In this issue:
Saturday, June 21st 8:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ & General
Membership Meeting & Election
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
The Plymouth Library is at 223 S. Main St. in downtown Plymouth. Phone 734-453-0750, ext. 217.
Nominations for Vice President?
As we reported in the last newsletter, we need to elect a Vice President to serve for the rest of the year. Dave LaPointe was appointed by the Board to serve until an election by the Membership can be held (which will be at the June 21st Plane Wash and General Membership Meeting). So far we have Dave LaPointe nominated for this election. If anyone else is interested in running for this office, you can nominate yourself. Just contact a Board Member. If you want to know what the duties are for Vice President, see the Officer Duties Club document.
Fuel prices have been very volatile and will probably continue to be volatile. Rather than make ad-hoc decisions about flying hour rates every few months, the Board decided at the May 19th meeting to institute an automatic surcharge to track the changes in fuel prices. The surcharge will be figured as follows:
Each month when the bills are sent out, the Treasurer will determine the fuel surcharge by taking the current best price at Willow Run, subtracting $3.86, multiplying by 9, and rounding up to the next whole dollar. The basis of $3.86 is used because that is what the price was at USA Jet when we last figured our flying hour rates.
A notice about the surcharge amount will be placed on all the bills that are sent out that month, the surcharge becoming effective for flying time in the following month. It will also appear in the newsletter.
When a member purchases fuel and submits the receipt to the Treasurer, that member will be reimbursed according to the best rate being charged at Willow Run at the end of the previous month, or the actual price paid by the member, whichever is less.
Therefore the surcharge for hours flown during June will be $5/hr (because Fuel at USA Jet is now at $4.36/gal.). Therefore during the month of June, the total charge for flying hours will be:
|
Cessna and Warrior: |
$75 + $5 surcharge = $80 / hour |
|
Archer: |
$80 + $5 surcharge = $85 / hour |
We now have five people on the New Airplane Committee:
Dave Schrader
Mike Smith
Dale Thorsby
Joe McEvoy
Bruce Anderson
At the present time, their task is to determine whether it is better to buy a newer airplane or to continue to fix up the ones we have. What we are looking for is objective information on likely future maintenance costs and likely replacement airplane costs. If you have any information that bears on this question, please pass it along to one of these people. If it is determined that a newer airplane is the better choice, then the committee will move on to developing recommendations for various financing plans and airplane selection.
Garmin 430 Display Problem in Warrior
The Garmin 430 in the Warrior has acted up a few times, displaying vertical bars on the screen. Turning the radio off and back on should help. Some steps have been taken to clear the problem, but be on the lookout for recurrences. If you have been relying exclusively on this one radio, then now might be a good time to brush up on your knowledge of COM2/NAV2 and be prepared to use them if needed.
Missed Plane Wash and Membership Meeting Fee
In order to encourage more participation in Club events, the fee for missing a plane wash or a Membership Meeting has been raised from $6 to $10. The reasoning was explained by President Steve Thornburg:
Each equity member of MANG Aero Club shares in the responsibility for the upkeep of the airplanes and the governance of the Club. That obligation may be fulfilled through attendance and participation at General Membership Meetings and plane washes, or through monetary contributions. Either way, these are part of the costs of ownership in our Club. I think everyone would agree that they were first attracted to the Club by the appearance and condition of the airplanes, and they were persuaded to join based at least in part on the 40 year history of successful management of the Club's assets. The Board of Directors has voted to increase the $6 fee for missing a plane wash or General Membership Meeting to $10 to emphasize the value of participation in these events. How you choose to support the preservation of aircraft for the future is your personal choice. The Board's interest is in maintaining a fair contribution from each member.
So avoid the fee and come on out to our next Plane Wash and General Membership Meeting on June 21st!
On the chalkboard for each plane is a notation of when the next oil change is due for that plane. This is in tachometer time, and it is for everyone. When you fly, take note of that oil-change time and compare it with the tachometer hourmeter. If the tach time is within 5 hours of the oil change time, then please notify the maintenance officier for that plane so that he can schedule an oil change.
Here are the statistics for April 2008:
|
(Total HOURS) |
54115 |
43755 |
33149 |
All Aircraft |
|
April: |
27.4 |
18.7 |
31.3 |
77.4 |
Fuel surcharge for June will be: $5 / hr.
We had 27 pilots flying. Here are the top flyers in terms of flight hours for the month:
|
Dino Dinatale |
9.2 |
|
Carter Billiu |
9.2 |
|
Paul Plumley |
5.1 |
|
Dan Wadowski |
4.5 |
|
Bruce Anderson |
3.5 |
|
Michael Stier |
3.5 |