PRESIDENT's CORNER
By Ron Gibby

February 1999

If the weather at our January 1 Polar Bear Fun Fly was an indication of what’s ahead for the rest of 1999 it’ll be another great year for flying! Get those planes finished and stock up on fuel. I never would have guessed that we would have another perfect flying day for the second annual Polar Bear. Only two days later the fog was so thick that the Tri-Cities airport was shut down for all incoming and outgoing flights. Bill Greger, the event CD, is apparently doing something right. A big thanks to Bill, Ron McMahan, Larry Mitchell, and all those who helped with and supported this event! It was indeed another memorable first club outing for the year.

Welcome aboard to Paul Beebe, our new Club Vice President, and Rick Magnuson, the new Club Secretary. I look forward to working with you during 1999, along with Clee Childress, our Club Treasurer. Thanks to Lyle Laughery, retiring VP, and Jerry Wallis, retiring secretary for the service provided this past year. Your efforts are appreciated.

Congratulations to those who received their Solo Certificates during 1998: Dave and Ryan Phipps (Gordon Anderson, Instructor), Ted Meier (Bill Greger), Paul Beebe (Ron McMahan), Renton Maxfield (Rob Opgenorth), Larry Peterson (Leon Fleming), Chester Braswell (Don Stewart), and John Reck (don Stewart). We expect to see you out at the field often, keeping your thumbs/fingers and brain nimble and coordinated. Congratulations are also in order for John Hanson, the pilot of the year and winner of the prestigious Bent Prop Award. John won going away with 19 crashes during the year. John maintains it’s not as bad as it appears. He flew more than 190 times during the year for only a 10% unsuccessful flight rate. Only six of his crashes were not repairable. Way to go John! Is that Corsair ready to try again? I want to see you fly it.

At our next meeting we will be discussing and voting on new membership types for the club. Currently, we have three membership types: Individual, Junior, and Family. At the meeting I plan to propose four new free membership types: Individual, Emeritus; Individual, President; Individual, Newsletter Editor; and Individual, Webmaster. The first type would provide for free membership to club members in good standing who no longer fly but wish to be involved in club activities on a social basis. To be eligible for this membership type the member must be at least 60 years old and have participated in club activities for at least 5 years. This membership would not require AMA membership; however, if the member decided to begin flying again, an AMA membership would be required and a club membership fee would be assessed. The second type would provide free membership for the club president. This membership type would not go into effect until the year 2000. The third and forth types would provide for free membership to the Club Newsletter Editor and the Club Webmaster (the guy who takes care of our Club website on the internet), both of whom must be AMA members if they wish to fly. These last three types are to recogize the extra effort required by those holding these positions in the club. Please come to our meetings and make your opinions known on these proposals and on club operation in general. We need your support at our club meetings!

One final item on safety. It has been observed on numerous occasions that engines are started without regard to the postion of the plane relative to others in the vicinity. The engine always should be directed away from all nearby spectators and preferably towards the saftey fence; then, if a propeller comes off during startup it will not accidently strike someone. We’ve been forunate that this hasn’t happened yet, but let’s not push our luck.

If you have any comments about our club, please contact me by Email (president@tcrcm.org) or phone (946-5356).

Happy Flyin'.