They Did It Again

Newburyport High School team took the Real World Design Challenge and won first prize Statewide for the second year in a row.
The group of five students — Connor Gravelle, Molly Picillo, Belle Douglass, Dan Colby and Ryan Campbell — competed with contestants statewide to design the most fuel-efficient Leerjet empennage (tail section). Coached by Sarah Leadbeater with support from Technology Department chairman, Steve Smith, this years team came through once more.
The team will be honored at 2B2 by MassDOT Aeronautics Division. Keep an eye on the Plum Island Aerodrome web site and this blog for the date of the event. The team has also earned a trip to Washington DC to compete against 25 other state winners. Ace reporter Charlotte will once again cover the award and the national competition for the 2B2 blog.

A reminder from The First Parish Church 375th Celebration

First Parish Church celebrates 375 years as the guiding tower of Newbury....
Newbury planning notes forwarded by Bert Noyes

As we watch another few flakes of snow fall the hopeful message is that spring will soon be here. With spring will come the long awaited birthday party of both the town of Newbury and First Parish Church. For the three days of Memorial Day weekend we will honor all those dedicated men and women who fought and continue to fight to preserve our freedom, from the Revolutionary War to those now in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On May 29, 30 and 31 a realistic time line will be on the Upper Green depicting life in war time camps. Opening ceremonies on Saturday, May 29th will first honor Rev. Thomas Parker, Newbury's first minister, who was given the agricultural charter by King George of England, directing Parker to lead the new town of Newbury. On this day we will also honor those involved in the Revolutionary War. Ceremonies will be held in the First Burying Ground and a realistic depicter of General George Washington on his horse will review the troops on the Green and then ride to the cemetery to speak there. There will be many opportunities to take part to enjoy the food, the music and the costuming of each era.
May 30th will be the day to honor all those who fought in the Civil War. On this day we have the privilege of the company of President and Mrs. Lincoln who will march with all to the church for the 10am worship service and remain following that for a brunch. As with the day before, the time line will remain on the Green, open from 9-5, with reenactments of firing squads, drills and all which was involved with life in camp in the 1860s. Music of the era will be enjoyed. There will be an opportunity to have tea with the President and his wife listening to their discussion of the dreadful times of the 1860s.
On May 31st the camp on the Green will again open at 9am showing the times and the differences in the life in battle from WW1 to the present. Re-enactors of each war we hope will have a presentation and a teaching opportunity. This day will begin again at 9 with reveille. A
Fly-by with planes of the era has been arranged by Bert Noyes between 10 and noon. We hope to have the Triton school band perform the songs of WW1 and WW 11 at 11am in concert. A BBQ on the Green will be offered from 11-12:30. At 12 we hope to have a 60’s era rock band to perform the music of the remaining wars. A closing ceremony will take place circling the duck pond at 12:30. A wreath will be thrown into the pond to honor the heroes of the 20th century wars. This closing ceremony will end with the passing of the agricultural charter given to Rev. Thomas Parker in 1635 by King George of England to Rev. Nancy Haverington, minister of First Parish Church as she now leads the church with the vision of “Stewards of Earth and Spirit”. Taps will be played and the three day celebration comes to an end.

Mark these three days now on your calendars so as not to miss these opportunities for a first hand look at our past as it is so very realistically depicted. It's a great chance for our children as well as adults to learn history in action.

Also check the 2B2 web site calendar of events.

