In this issue:
February 8th, Monday, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
March 22nd, Monday 6:00 PM General Membership Meeting @ Plymouth Library
April 12th, Monday, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
April 26th, Monday, 6:00 PM MANG-MDOT Safety
Seminar @ Plymouth Library
May 1st, Saturday, 9:00 AM Plane Wash &
11:00 AM BBQ MANG Hangers
May 10th, Monday, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
June 12th, Saturday, 9:00 AM Plane Wash
& 11:00 AM BBQ & General Membership Mtg.
July 12th, Monday, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
August 7th, Saturday, 9:00 AM Plane Wash &
11:00 AM BBQ MANG Hangers
August 9th, Monday, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
September 13th, Monday 6:00 PM General Membership Meeting @
Plymouth Library
October 9th, Saturday, 9:00 AM Plane Wash
& 11:00 AM BBQ MANG Hangers
October 11th, Monday, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
November 8th, Monday, 6:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
December 3, Friday, 6:00 PM Holiday Party & General Membership
Mtg. TBD
Appointed Officers Reappointed
At the January Board Meeting, the existing slate of appointed MANG Officers were re-appointed for 2010. Therefore we have:
Chief Maintenance: Paul Fortino
Cessna Maintenance: Paul Plumley
Archer Maintenance: Mario Pecchia
Warrior Maintenance: Bruce Anderson
Operations: Dale Thorsby
Safety/Training: John Keck
MANG Aero Club has a new member: Cal Locklin. That brings our total membership to 50. Cal was introduced to the Club by Paul Plumley. Welcome Cal!
Status of Gate System and ID Badges
Recently we called Rick Taig at Willow Run Operations to find out the status of the ID badge and gate system. Here is what he said:
The ID badge system is still broken from last July. No new ID badges can be entered into the system. Until the system is fixed, expired ID badges will continue to work past their expiration date. The gate system still can work with the data from last July. And by the way, Rick says that he has lost all his staff, and he does not expect the system to be fixed for two to three more months!
So continue to wear your ID badge whenever you are at the airport. The gate was stuck open with orange cones marking it last Monday, and it will probably be stuck that way for some time to come. But do not count on it. Come prepared to use your ID badge, or your padlock key from the East gate.
Dino Dinatale just completed a weekend CFI course, and he reports that there are changes coming to the FARs. There will be about 70 changes to part 61. One change is that the ATC directive "position and hold" will be replaced by "line up and wait". So be prepared to read back that phrase. Dino also mentioned that homeland security is doing a lot of spot inspections, and in some cases passing out fines for things like not having your ID badge on you. So play it safe and wear that badge, even if you didn't need it to open the broken gate.
The door on the right side of the Cessna has had some work done on its hinges, and this may confuse some people. The new hinge has a working "stay open" position that is reached by opening the door to where it clicks just beyond where it begins to offer some resistance. So if it looks like the door does not want to open all the way, just push it a little further, and it will open further.
You may have noticed that each airplane has a record on the chalk board of when the next oil change is due. This information is not just for maintenance officers. It is for you too. Take note of that tach time whenever you fly. Do not fly beyond the oil change time; and if the tach time is within 5 hours of the when the oil change is due. please call the maintenance officer for that plane to make sure it gets done before it becomes past due.
Here are the statistics for December 2009:
|
(Total HOURS) |
54115 |
43755 |
33149 |
All Aircraft |
|
December 2009: |
7.6 |
8.8 |
7.4 |
23.8 |
Here are the top flyers in terms of flight hours for the month:
|
John Souther |
5.8 |
|
David Brent |
4.3 |
|
Paul Plumley |
3.1 |
|
Daniel Darga |
3.0 |
|
Paul Fortino |
2.4 |
|
Bob Finn |
2.3 |
And here are the top flyers in terms of flight hours for all of 2009:
|
Rod Lelental |
61.2 |
|
John Souther |
56.4 |
|
David Brent |
40.5 |
|
Mario Pecchia |
35.7 |
|
Paul Fortino |
35.4 |
|
Paul Plumley |
34.1 |