Presidents Corner
by Darrel Cook

After evaluating the Avionics Surveys, the board has decided to shelf any action for six months. Over half the Surveys showed no interest in updating the avionics at this time.

After evaluating the costs of flying it appears the hourly rates will be going up slightly. The exact amounts will be in next months newsletter, and will most probably take effect starting 11/15/2003.

Unfortunately, I need to report that we are losing our Safety Officer. Jake has decided to accept a job in Baltimore. I would like to thank Jake for doing a great job. Hopefully after one winter he'll be back.

The Airport manager contacted me this month and asked that I tell our members to please comply with the noise abatement procedures on 27L. We all want to be good neighbors. If you're not aware of the procedure they are posted at the takeoff end of 27L. Basically, straight out to Fanita. Follow Fanita crosswind, then downwind over the first or second canyon, and power back once at altitude.

We are getting so much more help at washdays, it really helps with the extra people. (Yeah, but don't stop coming! - Ed.) Thank you to everyone that helped last month. The planes look so much better and the paint is lasting longer, which will help control the cost of flying our aircraft.

Congratulations!

We've been informed that CFI member Jeff Damschen recently graduated from the California Highway Patrol Academy. He must have been especially proud when his Dad, a retired CHP officer donned his old uniform and pinned Jeff's newly issued badge on his brand new uniform during graduation ceremonies. Jeff's first assignment will be patrolling the I-405 corridor. Our very best wishes and thanks for their community service go to Jeff and his family!

Thanks to Eric Hereth for this news.

Reno and Back
by Steve Dari

Crack!

The right side of my flight helmet struck the canopy as the aircraft instantly rolled to the left and I continued to accelerate only 40 feet above the ground. The stranger reality was that I hardly noticed it as I smoothly corrected my roll and concentrated on my flight path. There was no time to actually think about maneuvers - only training and reaction. The aircraft that had caused the vortex turbulence was only 50 feet in front of me and there were two others just behind me as I eased into seventy degrees of left back and started a gradual pull into the turn. As I maintained my line, Pylon One flashed by only fifteen feet beneath me and slightly left of my fuselage centerline. It still felt like a dream, but this was the BIG SHOW - the International Formula One Air Racing Finals at Reno where each September, tens of thousands of enthusiasts and five classes of airplanes gather for the National Championship Air Races.

This was my rookie year at Reno and looking back, I almost can't believe all the times I thought we just wouldn't be ready in time for the races. My wife and I bought an old Cassutt IIIM that had been originally built as a sport plane and hadn't been flown since 1995. When we finally got it back to my house in San Diego, we had to evict all the critters and their nests that had accumulated during its near decade of storage in a work shed. That was in mid-April of this year. After lots of late nights and weekends, with what seemed like insurmountable barriers behind us, Redhead was taking the pylons along with the other Formula One racers. This was simply as good as it gets!

Wait a minute! Did I just write that? It's still hard to believe that it even happened. But indeed it did! After neglecting almost every other obligation in my life, after getting everything done at the very last minute possible, after overcoming what seemed at the time like insurmountable obstacles, after getting to Reno and working from before dawn to well after dark everyday - I managed to FINALLY actually RACE at Reno. It truly seemed like a dream come true. Not necessarily a good dream, just an unattainable dream that almost every day for months before the races seemed just too far away and too impossible to ever grasp. Yet here it was! As if watching a movie with someone else playing my part, I seemed almost a spectator as I watched myself fly around the pylons at Reno Stead airport. It was simply incredible!

I know I've never worked as hard in my life to accomplish something that was supposed to be "fun." People often asked me, "Isn't this great? Isn't this just too much fun?" The surprising answer was that I don't think it ever was. There was an amazing feeling of accomplishment. There was extraordinary exhilaration. But when I dragged myself home after inhaling solvent fumes for hours and my hair and skin was stiff with red paint overspray, or when I was sitting on the starting grid with the engine turning at full power and the officials signaled me there were sixty seconds until race start - was it fun? No! It was bone tiring or terrifying, but it was never just, well, fun.

But boy, it was FANTASTIC!

