RENO STEAD AIRPORT ASSOCIATION Meeting Minutes
May 8, 2018
The Reno Stead Airport Association (RSAA) bi-monthly general meeting was called to order by President Tom Hall at 5:18 pm at the Reno Stead Terminal Conference Room, Tuesday, May 8, 2018 as follows:
Welcome and Attendance: Tom Hall, President, welcomed all at the meeting. Association Officers, Jack Buchold, Secretary, Tracy Rhodes, IT Manager, Directors Lew Gage, Lin Manning, Terry Matter, RARA Representative, Bob McLaughlin and Alby Redick, Aviation Classics, and Dan Ross were in attendance. Board Members not in attendance were: Dave Miller, Treasurer, and Guest Member Mike Scott, RTS Manager was also not in attendance.
Members/Guests In Attendance: Jan Bishop, Cricket Clark, Liane Conway, Carmen Gage, Bob Meurer of RTAG and Paul Watson attended the meeting. Special Guest(s): Shaun Carey, Chairman, RTAA.
1. Minutes of Last Meeting: The Approval of the Minutes of the March 13, 2018 meeting was unanimous. The regularly scheduled Board meeting was held on April 10, 2018.
2. Financial Report: Dave Miller was not in attendance, but the reported activity in our account left a balance of $2,853.63
We were reminded that The new membership year begins January 1, 2018 and ends December 31, 2018, 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’s reported numbers were 119 listed names on the roster, 101 names on our email distribution list, and 53 paid memberships.
4. Program: The program was provided by Roger Collins, Retired Lockheed Corporate Vice President. He provided an extensive review of the life of Amelia Mary Earhart, First Female Aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic, who received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. She was a pacesetter for her time, a fearless human being and aviatrix. He pointed out that a year after Lindbergh’s flight, 55 people in 18 planes, including five women, had attempted the same flight, while three planes made it, and fourteen people died, including three of the women. Amelia was the sixteenth American woman to get the FAI pilot’s license, at the time the US was not issuing pilot’s licenses. She flew from Newfoundland to South Wales on June 17, 1928 which immediately gained her fame, a ticker tape parade in Washington D.C., and a meeting with President Calvin Coolidge. During 1930, she became the first President of the “99’s” and in 1931 she married George Putnam, the publisher and in 1932 bought a Lockheed Vega and flew across the Atlantic in 18 hours. In 1936 she did 185 speeches and bought a Lockheed Electra, had it specially outfitted for a 27,000 mile journey, but on a flight to Hawaii had a crash landing, the plane was shipped back to the mainland for repair, and in 1937 she started off again, but flew east, rather than west. She disappeared on July 2, 1937 in part due to extremely poor communications capabilities on the trip, the lack of consistent time zones, and perhaps a fuel shortage. The three prime stories about the demise of Amelia and her navigator Fred Noonan were: they ran out of gas; they starved to death on an island close to Howland; or they were captured by the Japanese. Roger recommended the book “Amelia Earhart – the Mystery Solved“ by Elgin Long, if one were interested in the complete story. He noted finally, that the navy was conducting a search of that area for another reason, and that there was hope that the submersibles when scouting the 17,000 foot deep flat sea floor might come across the remains of the Lockheed Electra.
5. RTS Manager’s Report: Mike Scott, RTS Airport Manager was not available, but Dani Austin had left a projected open schedule of hangar fire inspections times available for any in attendance to sign up for. She had previously also noted that she tried to keep a consistent and up-to-date master schedule of all activities at Stead, and she encouraged everyone to send in their activities to her, so all could enjoy a complete schedule’s benefits. The master construction diagram of runway activity was also posted for all to see.
Mike Scott had previously reminded all in attendance that if you would like to contact him, his twitter feed is @RTSAV8TR
6. RARA Trustee Liaison Report: Terry Matter reminded everyone that PRS will be June 7-10 with flying on June 9-10, and formation training (FAST) for the sport and jet classes will be before that, using waiver time. 14/32 will be the only runway used, and the September racing is bringing back two unlimiteds, Miss America, and a P-51 “Goldfinger”. Mike Scott had previously said it would be tough to get in and out, but the tower would be open as race control.
7. RTAA Trustee Liaison Report: Shaun Carey reported that the most recent Trustee Board Meeting was primarily concerned with the financial review of the master plan, oriented towards the first ten years. The first phase may be moving the rental cars to their own area, perhaps an off-site location. Their goals include three concourse terminals, expansion from approximately 80 feet now, to 140 feet. Since Congress has not passed the $4 dollar flight origination fee, funding is likely to be extremely limited. An upcoming agenda item is leasing fees for RNO, which meeting Alby Redick encouraged everyone to attend. Shaun then spoke extensively about the ongoing discussions between NDOT and the Airport Authority as to the likely interchange locations and routes, spaghetti bowl problems and adding additional lanes down to Plumb, with two exits to the airport. The likelihood is that it could be a billion dollar construction project, all things considered.
