We had our meeting at Reading Airport on November 4th with many ideas discussed and lots of participation.
We look forward to another great year of flying and enjoying travel in our wonderful machines during 2024. Collectively we layed out these events for the coming year:
February 10 – Aram Basmadjian – will present, “Use of the Autopilot in Instrument Flying,” Lancaster, PA KLNS. Aram is a former airline pilot, current FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, and current owner of a V Tail Bonanza.
April 20, Montauk, NY for lunch. Walk to the great restaurant. Michael Madigan to organize.
May 18, Westfield, MA (KBAF), great lunch spot and there is a museum to peruse. Michael Shehl to organize (I’ll help). Tentative date.
May 30 to June 2 – Chatham, MA (KCQX) on Cape Cod. On the Atlantic Ocean, known for its beaches, including Lighthouse Beach near the landmark 19th-century Chatham Lighthouse. The Chatham Railroad Museum exhibits model trains and train artifacts in a former depot dating from 1887. To the south, Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge provides a vast habitat for migratory birds. Michael Madigan and I will organize.
June 6-9 – Formation flying clinic at Barnes (KBAF), Paul Stavrides to organize
June 23 – 29, Twillingate Newfoundland and Blanc Sablon, Quebec (near Labrador). I have been to Twillingate and it really is the iceberg capital of the world. Twillingate is a 2-hour drive north from Gander which has good FBOs but no 100LL. For those without Tip Tanks, Deer Lake has fuel.
Blanc Sablon does have 100LL. In Blanc Sablon, the Red Bay Basque Whaling Station was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in June 2013. In the 16th century, thousands of Basque whaling ships swarmed Red Bay to hunt whales and export them to Europe, and today you can walk through the whaling town of Red Bay and rewind the history.
August 24 – KSCH Schenectady – Lunch and museum visit. Michael Shehl to organize (I’ll help).
September 21 – Basin Harbor (B06) for lunch. Maritime museum on site, great hiking trails, option to stay the weekend at the resort. Runway is 3000’ of grass in good condition.
October – Harley Davidson factory tour, York, PA (KTHV). They suspended factory tours for covid but plan to restart them for 2024. Fly into York, PA airport & we’ll get ground transport.
November 2 – Back to Reading (KRDG) for our planning session.
Join us at the Reading, PA Airport (KRDG) for the annual recap of 2023 and to discuss plans for 2024.
Arrive at 9:30AM, meet 10AM, lunch around 11:30 or noon.
An airline is coming in at 4PM and they want us out of there by 2PM.
Ask for parking by the restaurant. If you will be there beyond 2PM, park at Millenium and walk over to the main terminal building (short walk). That is also where you would get fuel.
Please come with your ideas for next year. We need your help.
Any of you who have been paying attention to our finances (I know a few anyway) understand the challenges we have faced that fortunately are behind us.
Rich Campbell was the NEBG treasurer since before I became President, under Presidents Paul Damiano and Alan Witkin. Rich was always very thorough and dependable, and things always worked. Eventually Rich reduced his flying by selling part interest of his airplane to others and eventually he stopped flying altogether.
I reached out and Chris Nowak agreed to be treasurer. The problems started when Chris went to move the bank account to another bank more convenient to him. The banks wanted documentation of who we were. Our non-profit corporate registrations had lapsed long before my time and the bank froze everything when they realized that. Chris and I tried to solve the issues, but we got in over our head. Chris eventually moved out of the area.
On our Yarmouth trip, Tayo rented cars for all our ground transportation, and we could not reimburse him. I paid Tayo while we sorted through things. I also incurred costs at the BPPP event.
Thanks to Brian Seltzer, a NEBG member from the Harrisburg area for stepping up. He is in the credit card industry and deals with banks. We dug through history and the story to too much to tell.
With Brian’s great help, we closed the account from Trust Bank and got a check for $12,397.13 on May 11, 2023. But we needed more steps to open a new account; we had to create corporate documents and register ourselves. We needed to create bylaws, officers, find our EIN number (it was with the state of NJ from a past president who dies long ago in North Carolina).
Michael Madigan, recent past president of ABS, a retired lawyer and a long-time member of NEBG, was also very helpful.
We met face to face at KRDG on June 18th to review the documents.
By June 21, we:
Registered with IRS and got an EIN Number.
