Today signals the beginning of a bright new year.  It is a day where we resolve to do better, look better, earn more, and eat less.  Whether we accomplish any of these aims is another story. 

One thing is certain.  If we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always gotten.  Or as one observer reminded us, insanity is defined as doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.  Just like the old comfortable dog, we
walk the same path over and over again because it is comfortable.  It’s the standard. We know it. We’re doing what the system requires of us.  It’s familiar. It is also insane.

Simple!  Perhaps more than any other professionals, we pilots are creatures of habit.  We perform our pre-flight walk around inspections in the same direction.  We get our oil changed at the same intervals, we even frequent the same destinations for the famed $200 hamburgers.  We visit our same AMEs at regular two year intervals and we endure our flight reviews (BFRs) every other year, generally from the same flight instructor. 

Speaking of flight instructors, CFIs are among the most confirmed creatures of habit.   Most of us teach the way we were taught.  We follow the same curriculum or syllabus, we train in the same locations, and emphasize the same maneuvers, week after week . . . year after year.

Now for the results . . .

In 2006, nearly 600 GA pilots will be the subject of an official NTSB accident investigation, of which 450 accidents will be attributed to pilot error.  Tragically, 350 of these accidents will result in fatalities!  These numbers have not changed significantly in over 20 years.  

Doing the same thing over and over does, indeed, produce the same results. So what do we do about it?  We change.  We do things differently.  We learn where things went right and where things went wrong.  We search out new techniques and approaches to enable improvement.

From a flight safety perspective, what the airlines and corporate flight departments are doing is working.  Accidents, fatal or otherwise, are a rarity.  Yes, they fly better performing equipment with redundant systems with two professional pilot crews high above most of the weather.  But their flight crews also train at a far higher level than we GA pilots.  Perhaps that's because failure is not an option when the paying public is aboard.  The litigation stakes are simply too high.

Who's to Blame?

From a flight safety perspective, what we in general aviation are doing is NOT working.  And the blame lies all around us.  We GA pilots are to blame.  We pilots seldom train beyond the basic requirements of FAR 61.56 (flight reviews) and FAR 61.57(instrument currency).  Frankly, those two training and proficiency requirements are laughable, actually bordering on absurdity.

Moving on to the FAA, the problem is not altogether their's.  Frequent FAA efforts to tighten the training and proficiency requirements for GA pilots via the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) process  have often been thwarted by the very GA pilot-friendly organizations to which many of us belong.  Challenging the FAA to "prove" efficacy that can only be demonstrated over time, many of these change-opposing actions give the appearance of being more interested in pilot numbers and mitigating training and proficiency costs than in pilot lives. 

Pilot numbers are politically and economically important but not at the expense of safety.  Enormous energies have gone into the recreational and the sport pilot programs, each of which have even less stringent training requirements.  Following this trend, we might soon see 12 year-old Young Eagles qualifying for junior pilot certificates!  Quite naturally, these youthful pilots will likely be restricted to solo daytime flights only, at a maximum of 1,500' AGL, and at speeds no faster than 75 knots.  Our GA numbers will really soar! 

What's the Solution?

YOU are the solution.  And the beneficiaries will be exclusively you and your family.  All you need to do is make a resolution (and keep it) to become the very, very best, most proficient pilot you can be.  This means creating and maintaining a schedule of rigorous recurrent training and frequent flying.  Actually, frequently flying alone has been proven to be a very effective proficiency-maintaining technique.

Don't even think about meeting the minimum currency and proficiency standards.  People who do this are the ones having the accidents.  Do like my good friend and flight training client, David James, MD, an emergency medicine physician from Buffalo, NY, and make up your own currency and proficiency standards.  If you do not know where to start, ask your favorite airline pilot friend what he or she does to remain proficient.  That would be a very good place to start.  Remember, your life and the lives of your passengers are no less valuable than the airline riding paying public!

You and I cannot change the system.  It is far too entrenched in bureaucracy, economics, and politics.  But it is not the system that is getting hurt.  Instead, it is us.  Make that New Year's resolution and stick to it!

Happy New Year! Bob Miller, ATP, MCFI Master Certificated Flight Instructor Buffalo, NY rjma@rjma.com 716-864-8100

It was beautiful sunny day at the Chautauqua County Dunkirk, NY Airport (DKK).  A twin engine Aerostar piloted by a local Catholic priest was making all the necessary radio  calls as he entered the downwind leg for landing into the wind on runway 15.  At the same time, an Ohio-based pilot flying a Piper Malibu turbo conversion was setting up for a straight-in approach to Dunkirk's intersecting runway 6.

