Operations and COVID Update

SOSA may be CLOSED but there’s a lot happening to keep us flying!

The SOSA Board has continued to meet regularly to monitor the rapidly changing COVID situation, and to make sure we return to a fabulous flying operation as soon as restrictions are lifted.

Current COVID Situation

Thus far the entire country has continued to increase the level of restriction of activities as
number of COVID infections and deaths continues to climb. Early signs of a flattening curve are
evident in BC, and even in parts of Ontario including the region of our club. All “non-essential”
business including non-profit organizations has had to close. SOSA is one of these. Groups of
greater than 5 people, being closer than 2 meters, is not permitted unless they co-habitate. We
are learning that a mask of almost any material is beneficial in preventing projection of water
droplets from the person wearing it, and thus useful in decreasing chance of infection from that
person. We are also learning that, although virus may be found on many surfaces for a week or
more, most surfaces will not have viable virus longer than 1-3 days.

Club Situation

We currently have 66 members, about half of what we normally have at peak of the season. We
have worked to put the club’s finances in “idle”, paying for the minimum required to keep the
club in good shape and fully prepared for flying operations. Thankfully, previous boards have
been successful in keeping the club healthy financially and so we are not in financial risk with
the decrease in flying activity we predict this season.

Further to Ray’s last update, he has now completed rolling Runway 18-36 and most taxiways.
His work will ensure our field is ready once restrictions lift down the road – we’re optimists!

Since last year, the club set aside funds to replace the Massey Ferguson tractor. Being mindful
of club finances, and after considering options, the bright orange Kubota was purchased in early
March – a big thanks to Bill, Hans, Ray and Scott who assisted on this priority project. You can
see a picture in Ray’s postings and on Slack. Ray reports that the Kubota is very capable and a
big winner towing the roller at higher speed compared to last year’s rental.

Spring Work Weekend

The Spring work weekend scheduled for April 18 th has been cancelled and is being
reconfigured to comply with ongoing physical distancing directives. Critical maintenance that
requires only 1 person is being prioritized as specialists are being called upon on a case-by-case
basis. Expect a broader call for volunteers in the weeks ahead. We intend to break down tasks
so that a limited number of volunteers can then be called out to the club over the course of
several weeks in a co-ordinated and safe manner.

The clubhouse will remain off limits for now except for use of the bathroom. There should
never be more than 2 people in the clubhouse, and never less than 2 meters apart.

Ongoing Communication

Our club has led the nation on several levels with our proactive work during COVID. One of
those is keeping flying alive through our re-vamped virtual hangar talks. Thanks to Joerg and his
lineup of special speakers, we have not missed a hangar talk and will likely continue until we
actually start to occupy cockpits instead of sofas again. Not only that, but attendance has been
higher than any we have seen with hangar talks. We had 49 for our first one. Then we went
national and invited all clubs across the country and with this so far our peak is over 100. And
we get to share stories and questions with our fellow pilots far and wide. Pretty fun!

The CFI team and the board are working on a strategy for returning to flight immediately when
restrictions lift. We foresee that for this season there will always be some restrictions, as COVID
will always be with us. We will likely create a staggered approach to return to flight that
minimizes the number of dual flights, and the number of people sharing planes in a day. This
will likely mean starting with experienced private owners who can have their annual check ride
waved (due to a one time change in our insurance policy). Then others who can fly single seat
gliders without a check ride. And then we start to get into dual flying and a scheme to minimize
the number of people who share the plane in a day.