Mike Scott had previously noted that there would be public meeting in May for discussing the master plan for the commercial services airport. These included the restriction on large aircraft not able to use RNO due to inadequate runway length, the terrain of surrounding mountains and high summer temperatures compounding the issue.
8. Webmaster Report: Tracy Rhodes said that the analytics over the past thirty days reflected a decrease in visits of about 30% overall, last period was overwhelmed by searches for the airport’s location, due to drone testing. The most visited page is the one that reflects the “for sale/rent” information. The previous month’s statistics are noted below, and 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.
Work Accomplished Statistics over the last month were: five articles were published and the website software was updated twenty six times. He noted that it is the responsibility of the ad requesting party to notify him when the item is sold or let, so that ad placements remain current. There were 337 visits by 263 different users, as compared to a high point of 482 visits by 416 different users searching out the drone testing information in February/March. This past period, 119 (35%) of those visits were by mobile devices. Over the past few months, mobile devices have remained steady at over 30% of all visits. Tracy said there were 1,479 total page views with the most visited pages: For Sale 545; Home Page 278; Join/Renew 24 visits. Average visit duration was 2.05, with 4.4 pages reviewed. Tracy is now in the Web Hosting business, if you need web site assistance or a new web site developed, please give Tracy a call.
9. RTAG Report: Bob Meurer noted the May 12 RTAG Challenge flyout to KEKO (Elko) for breakfast at 9:30 at the Coffee Mug, which is a sponsor and a required destination for the Challenge. If interested, RSVP to jrundle.rtag@hotmail.com. Bob also provided a handout concerning the Hangar Rate Study meeting May 17 at the full Board of Trustees Boardroom location in the RNO main terminal building, second floor at 9AM, which noted from Karen Inda and Jim Rundle: I am once again encouraging all members to attend the upcoming full Board of Airport Trustees meeting on May 17th, starting at 9 AM at the Trustee’s Boardroom in the main terminal building, second floor. The subject is the two agenda items: hanger rents and fees, and a freeze on all rents and fees. These are the same items that we discussed at the April Special Meeting of the Users’ Committee, as the two items were forwarded to the full Board agenda for action. The Board needs to hear from all pilots on this important subject, particularly those that have hangers at either Reno or Stead .
Team… it is critically important that you attend to show support for this crucial discussion, as it impacts what you currently are paying and what you will pay in the future. To date, the airport authority has not disclosed how it calculated the per-square-foot rate for hangers, the square-footage calculation or methodologies, and any additional charges that have been added to your hanger bill.
There is a public comment card which become part of the public record. The public discussion is important for the transparency of this process. We need as many written comments as possible!
10. EAA Report: Tracy Rhodes reported that on April 28 and May 5 the previously postponed Young Eagles event flew 37 kids. He thanked Tom Hall, who had personally flown 12. He also spoke to the June 2 EAA meeting, where a discussion of the FAASTeam will be led by Larry Check.
11. Other Matters: Dan Ross spoke about the new FAA approach rules about monitoring communications ten miles out for non-tower airports;
AC 90-66B – Non-Towered Airport Flight Operations
March 13, 2018 Responsible Office AFS-800 Description: This AC calls attention to regulatory requirements, recommended operations, and communications procedures for operating at an airport without a control tower or an airport with a control tower that operates only part time. It recommends traffic patterns, communications phraseology, and operational procedures for use by aircraft, lighter-than-air aircraft, gliders, parachutes, rotorcraft, and ultralight vehicles. This AC stresses safety as the primary objective in these operations. This AC is related to (14 CFR) part 1, § 1.1 (traffic pattern), and part 91, §§ 91.113 and 91.126. the right-of-way rules under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 1, § 1.1 (traffic pattern), and part 91, §§ 91.113 and 91.126.
Dan also spoke about the new manager at Carson, Ken Moen, who was having an open house on June 23;Alby Redick reminded everyone about the leasing rate meeting; attending RTAG meetings; and high performance practicing for the races; Jan Bishop reminded attendees about the May 15 Pathways to Aviation meeting; and the June 16 flight companion seminar.
12. PANCAKE BREAKFAST: May 19, 8-10 AM
Next RSAA Board Meeting: JUNE 12, 2018
Next RSAA General Meeting: July 10, 2018
13. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 PM
Jack Buchold, Secretary