EVERGREEN SOARING

Minutes of a Meeting of the

Board of Directors

September 7, 2002

Keith Turner called the meeting to order at 9:20AM. The meeting was held at the Evergreen Soaring clubhouse at Arlington Airport. Those present were Keith Turner, President; Mike Delaney, Treasurer; Keith McLean, Operation’s Director; Roy Parzyk, Equipment Director; Mark Nyberg, Secretary; Mary Blonksi, William Burhen, Wayne Ciesielski, Winfried Feifel, Fred Hermanspann, Brad Hill, Tom Hilton, Chris Klix, Angus McKinnon, Carl Niedermeyer, Joseph Patton, Raymond Stoer, Gary Thayer and Scott Watson.

A motion was made to approve the minutes of the previous board meeting as published in the GlidePath. The motion seconded and passed.

Old business opened with the treasurer’s report. Mike explained that we have about $43,000 cash in the bank: $20,500 for the self-insurance and towplane engine fund plus $22,500 in checking. He has decided to close our money market fund because Seafirst Bank was charging more in fees that the fund was yielding. Our accounts receivable is about $2,300 – not including the most recent billing. Year to date we have had $2,000 revenue from demo flights, $3,400 in flight fees, $2,200 in initiation fees and $9,000 in tow fees totaling $26,000 in revenue. Our expenses have been about $31,500 for a net loss for the year of about $6,600. The SSA has raised dues from $55 to $64 for regular members and to $36 per year for students. This increased will be passed onto the members as part of the next SSA membership billing. Repairs to the Schweitzer 1-36 came to $3,800. Mark Nyberg has given the club a cheque for $1,000 to cover his deductible.

Moving on to the Equipment Directors Report: It was mentioned that the canopy cover for the 1-36 is falling apart. Roy Parzyk agreed go get estimates for repair and replacement. A motion was made and passed to remove the Borgelt 40 vario and probe from the Lark and install them back into the 1-36 where they came from. It was reported that the 1-36 has been flown since Chris Klix did the repairs and that it flies just fine. The 1-36 shall be the designated aircraft for use by members in doing their early cross-country work. Our 2-place gliders are not to be used for early cross-country work.

Regarding the towplane: The Tost hook has been installed (and proved to work just fine with many tows made after the board meeting). Purchase cost for Tost tow release unit came to about $1,000. Paul Neinhaus has not billed us yet for the installation. Paul did a 100-hour inspection (which also serves as an annual inspection) while he had the towplane. We currently have one towrope with Tost rings at both ends. Mike Delaney agreed to purchase ½ dozen more Tost rings to replace the old Schweitzer rings.

Paul Neinhaus has also replaced the carburetor with a rebuilt unit – replacing the rubber fuel and inlet hoses at the same time. It had been about 5 years since we replace the carburetor. The clear fuel gauge cover has also been replaced with a new and more readable (less yellowed) unit. Paul’s understanding of the problem is that the MOGAS (automobile gas that we have been currently using in the towplane) slowly breaks down the rubber parts. Use of 100 octane low leaded aviation fuel at Ephrata causes the softened rubber parts to break free and flow through the system. This has also happened before in previous years. MOGAS currently costs about $1.85 per gallon and 100LL costs about $2.30 per gallon. A concern about the 100LL gas is that it burns hotter so a lean engine could burn a valve. A motion was made and passed for Ray Parzyk to take the lead for further research and to make some decisions about fuel. The Pawnee’s engine is expected to require a major overhaul in about 3 years. Roy Parzyk got a round of applause for making sure the towplane got repaired and the Tost release installed so quickly.

The towplane currently does not need total recovery, but this winter would be a good time to patch the fabric in a few troubled areas. The nylon tape is certainly serviceable but has been getting brown with age and looks bad. Keith Turner reminded us that the towplane is a working aircraft and not a showpiece: it may not always look great but is safe and reliable. The tires were rotated recently. It was suggested that we might want to purchase better tires next time so that they will last longer.

Roy Parzyk agreed to prepare a laundry list of work that needs to be don on the towplane this winter.

