15th Annual Conference a SuccessThe fifteenth annual Montana Aviation Conferencewas attended by close to 600 aviation enthusiastswho gathered to participate and enjoy an excitingprogram. The conference held in Butte February25-27 was a resounding success.

The kick-off luncheon on Thursday wasattended by 225 people who heard Bob Gillilandspeak of his test pilot days for the Lockheed SR-71. Bob was the first pilot to fly the aircraft onDecember 22, 1964. He showed a video of the SR-71 and answered questions from the audience. Bobhas logged more experimental supersonic flight testtime above Mach 2 and Mach 3 than any other pi-lot.

The Butte Saint Patrick�s Day celebra-tion got kicked off Friday night of the conference.Dulin Gulch, Butte�s own Irish folk trio, entertainedthe crowd with their many songs and stories. A bitof Butte�s culture was enjoyed by all.

Saturday�s award luncheon honoredmany worthy students and aviators from around thestate. Shanda Lear gave a very interesting, humor-ous presentation on the history of her parents, Billand Moya Lear. Shanda entertained with song whileshowing rare footage of the Lear family.

Over 45 exhibitors from across the U.S.and Canada brought displays for the trade show.These firms also donated thousands of dollars worth

of door prizes that were given awayduring the conference. Many othergenerous sponsors contributed toevents held over the three-days.

Concurrent session speakersshared a wide variety of knowledgeand expertise with participants.

The Saturday evening ban-quet featured Dan Goldin, NASA Ad-ministrator. Mr. Goldin portrayed withenthusiasm an optimistic vision for thefuture of general aviation in our greatnation.

On behalf of the MontanaAeronautics Division and Board andthe Aviation Organizations of Montanawe offer special congratulations toRick Griffith, Chairman of the ButteConference Committee and to thosevolunteer committee members who worked ex-tremely hard to ensure an entertaining, educationalthree day program. We would also like to expressour appreciation to the many speakers who freelygave of their time and talent in sharing their exper-tise with Montana�s aviation community.

Next year�s Montana Aviation Confer-ence will be held February 24 � 26, 2000, at theHoliday Inn in Billings. Put those dates on yourcalendar now.

Skip Mathewson of Wise River brought N3686V,a 1997 Avid Flyer to the exhibit area. Below,several remote control aircraft owned by mem-bers of the Butte Remote Control Aircraft Clubwere displayed. Thanks to Skip and to Don Bauer,President of the Butte RC Club and all of its mem-bers for participating and adding to the exhibitarea.

MDT- Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division Vol. 50 No. 3 March 1999

WAC Charts to be Discon-tinued: The National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration (NOAA) has announced thatit will not print WAC charts after January 1000 andwill be increasing prices of its remaining productsby 6 percent. NOAA claims it is facing a $5.2 mil-lion deficit. Phil Boyer, President of the AircraftOwners and Pilots Association stated �WAC chartsaren�t a frill. They�re essential to aviation safety�.This budget shortfall was identified a year ago whenNOAA was proposed to transfer from the Depart-ment of Commerce to the Department of Transpor-tation and in a letter to Rodney Slater, Secretary ofthe Department of Transportation, Boyer stated that�Safety-related products such as aeronautical chartscannot be the victim of improper funding alloca-tions�. Slater answered, saying �The DOT and FAAdo not want to impact general aviation safety nega-tively or increase costs in FY 1999. We have iden-tified several actions to eliminate the potential $5million deficit. We are working with the Depart-ment of Commerce to accomplish this task.� Butthe transfer of NOAA did not happen nor was thedeficit addressed and thus the $5.2 million shortfall.Boyer recently stated �We expect that there will nowbe a lot of finger-pointing between Commerce,Transportation and the Office of Management andBudget but it doesn�t matter who is to blame�.�Agencies responsible for avaition safety let usdown. It will cost some $800,000 to continue print-ing WACs this year. The Department of Commercecan, and should, find the money to continue thisimportant safety program.� It is my opinion that weneed to keep WACs as they are most commonly usedpilots who fly long distances and don�t need all ofthe detail found in the sectional charts. I personallyuse WACs for the most part as it seems I never haveroom in the cockpit to unfold sectionals. I don�tknow what will happen by I certainly hate to losethe WAC charts. Inasmuch as this is a budget issue,I believe it would be appropriate to seek help fromour Montana Congressional delegation. They allhave 800 numbers.

