Ops Mgr Update 15 March 2025
Membership Renewal
Membership renewal is going well and thanks to those who have applied (and paid!). If you have yet to do so, please do so as soon as you can.
Clubhouse Redecoration
The Clubhouse looks fantastic after the amazing efforts of Karl Smith and his team over the last couple of weeks. We all owe Karl a huge thank you (and maybe a pint at the next Social evening!) and a big thanks to Nigel Marshall and Arthur Gill for their support of this endeavour too. Come down and admire your freshly painted new club.
Spring Clean
Don’t forget the annual Spring Clean on Sunday 30th March! The carpet in the Planning Room will be replaced and the Ops Room carpet cleaned on that day, so work will focus on getting the hangar, surrounds and aircraft ready for the season ahead.
Fire Training
A new 100 litre fire extinguisher is being introduced and the Station Fire Section will deliver training at the airfield on Saturday 29th March starting at 1000 hours. You are strongly urged to attend.
Flying Rates
Whilst we were able to hold membership fees unchanged this year, it has been necessary to increase the flying rates by approx 10%. The new rates from 1 April will be:
C152 Solo £155/hr Dual £200/hr
PA28 Solo £175/hr Dual £220/hr
Halton Frequency Change
To make Halton 8.33 compatible the A/G frequency will change to 130.430 MHz wef 0425Z on 20 March 2025 – ie next Thursday!
IT Issues
We have been having a number of IT issues recently, mainly linked to our attempts to coordinate logins between the Members Area of the website. PBH and Mark W are working hard to resolve the issues and the issues should be fixed very soon, but please be patient if they affect you. Meanwhile, we have detected a number of (unsuccessful) attempts to hack into our website members area, so please be careful with passwords. Remember basic IT password management:
- Do not use a password you have used somewhere else.
- 8 characters or more including upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. (At least one of each).
- Avoid using plain English (or other language) words.
Coffee Machine
Despite Ivor Deacon’s valiant efforts the Crew Room coffee machine has given up the ghost! A replacement would be too expensive, so we will revert to using the kitchen (behind my office) where there will be an honesty box for your 50p/cup donation. Please leave the kitchen clean and tidy if you do use it.
2025 Charts
The new edition of the 1/2 mill charts are due release on 23 March and are on order. I will inform members when they are available for purchase from my office at £19.50 each.
IER2 Rota
Simon Greaves and I thank you for your response to the call for IER2 volunteers. A few slots remain if you have not yet put your name down; contact Simon at simon.greaves@haltonaerocclub.co.uk to volunteer for a date.
Fleet Update
It is good to see our aircraft flying again now that the weather has relented. I expect KI to need its next (50hr) service next month, but TM has plenty of hours to cover KI’s absence when the planned avionics work will also be completed. GA’s next (50 hr) service will also likely be in April, but we expect to have RY back with us at the end of this month; it is at Turweston now having the new avionics fitted.
