Marin County 99s

Our first meeting for 2017 was electric with energy and great with attendance!

March 18, 2017 – Seaplane ride and potluck dinner at Gretchen’s: Alyssa Abbey, one of our newest aviatrices and owner of the DHC-2 Dehavilland Beaver at Seaplane Adventures has offered a 30 minute Bay Tour on March 18 at 5 p.m. for those who attended our meeting on January 28. Our flight will be followed by a potluck dinner at Gretchen Kah’s home in San Francisco. Gretchen is another new member and has so graciously invited us over. Big thanks, Alyssa and Gretchen!! For more details, contact Sue Royce (sue@royceprinting.com)

March 25 – Next Meeting: Our next meeting will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, at Sue’s hangar, Gnoss Field, B101. Pot luck brunch. RSVP. This will be our Annual Meeting, voting for Board Officers and Chapter review. 

April 22 – Fly-In – Half Moon Bay: We can all meet at the south end of the tie downs and walk into town for lunch. Auburn is alternate if HAF is IFR. 

Cheers,

Sue Royce, Chair – Marin 99s 

Photo of Marin 99s Chapter meeting on January 28, 2017, from left: Sue Royce, Suzanne Elb, Rhonda Nilsson, Valerie Westen, Gretchen Kah, Leanne Anderson, Barbara O’Grady, Frida Audette, Lisa Johnson, Karen Kalua, Cindy Pickett, Nysa Kline, Alyssa Abbey and Sandy Brown

Cindy Pickett, Val Westen, Sherry Vakharia and Sue Royce representing the Marin 99s, accompanied by other aviatrixes at Gnoss Field Movie Night on November 5.  We are at the Spirit of St. Louis 2 Hangar with the SOS2 pilot, Robert Ragozzoni. Behind us is his replica SOS2 aircraft, which will be ready for a test flight by March, 2017. 

R.S.V.P.: Sue Royce, sue@royceprinting.com, 510/220-7744 by November 28

R.S.V.P. – POT LUCK!!!!!

A – H: APPETIZER / I – R: SIDE DISH or SALAD / S – Z: DESSERT

We will provide beverages (beer, wine and non-alcoholic) and roasted turkey, Music / Movies / Silent Auction

TONS OF FUN!!!!

Mingle with your friends, old and new from the Gnoss Field Community.

Meet Robert Ragozzoni, Pilot of the Spirit of St. Louis 2. The SOS2 flight will be recreating the Charles Lindbergh 1927 solo flight from New York to Paris across the Atlantic in May, 2017. The construction team is on schedule for test flight of the replica SOS2 on March 1, 2017. 

Our next Movie Night at the Airport will be Saturday, November 5 (7 p.m.) will feature the 1957 feature “The Spirit of St. Louis”, directed by Academy Award winner Billy Wilder and starring Jimmy Stewart in the role he lobbied for years to play.

Our movie nights are held, appropriately enough, in the Spirit of St. Louis 2 project hangar at Gnoss Field. Host Robert Ragozzino, pilot and lead organizer of the SOS2 project, will be on hand to introduce the movie. 

Just think; you can come watch the definitive movie recreation of Lindbergh’s 1927 solo, non-stop flight from New York to Paris in an airplane factory while sitting next to the replica Spirit in which Robert will re-create the flight in real life on its’ 90th anniversary next May.

The trip in May will be live-cast on NOVA. Seeing this movie will give you historical context in which you will gain a fuller understanding of the monumental task at hand for Robert.

Tickets are $2 for adults, 50 cents for kids.

When arriving at the airport (451 Airport Road, Novato), Binford Road will drop you right in the parking lot. The Spirit of St. Louis 2 hangar is the big hangar/office building just to your right; look for signs and people to help direct you inside.

If you have questions contact us at EAA1232@gmail.com 

What’s a summer without a big 99s cross country? Usually a few of us soar aloft to small town America for the 4th of July. But July came and went without any flying fireworks. So when Beth and Rich Behrens decided to return to their stomping grounds in north eastern Washington I couldn’t resist the invite.  For more of Cindy’s story click here.

For our next event, we are going to join in on the Open Cockpit Day with IFFR at Oakland Aviation Museum.  

Date/Time: Sunday, September 18 from 10:00am – 4:00 pm

Schedule:  

10:00 am – 11:30 am—enjoy the Museum

11:30 am: IFFR Lunch: in a conference room set aside for us (Food Vendors on site).

12:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Open Cockpit Day. Enjoy the Museum, sit in the cockpit of a range of planes, including a Korean War MIG-15. Either fly or drive in. Please let me know who can make it. Should be tons of fun and is SO close to home. Don’t miss it.  

Click on this link for more information:                http://www.oaklandaviationmuseum.org/open_cockpit_days_28.html

Last Monday, I had the pleasure of taking Margot Cheel, past President of the New England Chapter of the 99s, flying from Gnoss Field. Margot and I met at the 99s International Conference in Ottawa, Canada earlier this month. While she was visiting her daughter in San Rafael last week, she could not turn down my offer to go for a Bay Tour in my Cherokee.