September 2008 Minutes

Eximious Flying Club
Executive Board/General Membership Meeting Minutes

Como’s Restaurant
September 10, 2008

President, Howard Riley, called the meeting to order at approximately 6:42 PM. Introductions were made. It was raining and the meeting took place on the outdoor patio at Como’s under a canopy, which leaked a little. Nevertheless, many in attendance took advantage of the opportunity to order food and beverages, which were consumed during the short business meeting.

Secretary, Larry Haggart, offered to read the minutes, but the reading was waived and the minutes were accepted as submitted.

Treasurer, John Walch, submitted his report (see separate attachment) which was accepted as presented. The highlights of his report were 1) that all outstanding notes have been paid off, 2) August fuel costs averaged $5.28/gallon, which was down from $5.35/gallon in July, but still higher than the budgeted amount of $5.15/gallon, and 3) variable costs for the year ending August 31 averaged $1,169/month versus a budget of $1,250/month, about as close as we can get and still be under budget.

Member at Large, Jim Lawlis, could not attend, but informed Howard that a letter had been sent to member Hathaway to inquire about his intentions. Howard also said that he would follow-up the letter with a personal contact, because he thought that Richard wanted to remain a member. There is also at least one other potential member that seems genuinely interested in joining, provided that we do go forward with the proposal to upgrade avionics in 67F.

Vice President, Juan Jeffries, could not attend, but Patrick Gossman reported the he is still working on getting insurance cards for both planes. He will also turn over the insurance files to Juan as soon as possible.

Art Miller, Operations Officer, reported that the audio on NAV 1 in 67F is clicking and is being investigated. 90B has an intermittent DME, plus a VOR/glideslope and DG that are inoperable. Art is making arrangements to get the plane up to Huron Avionics to address these issues.

We were reminded to check the static RPM spec at run-up (2,250-2,350? Check the POH) as a safety measure.

Old Business – Avionics upgrades, which had been tabled until after both annuals were completed, are being considered again. Financing methodology was discussed and Howard agreed to check to see that the pricing quoted earlier ($11,600) is still valid. If so, he will report to John Walch who will develop a proposal to acquire the best value unit for our planes, which will be reviewed at our next meeting.

Ron Black and Eric Stauffer agreed to draft up some guidelines for the approval of new “Club-approved” instructors at our last meeting. Since neither one was in attendance, we tabled this until the next meeting.

Our 50th Anniversary celebration will be combined with this year’s Christmas Party/Brunch at the Detroit Yacht Club on December 7th. Please contact Howard Riley if you have any ideas about how to make this a memorable event, or if you can simply help out in any way.

New Business – The new ELT requirements were clarified. While a new 406 MHz unit will not be required by the FAA for domestic flights, it will be required for flights into Canada in the near future. And the old 121.5 MHz units will no longer be monitored by satellite as of February 1, 2009. So, the general agreement was that we should plan to upgrade our old units before then.

Separately, it has been announced that a new TAF format will be implemented by the National Weather Service effective November 5, 2008. The new change is from a 24 hour format to a 30 hour format. A handout explaining the new format was provided to those in attendance. Others can view the Service Change Notice explaining the new format on-line at http://aviationweather.gov/notice/taf30.php.

It was agreed that our Plane Wash would be held at our DET hangar on Sunday, September 21, from 9am to noon. At that time we plan to wash and wax both planes, remove wheel pants, and install a 10 foot extension to the guttering over the hangar to prevent pooling of water and potential freezing of the doors in place over the winter months.

Since there was no further new business to discuss, it was agreed that the next meeting will be held at Como’s on October 6th, and the meeting was adjourned.

Respectively submitted,

Larry Haggart
Secretary