of fare for the evening meal. All cooked on our small bar-b-que we purchased in Pismo Beach after the campsite’s we not available as in past years.

Things started with arrivals around 1000hrs and continued throughout the day and some of leaving early to get back before nightfall stating that “night air has no lift”. The campfire was extinguished about 0030hrs. There was virtually no wind and we had a full moon to guide us around the normally pitch black campground. By the way we have a new Fire Master; Steve was able to create our campfire with no matches! Just controlled breathing in the right place. There’s some caveman in his genetics somewhere! With plenty of logs we were able to take any chill out of the air sitting around the campfire telling “snake” stories, reminiscing, and the usual flying tales.

Some of us brought sleeping bags to brave the grass at the campground, but after all the stories about those vicious “Pismo Snakes” that look for a warm spot on the ground and around the fire pit they decided the grass was not the place to put their sleeping bags. The campground in the past had tent rentals but this year there were none left.

Another benefit of Saturday was to watch Gene (Redtail 23)"Two Star" bring the Duke into and out of that 2100ft runway! Hey, he's a Redtail though!

A great weekend of Redtail flying!

Compton Air Fair a Huge Success

September 21st,2006

Another successful Compton Air Fair this year! The attendance was down from last year 4835 children passed the gate. The Redtails of course, had more fun than the children by watching the them ogle at all the interesting airplanes, talking with the Redtails, and enjoy the many exhibits that held their interest. Everything from a climbing wall put up by the US Army to the bouncing tents for the different age groups put up by the A.C, Flying Club. Of course there was the dance contest, lots of food, and the armed forces recruiting tents. Tuskegee Airmen and the Buffalo Solders exhibits to ask questions and seek autographs from. What a day! The opening ceremonies were moving and the continuous over flights by the Redtails and friends keep us very busy. A big thank you goes out to all the guys that volunteered to make this years Compton Air Fair the biggest ever. We were glad when it was over but look forward to next years to be better.

The Square Dance group had everyone's feet tapping during their performance, and the Goodyear Blimp made three high speed passes advertising our Air Fair over Southern California. What a great day!

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Redtails have another busy week

September 17, 2006

The Retails had another busy week last week started by attending an Engine Management Seminar presented by JPI the manufacture of engine analyzers for aircraft engines.

The seminar touched on rich of peak and lean of peak operations, which included graphs and charts on exhaust gas temperatures, climb mixture settings, the leaning process plus a host of other fuel management information. We came away vowing to put these practices to use on our flights and to pass the information on to the Redtails at our own Engine Management Seminar.

The Redtails held their regular meeting at the Van Nuys Airtel Hotel on Saturday to discuss the rest of the year and clean up some business items. As usual more talk than business and Alonzo (54) had us in stitches with his 'progressive' stop and go taxi prowess!

Flash! Cash (6) reports Ed Redtail (8) came in second at the National Air Race at Reno, Nevada! Ed is truly representing! Pictures coming.
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Busy weekend for the Redtails

September 10th, 2006

Cash and Ed made the trek to the National Air Races in Reno, Nevada where Ed will compete again this year. Look for Redtail 8 to dominate the Formula One class this year. Cash the crew chief said he gave Ed more power and Ed said "if I have the power I will dominate". Spoken like a true Redtail! We'll follow Ed and Cash here in throughout the National Air Races.

The Redtails had a busy weekend of flying this weekend. The Compton Air Fair Status and Planning meeting on Thursday night saw several Redtail loaded airplanes flying to this meeting. The coastal fog came in just as the meeting adjourned and there was a scramble to get out before the dreaded IFR conditions came in from the Pacific Ocean swallowed the Compton Airport

The regular CBAAI and BABPA Meetings on Saturday at Compton and Hayward Airports plus Darryl Mack’s emergency fly-out from Hawthorne to Camarillo Airports and back for lunch on Sunday filled the weekend. The weather was severe clear all week and we just had a ball flying this last week!

The Redtails have started to gussy up their airplanes to be put on display on the front line of the Compton Air Fair in two weeks. Tires shined, underbellies cleaned, and bugs off the leading edges are the orders of the day. We don’t expect there will be much flying this week other than our regularly scheduled business meeting in Van Nuys Saturday because we will be detailing our airplanes for the Compton Air Fair but you never know, the call might go out for an emergency fly-out at any time and we will have to drop everything and go flying and clean later!

We were having such a good time this weekend know one thought to take a few pictures and send them in for this web site.

Another great weekend of Redtail flying!
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Redtails Plan for the Compton Air Fair

September 4th, 2006

This labor day weekend found most of the Redtails doing family things, this being the last three day weekend of the summer. The weather was perfect for all the backyard Bar-B-Que's and the watermelons were sweet!

The Compton Air Fair is coming up in a few weeks and each week leading into the Air Fair find the Redtails meeting and planning for another successful Air Fair. Coordination with food vendors, military, FAA and many others are needed and everyone over the years has a specialty. September 23rd is the date an we need volunteers for a number of jobs.
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Redtails Add Another to the Fleet

August 27th, 2006

After many (20+) years of threatening to buy a Comanche, Darryl (Redtail 40) Mack had his dream come true this weekend. Arriving at Watsonville for our Fly-in lunch DMack made a perfect landing, taxied to the ramp, got out and pranced to the restaurant in full view of all the Redtails whooping it up in the outdoor restaurant as he approached us. Darryl, of course was putting on his best "pimp stride" and trying to play it off like it wasn't a big thing, but we all knew it was one his proudest moments. Congratulations Darryl, you made us proud Saturday! May you have many years of happy flying with your new steed.
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Redtails fly to Watsonville

August 27th, 2006

The Redtails this week flew to Watsonville, California the home base for Paul (Redtail 48) Webb, and Rayvon (Redtail 3) Williams who hosted the fly-in. The weather was the usual coastal fog that burned off about 1100hrs and the Redtails started arriving at our planned 1200hrs. Paul and Rayvon were on the ramp to marshal all the Redtail aircraft as we came in. Before we know it Redtail airplanes had overwhelmed the transient ramp in front of the restaurant where we assemble for lunch and the ground crew was stacking them in high wing, low wing.

The restaurant is famous for its Mexican food and it lived up to its reputation. Paul and Rayvon made the arrangements for the day which included the lunch and a tour of AirCrafters, LLC. a company that assists airplane builders building their airplanes.

The lunch was punctuated by auctioning off a couple of items from this years IBAC convention. A flyers briefcase with the logos of all the organizations in IBAC went for $35 and a black leather Tuskegee cap went for $85 to the highest bidders. The bidding was fast and furious and if President Ron had held out a little longer the cap would have gone for over $100 and the flight case would have gone for more than $50. Even some of the bystanders in the restaurant got into the action. "Crook" wasn't there to supervise the money drop so we hope the money went to the treasury of the Redtails.

While eating lunch much to the surprise of most Darryl (Redtail 40) Mack taxied up in his new Comanche 250! Darryl took the wrath of the Redtails harassment on entering the dining area along with the group giving him a well deserved cheer!

Note:

Ed (Redtail 8) Dutreaux announced he would again be entering the National Air Races at Reno next month with Cash (Redtail 6) Copeland as his crew chief, The Redtails will be representing!
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Redtails Fly to El Mirage Dry Lake

August 20th, 2006

This week the Redtails made El Mirage Dry Lake, the hardpan lake close to Edwards Air Force Base their target for lunch and fellowship with some of the campers visiting the lake. The lake is as hard as concrete, long, and wide. The lake sits about twenty miles east of where the Space Shuttle was tested and made several landings there.

This weekend there were several clubs of land sailors there to run regattas in several classes of these incredible machines. These land yacht’s reach two to three times the speed of the wind! Some of them were very high tech with carbon fiber enclosures, titanium frames and Kevlar sails.   Ron (Redtail 1) traded a ride in one of the two place rigs for a ride in Tumbleweed and both were thrilled! Landing on the hardpan desert was an experience in itself, with such a long and flat runway (10 miles by 5 miles) the usual references are not there. Landing procedure was; first a low pass to check the wind, a low pass to get the folks attention, pull up to a standard pattern, then landing gear and flaps down, lights on and land. Roll to the edge of the lake and kill the engine before you are surrounded by a lot of folks surprised to see us flying. As usual there were ultralights, gliders, motorcycles, and anything that had an engine on the lake Saturday.

We left before it got to hot (108f) and vowed to make it a regular stop on the Redtail calendar.

There are different classes of land yacht's, but like airplanes most of the guys just came out to have fun sailing. It reminded us of our group, guys sitting in the hangar talking flying. The only thing missing was someone talking s&#t about which on was faster!

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Redtails Visit Hemet Airport for $200 Hamburger

August 12th, 2006

The Redtails this weekend attended meetings of the Bay Area Black Pilots Association (BABPA) and the California Black Aviation Association, Inc. (CBAAI). In the bay area David (Redtail 43) Cunningham brought out the cooks tools and made breakfast for the members at Oscar's hangar. Members in the south made plans for the Compton Air Fair next month, then after the meeting and flew to Hemet Airport for lunch. Two Redtails who don't have airplanes yet got a chance to plan, navigate and fly with our flying members. James (Redtail 75) Wilson flew in Ron's Tumbleweed and did a great job from the right seat both flying and navigating. Timothy (Redtail 72) Toller flew in Rudy's (Redtail 26)

'Windrunner' and did the same. All in all, eleven airplanes flew Saturday.

Ron (Redtail 1) gave a briefing on the IBAC conference in Phoenix and after the meeting auctioned off the Black Leather flight bag from IBAC to the members and after a round of furious bidding the bidding stopped at $55.00. The Redtails attending IBAC all had great stories about their experiences at IBAC.

The Redtails are looking forward to the Compton Air Fair on September 23rd. This will be the 13th anniversary of the Air Fare and it promises to be best yet. The Redtails invite all of BPA to attend.
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Redtail Heads Summer Flight Academy

August 9th, 2006

Although the Bay Area Summer Flight Academy is financed and sponsored by the Local Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, I am writing this article for the Redtails because I (Redtail 55) was the director/coordinator for this years Academy. In the past I volunteered my services and helped out in any way I could. Sometimes I taught ground school, sometimes I recruited youngsters and passed out literature at high schools looking for prospective students.  In the past three years, the three individuals most responsible for the Academy either moved out of town or passed away. This year I was asked to keep the program alive. So I went about recruiting students, instructors and class room space.

The program lasted 2 weeks. Ground instruction was given from 0900hrs - 1200hrs and each student was given 1hr of flight instruction on alternate days during the afternoon, totaling 5-6 flight hours each. Field trips to the Oakland Control Tower, Oakland Flight Service Station, Kaiser Air FBO (where students got close and personal with various business jets), and a cross country flight to the Castle Air Museum (volunteer pilots provided the planes) was also part of the curriculum. Two Airline pilots were guest speakers giving information about the airlines. One guest speaker was a former Summer Slight Academy student and is now a flight instructor. An orientation flight around the bay in a Roberson 44 helicopter rounded out their flight experiences.

One week into the session the local Tuskegee Airmen chapter had their annual picnic and all the students, with their parents, were in attendance. All the students were very enthusiast about the class. One of the students was the Grandson of an original Tuskegee Airmen, so there was some lineage there. At the end of the two weeks each student was given a certificate of completion. I am sure that was an experience they will all remember for lifetime.

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Redtails Attend IBAC Meeting

August 6th, 2006

The Redtails this week attended the International Black Aerospace Council (IBAC) conference in Phoenix, Arizona at the JW Marriott Spa and Resort. Wow! !Maybe “Wow !” is not the word to describe the conference! There were 1300+ folks there and all seemed to be in a great mood! Everywhere you went people were smiling is one way to put it; another is that there was not a harsh word said all the time I was there. Words cannot describe the mood of all that attended the conference with the exception of “positive”, “upbeat”, and “optimism”

IBAC consists of The Black Pilots of America (BPA), The Bessie Coleman Foundation (BCF), Tuskegee Airmen, Inc (TAI), Organization of Black Airline Pilots (OBAP), United States Army Black Aviation Association (USABAA), National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE), and Negro Airmen International, Inc. (NAI) who all meet and held their conventions together. This was a first in history and the plan is to have these meetings on a regular basis in the future.

The Redtails were well represented and as usual brought more airplanes to the conference than all the other chapters, but even this should not overshadow the significance of this historic conference.

The Redtails hosted the hospitality suite for The Black Pilots of America and were suppose to man The Black Pilots of America booth on the convention floor but there was no shortage of members from the other chapters to do both.

Kudos go out to Brother Fred Lewis of the Bronze Eagles for the producing a great production of the Summer Flight Academy and Skyhook 2006

Another great week for the Redtails and for Black Aviation in general.

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Redtails Have a Cigar Tasting

July 30th, 2006

The Redtails trying to brave the heat wave throughout the state and keeping up the tradition of doing something together every weekend, got together at Ron's (Redtail 1) hangar on Whiteman Airport Saturday evening and everyone brought out a favorite cigar to compare notes on each. Cuban's seemed to get the vote on which one smelled the best and smoked best. The Redtails were joined by several closet cigar smokers and when the smell of cigar smoke caught the wind several of the neighbors came over to enjoy the hangout. At 2300hrs. the temperature was a nice 81F when everyone left for the night. A flight was planned to Cuba when our government relaxes its restrictions on travel to Cuba. The IBAC conference was discussed and different routes reviewed. A great night for cigar smoking and Redtail socializing.
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Redtails meet at San Luis Obispo

July 22nd, 2006

The Redtails meet this week at the Sprit of San Luis restaurant this week. The restaurant has a nice view of the ramp and runway and while waiting for the members to arrive all were judged on their landings. Needless to say, all of them were patented "Redtail kiss the runway softly" landings. It was good to see so many of us there getting away from the oppressive heat that has plagued California for the past two weeks. San Luis Obispo airport is only a stones throw from the coast so it was nice to get away from the heat. This was the first meeting since "Skyhook" and the members who went briefed the rest of us on it. Those who took extra trips after Skyhook told of their travel adventures. The calendar of events was discussed and changes recommended to our Calendar Committee. Everyone was briefed on the national meeting coming up the first week in August at Phoenix, Arizona and flight plans discussed. We also discussed a few whale watching trips since this is the season for the whales to be migrating along the coast of California. Most of the Redtails have never seen a whales from the air so we plan to communicate whale sightings and routes to each other. This is a great opportunity to get others involved in our flying.

We are all looking forward to a very aggressive second half of the years Redtail flying activities. Plans were started for our annual campout at the Oceano Airport (Pismo Beach) and the other events in September.
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Get Together with the Black Porsche Club

July 15th, 2006

The Redtails this week got together with the Black Porsche organization at Reggie’s hangar at Cable Airport (CCB). The Redtails brought airplanes and the Black Porsche club brought Porsche’s. As usual Gene's Redtail 23) stopped the show when he landed an taxied in. Some of the Redtails made high speed passes to demonstrate the power of the same type of engines as the Porsche's (horizontally opposed) A live DJ was on hand to provide music and the hangar was jumpin’ all day. Members from both organizations showed off their pride and joys. The Redtails were impressed with the sophistication of the Porches and the same with the Porsche club to the Redtail airplanes. The Redtails gave rides most of the day to whoever wanted one and at the end of the day all the children were given rides.

