franklin_m

While the limits of your sarcasm know no bounds. As a reminder, the club obtained the permission to use flat land, free of encroachment, free from noise complaints, no overflight problems, and no obstacles. The club was going to provide all the labor, to include volunteer military members w/ particular construction skills on club funded rented equipment (dozer, rollers, etc.) to do site work. The club was going to fund the sunshades, pads, and pilot stations. All we asked was AMA help with the DG for the runway.

Now, you sarcastically questioned the decision to optimize for summer months. This accomplished a number of objectives. First, these projects on military installations take place under the umbrella of Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs, which means they're targeted at the families. Second, the median age of the existing club members was over 60. They would form the primary cadre of instructors as we grew the club. Plus, if we ignored their needs due to advancing age, we would not have support for the move. Third, with daytime temperatures in triple digits for days and weeks at a time, large shaded areas were a safety issue for the members mentioned earlier. Fourth, our primary demographic targeted for membership growth was active duty military members and their dependants. Unfortunately, military members quite often work weekends, limiting their flying opportunities. Now add that their kids are in school during the week, and it gets hard for them to do it as a family. Hence another reason for targeting the summer months - even if parents still have to work weekends, the kids are at least out of school during the week.

The area is characterized by very high summer temperatures, with long periods in triple digits. In fact, my first summer there, it was above 110 for 13 days straight. Other than the heat, the flying is superb. Unlimited visibility, light winds, and no ceilings. Spring and fall, the transition seasons, were characterized by strong and gusty winds. Not impossible to fly, but opportunities are limited and not always aligned with availability of members. When not windy, in the spring/fall, there's often dense fog, reducing visibility to well less than 50 feet, ad it can last the entire day. During the winter, winds tend to be strong, but steady.

So, while you may not agree, there was logic and operational reasons why we wanted to optimize the field for summer use. We were looking for consistent use that aligned with the needs of the military family, and with an understanding of what time of the year was most likely to get new members out to the site, flying with the support of our existing members, and grow the club.