I’ve been away from posting for a while. Let’s see if I can get more items listed here.
Here’s a summary of what the chapter’s been doing, and what we can expect to come up in the next year.
Here we go starting our ninth year for the Chapter. We’ve gone from a handful of aviation enthusiasts to about 35 members now. Our first pancake breakfasts were prepared on a small gas grill. One thing to note is that over all this time we’ve held the price the same.
We’ve made a lot of progress over the years. Some of our breakfasts have attracted over 100 people. Our corn roast has also become very popular. But our main accomplishment so far is how much we’ve progressed in our aviation education programs. Since we took over the Taildragger safety seminar and Fly-in about four years ago, we’ve expanded our programs quite a bit.
We now hold a second safety seminar in the spring, and in the past we had informational displays at the East Windsor Rotary Family Day, and at the FAA SafetyFest. Over the past two years we’ve developed a very successful Young Eagles program in association with Chapter 166 and several area aviation organizations.
One of the founders of the chapter, Mike Koczera has continued to support the chapter with the use of the airport for our meetings and events. We’ve helped the airport back by providing the television for the pilot lounge, painted the runway markings and sprayed weed killer on the pavement to help it last longer.
The past Presidents of the chapter have set a good foundation for us. Mike got the chapter going for the first few years and provided his aviation experience to teach his skills at several meetings. Eric Dixon then guided the chapter through the development years where many other organizations lose the fresh enthusiasm and fade away.
We have a good footing for the future. In the past, our web site won a chapter award at Airventure. The web site provides the timeliest information to our members. Our newsletter which provides more in-depth information to the members will now be published by Charlie Falke, who is also taking over most of the web site tasks.
We now look toward what we can accomplish in the coming year, and in subsequent years. We plan on continuing our two Young Eagles events along with Chapter 166. We will also maintain our ongoing relationship with the FAA Safety Team to hold spring and fall safety seminars. The social events won’t be ignored either. We will continue to build on the breakfasts and cookouts we hold. Improved publicity may get additional visitors to help our fundraising effort.
An ongoing request is to have a building or restoration project for the members. The problem is that we have no place to work on it. In order to pay for the construction or rental of a building along with operation, we will need to increase our income significantly. In the past year the chapter obtained non-profit status which may be the key to us being able to obtain more substantial contributions.
To accomplish this, and to continue our programs, we need the participation of our members. The chapter would dissolve without our great volunteers. We can only accomplish more with greater involvement. If we are able to develop a workshop, the chapter will be able to have activity at the airport on most days of the year. We’re still a relatively small group, so I would like to ask everyone to see if they know someone who they can recruit as another member.
EAA isn’t an organization where you just send in your dues, and get a magazine in return. It’s about member activity. We have the potential of a lot of achievements in the coming years. Your commitment and enthusiasm can make it happen.