The weather Saturday was hot and dry, about 110f and 7% humidity. Because of the heat most of the action was inside Reggie’s 250ft x 250ft hangar. Food, what can I say about the food; Ribs, Links, Greens, Catfish, Salmon, Hot Dogs, and of course Hamburgers. Our Chief Chef Alonso (Redtail 54) came through as usual with the catfish and salmon and Reggie and Renee’ did the rest. Needless to say there was a constant line for Alonzo’s catfish and salmon and as soon as he would take it out of the fryer they were swooped up and Reggie made sure there was plenty for everyone. What a feast!

As you can see there was dancing (Salsa, Hip Hop, and everyone favorite; Line Dancing) and much fun to be had. Thanks to the Black Porsche Organization for bringing their beautiful and sophisticated automobiles. What a group of great men and women! President Ron and the President of the Black Porsche organization pronounced the get together a smash hit and vowed to do it again annually. We look forward to this new found relationship and intend to build on it. More pictures coming Stay tuned.
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Emergency Beer Taste-Off

July 7th,2006

For the last few years some of the Redtails have brought up the subject of beer on a hot day. Well this came to a head on Thursday afternoon. After a heated discussion about just that the President called an Emergency Beer Taste-off for the next evening (Friday)! (anything to get together on a warm summer night). Everyone brought their favorite beer to share and stuck in in the refrigerator. A the appointed hour (1800hrs) the Taste-Off was on. There was a mad scramble for the table where tasting cups were blindly filled with different beers. first we checked the aroma of the samples then we took a sip out of each to determine which one we liked best. After sipping from each cup we had to do it again just to make sure our pallets were telling us the right thing. Well, after about three iterations the test giver lost track of which one was which! The results were inconclusive so we decided to do it again in the future to see which beer would win out as the official beer of the California Redtails.

On Saturday we meet with the Bay Area Black Pilots Association (BABPA) and the California Black Aviation Association (CBAA). The CBAA guys moved to the clubhouse at Hawthorne Airport and pulled out the grill so James (Redtail 75), Xavier (Redtail99) and Alonso (Redtail 54) could again work his magic on the grill.
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Redtails Venture South to the Border

June 25th, 2006

The Redtails this weekend traveled to the United States border and the Mexican border to visit and break bread at Brown field located within a stone's throw of the border. The Redtails had read about the new restaurant opening up and this being the weekend we had to check it out. The consensus was "been there, saw that". The airport sits almost directly on the southern border and the Tijuana Airport is due south. Check it out on http://local.live.com/ and see what we mean. Then there was the challenge of getting through the San Diego class "B" airspace and it's VFR corridor which like LAX's Special Flight Rules Area passes directly over Lindbergh Field. Quite a challenge!

The Redtails also welcome a new member this week in David (Redtail 79) Bell. David has a Cessna 182S and is eager to join the Redtails in their flying adventures.

The Redtail picture site is being once again transformed for better viewing and lees overhead to access our pictures. We hope you enjoy them
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Setrige Crawford (Redtail 65) Fly's Again

June 18th, 2006

This week Setrige (Redtail 65), the mild mannered unassuming Redtail went into his hangar and came out as Superman again! The Lancair Legacy is back after a few months of modifications. I'm told he has to throttle it back on downwind to keep under the Class 'D' speed limit of 200kts! I guess the next thing to complete the speed demon is to paint it. As you can see nothing has been spared in Setrige's airplane, it has everything! from the looks of the engine it produces about 1000hp and the panel makes it look equally fast. We look forward to giving you reports on his specifications in the future. Right now Setrige is in the monitoring mode, we can't wait until he puts the airplane into the speed mode!

More to come on several new Redtail airplanes coming up in the next few weeks!

The Redtails have a full schedule for this summer with something happening almost every week through the Summer, Here about it here first.

Congratulations go out to Rudy (Redtail 26) Melson on his daughters graduation from college! A proud Redtail dad he is!
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Redtails represent at Van Nuys AirFest

June 11, 2006

On Sunday the Redtails manned a booth at the Annual Van Nuys Airport Airshow and were honored to be again placed next to the booth manned by the Tuskegee Airmen. What a thrill for us to sit and talk to our heroes, up close and personal. over 200,000 people attended the airshow that feathered a F22 Raptor fly-over. We can't wait to do it again next year!
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Redtails Attend the California Black Aviation Associations' Picnic

June 10th, 2006

On Saturday the Redtails attended the California Black Aviation Association's Annual Picnic at the organization's clubhouse on Hawthorne Airport (HHR). Fun, Food, and great weather were the ticket for the day.
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Redtails Report in Safely from Skyhook!

June 5th, 2006

The Redtails all reported in to our flight leader Rudy (Redtail 26) Melson. As per our custom everyone reports the status of their trip to the flight leader and on June 5th all of the Redtails were back in there hangars safely. Everyone was tired, dehydrated and ready to get back in the air again after a few days at home, after all "We Fly"
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Redtails Storm Skyhook!

May 26th, 2006

The Redtails came into Pine Bluff this weekend to shatter the record books of Operation Skyhook, led by our Flight Leader this year Rudy (Redtail 26) Melson and as promised intimidated the competition! However when the results were tallied we placed third in the overall competition. The Lewis Lynch (formally the St. Louis) chapter won the team competition, beating the Bronze Eagles and ourselves. "Wait until next year" The judging this year was as fair as you could get considering we had six or seven judges on the Redtail payroll!

We were treated to some down home southern hospitality and cooking at Charles (Redtail 17, "I'm coming down to join you") Kelley's estate in Tamo, Arkansas. What a meal!

Coming home several of the Redtails continued on to other places around the country to continue their vacations. South Dakota, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina were some of the ultimate destinations for the Redtails.
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Redtails Prepare for Operation Skyhook!

May 23rd, 2006

The Redtails will this week will depart for our National Meeting and Competition in Pine Bluff, Arkansas for a Memorial Day Weekend full of camaraderie, fun, and competition with the other chapters around the country of the Black Pilots of America. This is what we look forward to from year to year, to go to Skyhook and brag about the Redtails being the best chapter in all of BPA. We will leave for Skyhook on Wednesday and arrive on Thursday afternoon in Pine Bluff, Arkansas with our now patented "Redtail Overcast" The weather looks good, the airplanes have been shined and detailed for the best looking trophy, and all the systems checked on the aircraft for the 25 hours plus to be put on them for this trip.
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Redtails Attend Meetings

May 16th, 2006

This week the Redtails attended and participated in the meetings of the Bay Area Black Pilots Association in the San Francisco Bay area and the California Black Aviation Association in Compton, California. Most of the Redtails are members of these organizations which were formed years before the California Redtails were formed. the California Redtails has its roots in these organizations and they are the essentially the roots of the Redtails. The Redtails continue to support the activities of these fine organizations,
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Darryl Mack Teaches IFR Class

May 9th, 2006

The Redtails are fortunate to have several very bright instructors in our chapter. Darryl Mack (Redtail 40) teaches a class on Instrument Flight Rules twice a week at Hawthorne Airport. The class is open to all, rated instrument pilots and pilots new to instrument flying to prepare them for the written test. Darryl is passionate about teaching us the skills to keep us alive in an IFR environment, and it shows by the comments of his students. Give Darryl a call to see when the next class starts.
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Redtails fly to El Mirage Dry Lake Saturday

May 7th, 2006

This week Ron (Redtail 1) and Jim (Redtail 57) ventured to El Mirage Dry Lake and landed on the hard packed clay surface. After circling the dry lake-bed a landing spot was picked out. Since there were about 5,000 folks on the lake watching the speed trails we had to make sure we didn’t hit one of them. On the ground there were motorcycles, dune buggies, land yachts, and a host of other vehicles on the lake we were especially cautious of finding an area of low traffic. After making a long slow approach to our intended landing area folks saw us and started moving out of the way. The Robertson STOL kit on the P337 allowed us to touch down at about 50mph.

We found a space in the spectator area between a motor-home and a safety patrol station and taxied to it. Needles to say we were nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs with one engine in the rear and no view of the area behind the airplane. So we cut the engines and coasted into the empty spot of the course.

As soon as we stopped there were a 1000 people around asking questions about the airplane. The crowd was very respectful of our airplane being motorheads themselves. I moved away from the airplane and let Jim field all the questions.

Every weekend a few airplanes land there so the crowd was use to having airplanes on the lake. Jim’s P337 with the push/pull configuration brought out the techies.

The main attraction Saturday was the Time Trails for the Bonneville type vehicles. The course is 1.3 miles long. Both sides of the course were lined with motor-homes, campers, vehicles of all sorts and our position was about at the ¾ mile position on the track.

We really enjoyed watching the racers try to establish new records for their classes. It was quite impressive to watch a motorcycle break 200mph, you could hear him still changing gears just before he went through the timing traps. He must have had nine gears on that thing. There were several other vehicles that broke the 200mph barrier and one came very close to 300mph. As they would go through the traps they would shut down there engines and coast to a stop, and get pulled back to the starting area right by our airplane.

After a very enjoyable time talking and visiting with our new friends and the very friendly crowd, we pushed the airplane back, cleared the area and started the engines. The challenge would be to see if we could get a clear path to takeoff. The wind was about 10kts on our nose and we would only need about 1200ft to get into the air so we taxied back about a half mile and turned around to take off. We turned our taxi, landing, and strobe lights on and everyone cleared out of the way ahead. As we revved up the engine for a short take-off all eyes were on us, all we could see was a clear path for about a mile ahead. We leaped into the air, cleaned up the airplane and made a crosswind, downwind and final to wave goodbye to our new friends. We could see the entire crowd waving at us as we dipped a wing and roared off into the west.

Another great day in Redtail country
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Redtails participate in Oceanside Fly-in and practice for Skyhook

April 30th, 2006

On Saturday the Redtails participated in the fly-in / bar-b-que at the Oceanside airport in support of their fight to keep the airport open. The weather was a little iffy but of course we are Redtails, and "We Fly"! On Sunday the Redtail "A" team met at our home practice field of Delano Airport and went through some of the maneuvers we plan to showcase at "Operation Skyhook" The weather was great and the camaraderie was tops.
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Redtails meet at Van Nuys

April 22nd, 2006

This week the Redtails meet at the AirTel Hotel at the Van Nuys Airport. Election of Officers were held, a decision for the location for the 2007 January Board of Directors meeting was made, and our Flight Leader for Skyhook Rudy Melson (Redtail 26) briefed everyone on the Redtail Overcast. The weather kept the guys from the north from coming but a speaker phone was in play for them. The Redtails also discussed the aggressive calendar planned for the rest of the year. Of course Skyhook was the distracter at the meeting and the meeting took a couple of hours to finish. Congratulations go out to our new officers.
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Redtail Practice delayed by weather

April 16th, 2006

Weekends in March and April have been bummers in California. We have only been able to get in a couple of practices for Skyhook. The usual Chamber of Commerce weather that California is famous for has curtailed most of the organized flying the Redtails usually do this time of the year. The guys in the north have had about two months of constant rain and the weather gods in the south have given us great weather during the week but have frowned on us on the weekends. Never the less we have been practicing in small groups in things such as formation flying and the like. This weather however will not hamper Redtail Domination at Skyhook though!
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Tumbleweed is finally off the jacks

April 8th, 2006

Five months to the day Tumbleweed is off the jacks and into the air. After looking for a downlock stop for what seemed like forever and Cessna promising to make the part for several months Ron found the part for Tumbleweed in a salvage Cardinal RG. The part was installed, gear cycled many times (25) and Tumbleweed was back in the air. Maybe my attitude will change now that I havea flying airplane. With Tumbleweed back in the air Redtail Domination has a new high!
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Reggie brings his bird home

April 2nd, 2006

This week's Redtail highlight saw Reggie (Redtail 19) bring his Lancair 4P home to his hangar at Cable airport in Upland, California. Reggie plans to do the final assembly and pressure check it there. could this be the start of Redtail Domination of the skies over the United States. Reggie also invites all who are in the neighborhood to stop by and see his masterpiece.
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Redtails meet at Hayward, California

March 25th, 2006

The Redtails meet for this months meeting the Hayward Airport in Hayward, Ca. The host location, Trajen FBO, as always was very glad to see us and do whatever it took make our meeting very productive and productive it was. What a site it was for the linemen at Trajen to see the Redtails fly into HWD, land, and taxi to them all within a 5 mins span! From a C182 to a Beech Duke planes in between, the Redtails were in...DA HOUSE!

First, we started the meeting with the details for our domination of Skyhook '06. From dress codes for each day for any/all every occasions right down to the "Redtail Overcast" and the patented Redtail Salute, it was covered. Next, the Redtail 2006 elections were covered followed by details of various trip for this year, requested flyovers and appearances at airshows throughout California! Yes, the Redtails are in demand!

Next event on the calendar is a practice session @ DLO (Delano airport). The Domination of Skyhook '06 HAS STARTED!
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Archie upgrades his License

March 17th,2006

Congratulations go out to out to our newest Private Pilot Archie Amos. Archie is a charter member of the Redtails and one of its most dedicated workers, we are sure this work ethic was the cause of his license upgrade. We are looking for Archie to now raise some eyebrows at Skyhook!
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Redtails Huddle for Safety Talks

March 11th, 2006

This week the some of the Redtails participated in a sit down round table talk about route planning and the issues involved. After several hours arguments and FAR's, chart ledgends, and AIM quoting everyone came out of it a with a better understanding of flying. A great session!

The following was submitted by Xavier (Redtail 99), one of our members who will be hanging around Skyhook for the next 40 years or so and getting better every year. I can only imagine how the Redtails will be dominating in 2050 something!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning .. uphill BOTH ways .. yadda, yadda, yadda. And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that...

I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter ... with a pen!
Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

And talk of about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! ! ;We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics sucked ass! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! ...
Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed! Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up. We had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ...   imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use
that stupid JiffyPop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,

-The 30 Something Redtail Crowd

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Redtails show up in force to Delano Practice

March 4th, 2006

The Redtails this week flew to Delano, California to practice balloon bursting, and to learn about Pylon Racing. The balloon bursting was a hit because you got to try as many balloons as you wanted. Charles (“I’m coming down to join you”) Redtail 17 lead the group with 15 balloon passes and missing just one. Several other Redtails who had not participated in balloon bursting got a chance to go up and enjoy bursting as many balloons as they wanted. We still have three more practices scheduled so all who want can practice until we ran out of balloons as we did Saturday. We expect to finish one, two, and three at “Skyhook” this year.

Some of the Redtails who had never participated a Pylon Race got a great introductory into it. I asked Cash to go first and show them how it was done and Cash in his “White Woman” ripped off the fastest time of the day beating out Ed by one second in three laps.

A surprise for all of us is when Darrell’s Cessna 310 took as he was leaving decided to take a few laps around the course. Wow! It was breath taking to see and hear what he could do with that 310! (are you reading this Anthony?)

The surprise of the meet was Gene (Two Stars, Redtail 23) blistering a lap of 1:03 equating to a speed around the 3.3 mile course in over 200mph in his Duke (with winglets!). The sound alone of all those horses being unleashed was something to behold. Beware of this machine when he gets more laps practice (Anthony are you still reading this?).

