The meeting was called to order at 7:01PM

Secretary’s minutes from previous meeting were not available.

Program report - Nothing to report about upcoming speakers. Suggestions for new speakers are welcome.

Membership report – Almost everybody has reported in. The few who still have not paid their dues will be notified via email.

Young Eagles report – Lots of calls came in and will start flying Young Eagles again next month as soon as the insurance is in order.

Professional Pilot Series - Repeated the meeting to talk about reading navigational charts (with Bruce Prentiss leading) and rules of thumb at the Chapter trailer on Saturday. Eight attended. Purchased a new DVD at Wal-Mart for 31$ and cents. Next meeting will be held on March. 10th at 9:30: “Flying your own plane: engine failure and emergency landings”.

Motion to reimburse Jim for the DVD purchase was approved.

New members - Rolan Lizotte attended the meeting.

Mail in - the president shared two very nice letters with the rest of the chapter. One was a letter of appreciation from a Young Eagle. Also, Paul Poberezny, founder and chairman of the EAA wrote a letter to the chapter to encourage its members to continue the tradition of the Toys for Tots initiative despite our recent concerns about poor attendance.

A transcontinental air race for all women pilots is scheduled in June. Go to www.airraceclassic.org for more info and registration if you are interested.

Newsletter report - Next issue is coming out in March. Articles or ideas on people to interview are welcome.

News from 9B1 – Monday, March 5th, the Massachusetts Airport Management Association is hosting its annual event at the State House. Anybody can attend. Admission is free. It’s important for the cause of GA to let our elected officials know that “they” need to be there.

Please wear your badges while on the field.

I learned about flying from that - For some reason Fitchburg airport seems to be more prone to accidents than other places. Jim Grenier witnessed a close call recently when a Citabria almost landed on a Cessna 172. Some speculate it has to do with the airport location. An official investigation that took place a while ago was inconclusive. There is talk about building a control tower on the field.

On an unrelated incident in New Bedford it seems that the lack of functioning approach lights and the vegetation during a difficult instrument approach were not a factor in the recent deadly crash. It looks like that the pilot did not fly the published missed approach procedure.

Old Business – Richard asked to communicate any member address changes to him so he can update his database.

Toys for Tots - Given the letter from the EAA founder who showed a great deal of thoughtfulness by reading all about our concerns in our newsletter and chose to personally weigh in, the chapter agrees that we should continue, maybe with better advertising, a new date and more timely advertising.

New Business - The date for the next Board of Directors meeting still needs to be determined. Most likely date would be a Monday at Harry’s on route 9 in Westborough.

Treasurer report – The treasure had no income/expenses to report this month aside from interest. Will provide full report next month. Rich also announced that the Sudbury Savoyards will host a musical play called Iolanthe, premiering next Friday until the following Saturday, in which he will have a part.

Saturday breakfast - No destination has been set yet. Just show up!

Jim Noone won the 50/50 raffle ($8).

The meeting was adjourned at 8:03PM.

Maurizio Izzi (maurizio.izzi@gmail.com)