We lost John Lehtio on Sunday, March 28 after his battle with cancer. As many of you know, John had undergone chemo therapy treatment over the last several months and had thought the cancer was in remission. He had even returned to work. We last saw John at the March 16 meeting when he told us that he was going to have to undergo more chemo treatment as the cancer had returned to some degree. We were all hopeful.

John will, of course, be best remembered for his participation in the WCF Float Flys as he always brought his canoe and paddle ready to retrieve anyone’s float plane that came down on Sal Lake. We kept him busy continuously paddling out and returning with our planes. He loved it, maybe more than flying himself. Always cheerful, always ready to help, always ready to go again. The first Float Fly of 2010 is scheduled for next month but John won’t be with us this time.

Memorial services will be held at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary, 850 Keokuk St., Petaluma at 11 AM Thursday April 1st. Details here.

Goodbye, John, you’ll be missed by all of us.

Well we had our first pylon race of the season on March 14th. The racing was supposed to start at 9:00am this year but with the time change and the sun being so low in the sky it was not to be. So we kicked off the season at a little after 10:00am. During the pilots meeting we voted to try a ground start in the T-28/F4U class to spice things up a little. It was, shall I say interesting. Right off the bat two planes got together and made some foam confetti. After a couple of starts the racers got smart and started placing the planes farther apart, but when you have five abreast things will happen. Phil Leech was having a tough time with his rudder and on one start went dead left and crashed into another plane, knocking the other pilot out but Phil kept racing. He managed to bring home 9 points to be in a solid 4th place. There was a lot of crashes. In fact Carnage was the word of the day as 9 planes were lost during the day. Its seems Patrick just Loves those pylons because he kissed one and knocked it down. Steve C and Red J also wanted to give the pylons a hug. Brian G had a perfect day and got 15 points to lead the days points in T-28. Adam C and Jon S tied for second with 14 points. Tony M took 3rd, Phil L took 4th, and Patrick O and Jason D tied for 5th to round out the top five.

The Warbird class was fast and furious as usual. We started out with 7 Warbirds this year and finished with 5. Red had brought out a plane he had not flown in a while and was having some issues in the first race and had to land. He tried the the next heat race but on launch had problems and it went in hard. Brian and Steve were in a hot battle and Brian decided Steve should land and gave him a bump right into the runway. Merle's tail let loose again on his bearcat causing a spectacular crash on the front straight. Brian G and Adam C had one of the most exciting races to date when they went 15 laps side by side swapping positions along the way. Brian did beat Adam across the line but Brian had a cut giving the win to Adam. The last race of the day was also a really tough battle and not just for 1st. Steve and Brian were out front with Jon and Tony not far behind and Adam in last. Steve managed to hold on to the lead with Brian right on his rudder. Adam was playing catch up after a bad start and found Jon in the way. Jon wasn't going to just give up third though. At the end Adam caught Jon At the finish line (less than half a plane) to take third. In the end Adam took first for the day with 13points, Brian G took 2nd with 12 points. Steve and Jon are tied for third with 10 points apiece and Tony in fourth place with 9 points. Red and Merle had bad luck this time but the season is Far from over.

The next race is on Sunday April 4th which is a little over 2 weeks from now so I hope those 9 that went down will be ready for the next round. I know some of them are fixed already. The more racer's the more fun it is so grab your plane and come on out for a fun, exciting, and nerve racking good time.