Another highlight was Henry’s (Redtail 59) after burning up the course with his Cessna 175 stepping out of his stead and declaring “I’m going to kick so 182 Ass!” If we had a climbing contest I would stay away if Henry’s airplane was entered! When Henry gets some more laps in I believe he will dominate his class.

Rayvon’s (Redtail 3) started out saying he was just going to do a few slow laps to get the feel of going around the course but made the mistake of taking Ed (Redtail 8, our Reno Air Race, Cassette racer) with him, that was the end of his ambitious “just to get a feel for the course”. Rayvon, under Ed’s tutelage had that “S” model Bonanza doing laps in the high 180mph and low 190mph range. These guys are good!

On the other side of the spectrum Ron (Redtail 88) put his Cardinal though the course at speeds he didn’t know his airplane had, and Steve did the same with a Cherokee 180. Both averaging about 128mph around the closed pylon course, now that’s hauling butt!

Of course in true Redtail style Merritt the provider of the food (bar-b-que) got into the air and went crazy! For a first time pylon racer really he got into it!

Tyrone (Redtail 25) was another on who said he just wanted to take it easy around the course, by the second lap of his “practice” he was yankin’ and bankin’ like he had done this many times before. Of course Henry said he wanted some of Tyrone’s 182 when Tyrone landed. This is supposed to be a friendly practice?

Ron (Redtail 31) went up with Ozell (Redtail 55) in the co-pilots seat urging him on with the and still breaking in the new engine. Everyone knew Ron was going to be one of the top times of the day, but they are still trying to find the second pylon! Captain Rudy (Redtail 26) occupying the same airspace as Ron and Ozell trying to find them as they were trying to find Pylon Number 2. Consequently, Rudy didn’t get to do much in the Pylon practice but figured out the balloon burst tactics and didn’t want to come down.

As usual “E” (Redtail 66 and “BPA Top Gun” got strapped with the job of being air Boss until he and Ed (Redtail 8) were dispatched on the pylon circuit together. What a humbling experience to be passed on turn #3 by a little airplane (Ed was about 50mph faster than “E” and everyone on the ground could see Ed had a Reno Races flashback!) Now Ed has made a believer out of most of us and all the Redtails want him in the cockpit with them giving them pointers on how to squeeze a few more miles per hour out of their airplane before “Skyhook”

Several Redtails just spectated this time around taking in all the action and wondering how they would do. We expect the next time we are in Delano they will get off the fence and see how much fun it is to try for a balloon or run the pylon course.

When Setrige, Maurice, Reggie, and Steve get their plastic airplanes together, and they will be ready for “Skyhook” the Redtails will be truly the team to beat!

I won’t mention the five plastic airplanes who were guests this weekend at Delano who didn’t get a chance to get on the pylon course or break some balloons this time.

We as usual got off to a fairly late start because we tend to operate on “CP” time at these events and had bar-b-que provided by Captain Rudy and Merritt.

The weather cooperated and all in all everyone had a great time. Pictures coming!
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Skyhook 2006

February 26th, 2006

It’s that time of year!

The Redtails have started on their push to Skyhook dominance!

The Redtails this week started attending ground schools around California to upgrade their licenses. The Redtails will not only dominate the physical elements of Skyhook but will have a distinct advantage with their intellect. We plan will have more advanced pilot ratings than any other chapter. The Redtails are not only superior good looking pilots, we have larger brains!

So let’s make a bold statement this week “The Redtails will have three times as many airplanes at Skyhook than any other chapter” Yes I said THREE TIMES as many! In fact we will be Skyhook!

The groups from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Jersey will try and pool their resources into one chapter will have to do a little better than their dismal showing of the last two three four five years!
The Texas chapter will have to deal with unbiased judging this year so they will have to fly!
The Babies from Atlanta will have to practice a few (6 or 7) more years to even approach the level of the Redtails.
Tulsa, you guys can ride with us as observers.
Chicago, riding Southwest Airlines is infectious; too much 737 time will dull the spirit.
Detroit, Juan cannot continue to carry you anymore, try Southwest!
Baton Rouge, you guys can leave early again and not be embarrassed
New Orleans, don’t let Katrina be your excuse!
Colorado, Ha! Ha!
Tucson does Southwest fly into Tucson or do you take America West?
Kansas City, David’s rat pack will have to leave early again!
St. Louis, I know, you don’t fly if the weather isn’t visibility 50miles or better and winds no greater than 3kts.
Tuskegee, join the Chapter at Large and we will lend you two Bonanzas (we have plenty of them) for formation competition!
Arkansas, make sure you have plenty of spectator seats for all the non-flyers, you can even enter that plastic death trap, with the little Mooney!
If I missed anyone let me know.

As I said last year get your reservations early on Southwest Airlines to make sure you are there when the Redtails make their now patented arrival, “The Redtail Overcast”. We will be arriving about 1300hrs again this year. Our usual disclaimer applies for our arrival “Keep young girls behind the fence upon our arrival”. Ken, you did a fine job last year with this with the exception of the three girls who swamped Charles “I’m commin’ down to join you” (Redtail 17) Kelley when he got out of his airplane.

We will be spotlighting on our website in the next few months members of the mighty Redtails and their specialties in the different Skyhook events.

The Redtails will travel to Delano, California to brush up on some of the Skyhook events Saturday. We will be video-taping the practice for any of the chapters who would like to see what’s in store for them in May. Don’t let those good looking Redtail airplanes intimidate you so much that you don’t fly your airplane to Skyhook. Remember “We Fly”, others take Southwest Airlines, are you listening chapters?
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“Slapdown”

February 20th, 2006

The Redtails this week traveled to El Paso for their annual face off with the Bronze Eagles of Texas. The Redtails look forward to this as a warm up to Skyhook and a chance break bread with our brothers from Texas in their home state. We did fly to their state to meet with them! Some of the new Redtails who had not yet been to a “Slapdown” in the past wanted to get in on the fun of jostling verbally with the “We Fly” Bronze Eagles.

The Redtails looked forward to meeting the second largest chapter under us in the entire The Black Pilots of America organization. We had planned to jump on them about the crooked judges they had at the last Skyhook and intimidate them by our sheer numbers this year.

When the Redtails arrived at El Paso we were pumped up to do battle with the Bronze Eagles.

There was a great time had by all. The Hospitality Room was stocked and well used as the headquarters for the weekend’s activities. Saturday night’s dinner was a blast and a carnivore’s delight. Sunday’s dinner was at a Mexican Restaurant and everyone enjoyed the authentic Mexican food served.

There was only one thing missing the whole weekend. . . The Bronze Eagles of Texas!

We gave a party and only one Bronze Eagle flew in and one took the official mode of transportation of the Bronze Eagles, Southwest Airlines! Anthony couldn’t even get a passenger to come with him and co-pilot and Wejay took Southwest! It was said that riding on Southwest is addicting. Soon the Bronze Eagles will sell their fleet of (Mooney’s) airplanes and just catch Southwest Airlines wherever they go. Was it airmanship, superior flying skills, or just intimidation that scared them away?

This writer thinks it was that the Bronze Eagles are just getting old and are intimidated in the presence of the superior Redtails.

Their leader Anthony Hall Jr. is the only one of about 50 of them who can operate an airplane?
Is Anthony the only true Bronze Eagle?
Is Anthony the only Bronze Eagle who has an airplane?
Do the Bronze Eagles know they will forever be reminded of this?
Will the Bronze Eagles dare to show their faces anywhere as a flying club?
What will the other chapters think of them when they read this?
Are the Bronze Eagles a flying club?
Do the Bronze Eagles deserve to be called a flying club?
Should the Bronze Eagles turn in their charter as a member of The Black Pilots of America?
Should they disband and join a real chapter of The Black Pilots of America, the California Redtails?
Would the Redtails allow one of them to join our chapter?

All these questions need to be answered, soon!

One of the highlights of our dinners together was when Anthony had ordered an appetizer of ribs which was brought to the other end of the table and before they got to him there was nothing left but a plate full of bones, proving you cannot put a slab of ribs in front of a Redtail without him at least tasting one of them. If the ribs had gone directly to Anthony he would have had them. The lesson learned; don’t expect a Redtail to not take a rib bone if passed under his nose.

The weather we not Chamber of Commerce type in Texas or California but certainly doable for good pilots.

The Bronze Eagles can now say “We Used to Fly” instead of “We Fly”! Gone are the Bronze Eagles, long live the California Redtails!

Bronze Eagles, Don't take this ass woopin' personally

It was a great weekend of flying for all!

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Redtails are off to the "Races"

September 13, 2005

"Cash" Copeland, Redtail 6

Ed Dutreaux, Redtail 8

It's been fairly quiet for the Redtails this past week. The one exception was preparation for the annual Reno Air Races, held Sept 16-19th., by Redtails, Ed Dutreaux and "Cash" Copeland. Ed is an annual fixture there at the air races flying his Cassett while Cash serves as his crew chief. As of this writing, Ed has turned in a top speed of 222mph during preliminaries, which is 4 mph faster than last year! The entire Redtail family is hoping that he can repeat or better this during the official qualifications later on the week for the weekend's shootout!

Stay tuned for the results on next week's update!

"Straighten up..and fly right!"
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Redtails meet at Van Nuys

August 24th, 2005

This week the Redtail update will be short. Out of 64 members 8 showed up! October Fly-out planned.

Redtail 17
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Redtails at Oceano Campground

August 20th and 21st. 2005

There are few activities the Redtails look forward to more than our Oceano Campout weekend. This years outing was as expected a rousing success. The conversation around the campfire was filled with flying stories, how to cure the problems of the world and who could tell the best lies!

Some of the not so robust Redtails opted to stay at the Radisson Hotel rather than risk the Pismo rat snakes, the cold, and the humiliation of trying to master the fine art of assembling a tent in front of their flying peers. Tri tip sandwiches were the bill of fare for Saturday evening along with an assortment of fruit and cookies stolen from Milton's fruit basket. The weather was the usual morning fog that burned off around 1100hrs and came back the next morning about 0400hrs. With the full moon out and the pitch black campground located adjacent to the runway, Jim tried several times to trip into the fire ring. Horace and Milton did the retrieving for the fire wood stack where the rat snakes live. Of course, Horace being from the country (Mississippi) had forgotten what lurks in wood piles until he came back with a wheelbarrow full of cut logs and we told him and he turned "white".

Those who stayed at the Radisson enjoyed the famous brunch at the dinning room on Sunday morning. All in all, it was another great weekend for the Redtails. no one remembered to bring cameras so the event wasn't documented. What a shame!

Redtail 57
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Redtails travel to Philadelphia for BPA Meeting

August 14th, 2005

Several Redtails this weekend attended the Black Pilots of America General Membership meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this weekend and were treated to a great time. Thanks and kudos go out to Derek and Delta Grier and the Roscoe Draper chapter for a hosting a great event. Pictures of some of the events and highlights of the event will be posted here in a few days. Congratulations go out to John Hicks Jr. for being elected unanimously to the Chairman of the Board. The Redtails would also like to thank the Bronze Eagles Flying Club of Texas for their resolution of support on the Redtails White Paper.

We as usual had a great time with them bantering back and forth relentlessly on any subject that came up. It seems that whenever a Bronze Eagle and a Redtail get together there is competition. After the dinner Saturday night while waiting for the vans to pick us up some Redtails didn't want to wait for the vans and caught a cab. A couple of Bronze Eagles saw this and also waved for a cab and the race was on! between the cabs! I guess both cab drivers made a little extra money on that ride, I know ours did. Another instance of the fierce competition was seen between the two of us in racing elevators, one group took one elevator and the another took a different one. A few insults were thrown about slow airplanes and the elevator race was on!

As you can see we had a great time in Philadelphia.

The Bronze Eagles President (Anthony) disputed the fact that we had three times as many airplanes at Skyhook as they did so Here is the list!

Redtail 1, Ron Lisberg (The Black Ace), Cardinal RG
Redtail 2, Benny Clay, Bonanza
Redtail 3, Rayvon Williams, Bonanza
Redtail 6, 'Cash' Copeland, RV6, (BPA's 2005 Best of Show)
Redtail 9, Mark Stowers, Comanche 250
Redtail 17, Charles Kelley, Cessna 172
Redtail 31, Ron Ellison, Comanche 250
Redtail 33, Horace Noble, Bonanza
Redtail 37, James Martin, Cardinal RG
Redtail 49, David Cunningham, Cherokee
Redtail 51, Norse Gaines, Bonanza (The Blade)
Redtail 55, Ozell Austin, Comanche 250
Redtail 57, Jim Reynolds, Cessna P337
Redtail 59, Henry Roy, Cessna 175
Redtail 66, Eric 'E' Williams, Bonanza (BPA's 2005 "Top Gun" Pilot)
Redtail 71, Jarvis Delaine, Cherokee
Redtail 77, Don Mays, Cherokee
Redtail 80, Jay Ferrell, Comanche

This week the Redtails are preparing to overnight at the Pismo Beach airport of Oceano. Some will brave the night in the camping area and some less hardy souls will be in nearby hotels, some will actually fly there, some will drive, and some will drive their motorhomes. It is a good bet all will have a great time.
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Cleve Thornton surfaces

August 7th, 2005

After a years hiatus and a new Corvette Cleve (Redtail 45) is back on the active Redtail Roster. Welcome back Cleve!

This week the Redtails were going through a couple of annuals, and not having a place to fly as a group went there separate ways. Not flying will make the Redtails dull! We will make up for it this weekend though with several of us going to the National Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It should be an exciting weekend in Philadelphia and you will here about it first here in the Redtail news section.

The Redtails are gearing up for this month's outing at Oceano Airport for a weekend of campfire stories, short field landings, and low ceilings. Who can forget the snake hunt in the campground, or the 'E's raccoon. Did I tell that story yet? When the raccoon came down the tree and made a bee line for Eric's flashlight beam? Did I tell you what happened next? Did I tell you who can snore louder than an radial engine starting? Did I tell you who is afraid of snakes? Did I tell you about the famous Pismo Fence Snakes? Did I tell you about how much wood we burned in a weekend? Did I tell you what to much tequila will do to a Redtail? Is this going to be fun?
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The Redtails meet in San Diego

July 31st, 2005

This week the Redtails ventured to San Diego for their meeting. Montgomery Field to the Mexican Restaurant to be exact. We were treated by our gracious host Maurice Orange (Redtail 11). the flight down and back was uneventful with the exception of Horace Noble having to pick his way through a line of monsoonal thunderstorms between San Diego and Las Vegas. In talking to Horace after he landed he said "That stormscope is worth every penny". if you will remember Horace led us from Lubbock, Texas to Hot Springs, Arkansas with his Stormscope and none of us got wet!

It was good to have Otto Hooks as a guest at our meeting. Otto keeps busy in his retirement flying all over the country. Darryl Mack (Redtail 40) made the trek to Oshkosh again this year. We discussed some of the issues we plan to bring up at the national meeting in Philadelphia on the 13th of this month.
                                                                     Another great weekend of flying for the Redtails!

