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MDPA is pleased to include Elaine Yeary in our Member Limelight for February - March 2023.
Elaine took her flight training at Pacific States Aviation in Concord and became private pilot in 1988 followed by an instrument rating in 1989. She flies for personal enjoyment and the fact that not everyone gets the privileges we pilots have.
She learned to fly in a Cessna. A partner had a C-172, N5691, for several years. Then the Cessna flew away. She now had a hangar with no airplane and a friend who had an airplane with no hangar, so she became a partner in a 1968 Beech Bonanza, N7604N. She bought out her partner in the Bonanza in 1992 and became the sole owner. She flew the airplane a lot until it became such a money pit that she sold it in 2019.
In 2021, after looking for an airplane at a reasonable price and not finding one, she purchased a C-152 fuselage from Faeth Aircraft in Sacramento, N4933H. She is now involved in a project of restoring N4933H because it is missing a few parts, like an engine, wings, tail feathers, doors and interior. She has wheel pants now as a start and recently joined EAA.
Good luck on the project Elaine. We can’t wait to see N4933H looking like it was in the past.
N4933H in a previous life.
Her earliest flying memory was in 1968, when she went for a ride to New Cuyama, outside Santa Barbara, CA. The airplane ride was fabulous and much better than the scary trip to the airport with a teenage driver in a Jeep. She knew immediately that she needed to be a pilot when she felt safer in a plane ride than she felt in the Jeep ride.
Elaine’s most exciting flying experience was flying a Cessna 172 from the Front Range, near Denver, CO to Buchanan Field. Elaine took up flying on her own and was the first and only one in her family to become a pilot.
What she like about flying is the pure enjoyment of escaping the surly bonds of the earth. What she doesn't like are some of the rules and the noise on the radio.
She loves flying anytime to any destination. Her favorite destination is Nancy’s Café at Willows/Glenn County airport. Elaine has flown 1,100 hours as Pilot in Command!
Elaine joined MDPA in 1990 and is deeply involved with our club. She is part of the dynamic duo social events team that organizes and sets up our events such as the Summer BBQ, Holiday celebration and other special events. If you participate in our monthly breakfast there is one sure way to know if Elaine is in attendance. If there are grits on the buffet line, Elaine is joining you for breakfast. She has made members very happy for years by bringing grits to the table for each breakfast meeting.
Elaine has many great memories of being a member of MDPA. Two things stand out from the early MDPA meetings at the Water Dept.
One was being amazed and impressed at the number of old MDPA members who learned to fly at Sherman Field in Concord (where Kohls, formerly Montgomery Ward is) and the other is the time that a Russian Tupelov captain, with in-flight magazine in two languages, told us all about flying the Russian plane.
Elaine has also served as MDPA Treasurer for many years. And she does the job extremely well. At one point in time a MDPA check was forged and it appeared the club was put in a difficult financial position. Elaine as Treasurer was persistent and eventually recovered the funds from our bank. Shortly after the recovery Elaine moved the MDPA account away from our old bank and set up a great relationship with our current bank. She also helps ensure that dues, special events and breakfast fees are paid on time.
Elaine is active with the 99s, International Women's Pilots Association, and a volunteer at the Pleasant Hill Senior Center. She retired from Charles Schwab in 2008, did taxes for H&R Block for five years and did taxes for the AARP Tax Aide program for ten years.
Elaine, MDPA appreciates you and what you do for the club!!!!
MDPA Member Limelight - History
View previous recipients by clicking on a link below:
Maurice Gunderson - December 2022