MEMORANDUM FOR: Anchorage AMS Members and Affiliates

FROM: Kristine Nelson, VP Anchorage Chapter

SUBJECT: Minutes, Anchorage AMS Chapter Meeting,
                    October 27th, 2006         

Call Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order by Jim Peronto, President, at 11:15 a.m. The meeting was held at the Aviation Technology Center at Merrill Field in Anchorage. 

• Introductions around the room.
• Last meeting's minutes were approved with changes:
• Change wording for Jim Green from "will be moving" to "has moved".
• Add name of our visitor who found out about our meeting from the Alaska Daily News Community Bulletin.
• Add contact information for Dr. James Simpson. 

Treasurer’s Report:  $2,???  (didn’t catch the exact amount)

Old/New Business:

Christmas Dinner

• Location?  I love Sushi, Villa Nova, Romanos?
• Date?  Early Dec?
• Requests were for an early December Christmas dinner that is NOT on a Monday due to Monday Night Football conflict. 
• There will not be a speaker
• We will be collecting toys for the "Toys for Tots" program.
• Last year people who brought a toy got a free desert paid for by the chapter.  Shall we do that this year?  Informal vote for "yes". 

Donations

• Jackie was not present.  Jim Peronto did talk to her on the phone and she picked up free stuff from the Broadcast Conference in Las Vegas. 

Earth Day…May 5th, 2007

• The National Weather Service (NWS) is hosting the Earth Day event at Kinkaid Park.  NWS has rented the park space, then will charge other organizations a fee to participate.  Any extra $$ earned will be donated to the Anchorage AMS Local Chapter. 
• Volunteers will be needed to work the booth, to show presentations, and to conduct experiments and other demonstrations. 

Scholarships

• Minority National scholarship. 
• Kristine sent a "heads up" e-mail sent to OICs asking for their help to take scholarship form and information to schools, local business, etc. 
• Lisa Reed has got the local Anchorage AMS website working.  There are a few bugs that Lisa is working on.  The Application for the National Minority Scholarship will be posted soon. 
• The new Anchorage Chapter AMS webpage can be found at: www.ametsoc.org/chapters/anchorage/ .
• Local Scholarship:
• Still need a lawyer to advice on tax deductions. 
• Volunteers to help with this?  James Partain volunteered to ask Gary Hufford to follow up on this topic. 

AMS National Meeting Attendees:

• James Partain, Jim Peronto, Jeff Wood, Laura Furgione, and Kristine Nelson will be attending the AMS National Meeting.
• Jim Peronto asked if everyone wanted to attend the AMS Breakfast.  All said “yes”. 
• Jim Peronto also asked if anyone wanted to work the AMS booth.  Kristine said “yes”. 

Forecast Contest Winner!

• Todd Foisy and Jackie Purcell were the winner of the 1st snow of the year.  The official total was 1.4” on Oct 26, 2006.  Todd guessed 1.5 inches and Jackie guessed 1.3 inches on Oct 25th.  Congratulations!

The Next Meeting will be held in January

• Possible candidates:
• Sue Gardner (FAA ARTCC) presenting on FAA weather cameras.
• Charles Bell (LAS WFO) presenting his Mountain Wave paper. 

Main Event:

Jim Hill, the liaison between the FAA, the Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and the Capstone program, gave a presentation on the technical equipment of Capstone and how it works, the positive effect on Alaskan Aviation the program has had thus far, and future enhancements to the Capstone program. 

The Capstone program was initiated because the aviation accident rate in Alaska was 4 times the rate than the national Average between 1980 and 2000.  Pilot fatality rates following a crash was also fairly high since it took 3-4 days to triangulate a downed aircraft’s position.  The Alaska Airmans Association (AAA) complained to Ted Stevens who procured congressional monies to fix the problem.  This money was used to create the Capstone program.  Since it’s inception, the Capstone system has reduced Alaskan aircraft accidents by 41%. 

Capstone; currently available in southwest Alaska, southeast Alaska, and in Anchorage;  utilizes the Alternate Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) where planes “talk” to receivers and the receivers “push” weather and terrain data to the aircraft.   Pilots can also “see” one another’s positions.  Inside the cockpit of the aircraft is a display system that shows the pilot’s location in respect to geography, roads, and terrain in a 3 dimensional display.  As a result, pilots certified for VFR (Visual Flight Rules) conditions (3,000 foot ceilings and greater than 5 miles visibility) will have additional tools to help them “get through” IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) conditions (500-1,000 foot ceilings and 1 to 3 sm visibility) that are encountered during flight.  

Capstone equipment has proven to be a lifesaver.  Pilots now have information in the cockpit to navigate sudden changes in clouds and visibilities that may be beyond the pilots training.  In the event of an aircraft accident, the ADS-B system triangulates positions of aircraft.  Pilots who survived a crash in the past had a slim chance of survival in the 3-4 days it took to find them are now being found within an hour.   

Future developments of Capstone will continue to bring safer skies to pilots.   Medivac units may use the Capstone equipment to fly into previously unattainable airports due to fog and low clouds.  Radar coverage of the ADS-B system is going to be increased substantially, such that most of Alaska will be covered, and 30 more Automated Weather Observing Systems (AWOSs) are scheduled for installation. 

Adjournment:  
The meeting was adjourned by Jim Peronto at 1 p.m.