The Malibu pilot, too, was making all of the necessary radio calls . . . except nobody was hearing him.  It seems that his expired GPS database offered up a DKK CTAF frequency that had been changed nearly two years earlier!  Had he had a current database or had he checked a current sectional he would have, of course, noted the correct frequency. 

FAR 91. 103 requires that we pilots have ALL AVAILABLE INFORMATION before commencing flight.  This includes all necessary information regarding our destination and all possible alternate airports along the way.  Runway lengths and local CTAF frequencies are included in this requirement. 

Today's airplanes TAA (technically advanced aircraft) aircraft contain more electronic navigational and situational awareness equipment than the first series of space shuttles.  The ONLY thing the pilot must do, other than learning how to operate this stuff, is insure that the data cards are updated on a regularly scheduled basis.   Remember the old computer adage:  "Garbage in, garbage out!"  You MUST have current database to use it!

Advisory Circular (AC) 90-66A instructs all pilots to comply with the prevailing traffic pattern requirements when making an approach to a landing.  While not prohibiting straight-in approaches, pilots doing same are required to be vigilant of other aircraft in the pattern.  Did the Malibu pilot have the Aerostar traffic in sight?

Pilots MUST exercise extreme caution when landing or taking off on airports with intersecting runways.  This includes aggressively scanning left to right along the intersecting runway when taking off or landing.  It was an excellent VFR day.  Were both pilots being vigilant? 

Proving a basic principle of physics that no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time, the two airplanes collided at the intersection of the two runways.  By a miracle of good fortune and skilled evasive maneuvers by the Aerostar pilot, there were no injuries but both airplanes were substantially damaged. 

Accident investigators are quick to tell us that seldom does any single factor cause a crash.  Instead, aircraft accidents typically result from a series of things gone wrong.  This series is called the accident chain.

While the facts leading up to this accident are not all in and the NTSB has not issued its report, we can only surmise what factors contributed to this accident.  Did the pilot(s) have all available information before they departed?  Were they using current data in their GPSs?  Did they conform with the traffic pattern requirements when making their approach to landing.  Were they vigilant as they landed on intersecting runways?  Had they properly performed at least one of these requirements, this accident would have likely not occurred.

Some of my CFI colleagues are fond are reminding me that pilots are human and, as humans, we are prone to mistakes.  I agree.  And it is for this reason that even though we are certificated for life to operate airplanes, we all MUST engage in regular recurrent training to maintain our proficiency . . . so as to prevent our human mistakes tendencies from surfacing.  Unfortunately, an occasional flight review is not enough!  For CFIs, a FIRC (flight instructor refresher course) every two years is a joke!  If that's all we do to maintain our proficiency, there is little wonder why we continue to experience our GA fatal accident rate.

Yes, Virginia, we do have a problem.

You've heard all kinds of pro/con arguments regarding the advantages of turbocharged engines.  Some are true and some are, frankly, old wives' tales.  The most prevalent old wives' tales are: (1) turbocharged engines burn more fuel, (2) turbo'd engines are more expensive to maintain, and (3) turbo'd engines are only beneficial in mountainous areas.

The most prevalent true arguments are: (1) turbocharged engines do get us over the mountains, (2) turbo'd engines enable us to fly high above most of the weather, and (3) today's turbo'd engines are typically as fuel efficient and are no more problematic than their normally aspirated counterparts.

Just what is a turbocharged engine?

We all know that air gets less dense the higher up we go.  We can feel this decrease in air density as we climb and so can our piston engines.  Our typical (normally aspirated) engines begin to poop out between 10,000' and 14,000'MSL unless we mechanically pressurize the air going into these engines as we climb.

Turbocharging accomplishes this by compressing the air going into our engines.  The higher we fly, the more air compression takes place. 

The turbocharging process is really quite simple.  In most turbo setups, we use engine exhaust to spin an impeller that is attached to an air compressor.  This air compressor literally pumps induction air into the engine thereby maintaining sea level air density.  This makes it possible to fly up to 24,000 feet or more.

So why fly high?

