EAA Chapter 563
The Beacon
July, 2022
Several members arrived for the mid June breakfast only to find no breakfast. The head of the kitchen had been called away on account of his parent's health, and the main cook was not able to attend, either. The secretary was sent a text several hours before, but his phone was off. Please accept our apologies. Breakfast will be on, with a brief chapter meeting, this coming Saturday.
Chase Ehlers is our 2022 Ray Scholarship recipient. Because he had already soloed by the time he was selected, he received a partial scholarship. He now has about 40 hours completed, and even though he's working this summer, he's been flying about four times per week. His instructor is Lucas Dye at Marshall County, and he's flying a rental airplane from Kilo Aviation, which is owned by chapter member Kent Cook. His third cross country will be this coming week, and he's preparing for his written exam. He hopes to have his ticket by the end of summer. There's more night flying to be done as well as an hour of instrument. Chase worked at the June chapter breakfast.
Rob Meyer is the chapter coordinator for the Ray program and sent along an update for the chapter meeting. Jason Presley was our first Ray scholarship recipient, and he's at Embry-Riddle working to become an airline pilot. He's back in the Peoria area and is instructing at Bradley Flying. This is timely, for one BFA instructor recently began flying for an airline. Eliza Fletcher followed Jason in the program, and she is also progressing towards her professional wings. Brady Neuhalfen was given financial aid by the chapter outside the Ray program, and after getting his Private Pilot at Marshall Co, he has been attending Lewis University to become a professional pilot. He has just completed his instrument check ride and over the summer will be building cross country time out of Marshall County.
Isaac and Nolan with the completed rudder.
Build sessions for the summer are every Friday morning plus the first and third Saturday mornings, the latter being part of the schedule set when school was on. The first build session in June, just after school ended, found all the teens on holiday, but by mid June the rudder of the Zenith Cruzer was finished. The group is currently assembling the horizontal stabilizer.
Besides giving advice and second guessing the teens' work, the mentors get some hands-on time, but only with the drudgery, such as removing labels from parts, deburring parts, and clamping pieces together as the teens rivet them up.
Andy "The Clamp" Plouse at work.
The VMC Club's usual schedule would put them on the July 3rd fireworks night, so they are delaying their meeting this month until the following Saturday, July 9, at 6:30. The IMC Club meets at their usual time this month, which is the following Sunday, July 10, at 6:00.
The IMC Club has organized a fly-out lunch for next week, on Friday July 8. The destination is Rick's Boatyard Cafe, across the road form the Eagle Creek Airpark (EYE) near Indianapolis. They are meeting there at 1:00 EDT (12:00 CDT). Please contact the club or the chapter if you plan to attend, so that sufficient table space might be reserved.
At the June chapter meeting, an oral report from the treasurer was relayed. The short summary is: Income is down and expenses are up. The inflation has already become obvious and breakfasts are now barely breaking even. There has been an empty space in the hangar, plus one space is now devoted to the Zenith Cruzer youth project. Equipment for the Cruzer build has been purchased from chapter funds, because it will stay with the chapter. Donations are well down this year, and so are the Caterpillar matches with them. Energy costs are up. Total memberships are down 10%. The board will need to discuss this when they next meet, and suggestions from the membership are welcome. The situation is far from dire but does need to be considered.
Currently, there is no available space in the hangar for projects. David Anderson took the last space, near the main door, to work on the Zenith CH-300 project which he bought from Vic Decroix. Vic had advertised the airplane on the chapter web site, where he reckoned it was about 90% complete. It includes an O-320 with prop and spinner, avionics, panel gauges, and plans, instructions, and updates. The plane will need to be reassembled and the engine rebuilt.
While president, Greg LePine attended the monthly board meetings of the airport authority. In addition to reporting to the chapter what's being considered by the board, he'd voice concerns from the chapter's perspective. Is any chapter member willing to take up this work? These meetings are the last Wednesday of the month at noon.
The second canopy for the picnic tables by the FBO is in place. The third, middle table is partly in the sun and partly in the shade of the tree. Since some people prefer to sit in the sun, its canopy will be held in reserve.
There were several unusual aircraft visiting the field this past month, including a Eurocopter EC130, a Pilatus PC-12, and a Bell 206B—all of which are powered by turbines. There was also a 1960 Piper Apache piston twin.
Dan Fasking with his Eurofox.
More interesting was Dan Fasking's Eurofox which he built up from two wrecked airplanes. Dan works at the Pekin FBO. Putting in some 12 hour days allowed him to complete his homebuilt in a little over 6 months. The design is from Slovakia and was inspired by the Kitfox.
Lastly, Roma Albrecht was down for lunch in her fine C-180. She flies out of Peru.
Roma posing with her 180.
eaa563.org
Mt. Hawley Airport, Peoria, IL