At the June chapter meeting, Brady Seei with ATC at PIA gave a presentation on their operation.
They are manned around the clock, both radar and tower. PIA is one of the major training ATC locations, so it's not unusual for a controller to stumble in his radio work. They often start on ground control followed by a couple of months of training on radar in Oklahoma City.
Peoria, Champaign/Urbana, the Quad Cities, and other area radar stations are being integrated so that screen updates will be more often than every 6 seconds. Radar views now reach east of BMI.
ADS-B-out will be needed under a Class C, which PIA is over 3MY. A different antenna will be installed so that 3MY can more clearly talk to PIA ground for IFR clearances, etc. Brady then discussed a number of rules and their exceptions, such as aircraft separation. PIA has 2 approach frequencies, but when radar control is moved to St Louis, one of these will serve 3MY and the ground frequency here will also be changed.
Pekin's runway is being redone. Aircraft can land on the grass or the taxiway, depending on the location of the work trucks. Note that ATC is required to tell you no one is "authorized" to land there.
Hiring for ATC is limited. Brady covered a number of the requirements and tests the applicants go through. Controllers can fly in an airliner cockpit twice a year to observe ATC from the other side. They also welcome rides in private planes. Call the tower if you'd like to extend an offer.
Christian Sloat, a Caterpillar summer intern from Temple University in Philadelphia, attended the meeting and introduced himself.
EAA B-17
Despite the weather, the B-17 tour stop at PIA went off well enough. Yours truly made more than a few mistakes in organizing the stop, but the volunteers stepped up to cover all extra work needed.
Six people volunteered to help with merchandise sales, but the B-17 now tours with a small van for sales, and chapter members were not needed. Instead, they were pressed into service watching over the public as they toured the B-17 on the ground in the afternoons. A misunderstanding between national and me had left this void to be filled on short notice. A special thanks goes to Keith Claypool who arrived Friday afternoon to look over the B-17 and ended up seated inside the plane the entire afternoon with a fact sheet in his hands to answer questions from the public.
Another nine chapter members and friends either had or obtained TSA "escort badges" and provide the eyes to ensure the public did not stray from the cordoned area inside PIA's perimeter fence. A misunderstanding by both Byerly and PIA operations personnel lead to 3 of these volunteers working an extra day, the Thursday "press day." Much of this day was simply the tour's mechanics performing a required aircraft inspection.
Press Day
Members from the local print and television news received a tour and complimentary flight low over Peoria. The TV crews appeared especially interested, and the Journal Star carried a write up of the coming tour stop. This no doubt lead to the good turn out from the public over the wet weekend.
Prior to the B-17's arrival at PIA, national had booked about 90 flights on the B-17, with people traveling from as far as Chicago for their chance at a ride in the bomber. While all Saturday fights were canceled due to low ceilings, most people rebooked for Sunday, and those who canceled were replaced by walk-ups in the better weather Sunday afternoon.
A perq for members of the hosting chapter is a chance to fly for free whenever empty seats are available on a flight. During the stop, this happened only once and for a single seat, but the positioning flight to the next stop, in Cedar Rapids, offered 10 positions on the airplane. These seats were filled mostly by the volunteers who worked at the stop, but two places were filled by others.
About half the volunteers took the flight to Cedar Rapids
One position was held for a youth volunteer, and Isaac Staelens, who has helped his grandfather Will at breakfasts this year, made the flight. Bob Pegg declined the offer to ride to Cedar Rapids but asked if his father Ed, a WW-II Navy veteran, could go in his place. From among his extended family, Bob also organized a large van to meet the B-17 in Cedar Rapids and drive all ten Peoria area passengers back to PIA.
Ed Pegg, who served in the Navy in WW-II, on the flight to CID
The flight Monday was delayed for about an hour by low ceilings, but the clouds did make for some memorable views out the windows.
One can imagine the Messerschmitts stalking.
A few days after the B-17 left, I passed along to national suggestions for better communicating the staffing requirements for the tour stops. In their reply, they expressed thanks for the work done and noted the stop was quite successful despite the plane being grounded one of the 3 days. They also included a tally of income from the stop. Back in February, when they approached 563 about hosting the stop, they included a poorly thought out formula for income sharing with the hosting chapter. It came as a surprise, then, when our portion was calculated to be nearly $4,100. That should help keep the budget in balance the next few years.
Those who volunteered to work on the ground at this event seemed to enjoy their jobs and offered a few thoughts:
I enjoyed being a part of it, and helping the people understand what our young men went through. Larry Kreeger
It was a privilege and an honor to help remember those brave young men who flew these planes to war and help defeat the Axis powers that spread tyranny across the world. Dave Jackson
It was great to talk to all the people who came out and hear their stories about their connection to the B-17 or to our great military branches in some way. Kathy Arkwell
Thanks again to all who volunteered and to those who submitted photographs for the newsletter.
