Gateway Pilots 
May 2009 Newsletter
From the April Meeting
John Bales
John Bales, Director of Aviation at Spirit of St. Louis Airport, regaled us with interesting tidbits about a local aviation treasure which we take for granted. Your poor correspondent scribbled as quickly as he could but Mr. Bales was a veritable fount of knowledge so these are just a few of the highlights. (In case you missed that subtle hint, it means that you should never miss another MPA meeting because nothing can substitute for actually being there yourself!)
Spirit of St. Louis Airport is the busiest GA airport in the central region, handling about 113,000 operations last year and, even so, they want our business: practice approaches, pattern work, touch & goes, etc. The airport exists to serve us and John strongly encouraged us to take advantage of it.
KSUS has had nine, consecutive perfect Part 139 certification inspections. No small feat!
Spirit Airport is a self-sufficient St. Louis County department, generating its income from wholesale fuel sales (not from landing fees or fuel surcharges on top of retail sales), real estate development and management. KSUS contributes about $400M to the local economy.
Langa Air has begun flight training operations at KSUS and is up to 7 planes. They are a part 141 flight school.
Money Saving Tips
John had two money saving tips:
- If your aircraft is based in Missouri and has a gross takeoff weight of more than 3,000 pounds, you may be able to save on your local property tax. You aircraft is now classified as a “commercial” aircraft (even if it has no commercial purpose) which means that you only need to pay tax on the portion of the miles you actually fly in (over?) Missouri. See http://www.stc.mo.gov/, click on “Forms” and then on “Original Assessment Section” and then scroll down to the airline industry.
- No Missouri sales tax is due on parts for airplane maintenance. Given the price of airplane parts, this can save you several dollars!
Pilot Shop Reopens
The new Spirit Pilot Shop opened (new business, same old location) on May 1. Stop by Monday-Friday 8:00-7:00, Saturday 8:00-5:00, or Sunday 10:00-4:00.
New Newsletter Editor
It has been my pleasure to write this newsletter for the past two years and now it is time for someone new to step forward, dance his or her fingers across a keyboard, and dazzle us with wit and information. Are you the one? It takes me about an hour a month to write these few lines and another hour for Candy and me to print and stuff the 26 copies in envelopes for the members who don’t have email. Updating the web site is trivial and I’ll be glad to show you how. Journalistic fame and fortune await; all you have to do is say, “Pick me! Pick me!”
May Meeting
The Thursday, April 14, 2009 meeting will be at The Columns. Joe Dobronski will give a presentation on his 10,000 mile delivery of a Cessna U-206 for Wings of Hope, flying from Spirit Airport to Botswana, South Africa, in December 1992.
Phone your dinner reservations to Jean Murry at (314)469-3541.
Free WINGS Flight Training
“Fly safe” is more than just a saying to Rick Albrecht. He is generously offering up to three free hours of WINGS-related flight training to all Gateway MPA members. Contact Rick at adv.av.training@sbcglobal.net for full details.
Upcoming Events
You can always find the latest list of upcoming MPA events on our web site at http://gatewaypilots.org/upcoming-events/.
This year, all meetings on are the third Wednesday of the month except in December. See the upcoming events page for weather minimums and times.
| May 14 | Chapter Meeting (Joe Dobronski) | The Columns |
| May 17 | Flyout | Marion IL (MWA) - Sergio's Restaurant |
| June ? | Picnic | Kilroys (KSET) |
| June 14 | Flyout | Litchfield IL (3LF) |
| July 19 | Flyout | Gastons AR (3MO) |
| July 22 | Chapter Meeting (Gary Liming, History of Beasly Aircraft) | The Columns |
| Aug. 12 | Chapter Meeting (Jeff Edwards, Aircraft Accident Investigation) | The Columns |
| Aug. 16 | Flyout | Casey IL (1H8) - Richard's Farm Restaurant |
| Aug. 29-30 | Smartt Field Open House | KSET |
| Sept. 6 | Flyout | Labor Day - Old Sttlers and Threshers Reunion - Mt. Pleasant IA |
| Sept. 9 | Chapter Meeting (Fred Schieszer, Warrensburg College) | The Columns |
| Sept. 20 | Flyout | Jefferson City (JEF) - Nick's Restaurant |
| Oct. 14 | Chapter Meeting (Libby Yunger, 100 years of women in aviation 1909-2009) | The Columns |
| Oct. 18 | Flyout | Lake Barkley KY (1M9) |
| Nov. 11 | Chapter Meeting (Bill Hopper, Learning To Fly Helicopters, The Challenges and Rewards) | The Columns |
| Nov. 15 | Flyout | Quincy IL (UIN) |
| Dec. 9 | Chapter Meeting / Christmas Party | The Columns |
| Dec. 12 | Flyout | St. Charles County (Smartt) (SET) - Kilroy's Restaurant |
Gateway Pilots Web Site
Did you know that there are good things on the web site that did not make it into the newsletter? Drop by www.GatewayPilots.org.