11th March 2010

Minutes of Committee Meeting – 11th March 2010. Shalbourne Soaring Society

Present: Phil Morgan, Steve Barber, Richard Greenaway, Chris Bessent, James Hunneman Apologies: Colin Baines, Nigel Burt, James Walters

Correspondence

Nothing of note

Previous Minutes

Accepted

Matters Arising

· The 100km award could be replaced by a “latest achievement” award, awarded frequently (not just annually) for anything that seems appropriate, eg a 750km flight, or 100km in the K8, an hour’s soaring when no other flights left the circuit. Peter Mason had offered a memento from the early days at the Wasserkuppe; this may make a suitable trophy, which would be displayed in the clubroom. We should re-instate the Achievements Book. · Phil Morgan would make the Puchacz trailer serviceable. Officers’ Reports

· Treasurer (Steve Barber) The first few months’ of the club year are always quiet financially and give no indication of the likely outcome for the year. First indications come from membership renewals; information should be available from early April. · CFI (Phil Morgan) The Instructors’ meeting is scheduled for Sunday 14th March. Topics will include a report and powerpoint show from the recent Safety meeting at Lasham. The accident rate is fairly predictable, at about 4 fatalities per year nationwide. We kept a clean sheet in 2008, but returned to the usual figure in 2009. Causes remain as usual – mainly low-and-slow turns and winch launching. Mutual flying is to be encouraged. · Equipment Officer (James Hnneman) Detailed report attached. Take note of how much has been done and how important it is, even if it not obvious. · Airfield Officer (Richard Greenaway) The Hole & Cone: Richard would bring topsoil and finish off filling the hole and thus be able to remove the cone. Richard would get an estimate for tarmacing the hangar floor, and investigate the possibility of re-housing the generator outside in a separate shed. · Publicity Officer (Chris Bessent) The response to the Valentines Day promo had been exceptionally disappointing, with no identifiable uptake. The next push would be around Easter and/or Open Day · Chair (Colin Baines) (in absentia) Notes attached AOB

· Replacement glider The returns from the questionnaire had been circulated to the Board Members. All members were of the opinion that the majority of respondents were in favour of a club class glider. The two instructors also felt that it would have the further advantage of being available to more members . A higher-performance machine would have a better XC capability, but most XC-qualified and motivated pilots already have access to a syndicate aircraft; whereas significant proportion of those expected to fly the new glider would not take advantage of the XC ability. It did not seem justifiable to spend extra money, even if finances could be raised. Geoff Grayer had reported that money seems to be available from the Awards for All (A4A) fund, and with the Board’s agreement, made a start on the application process. However, it was felt that even if successful at the maximum level of £10k, it would still be a strain to raise the funds required for the high-performance glider. Other possible purchases from a grant were briefly discussed, but it was quickly agreed that the rules of the A4A fund needed to be better understood. It was agreed to progress discussions regarding the offer of an ASW15 by a club member. Action Steve Barber. · Course/Task/Open weeks There is considerable doubt about the uptake for a course week, but it was felt a course could run in parallel with an Open week: agreed to open for week 26-30 July, followed by Task week 2-6 Aug. · Open Day Sat 19 June, to coincide with Longest Day, with evening BBQ · Sale of Me7 No contacts from the previous advertisement seemed to be leading towards a sale. Agreed that it should be re-advertised at a much lower price. Action Chris Bessent · Flight Manuals To meet EASA regulations it is essential that the Flight Manuals held at the club are identical copies of those held in the main file. The easiest way to ensure this is to produce new copies. Action Chris Bessent. · Winch cable mod The BGA winching adviser had responded to our enquiry about inserting a black link below the chute (to break in the event of pulling the cable in too far). The adviser did not consider it to have sufficient advantage - there would still be a shock load of 1000N on the rollers; it is better to improve drum brakes and winch driver awareness. Next Meeting tba

Equipment Report - March (James Hunneman):

· I've updated the Equipment worklist. New copy to be found in Caravan. Skybrid Winch: · Thanks to Steve efforts (and Tony at Lee-On-Solent) we now have a repaired/renewed inner guard rail on the RHS cable drum · Thanks to Trevor the guard rail on the LHS has been repaired, and potential for a "guide block" to help prevent future guard rail damage has been identified. · Peter Ellison has offered to weld up the damage to a cable roller. · The annual cable guillotine checks have been done, and they cut the cable perfectly. Grass and other debris has been removed and moving parts lubricated. Bus Winch: · The RHS cable shield has been repaired, and just needs bolting back in place. · An angle iron replacement framework for the LHS cable shield has been welded in place-just needs the plywood trimming to size and bolted in place. · As the soaring season is now here, I'll focus on getting this winch working. One drum is only half-an-hour's work away from being useable, the other side will take a bit longer. I will continue work on the throttle guide system. Pajero: · Replacement tyre obtained to fix puncture and damaged tyre. · The back of the Pajero has been cleaned out. · New dampers are being organised. One CV joint is clicking too, so we'll obtain and fit Blue Land Rover: · Starting from cold problem: Agricultural mechanic checked over the basics (incl glowplug operation) and suggested reconditioned injectors and a new fuel lift pump. · New injectors and fuel lift pump fitted. Might have improved things slightly, but basic problem is still there. Engine does nor run better and smoke less though... · New battery fitted to replace old tired one · Passenger door damaged and repaired! Green Land Rover: · New solid pipe fabricated for clutch hydraulic system · New clutch slave cylinder fitted, and the system bled · Loose radiator shield fixed Land Rover Rebuild Project: · Got the engine to run. Quick test drive showed all the basics working OK. · Just needs finishing up: Sort twist in bottom radiator hose, re-attach wings to front panel, tidy-up in engine bay, adjust stop cable and put instrument panel back, etc. · The Re-con injectors obtained for the other Land Rover were tried in this engine to see if they cured the smoke problem - they didn't, so no need for new injectors for this Land Rover! Generator: · We've been having a lot of trouble with smoke and poor running. Traced to a blocked air filter - a vicious circle - smoky exhaust leads to a blocked air filter which leads to a smokier exhaust, etc... We need to arrange a remote air filter such that exhaust fumes will not come close to the air filter. Fixing the exhaust would help too! · There is still a lot of oily soot around the generator room - in windy conditions its possible that this will get blown over the aircraft again. I need volunteers to clean out the generator enclosure.

Chairman’s notes

· Club house decoration is now complete at a cost of around £250. Remaining jobs are: 1. Chris/Rod deliver chairs 2. Fix Equipment Officer’s white board in place of the chalk board. 3. Pick the best notice board and mount it next to equipment officer’s white board. Only current info to be displayed. No permanent items. Yahoo is a much better repository for reference material. 4. Fix other white board in middle of North wall for briefings. 5. Mount Chris’s pictures in remaining spaces. 6. Reroute telephone system and fit outside bell. 7. Set up computer. 8. Liz to provide a three drawer filing cabinet. She also has a couple of desks, but they need to be picked up in Bromley.

We can now use the club house for all meetings and briefings (we have extra plastic chairs if required). The paraffin heater is very effective if lit for an hour or so. If we keep day to day activities close to the entrance it should remain fairly tidy at the other end. Aircraft repairers must clean up their space.

Next focus attention on the toilet block and at least find a handle for the Gents’ door.