Arrow 31386 DVT

Archer 47601 CHD

Comanche 9014P CHD

Archer 30749 DVT

The Arrow and Comanche will swap places on Thursday, April 5, after which the Arrow will be at CHD and the Comanche will be at DVT.

The next work party will be held at DVT on Saturday March 17^th at 9:00AM. If you are interested in helping clean the airplanes that you help to get dirty, please contact Rick Ridenour.

Al Galvi

While safety is the product of many facets of applied knowledge, experience, and proficiency, a major threat to safety is DISTRACTION! This is so much recognized by the FAA that in all checkrides for any rating the FAA Inspector or Designated Examiner intentionally introduces some form of distraction(s) to test the applicant’s ability to keep matters under control despite the challenge introduced.

There have been cases of commercial airliners with highly professional crews where distraction ended in disaster. The cliché "First, fly the airplane," rides with us on every flight and under all circumstances. We are all challenged to pay heed!

The next regular meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on Thursday, March 8 in the terminal building at CHD. The meeting will start at 7:30PM. Among the topics to be discussed are possible increases to hourly rates and share value. (See the article on the back page for further information.) All interested parties are welcome.

Board member positions were selected at the February board meeting. The positions for this year are as follows:

Maintenance Ed Hirrold

President Rick Ridenour

Operations/Vice President

Gary Christopher

Safety Officer Al Galvi

Secretary Tom Lessor

Treasurer Bob Skalka

Tom Lessor

There were obviously a lot of issues presented at the February board meeting upon which the members will wish to discuss. The club provides a forum for discussing these issues; the club bulletin board. Second to attending the next board meeting in Chandler on March 8th, the bulletin board provides the best opportunity for the Internet-connected members to express their opinions on the board proposals.

The bulletin board can be used to pose a question, express an opinion, or respond to messages posted by other members. Its use will allow the board and other members the opportunity to communicate prior to the meeting. The bulletin board can be accessed through the Members Area on the club's home page.

Cracked engine mount replaced.

No known problems.

Cylinder #4 replaced. (Second replacement cylinder in the last six months.) Exhaust system rebuilt.

Gary Christopher

The situation we have right now is that flying revenue is covering fuel and maintenance and little else. While our cash flow is adequate, our engine reserve money is emanating from the monthly dues. There are two problems with this. First, that just isn’t the way it is supposed to be and second, if flying time doubles next month, the amount of money for engine reserves will not increase at all. To correct this the board discussed raising the hourly rates $5 - $10 at the February meeting.

At the annual meeting in January the Board polled the members present and found a willingness to increase our equity for the purpose of upgrading aircraft. The specific upgrades we have in mind are a new interior for 386 and GPS receivers for all of the planes. 601 needs painting too, but that didn’t score very high on the applause meter at the annual meeting. Anyone who has an instrument rating, or hopes to get one, will be glad when the day comes that you have to go to a museum to see an ADF. They are a relic from the last century (the early part of the last century), they are unreliable and they are expensive to maintain. They need to be replaced.

GPS will cost us about $12,000 per plane. For that price we get an IFR-certified unit with a color moving-map that replaces a Comm radio, VOR, ILS, ADF, and DME. If you’ve never owned a plane you will probably be surprised to learn that the GPS costs less than the sum of the things it replaces. It is more accurate and has much lower repair frequency as well. We expect to get four identical units, although technological advances may sway us over the course of the upgrade process.

Upgrading our radios is not just a luxury. We own seven KX-170B Nav/Coms which will be the next generation of radios that will become obsolete due to frequency splitting. If we wait until the radios have to be replaced we will face huge expense of replacing seven radios and the removed radios will be worthless. If we start now we can spread the expense out and sell the old radios for $500 to 700 each.

The Board favors increasing the equity of the stock to $1,750 per share by assessing a monthly charge of $20 per month for fifty months, and applying that amount toward the value of the stock. When a new member joins the club, he or she would purchase their share at the current value and pay the increased dues while they are in effect. The board feels with a definite source of fixed-income, it can consider funding the needed upgrades immediately.

In summary, here are the types of increases being considered:

If you wish to voice an opinion on any of these issues, feel free to attend the board meeting at Chandler terminal on March 8^th at 7:30 P.M., or call or email a board member.