                                                                                                   Redtail 66
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Redtails Beat the Heat by not Flying

July 24th, 2005

Another week of beating the heat in Southern California and the Las Vegas Area, and a perfect week for flying in the Northern California. The Redtails this week didn't do a lot of flying. The hot weather is a real bummer to inspire flying. The tarmac is hot, the airplanes are hot, this writer spent the weekend indoors in air conditioning with outside temperatures of 109f.

Several members flew to Camarillo Airport for lunch on Saturday but most were pointing to this weeks meeting in San Diego's Montgomery Field. The Redtails have never as a group been to MYF and the long range forecast looks good.

Last weeks rumor about one of the Redtails buying an airplane came true, but, he wants to keep it a secret until he comes to a meeting in it.

Preparations are being made for the Compton Air Fair in September where we (Redtails) shall attempt to get as many airplanes in the sky as possible for the air portion of the Air Fair.

                                                                                                                                                          Redtails at Skyhook Banquet
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Paul Webb joins the Redtails

July 17th, 2005

This week the Redtails meet at Napa County Airport for there monthly meeting. The Bay Area Redtails didn't have far to go (about 30 miles from Hayward) and were there in strength. The regular business was taken care of and the talk was who would be going to the General Membership Meeting of the Black Pilots of America in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in August and the Redtail Specific issues.

The rest of the afternoon was spent grilling our newest member Paul Webb, Jr. DDS on his flying background and how it related to Horace (Redtail 33). Paul and Horace had us in stitches at times. Horace our money collector twisted his arm and squeezed $70 out of Paul and 'Top Gun E' got the 411 on him, he picked Redtail 48 as his callsign and he officially became a Redtails right then and there! Welcome Paul (Redtail 48).

Today several of the Redtails in the south meet at the CBBAI clubroom at HHR to do some serious hangar flying and Ron Jenkins (Redtail 88) was seen perfecting the fine are of landing the Cardinal today at WHP. Ron has about 5hrs in it and from the looks of his landings he is ready! Rumor also has it that one more Redtail has purchased an airplane. Next weeks Redtail Website News hopefully will have more info on this.
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Redtails attend CBAAI and BABPA meetings

July 10th, 2005

This weekend the Redtails, supported the California Black Aviation Association (CBAAI) and the Bay Area Black Pilots Association (BABPA) by going to their meetings in Compton and Hayward respectively. After the meeting at Compton we all flew the great distance of 4 miles to Hawthorne airport to the CBBAI's clubhouse and cooked hamburgers on the grill an hangar flew for the rest of the day. Of course the trip to Pine Bluff was the most popular subject of the day.

The Redtails this week were honored with yet another new quality member in Marvin Lowrance. His call sign will be Redtail 84. Marvin flies a Mooney but we won't hold that against him, because he also flies a Cessna Turbo 182RG. Welcome Marvin.

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One New Member and Three New Airplanes Join the Redtail Fleet

July 4th, 2005

Ken Barnes, Redtail 69

Another banner weekend for the Redtails. Ken Barns of San Leandro, California became a Redtail. Ken has a Stinson L5 and a Cessna 180 based at Hayward. Ken had been hearing about the Redtails from Cash (Redtail 6) and then Ed (Redtail 8). Having been disappointed from other so-called "flying clubs" for not doing hardly or no flying at all, he was looking for a group of pilots that fly airplanes! And after hearing about the flying that we do throughout the year, he wanted to be a part of it.

Ron Jenkins (Redtail 88) has bought a Cessna Cardinal and is waiting for the paperwork to be completed so he can fly it. Ron said he was tired of hearing us talk about flying and wanted to fly his own airplane, Congratulations Ron! Ron will base his new Cardinal at Whiteman on Redtail Row. We should have some pictures by next week of Ron's new ride!

The holiday weekend of July the 4th saw most of the Redtails enjoying the weekend with family and not much flying.
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Rayvon Williams Awarded Master CFI Certification

June 27th, 2005

Rayvon Williams (Redtail 3) was this week awarded his Master CFI designation. He is also an AOPA Airport Support Network representative, an Angel Flight pilot and serves as an Aviation Safety Counselor for the FAA's San Jose FSDO.

The National Association of Flight Instructors took pride in announcing this significant aviation accomplishment on the part of Rayvon, a resident of Scotts Valley, CA. To help put this achievement in its proper perspective, there are approximately 85,000 CFIs in the United States. Fewer than 500 of them have achieved that distinction thus far. The last ten national Flight Instructors of the Year were Master CFIs while Rayvon is one of only 38 California aviation educators who has earned this prestigious "Master" title
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Redtails meet at Harris Ranch

June 25th, 2005

The Redtails traveled to Harris Ranch for our regular meeting and lunch. The meeting was a debrief on our Pine Bluff Arkansas trip, and a review of our competition scores. Everyone was truly disappointed at the formation scores as shown below. Ed (Redtails 8) was the newest member present and had to buy the Mountain Oysters and as usual everyone at the table had to taste those bad boys. The weather was perfect and the winds favored the the Redtails from the south.

After the lunch the Redtails flew the 40 miles to the former Black township of Allensworth, California making several circular passes and breaking out in our trademark Redtail Starburst. We then formed up just north of Allensworth and made our traditional Redtail low pass. Ozell (Redtail 55) visited Bryce Canyon this weekend and brought back some great pictures. Look for them on our picture area.

What a great weekend for flying with the Redtails!
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Redtails attend High Altitude Training

written by Rayvon Williams, Redtail 3

June 22nd, 2005

Beale AFB, Yuba City, California:

Members of the California Redtails, led by Redtail 55, Ozell Austin, decided to take the FAA up on the suggestion that High Altitude Chamber training is valuable to safe flight operations. Per Ozell, “The High Altitude Chamber is directed toward understanding and surviving in the flight environment and covers the problems of both high and low altitudes. By visiting the chamber we can get recommendations and procedures to prevent or minimize pilot errors that may occur in flight.” Ozell was joined by Redtail 6, Forrest “Cash” Copeland and Redtail 3, Rayvon Williams to visit Beale AFB, experience the ground school/altitude chamber, and report back to the California Redtails for a future group fly-in.

The three pilots departed Hayward Executive airport at 1600 on Tuesday, June 21 in Ozell’s classic 1960 Comanche 250 and arrived at Marysville (KMYV) in time to have a nice meal and catch game six of the 2005 NBA finals.

At 0700, the next morning, the three Redtails “reported for duty” to the 9th Physiological Support Squadron. This 134-member squadron, a $90 million operation, provides physiological support for Beale's U-2 high altitude reconnaissance mission. The 9th Physio (whose motto is “Between Life and Death”) additionally, serves as a regional Physiological Training Center, and provides altitude chamber training support to FAA rated pilots.

After a few hours of ground school, led by Major Julia Sunstrom and her highly motivated team covering such topics hypoxia, hyperventilation, supplemental oxygen and physiological functions, the three Redtails were suited up for the “ride” to 25,000 feet.

One of the key learning objectives for the Redtails was to determine their personal symptoms or indications for hypoxia. The ascent begin to 5,000 feet, then back to sea level, where the three pilots spent 30 minutes breathing 100% oxygen. After this period the pilots went from sea level to 8,000 feet, then to18,000 feet in less than five minutes. Both Ozell and Rayvon debated whether these speeds were more in line with Comanche 250 or Bonanza S35 climb rates.

At 18,000 feet the pilots were asked to remove the O2 masks and experience the altitude. For all three it seemed to be “OK” and the ascent to 25,000 quickly followed. At this altitude the pilots were again requested to remove the masks, but this time they were asked to complete a series of math problems and answer some simple questions. It took about 2 minutes for Ozell to recognize the onset of hypoxia and he was quick to re-attach his mask. At 3 minutes Ozell asked Rayvon why he was smiling as he wrote on his clip board. Rayvon, feeling light headed, got the message and re-attached his mask. At this point everyone was looking at Cash Copeland who seemed to be really enjoying himself by just staring into space. It was not till later that Ozell and Rayvon determined Cash was trying to figure out what the “slash” in the equation “45/5=” meant? Seems as if when Cash was in school this version of new math was still on the drawing board.

Once back at sea level the three Redtails joined Major Sunstrom and team for a debrief and some photos. Overall the Redtails agreed this was a worthwhile educational experience and one that confirms for each what to expect should hypoxia ever become a problem. As Cash Copeland said on departure, “This is something every pilot should experience; we need to understand as much about our bodies at altitude as we do our airplanes.”

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Redtails back from Operation Skyhook

May 30, 2005

Editorial:

The Redtails meet at Harris Ranch to discuss among other things what to do about the score sheet below.   Integrity, impartiality, honor went out the door with this event.

This writer has finished his vacation from updating the website for a few weeks and is back on the job bringing you up to date on the activities of the Redtails again.

We went to Pine Bluff to participate in Operation Skyhook and had a great time. We brought 17 airplanes to Pine Bluff and got a disappointing second place finish. Congratulations go out to the Bronze Eagles of Texas for winning first place.

The bright spot was when our own Eric ‘E’ Williams won the Top Gun award. Eric participated in all the events contested. All the Redtails are very proud of ‘E’, because he put in the work and practice to out duel everyone who participated. The Redtails look for him to repeat in 2006.

We were disappointed in the scores we got in the Formation Flying competition. Congratulations Bronze Eagles.

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Redtails put on a great airshow at Black historical town

April 30, 2005

The Redtails, for the 3rd year, were requested to perform at Allensworth, a historical black town now state park. The day started with the Redtails gathering at Delano airport which is only 12 miles away from Allensworth. This serves as our place to brief the flight. After discussion, it was agreed that a multi-pass multi-formation show was in order consisting of echelon right, in-trail, v-formation, and a low pass.

As the Redtail group approached show center in the "In-Trail" formation, the people on the ground was in plain view as they looked upward at the sheer number of planes that passed overhead. From the "In-Trail", the formation shifted into the "fingertip" on the next pass. Rudy "Born to Fly" Melson was flight leader and was flying a perfect line for the element. The third and fourth passes, the "V" and echelon right, were then established. After the final pass which ended with all Redtails making an 70degree break left to return to Delano, it was Eric "E" Williams turn to put the cap on the afternoon by continuing the break to fly back around and lowering to 500 agl for a Redtail "Highspeed-Lowpass". After returning back to Delano to debrief, Ron received a call from the events coordinator to express their delight and appreciation once again for a fine demonstration.

On tap for next week, the Redtails puts the final touches on the "Redtail Overcast" and the "Redtail Domination" of Skyhook!

Stay Tuned!!
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Redtails Meet at Hayward

April 23, 2005

Our regular monthly meeting was held at Hayward Airport in 'Cash' Copland's hangar. The weather continued its unusual mix of unstable air residing all over the state, which prevented most of those in Southern California from attending our meeting. Of course the team of Jim, Ron, and Ron braved the IMC elements and came in Jim's pressurized Skymaster. After meeting we broke for lunch and Jim, Ron, and Ron braved another IMC flight home through the elements.

During the meeting the Redtails discussed how we would try to encourage the other chapters in BPA to come back after we hand out some good old whoopin's to them. We also counted up those who were going to fly and those riding. It seems like twenty seven airplanes coming to Pine Bluff is a conservative number. Next week I'll have a better rundown on how we plan to dominate every event.

For those reading this, we are planning to come to Pine Bluff in what we call the 'Redtail Overcast'. I'll let the cat out of the bag by telling out plan to meet at Hot Springs, Arkansas at 1200hrs to form up and make our entrance to Pine Bluff. From Hot Springs we plan to form our 'Redtail Overcast' and fly in formation to Pine Bluff. When we arrive at Pine Bluff we plan a little surprise for the City of Pine Bluff and the surrounding areas.

Those wishing to see this aerial spectacle make your plans to be at Grider Field at 1300hrs, history will be made! We have alerted the press to this historic occasion and they will be waiting. Please make sure the women and young impressionable girls there are restrained behind the fence. Experience has shown in the past they tend to charge out onto the ramp to welcome these studs as they get out of their airplanes after landing and taxiing to the tarmac. The Redtails will as in past years put up a booth to sign autographs and take pictures. This year we plan to sell t-shirts with our autographs on them.

Much more could be mentioned here on our plans but another time. . .
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Redtails have a great Skyhook Practice

April 16, 2005

Ed Dutreaux, Redtail 8

The Redtails this week had yet another new member join the Redtails rolls. Ed Dutreaux brings enthusiasm, race experience and another fast airplane to the Redtails. Ed's Redtails callsign will be Redtail 8. Ed says he can't wait for Skyhook! So can we all!

This weekend another great practice for the mighty Redtails! the Redtails got together in Delano at there airport home. Formation practice was the first order of business with two V-tail Bonanza's and a Cardinal RG, then other teams were formed. The Duke and two Cessna 310's were formed, and last but not least the three experimentals. We expect one more team of 172's.

The next order of business was the Pylon Race practice and orientation. Those who had never participated in a Pylon Race were eased into the race with faster and faster times, then debriefed by videotape. Of course the course record was broken by our newest Redtail Ed Dutreaux. Could he be the ringer at Skyhook?

The balloon burst was practiced with 11" balloons (the ones at Skyhook are 18") everyone was allowed to make as many passes as they wanted. We believe we have discovered why these balloons sometimes go through the prop! the Redtails were able to use our new helium tank and balloon clips for the first time. All the chapters in BPA should use the clips!, they sure save the fingers tying the balloons on those cold days.

We were having so much fun we forgot the flour bomb drop, but we plan to have at least three more sessions before we are victorious at Skyhook.

Rumors:

Three of the teams out on the North East quadrant of our great country are trying to pool there resources to challenge the Redtails. This is not allowed because each chapter has to compete on its own.
The Atlanta team won't show this time for fear the Redtails will have a numbers advantage
The St. Louis chapter has not been practicing and expect to compete with the Redtails!
The Bronze Eaglets Eagles won't have a formation team and have given in to the Redtails and will cheer them on from the tarmac.
Most of the Mooney owners will not be there because their airplanes will be in annual or some other excuse but the thought of competing against the well known Cardinal RG named Tumbleweed, owned and piloted by the best pilot in the Black Pilots of America, known through the world simply as the "Black Ace" Ron Lisberg, has them looking for excuses!

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BPA President visits the Redtails

April 10, 2005

Palmer Sullins, BPA President

This week the Redtails were honored be a visit from the Black Pilots of America's President Mr. Palmer Sullins. President Sullins visited with the Redtails in northern California on Friday Night and Saturday at a meeting of the Bay Area Black Pilots Association.

Another highlight was that the Redtails added another member, BJ McCurdy. BJ a long time member of the Black Pilots of America and the Bronze Eagles of Texas have settled in Studio City, California and joined the Redtails. Thank you Anthony and the Bronze Eagles for BJ, you lost a good one but still on the family of BPA.

I was really nice to here from my good friend and cohort David Alexander of the Bronze Eagles this week. For those that don't know David, he is the Bronze Eagles webmaster and the only man in all of BPA who will spar with my writings, (although Wejay and Ken will come up to fight on occasion). Take a look at David's handiwork on www.bronzeagles.com for examples of his work. As David has said in the past, 'you have to be in the mood to write this stuff and his stuff always gives me motivation!

