Rhinebeck Museum trouble

[rc-notyme]

Matty

I had already been tossed from the board and was no longer a part of the activities when Brian left. I have no idea what his motivation was. I can only hope that the distance allowed him to gain some perspective....

By the way, I meant to say that I am sure no one will be INTIMIDATED by the apparent actions taken against Chris.
I also lernt how to spell Nooport it's N I E U P O R T...

I,too,have been around the Aerodrome for many years and know that what has been posted so far is,unfortunately,very true and goes much deeper than most people would believe. I am writing to state some facts about a serious safety issue with the current policy on who flies rides in the Aerodrome's New Standard D-25 that needs immediate addressing. For years this airplane has been piloted by some of the best qualified flyers that I would trust my life to,the record speaks for itself. One,Ken Cassens,has been the sole ride pilot for many seasons. Ken has over 4,500 hours to his credit and over 1,000 in the New Standard alone. Most of Ken's flying time is in not only antique airplanes,but cropdusters and firebombers as well. This is a profession which requires only the utmost skilled professional to stay alive. This was his living for 11 years.
A new pilot,with very few hours in type [and one accident with injuries in the Aerodrome's other D-25],is now the newly appointed ride pilot. There is a huge liability involved when 4 passengers at a time,which the New Standard carries,fly in any airplane and safety and common sense should dictate a responsibility to keeping the public as safe and out of harm's way as humanly possible. This high standard is being jeapordized with the board decision to require an ATP![airline transport rating]to fly open cockpit biplane rides. A board decision to fire a fantastic pilot and an invaluable asset to the organization has overshadowed all public safety policies under the guise of "monetary concerns".

Nice to hear from you 2T1E, and you make a great point. Not only is Ken a superb pilot,
but as everyone knows, a superb mechanic as well. Same for John Barker. There is no better
combination of skills for flying rides than to have a 'flying mechanic' that knows every nut, bolt,
vibration and nuance of the airplane. An ATP rating means nothing at all when it comes to flying
'seat of pants' antique airplanes. In fact, it could almost prove to be a detriment.

If the general public was presented with this information, I wonder how many would choose to
go for a ride in the Standard. Last I knew, during the 2003 season, the new ATP pilot was restricted
to carrying 2 or 3 passengers, not 4, as a result of the other D-25 accident.

It's hard to understand such decisions in the name of public safety & common sense in knowing that
many of the current board members are pilots themselves (from what i'm told, one is afraid to land
his Stearman at the aerodrome because it's too short of a field) in addition to one being an insurance person.
This only further clearly proves that the true motivation of these people is that of destructive personal politics
over & above the best interests, preservation and future of the aerodrome.

Originally posted by rc-notyme@Jan 8 2004, 08:16 PM
[b]
Who the hell is tom daly and what makes him qualified to be Director? Seriously.......

For those of you who have not met Tom Daly, please allow me to give you some background info. Tom and his brother-in-law Jim Record were brought in by Gene about 3 years ago. Tom is a police officer who flies helicopters for the Nassau county police department on Long Island. The two of them own several airplanes together, including a Great lakes, Nieuport 17, and a Triplane. I don't believe Tom has any museum experience, so I am not really sure how he is qualified, but I thought he was just an interim director. He's a nice guy in person, but I don't think he really ever understood the Aerodrome. Which is evident in some of his stupid quotes about homeland security. Maybe it has to do with his ties to Gene......

[joegertler]

How about giving us a rundown/bios of the complete Board of Directors and their experience or qualifiactions?
Did a google search and only found the mayor of Red Hook. I was extremely impressed by the talents of this young man, who is obviously a driving force. The ony problem was, the web page for him listed him as being involved in several dozen Other organizations and community projects etc. Many as a Director, Chairman, Co-Chairman, board of Directors on and on. So one would assume he can only devote a small portion of his considerable talents/fundraising and advisory assistance for ORA. Maybe, in the case of someone so talented, that is still superior to the full-time devotion of another more singularly focused board member. Only his record at ORA would tell.
I don't find any information on the Internet about these other board members who now hold ORA's fate in ther hands. From the participation on this thread, we can see that this is of serious concern to people all over the world.
Is there an old Newsletter copy that has the bios of the various board memebers?

Joe, just to make a correction, I assume that you are speaking of Marcus Molinaro, who is actually the Mayor of Tivoli NY, which is a village in the town of Red Hook. While I agree that he is an extremely talented individual, the board did not see it that way and failed to ever put him on the board. So why he may have become a driving force at the ORA, he was never given the chance. John Costa, the mayor of Rhinebeck, NY was the president of the board for a while, but resigned from the board about a year ago.
And I agree with you, I would like to see a bios on the rest of the board to see what makes them qualified. It sure ain't thier people skills! :~)

[Curtiss Jenny]

"Is there an old Newsletter copy that has the bios of the various board members?"

<_< Bios? What bios? You don&#39;t need those if the members don&#39;t vote and the board members can keep voting themselves back in forever....

According to the last newsletter, Rotary Ramblings Fall 2003 (still have not gotten the winter one yet, very late&#33, the Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum Board lists Terry McClinch, President, Jim Kick, H. Paul Richards, Dean Ryder, and Peter Truesdell who resigned in November 2003. I have heard that Billy Segalla, Stanley Segalla&#39;s son, was brought in to replace Pete.

To the best of my knowledge this is the generally known background for each of these men -

Terry McClinch - Inherited McClinch Cranes from his late father. He then sold that business and with the proceeds started McClinch Equipment that markets a line of small lifting platform cranes. He also owns Candlelight Farms Airport in New Milford, Connecticut, McClinch Aviation, Inc. and some classic airplanes.

Jim Kick - Sutton James Insurance agent for the Aerodrome.

H. Paul Richards - Retired Vice President of Love Oil Corporation. He was one of the first pilots around the Aerodrome, but dropped out after he had a crash in the Sopwith Snipe (early 70&#39;s?)

Dean Ryder - President and C.E.O., Putnam County National Bank, a small chain of banks which he inherited from his mother. He purchased the late Bob Love&#39;s Stearman in 1997, and has his own runway with hangar.

Billy Segalla – Member of Iron Eagles acrobatic team along with Bill Gordon, flies Christian Eagles. Works for Segalla Construction in Canaan, CT.

"Wrongful employment suits are usually brought by employees against employers for matters such as age discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, etc. The complaints in these cases seek damages for a single or continuous bodily injury and have named as defendants not-for-profit entities such as churches, parishes, and sports associations, to name a few."

The word on Marcus Molinaro is nothing but positive. He has been the Mayor of Tivoli for a number of years and has done great things for the community. He is very adept at fund raising , but apparently he didn&#39;t produce enough for the Board or there was a conflict of interest, so he was not asked to return.
Terry McClinch does own Candlelight Farms airport north of Danbury, and from what has been told to me he can be difficult. He helped to "relocate" the local soaring club to Freehold,NY.
Dean Ryder has a paved strip near Carmel, just south of I-84. If you&#39;ve flown over you would notice it is right next to a small lake, with a large hangar at the south end. Rumor at Danbury is do not fly too low, do not buzz the runway, because you will be found&#33; Seems he and Gene DeMarco are real tight.
Can anyone explain why Dick King&#39;s Ercoupe has been blocked in its&#39; hangar and no other aircraft at the Aerodrome has been? I wonder why the Kingston airport has not follwed suit and blocked all of those a/c in? Is this another case of "national security" or could it be something else?

I don&#39;t think Dick King&#39;s Ercoupe is "blocked in". Dick puts extra supports in his hanger each winter to prevent his plane from being crushed if we get a lot of snow.