EAA Chapter 563
The Beacon
December, 2023
The annual meeting moved along quickly this year. The candidates submitted by the nominating committee were approved by the membership: JJ Hoevelmann (president), Bob Pegg (v.p.), Rob Meyer (treasurer), Karl Kleimenhagen (secretary), and (directors) Killian Madeley, Todd Moore, Mike Simmons, Nick Sturm, and Dan Talbott.
The treasurer presented his proposed budget for 2024 and reviewed the recent years' balances. Savings have been slowly falling due to fewer airplanes utilizing the available hangar space. He proposed raising dues slightly, to $40, to provide a little more income to the chapter each year, and the membership approved this. Fortunately, a number of recent gifts—including the sale of the Zenith 701 wreck which Rich Gilbert donated—left 2023 more or less in balance.
Separate from the chapter's operating budget is that for the Zenith Cruzer being built by local teenagers in the hangar. This project is reckoned to be fully funded. Donations to the chapter should instead be directed to the flight and mechanic training scholarships, or to the operating budget.
The treasurer reviewed our scholarship programs. We fund one for general aviation mechanics and one for the aviation program at Lewis University, and we provide consolation prizes for the runners up to the Ray Foundation flight scholarship. These add up to about $5,000 per year.
As a reminder, the minutes to all the chapter's meetings are kept in the Members section of the chapter web site.
This year's banquet is at Alexander's Steakhouse in Peoria on Wednesday December 6 beginning at 5:30. We have a room for 50 people, and it includes a grill if you wish to cook your own meat, although you can have them do the grilling instead. The menu prepared for this event can be found on the chapter web site, linked from the calendar entry. The portions of meat there can be large, but you can split with another person in your party, who would buy just the salad bar plate instead. You will make your selection that evening and will pay your own bill. Send the number in your party to the chapter e-mail, and we'll let you know if we've run out of spaces. Currently, we have 39 people signed up.
Both clubs meet at their usual time this month, with the VMC Club this coming Sunday at 6:30 and the IMC Club the following Sunday at 6:00. Both meet in the hangar.
Last month, the IMC Club had a field trip, as the club coordinator, Dana McNeil, describes:
On November 14th the IMC Club visited the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center, or Chicago Center as we call it on the radio. The tour consisted of a presentation by a Chicago ARTCC controller about the center. We inundated the controller with dozens of questions which he eagerly answered about airspace, handling of IFR/VFR traffic, traffic flows, traffic avoidance practices including how altitude restrictions help with traffic flows, weather, radio handoffs with other ATC facilities, you name it we probably asked it.
The tour then took us into the control center area where we each had the opportunity to sit next to a controller and listen in on the frequency as they controlled everything from commercial traffic to VFR flight following. These controllers talked us through what they were doing and why they needed to move traffic in certain ways, showing us the traffic flows coming into KORD and KMDW, along with traffic moving through the area.
It was a good opportunity to learn from the people we talk to when flying through Chicago airspace. They are a busy bunch handling a lot of different kinds of traffic. It brings a new appreciation for what they are doing at the center and why they might need us as pilots to do certain things when we are in their airspace.
About half of the group flew into KARR which was a short drive to the center. Afterwards part of the group met for lunch at the Sugar Grove Cafe just down the road from KARR. Food was good and plentiful for those who want to check it out on their next trip to KARR. Thanks to John Cardinal who used to work at the Center as a controller for helping us get this tour set up.
For those who might have made donations trying to take advantage of the Caterpillar Foundation's 2 for 1 gift matching program (running this week only), our chapter is listed under "Experimental Aircraft..." and not under "EAA" or the like.
Greg LePine, Bill Larson, Ron Wright, and Al Jennings (and no doubt little Sam) worked to rebuild the wing rack which was holding the outer wing from the Zenith 601-HDS received this fall. Greg notes the rack will be able to hold other projects' wings as needed.
The web site may be down for a few hours on Wednesday, December 6. The hosting service is moving the site to a new server.
The Annual meeting concluded without showing HQ's Chapter Video. In it HQ discussed the Non-Builder Owner's Guide, a document in PDF format covering the purchase of amateur built aircraft. HQ is soliciting donations to cover the costs of their new Education Center being added to the museum, and the Ray Foundation will be matching these gifts. On November 1st, HQ opened applications for their various scholarships. These include flight and mechanic training scholarships and are outside the Ray program.
Zenith aircraft is consolidating their North American operations to their U.S. plant in Mexico, MO. The original Zenith factory in Ontario will be closing after the retirement of Chris Heintz's son there. One of the other sons runs the operation in Missouri—which is where our Cruzer was produced. They are currently expanding the factory in Missouri, increasing its size by about 60%.
Our teen's project is thought to be fully funded at this point but welcomes a recent grant from FedEx. This will provide some cushion for any cost over runs in these inflationary times. FedEx has a program to fund local non-profits, especially youth and community development programs. FedEx describes it as their "global community engagement program." Board director Dan Talbott works for FedEx and nominated the teen aircraft building project for a $2,000 grant. The treasurer, Rob Meyer, spent several hours supplying FedEx Cares with all the information they required. In late November, this grant was received. Thank you, gentlemen, for your efforts, and our thanks go out to FedEx for their generous contribution.
We had been a bit lax in properly insuring the project, but its value has gotten to the point this was a pressing need. The board approved the purchase of hull insurance for the project. While we thought we had liability insurance for the project (and even have an insurance form from HQ), a phone call to HQ revealed the chapter insurance doesn't cover such. The company which is providing the hull insurance also offered a liability policy for the work, and this has also been purchased.
Currently, the teens are installing the fuel tank and its runs inside the right wing, as well as the wiring runs to the lighting and magnetometer. On the fuselage, work has been towards installation of the landing gear, firewall, and engine mount. The fuselage should be on its gear with the engine mounted in January—a major milestone.
Jolene Dunlap has joined the chapter. She's a retired engineer from Caterpillar and keeps a 172 at Lacon. While she is a member of the Lacon EAA chapter, she attends the VMC Club here and decided she should join this chapter as well.
You might recall former board member Andrew Barth, who moved to California to take a position with Scaled Composites. He recently sent over a note: "I'm finally going for my PPL. Got two flights in with my instructor, Mike, in this Cherokee 140."
Andrew Horton has pointed out the Pekin airport is the location of the US importer of the Tarragon line of aircraft kits from Latvia. Currently their web presence is limited to a Facebook page. They also have a YouTube video giving an overview of their line.
eaa563.org
Mt. Hawley Airport, Peoria, Illinois