New 82 Grade Fuel Ap-proved: The Experimental Aircraft Associa-tion (EAA) with the assistance of Cessna AircraftCompany have, for several years, been working withfuel refiners and aircraft industry officials on thedevelopment of a fuel refined to specifications cre-ated by the American Society for Testing and Mate-rials (ASTM) to create an unleaded fuel that can re-place 100 low-lead and grade 80/87 avfuel specifi-cation. Late last year, ASTM< gave final approvalof the grade 82 avfuel specification. The FAA hasapproved the new grade 82 unleaded aviation fuelfor airplanes that currently hold an auto fuel Supple-mental Type Certificate (STC). All airplanes origi-nally certificated with 80/87 aviation gasoline and

Administrator�s Column

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holding STC�s to use auto fuel are permitted to usethe new unleaded grade 82 avfuel. The new avfuelwill be less expensive than 100 LL but slightly moreexpensive than auto fuel. The first supply of thenew fuel is expected to be delivered to Alaska, wheremany aircraft already operate on auto fuel. CessnaAircraft has indicated its intentions to build single-engine piston airplanes that are able to use the newunleaded grade 82 fuel.

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HOOVER BILL IS BACK:U.S.Senator James M. Inhofe or Oklahoma has againintroduced legislation in the form of an amendmentto the Air Transportation Improvement Act of 1999(S. 82). The legislation will, if passed, change theFAA�s use of emergency authority to revoke air-man certificates by requiring �due process� by pro-viding a certificate holder the option of requesting ahearing before the National Transportation Board(NTSB) within 48 hours of receiving an emergencyrevocation to determine whether or not a true emer-gency exists. The NTSB would then have to decidewithin 5 days of the request if an emergency exists.During the Board�s deliberation, the certificate wouldbe suspended. Should the Bide an emergency doesnot exist, the certificate holder would be able to usehis certificate while the issue is adjudicated. Shouldthe NTSB decide an emergency does exist, the cer-tificate would be suspended while the issue is adju-dicated. According to the National Air transporta-tion Association (NATA), the FAA is misusing itsemergency authority with 50% of the revocationsoccurring 4 months to 2 years after the violationoccurred; certificate holders should have an expedi-tious method to appeal an emergency revocation byan outside, neutral entity; and safety is ensured be-cause the certificate is suspended while the suspen-sion is under review. If you feel strongly about thislegislation you should contact our Montana Con-gressional delegation by calling their 800 numbers.

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AVIATION PIONEER LADYGOES WEST: It was sad to learn that BittyMorrison passed away. Bitty was known through-out the aviation industry in the U.S. and Canada ashard working, dedicated, and respected as a toughbusiness woman in successfully operatingMontana�s oldest fixed base operation on the Hel-ena airport. There is more on Bitty elsewhere inthis publication. On behalf of the Montana Aero-nautics Board, the Aeronautics Division, andMontana�s aviation community, I wish to extendcondolences to all the Morrison family.

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Montana and the SkyDepartment of Transportation

Marc Racicot, GovernorMarv Dye, Director

Official monthly publication of theAeronautics DivisionTelephone - 444-2506

P.O. Box 5178Helena, MT 59604

Michael D. FergusonAdministrator

Aeronautics BoardRon Mercer, ChairmanByron Bayers, Member

Fred Booth, MemberCraig Denney, Member

JoAnn Eisenzimer, MemberDouglas Freeman, Member

Will Metz, MemberBob Palmersheim, MemberJohn Rabenberg, Member

Montana and the Sky is publishedmonthly in the interest of aviation in the

State of Montana.Third Class postage paid at Helena,

Montana 59604

Subscription: $5 per yearEditor: Debbie AlkeEditorial Assitance:

Patty Kautz

2

In Memory of Elizabeth�Bitty� Herrin

Elizabeth �Bitty� Burke Morrison Herrin, age 89,of Helena, died at St. Peter�s Hospital, Feb. 28,1999.

