This year's "month of October" has been much better than anyone could wish for. How much longer it will continue remains to be seen. When it does change, watch out!
Our October chapter meeting went well, I thought. I enjoyed seeing a young man take an interest in aviation and in the state of Indiana. He had his notes in very good order and gave us a good program. Now he needs to do interviews before the "oldtimers" go west. Just about everyone has something to contribute to aviation history and he needs to take advantage of that. Our program for November (WX permitting) will be Russ Ryle, coming up from BMG again to do a program on "Ghost Airports in Indiana." If any of the chapter members has any information/knowledge of any old airport site that was years ago and has disappeared, please bring it with you and share it with everyone.
The site and date for the chapter's December Christmas Party/meeting has been secured. Information about it will be coming from Mike Mossman.
EAA 67 had their annual Hog Roast this past Sunday. It was very well attended but there was still some food remaining when it became clean-up time. They ran out of aircraft and auto parking space, but the line waiting for food never got too long, and the food was good! This event has become very well known and the attendance gets better every year.
On page 80 of the October issue of Sport Aviation the top picture of the Florida/Sonex is an aircraft that I am familiar with. The builder, Jim Ross, was my next-door neighbor in Florida until we sold our Florida property this past spring. I had a slight hand in the construction of that plane. I was there when it arrived and helped to unload it from the semi-trailer; then when he was building it I would go over to his hangar and try to assist. I would often be his third hand. His dog, Cessna, is a character. Cessna does love to fly. Jim would take him in his Skyhawk before he sold the 'Hawk and started the Sonex. That was a sight to be seen. I often got a good laugh out of it. Cessna often managed to get into trouble, too! One time he damaged his right rear leg while getting into mischief and the vet bill was $1500.00! Cessna is a good dog — now 10 plus years old and slowing down. Usually when we would arrive back in Florida, Cessna would be the first one to greet us. Jim and Linda also have a cat. It's name … Piper!
Gus
Guests: James Green, Bob Howard, Evelyn Ryle, Russ Ryle and Dean Webster.
President's Remarks: Dale Gustafson: Dennis Crawley is now working on an ethanol plant on the east coast and is not available to attend meetings so he has resigned from the board. On TV they did thing about Sarah Palin and had a Super Cub in the background on floats, as her husband is private pilot. This kind of exposure might help aviation. Skip Budny had roll-out on the Huey chopper last Sunday. Coming events: Victory Days at Terre Haute, which will be WW-II re-enactments. They expect to have Aluminum Overcast of another B-17. No P-38s are expected. This is not going to be an airshow or flying demonstration.
Treasurer's Report: Vern Sullenger: Paid Gary Reynolds $318.30 for the tools that he bought to complete kit number 2. Also, Vern and Gary helped a stranded pilot with their battery. They received a donation check for $100 for the tool fund (Bill Griffith?) $1,676.92 in checking account, tool box now paid. We are no longer keeping a separate record for tool fund monies. We also have hats for sale at $12.
Secretary's Report: Michael Mossman read the minutes from the September meeting.
Mike Laurenzano motioned to approve minutes, Dave Clark seconded; all voted in favor
Vice President's Report: Doug Moncreiff: Chapter Christmas Party LA Café Wednesday Dec 3-10, with a five-minute formal business meeting. Next month's program will be Russ Ryle will talk about the ghost airports of Indiana.
Other Business: Mike Laurenzano reported that the FAA News is a magazine that is out on a monthly basis. It highlights the regulations, etc., and has subscription information inside. Laurenzano also passed around photos of O'Hare under water.
50/50: David Parker won $20 on 50/50.
Safety Tip: John Broyles reported that at Lee Bottom field the refuelers laid the fuel nozzles in the grass them rolled it the hose and got grass in the nozzle, which he says is not safe. He recommends that pilots stay with their airplanes when they are being fueled and watch for potential fuel contamination from practices like this one.
PROGRAM: David Parker reported on aviation history in Indiana. See feature story toward end of section 2 of the newsletter.
To get a downloadable PDF membership application see http://www.eaa1311.org/PDF_files/membership_application.pdf
Project Update:
When Leucht bought the airplane it was in essentially in a "quick build" form; the fuselage, wings and flight controls were constructed but airframe was not completed. In the past year Chuck has completed the following systems: installation of flight controls, including the rigging; brakes and hydraulic system, the entire electrical system and the fuel system. He's not had any exposure to wiring before and has received a great deal of drop-in assistance from the "regulars" at Boone County Airport. With the addition of his 300-400 hours of building time, the airframe is now essentially done.
The airplane was originally configured to fly behind a Mazda Wankel rotary engine. Leucht converted it back to use a Lycoming O-320. The engine originally was a B3B model that was removed from a crashed Piper Apache. Leucht converted the engine to a 160-h.p. D1A model, as recommended by the tech support folks at Van's Aircraft.
When he swapped for the engine it was just boxes of parts. Leucht stripped the engine down to the bare block, cleaned and inspected every component, took inventory and replaced all missing parts after glass bead blasting and repainting the block. In rebuilding the engine he bought new Titan cylinders, pre-loaded pistons, rings, piston pins, intake tubes, couplers, fuel pump and fuel pump plunger. He also added an oil filter adapter, replaced the oil sump, oil return lines and a major overhaul gasket set and bolted on a fresh, new Sensenich fixed-pitch propeller. Prior to reassembly he performed a run-out test on crank since the engine was involved in a crash; it checked out OK.
