Message from the President

2007 has been an exciting year for the Borden Flying Club. When the year started we were renting hangar space at Lake Simcoe Regional Airport. We had been considering a move for several months but it was January that we sat down with the management of Edenvale Aerodrome to discuss a move there. We had been keeping our eye on the developments at Edenvale since Milan Kroupa first purchased it in 2002. By February we had inked a deal and the club moved to Edenvale in time for our Annual General Meeting in March.

Since moving to Lake Simcoe in 2002 we had seen both membership and flying decline. Lake Simcoe is a fine airport and offers excellent services; however, its focus is on commercial operations and we found that the club was not able to recreate the environment that we enjoyed at Borden. The loss of revenue due to these declines left us with little prospect of maintaining a vigorous club. By moving to Edenvale we hoped to turn that around.

The decision to relocate to Edenvale has been, in all respects, a positive move for the club. We knew that there would be immediate gains financially as our rent went from $600 a month to $225. But we were hoping for, and have realized, much more than that. Edenvale has that general aviation atmosphere that we lost when the club left Borden. As anyone who has spent an afternoon at Edenvale knows, there is a certain hustle and bustle about the place that is contagious. Membership is up, flying hours are up and club events have been well attended. As of November 30th flying revenue is up 18% over last year and membership is on the way back up. We have had three new members join in the last quarter alone.

The move to Edenvale and settling in kept us busy throughout the spring and summer and by fall it was obvious that we had made the right move. We had not met as a club, though, since the Annual General Meeting back in March so it was time to schedule some club events. Over the past several years we typically saw perhaps a quarter of the membership come out to a club meeting so imagine my delight when over two thirds turned out to our first club meeting on September 27th. There was obvious interest and it was heartening to see so many people at the presentation that I gave on going beyond 'Direct-to' with GPS.

This proved to be no fluke as even more people took in Cliff Durrwatcher's presentation on the Toronto Area Control Centre the following month. We followed that up with a tour of Toronto ACC and again interest was strong. While not as many people were able to come out to the tour, those that did got way more than the cook's tour. Wayne Bell, our tour guide, had to practically throw us out after our sixty minute tour stretched to more than two hours. In December many gathered one final time prior to the holidays at our annual Christmas party.

Let's keep that momentum going as we head into the second half of winter and into the spring. The next meeting, which is a Saturday morning event, is scheduled for January 26th at 10 a.m. We have invited Canadian Owners and Pilots Associations (COPA) director for Southern Ontario, Harold Fry to speak. Harold will be talking about COPA initiatives at both the local and national levels. He will also be asking if the Borden Flying Club would like to participate in the Platinum Triangle poker run this summer.

On Thursday February 21st Randy Vannes will be reprising one of the three safety seminars that the club purchased from AOPA (the US equivalent of COPA). He last gave these two years ago and members have been asking Randy to give them again ever since. The evening consists of accident re-creations using actual ATC recordings. Randy walks us through these re-creations examining the chain of events and decision making that lead to the accident. As he uses real ATC recordings of events, some of which led to fatal accidents, it is a moving experience.

For our March meeting co-owners Glen Alton and John Galloway will be giving a presentation on their 3 year odyssey of refurbishing their Republic Seabee C-FGZX. Packed with pictures, they will walk us through their journey of striping the aircraft down to its most basic components and reconstructing it all including installing a General Motors automotive engine. Not to be missed!

We will end the winter/spring season with the club's Annual General Meeting which is scheduled for Saturday April 12th. At the AGM the club management presents their reports on the status of the club and any future plans. This is also when we elect a new Board of Directors so plan on attending. All of our club meetings are open to the public so feel free to invite friends and family to come out.

As for how much flying we see during the winter is, of course, mostly a function of weather. December has been a tough month on that front - pun intended! Bookings have been good; however, Mother Nature for the most part, had other plans. Let's hope that the rest of winter brings favourable skies. Winter flying not only brings weather challenges but also ones of aircraft handling. This is the first year since our Borden days that CMQ has not been in a heated hangar. I cannot over stress the need to pre-heat the airplane. CMQ is equipped with a Tanis heater and it is absolutely essential that you use it. Below is a chart that gives minimum times for applying pre-heat before attempting to start the engine. Following pre-heat and engine start you must also extend your ground time to give the engine time to come up to operating temperature. You should not attempt a run-up until the oil temperature is in the normal range. Everyone must follow these minimums as the consequences are crucial to flight safety. There are numerous cases of total engine failure, often during climb out, following a cold start.

Temperature	Minimum pre-heat
5° to 0°C	30 min
-1°C to -5°C	1 hour
-6°C to -10°C	2 hours
-11°C to -15°C	2.5 hours
-16°C to -20°C	3 hours
Operations not authorized when OAT at field elevation is less that -20°C. Above guideline applies when using the insulated engine cover in no wind conditions (i.e. in the hangar). Always ensure that the engine cover is in place before using the Tanis heater. Double the times if A/C is parked outside. From www.tanisaircraft.com

Winter also poses issues of rapidly changing weather, runway contamination and taxing hazards. If you have not done so perhaps this is a good time to review all of your winter operations. AOPA has a number of useful resources at their Safety Hot Spot: Winter Weather.

With winter weather and holiday commitments what they are, it can be hard to maintain one's sixty day currency. To compound the problem Mike Coombs, one of two club check pilots, heads to sunnier climes come January 4th and does not return until the clocks spring forward. Randy Vanness does yeoman service during this period handling currency checks on his own. Unlike Mike, Randy is not a man of leisure and spends his working hours in the cockpit of an Airbus 340. This means that if you need a currency check you should plan for it well ahead of time. The easiest way to get hold of Randy is to give him a call. If he has not returned your call within a couple of days he is probably in Tokyo or Hong Kong in which case you should send him an email. You will find Randy's phone number on the Directors page of the club's website and in the members' online database.

If you meet the challenges of weather and currency head on you will be rewarded with some fabulous flying. There is nothing like a few circuits in CMQ, with its already impressive climb performance, on a cold winter day, to enjoy a really spectacular rate of climb - touch and goes are never this easy in the summer. And when spring does make its appearance we can look forward to continuing airport improvements. A second runway and lights are planned for this coming year.

The move to Edenvale has confirmed something that I have always suspected. That is that the Borden Flying Club is as much about community as it is about flying an airplane. There are dozens of places where you can rent an airplane for an hour. The Borden Flying Club though is about sharing the love of flying with friends and family. Whether it is coming out to a club meeting, a summer BBQ or bringing the whole family to the aerodrome for lunch on the patio and watching the planes come and go. It is about spending time together and building relationships. That is what the move to Edenvale is really all about. So take the time to talk with other airplane owners, visiting the folks from the Collingwood Classics Aircraft Foundation and be sure to say hello to the airport staff. For me, being a pilot is just a great excuse to spend time around an airport - ours and other ones - and getting there is ALL the fun. And like all of life's great endeavours, it is all the sweeter when shared with friends and family.

May the coming year bring you that much closer to realizing your dreams and ambitions with health, happiness and friendship along the way.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Fred Simpson
President@bordenflyingclub.com