MANG AERO CLUB

Newsletter Vol. 8 No. 7  (July 2010)

In this issue:

Calendar of Events

August Plane Wash Date Changed to the 14th

The August plane wash was scheduled for the same day as the Thunder Over Michigan air show at Willow Run, which would have made getting in and out of the hangars very difficult. When we politely informed the air show that our plane wash was scheduled first, they declined to change the date of the air show :-). So we have decided to change the date of our plane wash. The plane wash will now be held on Saturday, August 14th. (one week later than originally planned.)

Take a look at the MANG Forum!

As we said in the June newsletter, ScheduleMaster is now providing us with a MANG forum that our members can use to communicate with each other. To try it out, I posted a request for a safety pilot for some practice approaches I wanted to fly. There were no responses. In fact, my posting is still the only one on the forum.

The MANG forum provides a way for any member to communicate with the rest of the members. Do you have a question about the headset plug on the Warrior? Do you have a tip you would like to share about the elevator trim on the Cessna? Do you have a gripe about anything Club-related? Do you know a good fly-in destination? Would you like to find a buddy to fly with? Or a safety pilot for some approaches under the hood? If so, then post it on the MANG forum.

When you go to ScheduleMaster on the web, first click on Comm/Other in the top menu bar. Then click on Forum in the second row of the menu bar. Then you can start a new posting by clicking on start a new thread. Or you can read or respond to existing threads. Hopefully, when more members start using it, there will be more to read on the forum. But it has to be started by someone. So why not you?

Vote on By-laws change postponed

Since the General Membership Meeting for June was canceled, the vote on the proposed change to the By-Laws regarding Officer Compensation could not officially take place. Voting on this issue will be held at the September General Membership Meeting.

Pilot Responsibilities in Self-Evaluation

As a pilot, you have the responsibility to honestly evaluate your own readiness to fly. For example, FAR 61.53 states:

(a person)..shall not act as pilot in command, or in any other capacity as a required pilot flight crewmember, while that person knows or has reason to know of any medical condition that would make the person unable to operate the aircraft in a safe manner....

This is beyond just possessing a valid Medical Certificate. It means if you have a splitting headache today, it is up to you to declare yourself unfit to fly. Also, FAR 61.57 states a person may not carry passengers at night unless

...within the preceding 90 days that person has made at least three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop (at night)...

No one is going to watch you make those landings. Your logbook in this regard is maintained on the honor system. Finally, there is the famous FAR 91.3:

The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft.

So as you see, the FARs put a lot of responsibility into our hands. It is up to us to recognize when we are not ready to fly. We can't simply rely on our last medical exam, or on that BFR that we did 18 months ago to say we are ready. We need to be sure ourselves too, based on our own common sense.

With regard to flying competence, one of the great things about a flying club like MANG is that when we find ourselves unsure about our abilities, we can always find someone else - an instructor or just another more experienced pilot - who can fly with us until the confidence in our competence has been restored. (Another reason to use the MANG forum)

Welcome New Member Troy Allen

MANG Aero Club welcomes new member Troy Allen.

What proper filling looks like

Since we discussed not overfilling the fuel tanks a few months ago, I decided to take a picture of the Warrior just after filling the tanks. Here is what it looked like. Note how the fuel just barely touches the bottom of the filler neck.

Send Medical Certificates and BFR Endorsements to John Keck

This is just a reminder to send copies of renewed Medical Certificates and BFR logbook endorsements to the Saftey/Training Officer, John Keck. (You can find his e-mail address on ScheduleMaster). You can scan these documents and send him an image attached to the e-mail, or you can send copies the old-fashioned way with a letter and a stamp. When he gets these documents he will update your status on ScheduleMaster to allow you to continue scheduling planes. Otherwise that status expires at the end of the month that the old certificate expired.

Financial Statements for June

Profit and Lost Statement

Balance Sheet

Flying Hours and Statistics

Here are the statistics for June 2010:

(Total HOURS)

54115

43755

33149

All Aircraft

June 2010:

22.0

13.0

8.8

43.8

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