Dear Member,
Four important points to note and action:
HAC CHRISTMAS SOCIAL – TUE 9 DEC
Just one week to go to the 2025 HAC Christmas Social. Starting at 1930hrs in the RAFA Clubhouse and finishing when the last one leaves! Cash (and card) Bar. Everyone welcome, inc family and friends. To make this a free event, we need everyone to contribute an item of food – not too many mince pies please!
CENTENARY DINNER – SAT 7 FEB 2026
We have now successfully booked the Chiltern Forest Golf Club and secured an outstanding menu choice. We can confirm that the ticket price will be just £39.50 per person which will include wine at the table (the Bar will remain open til 2359hrs and the prices are similar to a pub). We will write again next week to take bookings – tickets numbers will be limited.
HAC FOB REVIEW
The HAC FOB will be reviewed this week and updated on 1 Jan 26. Any bids for updates should be sent to opsman@haltonaeroclub.co.uk ASAP.
NIGHT RATING TRAINING – JAN-MAR 2026
We plan to conduct Night Rating training (probably at RAF Benson) in early 2026. Numbers will be limited and some members have already signed-up. If you would like to register your interest, please email deacon.brown@haltonaeroclub.co.uk
Regards,
Mark
M T MANWARING
Air Cdre
HAC Chairman
See what you all missed a special evening arranged for you ! Picture courtesy of Sam.
(Actually RAFA Club hosting a “Dining In Night” on Friday !)
I am sure the cold weather restricted attendance, those that did come were Samantha Davis, Deacon Brown, Steve Thorogood, Arthur Gill, Brian Lindsay, new member Jake Peel and myself.
We all enjoyed the evening and found plenty to chat about and the consensus was to continue in 2026, but meet at HAC.
The possibilities of “group outings” were discussed to places like Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, Aircraft Restoration Company (Duxford), RAF Museum Hendon and many more, we would welcome suggestions for additional or alternative venues.
Bomber Harris room at RAF High Wycombe coming soon and visit to Martin Baker to be arranged in early 2026.
Dave Scott
With Immediate Effect the BFI (Fuel Compound) outer gates are to be kept padlocked when gate is not in use. the Pump Cabinet can be left open until after the last refuelling of the day
NO HAC AIRCRAFT ARE TO BE FLYING AT 1100 ON TUESDAY 11th NOVEMBER
The Centenary Dinner will be held at Chiltern Forest Golf Club on Saturday 7th February 2026. Details to follow idc.
Plogbook Implementation is going well. The Ops Room set up is now complete with a dedicated Plogbook terminal for pilot use in the far right corner and the display screen now showing the Station Flypro, the Plogbook Schedule and the Plogbook Fleet (= Ac Status or Ops Board). Please do not use either of these terminals to browse the internet – use the PC in the Planning Room for that.
I will maintain the AC Status whiteboard in Ops and the Ops Board on the website for the time being, but it is my intent to drop both as soon as we are comfortable with using Plogbook for Fleet data (probably end November.. The “old” EBS is now disabled and any historic url links you might have will now go to Plogbook.
We are still making minor refinements to Plogbook and will continue to do so, but I am confident that it is fit for purpose and therefore pilots should now use Plogbook to book ac out/in and record flight data and defects can now do so.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO COMPLETE THE FLIGHT DATA SHEETS and ENTER THE HOBBS/TACHO START/STOP READINGS IN THE AUTHORISATION SHEET and RECORD DEFECTS IN THE AC DOCUMENTS FOLDER so I can cross check that everything in Plogbook is aligned. Please add “PB” to the bottom of the flight data Sheet sheet entry.
I have transferred account balances from HACaS to Plogbook so those with accounts can see their balance. Please use the Flight reference number that Plogbook generates as your reference for BACS payments
If you are unable to log in to Plogbook to Book Out your ac (Go Flying!) you can still fly! Complete the Authorisation Sheet and e mail me the details of your flight and I can enter them retrospectively.
I have printed all the step-by-step Plogbook Guides and they are in a folder titled Plogbook User Guide by the Plogbook Terminal in the Ops Rm. It includes a section called “Useful Tips” which you may find helpful (eg enter 0 as the HOBBS reading for RY as Plogbook will calculate the correct HOBBS duration from the TACHO reading). If you have any useful tips to add, please write the on the sheet (and e mail them to me) so we can share what we learn.
Similarly, if you have any suggestions to improve Plogbook please e mail them to me and I will raise them with the Plogbook team. I have had a number already for which I thank you.
We are still working to align the data in Plogbook covering pilot currency, hours, last flight etc as well as defect data. None of this is critical to the use of Plogbook initially and we will continue to review licence expiry dates and currency as before for the time being as I will be maintaining our HACaS records in parallel with Plogbook until the end of the year.
Finally, if you experience any issues with Plogbook feel free to call me anytime so I can help resolve your problem.
Dave Scott has arranged a visit to the Bomber Harris WW2 Room at RAF High Wycombe on Monday 15 Dec 25. One place remains at time of writing.
Please contact Dave direct (davescott321@btinternet.com) if you are interested in the last slot.
Most of the changes Plogbook that we have requested have now been made and i have created the final Step-By-Step Guide on using Plogbook to book ac out and in and record flight data, defects etc. This guide can be found on the Plogbook Tutorial web page (here).
I am also planning 2 online live Demonstrations/Teach-Ins using Teams; the first will be on Fri 31 Oct at 1400 and the second on Sunday 2 Nov at 1100. Please e mail me if you would like to attend either (or both!) and I will send you Teams invitations.
We will switch from EBS to Plogbook Scheduler’s on 3rd Nov 25. The EBS will be switched off at this point so the only way to see and/or make bookings will be on Plogbook. SO APPLY FOR A PLOGBOOK ACCOUNT NOW if you haven’t already got one! (Top Tip: when you apply for an account, don’t forget to scroll down and add your ac types)
We will start managing flights on Plogbook from 14 Nov 25 but you will be required to continue completing the paper Flight Data Sheets in parallel for a short period whilst we gain confidence in the system. It is extra work for pilots but is necessary to ensure we get accurate and complete data.
Mike Russell, Ops Mgr