Club Spotlight: Awakening From A Winter Slumber With Two Midwest Flying Clubs

Like many clubs, both the Gateway Flying Club and the Key City Fliers see a drop off in flying in the winter. A few weeks ago, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow predicting an early spring. That means many club members will begin to awaken from their winter slumber and take to the skies again. Although the longer days and better weather may not be here just yet, there’s no time like the present for preparing your planes and members to fly more. 

Key City Fliers

The Key City Fliers based in Dubuque, Iowa has 53 members that share three well maintained Pipers — a Cherokee 140 with a 160-hp engine, an Archer II and a Dakota. All three aircraft are IFR-certified, and the club has invested in upgrading the avionics in recent years.

“It keeps the new members looking at us,” Key City’s Maintenance Officer and Chief Flight Instructor Mike Nickeson said. “About three years ago our board discussed upgrading the avionics to attract new members and it has paid off.”

The Dakota has the most advanced panel of the club’s three planes. It’s all glass featuring the Garmin G3X, a G5, a 530W GPS, a GNC 255A Nav/Com, GFC 500 autopilot, GTX 345 Transponder, and PMA 8000B Audio Panel.  The Archer also has the GFC 500 autopilot and GTX 345 Transponder, as well as dual G5’s, a GTN 650 Nav/Com/GPS, the 255A Nav/Com, and a Garmin 340 audio panel.  The Cherokee has a standard six pack with the GNX 375 GPS, the 255A Nav/Com, and autopilot.

The club is very active with most of the flying being local. “They go out and they look at the cows,” Mike said. “They take off, cruise around, do some touch and goes, and land. That is 90 percent of our member flying.”

In 2023, from annual to annual, the Dakota flew 700 hours, the Cherokee flew 500 hours, and the Archer flew 350 hours. It would have flown more if it had not been in the shop for about three months getting the new avionics installed.

Despite all that flying last year, only about 10 to 15 percent of members fly in the winter. One of the reasons is the cold. “When it gets to be 0 degrees out with a minus 30 wind chill, I’m not getting in an airplane,” Mike said. “I don’t need to do it that badly, I do this for fun.” Other members share the same sentiment.

Another reason for less flying in the winter is the difficulty of getting the planes back in the hangar. There is a slight incline and when it’s slippery, it’s hard to get traction to get the plane in without help.

The best indication of the drop off in flying is the monthly fuel bill, Mike said. In September 2023, the club spent nearly $10,000 on gas. In November the bill dropped to $8,000 and in December it was only $6,000. But that was three times what the club spent in January this year – a mere $1,900. “Most of that is due to weather,” Mike said.

Although there are fewer members flying this time of year, there are some who use the aircraft availability to take longer cross-country trips. One year a club member took the Dakota and flew from Key West to Catalina Island in California. “It was right during December, January, and February when the airplanes are hardly being used,” Mike said. 

Gateway Flying Club

The Gateway Flying Club based in Blaine, Minnesota just north of Minneapolis also knows something about bad winter weather curtailing flying — and members taking a longer cross country this time of year. The club has 45 members and four aircraft - a Cessna 172, 182, and a 177 Cardinal, as well as a Piper Lance referred to as the “Flying Pickle” because of its distinctive green paint scheme. “It’s a love-hate thing. It’s not an eyesore, but it sticks out,” Gateway Operations Officer Matt Douglas said.

A few members are taking the Lance to the Bahamas in a couple of weeks. The club’s mission is to offer aircraft for cross-country flying for experienced pilots and it encourages these types of trips, “especially in the winter months,” Matt said. “Go someplace where it’s warm in the Lance, take the Skylane to Colorado, or get in the Cardinal and go to Chicago for the weekend.”

In 2023, the C-172 had more than 600 hours, the C-182 flew about 300 hours, the Cardinal more than 260 hours, and members put about 130 hours on the Lance. About half of the club’s members fly regularly, and of those about 70 percent will fly in the winter.

With fewer flight hours, the club plans maintenance this time of year so they are available come spring. “Typically, all of our aircraft are scheduled for their annuals in the fall or winter so they’re all ready to go, so they’re not down in the summer during peak flying hours,” Matt said.

Something else the club does to get the planes ready for more flying in the spring is “de-winterize” the aircraft. Gateway blocks the cabin vent air intakes at the start of winter, so the heaters have a chance to have some affect. In the spring they’ll re-open the vents.

Both Gateway and Key City have an annual plane wash once the weather warms up. “We try to get people’s hands on the plane,” Matt said. “We get the planes washed and wipe them down and look for any nut or bolt or anything that pops out that maintenance needs to take a look at.”

Mike said Key City usually gets about 20 to 25 members to show up to their plane wash and they have an informal meeting to provide an update on club activities, along with a BBQ to give members the opportunity to spend some time together.

The club has an Events Coordinator that will schedule four or five flyouts between May and September to encourage members to fly and stay proficient. The club has a policy that members who haven’t flown in four months are required to have a checkout with a club instructor before they can fly again.

As the club’s chief pilot, Mike knows all the members and gets an email whenever a reservation is made. If he knows the member hasn’t flown in a while, he’ll reach out to schedule some time to fly together, although he doesn’t need to do so very often. “Frankly, the members self-police,” Mike said. However, an email from the club president or safety officer encouraging members who haven’t flown in a while to book some time with a club CFI is a good practice, especially in the spring.

Gateway goes a little further. It holds a Safety Standdown, usually in the spring, that members are required to attend (See this month’s Event Spotlight). If someone can’t attend, they can schedule a time to meet with Matt, the operations officer, to go over the material before they are allowed to fly. The Safety Standdown includes a review of the club’s operating rules and policies, as well as discussions about safety topics such as engine failures, runway incursions, or flying at uncontrolled fields. 

Ways to Engage Members

Safety seminars or a Rusty Pilots Seminar are great ways to engage members in the spring, particularly those who haven’t flown in a while. AOPA’s Air Safety Institute has all kinds of content, from videos to webinars to online courses and quizzes that a club could easily turn into an event.

There are general topics, such as weather conditions like flying VFR into IMC, or specific topics on things like fuel management or avionics. Whether your club wants to focus on safe flying techniques, maintaining proficiency, or perhaps maintenance, there’s sure to be content that will help members get reacquainted with flying after being away from the airport for a month or two.

Another idea is to have a guest speaker. It could be a club member talking about a trip they did, the maintenance officer reviewing things like what to look for during a pre-flight or post-flight inspection, or someone from the local aviation community like a tower operator. Anytime you get members together talking and thinking about flying, should help improve safety and encourage more flying.

There are many ways to engage flying club members before the busy spring and summer flying seasons. Whether it’s a formal Safety Standdown like the Gateway Flying Club does each year or the plane wash and BBQ that Key City Fliers hosts to clean the planes and share some camaraderie, it’s worth taking the time to make sure both your planes and your members are ready to take to the skies.

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