Bitty was born in Helena July 15, 1909.She was the daughter of John H. and Agnes BelleBurke and a fourth generation Helenan. Her greatgrandfather, great grand-mother (Johnathon andAmerica Ann Forbis), grandfather and grandmother(Dr. William and Aggnes Forbis Steele) came toBannack in 1863, then to Virginia City then to Hel-ena.

Dr. Steele was very prominent in earlyVirginia City where he served as a judge in thevigilante courts. After arriving in Helena, in addi-tion to his busy medical practice, he was the thirdmayor of Helena. He also served as sheriff, coro-ner, county treasurer and as a state senator. Hisdaughter Aggie Belle, Bitty�s mother, christenedthe original gunboat Helena while he was mayor.

Bitty grew up in Augusta where her fa-ther, John H. Burke, ranched. She attended gradeschool at Hawthorne School and Helena HighSchool. She had two brothers, Edward �Ned� andJohn Jr., and a sister Anne. Ned was killed in anairplane crash while in the Army. John was killedin the Korean War. Anne married Lyman Brewsterand they ranched in the Birney area most of theirlives.

After high school Bitty attended HelenaBusiness College and then worked for the CountySuperintendent of Schools. In 1933 she marriedR. E. �Red� Morrison who came to Helena in 1931to start a flying business at the new Helena airport.Prior to moving he was a pilot for WilliamRandolph Hearst. Red served in the Montana Leg-islature and Senate. He resigned the Senate to en-ter the Army Air Corps at the outbreak of WW IIand was killed in the crash of a B 26 on ChristmasEve 1942.

Bitty then ran the aviation business forthe next 35 years. Although not a pilot, she wasone of the first aviation business owners in the U.S.

She served for many years as secretary of the Mon-tana Pilots Association and the Montana AviationTrades Association. She also served as RegionalVice President of the National Aviation Trades As-sociation and was active in the International North-west Aviation Council.

During WW II, Morrison Flying Servicetrained many pilots for the military, many of whomcontinued flying after the war for the military andfor commercial airlines. One of the men who startedtheir training here was Jack Waddell who later be-came the chief test pilot for Boeing. Flight trainingon the GI Bill continued after the war and quite afew of these pilots went on to careers in aviation.

After the war she married Harland Herrin,they were later divorced.

Bitty had five children: Jeff (Jeannie) wasin the business for 47 years until it was sold in 1998;Anne (Bill Bird) lived in Europe and Massachusettsuntil her death in 1997; Leslie (Kenny Vanderpool)is a physical therapist and lives in Boise, ID; Scotta(Walker Williams) is a teacher and lives in Littleton,CO; Ned (Billie) works for the US Forest Serviceand lives in Missoula. She has nine grandchildren(four are married) and two great-grandchildren.

She always loved to travel and has seenmuch of the world on her many trips. She has beenknown to drive 200 miles for lunch. In addition toher involvement in many aviation groups, she hasbeen quite active in Helena. Most recently she hasworked on the restoration and upkeep of the Pio-neer Cabin. She was a member of P.E.O. for 60years.During her 90 years in Helena, she has seen most ofthe major events and growth that has taken place.She was an encyclopedia of information on the his-tory of Helena. The one word that can be used tobest describe her is �perseverance.� She loved to playbridge and as she did in her life, did her best withthe cards she was dealt. Bitty requests memorialsbe sent to the Pioneer Cabin Fund, 162 SawmillRoad, Clancy, MT 59634

�Bitty� Morrison Herrin pictured in front of the original Morrison Flying Service facility on the west end of theHelena airport prior to the FBO being relocated in the fall of 1979 to the café/tower building.

