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October 20, 1999

Daryl Hegyi, President
Tobias Kreisz, Vice-President
Mario LeBel, Treasurer
Debbie Major, Secretary

Mail to: Pacific Ultralight Flying Association
102-16071 82 Avenue
Surrey, B.C. V3S 2L6

PUFA Newsletter published by Glenn Ursel

From The President
by Daryl Hegyi

This has been a busy month, so far.  Glenn left for Baha, and left me with the newsletter. So if it arrives a little late, its because I am having a hard time writing this message.  And I am having trouble reading the membership list database, so it might not be included this month.

You will notice that the newsletter is in colour this month.  Dont get used to it, thats a one-shot deal because of all the pictures from the Hatzic Lake fly-in article.

We are going to have elections for the executive next month, so this month we need to nominate the victu...I mean candidates for vice-president, and secretary.  I will stnad in for another term of president, and Glenn will run for treasurer, but anyone is welcome to run for these offices as well.

Editorial Note
by Glenn Ursel

Since I am leaving on my very first trip south to the Baja as a snow bird this first week of October, I have had to prepare the PUFA Newsletter a little earlier than usual.  President Daryl Hegyi has agreed to complete the newsletter and mail it out later this month and new member, Patrick Stanley, has agreed to put the November newsletter out if I dont get back in time to do it.  Thanks to both of them!

This months newsletter is devoted to a pictorial essay of our recent (Sunday, October 3rd) PUFA fly-in to Hatzic Lake that was made possible with the kind cooperation of Ron Bestward who hosted an overnight fly-in earlier this summer.  Ron agreed to host this latest fly-in despite his recent recovery from treatment for prostate cancer.

I think I got a fair sampling of the planes and pilots that were flown to the event.  Unfortunately, due to perhaps to my preoccupation with flying, I didnt get a photo of the PUFA members and other ultralighters who gathered at the home of Ron Bestward for hotdogs and conversation.  Will try to rectify that in future.

Most of the group had flown in but Greg Powell and Danuta drove to Hatzic Lake because there wasnt enough Air Flow planes available to accommodate him.  This fly-in was also the last ultralight event on the Coast for a while for Ron and Maryka Nichols since they are moving to Ottawa this month.  Best wishes to them in this new sequel of lifes events.

All local members are requested to make every effort to attend this months meeting for nomination of PUFA Executive for the next year.

November, 1999 Flying Events
Sunday, November 7, 1999, 9:00 am to 11:15 am
Delta Airpark, RAA Chapter 85 monthly pancake breakfast
$3, 9:00 am to 11:15 am
Listen to the pre-recorded arrival procedures for Delta Heritage Airpark
phone 878-9050

October Fly-in to Hatzic Lake

On Sunday, October 3rd, the Pacific Ultralight Flying Association sponsored a hot dog fly-in at the home of Ron Bestward at Hatzic Lake.  Fred Glasbergen had contacted Ron Bestward in advance to see if the fly-in would be acceptable to him.  Ron very kindly agreed to the fly-in.  Gordon Denham and his wife, Beverly, and I departed from our Glen Valley airfield and

climbed out over the Fraser River  enroute to the mountains north of Hatzic Lake where we flew around the tops of them enjoying the view below.

I climbed to about 3,800 feet ASL and flew over Gordon and Beverly in their stits winged Beaver.  We curved around the mountain just north of Hatzic Lake and then dropped down to the north end of the lake in preparation for landing.

Although yours truly could have landed on the lake and taxied along a narrow waterway up to Rons dock, he didnt due to lack of knowledge about the depth of said waterway.  However, the landing strip (a farmers hay field) was quite smooth enough for everyone except Al Troutman in his Ercoupe and Bob Christen in his  GY 20 Minicab who did  fly bys but didnt land.

When we landed, we were greeted by Dietrich and Pierre, neighbours of Ron Bestward.  They were very friendly and showed us where to go to get to Rons home.  While Gordon and Beverly left for Rons home, I waited a while to watch some of the others come in.  Soon Fergie Erickson arrived in his inimitable Falcon.

Fergie was introduced to Dietrich and Pierre and he entertained all of us with a short history of his plane and some of its features.  Soon Jeff Rochon soared over the north end of Hatzic Lake in his bright red Murphy Renegade and floated in for a perfect dead slow landing on the Hatzic hay field.

After fresh introductions to Rons neighbours, Jeff informed us that he had heard other PUFA members talking on the radio as they departed from the King George Airpark.

At this point, we decided to leave the hay field for Rons home since Jeff couldnt stay long and wanted to greet Ron.

When I was introduced to Ron, I soon learned that he was another Larry White in that he had both built his plane from the ground up (not a kit) and the floats that his plane was sitting on.  Ron told us that Dietrich had flown the plane at 13,000 feet

ASL over Mount Baker last year.  I was amazed at the quality of Rons workmanship on both the plane and the floats, albeit I am not an expert in these matters...

About this time, we heard the King George Airpark contingent arriving and we eagerly anticipated the hotdog and soda pop treats that our President Daryl Hegyi had brought us.

Following Daryl, Ron and Maryka Nichols, Ron Smit and Debbie, Rob Leimer, Raymond Kats, James Shepherd, Greg Powell and Danuta and Josef Kietabl with a friend arrived.

All had an enjoyable visit with a good feast of hotdogs and all too soon it was time to depart.

PUFA members would like to thank Ron Bestward for his kind hospitality in making this fly-in feasible.

Glenn Ursel