Santa Ynez airport ( KIZA ) is located about 30 miles North of Santa Barbara. Santa Ynez is a small community with a population of about 6,000. The town is surrounded by Solvang, a quaint little Dutch community, and Los Olivos. Both boast fun shopping and sightseeing. Los Olivos is renowned for its many wineries and old town charm. Both SY And LO were stage coach stops, back in the mid 1800s. Two of the original old hotels are still in operation.

The entire area has become the Napa Winery area of Santa Barbara county. There are lots of great restaurants. You can walk through old town SY, or take a tour of the local wineries.

This must-see town and surrounding area is only a 1.5 hr flight in N889JD from KPSP, and the weather is more temperate than here in the desert.

--Fred Rice

I recently attended a useful seminar on avoiding mid-air collisions put on by the AOPA Air Safety Institute. The presenter was Bruce Belgum, who has a long and varied career in aviation.

Bruce stressed "See and avoid," the importance of keeping your eyes outside the cockpit, proper visual scanning (i.e., slow and in brief segments), and the fact that ATC sometimes makes mistakes so you have to keep your eyes open. He reminded us that most mid-airs happen close to airports.

I didn't take notes (it was dark in the room so we could see the slides), but Bruce mentioned toward the end of the program the Five Nevers of Aviation. I could only remember three of them, so I emailed Bruce. He was kind enough to sent me all five and gave me permission to post them here:

You NEVER have to take off!
NEVER fly without Seeing the Fuel! (i.e., don't rely on the fuel gauges, but look into the tanks)
NEVER fly without using your checklist!
Once airborne, you NEVER have to get there!
You NEVER have to land on this approach. Always plan a go around too!

These are so basic that we tend to forget them. We shouldn't. Keeping them in mind and following them can save lives and aircraft.