Congratulations to our newest private pilot, Parikshit Nadkarni – Parikshit took his checkride in Citabria 1806G with examiner Sherry Diamond and passed with flying colors! Well done Parikshit and instructor Mark Guerrero!
Parikshit Nadkarni and examiner Sherry Diamond
We have a new Private Pilot in our midst. Reza Zadeh earned his certificate from Examiner Sherry Diamond, after flight training with AeroDynamic Instructor Grainne Gilvarry.
Congratulations and well done Reza and Grainne!
Congratulations to AeroDynamic Aviation’s very own Allan Hughes! Allan passed his commercial checkride with examiner Sherry Diamond in 144PM, his gorgeous Beechcraft Mentor!
Allan Huges and examiner Sherry Diamond
Congratulations to AeroDynamic Flight Instructor Mark Guerrero who landed second prize in the spot landing contest at Columbia Airport (O22) at the weekend, in a Cessna 195.
Thanks to Jan Johnson whose plane it was and who is getting checked out in her new plane by Mark
Well Done Mark!
Hours of study paid off for Ian Besemer, who passed his private checkride today with ease! Ian flew Citabria 9091L with examiner Sherry Diamond – congratulations on passing!
Examiner Sherry Diamond and Ian Besemer
March 8th is the International Women’s Day, and so it seems appropriate to remember a woman in aviation. There are many well known female pilots, starting with Harriet Quimby who was the very first woman in the US to receive a pilot license. Today, we commemorate the first Croatian female pilot, born this month a hundred years ago.
Katarina Matanović
Katarina Matanović was born in March 1913 in what was then the Croatian province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When she saw an advert about a pilot school opening in Zagreb in 1935, that was it for her. She enrolled and received her pilot certificate the next year, becoming the first Croatian (and Yugoslav) female pilot.
Not satisfied with simple flying, she also became the first Yugoslav woman to sky-dive, and an acomplished sky-diver. She performed as a pilot and as a sky-diver and became a well-known attraction at airshows around the country.
Avia/Lombardi FL-3
At the outbreak of the Second World War she became a Liutenant in the Croatian Air Force flying the Avia FL-3 liaison airplane. During the war, in 1944 she lost her husband, also a pilot, shot down by the Allies, and a few days later she herself was injured in the British bombing of Zagreb.
After the Second World War, the Communist authorities in Yugoslavia were not greatly keen on her since she fought on the losing side, and she slipped into obscurity. However when Croatia became independent again, she was remembered, awarded a service medal, became an honorary member of the Zagreb Aeroklub and finally given the recognition she deserved for her achievements in such a male-dominated field.
Katarina died in April 2003.
See also Wikipedia article on Katarina Matanović and a more detailed biography (in Croatian)
For a long time the best available instrument approach to Watsonville (KWVI) has been the LOC approach to runway 2.
The new LPV (Localizer Precision with Vertical guidance) GPS approach to Rwy 2 just came out which will improve on this a lot – starting on March 7, 2013.
http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/KWVI/IAP/RNAV+(GPS)+RWY+02
Withe the new LPV approach, minimums have been reduced down to 300′ agl, nearly as good as an ILS.
All GPS equipped planes at AeroDynamic are also WAAS capable and can fly LPV approaches. So there will be no excuses any more for not going to lunch at Props!
