Air Sailing had its first solo of the year on Saturday the 19th of September. This is Syd Whisler, 16 who just got her driver's license and then flew 2 solos. She is sponsored by a scholarship from the Reno High Sierra 99s. Syd trained in the Soar the West’s ASK-21 and soloed in Nevada Soaring’s SGS 1-26. Neita Montague was her primary instructor and Syd was Neita's first primary solo. This is an exciting beginning for Soar the West in this Covid year. - Neita M.
Serena and I made plans to fly and meet in Auburn for breakfast. Serena flew Chromeo (PA-28) from Carson with her husband Brad, and Merlin (my husband) and I flew Pokey (C-182), from Reno. We both took off around 8:30, but the visibility in Truckee was really bad, so flying to breakfast in Auburn turned into driving to breakfast in Reno. Once in the pattern in Reno, we heard Moe on the radio and landed #2 behind her! Before heading to breakfast with Serena, we said a quick hello to Moe (who had a prior commitment and couldn't join us).
Dani R.
In 2006 our 99s chapter painted a compass rose at Quincy. It was never maintained and after years of snow removal, etc., it was basically gone.
In March, Lynn contacted the current airport management and they were excited about having a rose repainted! Because of covid & their fiscal year we were asked to do it after July 1. So Thursday, July 16th Tom and Lynn laid out the pattern.
Just as they finished, the storm clouds loomed up and they hoped they wouldn't get rain that evening!
Friday painters were Vince & Susan Bruno [TRK EAA friends] and Tom and Lynn. We got all the white painted!
Saturday painters were the Brunos again, RHS 99 Claire Petrie, Ashley White [student pilot from Oakland living in I.V. this summer & flying with the TRK Flying Club] and Tom and Lynn.
Getting the blue done…
Tom and the Brunos laying out the tarp for the interlocking 99s pattern...Claire and Tom painted all of the nines by themselves!
Three lady pilots and the finished rose!
The finished rose from the air...50 ft. diameter it is!
Congratulation Serena on passing your checkride! We are thrilled for you!
On the weekend of July 10th, our 99s chapter airmarked Quncy, CA airport with CTAF 122.7 (10 ft. letters), QUINCY (20 ft. letters), and ELEV. 4319 (10 ft. letters). Many thanks to Friday painters: April H. Ginger & Mike M. (Kristi's parents), and Tom and Lynn and to Saturday painters: April H., Ginger & Mike M., Claire P., Heather M. and the Meadows'.
It looks beautiful, the airport folks love it, and the facilities manager says "want to do Nervino and Chester sometime in the future?" It took 25 gallons of white paint and is 205.7 ft. long on the taxiway. Thanks to Heather for taking an aerial photo as she departed in her Dakota!
Congratulations to April H. for passing her PPL Checkride!
Eloise “Ellie” Compardo
(1933-2020)
Ellie was born in Loup City, Nebraska on December 22, 1933. Ellie attended high school in Loup City and then went on to St. Francis to attend nursing school where she became an RN for many years.
From 1962 -1968 Ellie had three daughters and was passionate about them in every way. In 1976 she met and married the love of her life, Capt. James R. Compardo, and retired her career of nursing in the early ’80s to take care of her daughters and stepdaughter and help run the avocado grove she and Jim had generated.
In 1993, she and Jim started a whole new adventure in retirement. They moved to Incline Village, NV while building a home in Gardnerville, NV. Jim began building a Glassair II and Ellie decided she needed to become a pilot, too. She became a pilot at the age of 60 and joined the Ninety-Nines in 1995. She was an active member of the Reno High Sierra chapter and Jim was a supportive 49 ½. For many years Jim was our official photographer at our activities. They were both heavily involved in our chapter’s presence at the Reno Air Races each year and Ellie made the best cookies for us to enjoy while we worked! Ellie and Jim would fly to local destinations and have lunch with her 99 friends, a feat she embraced.
Ellie was well-traveled filling up passport after passport and has visited places all over the world including her favorite spots such as Africa, Machu Picchu, and Israel.
She passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by her loving family on Mother’s Day night, May 10, 2020, at the age of 86. Ellie is survived by her married daughters, Leslie, Suzanne, Elizabeth, Julie, and her 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Ellie, you will be missed and we are so fortunate to have known you over the years.
