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 Corporate Wings. 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 Corporate Wings. 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 Corporate Wings. 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