Oh, Have you heard? The Bronze Eagles are changing their motto from "We Fly" to "We Float" When you look at their website you will see why. They also have on there schedule several practices for Skyhook! You think they hear the Redtails footsteps after they backed into the championship last year at Skyhook?

By now EVERYONE knows that I have guaranteed the Redtails would have twice as many airplanes attending Skyhook than the Bronze Eagles and I have put my personal money on it!

It goes without question no chapter other than the Bronze Eagles will even mount a challenge, so I feel safe in expanding this bet to any chapter foolish enough to accept my wager. While it is most satisfying to out-attend the Bronze Eagles because they only have to fly a couple of hours and at last count they have nine or ten working airplanes, getting them to fly them to Pine Bluff when the weather is less than 50 mile visibility and ceilings are less that 20,000ft and no more than three clouds insight on their route most of them probably won't show.

The Tuskegee chapter will be the only chapter that you can count on to be there, rain or shine the ‘Hawk’ will lead his contention of Bonanza there. The Atlanta Raptors if they do show up will come in on Saturday and put in there usual hardship clause saying they couldn’t find an airplane to rent and want to have Skyhook cater to them because of it!

Next week I will have a rundown on all the chapters one by one to see how they stack up against the mighty Redtails at Skyhook.
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BPA Vice President visits Redtails

April 3, 2005

The Redtails were honored by a visit from the Black Pilots of America's Vice President this week. Mr. Juan Haygood paid a visit to the Redtails as a part of his getting out to know the chapters.   All of you have seen our first page and had to agree with our dominance at Skyhook to get this far, Vice President Haygood came to see how this wining machine will in fact dominate Skyhook. Juan heard about all the good things the Redtails are doing and how they plan to dominate at Operation Skyhook from the Redtails.

During his visit Juan was taken on an aerial tour of the Los Angeles basins by Redtails President Ron Lisberg.

Mr. Haygood had a sneak peak at the inter workings of most successful chapter in our national organization. He got also had a chance to break bread with some of our members but in all honesty when it came to Sushi, Tandoori, and Kim Chee we found out Juan was strictly a meat and potatoes kind of guy!

Sunday some of the Redtails enjoyed and afternoon at Oxnard Airport in Gene "Two Stars" Fussell's hangar while some of the Redtails couldn't get out of bed on Saturday for the Fly-out at Paso Robles airport.

The Redtails apparently have a bunch of Friday night party animals that can't hang on Saturday. We don't like to mention names here but one of the guys nom de plume is 'Cash'.

By now the most of the other Chapters are just digging out of the snow and are franticly playing the game of 'catch up' with the Redtails. The Redtails as usual will have a surprise or two up their sleeves to unveil at Skyhook.

note: JD, we will not be coming to Oxnard again without you submitting that application!
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Redtails fly to Delano to perfect the Flour Bomb Drop

March 26th, 2005

This week the Redtails added another member to it's rolls in the person of David Cunningham. David has a beautiful Piper Warrior which he must wax and polish daily and keep in a hangar.

Beware that Warrior will hurt your eyes if you look at it the wrong way!  David is also the President of the Bay Area Black Pilots Association. Welcome David, David we know will make us proud!

For activities, the Redtails flew to Delano this weekend, our practice field and our regularly scheduled meeting to perfect the mechanisms President Ron (Redtail 1) invented for Flour Bomb Drop.

This item yet to be named will go on sale after Operation Skyhook for all the chapters who don't have these skills. The device intended for Cardinal RG's, Cessna 210's, and low wing wing airplanes will allow those that don't have an operational window to deliver a highly accurate Flour Bomb. The device can also be rigged for delivery of up to 20 bomb's just in case the rules allow saturation bombing!

For the new members attending this was a chance to familiarize themselves with the Pylon Race. Beware Black Pilots of America, the Redtails have a couple of sleepers!
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Redtails hang at Ron's

March 20th, 2004

This week some of the Redtails flew to Whiteman Airport, home base for five of the Redtails. Norse (Redtail 51) dropped by from SNA along with a few drive by's for lunch, While Jim (Redtail 57) practiced closed pattern work on soft-field landing and take-offs. That P337 of Jim's with the Robertson STOL kit is like a wild bucking bronco when that 560hp lifts its nose off in 10ft! Whew! hold on to it Jim! Roll on the power! Between Horace landing his wild stallion RV8 and Jim in the bucking P337 Delano next week should be a blast!
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Redtails Fly to Rideau Winery

March 12th 2005

The Redtails this week turned to an old friend in the person of Iris Rideau and celebrated the Mardi Gras celebration at her Chateau and Winery in Santa Ynez, California. Ms. Rideau uses this day to bring friends to her ranch to taste her wines for the coming year. The Redtails being wine experts since Iris educated us on wines at the Black Pilots of America's national meeting in August of 2003.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect at Santa Ynez. When you were in the sun you were wishing for a hat and while you were in the shade you put on the Redtails jacket! The weather was marginal in both the Bay Area and Northern California and Southern California early in the morning but by noon the fog lifted and broke into a beautiful VFR day. Kudos go out to Stanley for being the go to person at this event.

Everyone is pointing to Operation Skyhook and making plans their plans to dominate again this year in the team competitions. See the picture section for Winery pictures.
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Redtails Fly to Harris Ranch

March 6th 2005

After many weeks of unstable weather the Redtails this week got on the phone Friday night and started talking about how good the weather was going to be on Sunday throughout the state. Word spread like wildfire! The Redtails were looking for a place to fly on Sunday!

After a few phone calls it came to two places, Delano or Harris Ranch. Ozell spoke up and said the Redtails needed to put their grub on at Harris Ranch. 1:pm was chosen as the time and we would use the Red Frequency to communicate.

Well, we did it and a nice contingent of Redtails showed up! And get our grub on we did!  Lead by a 28oz Prime Porterhouse Steak ordered by 'E' to a trendy dinner salad our figure conscious lone female Redtail ordered, we put our grub on!  I can truly say that if you had put a hand between some of our guys and their steak you would have pulled back a nub!

The Flying was a blast with all the Redtails in the air talking and selling wolf tickets about how fast they were going and who out clum' who!

The weather was glass smooth and a twenty knot wind on our nose pushed some of us going and worked against us coming back. It can't get too much better than it was today. I reckon this is the feeling we will have coming from Skyhook with the team trophy this year, but that's another story. Pictures to follow!

Thanks Bronze Eagles for co-hosting "Slapdown". Anthony, the check is in the mail.

Rideau winery Mardi Gras celebration is next Saturday at Santa Inez. Call Ron or Eric for information. Also, the Redtails will open the Moreno Valley Black History Month parade.
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Redtails meet at San Louis Obispo

February 26, 2005

The Redtails meet this weekend at the restaurant overlooking the grounds of the San Louis Obispo airport. The weather was rotten and those that didn't like clouds didn't make it.    Rain, Rain, Go away, come again another day! We Californians are not used to this kind of weather! Normally when we plan a meeting or a fly-out you can put money on the weather being perfect!

We still had enough to have a meeting and get some of the chapter business done, and pick up another quality new member Tom Parker assigned Redtail call sign #4
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Slapdown a Success

February 20th 2005

The weather was horrible in the southwest this weekend but it didn't dampen the sprit of those who attended "Operation Slapdown" Weather took its toll on the number on the members who planned to and were hampered by the infamous Pineapple Express that filled the air with instability and moisture. Those that came were treated to a great weekend of fellowship. The Redtails, able to get there by superior flying skills braved ice, rain, and IMC conditions started with an opening barrage by guaranteeing they would have twice as many airplanes at Skyhook than the Bronze Eagles. President Ron Lisberg put up a bet of a $2 bill to seal it!

The Tuskegee and New Orleans chapter was to first to arrive and put all the other chapters they were the team to beat in the formation competition. Of course if you have only one airplane you have the perfect formation! Our Chairman of the Board John (xx) Hicks boasted he would be the winner of the Formation event and the Prayer Meeting and was willing to put money on it! The Flour Bomb drop will probably be won by the Redtails because the Chief Judge Les Morris was seen huddled in a corner of the hospitality suite with one of the two designated money droppers from the Redtails. I don't think they were discussing the Summer Flight Academy!

The real contest this weekend is when on a trip to the local Wal-Mart Superstore a boot store was spied by Anthony Hall. On the way back to the Wal-Mart we had to stop at the store. This was no ordinary cowboy boot store this is a place where a cheap pair of boots were $1000, yes you read it right $1000! Well Anthony, Jim, and Two Stars went in and came out with five pair! I was asked not to reveal exactly who bought what but $10,000 changed hands! Was this the real start of Slapdown? My boots look better than yours!

They all promised to come back next year and buy more now that they knew the store was so close to the hotel!

The flying trip to the WAR museum was icing on the cake for the weekend. Everyone talked about the airplanes of their era that was on display. Bronze Eagle Jim Brown took a walk down Memory Lane when we came upon the versatile Jeep on display. Everyone also remembered the deuce and a half which could go almost as many places as the Jeep. We all took pictures by the Tuskegee Airmen area they had set up and walked away with a sense of pride.

Between all the meals we shared and the good times watching movies in the hospitality room, smoking cigars in in the lounge, the challenges we were supposed to be doing didn't materialize because we were just having to much fun being with each other! Maybe next year!
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Retails prepare for 'Slapdown'

February 13th 2005

The flyover at Moreno Valley was postponed until March because of the predicted rain that never appeared on Saturday. The Redtails this week were also preparing to make the trip to El Paso for 'Slapdown' We have one eye on the weather and the other on chats and plotters. We might have to dodge some weather getting to El Paso but that never stop us before. Just a warm-up for the cross country to Pine Bluff.

We have also been perfecting our secret handshake only to be used by Redtail on Redtails. Ron (Redtail 32) has now perfected the landings on his new Comanche 250 and has yet to be convince anyone his airplane cruising at 190mph. Jim (Redtail 57) is ready to try his P337 out at 17,500ft in route to El Paso. Those who have not made reservations at the hotel before the 14th of February will have to pay the regular rate, so get your reservations in before Monday.

The Real Estate meetings on Thursday nights have been most productive with Val Verde being the target of most of the activity. Watch us grow!
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Redtails Meet at Delano

February 5th 2005

Terminal Building, Delano Municipal Airport

The Redtails meet at the Delano Airport Saturday and discussed plans for the upcoming 'Slapdown' at El Paso and the flyover this weekend at Moreno Valley.

The weather was as usual this time of year great in half of the state and lousy in the other part. This time the bay area was marginal VFR and the south was severe VFR. The lunch was bread and water Redtail style, Brie and fresh French bread, with Perrier Water.

A list was compiled on how many airplanes were going to 'Slapdown' and it looks like we will win the 'most airplanes' award hands down. As an adjunct those coming to 'Slapdown' will be asked to guess how much fuel they will use to make the trip and how long it will take them to make the trip. We will make up a form to submit before the flight. Everyone will be on his honor to report the actuals. We will award prizes to the top three.

Some of the more sophisticated Redtails will be bringing some of their best cigars with them for a smoke-out at the hotel (Radisson Suites) Sunday.

Don't be surprised if on the flight to and from the museum Sunday a race breaks out on the 17miles between El Paso and 5T6.
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Redtails Cancel Meeting in Jean Nevada

January 31st 2005

The Redtails were foiled by the weather this weekend. Having no permanent place to meet because of our members diverse locations the Redtails must count on our normally great weather and plan on it, yet these last few months Mother Nature has not been her consistent self. Our usual practice location has got a case of Tule Fog and this throws us off our feed.

Having no meeting to fly to this weekend the Redtails worked individually on our spot landing skills. Of course, we meet in our respective areas ,the bay area members at Hayward Airport in Cash's or Ozell's hangar, and the Los Angeles area at Ron's hangar at Whiteman Airport, and at the CBAA's clubhouse at Hawthorne Airport.

Hopefully we our plans are to meet at Delano Saturday for our meeting and get some practice in for the fly-over at the Moreno Valley Black History parade on the 12th of February. We intend to do the fly-over while those not participating in the flying will ride in the parade. At the end of the parade we have a booth to man for the rest of the day. Those flying will be transported by the parade committee to the booth for the Riverside Airport. We are looking to a fun day of pressin' the flesh and turning folks on to aviation.

Our regular Thursday night investment meeting has us looking at LLC's and LLP's for ourselves and in the next few weeks looking to set them up.
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Redtails start the year with another new member.

January 24th 2005

Jarvis DeLaine, Redtail 71

The Redtails added another member this week in Jarvis DeLaine. Jarvis is a Private Pilot with Instrument Rating. He flies mostly C182s, C177s (fixed gear), and Archers out of Hayward and Oakland airports. Welcome Jarvis to the most outstanding chapter in the Black Pilots of America. Our meeting in Jean, NV was postponed one week so everyone was on there own to prepare for our trip to Jean. Jim (Redtail 57) has an encounter (a new pinstripe) with the side of of a hangar in his P337 and has to do some reinforcing on a wingtip and Ron (Redtail 1) found a crack in Tumbleweeds spinner that must be replaced. All the Redtails are pointing towards the El Paso 'Slapdown' next month on Saturday the 19th through the 21st. We are still trying to negotiate an agreement with the hotels and FBO's. The decision will be made and published in next weeks update.
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Redtails go to Ft. Lauderdale for the Board of Directors Meeting

January 17th 2005

The Redtail officers meet this weekend in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for the Black Pilots of America's Board of Directors Meeting. The meeting was held on Saturday morning where the new board was sworn in at the meeting. Each chapter gave a report on their activities for 2004 and their planned activities for 2005. Each committee gave their reports on the planned changes for the next year. Everyone left the meeting with a renewed attitude on how this will be our best year ever. And of course their were the usual parties enjoyed by all who came. Pictures are pending.
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Redtails welcome Bill Bell as Redtail 28

January 9th 2005

The Redtails again gained a new member this weekend and are proud to have Bill as our newest. Bill is in the process of getting his Private license under the tutelage of Capt. Fred Pitcher. Bill is flying about once a week and has about 10 hours in his log book. After speaking to Bill most of the Redtails encouraged him to try and get at least two flights a week under his belt.

Some of the Redtails are preparing to go to the Black Pilots of America's Winter Board of Directors meeting hosted by the South Florida Chapter, we are looking to have a great time there and get a little business out of the way. The festivities start on Thursday and continue through Sunday night.

Flying? well the weather has been unseasonably rainy in California. Ron (Redtail 1) and Jim (Redtail 57) were able to go to Stockton (SCK) for a week of intense training on Jim's Cessna P337. Both came away with stories about their encounters with icing.

We can't wait for better flying weather later this month to fly to our regular meeting at Jean, Nevada.
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California Redtails Start the Year off by Flying

January 2nd, 2005

As planned the Redtails Started the year off by flying. The weather cleared on Saturday and the Redtails took to the sky. Most of us just flew around chasing the cumulus in the air, taking pictures, and generally turning money into noise. Everyone wanted to just get in the air to bring in the New Year. The last week of the 2004 hampered our style but the Saturday as with the Rose Parade it didn't rain on our parade. Listening to a television reporter say it hand not rained the day of the parade for 55 years only proves we live in the land of aviation.

