Events: 2006-2007 Academic Year

Field Trip #4: Block Island

Saturday, April 14, 2007

The trip to Block Island was a pretty amazing trip. The flight itself was not only simple, but very scenic and enjoyable as well. The airport was very accessible and easy to find; the only tricky part was finding a spot to park since the airport is apparently extremely busy during the middle of the day on weekends (in season). Once on the island, everything is pretty much within walking distance. We grabbed some pizza from a local pizzeria and then walked down to the beach. We then walked out onto a rock jetty in the ocean (see pictures) and climbed a little light tower at the end (because there were no signs suggesting otherwise). Despite this, our actions apparently drew the attention of the local police, as two officers were dispatched to the jetty to retrieve us. They seemed very amused at the fact that we had flown to the island ourselves, and were somehow aware of this before we even mentioned it to them (apparently word travels very fast on the island). After the police encounter, we headed back to the airport and departed on our flight home. On the way back, we stopped at KWST to top our tanks because fuel services are not provided on the island.

Click here to view the pictures from the Block Island trip.
Spring 2007 RPI Fly-By

Saturday & Sunday, March 31 & April 1, 2007

The fly-by went smoothly, as usual, and we were fortunate to have great flying weather. We flew a total of 85 students over the course of the weekend, utilizing 3 planes.

Click here to view the pictures from the Spring 2007 RPI Fly-By.
Field Trip #3: New York City (AT NIGHT!)

Saturday, February 27, 2007

This trip was originally planned with a destination of Potsdam, NY. The club was going to land at KPTD and then head over to Clarkson to help cheer on the RPI Men's Hockey Team. However, due to the high probability of lake effect snow in upstate NY that evening, we were forced to choose an alternate destination for the trip. We decided to fly down to NYC during the late afternoon. We landed at KCDW in Caldwell, NJ, and grabbed some pizza before our return flight. Once the sun had set completely, we departed KCDW for an amazing night flight over the Hudson River and the NJ/NYC metropolitan area. I highly recommend KCDW; the airport staff was very friendly and accommodating throughout the duration of our stay, and the airport was easily accessible and not at all congested.

Click here to view the pictures from the NYC night trip.
Field Trip #2: New York City

Sunday, December 3 & Saturday, December 9

Due to the massive popularity of this field trip, along with the limited plane availability, we were forced to split this trip up among two days (one of the days was postponed by a week due to weather). A total of 18 students participated on this field trip, flying in 5 planes between the two days. We flew down the Hudson River Corridor, then underneath JFK airspace, and landed at Republic Airport (KFRG) for lunch. The trip itself was excellent, as usual; however, the experience at Republic left quite a bit to be desired. The process of landing at the nation's busiest general aviation airport is not exactly the best experience in the world; it took us about 30 minutes before we were able to successfully obtain clearance to enter the airspace. However, the worst experience was caused by Long Island Jet Center, which took over 50 minutes to send a fuel truck 100 feet across the apron to refuel our planes (after telling us repeatedly, "only 10 more mintes"). We do not recommend using Long Island Jet Center, unless waiting an hour to be refueled is acceptable for you. Aside from that, the trip was awesome, as usual.

Click here to view the pictures from the NYC trip.
Fall 2006 RPI Fly-By

Saturday & Sunday, November 18 & 19, 2006

Despite cloudy weather prevailing throughout most of the weekend, the fly-by was successfully conducted without any problems with a total of 82 students participating.

Click here to view the pictures from the Fall 2006 RPI Fly-By.
Field Trip #1: El Mira, New York

Saturday, October 4

Click here to view the pictures from the Elmira trip.
NIFA Flight Competition

Wednesday, October 18 through Sunday, October 22.

RPI NIFA Team:
Vinny Longo (captain)
Dave Shangraw
Tom Kulick
Chris Pair
Jimmy Smith
Dan Dugan
Cory Isabelle
Rich Peterson
AOPA Air Safety Seminar: Emergency Procedures

Wednesday, September 20, 2006: 7 to 9pm

The AOPA Air Safety Seminar on emergency procedures will take place on Wednesday, September 20, from 7 to 9pm at the Schenectady County Community College. We will be meeting at the union horseshoe at 6:10pm, and departing at 6:15 at the latest. If you did not sign up at Thursday's meeting but still wish to attend, please email me and let me know. Admission is free to anyone.
Private Pilot Ground School

Sundays from 7 to 10pm (starting September 24)

The private pilot ground school program will be starting on Sunday, September 24, and will take place each Sunday from 7 to 10pm (most likely in the library conference room). Please see the ground school page for more details. If you have not yet signed up but still want to, email me ASAP. The last day to register is at next Thursday's meeting (September 21).
NRB: The Rensselaer Aviation Experience

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The Rensselaer Aviation Experience (aka: Aviation Anyone?) is a brand new program organized by members of the RAF this summer for a group of 19 lucky incoming Freshman students. The students were transported to the Albany International Airport, where they participated in various icebreaker activities followed by an interesting presentation given by the CEO of the airport on general airport history and operations, as well as how engineering comes into play within the airport environment. Following the presentation, the students were given a tour of Southwest facilities within the airport, including the main operations control room and other behind-the-scenes areas. After the tour, students were given a lecture on transportation engineering, followed up by an introductory ground school lesson including an introduction to interpreting aviation sectional maps. Finally, the program concluded as students were given the opportunity to experience aviation firsthand by going up in planes piloted by pilots of the RAF for an aerial tour of the RPI campus and downtown Albany. If anyone has any pictures from this event, please email them to me so I can post them on the web site.