In this issue:
Sunday(*), September 10, 9:00 - Plane Wash / Barbecue at the Hangars
Thursday, September 21, 6:30 - Membership Meeting at Plymouth Library
Monday, October 9, 6:00 - Board Meeting at the Birdcage Pilot Lounge
Monday, November 13, 6:00 - Board Meeting at the Birdcage Pilot Lounge
Sunday, December 3, 5:30 - Holiday Party at a place to be announced
The Plymouth Library is at 223 S. Main St. in downtown Plymouth. Phone 734-453-0750
(*)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 the September 10th plane wash is on a Sunday.
Don't Let your Flight Review Expire
If you wait until your Flight Review expires to do something about it, you will have extra problems to deal with. You will not be able to schedule a Club plane for the Flight Review. Of course you can always go to an FBO and use their plane and their instructor to get current again. But if you want to schedule one of our Club planes for this purpose, you will have to contact a Club-approved flight instructor who will do the actual scheduling of the aircraft. This is necessary to stay within our insurance rules. So plan ahead and get that Flight Review done before it expires. Your Flight Review expires on the last day of the 24th month since your last Flight Review, which you should find in your logbook. You can also see the expiration dates of your Flight Review and Medical Certificate as recorded in MANG records by visiting the User section of Schedulemaster and checking out your own user data. Finally, Schedulemaster normally notifies you one month before the expiration date. Reminder: Successful completion of a phase of the Wings program counts as your Flight Review.
White Towels for One Thing Only
Operations Officer Dale Thorsby (who makes sure our hangar supplies are in order), has reported that some members are still using the white windscreen towels for purposes other than wiping windows. Whenever one of these towels is used for anything else, it never comes clean enough to be used on windows again, and it must be discarded. These are an expense to the Club, so don't waste these white towels. Don't ever use them for checking the oil, or for wiping off wax. If you must wipe the oil dipstick, then use paper towels for that. On Plane Wash days, if you are involved in waxing, use the various bath towels provided for the purpose. Our windscreens are kept free from scratches by the way we clean them only with soft clean towels. We can't let these towels be used for anything else.
We currently have 50 members. Here is some background information on new member, Jonathan Copland:
I am currently working for the AV Flight corporation and attending college where I am pursuing a degree in secondary education. I live in the city of Westland. My flying began July of 2005 at Mettetal airport where I took a lesson, then soon caught the flying bug. On May 9, 2006 I earned my private pilot's license. Within the next month, I would like to find a few club members that would like to fly safety pilot for me, email me if you think you have some time. (e-mail to: jon7988 (at sign) sbcglobal.net )
What's All This Squelch Stuff Anyhow?
All three of our MANG aircraft have similar audio intercom controls with squelch. Do you know how to set it? Do you know when you need to set it?
Squelch is the suppression of the sound from your microphone to the intercom system. That sound is turned off until it rises to a certain volume threshold. When the sound is loud enough, it breaks through the squelch and can be heard in the intercom. That volume threshold is what you set when you adjust the squelch control. The reason we have squelch is to keep the intercom from passing on all the background cockpit noises. It can be annoying or distracting to hear the extra engine noise or the overhead speaker through your intercom. But it is also frustrating when you try to talk to your passenger and you cannot be heard. Becoming confident in your use of this intercom control can enhance your flying experience and might prevent distractions that lead to a bad outcome.
The squelch control is the larger ring around the volume control for your headset on the intercom control panel. There is one volume/squelch control for the pilot and one for the passenger. Turn the squelch to the right until you cannot be heard in the intercom when you talk normally. Then gradually turn the control to the left as you talk. When you find a point where your voice just breaks through the squelch, then you have correctly adjusted the control. It helps if you are a loud talker. Remember to set the squelch for your passenger too. Have your passenger say "Test, test, test.." in a firm voice while you adjust the control. There is some lag in the effectiveness of these controls, so don’t try to make the adjustment to quickly. Also remember that the background noise is louder in flight than it is while idling on the ground. You might find that a setting that worked OK on the ground is allowing background noises to come through as you take-off. If this happens, don’t try to do anything about it during the critical take-off time. A little extra background noise is not going to make you crash, so just live with it until you can address the problem at your leisure.
Since volume controls and squelch controls are often adjusted by other members, it might be a good idea to note the position of the controls that suit you best so you can preset them before starting up.
Safety/Training Corner (by John Keck)
We want to know are you interested?
In Night Flying?
In being a Buddy Pilot?
In sharing the cost of flying?
In flying to play golf?
Note: A few of us just recently had the opportunity to fly to Marshal and play golf just after the plane wash. My whole day (flight, golf and lunch) cost about $95. Not bad for a wonderful outing with some really great guys. I never played golf before and left after shooting a 71&ldots;.shhh. Dino's help was immeasurable!
PS: Don't forget to get your shirts and window decals! They are still on sale, as described here.
Aviator's Code of Conduct: Part 5 of 7 (rules for a Pilot to live by)
Here are the statistics for July 2006:
|
(Total HOURS) |
54115 |
43755 |
33149 |
All Aircraft |
|
July: |
25.7 |
41.4 |
19.2 |
86.3 |