Centennial Celebrations

One Hundred Years of Flying at Plum Island
This year Plum Island Airport will be in the historical limelight as we celebrate one hundred years of flight. Steve Noyes and the Board of Directors of Plum Island Aerodrome Inc. will host a series of events to commemorate the centennial. Coincidentally, Historic New England(HNE) is celebrating its one hundredth birthday and the Town of Newbury its 375th birthday. Planning for the year began in the fall of 2009 when Steve met with Ted Russell, Bert Noyes, Charles Eaton and myself to schedule some key events for 2010. It was quickly decided that Ted would take the lead for the airport, with help from Charlie and myself. Bert is on the Newbury anniversary committee and will be coordinating events that can take place at the airfield. Ted, our historian, will be involved both in events at the airport, as well as those planned by Massachusetts Aviation Historical Society Where he is a prominent member and lecturer. On February 28, 2010, The Massachusetts Aviation Historical Society will kick off the celebrations that relate to flight at Plum Island. The event will commemorate Augustus Herring's first flight in the Herring Burgess #1 from the ice on Chebacco Lake in Hamilton on February 28, 1910. Yes, he did make a safe landing. Burgess and Herring then moved to Plum Island where they built an airstrip and hangar on land that is now part of the Parker River US Fish and Wildlife Refuge. The history is covered well on our web site, in our museum and at Ted's lectures. Scheduled happenings are listed on the calendar in the Events link on our web site. The first event at 2B2 will be on April 17 with a fly-over the Burgess site, a fly-in at the airport and a slide show presentation by Ted Russell. So check the calendar out and come join us this year as we honor those pioneers who took all the risks then, so we could enjoy the view from above today!

Special Day

Honoring Everett Frothingham
On February 10th Larry Frothingham, the son of Everett Frothingham, along with his wife Laura, will be on the USS Missouri in Hawaii flying the Stars and Stripes, honoring his father on the day he was killed during WWII. The Frothingham history at Plum Island Airport is documented in the Burgess museum.

The Launch of the Plum Island Aerodrome Web Site

by Charlotte Vincent

It began with a simple question from Alex Hasapis, PIA’s board member and public information officer. “Is there web training for the general public available through Newburyport High School (NHS)?”

The question was directed to Sarah Leadbeater, NHS Technology Instructor and faculty coach for NHS’ team entry in the annual Department of Energy’s Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) national competition.

Sarah responded with a few questions of her own: “What are you looking to do and are you open to becoming a real world client for my web class students?”

This five minute exchange took place in PIA’s Hangar #1 following the RWDC state award ceremony for NHS’ MA championship team on March 18, 2009. It marked the beginning of a “win-win” collaboration between PIA and NHS. NHS secured a client for its web design students to gain practical, “real world” experience. PIA gained the talent and expertise to design and develop our web site. The collaborative project began in earnest this past September with the start of the new school year.

NHS Goes To Work for PIA
Sarah wasted no time in putting her web technology students to work. She set the stage for the design work by presenting her students with PIA’s objectives, content outline and preliminary design requirements for the web site.

She challenged the students to propose alternative designs for the PIA web site using their fresh learnings in web technology and their creative design skills.

By the beginning of October, NHS students had turned in a dozen alternative design sketches for our PIA web site!

Our First Homework Assignment in Years
Sarah turned them over to Alex and yours truly along with our homework assignments: “Tell me what you like and don’t like.” Simply stated, but simple? Not so much! It turns out there’s a lot more to web design than we ever thought! Here are just a few of the pressing questions which needed - not our personal taste answers – but PIA answers.

Sure there’s going to be a photo or graphic – but which one both catches the eye of visitors to our web site while also best representing PIA - who we are and what we do? Don’t forget to tell me how big you want it and where you want it positioned.

Of course, we need color – but which of PIA’s trademark colors will accent the borders and draw visitors into the site with a warm and welcoming tone? Do we stick with one color for the borders and the tabs to keep it simple and clean? What about the font style and color for the text on the page tabs … what color breaks through the background color for reading clarity while blending well aesthetically?
Will that clever idea of a background graphic in the content portion of the page be too distracting to the reader or will it subliminally reinforce the PIA brand? By the way what best depicts the PIA brand?

How do we keep that uniquely creative banner towing of the page tabs so it’s a playful enticement to explore further the PIA web site without making it too gimmicky and detracting to PIA’s credibility and reputation as a professional non-profit organization?

Help from “The Coach”
After several lively discussions, Alex and I consolidated our answers and drew up our “Help Us, Sarah” list. Sarah joined us at 2B2’s Airport Office and Lounge for a second round of design discussions … one design element at a time.

The first thing Sarah did was listen attentively and objectively to our likes/dislikes, our own creative design ideas, and our questions and concerns which inevitably began or ended with a “Can we do this?”, “We haven’t a clue”, or “What do you think, Sarah?”

Sarah posed questions to clarify and advance our thinking and to generate new ideas. She helped us explore the pros and cons of different design options. She freely offered explanations and examples of effective web designs. She was a little more selective in offering recommendations. She preferred instead to lead us to our own conclusions and to defer to us as the best to decide what was best for PIA.

We left the design meeting with final specifications for most design elements and new homework assignments for everyone.

From the drawing board to site construction
Alex moved quickly on those tasks which were on the critical path for web site development. Drawing on his own engineering and software technology expertise, he produced and passed onto Sarah the header photo, the background graphic, and the airplane sketch for the banner towing of page tabs. He accessed a web site to which Sarah had referred us and selected a PIA web site name and address.

It was now time to meet once again with our coach. This time we met on Sarah’s turf in the NHS’ technology lab. Sarah walked us through the online process of officially registering our web site address and initiating our web hosting service. By the time we left NHS, the PIA flag was firmly planted at www.plumislandaerodrome.org.We had claimed it as our own!

At this point, the web site was just a shell. Using web development software and our final web design sketch, Sarah converted the shell into a functional prototype. She asked us to play with the prototype and to navigate and explore all features of the web site. She was looking for confirmation that www.plumislandaerodrome.org looked and worked in a PIA-friendly way.

Alex managed to break away from his new web site playground to complete his remaining work assignments. With the help of Ted Russell, he pulled together the text for the History page. With some quick instructions from Sarah, he set up the Google calendar for the Events page. He established the Links and Contact Pages, before moving onto the Photo Gallery. He rummaged through his ever-growing digital photo library. He was on a mission. He wanted to give visitors to the web site a glimpse into life at our thriving “Little Old” airport and community – the “who and what” of PIA. Technically he pulled his “Top 80” photo picks into a digital photo album – inserting captions and commentary along the way.

While Alex and Sarah were working their technical magic, yours truly was PC-side writing the PIA story for the web site. As content for a web page rolled off the presses, it was sent to the desk of Alex, the editor, for review and comments. Content was revised and finalized, one page at a time, until the PIA story was “ready to go to print”.

Sarah gets a ride in the Varga

Sarah uploaded each page of content onto the web site. As each page went up, yours truly clicked it open for review and proof-reading. This operation continued in iterative and real-time fashion until yours truly stamped all content with a PIA seal of approval.

Alex, in the meantime, was feverishly trouble-shooting a few technical breaks on the Links page. He worked in tag team fashion with Sarah until the final bugs were stamped out of the web site with his final PIA seal of approval.

Sarah continued to work behind the technical scenes. We were about to move out of prototype land and into the land of the world wide web. Alex and I anxiously waited for Sarah’s email giving us final clearance for take-off. Sarah’s email landed in our inbox with a final word from our coach: “We’ve gone live. Check it out!” It was 10:00 p.m. on Thursday night, January 14, 2010 – www.plumislandaerodrome.org was launched.

As we go into our final approach with this blog article, I’m reminded of all we’ve learned during this launch of the PIA web site. Yes, we’ve learned a lot about web technology and design. But what really stands out in our minds, is seeing Sarah Leadbeater in action and seeing the powerful and far-reaching impact this outstanding teacher and coach has on her students and their lives. Sarah’s professionalism and integrity are impeccable. Her technology and teaching credentials put her at “head of the class”. Her personable nature and sense of humor places the highest value on people, life balance and perspective. Her passion, effervescence and exuberance are deeply motivating and contagious. Her dedication and commitment to her students and higher learning are unfaltering.

