December 31, 2010
I am pleased to report 2 pieces of good news.
The first is that through a combination of hard work on our insurance agent's part and a commitment of faith on the part of the board, we will be able to continue full flying club coverage on both airplanes for 2011, and at a bit of a discount from last year. I truly appreciate the faithful work of those on the board who worked to bring this about, it was not easy.
The second piece of good news is that the convoluted currency requirements of our previous carrier are no longer in place. You may now fly the airplanes within the regulations in place by the FARs (61.56 Flight Review, 61.57 Recent Flight Experience, 61.23 Medical Certificates) and our club rules (checkout required for new members and any member who hasn't logged PIC time in 3 months). While the requirements are relaxed from last year, it is still vitally important that each pilot be sure of their abilities and condition prior to flight! The first and most obvious reason for this is safety. We each must take our responsibility as pilot in command of an aircraft seriously. The other reason is economic. Any claims will cause an increase in insurance premiums, or even a denial of coverage, along with the responsible person having to pay deductibles.
July 23, 2010
We are happy to report that 94V had a successful, if long, break in period and can now be used for all operations, including touch and goes. Oil consumption is stable and the plane is running fine. We are currently continuing to use mineral oil (the bottles with blue on them). When we switch to the regular oil, we will make sure that users are aware of it.
May 28, 2010
Welcome to our newest student pilot members, Dan Walter, Zuolei Liao and Matt Rothwell. We're glad to have you with us.
March 12, 2010
Most of you are probably already aware of this. March 31, 2010 is the last day you can exercise PIC privileges with a paper airman's certificate. Most people by now have plastic ones, which will be the only kind legal beginning 4/1. You can get a plastic replacement certificate free by going online to the following address and applying for one. Please be aware that theoretically you would be in violation of an FAR and our insurance would be invalid if you had some sort of accident while flying with a paper certificate after that date. In such a case, YOU would be responsible for any costs or liability arising from any accident. Please go to the site and apply for your card immediately if your certificate is paper.
http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/airmen_services/
December 30, 2009
2010 Wings Flying Club Insurance Requirements
I am pleased to inform you that we were able to secure insurance for our 2 aircraft for 2010 at a helpful savings from previous years and with considerably smaller deductibles. However, everything in aviation is a compromise. In this case, there are some additional requirements from our new carrier which must be met. They are as follows:
- All pilots with a private certificate or higher who have less than 250 total logged flying hours must have accomplished a checkout with a club instructor within the previous 12 months to act as PIC in our airplanes.
- Any pilots with less than 25 total logged flying hours in the last 12 months must have accomplished a checkout with a club instructor within the previous 12 months to act as PIC in our airplanes.
- Any pilots who have not logged any flying time in the last 6 months must accomplish a checkout with a club instructor prior to acting as PIC in our airplanes. Please note that this requirement should not cause concern as we already have a club rule that requires a checkout if you have not flown in 3 months.
The checkout required must be done with a club instructor. There is no minimum time requirement however, the length is up to the discretion of the instructor, but you must get a logbook signoff.
For student pilots, all solo flights conducted must be done within the parameters/limitations established by their flight instructor (max winds and crosswind components, minimum ceiling and visibility, etc.).
The board will do our best to put mechanisms in place, probably with the scheduler, to ensure that these requirements are met. However, it is the responsibility of each member to be sure that they are in compliance with these requirements. Any denied claims due to noncompliance will be the responsibility of the pilot.
June 28, 2007
Due to the skyrocketing cost of avgas (now around $6.45 including taxes at SBN), we are forced to adjust our hourly rate to $90 for the airplanes effective July 1. We have also decided to institute a credit of $20 per hour after the first 3 hours in a month, making the net rate $70 for anything above 3 hours. We did this in order to add an incentive to fly a bit more and to ease the pain of the increase to those who fly the most, which is mainly our active students. This rate restructuring will do away with the current $15 reduction in a member's dues if they fly over 3 hours.
June 28, 2007
Grissom ARB is OPEN!
Monday June 30th Grissom ARB will be open to the public. No more Prior Permission Required. Montgomery Aviation, the fbo operator, is offering a full range of services including, aircraft chater, aircraft rental, light to moderate maintenance, full service Jet-A, self service 100LL, hanger rental and other pilot/passenger services. The fbo is just minutes away from local attractions such as the Grissom Air Museum and Mississinewa Reservoir. Come and experience the history and the thrill of landing at Indiana's longest runway( 12,501 ft.). While your here enjoy the superior service offered by the staff and see your United States Airforce in action. Although this is not our offical Grand Opening, we are looking forward to all those aviators who have dreamed of landing at KGUS. If you have any questions call 765-327-1784 or 765-689-8100.
