In this issue:
Monday, February 18th, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
Tuesday, March 11th, 6:00 PM General membership Meeting @
Plymouth Library
Tuesday, April 29th, 6:00 PM MANG-MDOT Safety Seminar @
Plymouth Library
Monday, April 21st, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
Saturday, May 3rd 8:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ @ MANG Hangers
Monday, May 19th 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
Saturday, June 21st 8:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ &
General Membership Meeting
Monday, July 21st 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
Saturday, August 2nd 8:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ @ MANG Hangers
Monday, August 18th 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
Monday, September 15th 6:00 PM General membership Meeting @ Plymouth Library
Saturday, October 4th 8:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ @ MANG Hangers
Monday, October 20th 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
Monday, November 17th 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
Friday, December 5th 6:00 PM Holiday Party @ TBD
At the January Board meeting, Treasurer Joe McEvoy presented the annual analysis of the various costs associated with our airplanes. The analysis shows that a rate increase is necessary to keep from losing money. The Club showed a loss of $11,114 for 2007. This loss was primarily due to a large increase in fuel prices, and the fact that our maintenance costs were higher than expected, especially for the Warrior and the Archer. In fact, if the current maintenance costs are projected forward, an even larger rate increase is called for. The maintenance costs might go down in the future because our radios are newer. But the cost of fuel is still the biggest factor in our flying costs. We burned over 5800 gallons of fuel last year, and our fuel costs were 33% higher in 2007 as compared to 2006. If rates were adjusted proportionally, then they would have to increase by more than $21 per hour. However the Board decided to limit the increase to $10 per hour and to see how things work out. Joe will re-evaluate the situation in six months. Joe has prepared some very informative spreadsheets on Club costs, and he has offered to present them at the next General Membership Meeting in March. So effective February 1, 2008, the Club flying rates will be:
Warrior: $75 per hour
Cessna: $75 per hour
Archer: $80 per hour
In the winter it is sometimes hard to get enough traction to push an aircraft back into the hangar by hand. This was the situation for John Keck a few days ago when he resorted to using the winch in the back of the hangar to pull the plane in. Unfortunately the aircraft wheels had a hard time getting through the ice and snow, and so the tension on the rope went up and the rope broke, resulting in a scary snap-back that almost hit John. That particular rope has now been replaced, but you should be aware that this is always a possibility.
Even in the summer, you may want to use the winch to pull aircraft back into the hangar. Be aware that the rope on the winch is designed to break at a certain tension. If the rope were too strong, then you could create enough tension to damage the airplane. So use the winch carefully. Watch for hang-ups and collisions. And try to keep yourself protected if the rope should break.
Operating Hangar Door Controls
It has been reported that the control lever for the Cessna hangar door can rotate all the way around. Apparently a stop inside the control has been broken. The control still works, as long as you only rotate it far enough to make contact and start the door moving. It has also been reported that some people are tying off this lever to hold it in the ON position without their having to hold on to it. This is unsafe and to be avoided. The purpose of a spring-return control lever is to ensure that you are consciously holding the switch ON throughout the time while the door is moving. This safety feature should not be overridden. This might also have been the cause of the broken stop on the Cessna hangar door control. There is an automatic stop switch that is supposed to stop the motor at the top and at the bottom of its travel. But in case that stop switch fails, or in case something is in the way, you should be holding the lever by hand until the door has completed its travel so you can stop it quickly.
Some of our recent maintenance troubles may have been caused by shock-cooling the engine. This is what happens when you reduce the throttle for an extended period of time, such as during a rapid descent. The fast-moving air around the engine cools it too rapidly, and the moving parts inside the engine do not fit together as well as they would if the all the parts were at the same temperature. This can cause cracked cylinders and other nasty things that can endanger your safety and cost your Club lots of money. So we are asking everyone to be aware of shock-cooling and to take reasonable precautions against it. One thing you can do is to keep the engine RPM up to at least 1500 RPM throughout the descent and landing pattern. You can still cut the engine to idle on short final if you want, but doing so during a long descent or in the pattern on downwind could cause problems.
So what can you do if you have to get down quickly? First, try to plan your descent so that you don't need to descend so fast. That will allow you to carry a little more power and keep the engine warm. A side-slip can also help to lose altitude without cutting power too much. If your speed is low enough, you could resort to using flaps. Of course it sometimes happens that ATC will direct you to a quick descent, but you can try to negotiate an alterative if you think a quick descent would endanger your engine.
Let's all try to take good care of our engines so they will take good care of us.
Appointed Officers Re-appointed
At the January Board meeting, the appointed Club officers, (maintenance, operations, and safety/training) were re-appointed for another year. The officers serving in these positions all offered to continue, and no other Club members offered to replace them. We thank these Club officers for their continued service.
Marcel Mikulec has been approved as a Club-approved CFI. See the list here for all our Club-approved CFIs.
You may use any CFI, whether they are Club-approved or not, for general flight training, flight reviews, instrument competency checks, etc., as long as you remain Pilot In Command. But Club-approved CFIs can also be used when you are unable to be Pilot In Command, such as when your flight review deadline has passed, or if you are still a student pilot. Club-approved CFIs are also qualified to give the required Club checkout to new members, indoctrinating them into our Club procedures and policies, and checking them out for our specific airplanes.
Here are the statistics for December 2007 and for all of 2007:
(Total HOURS) |
54115 |
43755 |
33149 |
All Aircraft |
December: |
2.2 |
8.5 |
8.3 |
19.0 |
All of 2007: |
251.3 |
324.5 |
215.5 |
791.3 |