Editor's Note: This will be the final newsletter of 2016. I'd like to thank everyone who's provided material to fill the 2016 issues, with special thanks to Greg LePine who supplied the most material, in one form or another. Karl
Chapter
Banquet
The annual banquet will be Friday 12/9 at Bernardi's. The social hour begins at 6:00, and dinner will be at 7:00. Entertainment will be the female vocal trio 9 to 5. A family style fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and beans is offered for under $15, but one can order a separate meal off their menu instead. Coffee and tea are included, and other drinks can be purchased. With this year the 40th anniversary of the chapter, we will be inviting as many of the charter and other early chapter members as we can contact, and there will be a cake for them. Although not required, you might let us know by chapter e-mail if you'll be there.
Fly-in
This year's committee met one final time to review what went right and wrong in the plans for this year. All comments have been saved in a file to be presented to next year's committee once it forms. Don reports several of the exhibitors expressed a desire to attend next year's fly-in. (So, what are the odds of weather ruining three fly-ins in a row?)
With the poor attendance, we have many free Wick's catalogs still available. Stop by the hangar and grab a copy. Also left over were items Wick's had provided as fly-in prizes. We are selling them to members at 75% of the catalog rate, with any left overs to be held for next year as prizes.
Youth Programs
Ron Dorn has met with the Explorers Post organizer and recruiter. They want to know if we will continue to support this program. He is willing to be the contact at 563, but we need members to volunteer to meet with the kids. Doug Horton noted only 2 of this year's 5 kids will continue on, so we need at least 3 more to meet the minimum for next year. The charter for this Post is due by the middle of December. The charter fee is not great, on the order of $50, and it was agreed to sponsor the Post if we can find the 5 kids needed.
Ron is organizing a recruitment meeting for the Explorers Post. This will be held Sunday 12/18 in the FBO conference room. Watch the web site for the time.
This year's final Young Eagle's day was a fiasco. There were over a dozen kids who asked to fly, but the two planes originally scheduled ended up in maintenance hangars that week. Lacking a complete list of members who'd volunteered, the cancellation notice to the volunteers went out in a mass e-mail to all the chapter two days before. Lacking a complete list of the kids, not all of the parents could be reached. This left the possibility of kids showing up to find no airplane. Dick Barthel responded to the cancellation e-mail to volunteer again his time in a plane, and he and one ground crew volunteer waited over 4 hours at 3MY; no kids arrived. The son of the ground crew volunteer was shanghaied into taking the one and only Young Eagle flight for the day, so the day wasn't a complete loss.
Donations
Regarding the ATC-510 IFR simulator received from R.L. Wheeler, it was suggested we donate to the CAP this currently non-functional set up. It is felt this type of simulator is of limited use to us in these days of GPS. The CAP was very interested in acquiring the simulator for use as a winter project by the kids, and they have carted it away.
We also have enough donated O-200 parts from Mr. Wheeler to make a demo engine on which members might practice assembly and disassembly. The crankshaft is not airworthy. Alternately, it could be sold as is, and there are extra cylinders which can be sold.
Al Phipps has donated a computer with software to simulate the transition from round gauges to glass panels. The operating system has stopped booting correctly, and it has been returned for patching. Al has also offered an incomplete Wheeler Express kit, some of it still in crates. We will collect it and put it on eBay or Barnstormers.
The buyer of the excess books and magazines received over the years has made the last payment and will remove these materials. If you haven't thumbed through those 1943 and 1944 issues of Flying magazine, your chance will soon be gone.
Treasury
The balance in operations is close to budget. With fewer airplanes than expected utilizing the hangar, income was less than budgeted, but expenses, in particular the utility bills, were less than budgeted. Donations have been higher than budgeted.
A thank you note was received from a student from Washburn who was awarded some of our scholarship funds at Lincoln Land Community College. LLCC also mentioned they are selling bricks on which donor's names can be inscribed and placed in the walk at their new building. LLCC has allocated the remainder of our last scholarship contribution.
