Saturday morning from 8:00 AM
until 12:30 pm, we'll have the first segment of the technical program.
All technical sessions will be held in the Enterprise Room at
the SMX Radisson. Each session will last about an hour.
The daily schedule for our tech
sessions is still under development, but we're expecting a special
lineup for our 21st SMXgig! A sample of the scheduled sessions...
Habits, Not Checklists:
Frank Bowlin is
a frequent contributor
to Aviation Safety, Aviation Consumer and IFR magazines,
and joined the ranks of professional pilots after 30 years in the
computer
industry.
For years it's been drummed into us: "Use your
checklist!" While checklists are important, most of the checklists
developed by the manufacturers of general aviation aircraft are far too
bulky to be useful.
In this discussion of the use of checklists,
Frank Bowlin takes the contrarian position that nobody with more than
100 hours who flies more than a couple of hours a year should be using
the manufacturer's checklists. He points out that general aviation
pilots should become less dependant on the use of checklists to get
things done, and should concentrate more on developing good habits.
He'll also take a look at a manufacturer's checklist, and explore how
it can be edited to become more useful and more effective. Finally,
he'll explain the use of flows to get your tasks done, and relegating
checklists to the role of "check"list rather than a step-by-step
"do"list.
Engines for Owners: Steve
Ells writes the Engine Beat
column for KITPLANES Magazine,
and owns Ells Aviation, an aviation maintenance
consulting company.
He'll talk about engine maintenance for owners, and how to save your
engine (and a bunch of money) through a few simple practices.
XM
Weather: Ed
Williams is a regular speaker at SMXgig, talking about GPS, IFR
procedures,
meteorology, aerodynamics and other subjects. He's been a
flight
instructor and
airplane owner for over 30 years, currently flying a steam gauge 1976
C182 (but
with a Garmin 430W). His day job is as a physicist in
the laser
program at
Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. This year, he'll talk about XM
weather.
Formation
Flying: Colin Aro is the owner of Cool Rain Aviation in
Reno, NV, and is both a
powered and glider pilot. He combines his experience in both modes of
flying into two substantive and fascinating sessions, his first at
SMXgig.
Regaining
the Medical: Laura Herrmann is
a pilot, a nurse, and a cancer survivor. A long-time SMXgig attendee
and presenter, she'll recount her successful mission to regain her
medical.
Yin and Yang of the G1000:
Steve Philipson is a pilot who wears many hats. He's a veteran
of some 25 years and 5,500-plus hours of flying experience who holds
commercial and Gold Seal instructor certificates for airplane single-
and multi-engine land, instrument airplane, and glider. He's been a
search and rescue pilot, and safety officer with the Civil Air Patrol
for 19 years. Steve's also an independent aviation researcher and
author, with published work on flying airplanes in mountain wave
conditions and mountain search flying. In addition, he's an FAA
designated Aviation Safety Counselor who regularly gives presentations
on aviation safety.
Mitch
Cohen is a CFII who also wear
four
stripes on his sleeve for SkyWest Airlines. He's a long-time
and
popular SMXgig
presenter.
At 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, we
will have a wonderful lunch at the hotel, featuring a Santa Maria Tri-tip
and BBQ Chicken Buffet. The
vegetarian choice is Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich. Of
course, we’ll have door prizes and a bunch of fun.
