The HAC FOB has been updated and can be reviewed at the link below.
All pilots T Cards have been put “in the RED“. Please read the latest version (1 Jan 26) and sign as having done so before returning your T Card to GREEN..
the information in the Ops Mgr’s Update of 17 Jan 26 was incorrect! The cross section for Halton will not be produced at all after Sun 25th Jan 26. Instead pilots are to refer to the Benson Cross Section which can be found under the “Station Products” tab on MOMIDS and searching for Benson Cross Section.
The FOB will be updated accordingly at the Jul 26 review.
A Happy New Year to all HAC members.
The 2026 HAC Programme of Events and Social Calendars are available here.
RY is back with its owner for the winter and is scheduled to return in early March. GA and TM are both serviceable and available to fly. KI awaits a visit to Turweston for investigation of a flap problem.
From Mon 26 Jan we will no longer receive the met forecast package from Benson that is usually posted on the board in the Planning Room. The same data will continue to be available through MOMIDs on the computer in the Planning Room; login details are posted by the computer and there is a link on your Plogbook dashboard. The Halton Cross section is accessed though the Products/Station Products tab by entering “Hal” in the search box; low level winds and forecasts are available under the products tab.Please speak to a member of staff if you cannot find what you want.
Plans are well advanced for our Black Tie Dinner at the Chiltern Forest GC on 7 Feb. If you have indicated your attendance but have not paid and/or sent me your guest’s’ names or menu choices, please do so by 31 January.
“A really enjoyable group visit to Bomber Harris Room at RAF High Wycombe on 15 December, welcomed by Dave Brown who gave us a most interesting and entertaining talk.”
Dave Scott
Version5.3 of the Halton Aerodrome Order Book has been issued and all pilots are to read and sign as having done so before their next flight. All T Cards have been turned RED.
V5.3 includes changes to CGC Aerotow limits / Aerotow processes and revised weather minima. Updates are captured in red throughout. Key changes for HAC pilots are:
HAL 2305 Annex B – RAF Halton VMC Weather Minima
HAL 2309 (7) – para 5h – Simulated Engine Failures.
The revised AOB can be found here
———————————-
Plogbook is now fully operational for all HAC bookings and flights including defect recording. Please continue to maintain the paper records (ie. flight data sheets and defects log in AC Document Folders) whilst we gain confidence that everything is being recorded correctly and we have ironed out any bugs in Plogbook.
A couple of observations so far:
1) Only use the Plogbook Terminal in Ops (or your own tablet/phone) to log into your Plogbook account to make a booking or book a flight out or in. Remember to log out of the Plogbook Terminal when you have finished.
2) Do not use the display terminal mounted on the wall for anything other than viewing the Schedule (ie bookings) and the Fleet (ie AC State Board) or the Station Flypro for which there are bookmarks if they are not already open.
3) Please record the HOBBS & TACHO times on the Flight Authorisation Sheet.
4) As RY has no HOBBS please enter 0 as the finish HOBBS time. Plogbook will add the 0.2 to the TACHO time to calculate cost.
5) Please enter the quantity of fuel uplifted after your flight. It will give us some useful data on HAC ac fuel usage rates.
6) There is an issue with Dual Flight Charging. Some flights seem to generate the correct dual flight charge automatically (ie without the need to add the “Extra” for Instructor Fee, others do not. I have raised the issue with Plogbook, but meanwhile please check if the Dual Rate has been charged and if not add the “Instructor Fee Extra”.
7) Plogbook is not recording HOBBS hours on RY correctly.. Cost calculations are correct (but see 6 above), as are engineering hours to service,. This will be fixed in the upcoming update
8) When paying for your flight by BACS, would you please use as a reference the last 2 letters of the ac registration plus the 4 digit code that Plogbook gives you in the final summary of the flight.
A major package of updates to Plogbook is still being tested. As they are mainly back-end changes that will improve data access for reporting, they should not materially change how you use Plogbook, but there may be changes to displays et as well as some bug fixes. You will know when the update has been implemented as there will be a blue box in the top right of your Dashboard which will allow you to read a summary of the changes.
The AC State Board in Ops and the Ops Board on the HAC website are no longer operational . Plogbook Fleet is the only source of Club aircraft status information.
Finally, if you are struggling to remember what to do, refer to the PlogbookTutorial page where there are step-by-step guides. If you still can’t do what you need to, then contact the Ops Mgr.
———————————-
The BFI outer gate is to be kept locked when not in use (ie between refuellings). The pump cabinet can be left unlocked until the last fuelling of the day. Don’t just click the padlock, scramble the combination as well!!
———————————-
RY has now been returned to its owner for the winter and we will operate with one PA28 when GA returns from service – hopefully on Thu 11 Dec. This will minimise our overheads and maximise the owner’s revenue on the ac. RY should be back at the beginning of March 2026
———————————-
This will now take place on Tue 9 Jan 26. Please advise any suggested changes to Ops Mgr by cop 8 Jan.
———————————-
I will be completely unavailable from 12 to 17 Dec; please refer any issues to Deacon or Mark M during that period. I shall then be WFH until returning to the office on 5 Jan.
———————————-
Finally, may I thank everyone for their support through the year and wish you and your families a Happy Christmas and a great 2026.
———————————-