Plum Island Aerodrome would like to thank the technology students at NHS for their creative contributions to the PIA web site. PIA especially thanks, Sarah Leadbeater, for her leadership, training, and contributions – and for giving our PIA web site its wings!
Publisher's note:
Charlotte better known as "Charlie" recently retired from years in the Information Technology world. Her experiences in that global arena at very high levels required extensive technical writing and proposal work, but her writing talent extends beyond the technical. She has written articles on varied subjects for local papers, her own publication(The Plum Island Pages), as well as this blog. Her contribution to the creation of the web site clearly downplayed in her coverage above is witness to her humble view of all her talents. I personally wish to thank her for all she does quietly in the background for "The Little Airport That Wouldn't Go Away". By the way she is the one in the Stearman, hiding behind the flying helmet, fully trusting the flying skills of Tom Murray. I would also like to acknowledge the creative aerial photography by Jim Vaiknoris that graces our cover page and some of the Gallery

Charlotte at AOPA Summit 2009

2B2 TAKES PART IN AOPA’S AVIATION SUMMIT
By Charlotte Vincent
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) held its annual convention in Tampa, Florida, from November 5-7, 2009. Previously known as EXPO, the 2009 convention took on a new name and format to reflect the new leadership at AOPA under President and CEO Craig Fuller. 2B2 was well represented at this year’s Aviation Summit by our AOPA Airport Support Network (ASN) delegate, Alex Hasapis. Yours truly tagged along to hear what AOPA had to say and what it all means for 2B2.

Threats Facing GA
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the launch of AOPA as an advocate for General Aviation (GA). In his welcoming remarks, AOPA President and CEO, Craig Fuller, emphasized that the need has never been greater for a strong and powerful voice and presence to advocate at the national, state and local levels on behalf of GA. In today’s tough economy and post 9/11 world, the threats facing GA are varied and very real. They include:
• Costly user fees
• Increased security requirements from Homeland Security that are burdensome and downright impractical for GA airports
• Business downturn in the use of corporate jets during a “bail out” economy
• Growing negative perception of GA as a greedy, frivolous extravagance for the rich and famous fueled by political posturing and the media’s repetitive sound bite coverage
• GA airport closures in response to political and economic pressures
• Lackluster growth within the GA industry in recent years and still too little diversity within its member population.

AOPA Acts to Protect GA
Craig Fuller is determined that AOPA not let these threats go unchecked. He states his message simply and clearly: “We are serious about preserving our freedom to fly and are ready to face the challenges ahead”. Within the last year, AOPA has backed up these words with action. The following AOPA initiatives caught our attention.

Congressional letter to “kill” user fees – A signed congressional letter is evidence that AOPA is successfully lobbying its case against user fees and effectively pressuring our political leaders to let the public know where they stand on this looming threat to GA. One hundred members of Congress have signed and submitted a letter to President Obama taking a firm and public stand against user fees. The letter states that any proposal to enact user fees that comes before it will be “Dead on Arrival”.

“GA Serves America” Campaign – AOPA is taking measures to refocus and reset the dialogue, attitudes, mindsets and perceptions of GA across government and industry sectors, businesses and communities, and the public at large. AOPA has launched a year long public relations campaign to inform, educate, raise awareness for and promote the economic value and public benefit of GA. The campaign highlights the following value and benefits of GA.

GA’s Economic value - GA contributes $150 Billion to the U.S. economy. It creates jobs across a full spectrum of industries. Examples include:
• Aviation (e.g., pilots, FBOs, ATCs, maintenance/service technicians, etc.)
• Engineering, technology, manufacturing - (e.g., planes, avionic products, simulators, etc.)
• Education and training (CFIs, Test Instructors; Flight Simulation Trainers, etc.)
• Insurance and finance (e.g., insurance agents, investment planners, financial lending, etc.)
• Medical (e.g., doctors, administrative staff, etc.).

GA’s Public Benefit - GA provides medical, humanitarian, environmental, and community services through its Air Care Alliance (ACA) network of 70+ volunteer organizations for public benefit flying. On any given day, across the U.S., pilots volunteer their own general aviation aircraft, expertise, and time to fly in the spirit of service. These pilots, along with the volunteer staff on the ground, provide free air services to 100s of people every month. Though all benefit flights are undertaken with the same spirit of service, each benefit flight has a unique mission. When you scan down ACA’s list of the compelling reasons prompting volunteer pilots to take to the skies, you can understand why ACA describes public benefit flying as “Ordinary pilots … ordinary planes … extraordinary flights!”
• Medical emergency evacuations
• Search and rescue missions
• Disaster and emergency relief
• “Angel Flights” transporting patients, family and caregivers to medical facilities which are otherwise out of reach geographically and financially
• Life saving flights to deliver organs, tissue and blood
• Environmental observation, monitoring and assessment
• “Honor Flights” transporting today’s service men and women for family visits and war veterans to war memorials in their honor
• Educational flights for youth.
• Animal flights to transport animals to shelters, veterinary hospitals, or adoption facilities.

