August 20th Meeting, Gilbert International Airpark (SC45), 12pm-4pm

Kevin Kyzer of A.C.E.S. Flight School. pictured above, gave us an interesting presentation today..
Click on the photo above for more photos

     Our August meeting was held on August 20th, 2023 at Gilbert International Airpark (SC45). After a nice lunch of pizza, various Italian dishes, salads, delicious desserts, and various beverages, we held our business/information meeting starting at 2:00pm EDT. Minutes for July 16th were approved, and we had a financial report which indicates that our chapter treasury is in excellent financial condition. Then, our Safety Advisor, Don Schmotzer delivered a safety message on "In-flight Trouble Shooting", in which he posed various in-flight emergency situations and asked for solutions and responses from members.

    Next, we had a presentation from Kevin Kyzer of Aviation Careers Education Services (A.C.E.S.). They already have a successful flight training school located at Rock Hill/York County Airport (KUZA), and they've just established a new flight training school at Lexington County Airport (6J0) near Pelion, SC. They already have several students, including several ROTC students under contract with USC. Kevin is working closely with Lexington County administrators to implement and  upgrade facilities at 6J0 in about 5 phases. They have just begun Phase #1 with fuel services and flight training, but eventually, expanded servicesand a new airport terminal building are envisioned. We had very good attendance at today's meeting to hear Kevin's presentation.

     Randy closed our meeting by mentioning that attorney and chapter member, Michael Morris, is moving swiftly to make our chapter a "tax exempt" 501(c)(3) organization. He's already received approval from the Secretary of State of South Carolina and has mailed the necessary forms and fees to the IRS. It may take several weeks to receive approval from the IRS, which we'll hopefully receive in time to be announced at our September 17th meeting. If successful, our chapter will be a fully "tax exempt charity", which means we'll be able to accept donations (money, aircraft, other items) as a charity, and the donors will be able to claim those donations as deductions on their taxes. We are deeply indebted to Michael for his efforts. Thank you, Michael.

July 16th Meeting, Gilbert International Airpark (SC45). 12pm-4pm

The image above is from the cover of Captain Eddie Gantner's book titled "Flying Vagabond".
Click on the photo above for more photos from chapter photographer, Steve Preston.

     Our July meeting was held on July 16th, 2023 at Gilbert International Airpark (SC45). Members started arriving as early as 12:00noon and started socializing. We continued socializing and had a nice lunch beginning around 1:00pm of various Italian dishes, supporting items, desserts and beverages. We approved the June 17th minutes, and our Treasurer gave a financial report. We received the Ford Tri-motor check from EAA this month, which was substnatially more than we had originally anticipated it might be, so our treasurer is even healthier now.

     Our speaker today was Captain Eddie Gantner, who has written a book titled "Flying Vagabond", which is available from Amazon and a number of book stores. We thank Captain Eddie for traveling all the way to our meeting from his home in Hilton Head, SC to attend our meeting and give this presentation. He brought some of his books with him which he offered to members for a special price. He then made a presentation on his past experiences, which to say the least, were very exciting, even dangerous many times. Buy his book for the full story of his adventures. I'm sure you find it worth your money and time.

June 17th, 2023 Meeting, Gilbert International Airpark (SC45), 12pm-4pm

Pictured above is our June Speaker, FAAst presentative, Dr.Emerson Smith who made a presentation titled "Reducing Regulatory Roadblocks",
Click on the above photo for more photos from Steve Preston

      Our June meeting was held on June 17th, 2023  at Gilbert International Airpark (SC45). Members started arriving as early as 12:00noon and started socializing. We continued socializing and had a nice lunch beginning around 1:00pm of hamburgers and hotdogs with trimmings, supporting items, desserts and beverages.Then, President, Randy Berry, conducted our business/information meeting starting around 2:00pm. The minutes for May were approved, and we had a financial report, which indicates that our chapter treasury is healthy, especially once we receive the Ford Tri-motor funds from EAA, which should be arriving soon. He covered some other routine business matters. Then, he introduced our speaker for today, Dr. Emerson Smith, FAAst representative. Dr. Smith made a presentation on FAA's topic for the month of June titled "Reducing Regulatory Roadblocks". We thank Dr. Smith for coming to our meeting to make this presentation.