Investments
The investment committee previously recommended an ETF in which to invest some of our funds. This required a separate brokerage account, which proved difficult, and the committee then recommended opening a second mutual fund, the Wellington, an actively managed fund with relatively low expenses. A motion was made at the October board meeting to open this fund. It didn't carry, but was approved when brought up again in November.
Elections
The President, VP, and two Directors from this year declined their positions for 2017. There were too few volunteers in October to form a nominating committee, and no one replied to a second e-mail requesting volunteers for the positions available. Volunteers were then requested at the November chapter meeting.
Elected as officers for 2017 were President Greg LePine, VP Jeff Meyer, Treasurer Rob Meyer, and Secretary Karl Kleimenhagen. The Directors will be Morrie Caudill, Ron Dorn, Dewey Fitch, Kent Lynch, and Ron Wright.
National
As mentioned last month, National has made available to all members a basic copy of the SolidWorks drafting package. An article in November's Sport Aviation describes how you can use this to print tube cutting templates for an airplane fuselage. Separately, national notes:
Cirrus, Sonex, and Zenith are among the many aircraft designers using SolidWorks. Zenith has provided a model of its 750 Cruzer for download by EAA members on the EAA Forums. Members can import the sample model into SolidWorks and play "what-if" making modifications to the design.
The EAA Maker Edition license does not include technical support services available with the commercial version; however, EAA members will receive guest membership to MySolidWorks, which includes introductory lessons, access to the SolidWorks Manufacturing Network, SolidWorks Forums and millions of components.
EAA has also recruited nearly two dozen SolidWorks Support Volunteers to answer questions on the EAA Forums.
Hangar
Previously discussed was the possibility of the hangar being used temporarily by the revived Allmond Aviation. It was decided this is not practical.
The water heater failed and was replaced. Repairs were made to the bathroom below it. A car bumped into the west side of the hangar, damaging three panels. The driver has been contacted regarding the estimate for the repairs.
Keep in mind the work area around projects is the member's space. Please do not move though this area without their permission. Besides trip hazards, all tools, prints, and materials in these areas belong to those builders.
All chapter owned tools are stored in a gray cabinet on the west wall, and everyone is welcome to borrow them. All chapter paper supplies are on the east wall next to the coffee pots.
Publications
If you have an event related to the chapter which you think should be posted to SocialFlight, please contact Dick Barthel. He already has an account there and has agreed to handle all posts on our behalf.
It was decided to keep for at least a few more years the eaa563.org domain name, although the registrar was changed to google. The new service also allows for e-mail forwarding and redirection of sub-domains. You can access our site as eaa563.org, but you will find most of the pages under it use the domain name provided free by national, namely www.563.EAAchapter.org, a domain name which is certain to remain available as long as national provides this free site hosting service.
Janet Snyder kindly donated a binder with copies of the first 13 years of newsletters, those written by her husband Guy. Coming on the 40th anniversary of the chapter, this was a happy find. The text of several of the early newsletters has been digitized and placed on the Newsletter page of the chapter web site. The most recent ChapterGram from national noted the 60th anniversary of Chapter 2 in Ft. Wayne, but from the earliest chapter newsletters, it was learned that Chapter 2 was originally assigned to central Illinois.
Members
Dues
It's not too early to remind members to renew your chapter membership. A membership form is available under the Contact tab on the chapter web site. If you have no information to update, you can just send a check to:
EAA 563 Treasurer, 1321 W Bird Blvd, Peoria, IL 61615
and note in the memo field it's your 2017 dues. Dues are $30 for an individual and $35 for a family.
Projects
This month, there are updates for several of the projects members have under construction. But first, Morrie (and others) would like to know if anyone has a dynamic prop balancer (which mounts to the engine) he could borrow or rent.
You can find the latest on Steve Jones's RV-14 here. He is well along with the empennage.