The trim cables are still crossed on Blanik 029 and it is difficult to set the trim at full travel. Chris Klix took a look at it and said that it is not a safety issue and would require 4 to 5 hours to repair. The decision was made to get this fixed as part of its next annual inspection.

The Lark was tied down using straps with open hooks that pose a risk of coming unhooked. Roy Parzyk already solved this problem by replacing the strap tie downs on the lark with steel cables. The glider tiedown areas have become crowded. Mike Delaney will talk with Jerry Painter about moving his Vivat. Angus will look into getting the Civil Air Patrol’s trailer moved to the trailer parking area.

Tom Hilton, one of our newest members, volunteered to lead the effort to finish painting the Lark Trailer. When he asked how to recognize the Lark trailer he was advised to look for the one that is half green and half white.

On the subject of having work done on the towplane over the winter, it was suggested that we talk with BESC to arrange towing during that time. It was also suggested that we work with BESC to develop a common fee structure for towing.

On the subject of towplane: Keith Turner mentioned that Bill Stewart was involved with the Air Force Academy in preparing a study on which aircraft were best suited to tow gliders. Cubs and Pawnees came out on top. Keith has a copy of the study.

On the problem of members failing to show up for weekend duties: it appears that members are getting reminded of towing/instructor/FOO duties but still fail to show up sometimes when they are busy. It was agreed that this is a problem that cannot be solved easily in a Saturday morning board meeting – particularly when the membership needs the President to fly the towplane and the Treasurer to serve as instructor for the day. The board will meet again but offsite on Wednesday September 25^th at 7:00 PM at Mike Delaney’s house to address some of these bigger issues when there is less pressure to adjourn.

We currently have no Chief Instructor so we had no report. It was agreed that is important to find someone ASAP to fill this job.

Moving on to new business, the board acknowledged requests for inactive status from Chris Hodges and Kyleen MacGugan.

Angus McKinnon announced that the owner of the Grob 109 is available for rent to ES and BESC members at $60/hr at Pro Aire (360/403-3100). Although Angus is busy, club members who need an instructor can reach him at Pro Aire.

Mark Nyberg suggested that our Member Handbook has gotten out of date and is badly in need of revision. Gary Thayer agreed to lead the effort to do the update. Gary will be asking various club members to contribute to this effort and edit the document.

Mark Nyberg also suggested that we look for ways to help members get work done and not focus on rulemaking. Mark went on to suggest that we develop more comprehensive FOO guidelines along with a FOO training program. This is a large issue that is deferred to the next offsite bard meeting (see “bigger issues”, above).

We need more instructors, commercial pilots and towpilots. We also need to prepare for the election and plan the next banquet. It has been suggested that the current board organization is not working well and needs some changes. We also need to decide what to do with the Lark, e.g. sell it, do some refinishing, have some refinishing done or fly it as is. These are also large issues that are deferred to the next offsite board meeting (see “bigger issues”, above).

As part of dealing with larger issues, it was suggested that we need a “vision” as to what kind of club we want to be and what kind of services we want to offer. It was suggested that perhaps it’s time to have some sort of weekend retreat where we develop a vision for our club. This will be up to the new board.

On the subject of logbooks and basic soaring books, Mike Delaney has already purchased a supply (at a 25% discount) for the clubhouse and will make them available as soon as he prepares the billing postcards to go inside. Mike explained that these items are available for sale to Evergreen members and that club billing is not set up to support sales to non-members.

Mike Culver has had to move the web server that hosts our website. This website just happens to be the website that he setup to host the SSA’s website and the websites for other soaring organizations. There is a possibility that the SSA may ask us to make other arrangements. Keith Turner has his own dedicated IP address and has volunteered to host our site if we need to move.

It appears that some our club equipment is still in Ephrata. Anyone who happens to go out there is encouraged to bring the equipment back – especially our batteries and the battery-powered air compressor that was donated to the club by William Burhen. The toolbox and tools that William also donated are being kept in the towplane hanger. William has also donated the XEROX copy machine located in our clubhouse. Thanks Wil! As soon as the club gets a toner cartridge it will be ready to go.

There was no further business and the meeting was adjourned at 11:40 AM.

Respectfully,

Mark Nyberg

Secretary