This week the Redtails added another member in Tyrone Brown (Redtail 25). Tyrone is the proud owner of a great looking, heavy liftin' Cessna 182 and is very enthusiastic about flying with us to all the good places on our 2005 Calendar. Welcome aboard Tyrone!
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Eggnog, and That Clear Stuff in a Jar

December 26th 2004

This weekend the Redtails were off doing family and friends but found time to gather at Ron's hangar Sunday afternoon to have an Eggnog Social. What's an Eggnog Social you say? Read on!

Someone (Kurt, Redtail 27) brought by and introduced us to a little sompum' sompum' to spice up the eggnog! It came in a large mason jar with a screw on top that said 'Kerr'. It was clear as water and didn't have much of a smell, but when you tasted it it went down smooth . . . to put it in Cash's words "now that's what I'm talking about!" When you added it to the eggnog it really brought out the egg in nog! Jay, who's birthday was today, tried to convince us that a 50/50 mix of the clear stuff to eggnog was the right formula to make a nice drink, but only he had the gonads to drink that mixture. Happy Birthday Jay!

After sippin' on that spirited eggnog we put on some oldies and started talking about the good music of the 50's and 60's, songs you could slow dance to! When James Browns' 'Please, Please, Please' came on all of us started bragging about how all the girls were drawn to them like lights to a moth, or was that moths to a flame? Who cares, all the songs brought back memories of days of our youth.

The eggnog social started around 1pm and by 7pm everyone was warm and toasted toasty. All in all, the Redtails consumed a bottle of Rum, a bottle of Jack, and a bottle of Tanquray, and two gallons of eggnog, not to mention that clear stuff.

The only Redtails doing any flying this weekend were Horace, Jackie, Ron E, and Rudy. As usual Ron E. gat his 190knots indicated out of his Comanche back and forth to Las Vegas, making it to North Las Vegas in 1hr 10min. and slipping it back to WHP under the overcast.

Another great Redtail week.
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Redtails Fly to Borrego Springs for Balloon Bursting

December 18th, 2004

The Redtails this weekend flew to Borrego Springs for their monthly meeting and balloon bursting practice. Late Friday night our regular practice site, Delano, California was socked in with the Tule Fog phenomena that comes to the San Joaquin Valley this time of year. The Board of Directors got together and chose Borrego Springs as an alternative. As it turned out it couldn't have been a better place, although it shuts down in the summer because of the oppressive heat in the desert its a very nice place in the winter months. We now have a secondary place to go when the weather gets funky in the San Joaquin Valley.

We didn't have the usual strong turnout of airplanes because of the time of the year when everyone was doing the Christmas thing. As you can see by the pictures we had a great group. As usual most of the members were there at 10am sharp CP time (12 noon) and we got a late start because we had to have lunch at the restaurant on the field.

We didn't start until 1:30pm! much to the chagrin of President Ron, who was livid by then.

Those who had not done a balloon burst were the first in the air, and after a few pointers from the ground they started to smack the balloons with regularity. Rudy (Redtail 26) was first and after missing five or six he hit four in a row. He was so pumped he made a victory low pass in his airplane.

Xavier was next to go up and after one miss those young eyes didn't miss again, pretty good for a Redtail who had never do this before. He also came back to the observation area pumped.

Ron (Redtail 32) was up next with his new steed the Comanche 250 he just purchased a few months ago and he set the standard for all of us by going four for four! plus he had never done this before. That Comanche was glistening in the dessert sun as he made his low pass while the balloon crew of Alonso (Redtail 54) changed Helium bottles. By the way Alonso showed us a new way to tie the balloons and the balloon crew was on its job for this event.

Last to take the challenge of those who had not don this before was Jim (Redtail 57) flying in Ron's Cardinal RG went three for three. Jim didn't want to stop but we had to do some business for the club so he was forced to land. I don't know if it will be cheating when Jim gets to Skyhook with the P337 and enters the balloon burst with that push / pull arrangement, if the front on don't get it the rear one will!

Our perennial champion at balloon bursting 'E' took to the air in Cash's Bonanza and was just dialing that Bonanza with the ignorant electric prop when we when we called him down to give pointers to the new guys. I'm sure by Skyhook he will have dialed the Bonanza in and be on top again.

Another highlight this week was another member joining the Redtails. Henry Roy, a long standing fixture at Compton Airport joined the ranks of the Redtails under the arm twisting of President Ron. Henry brings a ton of knowledge and the can do spirit to the Redtails as evidenced by his Cessna 175 that thinks its a four place Cessna 206. Henry has been tinkering with it for the last couple of years, putting in a new panel and experimenting with his own speed mods and they show and know one in the chapter wants to get into a climbing contest with him. I believe he must be feeding that thing laughing gas. We purposely drew his attention away from his airplane one day and we tore his airplane up looking for the gas bottle and the go button but I haven't found it yet. We know he is doing something and he says its completely stock but . . .
Pictures can be seen at our picture site and video at our Video site, take a look!
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And the Fleet Grows Again

December 12th, 2004

Wow, what a weekend. The Redtails after meeting with the California Black Aviation Association in Southern California in Compton, California and the Bay Area Black Pilots Association in Northern California in Hayward California, the Redtails flew to San Louis Obispo where they meet to break some bread in the Spirit of San Louis restaurant's overlooking the airport. Everyone arrived about the same time to throw the controller into a fit in the air and on the ground. Needless to say, we strained the airports transit parking area and the last airplane ("Born to Fly", Rudy's Cessna 172, with a fresh Instrument ticket) had to park in an overflow area and hike to the restaurant. As usual, Rudy brought a bevy of ladies with him.

Editors note: It was with much pride to see that many Redtails at Harris Ranch three weeks ago and this week at San Louis Obispo. At Harris Ranch the weather keep most of the Southern California Redtails at home while at this weeks destination the weather keep most of the Northern California members grounded. When the Planets, Moon, and the Sun are all lined up and we are able to have great weather in all of California, Nevada, and Washington State it will be evident to all the other chapters of the Black Pilots of America! that the Redtails are truly shine as biggest and baddest!

Look out BPA's Operation Skyhook, the Redtails are coming. In numbers!

Back to the fly-out, after a great lunch everyone left the restaurant at one time and caused a log jam departing from the transit parking area and the airport with everyone requesting a downwind departure to the south. It certainly turned some heads when the 21 of us left at one time.

Sunday, Milton (Redtail 72) announced he had purchased a Midget Mustang and put everyone on notice that his was the airplane to beat in the Pylon race this year. Milton now joins Redtails Horace and Cash who own a traveling airplane and a sport airplane. More next week . . .
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Party, Party, Party!

December 4th, 2004

Its that time of year again, Christmas Party season. This weekend saw the Redtails partying in the bay area at the Bay Area Black Pilots Association on Saturday and with the California Black Aviation Association on Sunday. And party they did! BABPA held there party Saturday night at at His Lordship's restaurant in the Berkley Marina with a wonderful view of San Francisco. After dinner and talks by Rob Lee on the ups and downs of the Airlines as a pilot and Cash (Redtail 46) speaking on his 30plus years in general aviation the party was on! With Rob Lee DJ'ing the party went on to the wee hours of the night and EVERYONE had a great time.

In Southern California the CBAA held their Christmas at the Proud Bird Restaurant overlooking the approach end of LAX's runways. This was the largest turnout in the history of CBAAI with over 140 members and their guests. Several of CBAAI's partner organizations officers were invited to speak and tell about their organizations relationship with the CBAAI. After the speaking program was over the guests enjoyed dancing, to the DJ'ing of Slick Rick (Redtail 46), dominoes, bid whiss, and the sport of trying to convince wives into flying with them. Guin (Redtail 1F) was called on by several of the members to help plead their case.

Pictures of both of the parties are coming later this week.

Flying activities for those Redtails in Northern California were experiencing IMC weather Saturday, the Redtails in Southern California experienced VFR weather and on Saturday took advantage of it to fly to the Camarillo Airport for the Tri-Tip lunch special they have on Saturdays.

Horace (Redtail 33), who had gone to Texas to pick up his new airplane (RV8) gat as far as Gallup, New Mexico and was shut down by weather. by the way the only way into or out of Gallup is the Greyhound bus. The forecast for this week looks about the same until Friday when he will finally fly it home. To quote Horace, I've got the landings down to two bumps now" and he reports 200mph indicated on 8gph on his first flight!
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Congratulations Rudy (Redtail 26)

November 27th, 2004

Congratulations are in order for Rudy "Born to Fly" Melson aka Redtail 26. Last Friday, Rudy passed his Instrument check ride after scoring 98 on his written exam a couple of months ago. Rudy has been flying only a couple of years. This writer can remember two years ago Rudy was having trouble landing the Cessna 152.   Since then, Rudy has purchased a Cessna 172 and put on about 400hrs on it and now an instrument rating. He has been busy! Rudy knows that anything he puts his mind to is possible. He has also raised the bar for those in the Redtails and BPA who do not yet have an instrument rating to get one. What's next Rudy?

This week the Redtails were handcuffed by weather that favored Instrument Ratings. Weather in the form of precipitation, winds, and low ceilings is not something the Redtails are used to. With 325 days a year VFR those other 40 days is normally where we get some serious hangar flying in, with the rain, cold, and wind this Thanksgiving weekend most of us talked to each other on the phones, partially because who wants to go into a hangar that's 50 degrees.

While we didn't do much flying last week, we were busy adding features to our website. Aaron (Redtail 68) had taken some videos of one of our practices at Delano Airport and Xavier (Redtail 99) took those videos and put them to our theme song and pushed them up to our website. Xavier has also pushed up to the website one of Rudy's flights from Hawthorne to Whiteman to Hawthorne airports. The files are big and if you don't have a broadband connection it takes about 30 minutes to download it. Once you download it, you can play it over and over. Then if you like, you can save them to your computer often. Check it out.
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Emergency Fly-out called by President

November 20th, 2004

Last week some of the members were feeling a little on the down side and started complaining about not flying enough over the last few weeks so President Ron declared an emergency and called for an emergency fly-out. The emergency fly-out is not taken lightly by our members and all the members resources were marshaled to respond to the emergency Saturday at Harris Ranch (308).

The weather turned a little iffy on Friday night and we wondered if the weather again would bit us again for November but Saturday turned out to be great weather for those in Northern California but not so good south of the San Fernando Valley in Southern California which keep about Twelve of our airplanes on the ground. Those in the south that went up to take a peek were turned back as soon as they got to the southern entrance to the San Joaquin Valley just north of Bakersfield and morning fog in the Los Angeles Basin. The San Joaquin Valley was covered with a layer of undercast 100 miles by 50 miles wide. Unbeknown to those who took a look and turned back Harris Ranch was on the extreme northern end of the cloud cover.

Three airplanes however did take a look brave the gloom and doom forecasts and were determined to get there. Jim (Redtail 57) in his new Cessna Skymaster, the 'Blade' piloted by Norse (Redtail 51) and as always dependable Horace in his Bonanza. When Jim, Norse, and Horace arrived the overcast was just breaking up. Of course, Jim with passengers Ron (Redtail 1) and Tim (Redtail 89) had is Skymaster up at 15,500ft to check out his pressurization system out and watch the turbochargers make sea level power.

As planned the sky was full of Redtails at 12 noon, a real Redtail overcast! Harris Ranch, famous for its Prime Meat was not the only reason for the Redtails emergency Fly-out on Saturday. The primary reason was to fly then do the serious fellowshipping with each other when we get together. Of course, a tradition was continued by ordering a round of Mountain Oysters. As the plate of these tender morsels were passed around every Redtail indulged in this epicureans delight then standing with a muscle man pose. 'E' had to be coursed to show his true Redtail colors but he pulled one down after much ado! There are no 'Girlie Men' in the Redtails!

The pilots from the north filled in the reservation we had for 30 people. We filled up the tarmac with Redtail airplanes! Cash, Lincoln, 'E', Setrige, Ozell, Darrell, with guests Oscar, Dave and Dick. Darrell brought his son and soon to be co-pilot D.J. (another ten years), Ozell brought two rising stars from the Summer Flight Academy, Eric brought Leslee in Cash's Bonanza to overload the ramp at Harris Ranch.

Operation Skyhook was the topic of discussion at the lunch table and how to best our showing in the competitions. As you can glean from the pictures we had a great time! for more pictures see Picture

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Banner Week for Redtails

November 14th, 2004

Wow, the Redtails had a banner week for new members.  Three new members this week!  Alonzo, Setrige, Bakari joined after watching the Redtails selling wolf tickets on how good they were and being the dominate chapter in the Black Pilots of America organization.

The Redtails enjoyed near perfect weather and flew to Napa, Hawthorne, and French Valley this weekend. Great flying weather was the rule all over the state. Redtail members also attended the Bay Area Black Pilots Association in Hayward, California and the California Black Aviation Association in Compton, California this weekend.
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Horace Buys a RV8

November 6th, 2004

Congratulations go out to Horace (Redtail 33) bought his 38th airplane last week. The airplane is an RV8. This will make number 38 for Horace. As Horace put it, he needs a sport airplane to go along with his traveling airplane. Horace's mantra will now be thirty-eight airplanes, eleven twins, and seven new from the factory. Horace expects to take delivery by the first of next month when his hangar is finished. Pictures will be on the way!

Activities this week saw the Redtails flying to the Chino Airport in Southern California to watch the flying demonstration of the Northrop Flying Wing. After a Lunch at Flow's the restaurant on the field we left for our home airports.

Much to our chagrin we didn't have any new members this week after averaging one a week for the past few weeks. Maybe next week!
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Redtails meet at the Airtel Plaza Hotel to set 2005 Calendar

October 30th, 2004

The Redtails decided it was time to do some work on it calendar for 2005 so we could hit the floor running in 2005. The lunch meeting was at the Airtel Plaza Hotel ( Where the BPA Summer meeting was in August 2003) and the calendar was established. The calendar is aggressive on flying and seeing California.

Milton (Redtail 72) suggested an four or five day extended weekend air tour of California, Ron (Redtail 1) reported on a repeat of last years fly-in meet with the Bronze Eagles of Texas in the El Paso, and other suggested on repeating our successful events of 2004. We are looking forward to combining some of our events with some of the California Black Aviation Association and the Bay Area Black Pilots events to round out our schedule.

The Redtails also welcomed there newest member Ade Gordon to the chapter. Ade heard about the Redtails at the AOPA Convention in Long Beach where President Ron nabbed him walking around the convention floor. See Ade's pronounced (Ah'-day) member page for a glimpse of this young mans power resume'.
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Redtails Gather After AOPA Convention

October 22nd, 2004

The Redtails Gathered at the Compton Airport after a day at the AOPA Convention to relax, unwind, and talk about all the new and wonderful things we saw and purchased at the convention, and enjoy the Redtail fellowship. Dinner was catered in from Woody's Bar-B-Que and Xavier (Redtail 99) provided the drinks, and Stanley (Redtail 12) provided the Ripple Champagne. Stanley's disclaimer for the champagne was that it was a step up from Ripple, but he had it in his car for just such an occasion. James Martin said the champagne was a step up for him, and Darryl Mack told us about the pear he bought at the convention for $1.80. He said for $1.80 he ate the seeds and the stem.

