Landing Profiency Seminar - 12Aug2017

After months of planning and coordination, an event we starting talking about in March of this year, finally came to fruition on Saturday, August 12, 2017. The Landing Proficiency Seminar was a well attended, informative, and a very professionally conducted seminar.

We used marketing and advertising forums to promote this event similar to what we used for the November 2016 Breakfast Fly-In. All of the local airports and EAA Chapters were emailed a copy of the flyer and asked to post it. A Facebook event was created and was spread around (liked and shared) by our good friend from Mineola-Wisener (3F9), Lupita Wisener. In all we registered thirty-seven folks for the event. Of those thirty-seven folks about half of them were from Greenville and/or are Majors Flying Club members. The remainder were from Sulphur Springs, Mineola-Wisener, McKinney, Rockwall, and Emory. We were expecting five fly-in airplanes but due to mechanical issues and weather only two airplanes were able to fly in.

Mandy and Carl Brown from the local EAA Chapter (neither the EAA nor the local EAA Chapter were affiliated with this event) greeted our guests at the registration desk. In addition to passing out City of Greenville goody bags and checking in our guests, they passed out raffle tickets and collected contact information for Mike Montefusco. The Fuel Reimbursement table, adjacent to the Registration table, was manned by none other than our own Joe Rector. Joe wasn't very busy but like a true sailor, he knew how to pretend. In the end, thirty-six folks signed in and attended the seminar.

The City of Greenville and the Majors Aviation Manager, Mr. Ty Helton, provided the shuttle vehicle and the shuttle driver service between the FBO and the L-3 Rec Hall for those folks who flew in or chose to park their vehicles at the airport. Thanks Ty.

Thanks to our generous sponsors, local dentists Dr. Jackson Bean of Complete Dental Care and Dr. Jeff Nelson of North Texas Dental Care, we were able to provide our guests with catered Subway sandwiches, chips, fruit, tea, water, and cookies. Many thanks to our generous sponsors for a very well received lunch. The L-3 Rec Hall was set up with a "help yourself" serving line as well as several circular tables for eating and telling lies. Lunch was available starting at 11:30 a.m. and folks didn't have to be asked twice. There was quite a bit of camaraderie going on at those tables between munching on sandwiches, watching Mike Montefusco's videos, and the ever present hangar flying talk.

The President of the Majors Flying Club, Mr. Mathis, made some introductory remarks and welcomed our guests prior to the start of lunch. Around 12:30 p.m. when all of the sandwiches had been consumed, Mr. Mathis got the program rolling by conducting the raffle. Thanks to Gordon Hay, we had two very nice stainless steel, insulated tumblers to give away. We also had a $50 gift certificate for Sporty's and one for Aircraft Spruce to give away. With the crowd all stirred up, Mr. Mathis introduced our guest speaker, Mr. Mike Montefusco. Mike is a former L-3 employee and is at least partially responsible for starting the very successful Private Pilot Ground School program hosted annually by the MFC. Mike is a very experienced and professional speaker.

As a bonus, Mike invited Larry Cross from Aviation Performance Solutions in Arlington to talk a bit about their Upset Prevention and Recovery program. Larry had some interesting (unsettling) video and sobering accident statistics as they relate to the cause of the highest number of accidents for general aviation. He gave a short slide presentation that was both informative and eye opening. We have been invited to make APS a destination for one of our Majors Field Flyout events and it seems like it would be a very interesting trip.

Mike gave us a bit more than just Landing Proficiency tips as part of his presentation. We received a taste of his training mindset and his use of acronyms to reinforce those ideas. His tips for being mentally prepared for alternate outcomes instead of what "normally" happens was excellent food for thought. Will you ever be able to forget "ETOISARTO", "ELISAGA", and "EIAISAMA"? I think not. Mike discussed Landing Proficiency, with regard to being prepared and having go/no go decision points, in a similar manner. He discussed his method for knowing your position, speed, and configuration at various "gates" in order to make stabilized approaches and landings or to be used as no/no go decisions points. As usual, his presentation was energized, professional, and information. Well done and thank you Mike.

Based on the feedback, the attendance, and the willingness of Mr. Montefusco to present another program in the future, we will likely look at hosting another seminar in 2018.

Many thank to the volunteers who showed up early to help set up and who stayed after the seminar to help clean up. Like most things, it takes a village to pull these events off and the help is greatly appreciated. If you haven't volunteered to help with one of our MFC events, please consider volunteering for the next one (we can never have too many volunteers!).