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President's Report

President’s Column, January 2022

Dear members,
As we leave 2022 behind, I am tempted to gloat over the list of accomplishments gained, at times under adversity, over the last year.

Internal discord has been quelled, and a new atmosphere of calm fellowship prevails.

There have been significant co-operative efforts by membership and Board to amend bylaws to permit looser meeting attendance requirements for the maintenance of good standing.

A collaborative revision of the standard operating procedures was completed.

Membership numbers which had taken a hit during the troubles, are on the increase, with a mixture of new applicants and returning previous members swelling our ranks. A warm welcome to you all.

Despite the pandemic, small social gatherings at the club have continued, and as we emerge into a healthier spring, larger outdoor gatherings can be anticipated

The future is bright for the AFC, and I wish all members and families a healthy, happy and prosperous 2023.

Chris Palmer.
President

Sincerely,
Chris Palmer,
President.

Messages from the Board

This is your chance to hear directly from each board member. This section will include messages from the directors about upcoming initiatives that they are working on but also news that they want you to know about.


Treasurer Devin Campbell

Thankyou everyone for keeping your accounts up to date.  I have put together a committee to review our rates and will be providing you the updates as we move forward with this endeavour.  The goal, of course, is not to increase rates, so we will be doing everything in our power to keep the rates where they are.
 

Newsletter Devin Campbell and Laurens Bosman

Thank you for your continued support in the newsletter.  Please forward any stories and or suggestions to the newsletter committee.

With the Christmas break, we were not able to reach out to a select group of members for the profile, but we will start up again for February.
 

Building Maintenance Director Dan Renaud

Happy New Year everyone! 

We have started to take down all the festive decorations around the clubhouse and safely store them for another 11 months of hibernation. If you see anything that was missed, please place it aside so that we can put it in the storage area. We will be doing an audit of the lights that are not working and replacing those that are needed, also replacing the batteries in the smoke detectors for a fresh start to the New Year.

I would like to extend a special thank you to all those who assisted with shoveling snow and salting the walkways around the clubhouse during the recent winter storm, especially Gerry Visser for bringing his machine to clear the parking area. Much appreciated!


Membership Director Adrian Renkers

This month the AFC board has approved the application of Francis Kendall. Francis is all paid up and is now officially a member of the AFC. Welcome aboard Francis.

Please also help us welcome back Brian Appaswamy. Brian is all paid up and now officially a member of the AFC again.  Welcome back Brian.


Fly-Out Devin Campbell

On Saturday (December 17) we had our first Education Seminar.  This one was on Pre-heating the Club's aircraft.  

Our next four sessions will be on Airport Procedures around Abbotsford Airport (Jan 14), Airport Markings (Feb 11), Cost of Ownership (March 11) and Maintenance Requirements (April 15).  The next one will be in person (or virtual for those that wish), and the February 11 will be virtual as we will be gaming this seminar. We are open to new ideas and suggestions, please forward any to Devin Campbell.
 

Social Ledell Kendall

 

 

Safety Corner


We have all heard the sayings “What can possibly go wrong” or “Hold my drink and watch this”.  But what do those have to do with flying and life in general?  They have a lot to do with risk and hazards.

How many times have we heard someone say “Hold my drink and watch this” only to have something either hilariously, but more likely horribly go wrong?  This is a prime example of someone not only not asking the question “What can possibly go wrong” but also not thinking the question through.

So, what does all of this have to do with flying? Well, it has to do with risk awareness and hazards avoidance.  This month we are going to focus on the pre-flight. 

How many of us when doing our pre-flight, stop and ask ourselves, “What can possibly go wrong”. We are all taught to make sure conditions are “good” and the plane is in “working order” but we never ask ourselves “What can possibly go wrong”.

According to Alertmedia.com, Risk Awareness can be defined as “knowing what risks you face based on your location and the work you do, understanding how likely these risks are to occur, and anticipating what you should do to prevent or mitigate harm”

Hazard avoidance is the action that is taken to not only understand the hazards that can affect the action but to put processes in place to prevent or avoid such hazards. When doing a hazard assessment, we need to look at mitigating hazards in the following order…Eliminating, Reducing, and Controlling. Sometimes the best decision is to not push it and cause an incident. You need to decide if corrections can be made to reduce or control the hazard, or just stay at home wishing you were in the air.

The preflight is the best time to not only understand the risks that are associated with that flight, but to take action to avoid the hazards that can come up.  Below are examples of risks and hazards during specific flights of the pre-flight. You as the Pilot In Command need to make the decisions on how to avoid these risks and hazards.. 

Preflight - when doing the pre-flight ask yourselves these questions
Weather
  • What is the weather like not only at my location and destination but along my routes?
  • What are my personal minimums? (these are always different for every individual as well the standards set by Transport Canada)
  • What should I do if the weather Changes?
  • Weight and Balance
  • Where can I load my passengers and cargo?
  • What will happen if I have too much weight or not enough at specific locations?
  •  How much fuel do I need and how much fuel can I put onboard; not only by tank capacity, but based on weight?
Flight Planning
  • What is my route, and what other routes can I take?
  • Where can I stop to refuel (both people and plane)?
  • If I have an emergency, where can I land? 
  • Who are my emergency contacts and do they know what to do if something happens?
The Walk-around - when doing the walk-around you should ask yourself the following questions, not just the usual question of is the plane in good order
Engine
  • What should I do if the plane won't start?
  • What does a rough engine mean?
  • If I have an electrical failure, what can I do?
Wings
  • What if the flaps or one flap fail?
  • What if the ailerons stop working?
  • What if the fuel cap comes off or gets clogged?
  • What if the Pitot tube gets clogged?
Fuselage
  • What should I do if a door opens in flight?
  • What are the flight characteristics based on how I loaded the cargo?
  • What will happen if my cargo shifts?
Tail
  • What should I do if the elevator stops working?
  • What should I do if the rudder stops working?
  • How long will I be able to fly if the trim tabs fail?
Landing Gear
  • What should I do if I get a flat tire before takeoff or in-flight?
  • What should I do if my gear fails to come down or go up or fails on landing?

Now we know for some, these questions may sound ridiculous or even scary, but they are neither. These are all part of the emergency planning process that should be taken part at the beginning of the flight.  Answering many of these questions when you are calm and on the ground will help prevent many of the emergencies before they happen, or allow you the patience to control the situation if an emergency should happen.

Lastly, before getting into the plane, ask yourself if you are ready. Did you do a pre-flight assessment on yourself? If your mind is occupied with a recent troubling issue and you are not thinking clearly, should you be in the air? No one else can make this call for you, you need to be realistic when determining  your mental and physical capabilities.

Clark's Maintenance Corner


It should be abundantly clear from our experience with GGMA’s latest annual inspection that aircraft maintenance is an expensive proposition. Every aircraft owner in the Club, knows the real cost of keeping a certified aircraft legally in the air. You will recall that when GMA was inspected by our maintenance shop last month, 27 items were identified as needing attention. Some were required safety items and some were more cosmetic in nature. Our AME on the maintenance committee selected 13 of the 27 items for attention and listed the others for future consideration. Some of the important items were: both magnetos were well overdue for the 500 hour inspection, all spark plugs were worn to limits, the right hand brake linings were worn to damage, the left hand brake linings were worn, both brake pads were worn past limits, the left hand piston is leaking, the left hand tire has a flat spot that is worn to limits, all wheel bearings were dry, right hand wheel bearings were rough, and the elevator trim cable tension requires adjustment. The cost to our Club was $10,289.36. That total included 16 hours of required safety inspection labour and an additional 41.75 hours of repair time. Before you jump to the wrong conclusions and start complaining that we are getting overcharged, consider the nature of the repairs. Some indeed, are wear and tear; plugs, magnetos, loose clamps, but some are a result of careless or rough flying; flat spot on tire, both brake pads warn past limits, park break handle mount cracked. We must treat our aircraft better and consider them ours, like we own them, (which we do) and not as rentals that we can simply pay the hourly rate and then walk away. More items in GGMA will require attention and repair in the future—14 on the list of 27 that have not been done, but please let’s not add to the list. The sage advice of the Club’s senior aircraft owners in the Club is, “Fly it like you own it and have to pay the bills, not like you stole it.”

Safe flights,
Clark, AFC Aircraft Maintenance

Stories from our Member


This holiday season as I was trapped inside by ice and snow and feeling as though the pandemic lockdown had attacked me once again I turned to TV to relieve the boredom. This is not something I usually do, but these were extraordinary circumstances. While browsing through what seemed like unending rubbish – Hallmark romances and teeny-bop series – I stumbled onto the documentary ‘Skymaster Down'. Perfect.

This locally produced TV movie documents the mystery of the Douglas C-54 Skymaster #2469 that was lost without trace in the Yukon. On January 26, 1950 the US troop plane left from Anchorage headed for Montana with 44 people on board, including a mother and young child. The last radio contact from the plane was to a tiny outpost at Snag in the Yukon, after which the plane went silent and has not been found to this day.

I enjoyed this documentary for multiple reasons. One, it was locally produced with a lot of the contemporary searches being conducted by the Yukon CASARA. Aviation mysteries fascinate me, and finding out what happened and why is always a valuable learning experience. Two, as a newcomer to Canada, this documentary was a way to learn about local history and geography – I’m sure most of you already know this story – but for me it was very educational, especially on how rugged and unforgiving the terrain is in the North. I'll be making sure that radio communications and navigations get studied thrice before I get airborne!

I highly recommend this documentary if you ever find yourself with some downtime. It's now streaming on CBC GEM.

Lisa Robbie

Adrian's Good and Welfare


 I just found out from Diane, Bob Fatkin’s wife, that Bob has been admitted to the Abbotsford hospice. He needs rest and no visitors at this time. Our thoughts go out to the Fatkin family

Adrian Renkers

Spotlight on our Membership

Ever wondered who just walked into the club, or wondering how to break the ice with a member. This is the place. Every month we will be focusing on 2 or 3 members a month to write a little about themselves so that we can get to know who our membership is and break down walls. We will set-up a random selector and will notify the members as soon as possible to get them in the newsletter.


 

Member's Projects


You come to the airport to fly one of the planes and you see a hangar door open and see someone working on something. Ever wondered who that is and what they are working on. We will shine the spotlight here on projects that are being worked on by your fellow members. This will be an opportunity for you to learn what we are working on and maybe lend some expertise or hand if needed or just to learn some interesting tips and tricks.
 

Member's Classifieds


You have something you want to sell or are looking for something and want to reach out to the members? This is the area for you.  Please reach out to the Newsletter Editors (Devin Campbell, Laurens Bosman) and we can add it to the monthly newsletter.

Glass Puffin Stained Glass
Adrian Renkers offers classes on working with stained glass.  Vanessa Campbell (Devin's wife) has been taking the beginner class for the last 6 weeks and has been enjoying it and looking forward to coming on Tuesday.  She admits she is a little slow but Adrian has been a lot of help and works with all students no matter their skill level.

If you would like more information please reach out to Adrian Renkers.

Upcoming Events


What is happening at TGIF? Where is the Sunday Morning Fly-out group heading this month? Are there any upcoming social or volunteer activities coming? If you have an event you want to advertise to the membership, or you are wondering the answer to the questions about, this is the spot to it.

 

Ongoing Events

Wednesdays: Dutch Lunch
12:00 - 13:00
Fridays: TGIF
18:00 - 
Sundays: Breakfast Fly-out
08:30 - 12:00
General Meetings: 19:30 Second Wednesday of the Month
Executive Meetings:  19:30 Fourth Wednesday of the Month
Programs: 

Upcoming Events

January 14 @10:00am - Education Seminar (Formerly IMC) - Arrival/Departure Procedures for CYXX

February 11 @ 10:00am - Education Seminar (Formerly IMC) - Airport Markings (Virtual Format)

March 11 @ 10:00am - Education Seminar (Formerly IMC) - Cost of Aircraft Ownership

April 15 @ 10:00am - Education Seminar (Formerly IMC) - Maintenance Requirements for Certified GA

 

AFC 2021 Executive


Chris Palmer - President
Gerry Visser - Vice President
Bevan Tomm - Secretary
Devin Campbell - Treasurer
                     - Newsletter
                     - Fly-out
Adrian Renkers - Membership
Clark Closkey - Aircraft Maintenance
Ledell Kendall - Social Director
Ken Campbell- Hangar Maintenance
Richard Bauch - Director
Laurens Boseman - Webmaster
                              - Newsletter
 
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