RENO STEAD AIRPORT ASSOCIATION
General Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
The Reno Stead Airport Association (RSAA) bi-monthly general meeting was called to order by President Tom Hall at 5:08 pm at the Reno Stead Terminal Conference Room, Tuesday, July 9, 2019 as follows:
Welcome and Attendance: Tom Hall, President, welcomed all to the meeting. Association Officers Jack Buchold, Secretary, and Tracy Rhodes, IT Manager were in attendance. Directors Lew Gage and Terry Matter, RARA Representative were in attendance, as was Guest Member Mike Scott, RTS Manager. Dave Miller, Treasurer, and Directors Lin Manning, Bob McLaughlin, and Alby Redick, Aviation Classics and Dan Ross were not in attendance
Members/Guests In Attendance: Special Guest(s): None except the speaker, Larry Cheek.
1. Minutes of Last Meeting: The Minutes of the previous general membership meeting had been previously approved without comment.
2. Financial Report: Jack Buchold reported for Dave Miller that we had $3,797.18 in our account, a continuation of the previous financial report of over $3 thousand in our account.
We were reminded that the new membership year began 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: Jack Buchold reported 125 listed names on the roster per Dave Miller, 86 names on our email distribution list, and 65 paid memberships.
4. Program: The program was provided by Larry Cheek, FSDO Representative, Flight Standards District Office, Reno District, Nevada FSDO.
Larry focused on the likelihood of pilot shortages, with far fewer military service pilots coming out of training who previously comprised 70% of total airline and related pilots, now comprising only 30%. He talked about cadet training and NASA launches requirements, and other problems constraining pilot availability.
He spoke about education being his primary focus, doing fifty to sixty presentations per year all over the state, and the provision of a new FAA safety briefing magazine to help alleviate misinformation on standards, and answered questions about Stead itself and other airports, with a written plan for analysis hopefully by August or September reflecting on what is a pattern, what are the altitudes for different types of aircraft, and other pertinent specific to that airport.
He said that within the past two days there had been a near miss in the Minden area, with a likely separation of only fifty feet. He described the aircraft, the pilots experience levels, and the discussions he had with each pilot concerning the issues that had contributed to the potential catastrophic mishap. It was not a pretty picture, but it had a lucky outcome. He passed out a survey noting that of the common errors on downwind legs, the most bothersome was too long, at 44%, next was too wide, at 25%.
5. RTS Manager’s Report: Mike Scott, RTS Airport Manager reminded us that if you would like to contact him, his twitter feed is @RTSAV8TR.
After returning from Normandy, he first talked about a couple of museums he had visited, Lew Gage brought up a couple he liked, and other names were bandied about.
He said there was an RTAA Board meeting this week, and they were redoing the Dassault falcon lease. Insofar as the RNO re-do, 16L will be under construction, it is nine thousand feet used primarily for GA, so we here at Stead are likely to have more activity here as they are pushed out from RNO.
As far as Stead is concerned, there are no plans for a rent survey, they closed out their fiscal year last week, finished fog sealing the new runway, did crack sealer in hangar rows, reminded us about the ramp reconstruction and the access roads currently underway.
He said Tac Air needs the eight thousand foot runway, so if possible, use 14/32, and he will probably do a NOTAM about AGL requirements. He also discussed the CAP Gliders demo day launch off Charlie, initial permit for off of gravel, weekends in the morning.
6. RTAA Trustee Liaison Report: Shaun Carey was not in attendance.
7. RARA Report: Terry Matter said it had been a very successful PRS, with over 80 students. The Formula 1 race class is growing, their normal class is 24 race planes, this year they currently have 32 aircraft registered. Only the Thunderbirds will be staging downtown, all Race classes and all other performers will operate from Stead during the National Championship Air Races.
8. Webmaster Report: Tracy Rhodes wrote that he had published nine articles, had updated the software 15 times, and updated WordPress to version 5.2.2. Over the previous month, we had 291 visits, an average of four pages reviewed, and 109 visits were from mobile devices, for 37% of the total. Of the 1203 pages reviewed, home page had 171 visits, hangar space had 170 visits, and for sale had 140 visits. Our address is still https://steadusers.org.
9. RTAG Report: Bob Meurer was not in attendance.
10. Next RSAA General Meeting: August 13, 2019
Mike Scott: Normandy Presentation
Pancake Breakfast August 17 at Tom Hall’s hangar
RTAG BBQ August 3, MUST RSVP to Karen
11. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 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.