MANG AERO CLUB

Newsletter Vol. 9 No. 1  (January 2011)


In this issue:


Calendar of Events

February 21st, Monday, 7:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
March 29st, Tuesday 7:00 PM General Membership Meeting @ Plymouth Library
April 11th, Monday, 7:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
April 25th, Monday, 6:00 PM MANG-MDOT Safety Seminar @ Plymouth Library
May 7th, Saturday, 9:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ MANG Hangers
May 9th, Monday, 7:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
June 11th, Saturday, 9:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ & General Membership Mtg.
July 11th, Monday, 7:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
August 6th, Saturday, 9:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ MANG Hangers
August 8th, Monday, 7:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
September 13th, Tuesday 6:00 PM General Membership Meeting @ Plymouth Library
October 8th, Saturday, 9:00 AM Plane Wash & 11:00 AM BBQ MANG Hangers
October 10th, Monday, 7:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
November 14th, Monday, 7:00 PM Board Meeting @ Birdcage Lounge
December 2, Friday, 6:00 PM Holiday Party & General Membership Mtg. TBD


Dave Schrader is new Safety/Training Officer


New members


Return Garmin Training CDs

If you have a Garmin 430 training CD, please return it to Dave LaPointe, or drop it off at the MANG office in the Hangar. These CDs are only necessary to install the Garmin 430 simulator and manual on your computer. After that you can return the CD and just use the copy you installed.


Raising Money for a Plane

Although the purchasing of a new plane was tabled at the Holiday Party, the Board wants all members to start considering how and when we might raise the money needed to buy a new plane. That is so when the time does come to buy, we will have a plan and be ready to go.

Right now the estimates are that we would need something in the range of $10,000 to $15,000 to cover the difference between what a new (newer) plane would cost and what we could get by selling one of our existing planes. One way to raise that money would be to increase the equity that each member has invested in the Club. This is similar to what we did to finance our first Garmin 430, except on a larger scale. If we increased the equity by $250 for each member, then that would raise $13,750. That means each member would have to pay $250 over some period of time (maybe 6 months?). Of course the members would normally get that $250 back along with the rest of their equity investment when then leave the Club. Such an increase in equity is also justified by the fact that the sum of everbody's equity investment right now is less than 1/2 of the true market value of our planes. In principle, the Club is doing right by its members as long as the market value of our assets is greater than the sum of everyone's equity investment. That way if the Club were ever to be dissolved, everyone in the Club would get back all their equity investment and then some.

If you have any thoughts on raising equity, or the need (or lack of a need) to replace any of our older planes, please let a Board member know. Or better yet, show up to any Board meeting where these issues are discussed. The next meeting is February 14th, and as usual, all members are welcome to attend a Board meeting. This issue will probably be discussed at the General Membership Meeting on March 21st. But if you want to shape the discussion in a meaningful way, it might be better to let your voice be heard sooner rather than later. By the way, the main impetus to replacing a plane is the concern that with high airframe time like we have on the Warrior, the maintenance costs may be starting going way up as more expensive airframe components start to need replacing, and that the resale value of an extremely high airframe plane is likely to be significantly reduced.


Flying Hours and Statistics

Here are the statistics for December 2010:

(Total HOURS)

54115

43755

33149

All Aircraft

December 2010:

3.4

11.7

4.5

19.6

Here are the top flyers in terms of flight hours for the month:

And here are the top flyers in terms of flight hours for all of 2010: