Executive Flyers April/May 2005 Newsletter

Congratulations to:

Doug King for passing his instrument instructor checkride; Dayle Imperato, Spencer Smith and Bill Wright for passing their private pilot checkrides; Brian Lonquist, John Moffatt, Wes Sanders, Scott Seeba and Jonathan Tomko for soloing; Mike Deese for an outstanding 98% on his instrument written and Bill Mason, James Scaife, Jr., James Smith and Jonathan Tomko for winning the monthly drawing of an hour of instruction or a month’s dues.

It’s a first!

In almost 25 years in business, I have never before combined two months in one newsletter. There is an excellent reason – I didn’t have time to write the April newsletter in late March, nor to get it written in April because I was so busy working on our becoming a:

Cessna Pilot Center

What this means is that we will be bringing newer trainers on line with state of the art avionics. We have just added another 2001 C172S to the line with an S-TEK autopilot and Garmin 420 GPS. Do you see a “glass panel” in your future? If you are a member of Executive Flyers, you do! We should have a 2005 C182 on the line with a Garmin G-1000 glass instrument panel by the end of June! Please call the office to schedule an introductory flight or a full checkout in the 182 as it is going to be very popular. A glass panel C172 is on order for 2006, so that you will be able to train in and fly state-of-the-art aircraft. Other benefits from the CPC program are the DVD training courses that have reduced the average time required to get a private license from 65 to 50 hours. While watching the DVDs, the student sees each maneuver from the cockpit before he flies it in the plane. We have added two new training computers in the study room and will be building individual study areas where a student and instructor can talk without having to worry about interfering with other conversations in the room. We will also be adding “on line” (Internet) scheduling in the next few months. Look for a grand opening sometime in June – exact date in the next newsletter. It should be a lot of fun. And finally, most important of all, we will maintain the friendly, professional atmosphere at Executive Flyers that has kept you and the staff enjoying their flying and teaching since 1980.

Fuel prices

We have been holding the aircraft rental rates constant since December of 2004. Since the gas prices have risen dramatically, we will have to increase the rental rates of the aircraft to offset the increased cost of the fuel.

Information on the Internet

An excellent source of weather information on the internet is the government’s weather page at http://adds.aviationweather.gov/. For a moving radar map, try the commercial URL page http://www.wunderground.com. If you want a detailed course in aerodynamics or are an instrument rated pilot and would like to better understand VOR, holding patterns, RMIs, ILSs, DME arcs etc., try http://www.professionalpilot.ca/.

The parking brake

Most of us set the brake when we park our cars. The parking brake is usually set mechanically by a cable. However, when you set the parking brake in aircraft, you actually pressurize the brake lines. If you do this in the morning when it is cool, the pressure will build up in the line as the day heats up and could blow a seal. Use chocks and tiedowns instead.

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last modified May 2, 2005 by Ed Callaway