The wonders of flying high can be experienced every time it becomes necessary to climb above turbulent, ice-laden clouds.  Recognizing that most troublesome weather tops out at 15,000 to 20,000 feet, a turbocharged airplane is able to carry us up above the ice and bumps into warm sunshine and smooth air.

Turbocharged airplanes also enable us to climb up into the upper air currents that can add 100 or more knots to our ground speed.  Depending upon our direction of flight relative to these winds, we can turn your turbocharged hauler into very light jet by climbing up into these upper level winds.

Record-breaking Flight!

I'm not one for chasing aviation records, but I did just that two weeks ago on a swing through the deep south from my home base in Buffalo, NY in my turbo'd Cessna 210.  My outbound itinerary took me to Barnwell, SC then on to Mississippi Gulf Coast.  I climbed to a cruising altitude of flight level 200 (20,000') where I picked up a 70 knot tailwind.  This translated into a 250 knot ground speed and a fuel burn rate of just over 14 gallons/hour.

The biggest surprise came on the return flight.  A beneficial quirk of nature three days later reversed the upper level winds and gave me an even faster tailwind for my trip home.  This time, however, a nasty 200 mile wide weather system stretching from Chicago to Washington, DC cut directly across my planned route of flight.   It contained ice, freezing rain, and turbulence from the surface up to 19,000 feet.  There was no reasonable way around it.  I had to either wait several days for it to pass . . . or climb above it.

Up, Up, and Away!

I decided to launch. The flight conditions above this nasty weather system at flight level 210 (21,000 feet) were delightfully smooth, visibility forever, with warm sunshine beaming through the harmless ice crystals forming on the side windows.  The outside air temperature was -22 degrees C. 

I monitored the various approach control frequencies serving airports I was passing over.  Pilot/controller exchanges dealt with missed approaches, moderate to severe icing PIREPs issued by landing and departing Airbus and Boeing pilots, and a constant stream of turbulent ride reports.  It was a mess and I was thrilled to be riding high above it.

My trusty 1980 T-210 Centurion is no stealth shaped gleaming white, glass composite Columbia 400 or Cirrus SR22, but it still has the smell of new leather, recent paint, and room for six people plus baggage.  Its fresh engine burns less fuel than either of those two modern beauties and with its auxiliary tank it has an 8 hour range.

Mississippi Gulf Coast to Buffalo, NY in a comfortable 4 hours and 1 minute.  Not bad . . . . thanks to a great airplane with a turbocharged engine.

To turbo or not to turbo . . . that is the question . . .

If you are planning to purchase a serious cross-country airplane for trips of 300 miles or more over freezing clouds or high mountains, turbocharging is an essential feature.  All things considered, turbocharging affords more defensive ice protection than boots or TKS systems.  Operating costs (maintenance and fuel) are about the same as their normally aspirated counterparts. 

On the other hand, if your missions keep you close to home with short visits to nearby cities, turbocharging is a bit of overkill.  As in all aircraft purchase decisions, consider your primary mission before selecting the make, model, and features of your next airplane.

An OTA reader from Portland, Oregon writes:

The reader goes on to say, "Having just begun, my quest for knowledge is nearly insatiable. As I progressed toward my checkride I knew I'd be continuing my training beyond that first rating. My flying skills, while within the PTS were not where I felt they should be. Since weather is everywhere my next goal is an instrument rating. It's also apparent that precision flying is a large part of this training. My problem is finding the right instructor."

The most critical question has been asked . . .

According to the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI), there are over 80,000 certificated flight instructors in the United States.  Of these, fewer than 11,000 are believed to be actively instructing today.  So where do you begin looking for the best flight instructor for YOU?

You can start by clicking HERE.  This will put you on the NAFI website where you can type in the state you reside in, then scroll down through the various communities within your state.   You'll find lists of CFIs and their various specialty training areas.  Be sure to explore neighboring communities within an hour's drive or so.  Finding the RIGHT instructor for you is worth the drive.  AOPA also has a searchable site the lists flight schools by state.  Click HERE to access this site.

The next step is to consider YOUR own flight training needs.  Do you simply wish to learn to fly or get that next rating?  If so, almost any CFI can teach you that.  Or, are you in the market a first-rate training experience that will prepare you for serious flying? 