Registered with the IRS for Non-Profit Status and paid the fee to register for this status in the amount of $600.00
Registered with the State of PA for the Fictious Name and Paid the filing fee of $70.00
Registered with the State of PA of the Incorporation Status as a Non-Profit and paid the fee of $125.00.
By June 28 the bank agreed to set up the account. The new bank is Members 1st FCU. Our contact is Jay Reale, 717-561-0925 ext 71905. The account was opened, the check from Trust was deposited, I was reimbursed for long ago expenses, and we have money in the account.
In the meantime, when Paul Stavrides created our new web site, it started collected funds from PayPal. That money now goes into our bank account. Thanks Paul.
The bylaws will be posted on the website shortly.
A big thanks to all who helped resolve all this, especially Brian.
Our officers are now:
Mike McNamara, President (myself)
Aram Basmadjian, Secretary
Brian Seltzer, Treasurer
Paul Stavrides, Vice President and Webmaster.
None of the officers are reimbursed for their efforts.
St. Pierre, France and Newfoundland, Canada
I was another very memorable vacation with great friends.
5 couples travelled in 4 airplanes:
Michael Madigan and Bella in N407PC, an A36,
Brent Hippert and Jean in N2UZ, one of the last V35Bs made,
Tom and Ellen Wallace in N58GW, a BE58 Baron with passengers Eric Spain (who left his airplane in Tom’s Allentown hangar) and Tobi Jaeger and
Ginny (my wife) and I in my 65 Debonair.
We staged our entrance to France from 3 different places, Halifax, NS, Sydney, NS and Bangor, Maine (myself). We all arrived around 3:30 PM local time.
I was the one who left from Bangor, in 300’ overcast. I climbed on top and Bangor approach said:
“Do you have time for a question?”
“Sure”
“How much fuel does your airplane need to fly nonstop to France?”
“Most people don’t know that St. Pierre is a French island off the coast of Newfoundland.”
“My computer shows that you are headed to the Paris Region.”
“It is a 3 hour flight.”
The entire area is known for fog and we did see many low IFR approaches but we arrived in St. Pierre in sunshine, a rare event. The 4 little airplanes were a novelty for them and the whole town knew about us.
A week is too much to write in a newsletter, but we had great food, great hikes, did a bus tour in St. Pierre and took a boat to another island, visited great museums and a church, and learned a lot about our Northeastern Maritime neighbors. Our boat tour at Terra Nova National Park was cancelled for weather but we did some hiking and visited some small towns.
Our meals together were phenomenal, at great restaurants.
The story is best told in pictures:
Worth the hike
St. Pierre
St. Pierre boats
St. John's
Signal Hill
Salvage Island
Old Wreck
Newfoundland Scenery
Marins Island
LFSP
Hiking Signal Hill
Great dinner
Foggy Departure
Departing France for Canada.jpg
Defending Marins WW2
CYYT
Canada-France-Trip
Kennebunkport, October 6-8
We are staying at the Cape Arundel Inn & Resort. I have already booked my room; they have a variety of accommodations.
Kennebunkport Maine is widely known as one of New England’s most popular tourist destinations. This charming coastal town isn’t just a great place to vacation. It’s also full of history. From gorgeous beaches and scenic lighthouses to boat tours and unique shopping boutiques and restaurants, there’s plenty to do.
The Kennebunk River runs through Dock Square, separating the towns of Kennebunkport and Kennebunk. It’s just one mile from Dock Square to the breakwater where the Kennebunk River meets the ocean. Both the river and the ocean have played an important role in the development of the region as a shipping and fishing area. The river is still a main feature in downtown Kennebunkport, with some buildings built right on the water.
Kennebunkport has also become well known as a hub for arts and culture. With inspirational scenery everywhere, it’s no surprise that it has an artist community.
In fact, artists have flocked to the town for years for its scenic beauty, and now Kennebunkport is home to many art galleries and museums. Some of these are dedicated to the works of local artists, while others showcase the history of the region.
The town is loaded with shops, galleries, and studios featuring paintings, photography, wind sculptures, and more. You can even find jewelry and kaleidoscopes created right here. All of these are great ways to take a Maine memory home with you.
CALENDAR
October 5-8 – Advanced Formation Clinic, Martinsburg, WV See: https://b2osh.org/
