Dec 2004

2099 Smithtown Avenue, Ronkonkoma, NY 11776-7324

Volume 7 Number 12

 

 

 

 

President

Alan Klug

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Vice Pres.

Sonny Borowski

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Secretary

Rich Raine

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Treasurer

Joe Leonard

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Administration

Doug Weston

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Membership

Mark Goodman

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Operations

John Blosser

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Training

John Vahey

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At Large

Chuck Calabrese

The Left Seat                                       Alan Klug

First, let me take this opportunity to extend the seasons greetings from myself and all of the board members to all of you. We wish you the best holiday season ever and hope that 2005 will be a great year for you all. I look forward to seeing as many as possible at the 35th Anniversary and Holiday Party at the Pine Grove Inn on December 11th. If you haven’t made your reservation yet, please do so by the 7th.   (Just send me an email with your name and the # attending.)   The party replaces the monthly meeting normally held on the 4th  Monday of the month.

Sonny Borowski took the first two “Pinch Hitter” flyers on November 22nd.   Jan Goodman and Donna Boylan were somewhat apprehensive before the flight, (at least that’s the word I got through the grapevine) but seemed eager to learn and quite excited by the end of the flying. The instructors participating in this program have volunteered their time and I would like to extend a personal Thank You to Sonny and any other instructors that participate. This is just one of the things that make our club so great.

At the November board meeting, a discussion was held on the dramatic increase in fuel prices. When the rates were increased earlier this year, our fuel price was at about $3.35 per gallon. As of early November, our price was about $ 3.90 per gallon. (Posted price at the pump was $4.17) The board decided that until the fuel prices stabilize, we will review and adjust prices (up OR down) on a monthly basis. If the prices haven’t dropped substantially by January, there will be an increase.

6PN received a new transponder; identical to the one we put in 28E. I recently flew to KDAN in Virginia & it was in fine working order. By the time you read this the GPS should be back from having been repaired by Garmin and reinstalled. I would like to reiterate on what a fine job our maintenance staff did with the repair to 12K last month and the speed with which it was completed. Bob Schellberg had the parts ordered and the repair completed before most of the members knew of the damage. Ron Uschock took care of the paint. I would venture to say that most members seldom if ever get to see and or talk to Bob & Ron. But we rely on them to keep our fleet in the air. You never know what time either one will be in the hangar but they always try to get our planes back in service as quickly as possible with the highest quality work. As 2004 nears its end, I would like to say Thanks Again to Bob & Ron from the entire club.

One last item. When I was at Oshkosh this year, I spoke with a fellow starting an internet flying club. There are no dues or fees and many of the members I bumped into at the office have joined. Check it out. There are forums; info of all sorts pertaining to aviation and you can make contacts in different areas of the country. Especially good if you plan a trip to a destination you’re not familiar with. Other members more than happy to give you info, perhaps even show you around if they have time.  http://www.usaflyingclub.com.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

Instructors

 

John Blosser

(631) 912-0290

Sonny Borowski

(631) 793-6980

John Brook

(631) 368-1901

Rich Clinton

(631) 368-1901

Bernie Davidson

(516 931-7699

Dave Ferrara

(631)874-8492

Frank Hayes

(516) 767-0391

Roy Mathews

(631) 968-0154

Jeff McArthur

(631) 288-6276

Bill Rudock

(631) 874-6155

Rob Terano

(631) 467-4159

John Vahey

(631) 835-6106

Bob VanSise

(516) 799-8684

 

 

GACE Flying Cub

2099 Smithtown Ave.

Ronkonkoma, NY 11779

Phone:

(631) 737-6879

 

GACE History                      Thoughts from John Brook

Bernie Davidson forwarded this letter from John Brook recalling some early GACE thoughts.

Before GACE, there was the Grumman Flying Club X. I believe this was started in 1964.  I joined in mid 1965. At that time we were renting from Mid Island Air Service at Deer Park Airport under their Annual Flying Plan.

This picture appeared in the Grumman Plane News in 1965.  I have identified the people in the picture that I can remember.

Cliff Rogerson was the Club President (his story is interesting, but I don't know if you would want to include it in the Club history).  I was Secretary from 1965-1968. I don't remember the other officers, but I believe Roy Reisch was the Treasurer.

John Pereira can probably fill in more details after 1968, but it was at his instigation that we made our first purchase, the Flightmatic 200 simulator (in 1969 or 1970; this led to our first Constitution), and also instigated and headed up the aircraft purchase study committee. This committee had John, me (my job was researching other clubs and drawing up the first Procedures Manual draft), Lou Volka (who would have been our Chief Flight Instructor; his is an interesting story, too, but for a different reason), and Dan Rodier.

I have also attached a picture taken in April 1983 (at some kind of GACE affair) that shows several of the early GACE members (if I'm not mistaken, all of them, except Mickey, were) and two GACE ex-presidents (Carl and HAl). If I come across anything else, I'll let you know. I still have some Sectional and Area charts from that time. 

 John

 

 

Secretary’s Corner                             Rich Raine

I hope we can get a great turnout for our 35th Anniversary and Holiday Party.  It really is a great opportunity to meet and socialize with our members.  Please try to attend and make this event a success.

Incidentally, I have that Wireless Internet (WiFi) connection working at the office.  What this enables you to do is connect to the Internet using your computer or PDA just by being in the room and using your device to search for a WiFi connection.  I find this feature more and more available at FBO’s in pilot planning rooms.  This makes the download of weather or checking one’s email easily available.  There’s no reason we shouldn’t have the same convenience as the big boys!

Meetings

Board of Directors meetings are held on the second Monday of the month at 7:00PM.  All members are welcome; however, please check with the President first in order to get on the agenda.

General Membership meetings are the fourth Monday of the month at 7:00PM.  There are no meetings for the summer months of July and August.  The next member’s meeting will be the Christmas Party on December 11th.