Narrowing the field of suitable CFI candidates

Our reader said he is looking for an instrument instructor and that he wants to do more than simply meet the minimum proficiency standards.  Thus, he needs to begin a serious CFI screening and selection process. 

To narrow the field of candidates, he should look for CFIs with experience both as a pilot and as a CFI.  While he certainly may find an exceptionally talented CFI with minimal experience either as a pilot or as a CFI, this would be highly unlikely, particularly when seeking an instrument instructor. 

It's experience, stupid!

The importance of experience as a pilot, apart from as a CFI, cannot be overstated.  It is from this well of experience that reality-based in-flight training scenarios can be drawn.  The academics and theory of flight are important and can be taught by CFIs with little or no flight experience in the national airspace system.  But this same information can also be imparted by weather-worn veterans whose wisdom has been honed by thousands of hours of negotiating the vagaries of nature.   Remember, the key to effective flight instruction is to translate theory and academic principles into practical applications that will keep us safe in the real world.

And references, too!

Once you have your field of CFI candidates narrowed to a handful or less, perform an exhaustive reference check.  Ask for the names and telephone numbers of the last five or six of their past or current flight students.  If they refuse you this information, move on immediately to other CFI candidates.  Every job applicant in the nation is expected to provide references.  CFIs are not immune from this expectation.

Contact each of these past or present flight students.  Ask them the following questions:

The answers to those six questions can be quite revealing!  No, you cannot measure the depth of the CFI candidates' flying skills and their breadth of aeronautical knowledge. That's beyond the scope of your ability.  The FAA has presumably already done that for you when conferring the CFI certificate upon your candidates.  All you can do is assess the opinions of their references for additional information in this regard. 

One last measure of CFI Competence . . .

The flight training community exhibits a range of skills, abilities, experience, temperament, and talent.  We have everything from logbook time-building, task oriented, pilot trainers punching tickets to qualify for their first "real" piloting job on one end of the scale to professional aviation educators whose careers are devoted to the task of preparing proficient/safe future pilots on the other end. 

The National Association of Flight Instructors' (NAFI) Master Certificated Flight Instructor (MCFI) program recognizes those CFIs who fall into the latter category.  The MCFI designation is available to any CFI who, by community involvement, leadership, and demonstrated experience, rises to the level of professional flight educator.  The Master CFI is a rare breed.  There are less than 600 MCFIs in the United States!

In summary, becoming a well-qualified pilot requires a "bit of tiptoeing through the tulips" as far as finding the best qualified CFIs when acquiring the necessary ratings and endorsements.  As in all professions, there are good and the not so good in the CFI ranks.  Your job, and perhaps your most important job, is to select your CFIs carefully. 

The operative phrase in this definition is "loss of lift."  Recalling the four forces of flight, e.g., thrust, drag, weight, and lift, the loss of lift means that the wing has stopped flying and the entire force of gravity is exerting its unopposed influence on the airplane.  In short, the airplane has become a brick.

What the PTS requires . . .

The Private Pilot Practical Test Standards (PTS) is very clear.  As shown in the highlighted box below, the applicant must recognize and recover promptly AFTER the stall has occurred.  This is substantially different from the instruction example described above where the recovery is made BEFORE the stall has occurred.

Dangers created by mis-instruction . . .

If students are merely taught to recognize and recover from incipient stalls only, they do not develop the skills necessary to recover a wing that is no longer flying.  They fail to experience how quickly one wing can instantly drop out from under them as a result of incorrect or inadequate rudder control.  Further, they fail to experience the first stage of a spin and, more importantly, how to properly recover from it.

The net effect of this mis-instruction is the student's inability to prevent and or recover from an actual spin.  The extent of this problem is evidenced by the high number of stall/spin accidents occurring every year in the United States.

Yes, incipient stall prevention is the key, but . . .

There is no question that the best way to prevent a stall is to prevent it in its earliest stage development (the incipient phase).  Students should be taught to do just that.  But what gets us into trouble is the sudden emergence of a full stall scenario that skips the incipient phase.  Accelerated and cross-control stalls are examples of those which often skip the incipient phase.  These can be brought on by severe turbulence, spatial disorientation, wake turbulence upset.

If the mis-taught student has never experienced proper full stall recovery, a spin is likely to follow.

Lesson for the Proficient Pilot

Stalls are fun!  Properly executed, they are as safe as level flight.  Like everything else in flight, however, stalls can lead to trouble.   This problem magnifies itself a dozen-fold as pilots step up to higher performance wings such as found on the Cirrus and Columbia aircraft.