There's not a moment that I can think back on the events of the last several months and not remember how many people and their hard work made it possible for me to zip around pylons in the thin air of the Nevada high desert. From Howard Hawkins trailering an old tattered airplane all the way from Texas to Eric Hereth spending endless hours turning wrenches and getting my plane ready to race, I stood on the shoulders of all the people who donated their time and hard work. I was just the guy who was lucky (or foolish!) enough to sit in the cockpit and move that stick around. But I never would have been able to do that without all the amazing help I received.

David Cooksy's brother Kevin met us up at Reno and worked shoulder to shoulder with our team. My Team Manager, Andy Silver and Crew Chief, Michael Gretton spent may late nights in our hangar and paid their own way at Reno just to give me the privilege of flying in the races. There were more people than I can list here that donated their time, talents and resources to help me race my little plane.

It was great to have Coastal Fliers members drop in on the hangar while we were getting ready. It was wonderful having Bob Finnin and his wife Shirley show up in our pit area at Reno to watch us race. And finally, it was just amazing that I had married a woman who put up with me and did everything she could to ensure that I got to live my little dream.

I can't adequately describe all the extraordinary feelings I had at Reno. I've never seen more people working harder and helping each other at every opportunity. Airplanes would come back to the pits with blown engines and everyone who had some expertise or help to offer would come running with their tool boxes and spares. The only competition was out on the race course. On the ground and in the hangar we were just pilots and crews that enjoyed being there together.

Race week was not without it's mishaps and unfortunately all the injuries were in my race class. One pilot was flown back to Sweden with newly fused neck vertebrae. Another suffered two badly broken ankles. I'm sure it made us all realize the risks. I certainly did. But throughout the whole process It was always clear that I was truly privileged to race at Reno. Next year will be another race. We're going to fly much faster and be much better prepared. We have some very big ambitions. But until then, thanks so much to all the people that made a little red plane possible. And to all those who want to see something truly exciting and unique in aviation - we'll see you at Reno next September!

Operations Report
by Bob Finnin

46404: is in the shop for an annual inspection and should be back on line by Sept. 30th if not sooner. A new copilot door handle was installed and all other comments were taken care of.

8788E: has been running well and has not had any major problems this month.

3015U: has had two new magnetos installed and is running well. The peak RPM is now about 2525-2550 and is within the acceptable range. More on this at the meeting. The carburetor heat lever creeps down slightly and will be repaired during the first week of October. The airspeed indicator was calibrated and was found to be about 3 kts. off.

2904K: has had the right wheel pant repaired and will be repainted as time permits. It is currently out of service after a recent hard landing and prop strike in New Mexico. Mechanics are determining the extent of the damage before plans are made to return the aircraft to San Diego. We'll know more soon.

Please be careful of the aircraft parking situation at Royal Jet. The new construction is causing some need to reposition the aircraft as needed.

Thank all of you who turned out for the last wash day. The fleet looks great and we can all be proud of our birds. (Best looking on the field!)

From the Board of Directors
by David Cooksy

The September Board meeting is officially the first meeting of the new Board elected in June. However, as the Board did not change no action was necessary. I mention this only to let you know we do pay attention to the club calendar and noted the transition from fiscal year 2003 to the beginning of fiscal year 2004.

The Board spent most of the meeting discussing results of the recent survey of CFI members regarding upgrade of avionics. Twenty surveys were returned with no consensus from the membership as to a course of action. As such, the Board has decided to table the matter for six months to a year and revisit at that time. The Board is united in the feeling that some contingency plan should be in place to improve our aircraft if even to just to replace radios. As the Club financial reserve is critically low and each aircraft is due for significant scheduled maintenance, the Board also spent considerable time discussing alternatives for raising revenue for long term capital improvements to the fleet.

Treasurer Paik will return in October with a full financial analysis on cost of operating each aircraft, the schedule of maintenance to allow for further discussion. It is the Board's desire to keep the cost of flying our aircraft as low as possible yet be responsible in preparation of the long term improvements.

On September 6, 2003 club members flew to Chino. We took three planes with only 7 members participating but we had a great time, the weather was perfect and the dining experience at the internationally famous Flo's Diner was predictable. (David hates Flo's! - Ed.) The highlight of the trip was the display of Spitfire aircraft. The next destination has yet to be decided but keep an eye out for announcements.

