So far, 50 of 65 memberships have renewed for 2019. Have you?
It had been noted that other EAA chapters were on the Caterpillar Matching Gift list. Inquiries were made from 563, and Caterpillar decided no EAA chapter meets their criteria for such gifts.
All three members from last year's Audit Committee agreed to serve again this year and will work with Treasurer Rob Meyer during January. Their report will be presented at an upcoming chapter meeting and then on the web site.
Banquet
Ho-ho-ho, 'twas the season to eat too much. About 40 people attended the annual banquet, held this year at Bernardi's again.
The previous week, the Airport Authority put on a nice spread of sandwiches, sides, and treats at the FBO, also well attended.
As for breakfasts, we'll need cooks for the coming months. At the banquet, Adam Funk won the $100 prize in a drawing limited to people who had worked as a cook in 2018. Again in 2019, each day you work as a cook adds an extra slip of paper with your name into the year's drawing.
VMC and IMC Club
Attendance at the VMC Club meeting last month was up, and the club next meets this Sunday, the 6th at 6:00 pm in the hangar. Morrie leads this club and commented: "The new Pilot Workshop training lessons are very good and will definitely benefit all VFR-only pilots. The Chapter has paid for a year license. The problems are presented full time, and after we decide what we would do, a group of 'experts' tell you what they would have done. At the last session 'we' were wrong, and we all learned something."
The next IMC Club meeting will be Sunday, the 13th at 6:00. Kent Lynch mentioned there are 17 members in the IMC Club. HQ wants all members to be EAA members, but we are taking anyone in the hope they will later join the chapter. The Club will have fly outs every 5th Tuesday in 2019, and there are 5 such Tuesdays in the coming year.
Youth Programs
Rob has looked into the Ray Scholarship program. The program will offer one million dollars per year for flight training. Chapters must apply to be in the program, and once in can nominate youth for flight training. EAA is eager to see completion rates well above the typical 20% for flight training. They feel a mentor will help insure completion, while the scholarship will take care of the financial side. Each participating chapter must provide a mentor. Rob has volunteered for this position, and several members offered to assist.
Chapter applications begin in January and nominations in February, and the money will be distributed in March. The distribution is to the chapter but earmarked for the flight training. A completion in one year will improve the odds of a grant to the chapter the following year. HQ hopes chapters will team with a local flight instructor, and we will contact Peter here at 3MY. To apply, nominees must have their medical and student pilot license, have begun ground school, and complete a brief essay. HQ has preliminary information on applications here.
HQ also has an announcement on their Youth "Protection" program:
The Youth Protection Program that was instituted in 2016 will be up for renewal in 2019 for anyone who completed the program in 2016. There will be a notice sent to our members within 45 days of expiration. The program, which includes a training portion as well as a background check, will remain the same with another three-year certification. All Young Eagles pilots, coordinators, and field representatives as well as Ray Scholarship Coordinators are required to go through the process.
More information and links to complete training can be found here.
Members
If you are in need of an Aviation Medical Examiner, Bill (Curtis) Fisher is available in Pekin, 347-2700.
At least one 563 member is part of the United Flying Octogenarians, which recently sent out a survey to their 1500 members worldwide, and about one fourth replied. They started to fly, on average, at age 28, and while the distribution was heavy towards age 20, several learned to fly in their 70s. The average age on their most recent flight was 83 and 95 was the oldest. Most expect to fly until age 90 or more. Most also feel that a desire to fly helps keep them going. The great majority are flying SEL under a Private Pilot license; far fewer are using the LSA rules. Basic Med is used 50% more often than 3rd Class medicals, and a tiny fraction are self attested under the LSA rules. While some members keep no insurance, no one wanting it appeared to have problems. By far, most members had a college degree.
Member Dave Fox currently lives in Anchorage and survived the big rumble there: "No major damage to the house. Lots of glass broken and a couple of wall units fell over. Could have been much worse."
Projects
Tim Coverstone has recently received his partly completed RV-9A kit. After flying an RV or two to be sure it was the type of plane he wanted, he was able to find one with the tip-up canopy he preferred.
It was delivered by semi-trailer. I arranged the shipping through Tony Partain of the Partain Trading Company (Bend, OR) who primarily ships kits and built planes all over the country. Slow process, but a fair price and no damage to the product.
I found the partially-built kit through EAA connections with a chapter in CA and through the Van’s Air Force forums site. I intend to put in a primarily Garmin glass IFR cockpit and hang a fuel-injected 160 hp engine. I have never done any of this before, so I am looking forward to the relationships and skills I will build in the process of getting into the air. I still have to get most of my tools and then learn how to use them! I'd love to be flying it in 2+ years but we’ll see what reality brings my way.
Karl and Kip Kleimenhagen worked on the steel tubing assemblies in their RANS S-20 kit.
More than a few of the welded joints were quite rough looking, and a few hours were spent with a hand file to take off the worse peaks and knock off the MIG spatter. Fortunately, no voids were uncovered, always a risk when filing weld joints. The only void found was a hole the factory failed to seal after they injected preservative oil through it, and that was riveted shut with a stainless pull rivet and zinc phosphate. Another couple of hours were spent with wood blocks and a hammer getting the left door to better fit the fuselage. (Quality has not been Job 1 at RANS.)
A U-haul van was used to transport it all to Piercy Auto Body in Carlock. They sandblasted and put two coats of epoxy primer on, and they put a nice metallic silver paint on top of that for the main spring gear as well as the tailwheel spring. I'll need to do a tiny bit of touch up here and there, and KlassKote sells small tins of epoxy primer suitable for brushing on.
With Kip moving to UIUC ahead of schedule plus recently having accepted an internship with Caterpillar, our (hoped for) completion date is pushed out a year, to the fall of 2020.
Terry Moushon is one of the chapter's three Tech Counselors and reported on a recent visit to Steve Jones:
Steve and Nancy Jones (aka "build team"), have been progressing well on their Vans RV14A build. Since March, the build team has installed the avionics and engine, complete with control cables. The cable controls were ergonomically relocated and the mixture bell crank had exceptionally smooth action. The relocation offered a few challenges which they worked through with their panel designer. I expect that this optional location may be offered by the panel designer in the future. Even though the two have kept a pretty fast pace, it did not take long to validate that quality was the top priority.
During my visit, Steve pointed out the parts for a "running change" that just arrived from Vans Aircraft. The parts will be incorporated into the lower fuselage to reinforce an area where stress is focused during flight. While the running change is typical as building goes, the location (tight quarters) of this change increased the challenge by a factor of three.
The powerplant is a Lycoming 390 and has been upgraded with E-Mags. Builders know that upgrades can come with a pretty stiff price, not only $$$$ but in attention to detail. The E-Mag has special wiring requirements to lessen the chance of induction coupling, which has been addressed by the build team.
Steve and Nancy have done a great job documenting their RV14A build which will benefit builders in the future. They hope to start final assembly at the airport in the May/June time frame.
Airport
Havana
The 12th, the Havana EAA chapter is having their monthly fly-in lunch, and later the same day they are having a movie and pizza night. The field is lighted, but keep in mind it is turf and it is winter.
