This month's chapter meeting will include a presentation on the Grumman Avenger by Brad Deckert, owner of the one based in Peru, IL.
Grumman Avengers at Peru, Spring 2018
VMC and IMC Club
Attendance at last month's VMC Club was down, likely due to the Super Bowl that evening. A long discussion among those present ensued from a sample of the PilotWorkshop's VFR Mastery program. The club's subscription at PilotWorkshop will be upgraded to include this series. Because WiFi access is better in the FBO, future meetings might be held there instead of the hangar; check the calendar on the chapter web site's home page.
The IMC Club is running 7 to 10 people with increasingly lengthy discussions. Their fly-out to Alton for Saturday 2/2 was scrubbed due to weather. The next flight is scheduled for Saturday 3/9 to Quincy. The visit to the PIA tower remains on hold.
Youth Programs
EAA national chose to award the first two Ray flight scholarships before the deadline for applications had even closed. No word yet on our application.
Lincoln Land Community College was sent a check to fund our annual scholarship. The director of the program there reports 40 active students. We suggested the scholarship might go to a student in the northern part of their area, which is about a 60 mile radius. Their program is eligible for both federal and Illinois GI bill funding. It's the only such program between St. Louis and Chicago.
Morrie has received ground training materials from Gleim for the Ray program and has begun working with Gavin, who would likely be our candidate for the scholarship. The Gleim kit is partially web based and expires in a year, so that portion will have to be renewed with each student. There are also videos to accompany it which have not been received but are on order. The kit, however, is structured to be paced by the flight instructor, so Morrie will have to coordinate with Peter at Allmond Aviation.
Members from the Flight Club at Dunlap High School attended the second breakfast of February. Riya, the club president, mentioned there are about 30 members and 4 groups: drones, R/C airplanes, GAMA competition, and rocketry. The rocketeers are in a competition to launch raw eggs to over 800 feet and back without breaking them. New drones for flight training have been purchased, and one of their competitions is racing. The GAMA Challenge is starting in early March, and they are looking for mentors to meet mornings 7:00-8:00 and some afternoons 3:30-4:30. At the end of the meeting we asked them for an updated accounting of the funds we sent last year.
The Flight Club also expressed interest in a Young Eagles rally, and several are interested in flight training. Rob Meyer described to them the new Ray Scholarship program and other similar programs. Our chapter's position for organizer of the Eagles rallies is currently open—step right up!
Speakers for presentations on aviation are also wanted by the Club. A few days after the breakfast, Riya wrote they have three openings for speakers, Fridays March 15, April 26, and May 10 from 10:00 to 10:30. "I know some of the topics we were interested in were the process of getting a pilots license, aerospace engineering, RC planes, and schools and programs involving aviation. If you have another topic you would like to talk about, we would love to hear about it." Drop a note to the chapter e-mail if you'd like to give a talk.
Bob Pegg has talked with RLI about donations, and they expressed interest in working with us in having kids build an airplane. If you would be interested, contact Greg or Rob. Not many high schools have shop classes, so instruction would have to include the basics. The board felt there is not sufficient space in our hangar for this, so inquiries are being made regarding that.
Treasury
The Audit Committee filed its report, and a copy is now in the Documents section of the chapter web site. To quote one of the auditors: "The audit committee gives Rob an A+ for 2018."
EAA B-17
EAA has asked us to host their B-17 June 14 to 16. We would provide volunteers for staffing and organizing in exchange for part of the proceeds. A total of 22 members and friends stepped forward with offers to work a total of 43 shifts, more than double the 21 requested by EAA.
EAA has agreed to let us set up their vans outside the fence next to Byerly, and this will greatly reduce the number of people having to go through TSA training. For those working as an usher to the B-17 (inside the fence), TSA clearance and training will be required. This involves two trips to TSA at PIA, once to take your information for the clearance check and a second time about a week later to take video instruction and a test. At that time you'll receive a badge to work inside the fence on those 3 days. Unfortunately, there is a $100 fee for the clearance, but the management at PIA is trying to find an alternative. One of our volunteers has an airplane at PIA and already has her badge. If any of the other volunteers has a badge, please let me know so we can schedule you for an usher shift.
Members
Welcome new member Todd Moore. He has been attending chapter breakfasts before joining.
We currently have 57 members this year. Have you renewed yet?
Two items regarding the progress of member projects were left out of the previous newsletter. Bill Larson's Sonex has been in the hangar for installation of an autopilot in his Sonex. He is awaiting suitable weather to calibrate it outside. The Meyers' Onex is progressing. The UL Power engine is now hung and a custom wood prop from Sensenich has been received. It's the first Onex install for this engine, and they have been able to consult with the engine maker. They are plumbing the fuel system and plan to redesign the brake handle.
At the back of the hangar, Greg LePine's F4U has been repositioned to make room for the main spars of the outer wing panels to be fitted on to the center section.
Are You Still Here?
In his many years of flying, Dick Barthel has been to a few places many of us will not. He wrote a reminiscence of a trip 50 years ago to Alaska.
"Are you still here?"
That was my greeting from the Weather Briefer at the Juneau Flight Service Station on August 18, 1969. It was the third morning in a row that I had walked in hoping for VFR weather so my parents and I could continue our exploration of Alaska in our rented Cessna.
"Yes, and it looks like it's still only 800 ft ceiling with 5 miles visibility" I said.
The briefer replied "Everyone else was flying because that's about as good as it gets. Visibility will improve as you get away from the Juneau Ice Cap."
"But with this overcast, how will I get over the mountains into Canada?" I asked.
"You go up to Haines (75 miles north) and there will be blue sky over the river valley to the west; just climb up above the clouds and look over into Canada, and there will be a hole."
Unbelievable. But, without anything better to do in Juneau, we loaded up the plane, got our special VFR clearance out of the control zone and flew north, up the fjord below the cloud deck. When we got to Haines, lo and behold, the clouds parted over the Chilkat River Valley revealing blue sky above! Heading west, we climbed until we were above the cloud deck, looked north into Canada, and not only was there a hole in the clouds, through the hole we could see the road that we wanted to follow to get back to the AlCan Highway! Spiraling down through the hole, soon we were enjoying lunch in Northway, Alaska as we refueled for out afternoon flight to Anchorage.
Chilkat River west of Haines
Canada is just over the ridge.
(Getty image in a Telegraph.co.UK article)
Airport
3MY
In the last newsletter, I reported PIA had appealed the imposition of the water run off tax. It was instead 3MY which had been hit, at about $40,000 or over $600 per hangar per year. Lawyers for the airport and the city are currently wrangling over this.
Pekin
Nick Keith is recovering from his burns and is back at work part time.
