Executive Flyers April 2006 Newsletter

Congratulations to:

Rob Marshall for passing his commercial pilot checkride; Andy Sherwood for passing his instrument rating checkride; Dick Tak for passing his private pilot checkride and Michael Leapley and Jason Fesler for winning the monthly drawing of an hour of instruction or a month’s dues.

G-1000 Ground School

The next Garmin G-1000 "glass panel" ground school will be taught in early May on a Saturday to be assigned, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm in the conference room at Executive Airport. It will be the first part of the required five hours ground training required for the C182T. The special, one-time only cost of the five hours of ground training will be $100, which includes a new book for the G-1000 system, Max Trescott's G1000 glass cockpit handbook, and the pilot's operating handbook for the C182T. After completing the ground school, you will be required to fly at least four hours in the aircraft to become familiar with the system. Call the office to find out the time and rating requirements to fly the C182T and to sign up for the ground school. This is an amazing aircraft and the "glass panel" will be the standard in most new aircraft in the future.

Gas Prices

The price of gas has skyrocketed in the past month and shows no sign of going down. The rental rates will have to increase to cover that cost, but you can help to keep them down. The cost of fuel at Executive Airport is much higher than some of the neighboring airports. If you are on a cross country or doing some local training at another airport, please put fuel in the airplane using either the Executive Flyers Chevron card or your own card. We will reimburse you for the fuel by deducting the cost from your bill. Please be careful not to exceed the weight and balance requirements of your flight in refueling. Also, do not try to fly an almost empty plane to another airport just to save money. Remember that you have to have 30 minutes of fuel on board whenever you land during the day and 45 minutes of fuel if you land at night.

Wet Weather

During this extended stretch of bad weather, VFR flying has been hard to do. If you have been intending to get your instrument rating, now is the time to get started. There are many instrument training flights that you can do in less than VFR conditions and the experience of flying in actual conditions will be a great experience and confidence builder. Even if you don’t intend to get your rating, sign up with an instrument instructor to see what it’s like to fly in less than VFR conditions. It will show you why you don’t want to push on in reduced visibility conditions on a VFR flight.

Private pilot ground school

Our next private ground school will start on May 4^th and be taught Thursday night from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm for six weeks. The cost for members is $150, and $50 if you have already purchased the Cessna Pilot Center CD kit for the program. The non-member cost for the course is $200. This course is designed for the student who would rather use the classroom to have questions answered than study on his or her own. Call the office if you have any questions or to sign up for the course.

Noise abatement at Mather

If you do any VFR work at Mather field, you should be aware that the traffic pattern for runway 22R now requires a two mile extended downwind to avoid a residential area. You are not to turn base until you are abeam the water tower at the northeast end of the residential area. Check the Airport and Facility directory for the latest information.

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