RENO STEAD AIRPORT ASSOCIATION
Meeting Minutes
December 11, 2018
The Reno Stead Airport Association (RSAA) bi-monthly general meeting was called to order by President Tom Hall at 5:15 pm at the Reno Stead Terminal Conference Room, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 as follows:
Welcome and Attendance: Tom Hall, President, welcomed all at the meeting. Association Officers, Jack Buchold, Secretary, Dave Miller, Treasurer,and Tracy Rhodes, IT Manager, as well as Director Terry Matter, RARA Representative, were in attendance. Guest Member Mike Scott, RTS Manager was also in attendance. Directors not in attendance were: Lew Gage, Lin Manning, Bob McLaughlin, Alby Redick, Aviation Classics, and Dan Ross.
Members/Guests and Special Guests In Attendance: Ken Kelly, Federal Aviation Administration.
1. Minutes of Last Meeting: The Minutes of the previous general membership meeting were approved without comment. The most recent scheduled Board meeting was held on November 13, 2018.
2. Financial Report: Dave Miller noted a balance of $2,928.47 in our account.
We were reminded that The new membership year begins January 1, 2019 and ends December 31, 2019, dues are $20 per year. Dues can be paid: check or cash by mail at:
Reno Stead Airport Association
5499 Alpha Avenue
Reno, NV 89506
or PayPal from the Website (www.steadusers.org), or cash/check to Dave Miller at the Miller Speed Sports hangar.
3. Membership Report: Dave Miller had previously reported 127 listed names on the roster, there were now 131, with 103 names on our email distribution list, and 65 paid memberships.
4. Program: The program was provided by Tracy Rhodes, who did a lengthy and very informative review of the ForeFlight application currently available for aircraft operations.
Foreflight is currently the most popular of the currently available flight planning applications for the iPhone or iPad. This presentation covered the options users have for Foreflight subscriptions using Apple devices and External GPS/ADS-B solutions and could help in preflight planning and situational awareness. Individuals in attendance were able to get hands-on experience if they brought their iPad or other device, as wi-fi was available, through the efforts of Mike Scott, Stead Airport Manager.
Tracy started with a posted disclaimer that he had no affiliation with ForeFlight or Apple, he has used the Foreflight application almost as long as it has been available. He noted that the older Basic and Pro versions at $75 and $100 subscription costs had been discontinued and now are available as the Basic Plus and Pro Plus subscriptions with more features included with them. Foreflight recently made available the Performance Plus plan directed more toward high performance aircraft. If one were a NAFI (National Association of Flight Instructors) or SAFE (Society of Aviation and Flight Educators) Member there is a 33.3% Foreflight subscription discount available, which would actually more than pay for a new NAFI or SAFE membership if one were to purchase the Pro Plus or Performance Plus plans. An instructor certificate is not required to join either organization.
Tracy went through a very thorough discussion of selection fields available to customize both the look and the feel of the application, to personalize it to the pilot’s preferences for numeric and graphic visualization and pertinent data for flight planning, time in the air, and successful completion of the mission. All in attendance were able to ask questions on the fly to have Tracy point out the area under discussion on their device, and to participate in the overall review of system attributes.
President Hall thanked him for the very informative discussion, and noted that he was sorry that some people had arrived late due to the freeway tie-up, and had missed the early portion of the presentation.
RTS Manager’s Report: Mike Scott, RTS Airport Manager briefed everyone that quite a number of General Aviation questions had come in recently, including an expression of interest from a Colorado parachute jump operation, and the Civil Air Patrol asking about trying a glider operation using a winch device for launching. A drone test #4 with NASA had been discussed for March or April of 2019, using an “urban air mobility” concept since the hangar layout at the airport appears to be a reasonable replication of a town in a populated environment. Santa Claus is expected on December 15, coming in on the CAF yellow biplane. In addition, the North Valleys Library will be a cosponsor, donating books during the 10AM until noon hours. It was also noted that the property building immediately to the south of the terminal, will be torn down within the next six months. It is currently used as storage for RARA, and contains asbestos so remediation will first take place then demolition will be accompanied by traffic rerouting, closing the primary entrance to the airport, and probably also gate 180, while opening gate 150 or another gate that was opened for the runway repaving project, while installing new signage and establishing new traffic patterns. A further matter of discussion was the ending of the ANG lease during early 2019. He reviewed the fact that over $20 million had been approved for runway reconstruction, while about $6.2 million is expected to be needed for ramp and taxiway design and reconstruction, probably extending over a three year period.
Mike then presented a runway core memento to President Hall, in recognition of the RSAA and airport tenant assistance contributions during the lengthy process of 8/26 reconstruction.
6. RARA Trustee Liaison Report: Shaun Carey was not in attendance.
7. RARA Report: Terry Matter did not discuss RARA matters.
8. Webmaster Report: Tracy Rhodes presented a Work Accomplished and Analytics report to the Secretary. The report reflected that over the past thirty days the website had been working very well; two articles were published, the website software was updated 14 times, and WordPress was updated to version 5.0.1. Analytics were; 326 visits by 265 different users, almost three pages reviewed per user, and there were 112 visits by mobile devices, for 34% of total visits. Our address is still https://steadusers.org. The most recent newsletter is on our site under “newsletters”, and the hangar sub-lease example is under the airport menu below GAMS.
9. RTAG Report: Bob Meurer talked about the committee formed to work on the hangar lease issue.
10. Next RSAA Board Meeting: DEFERRED
Next RSAA General Meeting: FEBRUARY 12, 2019
Program is TBA
11. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 PM
Jack Buchold, Secretary
RENO STEAD AIRPORT ASSOCIATION (RSAA) MISSION STATEMENT:
To represent the interests of all Tenants on the Reno-Stead Airport including Aircraft Owners, Fixed Base Operators, Aircraft Repair Facilities, United States Government Agencies and all parties of interest;
To ensure that all Tenants have the opportunity to speak with a united voice to the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority (owner of the airfield facility), the Federal Aviation Administration and the Local Governments relative to safe and affordable flying in Northern Nevada;
To enrich and promote the reputation of General Aviation within our community; and To promote a “Good Neighbor” policy with the Nevada National Guard, support facility improvements that enhance the Tenant experience and encourage affordable services, fuel prices and hangar rentals from all service providers operating at the Reno Stead Facility.