Greetings NSA members and member invitees, 

This Sunday our president, Marye Anne “Chickadee” Read, handed over the reins of Presidency to the Vice President Pete “Skimmer” Casti. Rob “Stoney” Stone” handed off the treasurer’s responsibility to our secretary Gene “Firebird ” Benson. Peter Ross and Ciprian Pop hold their same positions on the board. Pete Casti is the new Chief instructor for NSA.

Chickadee and Stoney are staying on the NSA board the rest of the year to help things along and give guidance as needed. 

I am the only regular local instructor left for NSA. Stoney will do the occasional BFR till September to help my workload and is not taking on any students. Curtis “Auk” Wheeler will fill in to help instruct when his very busy schedule allows. Remember I have something that resembles a life outside of NSA and I provide instruction for free every weekend to keep NSA afloat. Please be kind and work with us and my busy schedule for training needs. 

Just as planned for this year, the ASK-21 that Stoney and Neita own is going up for sale very soon.

My mission is still going to be on safety. I will promote the good will of each of our members to take care of equipment and their fellow pilots. I will focus on the growth of our membership and the creation and maintaining of high quality, safe, pilots.

State of the union address,

I know many of you have been out of touch with the club since COVID-19. NSA is rapidly changing in the needs of our membership demographics. Recent maintenance costs have dwindled our funds to the point of emergency spending stoppage for only the most dire needs. These past few years have shown that the club struggles to support itself without the generous financial boosts that Bob “Chukar” Spielman was giving the club over the years. There were also others that contributed time and money to keep the club as affordable as possible along the way. We can’t thank our generous donors enough! 

Our current membership has 16 paid members. We are about to add 3 more in the coming months as students finish their training. There is great potential in this area for summer 2022 and I plan to maintain a minimum of 20 paying members per year. 

The NSA board is evaluating how many aircraft we should have on the line, how many aircraft should stay in their trailers and sit out the next annual inspection cycle. We are also considering selling the least used aircraft to help buffer unforeseen future maintenance issues. We will cater what aircraft we have on the flight line to fit the average type of flying our membership participates in to lessen our overhead cost.

How do we get strong again? We need to get the “flying family feel” back into NSA. COVID-19 drove us apart. Erika Gillette has resurrected the family BBQ’s and lunches. I know it seems ridiculous to come out when you aren’t current in sailplanes and I am over-booked with students to get your BFR done, but, I bet when you are here, plans will be hatched, club soaring challenges will be formulated, new friends will be made, and our new pilots will have the peer support they need. 

I am pleased that we have added new pilots and new members to the club in the last 2 years. Let’s try and keep it going.

In order to not fry what may or may not be left of your brain, that is all I have for now.

Standby more for emails from your president,

Sincerely,

Pete “Skimmer” Casti

President and Chief flight instructor NSA

(Sometimes I get to tow too)