VMC and IMC Club
Attendance at the VMC Club continues to grow slowly. This Sunday 7/7 at 6 PM is the next meeting where the VFR Mastery topic will be:
Which Way to Yellowstone?
It's a perfect day for a flight to Yellowstone National Park, but the choice of route is anything but clear. Will you go high or low? Will you go direct or take one of the long ways around? How will you weigh the risks and benefits for a flight out and back in the high country?
The IMC Club fly out for 6/8 was cancelled. Their next meeting is Sunday 7/14 at 6 PM.
Youth Programs
Harry Zhao was at the B-17 stop and mentioned the Dunlap High School's Flight Club was not the winner of this year's GAMA Challenge. GAMA did provide more feedback than last year regarding each entry submitted for evaluation.
Jayson Presley, this year's Ray Scholarship recipient, passed along a copy of a letter he sent to national:
I am contacting you in regards to my Ray Aviation scholarship. I would like to thank my hometown EAA members as well as all of the members that put time and effort into making this scholarship successful. By receiving this scholarship, I am able to pursue my passion for aviation as it was a major part of my childhood. Not only does this scholarship offer financial aid, but it provides guidance throughout the process of learning all of the skills it takes to operate an aircraft. As I progress through my aviation training and career, I look forward to fulfilling more dreams like mine and making an impact on the future of aviation. Once again I would like to thank you for this opportunity and I look forward to supporting the EAA throughout my career in aviation.
Jayson is continuing his flight lessons at Allmond but has not yet soloed.
Hangar
Rich Gilbert has a lawn roller in the hangar ready for auction. It's the type which is filled with water.
Taking inspiration from his visit to the Waco, TX chapter, Greg LePine has hung banners from past chapter events along the bottom of the hangar door.
Members
Chapter member (and director) Andrew Barth was in the local news with his work this summer at the Air & Space museum in D.C.
Past member David Springer attended the last chapter meeting. He has joined the chapter again after a career in aerospace. He's currently building a Sonerai II and would like to build a Jungster I next.
Kip and Karl Kleimenhagen are working weekends on their RANS S-20. The seats are ready to install. Brush on epoxy paint was acquired from Klasskote to touch up thin areas found on the underside of the tube fuselage. The trim tab is of questionable design, and for a second time the left half was ruined when trying to assemble it. They are considering having the metal shop in Pekin build a replacement unit of steel tubing instead of riveted aluminum.
Tech Advisor Terry Moushon has been working with Steve and Nancy Jones as they near completion of their RV-14A, and Terry provided this report on the project, which is now in a hangar at 3MY:
EAA Chapter 563 members Steve and Nancy Jones' hard work over the winter paid off as final assembly has started on their RV-14A over the last few weeks.
After moving, settling in, and getting their hangar organized, Steve and Nancy’s first challenge was to install the horizontal and vertical stabilizers.
The second challenge was to install the main wings. Hanging the wings is no small task, but they completed the effort in one afternoon. It should be noted, that once the wings are installed, the tool you are looking for is always on the other side of the wing.
The third challenge is to prepare the plane to be weighed. Rich Gilbert, a chapter member and avid racing fanatic, provided the digital scales they needed to conduct the weight and balance calculations.
On June 18, Steve along with local builder Ron Wright, added the final components so the plane could be weighed. The RV-14A was pulled up a ramp and stationed on a holding pad. After the scales were calibrated, the plane was placed onto the scales. Ron and Steve added the final components, bringing it up to its final weight.
After recording the total weight and the weight at each wheel, Steve recorded the required distances from the DATUM line so that he could do the required preflight weight and balance calculations.
Jennifer Davis, who handles marketing for the airport authority and organizes events such as a 3MY Open House, is leaving her position. While an open house had been mentioned for Saturday the 13th, this may not go. Check with Tammy at the FBO one of the weekdays preceding the 13th for an update.
There was nothing new regarding 3MY at the most recent PIA board meeting, other than they are searching for a replacement for Jennifer.
Pekin
Saturday July 13 is the reopening celebration for the newly refinished runway. The airport manager has asked if we'd be interested in flying Young Eagles for the event. We'd need pilots and one or two people to assist on the ground with paperwork.
Havana
Work is progressing on building a shower facility for campers at the field: "The showers facilities are coming along with the framing now done and the grounds graded for drainage, plus the earth base for the pavillion is done." Their camping arrangements should be quite accommodating in time for their annual Fly-In Astronomy Night, Sept. 28, held in conjunction with the UIUC Astronomy Club.
Their Young Eagles Saturday in mid May flew 24 kids. Our chapter as yet has no Young Eagles coordinator this year.