Congratulation to Anna M., (who passed her Helicopter checkride last fall) for passing her commercial written and is now studying for her CFI! Onward and upward!
Congrats to our very own Serena M. who solo’d the locally infamous “Chromeo” at KMEV on May 15th!
Neita M. shows off her new two-place training glider and announces that her new company, SOAR THE WEST, will be giving training in the following areas to achieve your FAA License: primary flight instruction, commercial glider, Flight Instructor, and transition to glider for power pilots.
Neita and her partner Rob Stone are both FAA Certified Flight Instructors and also have expertise in training others for cross country and mountain flying flights. Flying gliders is an inexpensive route to your power license and a great way to maintain skills between your flying jobs. More information at Soarthewest.com.
Our 2019 Advanced Scholarship Recipient had a wonderful update for us!
Back in February I changed jobs, so that bought me some time to head out of town and knock out my commercial multi engine add on using the scholarship I got from you guys. Here's the info on that...
I went down to Albuquerque, NM in February (they had great weather at the time) to do my Commercial Multi Engine Add-on Rating. On the day of my add-on checkride, I did a second checkride to get my Multi Engine Instructor Certificate as well. I passed both rides. Yay! Also while down there, I went to the Albuquerque FSDO and found out I qualified to be a Gold Seal Instructor, so the ABQ FSDO did all the paperwork for that and got me the gold seal added to my CFI certificate along with my CFI renewal through the FAA for this year (good thing I was due for renewal in 2020, haha). All in all, Albuquerque was a very positive aviation experience and I will remember it fondly. That being said, I couldn't have done any of that without the help of the 99s scholarship. I do not have the words to describe the amount of gratitude I have and just how absolutely blessed and fortunate I was that the 99s picked me for the advanced scholarship. I am not sure of the correct word(ing), but I feel absolutely grateful, astounded, and just plain happy--all possible through the 99s. I honestly can't thank you all enough! Thank you 99s for helping my dreams come true!
I have a picture of me with the the Grumman Tiger I did my multi training in after my checkrides (attached).
I would like to write a huge thank you and shout out to all of the 99s for the scholarship and awesome opportunity they gave me!
Congratulations to our The Gift of Flight scholarship winners:
Luz Sandoval
Summer Benjamin
Syd Wisler
Each scholarship winner will receive up to $2500 to be used for glider flight training! The scholarship committee was so impressed with the 3 Scholarship Winners, that they also donated an FAA Glider Flying Handbook for each winner.
Chapter member April had her Auburn University college shut down so is home in Truckee. She started flying with Bob out of Reno and has soloed!! So glad she is on her journey to professional pilot.
Check out this awesome birthday cake made for our very on Dani! Happy Birthday Dani!
Chapter member Anna Marshall is celebrating her first private pilot license: a Rotorcraft certificate. She passed her checkride in Oct. 2019 at AUN airport. Congrats, Anna!
After being senior FO at Southwest Airlines for many years, chapter member Kristi Mansel decided to go for Captain!
Here's a photo of her with her check airman after landing at Las Vegas after her 4 days of flying left seat. Congrats, Kristi!
Chapter Member Leah Ochs gave a TEDx Talk on February 29th at the Reno Sparks Convention Center. The talk was part of the TEDxUniversityofNevadaReno program and had over 1500 attendees. Leah talked about women in aviation, encouraging women to take advantage of the opportunities that are available exclusively to them, as the minority in the industry. Her mission of the talk was to inspire more women to investigate aviation and she said she has already received great feedback from many newly interested folks!
Watch her talk here!
Our very own Jenna Scolari won the Reno Tahoe Aviation Group Scholarship! Congratulations Jenna!
“… last night we awarded this year’s Tom Pagnano Memorial Scholarship to Jenna Scolari! See the attached photo. Jenna’s dad helped her pay for her Private Pilot lessons, but she’s been working three or four jobs at a time to pay for her Instrument and Commercial ratings herself. This scholarship will help her achieve her aviation goals more quickly. Congratulations, Jenna! And thank you to everyone who made this possible by contributing to the Tom Pagnano Memorial Scholarship Fund over the past 12 months. “
Read the newsletter here.