28 January 2016 - General Membership Meeting

The first Majors Flying Club general membership meeting of the year was held on Thursday, January 28, 2016 in the clubhouse. Pizza was provided and available at 1645. Gordon Hay supplied his own version of a very delectable batch of killer Ghiardelli brownies for dessert. They were cut into very generous portions and everyone was up to the challenge.

The Regular Members portion of the meeting for the purpose of conducting the annual elections was convened around 1715. Kurt Muller graciously conducted and oversaw the election process. The list of nominees (Mark Armstrong, BJ Finney, Dennis Harwell, Don Van Kleek, Dennis Mathis, and Denis Rottler) was presented by Kurt. The floor was opened for nominations and none were proposed. The election was held to vote for the nominees and all the listed nominees were elected by unanimous vote. Thank you Kurt.

With the election process concluded the meeting was opened up to the rest of the membership and guests.

The first order of business was to congratulate the newest member of the pilot community, Bryan Hamel. Under Dennis Mathis' tutelage Bryan successfully completed his check ride on January 13, 2016. Congratulations and welcome to Mr. Hamel.

The President, Dennis Mathis spoke for several minutes regarding the status of several projects. The Cessna is progressing nicely toward the completion of its annual inspection. The project this year included the replacement of the engine with an overhauled engine from Custom Aeromotive. The removal of the engine uncovered several other items that needed to be addressed (LH muffler shroud, spinner bulkhead, RH muffler, and mixture control cable) as well as planned items such as new hoses, new starter, new engine mounts, getting the propeller cleaned up, and the radio repaired. Mr. Zimmerman has been a particularly busy man during this annual.

The annual for the Archer is scheduled to start on March 6, 2016. No major upgrades are planned but flap and aileron seals as well as an STC'd dimmer circuit for the panel and radio lighting will be added during the annual. The electric trim switch will be removed and evaluated but it is unlikely to be a repairable item and due to the cost it is unlikely to be replaced if not repairable.

The Avionics Upgrade account that was created to begin saving money to support the 2020 ADS-B Out mandate was discussed. There are several viable options available to the club based on the planned budget but there is still quite a bit of discussion regarding the best way for the club to proceed. The board is looking to Kacey Dudenhoeffer for guidance and technical expertise to help us evaluate the offerings and guide our decision. The near term goal is to select a system early this year potentially with a portion of the system installed in the Archer later this year.

At the conclusion of the business portion of the meeting, the President, Mr. Dennis Mathis introduced the mystery guest speaker, Mr. Dennis Mathis. They could be brothers. Mr. Mathis presented a very interesting Part One of his military career. Although he is known as a pilot, that is not how his career with the Air Force began. Like most folks, he trained at a variety of bases early in his career but by the time we got to the end of Part One he was the Defensive System Operator in the Air Force's first operational supersonic bomber capable of Mach 2 flight, the Convair B-58 Hustler. What an awesome looking delta wing bomber. Mr. Mathis is apparently a quick learner and quickly discovered it is not a good idea to touch the structure to see how hot it gets in supersonic flight. We are looking forward to the rest of the story, including his transition to becoming a pilot, at a future date hopefully sooner rather than later.