EAA Chapter 563
The Beacon
March, 2025
Both Clubs meet at their usual times this month. The VMC Club meet this Sunday at 6:30, and the IMC Club meets on Sunday the 9th at 6:00.
A few items have recently been added to the For Sale page of the chapter web site. The donated Pazmany PL-4 in the corner of the hangar is also for sale.
Todd Moore organizes our Young Eagles flights. As part of headquarters's Learn to Fly Week, he will be hosting a Flying Start event at the chapter on Saturday May 17. These events give adults a free introduction to learning to fly through a presentation and an introductory flight. The flights are similar to Young Eagles flights, and the Learn to Fly Week includes a series of webinars hosted by HQ.
The chapter provides financial support to the Flight Club at Dunlap High School. The club is organized by Mrs Brandt, and at the February chapter meeting, she and the heads of the various groups under the club talked about their activities.
The Space group won a grant from NASA to design an ISS experiment, and a kit is being sent to them. The R/C Airplane group should have the EAA kit we donated flying this spring, with a little help from the Peoria R/C Modelers. With Drones, they have both small indoor and larger outdoor units flying, and one member hopes to get his license to fly the larger ones outside over longer distances.
Mrs Brandt and members of the Flight Club
The Rockets group designs and launches rockets with blackpowder engines. They use software from the National Association of Rocketry to design their rockets, and they are active in the NAR's competition this year, which is using E size engines. Another group is rehearsing for the GAMA Design Challenge, where an airplane is designed in software to be optimized for a particular mission and then flown in a simulator. This competition opens in March.
Mrs Brandt has been our liaison to the Flight Club for the 8 years since its founding. She thanked us for helping start the club, and mentioned they might need funds for the next school year. She is seeking another teacher to take over her responsibilities with the Flight Club when she retires at the end of the next school year and will introduce her replacement to the chapter.
The Flight Club welcomes speakers to give 25 minute presentations on Fridays.
Julian Sturm reports: "I've just been flying lots. I've completed some more cross countries. I've done 17 hours of ground prep so far."
There's been no word from HQ as yet regarding our application for a scholarship grant for 2025.
Hope White, who has joined the Cruzer build team, has been accepted to attend the July 13 to 25 Explore Aviation Camp at OSH. In addition to her duties at the camp, she will be able to wander the grounds of the AirVenture show during its first half. The chapter covers half the fees, and she should be able to cover the other half via an Air Academy Campership.
On the Zenith Cruzer project, both wings have been finished and final assembly of the empennage is in progress. The instrument panel has been cut, and it's time to begin mounting and wiring the avionics.
With numerous items including a large stereo speaker atop it, plus all the dishes inside, the cabinets over the sink in the kitchen began to fail. Jim Johnson and Kent Lynch removed, repaired, and re-installed the cabinets.
Have you sent in your dues for 2025? They are $40, individual or family. You can leave your check in the mailbox or mail it in.
Hope White has joined the chapter and the airplane building project. She was previously a member of chapter 1494 in Tennessee where she was active in their build of an RV-12iS.
Chapter members Killian Madeley and Cameron Gleichman have earned their CFI-I through the crash course (so to speak) at the Greeley Flight School in Colorado. It's nominally a 2½ week course, but weather and scheduling kept them there for nearly a month.
In March, the Airport Authority will be accepting proposals to open a mechanics shop at the FBO here. If no suitable proposal is received, they will simply lease out the heated hangar for airplane storage.
The Airport will also be making changes to the 3MY website which will point out some of the chapter's activities at the field, and there may be an airport open house this year for the first time in many years.
eaa563.org
Mt. Hawley Airport, Peoria, Illinois