CalendarMarch 13 � 14 � Air Fare and Exposition,Fairbanks, AK.March 18 � 20 � 10th Annual InternationalWomen in Aviation Conference, Radisson TwinTowers Hotel, Orlando, FL (937)839-4647.April 10 � Airport Breakfast, 10:00 am, Colum-bus.April 11 � 17 � 25th Annual Sun �n Fun Fly-Inand Convention, Lakeland, FL.May 7 � 8 � Aviation Conference and TradeShow, Anchorage, AK.June 5 � 9th Annual AOPA fly-in and OpenHouse, AOPA Headquarters, Frederick Munici-pal Airport, MarylandJune 19 � 20 � �Mountain Madness 99�Airshow, Glacier Park International Airport,Kalispell. The Blue Angels, Wayne Handley,The Pietsch Brothers, balloons, parachuting, glid-ers, warbirds and many static displays. Call(800)543-3205 or (800)843-6114. Gib Bissell,Airshow Operations Officer.June 20 � Beacon Star Father�s Day Fly-in withFrank�s poorboy sourdough pancake breakfast.June 26 � EAA Fly-in, Billings. Breakfast,Young Eagle Flights, BBQ.July 16 � 18 � Schafer Meadows Annual WorkSession.July 16 � 18 � Miles City Fly-in and AntiqueShow.July 16 � 18 � EAA Family Fly-in and tradeshow, West Yellowstone Airport.July 28 � August 3 � EAA AirVenture Fly-inand Convention, Oshkosh, WI.August 5 � 8 � MAAA Fly-in, Pogreba Field,Three Forks.August 6 � 8 � Sixth Annual Splash In � Fly In,Stillwater Landing.September 17 � 19 � Mountain Search PilotClinic, Kalispell.October 21 � 23 � AOPA Expo�99, AtlanticCity, NJ.

State AwardWinner

Katrina Wahl of Cut Bank, Montana won the firstplace Montana State award for the 1999 Interna-tional Aviation Art Contest. This year�s themewas �Flying is Fun�. Katrina was recognized asthe state winner with a plaque and a Montanaand the Sky aviation history book.

Katrina�s art was forwarded to Wash-ington, D.C. to participate in the national com-petition. Her artwork will also represent Mon-tana in Orlando, Florida this April at the NationalCongress for Aerospace Education.

Congratulations Katrina!

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New Members to Aeronautics BoardOn January 19, Governor Marc Racicot an-nounced that effective immediately the follow-ing individuals have been appointed to theMontana Aeronautics Board.

Craig Denney � commercial airlinerepresentative.

John Rabenberg � public member.Began farming near Fort Peck in 1957 wherehe continues today. Began flying in 1974.Served as Chamber Director for Wolf Point1971-1973; Chamber Executive from 1977-1987; Serves as Chairman of the Governor�sEssential Air Service Task Force, a positionhe has held since 1979; Named OutstandingAgriculturalist in 1981 and Wolf Point ElksCitizen of the Year in 1987; Past Vice-Chair-man of the State Republican Party and Chair-man of the McCone County Republican Partyfor 20 years.

Bob Palmersheim - fixed based op-erator representative. Veteran Montana Pilotwith over 17,000 flight hours including flightinstruction and charter flying. Soloed in 1951.Serves as General Manager/Director of FlightOperations for Lynch Flying Service in Bill-ings. Is a former FAA designated pilot exam-iner. Served as Director and President of theMontana Aviation Trades Association andformer Board member of the National AirTransportation Association. Serves as Searchand Rescue Coordinator for the AeronauticsDivision, District 10 for the past 37 years.

