EAA Chapter 563
The Beacon
December 2021
At this Saturday's chapter meeting, there will be a motion to proceed with an airplane build as one of our Youth Programs. If you can, please attend in order that we might have a quorum for business. There's more on this below.
Probably due to covid, there wasn't enough interest in a Holiday Party at the Lariat Steakhouse, and this has been canceled. Instead, we'll have the usual breakfast in the hangar that morning, and there will be a board meeting afterwards.
At November's Annual meeting, the current board was re-elected for 2022 and the budget previously presented to the membership was approved. A copy of the budget can be found in the Members section of the web site. The treasurer, Rob Meyer, described the growth in the budget over recent years, with an increase in donations (including matching funds from the Caterpillar Foundation) allowing for an increase in flight scholarships for young people. The meeting was reasonably well attended, with 21 voting members present.
The VMC and IMC Clubs meet at their usual day and time this month.
At the November meeting, Logan Turner, who is our second Ray scholar for 2021, received a shirt and hat from the Ray program as well as a free Zulu 3 ANR headset, courtesy of the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation. To help use up his funds, Logan hopes his instructor will join him on several long cross country flights ahead of his check ride.
Logan with his new Zulu 3 ANR headset
Our first Ray scholar for 2021, Jolene Miller, has been busy with seasonal work, but that is finally slowing, and she is ready to pick up the pace.
We're seeking a candidate for the Air Academy at OSH 2022. Due to the pandemic, we have a slot from a previous year in which the Academy had been canceled. The age range is 16 to 18.
Mrs. Brandt and a number of kids from the Dunlap High School Flight Club attended the mid November breakfast. They talked about their projects, including radio controlled aircraft. The board discussed this and have voted to pursue EAA's Build and Fly program. From HQ, a chapter purchases at reduced cost an electric r/c airplane kit, in EAA colors. To qualify, we'll need a chapter member familiar with r/c modeling to mentor the project.
Plans for building an airplane with local teenagers continue to develop. Following a Thursday coffee meeting, six chapter members, each an airplane builder willing to mentor in the project, met to discuss suitable projects. There was agreement that an aluminum kit would be best for this, and the front runner is the Zenith Cruzer. Zenith is within driving distance, and they offer a small discount to youth projects. Zenith kits include engineering drawings, the reading of which should be a useful skill for the kids.
A person outside the chapter is willing to donate funds for the airframe kit, and we are looking for 3 or 4 kids to begin the project. A young chapter member is willing to join in, and we are waiting word back from the Dunlap Flight Club and from a 4-H chapter near Morton. Greg LePine will also approach a few of the area high schools. Do you know a kid who might be interested?
Rob Meyer has looked at what other chapters have done and recommends we start the kids with the aluminum practice kits from Zenith (a clipboard) and Van's (a toolbox). We'd then move on to the tail kit.
The board members looking into this feel there is little financial risk to the chapter but will call for a vote before proceeding. The chapter will be providing hangar space, and this might involve lost income on the space. To meet the terms of the hangar lease, we'll have to provide insurance for the hull under construction. Depending on donations received as the airframe is being built, chapter reserves might be used in the purchase of the engine and avionics, to be recovered when the project is sold.
EAA does not permit chapters to own aircraft to fly. They encourage builds, but the project must be sold when ready to fly. Federal laws on tax exempt organizations require goods for sale be at fair market value. The goal is to have the money from the sale of this project be used to buy the materials for another build, and so on. If at any time interest wanes, the current project can be sold and the money used for flight scholarships for area kids.
For the last two weeks in November, the Caterpillar Foundation offered to double it's usual matching gift to charitable organizations. Eligible chapter members responded, and including the Foundation funds, donated $4,800 to the chapter. Our status as a charitable, federally tax exempt organization is founded on our engagement with the community, so most of these funds will be marked for our Youth Programs.
Again this year, HQ is presenting during the last week in January dozens of webinars on various aspects of building an aircraft.
Bill Engel has passed away at age 87. In 1976, Bill was one of the charter members of this chapter and ten times served as a chapter officer. He trained as a mechanical engineer at the University of Wisconsin and then worked at Caterpillar for four decades. For many years, Bill flew in aerobatic competition. He built a BD-5 which he donated to the Wheels O' Time museum in Peoria, and over the years, he had donated to the chapter many of the tools available around the hangar. The chapter has sent a memorial donation to the Parkinson's Foundation.
Dave Jackson has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Air Power Museum in Blakesburg, IA. This is at the site of the annual Antique Airplane Association fly-in.
Morrie Caudill has flown his Onex at age 90. A rumor claims the celebratory flight included a barrel roll. Moving into his tenth decade, he's still technically a member of the UFO (United Flying Octogenarians), but it may be time for him to seek, or create, the UFN.
Last month it was noted J.J. Hoevelmann and his son Ethan had joined the chapter and that their project is a Pietenpol Air Camper. This Piet had been started by J.J. and his father. Greg recently visited their workshop and reports it "is very well constructed." While still working on the airframe, they are thinking ahead about the engine and are looking for a C-75 or C-85. If you know of one in need of an airplane, drop them a note.
Ethan in their Pietenpol
There are several new members to introduce this month, starting with Deepak Dogra:
I am working with Pekin Insurance as an IT consultant. I wanted to be a pilot since I was 5 years old. I used to tell my grandmother I will become a pilot in the India Air Force, and we will stay in a big Air Force Officers accommodation.
During my college days I did not have enough to learn flying. When we moved to Peoria 3 years ago, I heard a single engine airplane flying above Prairie Visa Apartments, where we were living. I started exploring options around and finally chose a CFI at Jet Air Inc (Galesburg). September 2021 I completed my Private Pilot checkride. I am excited to be a part of the chapter and learn more about aviation.
Deepak has attended both the VMC and IMC Clubs so far.
A second David Anderson is with us. While he has considered buying an existing project:
I am designing a plane, which I am drawing up in AutoCAD, so I can plot it off, and make a construction set, so Nick Keith's fabricator can fabricate the fuselage, empennage, and wings.
Randy Steffen and his family have joined the chapter.
I am getting back into flying after a 13 year hiatus. I flew P-3 Orions on active duty in the Navy for nine years. I then worked another four years for a small charter company in WI flying small twins, a Citation V and Lear 35 before stepping away for a more family friendly "9-to-5" schedule. But I have always missed it and am now getting back in the air for the fun of it. Aside from scratching my own itch, I hope to continue feeding my 13 year old son's interest in flying. My wife was in Naval Aviation as well so it is a family affair.
We don't own our own aircraft yet, but are aiming toward someday purchasing a light twin or building a kit. I look forward to participating in chapter events, refreshing my skills by interacting with everyone and learning some new ones. Being a P-3 pilot, I have a fondness for propeller aircraft and have always had a love for WWII Warbirds. I suppose if I could find (and afford) a PV-2 Harpoon or PBY-4 Catalina I'd be in aviator heaven.
On his membership application, under the skills he brings to the chapter, he includes "hunting submarines."
Rich Gilbert "enjoying" his Onex project
On Wednesday 12/8 at 7 pm there will be a meeting in the lounge at the FBO:
The meeting will focus on current status, improvement plans, and discuss in general, the Mt. Hawley Airport. This is your chance to ask the director anything you want to know!
Two companies were approached about recovering the canopies for the tables in front of the FBO, and neither followed through, so we'll do it ourselves in aluminum instead, perhaps as training for the youth airplane build.