The larger chapter meetings, including breakfasts, are still off due to the pandemic. However, Illinois guidelines do permit smaller gatherings, of up to 10 people. The VMC and IMC Club meetings are tentatively on, but watch the calendar on the home page of the web site. Thursday coffee is also an option. Masks are encouraged, and of course the older members will want to stay away.
With OSH canceled this year, perhaps the area chapters should encourage their pilots to attend one large, local fly-in. All chapters within 50 miles of 3MY have been contacted to see who'd be interested in hosting it. Greg feels this is a worthwhile effort and suggested our chapter be the host, where we'd fire up the grill. Due to the virus, this will not be advertised to the public this year, and we'll delay the event to late summer, tentatively the last weekend in August before Labor Day. As of press time, the Bloomington chapter is on board.
The TBM Reunion in Peru was, of course, canceled for mid-May, but they are yet hoping to hold it in July or August. We'll post it on our site's calendar if a date firms up.
HQ was offering two free week long wristbands to OSH for any chapter holding in May a successful Flying Start event to introduce members of the public to flying and to EAA. This offer has been extended through to the end of the year, with the wristbands to be good for the 2021 OSH, and to qualify, the chapter must fly 5 people at the event. Similar to the Young Eagles registration system, they have created one for Flying Start. Each chapter's administrative log-in is the same for both registration sites.
About a quarter of the chapter's members participated in HQ's annual chapter survey back in November, enough for them to prepare a spreadsheet of results. Also included were the results averaged across all chapters. Our chapter pretty much matched the average. The overall satisfaction, as gauged by "how likely are you to recommend your chapter to a friend" was favorable and at the average for all chapters. Our membership is more interested than average in building their own airplane, although the member's satisfaction with chapter meetings was a little below average. Word of mouth was the most common way our members learned of the chapter, and the most cited reason for joining was comradery.
Among gripes, it was felt meetings need more presentations with speakers. A number of respondants felt the chapter isn't especially inviting, and several are concerned at the lack of young members.
One person wanted help learning fabric covering and other aircraft construction skills. Please ask the president or the secretary to introduce you to members willing to demonstrate.
We currently have two Ray scholarships in progress. Jayson needs another flight or two before his check ride, but the pandemic is inhibiting that. Eliza has just finished her school exams and can now begin her studies for the Private Pilot.
The VMC Club has accumulated several scenarios since the state's stay home order began. Two of these will be presented June 7 in the hangar by Karl. The IMC Club hopes to be on the following Sunday, again in the hangar. Bring a face mask if you want and be prepared to spread out.
This month's VFR refresher question, from the VMC Club coordinator, has to do with with a TRSA controlled airport such as Rockford:
TRSA service in the terminal radar program provides:
- IFR separation (1000 feet vertical and 3 miles lateral) between all aircraft.
- Warning to pilots when their aircraft are in unsafe proximity to terrain, obstructions, or other aircraft.
- Sequencing and separation for participating VFR aircraft.
Find the answer below.
Configuration of the new chapter web site was finished a few days after the last newsletter was released. The domains eaa563.org and www.eaa563.org both now point to the site's home page, and e-mail redirection is set up for both the chapter secretary and the Young Eagles coordinator. HQ's chapters database has been updated to point to our new web site, and our site at their previous hosting service was replaced with a single page pointing to the new site.
The "style sheet" created for the site's principle web pages has been adapted to this and future newsletters, and these should format better for devices from smart phones through printers. A similar change has been prepared for the meeting minutes. Let me know if you find any weird formatting on your phone or computer. Also, Greg one time received a "forbidden" message when trying to access the password protected Members section of the site; please contact me if it happens to you, too.
Lastly, suggestions for additional pages on the site will gladly be considered. Site maintenance is now much easier than with either of the hosts which had been provided by HQ.
John Tillotson was asked recently about progress on his RV-8:
I have not done anything on the plane for...quite some time. Since I last worked on it, I got married, and shortly thereafter, my wife got pregnant, and we had our first son last September. We are finally settling into a good routine with him, so I am hoping to get back into the garage by June. Feel free to shame me in the July newsletter if I have no progress to share—ha-ha.
Perhaps he's just making excuses? Inquiries will indeed be made in time for the July newsletter. Congratulations, John!
Speaking of making excuses, Karl and Kip Kleimenhagen's RANS S-20 fuselage is still in its winter plastic wrap, but they also should have something for July.
Greg LePine has been working on a half scale F4U Corsair since he acquired the wood fuselage on gear in June 2015. This plane is being covered with aluminum instead of foam and fiberglass, and he has an update covering his work the past half year:
Remember all the work that was done in September to the right wing? Well, it took another month to complete the left wing. Bottom and top wing sheets cut out, fitted, trimmed, deburred and cleco-ed in place for final fitting. Finally, leading edge sheets were pre-radius rolled and strap formed in place. All sheets started with silver 3/32" clecos and were final drilled for 1/8" copper clecos and rivets. Both leading edges were flush riveted and all others were button riveted. Both outer wings covered, and I must say they look great. Everyone asks where are the gun ports? You'll see, some day...