Craig Denney Bob Palmersheim John Rabenberg

Also reappointed to the Board is:

JoAnn Eisenzimer � aviation edu-cation representative

Each of these members will serve afour-year term ending January 1, 2003. Thenew Board members were formally introducedat the Montana Aviation Conference and par-ticipated in a Board Question and Answer ses-sion together with an abbreviated AeronauticsBoard meeting. We welcome the new mem-bers, the expertise each one brings to the Boardand look forward to working with them overthe next four years.

The nine-member Montana Aeronau-tics Board is a quasi-judicial board with statu-tory authority over the Division�s loan andgrant funds.

The three new appointees andreappointee join current Board members: RonMercer, Chairman representing the MontanaAirport Managers Association; Byron Bayers,Vice-Chairman representing the MontanaChamber of Commerce; Doug Freeman, Sec-retary representing the Montana League ofCities and Towns and the attorney representa-tive; Fred Booth representing the Montana Pi-lots Association and Will Metz representingthe Association of Montana Aerial Applica-tors. The terms of the five current Board mem-bers will expire January 1, 2001.

If you have a question or concern feelfree to contact your Board representative orany other Board member.

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The Aeronautics Division wishes toexpress its gratitude to the Board memberswith terms expiring January 1, 1999. ArnieLindberg, the FBO representative; Bob Hec-tor, the commercial airline representative andLee Ford the public member. Thank yougentlemen for your support and interest in theMontana Aeronautics Division and aviation inthe state of Montana. It was a pleasure work-ing with you.

LeonJacobsRetires

The Lewistown Airport Board held a luncheon torecognize Leon �Jake� Jacobs for his communityservice while serving on the airport board. Leonretired from the Lewistown Airport Board after 32years, many of which he served as chairman. Leonalso retired from the Governors Essential Air Ser-vice Task Force that he has served on since the in-ception of the Essential Air Service program in 1978.Several award plaques and mementos were presentedto Leon during the ceremony in recognition for hismany years of service and contributions on behalfof the community. During Leon�s tenure, many im-provements have been made on the airport and hisactive involvement in lobbying to keep the Essen-tial Air Service program alive has resulted in reli-able scheduled air line service for Lewistown. JohnRabenberg, Chairman of the Governor�s EssentialAir Service Task Force thanked Leon for his yearsof service and read congratulation letters from Sena-tors Baucus and Burns. Representative Rod Bitneyof Kalispell recognized and congratulated Leon onbehalf of the Montana Legislature. During the cer-emony I was honored to read a thank your letter toLeon from Governor Racicot, congratulating him onhis retirement and thanking him for his service. Onbehalf of the Montana Aeronautics Board and Divi-sion I too wish to thank Leon for his service andextend our best wishes on his retirement.

Pictured clockwise: John Rabenberg, repre-senting the Governor�s Essential Air ServiceTask Force; Rep. Rod Bitney congratulatesLeon Jacobs; and Joe Spika, Chairman of theLewistown Airport Board and Leonlisten as Mike Ferguson reads lettersof congratulations.

Montana State SystemPlanning Update

On Saturday morning at the Montana Aviation Conference this year, a public meeting was held to solicitinput and ideas from the public at large concerning topics impacting the future of Montana aviation. Themeeting was held as part of the 1998 Montana State Aviation System Plan (SASP) base update. TheSASP is an annual planning document, which is created by the Division to aid in aviation system plan-ning in the state of Montana.

System planning efforts in the past have included capital improvement plans, pavement condi-tion ratings, airport land use compatibility studies and airport safety standard reviews. About every tenyears, the Division updates the base plan, which serves as the foundation for yearly planning updates.The base plan update currently under construction is a two year planning effort which will firstly inven-tory in great detail the state aviation system, and will secondly provide 5, 10 and 20 year forecasts forthose inventories. This update will also present certain, highly relevant aviation topics in state aviationand try and develop solutions for those problems, this is what the public meeting held at the conferencewas all about, to solicit topics of high concern from the public. The highest topic of concern expressedby the public seemed to be without a doubt weather reporting capabilities statewide and the problemassociated with unsupported ASOS/AWOS data.

