December 2008 Class Notes

Donald Dean Starner passed away suddenly on November 10, 2008. His last known address is 1872 Edgewood Dr, Palo Alto, CA 94303-3015. After finishing MIT with a degree in civil engineering and a master's in structural design, he was recalled for duty in the Korean War. During his service he met Mary, his wife of 54 years, also an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. After his service, Don had several project-related jobs in New York and California, eventually becoming a member of the Blach Construction Co in Santa Clara. Music was always a very important part of his life. He had a beautiful bass voice, singing in church choirs, with the MIT Logarhythms for Arthur Fiedler, and later with the chorus of the West Bay Opera with his daughter Pat. Don and Mary played clarinets for many years with the Peninsula Community Concert Band. In addition to Mary, Don is survived by his daughters Suanne, Nancy and Pat, and four grandchildren.

Sir Ian McFarlane, SM 1950, died at his home near Sydney, Australia, on October 22, 2008. His last known address is 40 Wentworth Rd, Vaucluse NSW 2030, Australia. As a young man unsure of his career path, Ian McFarlane asked his professor at MIT for advice about a job offer. When the professor offered to swap jobs with him, the Australian knew he was on the right path. He accepted the job, as a junior associate with the investment banker Morgan Stanley & Co in New York, and went on to instigate the revolutionary Queensland oil shale projects at the Rundle and then Stuart deposits near Gladstone, Queensland. At MIT he was interested in sailing; in recent years he donated the trophy for the MIT Sailing Championship, known as the Brass Rat Regatta. Since 2006, the sailing winners have received the Sir Ian McFarlane Trophy.
Ian McFarlane is survived by his daughters Jennifer and Sharon, son John, and six grandchildren.

Gerry Lessells sent the following: Please note that my new e-mail address is bths44mit50@q.com
Many thanks, Gerry Lessells

Class of 1950 Student Aid Fund

We have received word that the Class of 1950 Student Aid Fund has an October balance of $18,712,288.07. President Mel Gardner comments: "Our class fund was close to $22 million at its peak. This has got to be a reflection of the decline in MIT's endowment." This makes it more important than ever that we support The Class of 1950 Student Aid Fund. Education is becoming ever more expensive and parents are increasingly stressed.

The End of a Long Story (Continued)

Last month John Kocher reported that he has given up Nomad, his sailing craft for many years. John's note concluded with the remark that he might elect to dust off his pilot's license now, or, preferably, take up gliding. His remarks struck a responsive chord with Art Wolters, who sent the following:

Hi John,
Art Wolters here (Skidaway Island, GA), and I've just read the latest MIT '50 notes.
Condolences on the sale of NOMAD -- as you say, there's a time for everything, and it doesn't go on forever.

Art in Cockpit -- June 1983 (He hasn't changed a bit)

In our previous brief correspondence about the local MIT Club, I didn't know you were a pilot. Me too. I soloed in Parkersburg, WV in 1975 -- got my instrument ticket in '79 -- and retired from flying when I retired from Du Pont. I have 467 hours, of which 306 was X-country, and of which 37 hours was "actual IFR" weather. Flying IFR isn't safe unless you can do 50 hours/year, and I couldn't afford to fly that much anymore. A Cessna 182 Skylane was $55/hour (wet) in 1985 and is now about $200.
I always rented aircraft. In PKB, my favorite was N2069S, a C-182RG (retractable Skylane that did 165 knots at about 11 gph). Sometimes I used the other FBO's Piper Arrows (PA28-RT-201; retractable Cherokee).

You mentioned a future interest in sailplanes. I have a brief experience with that, as my kids got together and bought Dad a half-hour flight at Cape Cod Soaring (http://www.capecodsoaring.com ). If you get back to Massachusetts, I recommend this guy to get a feel for it. Airport is between HYA and Otis AFB.
Although my gift flight was not strictly a "lesson," the owner recognized my flying experience by letting me fly the two-place sailplane (not including tow-off and landing, of course). It was truly amazing -- so quiet!
Another big difference from powered planes (because the structure is so slippery on all axes of flight) is a real need to apply precise rudder in turns.
Here are a few photos Pat (my wife) took of the flight. The first shows my preflight briefing, the others "tow-off" and landing, the last shows me debriefing the flight to my son Rob and my grandson Mitchell.

Art

PS: One "powers" soaring flight either with thermals or rising air along ridge lines. Obviously no ridge lines on Cape Cod. They fly after mid-morning, when the Sun has been up long enough to generate thermals. On 8/16/2006, about 10 minutes into my flight, the pilot said, "Oh-oh, a sea breeze front just came in." (A new breeze from the southeast erased all the thermals. We were out of gas.) So we glided down for a premature landing -- waited a bit until new thermals formed -- and then were towed off again. Long distance soaring is of the ridge line variety. There was a sailplane base at a small airport near Woodbine, MD that did ridge line soaring, but I don't think they are there anymore. At Woodbine, I had real instruction in 1992, so that I have 0.5 hour in a Grob-103 in my logbook.

John Kocher replies to Art:

Thanks for the info, Art. Would it be OK to use your story in the December Notes? Interesting stuff. Is that a Schweitzer?
There's a place near Ridgeland, SC which offers introductory flights. Thought I might give it a try this winter. Another difference must be that you can't go around!
I soloed (J3 on ski's) in 1944 alongside B17's and B25's ferrying through the Allentown-Bethlehem, PA Airport and put in a few more hours during prep school years.
Then started again when we lived in Pittsburgh, but the club I belonged to(150's, 172's, 180's) at the Allegheny Airport went bankrupt which was hard to explain to the family.
Lost a fair amount of money. Once did cross country to Morgantown as I recall.
That ended that idea for a while. Then I tried again when we first moved to NJ over 40 years ago. I think I ended up with about 120 hours in fits and starts.
Then the sailing bug bit and that ended my flying career.
I never have been able to contact the SC/GA MIT Club, incidentally. No replies to my e-mails and nobody answered the phone. Maybe will try again in January if we're still solvent.

All the best.

John
John and Art may have started a new thread of recollections of flying and gliding. Or perhaps "continued" is a better word, because there is a fascinating history of the MIT Glider Club attached to our April 2008 Class Notes. Or you may click on it directly here . We know that we have quite a few fliers out there among our classmates. Perhaps some of you, like Art, are willing to share your experience with John and the rest of us.

And, by the way, is there anyone in the SC/GA MIT Club who can get back to John?

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