Metal wing tips from a Cessna 182 and were fitted and shortened 6", touched up on the bead roller, and re-seamed. I had two rights from eBay; the left one had to be de-rivetted, and the skin had to be overlapped. Next up was the top stub wings covering. You guessed right, more 3/32" silver clecos and the final drilling to 1/8" copper. Despite wearing a full-face mask and head cap, I'm still getting drillings in my hair and down my shirt, but at least I have a pneumatic cleco tool. Actually laughed when one of our Tech Counselors mentioned these. Believe me, I'm not laughing now. I bought one in early October.
I can't believe it took most of the month to do the stub wing to outer wing fill strip. Maybe it was the front gear door. I'm sure you are all familiar with the proper way to make something: measure 3 times, make mylar pattern, make poster board pattern, finally cut, fit, drill, de-burr metal, and it still won't lay right. Well after some metal massaging, it lays perfect.
With metal work done, time for reworking the tail cone and hook. I used two pieces of PVC pipe for the hook. After gluing together and some bandsaw work followed by sanding, you, too, can have a tail hook. Along with some filling and sanding of the tail cone, I still have to fit the hook to the cone. My leading edges needed some filling and sanding around the flush rivets. They are fiberglass smooth.
These last few years, every time I had a few minutes of free time I would work on a parts list to be ordered for the engine (Lycoming 0-235-C1). That was completed and ordered. I also fixed our chapter's parts washer to use Simple Green Aviation cleaner by installing a tank drain to a Pentair OB1 water filter, Kat's 1500-watt heater, and booster pump JBT15GR-10. It heats the fluid to 95 F in about 1 hour. Next up, the basket case engine was re-inspected, washed, dried, baked, all holes cleaned up, taped off and painted. Cylinders were honed, valves machine lapped, re-washed, assembled and were fluid checked for 24 hours, followed by disassembly, washing, baking (heated in shop oven), and painting.
Motor mount box was constructed to duplicate the firewall and engine mount. Next was fitting up the tubes and tack welded. After this was completed it was sent off to a professional aircraft welder. What a piece of engineering art.
If you have never rebuilt an engine before, this is nothing but 1937 technology so don't be intimidated. After securing all parts, gaskets and sealants it's engine assembly time. I installed the front seal first, then reversed an old flywheel and bolted it to the crank which is bolted to a metal table on wheels. This allows the crank to stand on end. With a fresh mixture of assembly lube and mineral oil, the connecting rods were lubed and assembled in order, torqued and cotter keyed (this is different from automotive).
The block was prepared with the right sealant and silk thread (old trick gasket) lifters and cam installed with gobs of cam guard and assembly lube, then the halves were assembled. Timing gears installed as well as rear case for mags, yup more lube. Rings installed on pistons, and then partially installed into cylinders, and moved into position for connecting rod wrist pin and caps. More assembly lube and finally the cylinders pushed into the studs. Don't forget the cylinder rubber O-ring. Did I mention to have lots of clean shop towels as your hands will be covered in lots of sticky assembly oil.
ready to mount
The above was taken from his submission to the magazine of the Replica Fighters Association. Greg hopes to have his airplane on its gear by the end of summer, ready for taxi. Separately, he found the aviation themed artwork here amusing. You can be the judge.
Tammy's recovery continues well, this from Greg: "I just spoke with Tammy. She had an operation last week, Tuesday, to put a wire mesh in her head, and it is 100% successful. She sounds anxious to get back to work, and she did say: 'I want to make a shout out to all the EAA guys: Hi, I'm doing great. Thanks a lot for your continued prayers.'" It is nice to have a little good news on the medical front in these times.
Also from Greg: "There was some talk they were going to count how many landings and takeoffs, but what they're really doing is monitoring Mount Hawley radio." To keep the field's count up, pilots might announce their intentions even when the pattern and field are empty.
If you're looking for an overnight destination, the Havana chapter's on-field camping facility is nearly ready. "We're substantially done. The showers and restroom facilities are completely operational, hot water and all. Just some painting left and minor little things." They'll have a full report in a few weeks.
Answer C is correct. TRSA service in the terminal radar program provides sequencing and separation for all participating VFR aircraft within the airspace defined as a Terminal Radar Service Area (TRSA). Pilot participation is urged but not mandatory.
Answer A is incorrect. TRSA Service provides VFR aircraft with a 500 ft, not 1000 ft, vertical clearance from other aircraft. Answer B is incorrect. TRSA service is for traffic advisories, separation between aircraft, and vectoring but not for obstruction clearance.