September 13 was the Quarterly Wash Day with many members turning out to wash and wax planes. It is always great to have more than the usual four people as it makes the event more interesting but it also helps get the job done much quicker. We had three planes washed and waxed before 11 a.m. Thanks very much to all who participated, it sure makes things go smoother and please remember this is a great way to meet other members of our organization.

Finally, although just a few members turned out for the trip to Chino nearly everyone had on the embroidered Coastal Fliers polo-style shirt. As these shirts are nearly 10 years old, it raised discussion on the possibility of having new shirts made for members. I have volunteered to research the cost for such a shirt but would like to have some idea of how many members would be interested in owning a CFI embroidered shirt. I will bring it up at the October general membership meeting but would also invite you to respond via e-mail also. Please contact me at: cooksyfamily@cox.net if you have interest in purchasing a new club shirt. Once I have an idea of how many shirts to order I can obtain other details.

Treasure's Report
by Terry Paik

As of September 1, we had $31,178 in the bank. August P&L net was $2,306; YTD net was $5,579. We flew 109 hours last month. A/R balance is $12,085 and we are still at 66 members.

I have been following the "net allocation" figure (the amount we should have in the bank to cover accrued expenses). That figure has not changed significantly over the past few years (we're still in the red). We are not doing badly; we just aren't making much headway. We (the membership as well as the Board) have always been discussing and building a wish list for things that "would be nice, but are not necessary." We have not been able to devote any funds to such a list. Recently there has been discussion of phasing out VORs necessitating consideration of eventual installation of GPS units in all aircraft. These items represent CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS to our planes, and capital improvements are not budgeted in our month-to-month planning or cost analysis for calculating flying rates and dues. We have been able to pay our bills and keep our dues and rates as low as possible; and we are still (most likely) the most inexpensive flying club around. (I have heard of other clubs that have a $3K buy-in and $250/month dues, or $1K buy-in and $115/hour for a comparable SEL.)

We need to keep our aircraft current and updated as desired by our members and mandated by FAA. And we can do this and continue to keep our rates and dues as low as we traditionally have. In January 2002 we increased the share price to $600 and dues to $30 per month. (This was the first increase in well over 10 years!) Consider: 60 members x $600 share price = $36,000. We own 4 beautiful aircraft worth well over $300K, and we have a loan balance of less than $59,400. You do the math; it is obvious that our share price is grossly undervalued.

We seriously need to consider increasing our share price. This is the most equitable way of using our tremendous assets to build working capital for paying for much-desired, as well as mandated, capital improvements while maintaining the low cost of flying we have so much enjoyed. It also puts the share price toward a more reasonable value, and we can still maintain a very reasonable buy-in. Think about it.

Remember, the more we fly, the cheaper we fly!

Coastal Fliers Audit
Auditors: Jim Beck, Roger Bush, & Gary Dennis

The audit was conducted at the Treasurer, Terry Paik's home. All of the above auditors were present. Invoices & Receipts At the time of the audit, the clubs records appeared to be organized and in order. The Treasurer provided several boxes of invoices and receipts. Several invoices were randomly chosen for review. The products and services represented by the invoices were found to be necessary for conducting club business. These purchases appeared to be conducted under dual control, requiring more then one officer for approval. Financial Accounts In review of the financial accounts, all account statements were present. Since all accounts require dual control, several checks were reviewed for adherence to proper accounting principles. All checks were found to in compliance.

Recommendations: In review of the checks, all the checks had dual signatures but were signed by the same two officers. This is probably due to convenience. We recommend a concerted effort to involve more officers in the signing of checks. Financial Statements All financial statements reviewed appeared to conform to Standard Accounting Principles. Several P & L's and balance sheets were reviewed. The Treasurer was asked to provide documentation to support random figures chosen for review. Terry complied quickly and accurately. The reserve accounts for each plane were reviewed and were found to be adequately funded.

Conclusions: The records for the club were found to be quite organized and accurate. The board should be commended for it's accuracy and dedication to sound accounting principles.