Hello to all Members:
Our ICS Australasia AGM for 2024 and our spring GM were held on Saturday 26th October in the Narromine Aero Club rooms. The minutes of the meetings are linked at the bottom of the page.
The weather blessed us on the day with mostly clear skies and light winds for all those who flew in. Those unable to attend in person were invited to join the meeting via “Zoom”. Our technical department of Ken & Lawrence along with numerous boxes, wires and cables made it work very well.
Following the meeting Beryl Hartley gave us a magnificent tour, along with fascinating commentary, of the historical aviation museum at Narromine.
The bar was opened at 5:30 and was well patronized by thirsty ICS members. Beryl and Arnie also featured as chef’s for an amazing dinner to cap off a productive day with great fellowship. It never ceases to amaze me how our diverse group of Comanche aficionados seem to take up conversations started 6 months previously and enjoy each others company so much.
Arnie and Beryl again rose to the occasion on Sunday morning cooking bacon & egg rolls for breakfast. No one seemed in too much of a hurry to leave, in again quite good weather, but all seemed to drift off by late morning.
The Narromine venue was such a success, with catering, meeting facilities and accommodation within walking distance, that we decided to schedule it again for our 2025 AGM.
The local press came out to write a story for the Narromine Star (Friday 1st Nov edition – online) and took photos of the 8 aircraft in attendance (6 twins, 2 singles).
On a technical note I have had discussions with Kevin Pettit in Darwin who has recently had a run of nose wheel steering failures in his twins. In each instance the 3 bolts securing the steering arm to the top of the nose wheel strut have sheared. He has consequently taken to replacing these bolts at each 100hr inspection. This highlights a potential ageing issue that is not addressed in our Piper maintenance schedules and we would be well advised to have the integrity of these bolts checked on a regular basis. The problem is most likely exacerbated by worn strut housings and steering arms putting additional shock loads onto the attachment bolts. The technical committee is looking into a fix for this.
On a final note this newsletter is an initiative by the executive to try to keep us all better informed on ICS issues. If any of you have items of interest to the broader membership and are willing to share please forward them to me and I shall include them in subsequent newsletters. It is intended that we get this newsletter out on a monthly basis in future. If any of you are planning a trip and looking for company, or to catch up with other members on your trip, then this will be the place to advertise.
Happy flying and keep healthy,
Nigel Wettenhall