Rudy (Redtail 26) quizzed us on intercept procedures to make us look bad in front of his date! When she came into the room we all arose the gentlemen we were and she threatened to call for back-up, which would have been find with us. She didn't have a watch and we asked Rudy what happened to those eight women's watches he had at the Compton Air Fair.

"Slick" Rick (Redtail 44) has donated a copy machine to the Redtails. Rumor: The Redtails might soon have a clubroom to put it in! Stay tuned!
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Redtail Fleet Grows Again

October 22nd 2004

The rich get richer. The Redtails again gained two new members this week. Milton Ames (Redtail 72) a long time member of the Black Pilots of America Re-Upped to the Redtails. Milton, is a former United States Air Force Pilot who flew fighters and cargo. More on Milton can be found on is members page.

Kurt Barkley (Redtail 27) also was a pilot for the United States Navy and you can also read more about Kurt on his members page.

The Redtails continue to grow seemingly every week with quality members. With all this talent the rest of the chapters will have to bring there "A" game to Pine Bluff Arkansas next year just to be able to land at the same airport as the Redtails!
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Redtail Fleet Grows Again

October 3rd 2004

This week the Redtail membership and fleet grew again by one. Rayvon Williams became our newest member as Redtail 3. Ravon a CFII and Ground Instructor also brings along a 1965 S35 'V' Tail Bonanza. Welcome Ravon to the premier chapter of the Black Pilots of America!

This weeks flying activity saw some of our Redtails flying to Hayward (HWD) to break bread with their Redtail brothers at the Hayward Airport. After lunch we (Randy, Eric, Ozell, Ron, Jim) slid back to Ozell's hangar and meet with Oscar who was washing that pretty Comanche of his, plus Don, and Emmett. A fun time was had by all and the weather was perfect. Horace (Redtail 33), was there in the morning but bolted home to Las Vegas before the onslaught of members arrived at Hayward. The topic of discussion was how to get together this month at the AOPA convention.

Another great Redtail Weekend!
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Redtails participate in the 11th annual Compton Air Fair

September 27th 2004

This weekend saw the Redtails participating in the Compton Air Fair. Since most our members hold a membership in the California Black Aviation Association (CBAA) we were involved in most of the activities.

Friday night some of the members repositioned the airplanes to Compton Airport in case the weather turned to coastal fog as it does this time of the year. Some came Friday night to brainstorm to see what details we had missed, and began to set up for Saturdays Air Fair and take care of any last minute details that needed to be done. Afterwards we had dinner catered to us in the terminal building and the usual hangar flying went on until late in the evening. One member observed that we had more members there than at some of our meetings!

Saturday, bright and early members showed up to man the various jobs we had and take care of the million odds and ends jobs to be done with Jackie (Redtail 42) ramroding the show. Members flew their airplanes in and started whipping on them to get any dust or heaven forbid OIL on the bottom. By the 0900 opening of the gates everything was in order and everyone were standing tall.

The Redtails flying squad were a part of the opening ceremonies by doing an over fly of the field, then slowly circling over the field in our "Redtail Orbit" while on the ground Wil the "Country Boy" gave a tear jerking tribute to those silent CBAA members as well as the silent Tuskegee Airman who went on this year to fly with the Lord. Spectators to the tribute say that there was not a dry eye on the field estimated to be between 7000 to 8000 children. Next year parents and grown-ups will have to be escorted and accompanied by a child!

This year was the largest Air Fair of all and the largest Black sponsored Air Fair in the world! Highlights of the air portion of the Air Fair featured fly-overs by; the California Redtails Formation Team, US Navy's F18s, The Comanche Boys, Navion Squadron, a F51, and a DC3. Helicopter demonstrations by the US Coast Guard, Los Angeles City and County Fire departments, and Robin Petgrave's Tomorrow's Museum of Flying.

Listen to CBAA's tribute given by Will "Country Boy" Hardy while the Redtails flew over the field in our Redtail Orbit.   Click Here > CBAA Tribute

Stay tuned for more pictures, videos and sounds of the Compton Air Fair SOON!

On Sunday, the Redtails were invited to a "Treasure Hunt" put on by the Latin American Pilots Association (aplaus). A great time was had figuring out the treasure maps to the different airports. They always have fun events and we love to join them. Thanks APLAUS for inviting us again.
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Another Airplane Joins the Fleet

September 19, 2004

Another airplane Joins the Redtail Fleet and a guarantee meet. At Skyhook Horace Noble (Redtail 33) challenged Jim Reynolds (Redtail 57) to buy an aircraft before Skyhook 2005. Jim made good on the challenge and Guaranteed he would have an airplane by Skyhook 2005. Jim purchased a Skymaster P337 last week. Jims Skymaster has all the usual goodies with the addition of a Robertson STOL kit. Not only can it make some serious 200+ speed but it can fly at 50mph! May Jim have many happy hours in it.

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Hanging out at 'Two Stars" Hangar

September 11, 2004

Trying to beat two weeks of oppressive heat in the inland empires, some of the Redtails meet at Oxnard Airport, home of Gene his 'Two Stars'. It was in the high seventies and what a relief it was. Gene had come to the airport to sweep his hangar out but he made the mistake of opening his hangar door. To those that have hangars you know what that brings, an open invitation for a serious hangar flying session with everyone welcome to drop by. Well that's what happened, and we had a great time. We discussed and solved all the world's problems, bragged about all the airplanes we had flown and then got down to some real Cigar smoking.

Before you knew it it was five o'clock and it was time to get back and we broke up the session. As I have said in the past, it didn't get much better than this! Thanks Gene for a great time.

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Redtail Meeting

August 28, 2004

The Redtails meet at Ron Lisberg’s hangar today. As usual, the meeting started at 1300hrs sharp ‘CP’ time. Ron, Cash, and Horace gave a report on what went on at the General Meeting in Houston two weeks before and our calendar was discussed in detail for the rest of the year.

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Oceano Campout Fly-in

August 21 - 22 2004

Pismo Beach, California - The Redtails, California Black Aviation Association, and the Bay Area Black Pilots meet at Oceano this weekend for a weekend of campfires, camping and fun. Those that came got to practice their short field landing techniques on Oceano’s 2300ft runway.
Although not as many showed up as in past years those that came had a great time. Some drove up in motorhomes, some drove up in cars and pitched tents, and Jackie and Stan stayed in Stan’s summer beach house. On Saturday night, the campfire was roaring until 0300hrs. Sunday morning Guin provided a breakfast of Grits, Eggs, Sausage, Bacon, and biscuits for the campers before we broke camp and went home.

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Houston BPA General Membership Meeting

August 12 -14 2004

Houston, Texas - The Black Pilots of America held there General Membership meeting the weekend of August 12 – 14 and was well represented by the California Redtails. The host chapter The Bronze Eagles really put on the dog for a fantastic fast-paced weekend. We arrived on Thursday afternoon, and were quickly whisked off to our hotel to check in, and were taken to Kemah, Tx to enjoy the wonderful broadwalk and to have a very nice dinner.

After dinner, we walked over to the boat slips where we got on a flotilla of boats owned by the Bronze Eagles and cruised around for an evening ride back to the hotel slips. After docking, we went to the hospitality room set up and manned by several Bronze Eagles. The bartender (Ray Holmes) challenged us to name a drink he did not have and if he didn’t have it would appear the next night.

Friday was a fun filled day of shopping for the ladies and a tour of Houston’s athletic venues for the guys. Friday night it was yet again another dinner at one of Galveston’s fine eateries were we took over the whole second floor dinning area. After dinner most of us wound up at the hospitality room enjoying Ray Holmes well equipped bar. (“Ray you are the best”)

Saturday we amassed for the general membership meeting and found out the election results. Congratulations to all the new officers.

We walked down to the docks at the hotel and boarded a 100ft plus Yacht for a great dinner cruise. The food was delicious and the “church service” after dinner was a blast. The night had a thousand stars and after dinner, everyone worked it out by dancing on the upper deck. James Miller and one of the crew won the spotlight dance and everyone else participated in the “Soul Train Line”

We all said our good bys in Ray’s room (the hospitality Suite) knowing we would be leaving the next day. The Bronze Eagles lead by Anthony did a great job of quality entertainment for us all. They set the bar pretty high for the rest of the meeting locals.

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James Martin's New Cardinal RG

August 1, 2004

James Martin (Redtail 37) this weekend took delivery of his Cardinal RG. After many years of indecision James (with the approval of Jean) bit the bullet a through down for the Cardinal RG. Sunday Jim went up with Ron Lisberg and got familiar with his new stead. Jim hopes to have his insurance requirements in a few weeks and be ready for the fall flying season with the Redtails. It will probably be a few weeks before James and Jean can wipe the smiles off there faces. On his first flight in it Sunday James a former Mooney lover saw his Cardinal do 162 mph true sipping 10 gph at 23 squared.

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Redtails Meet at Delano for Pylon Racing Clinic

July 24, 2004

As usual, the Redtails got off to a late start wanting to talk more than fly in the hot sun. Most of us live in the coastal areas of the state and have to contend with the morning fog burning off before we can get off the ground.

By 1100hrs, most of us had landed and were ready for lunch, which was preceded by Brie and French bread. While Norse (Redtail 51 warmed up the Bar-B-Que from Phillips, the day’s events were discussed.

Several of the new members were taken up to take some tries at bursting balloons. After a couple of tries, all of them hit a balloon. Aaron (Redtail 17), flying with Ron in his Tumbleweed, hit one balloon after two misses and that made his whole day.

Cash (Redtail 46) brought as our guest Ed in his RV4 and our speaker to talk about Pylon Racing. Ed races his Cassett at Reno every year and Cash is his crew chief this year. Well, Ed gave a great talk about Pylon Racing and then proceeded to show us some of the points he made around the Pylon course. Ed as it turns out is just a regular guy who loves to fly just like all of us, but boy can he fly that RV4 of his. Ed made two low passes that were spectacular followed by Cash in his RV6 (WG) at top speed. Boy Cash's engine sounds good at speed. It is Cash's job to recruit Ed for the Redtails by Skyhook.

After the talk and demo by Ed all the Redtails went up and were able to lower there times around our pylon course at Delano, some by as much as 6 seconds! Harold (Redtail 20) made his first appearance at Delano and proceeded to show us what a F33 Bonanza could do in the hands of a real pilot.

As usual Horace (Redtail 33) put on his stellar Pylon performance making the Bonanza do things its not suppose to do, and Ron (Redtail 1) improved his time significantly around the course. Randy (Redtail 50) brought his Cessna 310 but declined to race it fearing the wings might fall off! Norse tried the Balloon burst for the first time and when the 'Blade' hit its first balloon Norse retired. Of course with that 82" propeller all you have to do is be in the vicinity to nab a balloon.

The weather was hot (93f) but our Redtail tent was able to keep all of us cool and in the shade with a breeze blowing. But with all the new members we are getting we will have to think about buying a larger tent!

Another great flying day month for the Redtails

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Redtails meet in Hayward to Party and discuss flying schedule

July 10,2004

The Redtails gathered this weekend in Oakland and Hayward California to attend the annual July 4th party given by Redtail Darrell Edwards and his wife Millicent. Redtails flew in from all over the state to this must come social event of the season the annual Edwards Fourth of July party

The food, the live jazz, and fellowship were as in the past years “prime cut!” Set in the mountains of Oakland overlooking the Bay area. Some of the members from areas like Las Vegas use to night time temperatures of 90 degrees plus were not expecting that “Bay Area” cooling.

Hayward Airport the home airport of several Redtails was the headquarters airport and all spent Saturday night at the La Quinta airport hotel. The weather was chamber of commerce perfect for the weekend.

After the party, some of the Redtails took advantage of being in the Bay area and went to Oakland’s Jack London Square to listen to more live Jazz preformed by Spiro-Gyro.

On Sunday morning, all the members and meet for breakfast in Hayward then migrated over to Cash’s hangar to inspect his RV6 and lunch after a lively meeting to fix our flying schedule for the rest of the year.

After the meeting and on the way home some took the great weather to take the bay tour, an air tour that takes in the marvelous views of the San Francisco Peninsula at 1500’

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Redtails fly-over Allensworth

June 19, 2004

On Saturday the Redtails participated in a fly-over at Allensworth State Park a state park that is being restored to its roots around 1901. The town was the first Black township in California, and every year celebrates Juneteenth with visitors coming from all over California to this central California location.

The Redtails meet in Delano California which is about ten miles east and briefed for the fly-over lead by Cash Copeland (Redtail 46). Those participating in the fly-over were Norse Gaines with his 'Blade' flying the second element lead with, Eric 'E" Williams with his Cessna 182 in the '3' position, and Ron Lisberg with 'Tumbleweed' in the '2' position, Cash Copeland lead the first element with his 'WG' RV6, Ozell Austin flying the '2' position, and Otto Hooks flying the '3' spot.

The fly-over featured our new 'Redtail Wheel Starburst' formation maneuver. The Starburst will be part of our formation routine being designed by the formation team. It will be used in the future to dominate Operation Skyhook for years to come.

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Much needed Rest

June 12,2004

After Skyhook in Pine Bluff two weeks ago the Redtails took a two week sabbatical from flying. Most of us put at least a hard 25 hours on our airplanes. This weekend we were back at it going the CBAAI picnic at Hawthorne airport and the to BABPA meeting in Hayward.

Our debrief for Operation Skyhook will be this Saturday with all expected to attend and go over the flying, and competition that took place at Skyhook. New pictures from Skyhook can be found at our pictures site www.pbase.com/calif_redtails.

The Redtails are also getting ready for our annual fly-over at Allensworth State Park to celebrate Juneteenth.

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Operation Skyhook

June 1, 2004

Pine Bluff, Arkansas - The weekend was spent in Pine Bluff for Operation Skyhook. From Wednesday 26th of May to Monday the 31st of May.   Although this years Skyhook had more airplanes than ever the Redtails put up a dominate presence even though our signature events were not contested. The Pylon Race was and still is in dispute because of the handicapping, and the Cross Country Proficiency competition was bogus at best with the day late entries. The Formation Flying proved we need to practice rather than just put three airplanes and hope for the best. All in all we had a great time even if Skyhook only had the three competitions. Those chapters who won trophies know that their victories are shallow with only three events to score in. Our congratulations go out to the Bronze Eagles and the Atlanta Raptors.

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Elections

May 26, 2004

   Pacoima, California - This weekend was the Redtails regular meeting, on the fourth Saturday of the month. The meeting was held at Ron’s Hangar at Whiteman Airport. We discussed the upcoming fly-out to Pine Bluff, Arkansas for the Black Pilots of America’s Operation Skyhook, and to held elections for the 2004 – 2006 officers. The talented Guin Lisberg (Redtail 11) catered lunch.

Determined to have the cleanest and best-looking aircraft in Pine Bluff the Redtails got together at Whiteman Airport on Sunday and had an aircraft detailing party. The airplanes were washed and polished top to bottom and wingtip to wingtip, and in and out in preparation for our appearance at Skyhook.