Jerry White
Montgomery Aviation
Grissom FBO Manager
Sept. 28, 2007
The Board of Directors has voted to drop the fuel surcharge instituted a few months ago and instead raise the hourly wet rate for the planes to $80 per hour beginning October 1, 2007.
While we felt that the surcharge had advantages over a straight rate increase, it became onerous to manage for a variety of reasons. The rest of the Board appreciates the effort that Betsy, our Treasurer, put into trying to make it work, but complications quickly arose making billing a real headache.
The club continues to be in a difficult financial position because of the dramatic decrease in membership over the last couple of years. The Board has taken some measures, to be detailed in the newsletter, and is continuing to try to find ways to cut costs and yet at the same time make the club attractive to prospective members. We appreciate the efforts of all of our members to help the club, and we continue to covet everyone's help and ideas.
June 2007
Greetings to all. Summer will officially be here in a few days, though it feels like it’s been here for a while.
Because of soaring fuel costs and the very narrow financial margin we operate on, Wings Flying Club is instituting a fuel surcharge, effective June 15, 2007, which will be added to each member's statement. This surcharge will be calculated as follows:
The normal hourly rate charged (currently $65 per hour) will be considered as based on a cost to the club of $4.00 per gallon for fuel. On the day of the monthly board meeting, the Treasurer will obtain the current fuel cost to the club from Atlantic Aviation. The amount in excess of $4.00 per gallon, if any, will be multiplied by 8 (an average fuel burn in gallons per hour). The product of this calculation will be the rate charged, per hour, for any time a member utilizes an airplane, and will be shown on the member's statement as a separate line item.
An exception to this charge is as follows:
If any member utilizes an airplane for at least 1 hour, refuels at Knox, flies directly back to South Bend, immediately puts the plane away, notes in the blue logbook "Refueled at Knox" and turns in the fuel receipt with the airplane tail number, date and his or her name, that member will not be charged the fuel surcharge for that flight.
As an example, and for the period of June 15 through June 30, 2007:
The cost to Wings for fuel as of 5/29 was $5.12 per gallon. Therefore, $1.12 is multiplied by 8 to achieve a total of $8.96 per hour as a fuel surcharge.
It pains us to do anything that increases a member’s (as well as our) cost of flying, but finances lately dictate that we act as needed. Hopefully fuel prices will eventually go back down and the impact to each person will be lessened.
Remember that any member gets a $15 credit on their dues when they fly three or more hours in a month.
As most of you know, N9005H came back from an engine teardown a couple of months ago. It should be flown just like when an engine is overhauled- Mostly cross-country flights with high RPMs, varying the power setting every few minutes a little bit. It is also very important to AGGRESSIVELY lean the mixture. It should be leaned during idling, taxi, and cruise flight, and be adjusted periodically during long descents. The only time it is critical to have full rich mixture is during climb and during approach to landing in the event that a go-around is required. We have been experiencing a lot of plug fouling, and it may be due to insufficient leaning. Hopefully as the rings are broken in, it won’t be as sensitive to fouling.
Our next Board Meeting is Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 6:30 at Atlantic Aviation. Regular members are welcome to attend.
Larry
May 2007
Great weather has definitely arrived! Spend some time making use of the resources you have, while you have them! Everyone will benefit: you’ll be doing what you worked so long to be able to do, the club will benefit, and it’s best for the planes’ health to be flown.
I know you are all eagerly awaiting the results of the elections. With no opposition, I was narrowly reelected as President, Dave Patnaude was reelected Secretary in a landslide, and Jerry Paege was elected to another term as Director. Many thanks to all who came out and especially to Don for the chili and muffins and to Betsy for the cookies.
N9005H needs to be flown! Since the rings are being broken in, the flights need to be cross-country trips, but isn’t that the reason you fly?
I am pleased to report that as an incentive to get members flying more we are giving a $15 credit on anyone’s dues who flies 3 or more hours in a month. It may not quite be like winning the lottery, but it can’t hurt. The board has also been mandated to come up with a block rate for using the planes. The numbers will be worked out at the next meeting.
There continue to be issues with the club not having good contact information on some members. We must maintain 2 databases: the one on the scheduler and the one Betsy has for billing. On the scheduler, anyone can revise his or her own contact information. Just use the “User” tab and follow the links to edit your info. For Betsy, please look at the information on your bill and revise it as needed when you send in payment.
The club has a shiny new membership application. It can be seen on (and downloaded from) our web site.
Speaking of our site, have you been there lately? Bill Ozinga has been carrying on the tradition of doing a fantastic job with it. The club has been fortunate to have very good webmasters.
Our next Membership Meeting is Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 7:30 at Atlantic Aviation. Please make time to attend, this is YOUR club.
Larry Haines
Still President
Wings Flying Club
1/13/2007
Bill Ozinga has taken over website responsibilities. Please send any comments or contributions to him at