All in all it was a lively debate, which we hope to duplicate at our next two public systemplanning meetings, which are tentatively planned for Missoula and Billings near the third and fourthweek of April. We sincerely hope many of you will be able to attend these important upcoming meetingsto help direct the future of state aviation planning.

Please contact the Division for specific times and details for the next state aviation systemplanning public meeting.

Aviation ConferenceContest Winners

Congratulations to our 5th annual Montana Avia-tion Contest winners!! The Montana Aviation Con-test, which is held each year at the Montana Aero-nautics Division booth, asks the entrant to look at aboard of pictures at the booth and try and identifyby the aerial photo different Montana airports froma field of 20 different pictures. The contestant thenwrites down his or her guesses on an entry formand places it in the entry box. This year we had 10entries with a three way tie for third place. Ourthanks to the non-prize winning contestants EthalVan Campen, Charles Inman, Orville Moore, JimGarrison and Will Metz for competing. AND THEWINNERS ARE:

First Place - Evert Wierda from Manhattan (17correct)Second Place - Bill Berkland from Robert Pecciaand Assc in Helena (16 correct)Third Place - Bill Mayo from Colstrip (11 cor-rect)Third Place - Phil Porrini from Robert Peccia andAssc. in Helena (11 correct)Third Place - Jim Schindler from Missoula (11correct)

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6

AERONAUTICS BOARD APPROVES AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

By: Redge R. Meierhenry Airport/Airways Bureau Chief

Montana Aeronautics established in mid-1993, an Airport Development Financial AssistanceProgram for the promotion of aeronautical purposes,airport improvement and development. This pro-gram is a result of legislation sponsored by the Mon-tana Pilots Association. Financial assistance is pro-vided as grants and loans and is designed to be aflexible funding mechanism assisting airport devel-opment projects. The Aeronautics Board and Divi-sion make every effort to maximize the funds in-tended effect to promote Montana aviation and air-port development.

The financial assistance program hasgained in popularity since the program inception, asthere were sixteen airport sponsors who submittedapplications for this year�s funding. Project worksubmitted for consideration was varied and compe-tition for the limited funding is severe. Unfortu-nately, not every project can be approved and fundeddue to the small size of the development fund. Typi-cally, we program approximately $135,000 in air-port development grants and $135,000 for airportdevelopment loans. This year�s allocation availablefor disbursement was $141,606 for grants and$135,000 for loans. The higher amount for grantsrepresents a carryover amount from the previous fis-cal year.

The Montana Aeronautics Board at theirscheduled meeting reviewed this years program,February 26th, in Butte at the Aviation Conference.The list below is only those airport projects approvedby the Aeronautics Board for funding this fiscal year.

Libby - $30,000 grant for rehabilitationof runway 15/33, taxiway and apron; obstructionremoval; parallel taxiway extension; animal controlfencing; hangar access taxiway construction andAirport Layout Plan update.

Plains - $3,000 grant for Airport MasterPlan; Airport Layout Plan; preliminary engineeringand environmental assessment.

Choteau - $55,000 grant and $37,500 loanfor land acquisition; construct new runway 14/32and relocate refuse access road.

Columbus - $1,200 grant for installationof a Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI).

Lewistown - $53,800 loan for AirportLayout Plan Update; construct parallel taxiway withrunway 7/25; construct mid-field taxiway; extend

runway 7/25; complete wildlife fencing and newtaxiway �A� Medium Intensity Taxiway Lighting(MITL).

Sidney-Richland - $13,750 grant forland acquisition; residence relocation; roadrelocation and airspace zoning.

Glasgow - $13,808 grant for construc-tion of wildlife fencing.

Colstrip - $7,000 grant for constructionof wildlife fencing and hangar access taxiway.

Livingston - $4,600 for the purchase ofsnowplow and blade from state surplus.

Conrad - $6,500 grant for runway 5/23crack seal.

