Towlines
The Newsletter of the Albuquerque Soaring Club November 2006
Club Annual Meeting
At the Club House
December 16th at 9.30 a.m.
Much to discuss
Be There!
From the President By Bob Hudson
Happy Thanksgiving!!! As you reach for that next spoon full of stuffing, repeat out loud, “weight and balance, max cockpit loading and center of gravity.” There, I hope I didn’t ruin things for you.
Now, you are probably wondering why you are getting this newsletter so close to the last newsletter. You are wondering, aren’t you? Ah come on, some of you are wondering. Well, the reason is that we are coming to the end of the year and we need to have an all-members meeting to close out the year and select new club officers and to discuss some issues and possible changes to the by-laws.
To get this accomplished I need to get the word out and the newsletter is one of the forums I am using (I will also send out e-mails and put a poster in the club house). As noted above, the meeting will be held on the 16th of December at the club house at 9:30 am.
One of the issues we need to discuss is the officers for next year. Previously I put out the word that we need to have volunteers to step forward and assume some of the club duties. So far I have received only one such volunteer and I had to take him out back and beat him up before he would agree. Here is where we stand as of today:
· I have reluctantly agreed to run for President again. I say that, but if anyone really wants the position, then it can be had.
· Pat McKnight has asked to stand down as Vice President. Pat has done a great job for the past two years and now he wants to travel more and so he is stepping down. Pat will continue to look after the club awards (see below).
· Mark Mocho, who has been our secretary for the past year has offered to run for the VEEP position.
· Geoff Aiken, after much discussion and a few threats has agreed to throw in his hat for the position of secretary. (I am afraid for the day that Clay Phillips throws in his hat, because nobody will want to pick up that hat.)
· Brian Morrison has stated that he will be glad to remain our treasurer. Besides getting a new glider and a new car, he says there are a few things he stills needs to purchase, so he says he will stay on.
· Bob Carlton and Billy Hill have also agreed to stay on as advisors to the Board.
Remember anyone can volunteer to run for any of these positions, just let me know. Nominations will also be taken at the club meeting.
As to the volunteer positions, Connie says she will stay on as Operations Officer, and I couldn’t be happier. Connie has done a bang up job and it is a pleasure to work with her.
John Farris and John Daffer have agreed to continue as Chief Tow Pilot and Chief Instructor. Also, Howard Banks will continue to publish our newsletter, with much digital help from Brian Resor who we will still “lean” on for Web-site maintenance. Brian is also the OLC guy, both for us and on the SSA working group. Don Kawall will continue to run interference (as well as Don can run, now that he has completed his knee surgery) with our club insurance. JD will stay on as our Club House “House Mother” (er, Club house maintenance).
The only volunteer position I am not sure of is the maintenance officer position. Ryan Thomas has been our maintenance officer for two years and I just keep missing him. Remember if you want any of these positions, pick up the phone or send an email…to me.
Annual meeting agenda items
This year, there are several serious issues we need to consider, so your attendance is even more important than usual.
Club membership and the SSA
The question has been raised as to whether you need to be a member of the SSA to be a member of the ASC. As of right now, our bylaws require membership in the SSA to be a member of the club. There is a misconception that our insurance requires SSA membership, however this is not true. So we need to discuss this, primarily in light of a change in our relationship with the SSA over dues payment.
Club Finances
Another issue is the dues and fees structures. Our cash flow during the last year has been “cash out” versus “cash flow”. Your Board has asked Don Kawall, Tom Tichy and Stan Roeske to take a deep look into our pricing structure. They have proposed some recommendations and as soon as the Board is briefed, prior to the 16 December meeting, we will be able to bring it up to the membership. This issue alone should cause you drag your behinds out to the Clubhouse.
Temporary membership
I hope to discuss the issue of temporary membership. This is one of those issues that have been festering and needs to be resolved before next season so if we have our facts together it will be on the agenda. These issues include who is eligible for temporary membership, when, and what restrictions should be applied to this privilege.
SSA convention 2008
Additionally, I hope to have an update on our involvement with the 2008 SSA Convention, which will be held here in Albuquerque, mid-February, 2008. This issue is related to the already noted one of club membership requiring SSA membership.
