In this issue:
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Saturday, June 16, 9:00 - Plane Wash / BBQ & General Membership
Meeting at the Hangars
Monday, July 16, 6:00 - Board Meeting at the Birdcage Pilot Lounge
Saturday, July 28, 9:00 - Plane Wash / Barbecue at the Hangars
Monday, August 20, 6:00 - Board Meeting at the Birdcage Pilot Lounge
Sunday, September 9, 9:00 - Plane Wash / Barbecue at the Hangars
Monday, September 17, 6:30 - General Membership Meeting at
Plymouth Library
Monday, October 15, 6:00 - Board Meeting at the Birdcage Pilot Lounge
Monday, November 19, 6:00 - Board Meeting at the Birdcage Pilot Lounge
Saturday, December 1, 6:30 - Holiday Party at a place to be announced
The Plymouth Library is at 223 S. Main St. in downtown Plymouth. Phone 734-453-0750, ext. 217.
Plane Washes are scheduled to reserve the planes from 9 AM to 1 PM. This should allow members convenient use of the planes on plane-wash days. Note that all plane washes are on Saturdays except for Sunday, September 9.
Membership Meeting Following Plane Wash - June 16th
Saturday, June 16th is our second plane wash of the year, and this time it is followed by a General Membership Meeting at the hangars. The plane wash starts around 9 AM, but you can come later if you like. We will have a barbecue with hot dogs and hamburgers immediately afterwards, followed by the General Membership Meeting, at which we will vote on the proposed changes to the By-Laws and Regulations as described next. Come and meet other MANG members and have a good time!
Member Liability - Vote on June 16th
As we reported in the last newsletter, we are proposing a change that will bring our Regulations and By-Laws in line with our insurance policy. These changes will be presented for a vote of the membership at the June 16th Plane Wash and General Membership Meeting.
Currently we have an inconsistency in our Club documents. Article VII of our Constitution states:
Adequate and proper insurance shall be at all times carried to protect the membership from liability and damage. No expense or obligation whatsoever shall be incurred by members of this Club except as set forth within this Constitution and By-Laws.
But the conditions for member liability are not found in the By-Laws but rather in the Regulations document, and in section C.5 they state:
In the event of an insurance claim, the deductible portion will be paid by the member ultimately held responsible for generating the claim.
Since it is much harder to change the Constitution, we should at least move this regulation to the By-Laws document. In addition, we would like to separate this statement of member liability from the filing of an insurance claim. The reason is that we have filed several claims in the past few years and our insurance carrier is beginning to look on us as a bad risk. Therefore we don't want to file claims for minor incidents. But we feel that the member responsible for causing damage should still pay something for it. Our insurance deductible is currently $1000. Therefore we will be proposing the following changes to the By-Laws and Regulations at the June 16th meeting:
1: Change the title of By-Laws Article V from "Officer Liability" to just "Liability".
2: Remove existing Regulation C.5: "In the event of an insurance claim, the deductible portion will be paid by the member ultimately held responsible for generating the claim" and instead add into the By-Laws, Article V Section 2 "In the event of damage while a plane is signed out, the responsible member will be liable for up to the first $1000 of that damage. Exceptions may be considered by written appeal to the Board"
3: Create new Regulation C.5 "The member who flies a plane away from home base is financially responsible for getting it back to home base, and will be charged for the flight time to bring it home if the member does not."
Item 3 is not really a damage question, but it does clarify another aspect of member liability. Suppose you take a plane out of town. While you are at this distant airport, something goes wrong with the plane that will require several days to fix. The repairs are paid for by the Club (see the new procedures sheet in each airplane for details), but you don't want to wait around that long, so you arrange for alternate transportation back home. Now it is several days later and the plane is fixed. If you are able to get there promptly and fly the plane back home, then you can do that. But if you are unable to do so, then the Club will send someone there and bring the plane back, and you will be charged for the returning flight time as if you had flown the plane back.
If you have any thoughts on these changes, then make sure to attend the June 16th Plane Wash and General Membership Meeting where these changes will be voted on.
The squawk sheets serve two purposes. One purpose is to communicate problems to the maintenance officers. Remember that maintenance officers may not see these sheets for a week, so do not count on these sheets alone for timely correction of problems. If the problem should have attention sooner than one week then in addition to noting a problem in the squawk sheet, also call or e-mail the maintenance officer for that plane. If the problem is serious enough to make the plane unsafe or illegal to fly, then you should also ground the plane and contact a maintenance officer or a board member.
There is a second purpose to squawk sheets. It is a means of communicating between pilots about problems that have been observed. Even if a problem is minor, or has already been corrected, it is good to know about it. Sometimes "corrected" problems have a way of coming back. Knowing the recent history of the airplane gives the next pilot the advantage of your observations. So don't be afraid to write up an observation that perhaps does not rise to the level of a certified and verified problem. For example, an intermittent failure to pick up a VOR station may be due to various causes, some of which have nothing to do with the plane or its radios. But if enough of these reports accumulate in the squawk sheet, that may point to a real problem.
The view has sometimes been expressed that we should worry about leaving a paper trail that might make us look bad to an FAA investigator. But if the choice is between safety in the skies and safety in the courtroom, I would choose safety in the skies any day. These squawk sheets are private communications between members of our Club. They do not need to be shown to anyone, so feel free to use them.
Buddy Pilots Help to Get Flying Again
Has it been a long time since you flew? Larry Millen (who is also our Archer Maintenance Officer) is coordinating flights with other Club members to help "knock the rust off" of your flying experience. How about a quick hop over to Jackson for lunch? Or maybe it's just flying around in the pattern. Why fly alone when you can fly with a buddy? If you would like to pair up (or triple up) for some flying, call Larry at 810-225-7422.
The Pilot's Operating Handbook is required for any flight. Don't remove it from the plane. If you need to study the handbook, use your personal copy that you got when you joined the Club. The official POH for the plane stays with the plane at all times.
Post-flight Responsibilities. Make flying a pleasant and welcoming experience for the next pilot:
After your flight, determine how much fuel is left in the tanks. If more than 1.5 hours of tach time has been flown since the tanks were full, then you need to top off the tanks before you put the plane away.
At the hangar, carefully push the plane back on the yellow lines. Place chocks in front of the wheels.
Wipe the bugs off the leading edges with a wet sponge. Clean the windscreen with Pledge and a clean white towel.
Leave the cabin as neat as you found (or neater) by removing all your papers or other trash. Fasten seat belts over the seats. Hang the shoulder harnesses up on the clips provided.
Here are the statistics for April 2007:
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(Total HOURS) |
54115 |
43755 |
33149 |
All Aircraft |
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April: |
16.2 |
14.9 |
17.9 |
49.0 |