From the President.
The general meeting on the 27th of September was reasonably well attended.
Frank Leibfried was elected as Treasurer to replace Daryl Scurr who is leaving Tasmania at the end of the year to return to Brisbane. Don Prairie, Rob Gard, Barry Curtain and Paul Boland were elected to the committee for a term of 2 years.
The AGM is the time when we can take stock of what we have achieved, what we have gained and what we have lost in the preceding year. It hasn't all been minuses though I must admit it hasn't been plain sailing in many respects. As mentioned in the annual reports, the last year has not been one of our best for flying to say the least. We had a far greater than usual number of unflyable days due to wind, rain, drizzle and from time to time lack of instructors, so our hours are down on previous years. Since then with summer coming up we've had some quite good weather from time to time and flying hours have certainly pick up on good weather days.
The big minus (apart from weather) is of course that costs are continuing to climb. Fuel expenses are up significantly from last year and are expected to continue going up faster than inflation. Whilst we will always try to keep charges down as much as we can, unfortunately we just have to increase them in line with rising costs.
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Moving to the mainland
Frances, my wife, has accepted a position at the University of Newcastle and will be taking it up at the end of January 2012. At this stage we are not selling up our home in Tasmania.
For the club, events are taking place such that the next few months will be critical for its future and it is not a particularly good time to hand over to a new person without notice. Consequently I will still be available for at least a few months to continue as president, perhaps until the next AGM as I will still be back in Tas some of the time.
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Aircraft
VH-KOT has had a zero time factory remanufactured engine with an upgrade to 180hp fitted. It is performing excellently and now has extra weight carrying capacity which adds to its useability. Before taking the aircraft on an extended flight, check the new weight parameters.
VH-KSR is currently undergoing a refurbishment and repaint. This involves stripping the aircraft back to remove all previous paint, checking for corrosion and applying repairs where necessary and a complete new paint job. It should look almost like a new machine when it returns. Although moderately expensive, this will significantly extend the life of this very reliable aircraft and we should get many more years of use out of it.
VH-PIX had a magneto failure on Maria Island recently which was somewhat inconvenient but is continuing to give good service.
As most of you have probably heard by now, the Sportcruiser met with an unfortunate landing accident recently. We are currently awaiting a determination from the insurance company as to whether it will be repaired or written off. We have been looking at alternative RAA aircraft. A decision is yet to be made as to whether or how we will continue the RAA operation. This is partially dependent on the outcome of the insurance assessment on the Sportcruiser as well as the effects of changes that are likely to be occurring at Cambridge over the next few months.
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Privately operated aircraft news
Musketeer VH-FWU. This privately owned aircraft, the "Mighty Mouse" has been sold.
C172M VH UFH has been purchased by Rob Fisher.
Maule VH-MEU. Paul Boland has purchased a half share in this aircraft. Various improrvements are being made to it - new radio, new transponder, new intercom, elevator gap seals and vortex generators will be added. It will be interesting to see how the aircraft performs.
C182 VH JXM will be heading off for the mainland when Daryl Scurr leaves the state.
Dimona motor glider VH WVW needs a new engine after a catastrophic cylinder failure. Should be going again by Christmas after a replacement engine from Germany has been fitted.
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Cambridge Airport
If you have been to the airport lately you will have seen the changes going on. The new runway 12/30 is now operational. If you are not familiar with the new configuration take some time to check it out before you next fly. Check for any notams in case any other work is being done.
The surface of the new runway is really excellent, very smooth and nice to land on. The perspective is a little different to the other runways so you need to be cautious on your round out. The instructors have reported that some pilots have been rounding out a little higher than necessary. If landing with a cross wind from the East, you may need to be wary of occasional turbulence generated by the trees on the eastern side of the runway.
There are very likely to be some significant changes in our operations over the next year due to changes that are almost certainly going to take place on the airport. It is possible that this may require that we radically change our method of operating. At this time details of how we may be affected and what we may have to do or choose to do are unclear.
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Club House - Working Bee
See Details.
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Lagoon Bay
The Lagoon Bay airstrip will continue to be available to club aircraft once maintenance has been done on the strip and a new windsock has been put up. Previous information that it was closed was incorrect- it was only temporarily closed for lambing. If you want to go there, you need to check with the CFI (Sam Merlo) or club instructor (Peter Milne) first to make sure that it is operational as it has been very wet over the winter.
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Annual Dinner
See Details
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