The Aero Club at the Turin Book Fair

The success of the event at Lingotto (Turin), from May 16 to 20, offered excellent visibility for the Aero Club Torino who participated in the event with a booth offering about 30 titles concerning aeronautics in general.

A number of visitors and others curious about the world of flying were among those who booked either glider or powered flights at the Aeroclub.

On Monday, May 20 in the public area of Hall 1, a highly appreciated conference entitled

"THE GREAT ADVENTURE OF THE CONQUEST OF THE SKIES (from Leonardo to space exploration)"

was held. Under the coordination of the science corrspondent for "La Stampa" Antonio Lo Campo, a much applauded discussion took place with the participation of Daisy Melani (Leonardo's Codex of Flight), Alba Zanini (The balloons of the Montgolfier brothers and scientific research), Angelo Moriondo (The beginnings of Aviation in Turin), Caesar Balbis (In flight over the glaciers), Don Paolo Gariglio (missionary aviation)

Death of Former President Renzo Ruspa

It is with great regret that we announce the death during the night of 4/5 May 2013 of Renzo Ruspa, former President of the Aeroclub from 1994 to 2000.

A multi-talented businessman and successful innovator, he ventured into the aviation world from curiosity and became fascinated by it. At the "ripe old age" of 50, he gained his pilot's licence for powered aircraft.

He joined the Aeroclub in March 1994, and even as still a student pilot, took on the responsibility of President of the Aeroclub, accepting the heavy burden left by his predecessors.

The wind of change engendered by his bright and enthusiastic Presidency, flanked by a new Board of Directors, brought forth new ideas and a new vision for the airport's future, transforming it into a "public service airport". This was a turning point in the airport's existence, inverting the hitherto negative tendency and leading to the start of its recovery.

His desire to "get things done", and to modernize a declining structure, unfortunately fossilized by old and obsolete ideas, led him to plan a series of investments which, in the years to come, saw the completion of a number of important works which involved the AeroClub in a significant series of financial investments.

In 1995 he organized the Italian Gliding Championships, and in 1995, arranged for a practice three hole golf range with which was favourably received by both golfers and the general public alike.

Still in 1995, the airport was incorporated into the Piedmont Region's Civil Defence Plan, and in 1998, under his Presidency, a further agreement was stipulated to integrate the Rescue Helicopter service "118".

In June 1996 he organized a large Air Show.

In October 1996, to accommodate the changing air traffic requirements, he organized the complete restructuring of the Control Tower, which was enlarged, raised and provided with operational offices conceded for use by ENAV.

To meet the operational requirements of the "118" service, a new hangar for the rescue helicopter was built in the south-east side of the airfield in 1999.

Beginning from 1995, and in the years which followed, the club fleet was augmented by 6 new aircraft and two single-seat gliders, while two of the earlier aircraft were completely overhauled.

Unfortunately, illness overtook him while his heart was full of immense grief from the premature death of his son Gigio, and today a great former President has left us. The Aeroclub Torino acknowledges his passing.with immense sadness.

New Board of Directors

IOn the 18th of April, in 2nd convocation, the General Assembly of the Aeroclub Torino convened to approve the 2012 consolidated Budget and to elect the Club Officers for the next three-year period. Verbale assemblea

The consolidated Budget for 2012 was unanimously approved by the 156 members present (145 with voting rights).

President:

Angelo Moriondo 139 votes

Councillors:

• Antonio Pino Gulotta 124 votes
• Andrea Balzi 123 votes
• Silvano Vallino Costassa 123 votes
• Paolo Monzeglio 77 votes
• Marco Porrera 74 votes
• Alfonso Carbone 56 votes
• Ruggero Rissone 53 votes
• Antonio Centocchi 19 votes
• Angelo Albano 12 votes
• Antonio Conforto 9 votes
• Vito Petrone 6 votes

Auditors:

• Mauro Elido Casati 135 votes
• Matteo Bressan 125 votes
• Alberto Tanturri 123 votes

In addition to those elected at the General Assembly, Luigi Giardino, the the Gliding Representative, and Juri Barollo, the Powered Flight Representative, elected during their Specialist Assemblies on the 27th and 28th of March 2013 also form part of the Board as Councillors.

Best wishes for fruitful work to those reconfirmed and to the newly elected members of the Board.

Full house for ACAO in the 41st City of Turin Gliding Trophy

Due to the adverse weather conditions (which allowed only one test during the seven days programmed for the competition) the 41st "Turin" Gliding Trophy could not achieve the minimum requirements (3 tests) for homologation. On the basis of the only valid test which took place on Easter Sunday, the three crews from ACAO who took the first three places were awarded the Trophy just the same. They were:

1.  Luca DeMarchi
2.  A.Sironi + M.Chiarelli
3.  L.Avanzini + M. Brunazzo

The first of the Torinese pilots was Giancarlo Grinza who finished in 6th place.

For information and / or registration click here

New Specialty Representatives

During the evening of Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th March, Assemblies were held for the election of new representatives for the Gliding and Powered Flight Specialties. Club members Luigi Giardino and Juri Barollo were elected in the respective roles. They will become part of the new Board of Directors of the Aero Club Turin for the four-year period 2013-2016.

We wish the new representatives well in their new jobs.

On-line Flight Booking as of April 1st.

With effect from March 15th, the Aero Club Torino has introduced an on-line consultation service for members' personal data (expiry dates for licence / medical certificate, club account details, individual flight data etc.). This data can be viewed by logging on to:

http://actiwp.icarusweb.it/secure/

Each member may access the data using the credentials that were sent individually by e-mail to all interested parties.

The system also enables members to book flights (from 1 April 2013 booking will only be possible on-line), by logging on to:

http://actiwp.icarusweb.it/secure/

and entering the appropriate username and password.

We are preparing a user manual which members may consult directly via the menu "Pilot Utilities" - "Document Area"

Those members who do not have internet access, can still contact the secretary by telephone for information and bookings.

"The Hyenas" committed for trial for defamation of the Aero Club Torino

Following a lawsuit brought by the Aero Club Torino, the Tribunal of Turin has indicted the "hyena" Luigi Pelazza for libel regarding an "Italia 1" television broadcast in March 2012, during which it was affirmed, among other things, that the Aero Club of Italy (a public company) had used public funds to pay off a debt of the Torino Aero Club (a private company) towards the FAI, relating to the organization of the World Air Games in 2009.

At the conclusion of the investigation, the prosecutor and the investigating magistrate, having ascertained the falsity of the affirmation and considering it to be seriously defamatory, in addition to the aforementioned indictment of the conductor, also ordered the seizure of the film from the Mediaset-Italy 1 offices and the removal of the video from the archive of RTI-Mediaset.

We will follow the developments of the case and ladvise you of the outcome.

Christmas Dinner 2012

Wednesday, December 12th saw the holding of our traditional club dinner, for the exchange of greetings, with large-scale participation of members and their families.

Among the guests were representatives from ENAV, Andrea Santospirito and Antimo Bertolino and their wives.

During the evening, 17 "eagle wings" and 9 "seagulls" were formally presented to those pilots who had gained powered flight and sailing licences respectively during 2012..

All participants were given the traditional souvenir cup and a copy of the new edition of the history of the Aero Club

New edition of the book about the birth of aviation in Turin

Almost ready and hot from the presses of the edtior Melli is the new, revised and updated edition of the History of the Aeroclub Torino, which will be distributed free to all members who renew their membership for 2013.