December 2018

Dear Friends of W10,
As we say goodbye to 2018 and look upon the opportunities that await us in 2019 we wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for being a part of the W10 community.  We are thankful for those that have sacrificed their time to help with projects around the field and for those that take time out on a Saturday to meet up for a social gathering.  We appreciate our locally based pilots that help offset a bit of the cost to maintain an airfield and for the occasional transient who chips in when staying overnight.  We are very grateful for the pilots (primarily Dave Bennett) that is willing to fill up their seats when we have a fly-out.  We are blessed that Fred Lundahl has such a passion for getting people up in the air that he is willing to be our local CFI (Fred had 6 students solo in 2018). We have enjoyed getting the opportunity to meet so many new folks as well as continuing to keep in touch with all of our local pilots.  We just can't say enough about the fantastic encouragement we have received as we continue to build this community.
For those that may not know yet we have some new tie downs located on the west side of the field near the red shipping containers.  As with everything here, it was a learning experience, but we feel that we have a method figured out, and will be putting in more around the field as time permits.
We will continue our Saturday social on the first Saturday of the month into 2019.  The next one will be THIS SATURDAY, January 5th at 10am at the Mukilteo Coffee Roasters.  We hope to see anyone that can make it.
So as we look forward to 2019 what are our near(ish)-term goals for W10?

• So far the grass we planted mid field is doing well and we look forward to it getting thicker and stronger in the Spring (so that we can take down the cones).  We also plan to start rehabbing more of the grass around the field at that time too.  We will keep you posted on this activity and the areas that will be affected.
• We hope to see some building plans move forward so we can add more hangar space to the field, a dedicated helispot, and get a proper FBO in place.  (There is lots to do here, and many unknowns regarding permitting, etc. so we will update you as these projects progress, but expect it to go...slowly.)
• Some kiosks should be appearing that will be home to a bit of history as well as current information in congruence with WSDOT's passport program.  The W10 stamp that was voted on will then make its appearance.
• We are working with Whidbey Telecom, and hope to get a weather station up on their tower so there will be data from both above the trees as well as at field level.
• We plan on rebuilding the small fence on the North end to separate the field from Venturi Way.
• We hope to get the campground on the east side better prepared to host pilots who want to camp at the field.
• We are hoping to have the opportunity to offer ground school this spring to eager students or anyone interested in aviation(!)  This will require a significant amount of volunteer support, and although we have a few eager individuals lined up, if you wish to be involved on the coordination/instruction/support side, let us know and we will connect offline.
• In addition to the monthly 'Saturday Social' we will likely be starting a "W10 Gardening Club" that will meet periodically to work on outdoor projects (aka. work parties).  We will continue to clear back the overgrown brush and trees and there will be a lot of debris to clean up in the process.  We also will be continuing to attack the dreaded scotch broom, replanting grass, and more.  We will wait until things warm up a bit this spring before we kick off the "Gardening Club".

We look forward to an more opportunities to be thankful in 2019, and of course hope the same for each of you.
Blue skies,
-Tara & Sky
 W10
 360-321-0510