Any other issues please get to me ASAP, if not sooner. And as always…fly safe, and fly often.
El Prez, Bob.
Club Rules By Bob Hudson
I have been asked to comment on the use of club planes. Remember when you take a club plane out, that plane is your responsibility from the time you decide to take it out until you put it back in the hanger, fully operational and ready for the next flight. The only exception is when you make a positive hand-off to the next flyer. I bring this up because one day Stan Roeske went out to fly the Grob and found the TE probe damaged. (Now I ask how many of you would have found that discrepancy? Are you prepared to launch with malfunctioning instruments?) Luckily Stan found it and made temporary repairs so that we didn’t lose the opportunity to fly that day.
What is even more frustrating for club members is to drive all the way in from Albuquerque, Santa Fe or Los Alamos, only to find a ship has been taken apart and has been left in the “box.” If you take a plane apart, then it is important to put it back into flying shape as soon as practicable. If you can’t do it, for what ever reason, then you must make arrangements to have it done. As a last resort call Robert Mudd and pay him to get it air-worthy, but it is expected that the plane will be available for another club member as soon as it is safe and practical.
Remember that we now have an interactive page on the club website where aircrafts status can be updated at any time, by any club member, from anywhere in the world. There are few excuses any more. Questions about this? Email Brian Resor.
Also, if you take a plane up remember the one and a half hour rule. Unless you are on a pre-arranged and approved badge flight or have made prior arrangements with GOD (Ground Operations Director or OPS), then plan your flight to last no more than an hour and a half. (Geoff you are exempt if you have a really cute passenger. Hey, that’s a joke!)
Lastly, Club members must follow the direction of Ops. They have complete SA (situational awareness). You might not agree with what is happening but you might not be aware of what is occurring. For instance, the Club Pawnee has been airborne for a while and Rick’s tow plane just launched. So you assume you are next for a club tow (which may be correct) so you push out in front of Rick’s second Grob. Well guess what, the club tow plane is out of gas and so we are in a club tow hold (say that real fast and it sounds like “club toe hold”) until our towplane can refuel. Remember to coordinate all your actions with OPS and never push out in front of another plane unless you have permission from the prepositioned pilot and OPS. Don’t make me call out Pat McKnight to adjudicate.
The bottom line is we have rules and they are there to make for a safe and efficient operation. As Stan Lee, editor of Marvel Comics, would say: “Enuf said.”
Club House News
Congratulations to Billy Hill, who has been selected to be captain of the US Junior’s team at the World contest to be held at Rieti, Italy, July 28-August 11 next year. This selection recognizes Billy’s years mentoring and training junior pilots, notably at the recent junior camps at Moriarty. Right now it’s looking like these are the team of three that he will lead: Mike Westbrook and the club’s own Kathy Fosha, both of whom participated in the Moriarty camps, and Chris Saunders, who flies at his grandfather’s airfield, Beltsville, PA.
It will be no quiet vacation. As Billy reports: “As team Capt. it's my responsibility to ensure all, and I do mean all, the bases are covered regarding accommodations, air fares, gliders, tow cars, and meals. If there are any disputes regarding the tasks called or scoring, I'll be working to ensure my pilots get a fair shake.
“Lots to do, like getting them registered for the contest. Make sure they have met all the foreign license requirements, passports, stuff like that.”
Being this close to Roswell you have got to wonder about aliens…well we just have had our own alien sighting. The other day a strange object descended on Moriarty from out of the heavens, it was a 1946 Cessna 120 and our long lost boy-Mitch Hudson-was at the controls. Mitch bought the C-120 so he could build tail-dragger time in the pursuit of becoming a tow pilot. Well, he has flown the appropriate required prerequisite tail dragger time and has applied to be an ASC tow pilot. If all goes well, he will complete his checkout this Thanksgiving. By the way, he took Ten Zulu back with him to San Antonio to get the hail damage repaired. He and Sarah Kelly have completed the patches and Sarah will have it painted soon.
By the time he gets the plane back to us, he will have fulfilled all the insurance requirements for being an ASC tow pilot. (For those of you are worried about Mitch not bringing the plane back, we are holding his C-120 hostage.)