The newly elected officers for the years 2004 through 2006 will be:

President – Ron Lisberg (Redtail 1)
Vice President – Eric Williams (Redtail 66)
Secretary – Norse Gaines (Redtail 51)
Treasurer – W.J. ‘Crook’ Parker (Redtail 13)
Operations Officer – Xavier Marshall (Redtail 99)
Chief Pilot – South – Norse Gaines (Redtail 51)
Chief Pilot – North – Cash Copeland (Redtail 46)
Chief Designer – Art Bibbs (Redtail 15)
Chapter Representative – Horace Noble (Redtail 33)
Chapter Representative – Cash Copeland (Redtail 46)
Sergeant of Arms – Ron Jenkins (Redtail 88)
Parliamentarian – Rick O’Riley (Redtail 44)
Safety Officer – North – Ozell Austin (Redtail 55)
Safety Officer – South – Jay Ferrell (Redtail 80)
Chief Chef – Guin Lisberg – (Redtail 11)

An accumulative 250 years of experience flying airplanes!
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Tune and Shine Week

May 16, 2004

This weekend the Redtails spent most of there time doing maintenance on there trusty steeds. Airplanes in the north gathered at the wash rack at Hayward Airport and made a party out of it (anything to throw a party for) Making sure the bottoms are clean and spotless, fuselage and wings waxed, and windows cleaned inside and out. With flights of ten hours or so each way, we will put approximately 25 hours or more on each airplane, so all the regular 25-hour oil changes and maintenance item must be checked before the trip.

The Redtails are planning to meet at Ron’s hangar this Saturday May 22, 2004 for our regular monthly business meeting to hold elections and solidify our plans for Skyhook.

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Meetings and Flying

May 8, 2004

California - Today, the Redtails were part of meetings with the local black flying club in Northern and Southern California areas:

SF Bay Area - Redtail members in NoCal were part of a meeting with BABPA, the Bay Area Black Pilots Assn, in Hayward, Ca. The meeting was very productive and consumed the better part of 2hrs of the day. Afterwards, the two organizations flew to Sacramento's Executive Airport for some lunch. Even though the flight was only 58nms, it was a site for all on the ground enroute as the Redtails showed members of BABPA the art of formation flying. For most of the trip, the flight was conducted in a 7-ship V-formation until about 12 miles out when the formation broke into an echelon-right and entered left downwind runway 20. The airport's restaurant, The Aviator, served up some good food for the hungry flyers. After lunch, the crews loaded up and headed back for Hayward. This time, the flight made up of Bonanza, Cessna182, Cessna twin, 2-C172, 1 homebuilt, and a Comanche tried their hand at basic navigation by tracking the SAC VOR outbound to SUNOL Intersection with a turn inbound on HWD's LOC 28L approach. All went well....and fun!

Compton - Redtail members in SoCal were part of a meeting with CBAA, the California Black Aviation Assoc, in Compton, Ca. The groups held a 2.5hr meeting that concluded with a discussion if their flight to Corona, Ca. Redtail President Ron Lisberg gave a briefing on the flight. The planes, all 12 of them, took off in 7-10sec intervals and joined up in the air in a 3-plane cluster over the LA basin! Corona airport onlookers were taken by the numbers of planes that were coming in for landing into the field. Once landed and taxied at transient parking, some of the locals came over and welcome the crews and to express their delight seeing the groups. The jaunt out of Corona was with the various PICs taking off and headed back to their perspective home airports in the surrounding LA area!

All told...it was a beautiful day in sunny California!!
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Delano Practice Session

May 1-2, 2004

Delano, California - The weekend the Redtails meet at Delano Airport for their for there final tune-up for Operation Skyhook. Eighteen Redtail airplanes and three guests’ airplanes showed up to have a weekend of serious practice.

The practice was suppose to start at 1100rs and follow a rigid schedule but two hours was spent slapping hands and sitting around the tables munching on French bread and brie’ (that’s a spreadable soft cheese for you Texans). At 1300hrs, we started with the pylon racing. The object was to see which technique got us fastest around the course. Trying different bank angles around the pylons turned up some very interesting results. Every Redtail reduced their time going around the pylons just by applying what we worked out in banking and power setting session.

After every one got a chance to do some laps with our pylon expert we sat down and had our de-briefing on what we had learned while Norse (Redtail 51) whipped up a batch of ribs and hotlinks on the Bar-B-Que. Norse just might have put himself in position for another office other than being the Chief Pilot for the South!

The rest of the afternoon was spent briefing on the cross-country portion of Skyhook, were we took charts, and latitude / longitude information worked out courses, times and fuel consumption. Eleven of the airplanes went out into the heat, practiced the cross-country techniques while the rest cleaned up the area, and prepared to go two the hotel.

While some of the Redtails stayed the night in the hotel, others flew home for the night to return Sunday. Those of us that stayed for the night in the hotel taught the rookies how to sell wolf tickets, looked at some video tapes of some of the previous years Skyhooks and planned our skyhook strategy until the wee hours of the night.

We were back on the flight line at Delano at 1100hrs to do some of the theory on the Balloon Burst we had been talking about. Our sample airplane was “E”,s Cessna 182, where we first worked of the speeds, distance, and altitudes. After many passes where we tried varying speeds, altitudes and distances we were able to consistently put our props on the balloons. We then varied all the different data points and were able to lock in the procedures. We then went out using this information and in different airplanes and were able to get on the balloons with a vengeance. At one point, “E” (Redtail 66)got thirteen in a row using our newfound speeds and altitudes.

After spending most of the afternoon working on the data for the balloon burst everyone migrated over to the shade tents we put up in the grass and as usual started talking about airplanes and didn’t get to the spot landing workout!

After a siesta, we had a chalk talk about formation flying and discussed the formations we would fly at Skyhook. By then everyone was flown out, and we decided to stop for the day, pack up, and go home.

Feeling cocky about our newfound data this weekend, we made a mass Redtail formation take-off. What a sight to see. It reminded me this writer of what it must have been like with the real Redtails going into battle, but this time going into battle with our brothers.

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Meeting Postponed

April 25, 2004

It seems like when we decided to postpone the Saturdays meeting the Redtails scattered everywhere this weekend. Our normal meeting date was postponed one week so we could go to Delano this Saturday to practice our "Skyhook" teams. Some Redtails went to the Las Vegas Jazz Festival, one to the New Orleans Jazz Festival, some to the Laughlin Bikers “River Run” and some went to have a $100 Hamburger at Oxnard Airport in Oxnard California were we meet JD the controller at Oxnard who joined us at our lunch table for awhile. The weather was great this weekend allowing us to hit all the points of the compass this weekend.

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Rideau Winery

April 17, 2004

   Solvang, California - This weekend The California Redtails traveled to Solvang, California to spend a day of Jazz, Blues, Good Food, and Fine Wines at the Rideau Winery. The Rideau Winery is one of only a few Black owned wineries in the country and certainly one of the quality vineyards in the world. The owner Iris Rideau, if you will remember gave a lecture on wines at our August 2003 General Meeting in Van Nuys. Iris in short order has become one of the finest vintners in the world. The celebration at her winery was a belated Madi Gras of sort with all the trappings of fine Louisiana Cuisine and music.

The weather in Las Vegas, and Southern California was uncommonly overcast with rain and winds. The weather in the Bay Area was clear and unlimited.

With the weather so bad in the Southern California Jim, Redtail 58 met us at the airport and we all jumped in his ‘Gator and Jim drove to Solvang reminiscing about the farmland that is now covered with concrete.

A very good time was had by all, dancing in the Second Line, and enjoying each others company, as you can see by the pictures we took.

Pictures can be seen at our picture site www.pbase.com/calif_redtails

Another fine outing for the California Redtails.

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Harris Ranch

April 10, 2004

     Coalinga, California - Saturday the Redtails flew to Harris Ranch (3O8) for lunch after the BABPA and CBAAI meetings. Those present were Omar, in his Cessna 182, “Cash” and Leslee, in the “White Woman”, Darrell and Eric in the 310, David and Oscar in a Archer, Ron and Ozell in “Tumbleweed”.

The weather was great in the Bay area and less than great in the Los Angeles Basin and Las Vegas, where low ceilings stopped all but those with IFR ratings, and winds and turbulence in the Vegas area. The guys from the south waited for the ceiling to clear for an hour but then bolted IFR to Harris Ranch!

Lunch was the usual great time with Pine Bluff and Ron’s “Press Release” dominating the conversations. The highlight of lunch is when Ron ordered an appetizer for the group, the famous Harris Ranch “Mountain Oysters” As we passed the platter of “Oysters” around the table not everyone had the Redtail sprit by tasting the delicate morsels. As each Redtail tasted them, they would copy Ozell’s muscle man poise. Most agreed they tasted like chicken with the texture of chicken gizzards. It should be noted that Cash took a doggie bag of Oysters.

By the time we were through the wind had picked up which provided a nice 20 knot push for Omar and Ron going south. Omar, wanting to practice some formation flying flew off Tumbleweed’s wing for the flight home where they executed an overhead approach for the troupes on the ground at WHP.

Pictures at our picture site

Another great day of Redtail Flying!

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Rideau Winery

This will be our second year going to the Rideau Winery for Iris Rideau's Mardi Gras celebration. You will remember Ms. Rideau gave a lesson on wine tasting at our August 2003 General Membership meeting and had us all wine connoisseurs by the end of the night. Pictures of last years fly-out are at our picture site Santa Ynez 2003

Make your reservations by calling the winery at 805-688-0717. Make sure you them you are with the California Redtails to receive the "brother man" discount.

Plan on getting to the Santa Ynez airport by 1100hrs so we can arrange transportation to the winery together.

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El Paso Get-Together

The idea for the El Paso came from an idea to get together with the Bronze Eagles of Texas so that when we got to Pine Bluff we would be able to talk to each other without turning to violence by the time Operation Skyhook took Place.

There was a lot of bad blood flowing after last years Operation Skyhook in which the scoring for the chapter trophy was at best “contested” There were emails passed between the Redtails and the Bronze Eagles and tensions were getting high. So much so that the slightest comment was exploded in its meaning and lead to threats of violence. The Redtails knew they had to protect themselves going into Texas, so each one of them was packin’ when they came.

You could tell from the air flying in. The Redtails were on their special frequency making sure we landed at the same time so we wouldn’t be out numbered on the ground. The plan was for all to get to El Paso at 1100hrs. Like the Redtails of old, we didn’t leave any Redtail lagging for and easy kill in Texas.

Listening to the controller from El Paso talk on the radio you could sense he had been informed of our arrival because he let all the Bronze Eagles land first! It was ok because we wanted to land together anyway.

There was one straggler in the Bronze Eagle flight, a pathetic little Mooney. First off, the Redtails would never leave one of our own to fight by himself like the Bronze Eagles left the poor Mooney who can now be identified as Wejay’s. Was the straggler left behind by his fellow Bronze Eagles for his political views?

The FBO must have seen they were all from Texas and corralled all the Bronze Eagles together in a little tight group that looked like the old west with circled wagons. When we taxied in next, they put us beyond firing range of the Bronze Eagle group. After we were parked, we all met on the ramp to discuss strategy. We knew the Bronze Eagles didn’t have the pure numbers we had and were going to be backed into a corner. We also knew they would have several women with them but thought Leslee could handle them. However, like animals backed into a corner they would have to fight for their lives and that would elevate them to another level.

Ron the leader of the Redtails volunteered to approach the Bronze Eagle delegation unarmed and walked toward the now huddled up Bronze Eagle group with both hands out palms showing.

The leader of the Bronze Eagles (Anthony Hall Jr.) broke from his group and walked toward the Redtails leader. Tensions were elevated as they approached each other. Anthony also walked toward Ron with his hands clearly in sight of Ron. When they shook hands, embraced, and started talking relief came over both camps.

Both Anthony and Ron turned around and gave a signal for their groups to advance. Cautiously both groups approached each other, still unsure of each other’s motives. The closer each group got to each other and recognized old friends, smiles broke out and they rushed each other slapping hands whooping, hollering, all the tensions were lifted and we forgot our differences for the rest of the weekend. (What were our differences?)

While some hung out at the airport, their rooms, or next door at Appleby’s for lunch, we all had fun just seeing and talking to each other.

After lunch, we gravitated to the Presidential Suite where we watched a video tape provided by Horace Noble of the 1987 Operation Skyhook at Tuskegee. The guys who were there in 1987 recognized folks and seeing and hearing them talk about the people and events really brought as sense of pride and purpose to those who were not there.

For dinner, we had reservations at the Cattle Baron, just a few steps from the hotel. We all sat and broke bread together. The camaraderie exhibited at dinner was something special. We toasted each other and generally had a great time. After dinner we again met in the hospitality suite were we talked until the wee hours of the morning, only to have to wake up early that same morning to prepare for the flight home. We all met for breakfast Sunday, some with a fresh night of sound sleep and others groping for the fresh coffee.

We said our goodbyes and left for the airport to return home vying to do it again, but next time make it for two days.

All in all everyone had a great time. The meeting was to start the season of selling wolf tickets but I find it hard to put a blemish on such a great time.

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Delano Fly-Out with Aplaus

Delano, CA March 21, 2004 The Redtails on the invitation from our brothers of the Asociacion de Pilotos Latino Americanos (APLAUS) meet at Delano, California for a day of fun and flying. We joined in Pylon Races, Balloon Bursting, and Landing contests.

This was the first time most of APLAS had participated in these events and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Most of pilots of APLAS are based at Whiteman Airport so we all took off at the same time. Of course Ron (Redtail 1) and Omar (Aplas 1) marked their arrival with an tight right echelon overhead approach to the delight of the folks on the ground at Delano.

Great fun was had by all and we plan to join with each other in more activities this year. A great bunch of guys who truly love flying. The highlight of the day was when the children were given a chance to hit some balloons. Nicolas, who piloted Ron's Tumbleweed did an excellent job on the balloons as well as all the children that came.

One of the the Redtails secret weapons was displaying his speed around the Pylon course today. Can you say 230+ mph around the 3.12 mile course!

On our return to Whiteman Ron and Omar again made an overhead approach much to delight of the guys on the ground. After putting all the airplanes away we gathered at Ron's hangar to complete the wonderful day, recalling the events of the day and having a cold one. We will publish the results here in the next few days so check back to see them.

All and all everyone had a great time and when we got back to Whiteman we were all ready for a good nights sleep.

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The Redtails are going to El Paso on the 27th to meet with other chapters for a night of fellowship and fun.

The headquarters hotel is the Radisson Suite Hotel located close to the airport. The block of rooms are under "The Black Pilots of America". Rooms are $59 plus all the taxes they can pile on it! The phone number is (915) 722-3333. Prices are valid for Friday also for those who are planning to come on Friday.

Plans are to arrive mid morning and come to the Hospitality Suite we are having. We have a reservation for dinner at the Cattle Baron restaurant which is very close to the hotel.

After dinner the real purpose of the trip is to start the true business of selling wolf tickets. The list of chapters that have folks coming are:

Bronze Eagles of Texas
New Orleans Golden Eagles
Colorado Black Pilots of America
Red Stick Aviators
Tuskegee Chapter
Arkansas Chapter,
James Green Chapter

For what started off as a one night quick meeting has now ballooned

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