Dotting some "i"s

On Thursday, the 11th of April, KLM Aeroclub had organised the first "shareholders meeting" for the Aquila A210 share holders. Now that the minimum number of share holders is reached, it is time to set up the cooperation, and that takes some formalities. There needs to be a board, and a constitution. The corporation will order the plane, so it must be decided exactly what to order (colour, equipment, registration, etc.)

For those that felt like it, the evening began with an informal dinner at Flantuas (if you've ever been to Lelystad airport, and went to a restaurant, then that would be Flantuas, or you weren't really there) . In total, we were with 10 people there, so that's a nice gathering. I finally got my chance to try out Flantuas' (in)famous "Worldburger". So far, I have not gotten around to trying it, so this time I was determined to give it a go! And I must say: it tastes like more :) Huge enough to serve as a complete dinner, so maybe a little over the top as an afternoon snack. But this time it was dinner time anyway, so a welcome filler for my hungry stomach. This is bound to happen again, sometime ;)

As the clock approached eight o'clock,  we proceeded towards the club. Another 10 people had gathered there already too, so we were with a little over half of all shareholders (40 minimum, and some bought two shares). A reasonable turn up, I would say.

The evening started out with a review of all that needs to happen before the lane can get ordered: raise the corporation, elect a board, write up the constitution, negotiate and sign an agreement with KLM Aeroclub, and, best of all, select the options for the plane.

Founding the corporation is relatively easy, nowadays. It's just a matter of getting a notary agreement, and that's it. But for that to happen, the corporation needs a board, and a constitution. Luckily, amongst those present were two that were interested in the roles of secretary and treasurer. And a third one (came in later that evening) had already indicated being interested in fulfilling the chairman role, so that was decided upon pretty quickly. The constitution is also already in an advanced state, as Melvin had prepared a document already. Maybe some dotting the i's, crossing some t's, and we're good to go.

Once the corporation is official, the membership certificates can be issued, and the money can be heaved over from the escrow account to the corporation's account. With that money, the initial payment that accompanies the order can be paid.

It was already clear that the plane would be equipped with a Garmin G500 Glass cockpit. During the meeting it was decided to go for the above colour scheme, with the Aquila standard livery in KLM specific blue colours, with the KLM Aeroclub logo on the nose section.. It was suggested to have the dark blue as the top line on the tail, to make it even more visually dynamic. Also, the registration as depicted, PH-KLQ, earned the most votes of the available registrations.

The interior will be a light finish with the "white" panel, containing the G500. We will not need the traditional round gauges as backup instruments, because it is not a requirement to have those for day-VFR, and night-VFR is prohibited in Dutch airspace (saves about €7000,=). Should EASA decide to harmonise VFR over Europe (allowing night-VFR in NL), then we could bring it to a vote whether or not the backup instruments will be retrofitted. Seat will be in KLM blue Alcantara, and the floor mats will be the standard grey ones.

We spoke about adding a TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System), or something similar, like FLARM (TCAS for gliders), but the general opinion at that time was that there was no certified unit for the A210. Later, we learned that a relatively cheap (~€2000,=) FLARM system is available for the A210, in the form of a Garrecht TRX2000. If at least one more share is sold before the 1st of June, then this will be added to the order.

The GPS will be a Garmin GTN650. That's the touchscreen successor of the GNS430. A lot more user-friendliness, on a bigger screen :)

The panel gets completed by a standard COM unit, a transponder, and, of course, the necessary battery of motor gauges (pressures, temperatures, rpm, tension, fuel), fuses, compass, trim indicator, ELT, switches, warning lights ... All in all, the office will look somethng like this:

Planning is, that the corporation is officially founded before the 1st of May, so that the plane can be ordered by then. With three months of delivery time, that would mean that our new airplane ill arrive in the first week of August (provided that the factory does not close for summer holidays before that).

Up to the 1st of June, new shares can still be bought. By then, the second bundle of money needs to be transferred to the Aquila factory, so the share price needs to be finalised, fixed and paid, which means no more new shareholders.

Once the order is out, I'll post another cheer :)