A Word from the BOD

As you may or may not know the club SOP’s have been in the process of being rewritten. Well they’re finally complete. They were organized into a more useful order, some things were taken out or changed and a few new topics were issued. In general it is the same set of SOP’s just a little different and with a new face. As members, we are responsible for reviewing the SOP’s once a year to familiarize ourselves with what and how to do it. Well since they have changed all our clocks have been reset. There is a sign off sheet so please stop by, review the changes/new additions and log your visit.

Michael Linder, Jr. PAO

Monthly Safety Tip

How often do you brief your flight? The reality is that unless we are doing some type of training with an instructor we don’t brief ourselves much less a passenger. Now of course we have an idea of why we are going flying or where we may go but that doesn’t count. I mean a brief that covers or at least touches on everything from takeoff to landing. Both commercial and military aviation have multiple checklists to cover every possibility and responsibility from walking to the plane to leaving it. Fortunately or not general aviation is not plagued with such extensive lists. However, that does not mean we should not do as we were taught. We all started at one point or another with and instructor and ground training and for every flight we looked at weather, possibly filed a flight plan, discussed what was going to happen, where we were going to go or accomplish, what our final destination was, and what time we were going to get there. The majority of this is scribbled down at some point on a club flight plan.

So what should you brief? Well, if you are taking passengers or doing something different or new, everything. Brief the weather, runway in use, takeoff procedure, etc. Remember all those things you talked about every time you flew in the beginning? If you are going out by yourself you should definitely brief all the non-standard items but may skip those that you do every day and are standard. Then comes the question of why brief. Again it has two answers. First to review or chair-fly then event your mind so you can be for comfortable and fluid in what you do and how you react. The second reason is to give your passengers an outline of what to expect. Flying is extremely fun, but for those first timers it may be a lot to take in and possibly too exciting. In all briefing is a way to look at the possibilities so you know what to expect and prepare yourself for the unexpected.

Club Highlights

Bombing Derby, on July 17 from 8am – 1pm. Brief with rules and instructions will be at 730am. Cost is $20 per team plus the cost of flight time. Flight time has been reduced $15/hr. The team consists of the pilot and bombardier, anyone to drop the water balloons while the pilot focuses on flying. Breakfast/lunch will be available and prizes will be awarded to the teams with bombs closest to the target. Please sign up by sending team name and aircraft to John or JJ Jackson(360-840-7278) by July 14.

Scholarship Fund, we now offer a small “gee-dunk” in the club lobby to raise money for a Scholarship that will awarded at our annual Christmas party. We are selling cokes, candy, and water on the honor system. Also, our “Hotdog Thursdays” contributions will go towards this fund. Goal is to raise $1000 and award this to one or two individuals that show an interest in obtaining their private license, it will be open to all our members.

IFR program, Like to private program if you take the instrument ground school and then complete your rating in the specified amount of time your course fee will be credited to your account. Also those flight in which you are working toward your rating will be discounted $20/hr. $10 off the plane and instructor per hour. You must talk with John before you can use this and your instructor must report the flight as IFR training to the office.

Share a flight, There is a forum on Schedule Master in which you post or respond to previous posts about different flights. This idea is to bring club members together by sharing the time, cost, experience of similar flights. All members have access to the forum but if you would like email notification of posts please email Pat Corrigan.

Flying Companion Seminar, will be presented on October 9th 9am to 3pm by the 99’s (female pilot organization) at a cost of $49.50. Topics covered will consist of aircraft systems, radio communication, traffic scans, and navigation to name a few. It is open to all members and nonmembers and is meant to be an introduction for those who fly with a friend or spouse and are more interested and what flying entails or those who are just interested in learning the basics of flying. There is also the possibility of pairing it with a club into flight.

May New Members

Steven Combs,  Declan Glynn, Christopher Stiphout, & Tyler Newark

Please welcome them when you see them in the clubhouse.

Alternate taxiway, is closed. There is a possibility that tower/ground or some type of controlling agency might give the alternate as part of your taxi clearance. If this happens you MUST tell them you are UNABLE. Due to the soft ground and the numerous truck that have used it and ground and metal decking is unstable and full of potholes. If you use the alternate you will get a prop strike and risk greater damage to aircraft and crew.

Fuel Pump, We are having possible issues with getting the fuel pump installed. In order to resolve the situation in a timelier manner please report all problems to John or Ann. We need to report the date, time, pump side, and a description. Thank you.

Current Events

Youth camps will be held July 19-22, and August 16-20.

Future Events

Poker Run September 25th.

The holiday party will be on Wednesday December 8th and we are asking for a volunteer for planning and organization.

Upcoming Meetings

Safety meeting will be on Wednesday, July 14th at 11:30 at the O-club.

BOD meeting will be on Thursday, July 22nd at 11:00am at the clubhouse.