Cut Bank - $34,630 loan for construc-tion of hangar access taxiways; ramp repairs;water/sewage improvements; terminal buildingparking and road repairs; runway crack sealing;runway fog seal and re-stripping.

With this financial assistance theAeronautics Board and Division looks forward tothe successful completion of these projects.

Elsie Marie Forbes Childs Passes On

Memorials in Elsie�s name may be sent to Wild-wood Christian Retreat in Gillette, WY or theMontana Wilderness Association, PO Box 635,Helena, MT 59624.

Elsie Marie Forbes Childs, 80, died Feb.3, 1999, at Livingston Health and RehabilitationCenter. She had Alzheimer�s Disease and relatedailments for 13 years. Survivors include her hus-band, Glen T. Childs of Livingston; her son, KimForbes Childs and his wife, Joyce of Idaho Falls;one sister, Ena and her husband, Dick Mader ofGillette, Wyo; two nephews of Gillette, Wyo: andgrand-daughters, Ashley Childs of Bozeman andBrady Weber of Clackamas, OR.

Elsie was born Sept. 28, 1918, inKepplerville, south of Jordan, to Charles and CoraForbes. She attended grade school in Kepplervilleand high school in Miles City.She worked for one year in Washington, DC, as aclerk stenographer for the U.S. Department of Agri-culture, and while there attended night school forone year at Georgetown University. She then workedfor one year at the USDA field station at Huntley.Next she was employed as a clerk in downtown Bill-ings, and while there she took flying lessons in aPiper Cub at the Billings airport.

In 1924 Elsie moved to Helena where sheserved the FAA Flight Standards Branch as an avia-tion clerk stenographer for the federal accident in-spectors, until her retirement in 1973.

Elsie�s hobbies were flying light aircraft,hiking western Montana, downhill and cross coun-try skiing, horseback riding and scenery watchingin the western U.S. She was the first lady pilot inHelena to obtain a commercial flight certificate. Inaddition, she obtained ground instructor and instru-ment ratings and compiled more than 2,000 hoursof flight time. She was a highly �skilled� mountainpilot with a perfect safety record.She entered the first Calgary Stampede efficiencyair race and brought back the first place trophy forwomen and finished second overall, competingagainst both men and women pilots from all parts ofNorth America. She won the first place trophy forthe Big Sky All Woman efficiency race with copilotHelen Dunlop of Helena. The pair competed in theAll Woman Transcontinental Air Race formLawrence, Mass., to Spokane, Wash.As a Civil Air Patrol member, Elsie flew severallost aircraft and flood missions in military light air-craft.

Elsie served as chairman of the Montana99s. She also did considerable air marking in Mon-tana and served as chairman of the Amelia EarhartScholarship Fund. Her flying career was cut shortin 1985 when she contracted Alzheimer�s disease.

FIRC HeldMontana Aeronautics hosted the annual flight in-structor refresher clinic in Helena on February 5th

and 6th. Sandra Provenzano from Houston, Texasreceived a warm Montana welcome from forty-fourMontana flight instructors. Sixteen hours of re-view packed into 11/2 days is intense learning.

Enough of the FAR part 61 has changedthat a new 1999 FAR is in order for pilots. Someof the new changes in the FAR that might interestpilots are:

61.49 Retesting after failure - Applicantwill no longer be required to wait 30 daysfor reexamination in the event of a sec-ond failure of the knowledge or practi-cal test.

61.51 Pilot logbooks - Student pilots maynow log pilot-in-command time while fly-ing solo.

Instrument safety pilot rated in categoryand class may log second-in-command orpilot-in-commend as they choose.

61.57 Recent flight experience: Pilot incommand - Instrument recent experiencerequirement is now 6 approaches, hold-ing procedures and intercepting and track-ing courses within the last 6 months. Nohour requirement.

61.65 Instrument Rating Requirements -No total time requirement.

Cross-country flight time logged as a stu-dent pilot may now be applied toward 50hour PIC cross-country requirement.

