July 2005 Newsletter
In Memory of Bill Odell
Bill Von Sennet (l) and Bill
Odell (r) at the
Bill Odell passed away on June 8th. Last fall Bill had Quadruple bypass
surgery. Since then his physicians had only
permitted him 30 minutes a day at the computer, so Bill had spent that time
doing what he loved best: Flying a DC-3.
His last flight report was posted on March 5th. Shortly thereafter due to his failing health
he was moved to a rest home near his family.
The roster shows Bill has 2,918.23 hours with
Bill has been a prolific contributor of
Features and flight adventures. Due to
his life experiences he was a storehouse of aviation information. It was my privilege to communicate with Bill
via hundreds of e-mails, and in June of 2001 we spent a couple of days together
in Charlotte NC. Click here for that story.
Entering Bill Odell in the search box on the
main page will find 24 links. This is
just the tip of the iceberg. Bill was
instrumental in setting up the Caribbean Hub flights. Prior to his joining the Southern Division he
was a member of the Northern Division and I’m sure he shared his ideas with
Capt. Bob Thompson and Bangor Hub Capt. Art Nichols.
Bill was the author of “The Berlin Airlift” a project that he
worked on for several years. He was also
the co-ordinator of the “Imperial
Airways” feature. Not long ago Bill
transferred to the Bush Pilot Division and contributed to the flights available
there. He was the originator of the
“Toughman Challenge” features.
In real life Bill served in World War II with
the Army Corps of Engineers. He once
told me that he was at
Bill was extremely proud of the
accomplishments of his children and grandchildren. On behalf of the pilots of Bluegrass Airlines
we extend our condolences to them.
I am not planning any special Memorial
feature. Each pilot can remember Bill in
their own way. As for me, I am going to
fire up my ATP Capt Bill Odell DHC-3 Otter and take off from the Bill Odell
float base near his former home in
Thanks Bill for all the adventures you have
shared with us.
Feature of the Month
Toughman
Challenge #13 by Ron Jorgensen
Update on the G.A.A.R. 2005
All pilots should send me an email when they
complete the G.A.A.R. so that I can send them an Award Plaque.
Multi-Player Flying
WestcoastATC
has joined Flight Project International and is now using the ATOC Pilot Client. The old FSHost system is still available
temporarily, but we are transitioning to the new system. It requires downloading the AOTC pilot (4mb)
and the base aircraft package (139mb).
I’d suggest printing the installation instructions so you can follow
along as you install aotc. If you have a
home network you will need to setup static routing rather than dynamic routing.
The instructions are explict and I had no problem getting it working on the
first try. You need to be registered at
WestCoastATC with your Bluegrass Call Sign.
Your installation ID and password are found on your “Pilots Start
Page” Instructions and download links
are on the “How to Connect” page.
Aotc has a
voice client built in for communicating with ATC, and we will also continue to
use TeamSpeak for Unicom.
Welcome to New Pilots
bgas011
Victor Buck
bgas009 Chip Scheetz
bgas007
Don Leveille
bgan004 Kenny Fox
Congratulations to pilots with promotions
bgan004 |
Kenny Fox |
First Officer |
From the C.E.O.
Our web-site
had over 7,500 visits in June.
Don’t forget to
check out the forum and screen
shot pages.
The summertime
is usually the slow time for a Virtual Airline.
There are other things to take up your spare time. So if the flight reports slow down a bit, we
will understand. Enjoy the good weather
days and have fun with your family.
That’s all for
now,
Bill Von Sennet
Back Issues: June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005
December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004