We just got word the other day that Danny Sorenson, our F-16 pilot from Cannon AFB and recent deployer to Iraq, has been reassigned. As soon as he gets back from Iraq, he will move to Luke AFB, over in Phoenix, and be an F-16 Instructor. It will be nice to have Danny back and it won’t be long before we see him back into contests and the OLC.
Danny isn’t the only club member who is spending time deployed; Tim Mitchell is a club member who flies the A-10. Tim is currently deployed to Afghanistan. We all pray for Tim’s safe return.
And speaking of running, [a cheap segue- Ed.] Erika Zahnle, our book keeper, just ran the Las Cruces half marathon. She completed the 13.1 miles in less than 2:20. She is now an official Marathon Mom. So if you don’t pay your bills, Erika will run you down and sit on you until Pat McKnight can come and finish you off. Consider yourself warned.
Annual Gala
Yep it’s that time and I for one can’t wait! This is the time of year that we all trade in our good T-shirts and take a shower and try and act like ladies and gentlemen. Once again the Gala will be held at the Marriott Pyramid, just off I-25, between Osuna and Paseo Del Norte.
The date is Saturday the 27th of January. This year we will have a joint celebration with our cousins down the ramp who helped us to acquire first place status in the world in the OLC. I will have menus and costs very soon, but I want you to mark this on your calendar now before you fill the date up with such stupid stuff as surgery or a meeting with the Pope.
Annual Awards
Please, would all those holding awards for 2006 bring them back to the club annual meeting. Pat McKnight has to waste a lot of time getting them back in time to prepare them to be awarded at the Gala. Bring them with you on December 16th.
Also the club needs your nominations for these awards so that Pat McKnight can get the trophies engraved. Any suggestions, or nominations can be addressed to Pat at: pjmcknight@comcast.net or to Bob Hudson at: bhudson964@aol.com:
The awards are:
· Most Instructions
· Most Tows
· Aero-tek X-C Award - For the longest flight over 300km originating in Moriarty
· Kim Harmon X-C Award - For the five longest handicapped flights originating in Moriarty for a pilot with a gold badge or equivalent X-C experience
· ASC X-C Award – Classic Class - Same rules as Kim Harmon for a pilot with less than gold badge experience
· ASC X-C Award-Best Speed - For the best handicapped speed over a course greater than 300km
· 1-26er Award for accomplishment related to the 1-26
· Harland Ross Award for soaring excellence - For mentoring numerous ASC pilots on cross country flights
· Ain't soaring fun Award
· Paul Callies Award for advancement of soaring
· Paul Scates Award for outstanding service to ASC
Calendars
This year we have competing gliding calendars!
Soon the Club will have the 2007 SSA calendars. They will be $12 per and will be billed to your account. If you want one let El Prez Bob know (Yes, Stan, he knows you want one) and he will reserve it for you. The club ordered only fifty so get your request in early or lose the opportunity. Once they are gone, they are gone. Bhudson964@aol.com.
The other more local option is to help the U.S. Junior Soaring team with its new captain Billy Hill. The kids are trying to help pay for their expensive trip to the 2007 World’s in Italy by selling a calendar. The Juniors’ calendar features many photos from their camp at Moriarty. Get yours today! Here is a link where you can see these high-quality calendars printed on 17" x 11" glossy, 100 lb paper.
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/get_latest_product_view.aspx?ProductNo=85377310&pr=F&showBleed=False
Please send $30 + $5 S&H for total of $35 (Check or money order preferred) to: Michael Westbrook, 5232 Haw Branch Rd, Sebring, FL 33875, Ph (863) 446-1271.
Aircraft for Sale
LS-3
N573 JulietLima is for sale. 1979 Rolladen-Schneider LS-3. Repaired and
refurbished by Applebay. Extras: Zuni hook, pneumatic tail wheel, flair from
vertical to horizontal tail. New instrument panel: SN-10B flight computer,
Borgelt Vario, Microair radio. Komet Trailer. $31k invested, asking $28k.
photo can be seen at: www.abqsoaring.org/images/2006/The_Jewel.jpg
Contact John or Luan Walker. 505-681 7759.
Discus 2a
Chip Garner is looking
for a partner for half of CG, his well-prepared Discus 2.
Contact Chip at 505-660 8509.
