Fall Fly-in - Gilbert Airpark (SC45) - 11/4/17

View from above Gilbert International Airpark (SC45)
(Click this Image for more photos)

     Our 2017 Fall Fly-in, dedicated to the memory of Pelham Moss, was held on Saturday, November 4th, 2017 at Gilbert Airpark (SC45). This was the most successful of our fly-ins thus far with around 100 attendees and 34 airplanes. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather with mostly sunny skies, low of around 58, high of around 80, and light winds from the east. Planes started arriving around 9:30am with most arriving just before lunch. Some groups stood around chatting, while others just sat around relaxing and watching the planes land.  Members of Gilbert Airpark prepared and served up a smorgasbord of delicious BBQ, fried chicken, vegetables, salads, and other succulent dishes, desserts, and various drinks starting about 12:30 pm. We had many positive comments on the delicious food. TTF president, Randy Berry, and Gilbert Airpark president, Dave Hardy, welcomed everyone and made opening comments. Leonard Self sold tickets for a drawing, the proceeds of which went directly toward the food costs. One pilot came all the way from Daytona Beach to be with us today and was awarded a Gilbert Airpart shirt by GIA Secretary, Donna Flanagan.  After lunch, we checked out the many aircraft and just sat around socializing and enjoying the mild weather. Everyone seemed to genuinely have a great time. A special thanks goes to Ron Angerman for allowing the use of his very nice and huge hangar, to all of those who prepared the food, and also to Gilbert Airpark for hosting the event. Also, thanks to TTF member, Don Schmotzer, for giving air traffic advisories. Most of all, thanks to all of you who attended and made our fly-in a huge success! The rain held off until after our fly-in ended and all attendees had departed. Dave Hardy took a photo of a beautiful rainbow to cap off the day. Finally, thanks to Eddie Price for taking photos of the event, which you can view by clicking on the image above.

October Meeting - Gilbert Airpark (SC45) - 10/15/2017

TTF October Meeting at Ron Angerman's Hangar at Gilbert Airpark (SC45)

     Our October meeting was held at Ron Angerman's nice, big hangar at Gilbert Airpark on October 15, 2017. In addition to providing the great venue for our meeting, Ron also cooked and provided the main course for our lunch of spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread. Other members brought fresh, green salad, various desserts, tea and soft drinks. In the business portion of our meeting the minutes for our September 17th meeting were approved by the membership. Treasurer, Leon Strock, gave us a financial report. We discussed the upcoming fall fly-in to be held at this same location on Saturday, November 4th with a "rain date" of November 11th. Randy asked for and received volunteers for giving traffic advisories to incoming aircraft (Don Schmotzer and Ron Lindsay) and marshallers for parking airplanes (Tony Gantt & Phil Lumpkin). We discussed how to best advertise our fly-in and to whom. We also discussed the prospect of inviting a fairly well known aviation safety expert to our fly-in as a guest with the possibility of a presentation by him, provided we can get in touch with him. We'll let you know if he accepts. Since we are having the fall fly-in in November, we further decided NOT to hold a second meeting in November. Instead, we held our 2018 chapter elections today. Don Schmotzer conducted the election. After some discussion, the following officers were elected for 2018: President: Randy Berry, Vice-President: Larry Philbin, Secretary: Libby Berry, Treasurer: Leon Strock.  We normally do not have a December meeting due to members being busy with their own Christmas related activities. Therefore, this October meeting was our last official chapter meeting of 2017. It was decided that our next chapter meeting will be held on Sunday, January 14th, 2018. As usual, Eddie Price took some great photos at the meeting. To see them, click the photo above.

September Meeting - Gaston Airport (2SC8) - 9/17/2017

TTF group photo taken on 9-17-2017

     We had an excellent meeting today, and an appetizing lunch of pizza, vegetable salad, various beverages, and several delicious desserts. We counted 32 members and guests. Pilots in 9 planes flew in, in addition to the 5 already hangared there. During the business meeting, chapter president, Randy Berry, thanked Don Bledsoe for his generosity in inviting us to his very nice airport, and also thanked the guys hangared there for their part in preparing the hangar for our visit, setting up tables and chairs, and helping to mow the runway and parking areas. He also thanked everyone who brought food, which we had aplenty. One new member, James Murphy, joined our chapter today. Welcome to our chapter, James!

     Minutes from the August 20th meeting previously posted on the website were approved. Leon Strock gave us a financial report, which indicates that our treasury is still very healthy, and even rising over time. Randy elaborated on our meeting format, which basically includes: (1) a lunch, (2) a combined business meeting/discussion portion of 30 minutes or less, and (3) possibly a safety briefing or other presentation. He asked if members had any suggestions for changes to that format, and nobody indicated any. He also commented that he sees four types of chapter activities: (1) monthly meetings, as we had today, (2) a fall, and possibly other, annual chapter fly-ins, (3) occasional Young Eagles rallies, and (4) "just for fun", flying oriented, trips to various airports and other locations. He elaborated further on (4) and asked that individual members help to coordinate more "just for fun" trips, possibly to include lunch or other special events. Essentially, that means that if you're going on a fun trip somewhere, invite others to tag along and be willing to coordinate the trip. As an example, he asked if members might be interested in a "just for fun" (no meeting involved) trip to KFDW soon. Roughly half of attendees indicated an interest. Therefore, Randy will try to set up a future trip with KFDW management, possibly to include a trip to a local restaurant for lunch.

     Randy pointed out that his web hosting fees have recently increased, and he has had to obtain new web design software, so he asked the chapter to approve a slight increase to the chapter website fees next year. He emphasized that he is not making a profit on the website. The fee only covers expenses, and TTF shares the web hosting cost with another organization. The membership overwhelming voted to approve the increase to begin in 2018.

     We briefly touched on the ATC "privatization" bill, known as AIRR (HR2997), currently being considered in Congress. EAA. AOPA, and every other aviation group vehemently opposes this privatization bill, so they have requested that we all contact our legislators and voice our personal opposition to it. We also discussed the recent Triple Tree GA Fly-in and other upcoming aviation events, which you can view at the bottom of the EVENTS page of this website.

     Near the end of the meeting, Safety Advisor, Don Schmotzer cited a recent case in which a pilot had to advise ATC that he was "unable" to comply with an ATC instruction due to what the pilot felt would have resulted in an accident. The pilot asked for the tower's phone number simply to explain his non-compliance not realizing that request would automatically trigger an FAA investigation. Don's major point was to be careful about requesting the phone number of ATC, as it may well result in a similar FAA investigation. Don also gave us several safety tips.

     Our next meeting will likely be at Ron Angerman's hangar at Gilbert Airpark (SC34) on October 15th. For photos of today's meeting from Eddie Price, click on the group photo at top.

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