Thank you to Sandra Provenzano for put-ting on an informative clinic and to Jim Cooney andCarol Henry of the Helena FSDO and most of all toyou our Montana Flight Instructors!

Above, Jim Cooney puts the special Montana Aero-nautics buffalo wings on the FIRC presenter,Sandra Provenzano. Below, Doug Parrott takes hisFIRC final exam.

Jeanne Lesnik of the Montana AeronauticsDivision shows the ELT that helped searcherslocate the Cessna 177 on August 12, 1998.

First timers tothe FIRCclinic alsoreceived a setof Montanabuffalo wings.Pictured fromleft to rightare JohnRotter, WayneMathis, DaveSouthworth,CharlesMorledge andJoe Guthrie.Congratula-tions!

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AOPA�S AIRPORT DIRECTORY-1999 ON THE WAYAOPA members are already beginning to receivethe 1999 edition of AOPA�s Airport Directory, theindustry�s most comprehensive directory of morethan 7,000 landing facilities, 4,826 FBOs and some34,000 listings for on-airport and near-airport ser-vices.

AOPA�s Airport Directory � 1999 is aninvaluable tool for preflight planning and in-flightreference. The slim line directory fits in most flightbags.

The �U.S. Landing Facilities/FBOs� sec-tion includes every critical piece of information apilot needs to know about an airport and associatedservices. Airports are listed within each state by cityname.

Included is critical safety informationsuch as runway length, width, surface, lighting andalignment. Obstructions, extensive flight trainingand other important safety notes such as non-stan-dard traffic patterns are indicated where present.

Most helpful are some 2,600 runway dia-grams for airports with instrument approaches.

AOPA�s Airport Directory is the only di-rectory to list more than 1,880 private-use landingfacilities with telephone numbers so that pilots mayobtain landing permission from the owners.

The Directory offers a complete catalogof airport features and services with listings for ho-tels, restaurants, rental cars and taxis. FBO listingsinclude hours of operation, telephone and fax num-bers, and e-mail addresses.

Included are addresses and phone num-bers for FAA Regional Offices, Flight StandardsDistrict Offices, control towers and Air Route Traf-fic Control Centers plus contact information for theNTSB, FCC, NOAA, state aeronautical agencies andTransport Canada.

AOPA�s Airport Directory � 1999 is freeto AOPA members who select this benefit on theirmembership application or renewal form. Mem-bers may purchase additional copies of AOPA�sAirport Directory-1999 for $24.95 from Sporty�Pilot shop. The non-member price is $34.95 Call 1-800-LIFTOFF to order.

An interactive version of AOPA�s Air-port Directory is available in the Members Onlysection of AOPA Onine at www.aopa.org/members/airports/. The online listing of U.S. airports includesadvanced search features allow the pilot to selectairports based on runway length, types of instru-ment approaches, fuel availability, lodging, etc.AOPA�s Airport Directory Online is updated con-tinuously and contains the most up-to-date airportinformation available to AOPA.

ReminderIt is nearly March and the deadline for receiptof your Sport Aviation Art Competition entryis due by April 30, 1999. Entries have startedto arrive and another great display of fine avia-tion artwork is in the making.

If you have any questions or concernsregarding the competition, please call (920) 426-4877 or email: jmueller@eaa.org.

The Department of Transportation attemptsto provide reasonable accomodations forany known disability that may interfere witha person participating in any service, pro-gram or activity of the Department. Alter-native accessible formats of this documentwill be provided upon request. For furtherinformation call 406-444-2506 or TDD 406-444-7696.

PO Box 5178Helena, Montana 59604-5178

Bulk RatePostage Paid at

Helena, MT 59620Permit No. 141

March 1999

Twenty nine hundred copies of this publicdocument were produced at an estimatedcost of 39 cents each, for a total cost of$1,123. This includes $120 for production,$783 for postage and $220 for printing.