EAA Chapter 563
The Beacon
June, 2025
The next chapter meeting is Saturday following breakfast in the hangar.
The VMC meeting was last weekend, but the IMC Club meeting is this coming Sunday at 6:00.
At the previous chapter meeting, Dave Springer made a donation of $200 to the chapter general fund and challenged the membership to match this. Two members already have done so.
Both the donated Pazmany PL-4 project and the Zenith 601-HDS kit have been on Barnstormers for about six weeks with no serious offers. The prices will be ratcheted down in the coming months.
The donated Corvair engine core with aero conversion bits was sold to chapter member Andy Meinert. The Corvair is one of the engines preferred by the designer of his project airplane.
They have noted their webinars series has been running for 15 years now, and all presentations are by volunteers. Last year, these webinars attracted 35,000 attendees. Copies of their webinars are on the main EAA site.
Changes are being made at the OSH campgrounds, so check if these might affect your plans.
Those who work with youth at an EAA chapter must go through their Youth Protection check. Recently, the renewals haven't been processed correctly, so do check the status in your account and contact them if there are errors.
Three of the five people who signed up for the Learn to Fly week attended the presentation put on by Todd Moore in mid May. The weather caused the free demo rides to be postponed.
We still need volunteers to perform the annual audit. Any chapter member (or even a non-member) is permitted to serve so long as they are not on the Board of Directors. Please let JJ Hoevelmann, the chapter president, know if you are willing to serve.
The volunteer pilots at the May rally
with one of the Young Eagles
For the May rally, seven kids registered but only four showed up. As always, volunteer pilots and ground crew are welcome for these rallies.
This nearly new Cirrus jet provided a noisy, up close take-off for the Young Eagles
HQ has approved our nomination of Hope White for a Ray scholarship. Based on her flight experience, she qualified for the entire $12,000 grant. She sent along a thank you note:
Dear people of EAA chapter 563,
Thank you so much for the Scholarship! Thank you for investing in me and trusting me to be a representative of the EAA chapter. I have enjoyed getting to know the people at this EAA and am excited to help out more in the future. I have been so grateful for your wisdom so far as I work through challenges. You all have been so supportive and kind. Thank you!,
Hope
Hope soloed in mid May, not long after being approved for the scholarship. Congratulations, Hope!
The wings are mounted. Wiring, wiring, and more wiring ahead.
A volunteer painting and clean up crew composed of older members (Greg LePine and Karl Kleimenhagen) and younger members (Killian Madeley, Julian Sturm, Hope White, and Paxson Wooden) has cleaned, repaired, and painted the kitchen and bathroom walls. In addition, Greg oiled the cabinet fronts. Several teens from the airplane building project helped mount everything back on the walls and dusted and placed the airplane models.
Welcome two new members, Ross Hohulin and Mike Stumbaugh. Ross is building a Zenith 701 which his father had begun. Mike is learning to fly again after many years of inactivity. He's taking lessons at Bradley and has been attending the VMC Club meetings.
At the chapter meeting, John Schuler asked if the chapter would second a proposal to remove from the grass run off area to the west of the runway the extension of Chanute Road. The board knows of at least six tailwheel airplanes owned by chapter members, and they could benefit from an increased length of grass runway. Gene Olson, who heads the airport authority, was contacted and replied he's in favor of this. However, when there might be the resources to do so is always a question.
John in his Carbon Cub
The FAA is installing new electronics (presumably radios) in the shed between the FBO hangar and the fuel tanks. An extra dumpster and several pieces of construction equipment can be seen on the field to service this project.
The somewhat ungainly looking Diamond Twin Star was spied on the field in late May. Its glass construction allows for a sleek pod and boom style fuselage, but the deep engine pods ahead of the CG then required a large ventral fin for stability. The engines are four cylinder in-line diesels based on a Mercedes-Benz automobile engine.
Lastly, in early May, this powered paraglider was seen climbing out during its go-around at the field.
eaa563.org
Mt. Hawley Airport, Peoria, Illinois