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Evergreen Soaring
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Saturday, 02 May, 2009
The meeting was called to order at 9:30 AM in the ES Clubhouse by President Fred Hermanspann. Present were voting members Gary Paulin, Marty Gibbins, Merel O'Rourke, Tony Puglisi, and Paul Sjoberg. Non-voting board members Howard Glover, Dan Teifke, and Mark Nyberg, were also present. Several other members were also present, among them: Chris Murray; Pierre Parent; Travis Brown; Hans Sendelbach; Brian Hood; Greg Garwin (briefly, FOO); Lynn Weller; Roger Axelson; and Bruce Bulloch.
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Saturday, 02 May, 2009
New Members:
Mike Dever has been flying since the '70's with hang gliders and picked up his private power certificate last year. He now wants to transition to gliders. He had paperwork and his checkbook. Some little discussion and ... he's in! Welcome Mike! The Board sent him straight to the flight line for further instruction.OFFICERS' REPORTS:
President (Fred Hermanspann)We had a very good April! Tows are 50% ahead of April last year!
Noel Wade just earned his Silver C in Ephrata.
The new L-33 is out of its box and tied down on line.
President Elect (Gary Paulin)
Had some good gliding in Florida in February--in shorts and a T-shirt! Mostly, he worked in 172's toward his power cert.
Gary noted that he was offered early retirement and took it.
Treasurer (Marty Gibbins, )
See attachments.
Our cash is flowing out pretty much as planned. Billing just went out so cash inflow should show next month.
We currently have 83 members who pay something. This includes owner members, students, et al.
Tony P. asked about his spending budget, which he was concerned he had overrun. Some discussion ensued. The consensus was that he has not spent frivolously and to keep on. Spending is likely to average out over the long run.
Tony noted in passing that glider annuals jumped from $200 to $400 each, due to lack of Club participation. When that participation returns, the cost of an annual will again drop to about $200.
Brian Hood offered a chart and and explanation of the Club's cash flow. See attachment. Very illuminating!
While somewhat out of order, we also discussed the engine in 30Y. Paul Nyenhuis reports that there is no factory requirement for retiring an engine merely because it has reached TBO. In fact, the engine on 30Y looks good in terms of: oil consumption; oil pressure; microscopic oil analysis. It could be good for 2,500 Hours, based on the performance of other identical engines in similar use. Everyone will continue to keep an eye on it and the ship captain will report back regularly.
Aging. The following notes apply:
- Jaquith, Kenneth--was never a member;
- Magnussen, Jon--made Social;
- Solak, Randy--does not appear in roster;
- Stoffel, James--resigned August 2008;
- Coder, Chris--administratively resigned;
- Beemster, Lisa--will be revisited in June;
- VanGorder, Stephen--will revisit in June.
Secretary (Merel O'Rourke)
Waived comment in the interest of expediting the meeting.
Operations Director (Paul Sjoberg)
See Dan T.'s numbers regarding tows, as attached.
The Flying Week in August should help to put us over 2,000 tows for 2009! We continue to target 60+ tows each and every weekend for the rest of the season and, weather permitting, beyond.
Paul led the Board into a discussion of the confusion surrounding the Ephrata Encampment, the Region 8 Fun Contest, and the 18-Meter National Contest all in Ephrata between the last weekend of May and the second weekend of July. Fred H. asked that we table the discussion until the end of the meeting but that we settle on the details yet today. Consensus supported Fred's request. See Old Business, below.
Fly Week in August is coming together. The week will include two weekends and the five days sandwiched in the middle.
- Concentrate on moving transition pilots through solo to check-ride sign off;
- Concentrate on post-solo non-certificated pilot progress to check-ride sign off;
- Provide intense, continuous and directed pre-solo instruction;
- Offer Green Valley "landout" instruction.
Some discussion of an encampment in Darrington. In part, that depends on our having a Pawnee to tow--Darrington is not suitable for the King Cub. Alternatives include Concrete and possibly Barker. What would work better: June or July. Issue was left unresolved. Paul will work on it.
Paul will provide Rob Putnam, Manager of KAWO with three certificates for donated glider rides. The certificates have been created by Glenn Chouinard.
Chief Flight Instructor (Position Vacant)
The Board discussed and accepted with regrets Ron Bellamy's resignation, to become effective as soon as we locate his replacement. Thanks for all your efforts and patience Ron!
Fred H. is working to fill this position.
Chris Murray reported on his attending the Airport Operations Committee Meeting on Thurs 30 April:
- Two power pilots want to land on the glider grass as a matter of course--their hangar is at the north end of the runway and they prefer grass to pavement (the pavement supposedly chews up their tires). The consensus of all committee members and attendees was: No. However, these two gentlemen are not noted for taking anything for an answer, especially not "No." I'm sure we'll hear more from them. Yes, this is a chronic issue of some years standing.