If you have not experienced a full stall recovery in recent months, find your favorite qualified flight instructor and become stall recovery proficient.  And while you're at it, practice recovering from the first turn of a spin (or a fully coupled spin if permissible per your POH).

As in all such maneuvers, be certain you have qualified instruction and that your planned maneuvers are permitted by your Pilots' Operating Handbook.

Click HERE to view what an airline pilot's life is really like! (Note: This requires a high speed connection to view properly . . . and turn up your sound.)

You've just completed a long trip to an unfamiliar Class C or D airport.  As you taxi up to the FBO ramp, you spot a ramp serviceman standing by himself and looking at you.  He turns sideways and begins moving his arms. 

What do you do?

What do you do?  You dutifully follow his instructions.  If in doubt as to what those hand signals mean, review the chart to the left.

While this may seem obvious, you might be surprised to learn that not every pilot does what he is supposed to do.  Some stop short of the specified parking spot and shut down.  Others ignore the ramp serviceman altogether and find their own parking spot. 

There is a reason for his instructions

This is a clear occasion for us pilots "not to wonder why, but to do or die!"  We may never know why we're being parked in the furthermost corner of the ramp, or why we cannot park right at the front door when it is pouring down rain.   Nonetheless, ours is to do precisely as instructed.

What if we make a special parking request?

You are making an enroute stop for fuel and potty break.  You don't want to go to the transient parking area, yet some guy in a greasy shirt with red wands is motioning us to the north 40.  What do we do?

Got a radio, right?  Use it!

Part of your pre-landing checklist should be your runway escape plan.  In other words, you should know precisely where you want to go on the field.  In addition, you should know the name of the FBO and its ARINC or unicom frequency.  You should have that frequency dialed into your second radio.

On the way in to the ramp, give the FBO a call.  Tell them where you are, your type aircraft, services required, and any other request you would like to make.  If you are coming in for fuel and potty only, tell them you need a "quick turn."  This tells them that you will be staying only a few minutes.   They'll likely park you close to their front door and greet you with a smile.  

If you are planning to remain overnight, tell them so.  You may wish to drop your passengers at their front door, then taxi over to transient parking.  If you have a maintenance problem, tell them what you need.  They may send you directly to the maintenance ramp.  Be specific;  state your request;  be polite.

Turn off those landing and taxi lights and strobes!

You may appreciate the bright intensity of those 1,500 watt landing and taxi lights, but the ramp serviceman whose eyes they're shining in does not!  Most ramps are fairly well lit at night, so unless you absolutely need your megawatt landing lights to see, turn them and your strobes off as you taxi in.  Then, don't turn them back on until you leave their ramp area.

Banish construction cones on all ramps, please!!!

I am hoping that some OTA reader will write in and explain to me why some FBOs insist on using those bright orange or yellow construction cones on their ramps.  Do they place them there to help us avoid running into nearly invisible, stealth shaped aircraft parked on their ramp? 

Having personally witnessed the damage caused by a spinning propeller inadvertently running into one of these construction cones, I have made it a personal mission to prohibit the use of such cones on airplane ramps.  Please help me make this happen.

Pilots beware:  You cannot see these cones from the cockpit if they're within several feet of the front of your airplane!!!!

The weather on Sunday morning, November 27, 2005 around the Andrews-Murphy Airport in Georgia was marginal VFR.  A non-instrument rated pilot and his wife boarded their PA-28-140 (Piper Cherokee) with the intent of getting somewhere.

After a computer check of the weather, they launched, then returned to the airport 30 minutes later due to weather.  They waited around until 3:30pm and tried it again despite the fact that low clouds were obscuring the tops of nearby mountains.

The pilot later reported that the cloud bases were 2,000 feet.  He climbed up to 3,500 feet in an attempt to maneuver around the clouds and clear a mountain ridge.  Seeing this would not work, he attempted a course reversal but found himself boxed in and unable to turn around.  He reported seeing the stall warning light go on just before colliding with trees. 

Below is an extract from the preliminary NTSB report:

David St. George, DPE and Master CFI, will be hosting a two hour workshop for CFIs, serious flight students, and future CFIs on Thursday, January 5th, from 7pm to 9pm at the Ithaca, NY Airport.   The same session will be repeated on Thursday, February 2nd from 7pm to 9pm.