Call to Action for 2B2
We left the AOPA Summit feeling not only the threats facing 2B2 as a small GA airport, but a genuine pride in the significant economic value and public benefit which 2B2 brings to our neighborhood and surrounding communities. We also heard the following “calls to action” for the members and friends of 2B2.

Join the fight against GA user fees: Write to our representatives in Congress urging them to take a public stand against user fees by adding their signature to the Congressional Letter on its way to the desk of President Obama.

Add a 2B2 voice to AOPA’s “GA Serves America” public relations campaign: Raise the awareness of and promote the value of 2B2 via a variety of communication channels and promotional events. The following are a few highlights of how 2B2 is already stepping up to this “call for action”:
• A new Web Site for Plum Island Aerodrome, Inc. is under development with the help of Newburyport High School’s Technology Center faculty and students. The web site will spread the 2B2 story to visitors to our site, as well as to visitors to linked sites such as Historic New England and the Massachusetts Aviation Historical Society.
• Feature articles on 2B2 are being scheduled with local news media such as “The Daily News” to inform the public about 2B2 (who we are, what we do, etc.) as well as to raise awareness of the value which 2B2 brings to the community both from an economic and public benefit standpoint.
• Centennial celebrations are currently being planned with Historic New England and the Massachusetts Aviation Historical Society. Celebrations are also being planned with the Town of Newbury in honor of its 375th anniversary. Throughout 2010, a calendar of events will showcase the pivotal role which 2B2 played 100 years ago in the beginning days of aviation history. These events will also highlight the role which 2B2 played in the history of our local communities and the value which it still brings today.

By the way that's Charlotte with Corkey Fornof, Hollywood stunt pilot (three James Bond movies amongst others) representing the LoPresti Fury behind them.

We're Back

Ok, it's been a while; but give the old man a break. The summer got off to a slow start but when it did come, it was too good for blog writing. Weddings, family and friends gatherings and good flying days took priority. I will attempt to bring this up to date with regard to 2B2 happenings.
On June 27 the aerodrome hosted the second annual Northeast Radio Control Model Club.Although the fog rolled in early that morning, it decided to stay for the whole day. Nevertheless the model pilots came and demonstrated their skills to a large group including some senior citizens who were bussed in for the event. The day began with 2B2's fantastic breakfast followed by hamburgers and dogs. Keeping a watchful eye on the donation box was our lovely Ashley Noyes. The model flying went on as scheduled although at lower altitudes. The model jet flew into the clouds for a while and was finally brought in IFR (instinct for retrieval). Hopefully next years event will be fog less.
Yankee Homecoming brings our great skydivers out for their annual jump on the beach and Dusharme's fabulous culinary gig. With Butchy taking care of the logistics and Steve and super dog flying the jumpers all day, a good time was had by all. By the way Steve had the good sense to stay in the plane.
To cap the summer season, the traditional Noyes taildragger fly-in was held as always on the third weekend in September. The howling winds kept some folks at home on Saturday but the hardy pilots flew in anyway. Doctor Bob and Son came down from the north country in their super dog on a screaming tail wind in record time showing 193 mph over the ground. Fortunately the bird is a Noyes special, so the wings were still on it when they landed. Commander Hughes demonstrated crosswind landing skills in the fiery twin Comanche from NH16. Veronique and Serge flew in on Saturday also, all the way from Montreal, in Serge's beautiful Super Cub. They enjoyed a good tail wind as well. Steve also was the resident chef for breakfast and PM burgers and dogs. The photographer managed to talk Charlie to pose with two locals. Talk about a rose between two thorns. Windy or not, the glider was up with Paul and Tom taking turns and they even talked Steve in going up again. No; he did not do any screaming this time. All in all, it still was a pretty good turnout. Thanks Steve and Tina!