- We have a single helicopter conducting instruction at KAWO again--eyes and radios peeled!
- The North-end ILS antenna has a couple of elements missing--may have been pulled away by a tow rope. The FAA and the Airport have both inspected the damage and are neither too concerned in so far as the source of the damage could also be vandalism (has happened before). Both wanted it mentioned to the tow pilots.
- One of our tow pilots had to dive while on final to 34 to avoid traffic from 11/29. The result was that trailing tow-rope rings damaged a car's windshield. The tow pilot met with the driver immediately and personally paid for the damage.
- The Board authorized Marty G. to write the tow pilot involved a check for $375 to cover this personal expense.
- Keep an eye on the folks using 11/29! They often cannot see other power craft, let alone gliders!
We have too many flammables containers in the hangars. Everything must go to our shed over by Paul N.'s.
We failed a spot check by the Airport of the Clubhouse--they found the butane tank with the barbecue. As a consequence we received a written warning that another such infraction (we are five for five over five years) will result in our immediate eviction from the Clubhouse. NOTE: the barbecue and tank were removed entirely from the Clubhouse later that day.)
The Astir is getting a new ASI and electric variometer.
Both the Astir and the L-33's will have their gap-seal tapes attended to and replaced as needed. Dan Teifke has the tape in hand.
We will attempt to replace L-13 14J's radio with one from 029. There may be other issues here but this R&R is the first step.
The electric vario in L-23 264BA is toast. The front-seat boom mike is also broken. On the positive side, the rudder and rudder bearing are repaired and the wing-root doubler was checked via fiber optics and found to be sound.
L-23 265BA needs a wing-root fiber-optic inspection.
The SGS 1-34 is good to go!
L-33 355 (the older one) is having its radio speaker looked at (Heinz G.). As it turns out, the total-energy system is firmly out of commission due to TE-tube crushing under the seat; this is a known issue with L-33's and a huge problem to fix. Tony is exploring the issue.
L-33 379 (the newer one) will get new battery connectors, which Mark N. has ordered. Mark also ordered some plastic and metal tubing with which to airspeed indicators and variometers as the need arises.
The gasoline tow cart is dead--needs its battery replaced. Dan King is taking care of that.
With the possible exception of the trailer for L-33 379 (the newer one), all the trailer registrations are complete and proper.
All glider registrations are now in ES's name and in the proper aircraft.
Tow planes are in good working order.
Everything is flying!
L-13 029 parts need to come off the trailer. Merel moved that we advertise the remaining parts, plus the L-13 parts in the North Hangar as is. Motion quickly seconded and passed by acclamation. Gary and Tony will see to it. (Steve Fribley gets first refusal.)
Tony will construct control locks for ships that need them.
Someone noted that all ships should be tied down with the wheel behind the ground cable. Some wheel chocks will need moving.
OLD BUSINESS:
Discussion returned to Ephrata. In the end, the board approved the negotiated agreement between ES and the SGC from Mar. 30 for the operation of ES tow planes in Ephrata during this summer (covering the Region 8 contest as well as the 18m Nationals). Which is to say:- Informal Region 8 contest (Memorial Day weekend)
ES will bring 2 Pawnees to Ephrata which will provide towing for the contest. The SGC, as the contest organizer, will reimburse ES at $41 per nominal tow. Additional tows will be charged directly at $41 for an Ephrata tow and $100 per hour for retrieves. - 18m National Championships (late June, early July)
ES will provide one or two Pawnee tow planes (as required); the organizers will reimburse ES at $41 per nominal tow. Additional tows will be charged directly at $41 for an Ephrata tow and $100 for retrieves. If ES tow planes have to be ferried from the West side and back exclusively for the contest, the contest will be charged at $100 per hour. - ES Towing Operations Outside of the Contests (Ephrata Encampment Etc.)
Outside of the contests (including before and after contest towing) the ES tow planes will participate in integrated towing operations with the SGC (and possibly other clubs). ES will charge SGC tow rates (no non-membership fees).
The Minutes from the March Board meeting were approved by acclamation. Draft 03 is now Final.
NEW BUSINESS:
Brian Hood, Dan Teifke and Marty G. have formed an ad hoc financial steering committee. Hooray! They will meet as convenient and keep us posted on what they discover.NEWS:
While not specifically Club news, it was noted in the AOPA Pilot journal that the crash and remains of mountain-flying (we do quite a bit of that) authority Sparky Imeson had been located. He disappeared on a one-hour hop from Bozeman to Helena, MT on 17 March 2009.SETTING OF THE NEXT BOARD MEETING:
The June Board meeting will take place at 9 AM, Saturday 06 June in the Clubhouse.Fred gaveled the meeting closed at 12:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Merel R O'Rourke, ES Secretary
merelo@merelo.cnc.net
503-320-7059