John Tillotson submitted his first write up on his RV:
After finally purchasing my first house, setting up a workshop in it, and attending EAA's Sheet Metal class, I began assembly of my RV-8 empennage on August 29th. My intent is build a simple 180 hp fixed pitch RV-8 with basic VFR instrumentation. When they shipped the empennage kit, they did fail to ship the skin for the vertical stabilizer. Two calls to Vans later, and I had the skin rush delivered to me. So far, I have been working on the front and rear spars for the stabilizer. Progress has been slow but steady. At this early point, I am okay going slow because it allows me to be comfortable with everything I'm doing. I have found the instructions to be easy to read and follow. The one time I have been stuck, I walked away from the build for a day, came back the next day, and it made sense to me then. The majority of parts are match hole drilled, which has been awesome. I have called their technical services line once. My questions were answered patiently, in full, and by a gentleman who gave me a lot of confidence. Overall, I am pleased with the project so far. Anyone interested in seeing the early stages of an RV build is free to stop by and check it out.
Greg LePine has been making steady progress on his W.A.R. scaled Corsair, and his report follows. He works most days in the hangar; come say hello and have a look with him.
January 2016
Wired gear motor and switch. Tested supplied fiberglass fuel tank; it leaks at all seams and will be remade out of aluminum.
February
Need to finish flaps and start working on rear empennage. I have a Terra radio but need a working Terra TRT250D Transponder with mode C output.
March
Obtained working Terra TRT250D Transponder with mode C output. Started transferring patterns to wood then cutting out aluminum to be formed over the wood bucks. Completed tail section frame and ribs.
April
Transferred Mylar patterns to wood then cut out aluminum to be formed over the wood bucks. Completed turtle deck bulk heads and started side and bottom bulk heads.
May through July
Side bulk head and stringers: cut out, form, adjust, fit, and install, Top, Side, and Bottom.
August
Formed rudder and elevator; all aluminum ribs will be skinned in .016
September
Installed Cessna 310 type trim actuator (chain, cable, and rollers) and cockpit side adjuster.
Airport
3MY
Scouts, with their camp in the distance
The weekend of 10/15 the local Boy Scouts held a "Camporee" on 3MY, with about 80 scouts attending. Their camp was at the northeast corner of the field, beyond the swamp north of the Black Mooney. Local pilots, including several from 563, instructed the kids on various aspects of light plane aviation. Through this instruction, they could receive a Merit Badge in aviation. Topics included engines, flight dynamics, licensing, flight planning, pre-flights, airport markings, flight simulators, and careers in aviation.
Gene Olson sent a thank you note to the chapter for helping with the Camporee. The adults present told Gene they were quite pleased with the presentations given to the kids.
Scouts inspecting an RV
Director Greg LePine represents us at the meetings of the Peoria Airport Authority and reports to the chapter board those discussions. Please contact him with any field or hangar concerns you have. A summary from his most recent reports follows.
Among the results of the latest hangar inspections was the replacing with nylon rollers the push outs for the door opening cables in the chapter hangar. The door motor on Kent Lynch's hangar was also replaced. Except one hangar where wiring work is required, all the lights above hangars should be working. The area by the Forlorn Mooney has yet to be done.
Now regularly scheduled is the vacuuming of the paved areas on the field where airplanes move. Prop erosion has been an ongoing concern. (Separately, Bruce Chien has noted construction debris from RLI is being carried on to the ramp on car tires, and Greg will request more frequent vacuuming of the area near the gate.)
Repairs to the drains on the north taxi ways are complete and the swamp has been cleaned out. RLI's lake, which attracts geese to the field, is to be addressed.
As Greg notes: "Actually all the airport people have done a fantastic job this past season with grass cutting, painting, and maintenance. So the next time you see them honk your horn and give them a thumbs up."
Federal funding available for improvements at 3MY averages $150,000 per year. Discussed for the next five years were more T-hangars, seal coating of part of the ramp, widening of the runway to 75 ft, a higher perimeter fence, runway edge lighting, and a PAPI for 18. More ambitious (don't hold your breath) is development on the west side of the field, including a new entrance, FBO, and hangars, all connected to the east side with a ring road.
