Rick Tavan
Aviation History: Flew occasionally as a child. Got interested as a young adult. Gave up as a family man and workaholic. Finally licensed in 1996 at age 48. Instrument rating 1999. The whole story: How I came to be a private pilot.
Total flight time: About 1500 hours
Aircraft: Cessna T-210 (single engine, six-cylinder, 310 HP, turbocharged, intercooled; six seats); Garmin 530W GPS; Avidyne TAS; KFC-200 Autopilot; HSI, GEM, Backup AI, XM WX, ...
Dual-based at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, CA and Truckee-Tahoe Airport near Truckee, CA
Appointed volunteer for TRK, AOPA Airport Support Network
Former director, Friends of Truckee Tahoe Airport
Links
- SkyVector with Realtime Weather: TRK, RHV
- Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)
- Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and its Chapter 1073 at Truckee-Tahoe Airport (Warning: The 1073 Web site, like an airplane, makes noise.)
- California Pilots Association (CalPilots)
- Cessna Pilots Association (CPA)
- Friends of Truckee-Tahoe Airport (FoTTA)
- Reid-Hillview Airport Association (RHVAA)
- Palo Alto Airport Association (PAAA)
- West Valley Flying Club (WVFC)
- Best intro to aviation: You Can Fly
- Best flying manual: Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook
Manifesto
Aviation is under attack by NIMBYs ("Not in my back yard!") whose greatest pleasure is telling others what they may not do. All over America, enthusiastic communities used to build airports so that they could enjoy the economic, educational, recreational, transportation and public safety benefits of aviation. These communities thrived. As they grew, developers snarfed up land surrounding the airport for its apparent bargain price and built cheap, poorly insulated houses. Usually, they "forgot" to inform their buyers of a highly technical aspect of their new neighborhood: Airplanes are audible. So the newly invested homeowners heard airplanes buzzing around the airport next door and took serious offense at the temerity of those #&!@* pilots who made noise near their shiny, new homes, destroying their God-given right to silence. Yes, this even happens when the airport predates the homes by 50 years. The homeowners then proceed to attack the airport and attempt to shut it down or drastically curtail its operation. In recent years we have seen as many as an airport a week fall to the NIMBYs axe. There are virtually no new airports being built in America today. It is up to those of us who would be free to defend our beleaguered airports, critical nodes in the National Airspace System, by electing public officials who understand what is going on and who will promote and defend aviation.