The intention of these gatherings is to "raise the bar" in terms CFI techniques and skills.  There will be "guided discussion" focusing on improving student (and instructor) performance in  preparing students to not only "pass the test" but be fully capable pilots, maneuvering flight and upset, flight review and meaningful personal proficiency.

The first half of the session is titled, "PTS: Preparing a Student to Pass and Fly Safely". The second half will cover the new FAA Decision-making Model: "Perceive, Process, Perform" (much simpler than the old D-E-C-I-D-E model).

The meeting is definitely "fly-in capable"...right on the airport at the CFR building.

Note: This is the very kind of CFI workshop that is needed to reduce the general aviation accident rate.  David St. George is a highly respected flight educator who shares the views expressed in each issue of "Over the Airwaves."

Thanks to the good fortune of several of my flight students, I've been spending a lot of time moving along at 200KIAS in their sleek Cirrus SR22s and Columbia 400s.  These higher speeds add a whole new dimension to pre-instrument approach briefings.  Like their kerosene burning brethren, things happen faster, so you better be on your game.  Unlike the kerosene burner pilots, however, you are likely by yourself with no first officer to pull and brief the approach plate for you.

Single pilot IFR requires peak proficiency!

Talk about a one-armed paper hanger, single pilot operations in IMC conditions requires consummate multi-tasking skills that include: (1) aircraft control; (2) navigation; (3) weather analysis and assessment; (4) ATC communications; (5) miscellaneous  button pushing; and (6) programming the GPS boxes for your pending instrument approach. 

Performing these tasks at 90 knots is a challenge.  Increase the airspeed by 50 percent and you have to be good!  And don't think the autopilot makes things a whole lot easier.  You've got to program that box as well, then keep your eye on it.  In short, you are operating at 95 percent of your mental capacity.  You hold your remaining 5 percent of your mental capacity to troubleshoot any system failure or passenger behavior problems.

Scenario . . .

Your destination is Linden, NJ, a GA airport about six miles south of Newark.  You've been in IMC conditions for the past two hours, you're tired, and you need a bathroom.  You've had ample time to set up for the approach.  As you descend on the approach to Linden the NY TRACON controller calls as advises you that Linden has just gone below minimums and asks your intentions.  Your planned alternant is the Teterboro Airport, just 8 miles to the north.  You request the ILS 6 approach to that airport.

ATC gives you a 030 degree vector and advises you to expect the Teterboro ILS 6 approach.  With that, you pull the KTEB ILS 6 approach plate.  Once found, you scan down through its mass of information.  You have approximately seven minutes to digest this information all while doing a half dozen other things at the same time.

One thing is certain.  With the New York City airports going to minimums, ATC will be busy.  If you had a moment to just sit back an listen to the radio chatter, you would hear professional air traffic controllers at their very best.   You would also come to understand the significance of the term, "A New York minute!"  These guys and girls are quick . . . so fast, in fact, that if you miss a call they they won't wait.  So you better know where you are going.   Miss a beat and you'll be supplied with the FSDO telephone number.

Have a plan to brief the plate . . .

There is no way you can absorb the information on an unfamiliar approach plate by simply glancing at it.  Even if you study it carefully, something will be missed . . . unless you have a systematic scanning plan.  One approach briefing plan I like involves the use of a mnemonic called "APPROACH."  Using this easy-to-remember mnemonic, you can quickly insure that you've captured all of the essential information.  See below:

Buffalo, NY's EAA Chapter 46 to host Aeronautical Decision Making Workshop - Guests Welcomed!

The unique geographic arrangement of the Great Lakes makes this region one of the most challenging weather environments in the world.  Thunderstorms in the summer and icing in the winter, with gale force winds blowing throughout the year.  Do I launch or do I stay? There are objective measures that a pilot can assess to make a safe "go, no go" decision. The key is always having a gold-plated "back door" to bolt to whenever the going looks tough.

Date: Wednesday, January 11, 2006, 7pm to 9pm
Place:  North Bailey Fire Hall, 966 Sweet Home Road, Amherst, NY 14226
Speaker:  Bob Miller, ATP, MCFI

Directions:  Click HERE 

Again, guests welcomed.  No charge.  Refreshments will be served.

The following reader comments were received over the past two weeks.