TALESPINNERS - February, 2002

EAA Chapter 174
Chartered since 1966

TALESPINNERS
February, 2002



Chapter member Tom Jenkins changing the oil on his Piper Colt

From the President

Last month I talked about chapter goals for this year. Before I write about chapter business, I thought I'd cover some personal goals for this year. As most of you know, I'm building an RV-6. I truly thought I'd be flying it by now, but I've never actually stated a goal of a finish date in writing....well here goes. I plan on flying my plane sometime in 2002. Knowing what I know now I think this is an attainable goal. My past hopes were born out of inexperience. I think I have a pretty good handle on what work is left, with the only uncertainty being the fiberglass work. I've done some of that already and I will solicit any help I can find to achieve my goal. In hind sight if I would have built my airplane basic and simple, I'd probably be done by now, but that's not what I wanted, hence I've accumulated over 1600 hours on my '1000 hour quickbuild' kit so far. wish me luck.

If you missed the January flyout you missed a good one (I'm told). Somehow my bazaar sense of values returned to that of a normal person briefly when a good friend passed away and necessitated a trip to the funeral home that day. I'm sure the flyout story is elsewhere in this newsletter. Please try to attend these events if you haven't yet. Our club 170 has flown and as soon as the short 'punch list' is taken care of we'll be using it for flyouts, so that's 3 extra seats that should be available. Speaking of flyouts, Bob Porter has organized the March 23 flyout to Piqua for the Hartzell Propeller visit. This should be interesting and a lot of fun, so I hope we get a good turnout.

At the last chapter meeting there was a discussion about a chapter project, namely, building out own facility. A committee was formed to investigate the feasibility of such a venture. Here's what we figured out so far: we can't sell enough pancakes to pay for a building and any other fund raising ideas are outside our current imaginative abilities. There are other more creative ways of accomplishing this project though and committee chairman Tom Jenkins is on top of it. More to come later when we learn what we learn. If you have any questions/ideas let Tom, George, Mike, Mark, Todd, Tim or me know. 'Who are they' you say? Come to a meeting and find out.

One more thing...as I write this, the new Sport Pilot rating is now a reality. It involves not only pilot rating and training, but as I understand it maintenance on certain types of aircraft too. We'll discuss it in as much detail as we can at the next chapter meeting. See you all Feb. 17th.

Scott Hersha

Minutes from the January Chapter Meeting

The meeting was called to order by the president at 2:11 pm, January 20, 2002 at the Old Terminal Building. New and visiting members were introduced and welcomed: Rick Wenzel, Paul Dinwiddie, John Woll, and Ted Fischer.

The treasurer reviewed the Chapter’s current financial status. The secretary noted that all insurance notifications had been given to national for January thru March (primarily for the fly-outs); he also noted that a video on soaring, donated by Dana Colvin was available to anyone in the Chapter, and would be placed in the library. The web editor mentioned that the Chapter’s site was being reorganized and would have a new look sometime soon; the site now has a diagram of the proposed Class B changes, as well as a forum for expressing opinions about the changes.

Technical advisor, Howard Wells noted sign-offs for Gene Seiter and Roger Augenstein, and also mentioned TUPA (the Tristate Ultralight Pilots Association) as an excellent organization for local ultralight pilots (tel 513-625-0325). To the Chapter’s delight, Howard agreed to give us another year as Tech Advisor, provided another member would step in as an apprentice this year, and take the position next year. Gary Collins has accepted the challenge.

Newsletter editor Mike Franzago said he intends to add Product Reviews to the newsletter, and called for more article contributions. Hangar coord. Mark Webb mentioned that the hangar would soon be occupied by a Pietenpol Air Camper. Bob Porter has been organizing a fly-out to Hartzell in March.

Discussion centered around various aviation products, including a “PC EFIS” system for pocket PCs, that uses a tuning fork “chip” in place of a gyroscope for providing orientation data for an artificial horizon and DG (www.pcflightsystems.com). Members were asked to continue thinking about ideas for fund raising (such as a chili fly-in, suggested by Mike Griffith).

Meeting adjourned at 3:12 pm, followed by a slide presentation by Eric Rood on the design and construction of a low cost hangar.

Norm Beaudette, Chapter Secretary

Minutes from the January Board Meeting

Meeting was called to order by new president Scott Hersha at 12:10 pm, January 20, 2002 at the Old Terminal Building. Chapter and Board meeting dates were decided, as well as the date for the first of two Young Eagles rallies, the Christmas party and a rough date for the picnic. The members agreed to hold the board meetings just prior to the regular monthly meetings, and to meet on a bimonthly basis, except when special circumstances may dictate otherwise. Scott provided the secretary with the list he put together of food and other items needed for the Chapter Christmas party, for future reference.

There was considerable discussion about various approaches for improving the clubhouse situation, including building a new one, possibly along with a few rental hangars. A small group of members decided to meet separately, to try to gather information and formulate a few seed proposals in this area, prior to presenting to the membership for further input.

Meeting adjourned at 1:32 pm. Attending, board: SH, TF, NB, DR, MFranzago, TJenkins, TWinemiller; non-board: GCollins, MWebb, HWells.

Norm Beaudette, Chapter Secretary