Future of ICS

[Ben Ayalon]

[Monica Rehkopf]

[Ben Ayalon]

[David Pyle]

[jeffrey aryan]

[David Pyle]

[Kristin Winter]

Monica,

Thank you for some very cogent comments.

I find myself torn between my personal like and respect for the excellent, and thankless, job done by the volunteers at ICS, and my personal certainty that if structural changes are not made, ICS will not survive beyond a few years.

The landscape, as I see it, is one where tech support for an aging fleet is becoming paramount. Aging aircraft, with aging owners, may be a majority in ICS (we really don't know) but it is not likely the majority of the Comanche owners, but again, we don't know for sure. Whether these fine aircraft pass to a new generation of owners, who love them as much as we do, depends on whether type support is available.

I attended the Santa Maria meeting. There were some "official" take-aways from the meeting, but I don't recall what they were exactly, so I will limit my comments to what I got out of the meeting. I came away with four main things from the SMX meeting:

1. Other organizations offer substantially better type support with lower dues, based on a similar sized membership.

2. An all-volunteer approach is not sufficient to provide the level of type support necessary to a fleet of our size, complexity, and years out of production.

3. To provide improved type support, more detailed information regarding the fleet needs to be obtained and maintained.

4. A central clearinghouse and database is necessary to give Comanche owners and mechanics one stop shopping for information on vendors, data, and techniques for repair and operation of these wonderful aircraft.

I have long held the opinion that proper type support consists of three main aspects. I have posted these before. Type support must consist of the following:

1. Fleet Continuing Airworthiness. By this I mean a proactive approach to ensure that we have suppliers for critical parts and that we have the approved data necessary to make the repairs and alterations necessary to avoid any significant AOG situations, into the foreseeable future.

2. Direct Owner/Mechanic Support. Owners and mechanics need a database they can access, a person to call, and a place to post a question. A person on the other end of the phone needs to be reasonably available during a normal work week and the web based resources need to be available 24/7.

3. Training. Pilots need the availability of proficiency training and maintenance personal need the availability of training on the peculiarities of Comanche aircraft and need to know what resources are available to them.

Volunteers can make some inroads on addressing Direct Owner Support and Training. ICS has been working to address these issues, but it is too a big task for an all-volunteer effort. I believe that the issues involved in Fleet Continuing Airworthiness are both the most critical, and one that is well beyond the ability of an all-volunteer organization to manage.

In my opinion, the structure that would lend itself to type support on the level that the fleet needs would consist of a paid executive director who also served as the primary technical coordinator, and a seven to nine member board of directors/volunteers who bring both business and additional technical expertise to bear on the type support issues. This could be ICS, a sister organization, or an entirely separate entity. If the later, I personally think that ICS’s days would be numbered as the defections to a new organization would likely be enough to make ICS financially untenable. Given the difficulty ICS has in changing its bylaws , or even enacting significant change, I would submit that the best solution would be the formation of a sister organization.

The tribes should maintain their historic role as the organizers of events. It is the events were the training takes place, and the social aspects can flourish. CFF’s role in supporting and funding these can and should continue. The tribes are well positioned to assist in recruiting new members as they are more in touch with the activities in their local areas.

I will leave the details of type support for further discussion. Whether to own, or not own STC’s, whether and what to put in a magazine, etc., are all secondary to having a structure and the resources in place to make it relevant as to exactly what the policies should be.

I believe that the kind of type support that I have outlined here will come to pass. I think it must, and I will support it in any form that it takes. Personally, I hope it comes in a form that preserves the best of ICS and leverages the nearly heroic efforts of a handful of people who are trying to make ICS a better and more responsive organization.

[Hank Spellman]

[Monica Rehkopf]

[Kristin Winter]

[Monica Rehkopf]

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

[Mike Foster]

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

[WMD]