Leucht says that the canopy is scariest and toughest part of the project so far. "Every time you think you are done you have to cut a bit more," he says.
Although Leucht hasn't deviated from the plans for any major components, he has added his own customized touches. He's scratch-built fiberglass fairings and has fabricated his share of assemblies, mounting plates, brackets and doublers. His front windscreen will not be glued into place, as per plans, but will have a formed sheet metal attachment. He has also had to remake the entire instrument panel, as Turner has cut it for the custom Mazda instruments that Chuck has had to replace. Additional features are an electric elevator trim and custom upholstered seats but overall it will simply be a very fast but basic day/night VFR airplane. He says that the airplane is expected to have a high cruise speed of 198 mph at 8,000 MSL in standard conditions.
Leucht describes the project as being in the homestretch now. It "started scary and got fun." If he had the chance he would do it all again. The "funnest" part of the project has been rebuilding the engine. He also enjoyed the cowling installation. Although he credits his friends at the airport with invaluable assistance, he says his exposure to tech counselors and his model building experience has guided him through the project. He has called Van's tech support six to eight times and they were always helpful. Ian at Van's now knows him as "Chuck from Indiana."
In order to stay on budget he has sourced parts and components from the cheapest vendor in every case, relying on companies like Aircraft Spruce, Van's Aircraft, Wicks, Aircraft Tool Supply, Harbor Freight and others. He also has a constant speed Hartzell propeller from the Lycoming engine and some other parts that he needs to sell to pay for the paint job. He has spent a great deal of time negotiating favorable swaps for parts and assistance. Working on the airframe in an open-air hangar at the airport and rebuilding the engine at home has helped keep the overhead low.
Although this is Leucht's first "full size" airplane, he has had many years of experience scratch-building radio-controlled models airplanes, gaining him a reputation as a highly-skilled model builder. He claims to have learned his fiberglass techniques from working on model airplanes.
Leucht says his wife Pam had gotten used having an airworthy airplane available (their Cessna 150), although it was too small and too slow. She is looking forward to more speed and the comfort of a bigger cabin. She's not into punching holes in the sky but loves going somewhere. Chuck claims that Pam has been behind the project 100%. She's helped with the exhaust, engine while it was disassembled, and had lived with boxes of parts throughout the house. Pam did the project budget and has kept their finances on track. She lets Chuck make the decisions about what they will buy, as long as they can afford it. He says that she helped counsel him through the emotional setbacks of homebuilding.
Leucht emphasizes that although he thanks his wife, friends and tech counselors in the on-going success in this project, he wants God to have all of the glory for the way things are working because with His grace this project is coming to completion.
Chapter Christmas Party Set
We will need RSVPs for anyone who wants to attend. Please RSVP to Doug Moncreiff, 317-280-1621 cdmoncreiff@sbcglobal.net or Michael Mossman 765-483-9533 michaelandkatie1@comcast.net
Location: L.A. Café
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October's meeting
October's meeting was held on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at Hendricks County Airport. Chapter President Dale Gustafson opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.
In Attendance: John Broyles, Dave Clark, Mark Eminger, Troy Grover, Dale Gustafson, Doug Hatfield, Cale Nelson, Mike Laurenzano, Doug Moncreiff, Michael Mossman, David Parker, Rick Princell, Mark Rinehart, Bryan Ruberson, Jim Snyder, David Stucker, Steve Weathers, Jim Winings and Ernie Winters. If you were there but we didn't record it, let us know.
Tool Kit Report: Gary Reynolds showed the completed second tool kit at the meeting. Mark Eminger: Was anything identified as needed from last tool kit? Dave Clark: No, but we should add a magnifying glass Gary Reynolds: Some things will need to be replaced like paint masks, hearing protections, other things are wear and tear so we normally wouldn't charge the student for them.
Web Newsletter in Three Sections
The web newsletter is divided into three sections to take some of the sting out of the download time. If you receive only one section of the newsletter, or if the sections you receive are missing the embedded photo attachments please contact the newsletter editor at michaelandkatie1@comcast.net. The PDF version that gets posted on the website will remain as one file. See http://www.eaa1311.org/newsletters.html to download a PDF newsletter. (PDFs are posted within one week of the email version.)
Welcome New Members
We have had many guests over the past few months and many people have expressed an interest in our organization. Look around and see if you have any friends, family members or acquaintance that are interested in aviation. Take the time to invite them as a guest to the next meeting. If you see somebody new, introduce yourself, welcome him or her, and invite them to sign up.
Chapter 1311 member Chuck Leucht is building an RV-9A that he purchased partially-completed from Arvel Turner in August 2007. When Turner originally bought the kit, Leucht had a hand in helping to inventory parts and bucking rivets. At that time he had no idea that he would be taking over the project.
Leucht had to correct the rudder for P-factor when converting the plane from the Wankel back to a Lycoming engine.
The annual Chapter 1311 Christmas Party is now schedules for Wednesday, December 3, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. Our reservation is again at the L.A. Café in Whitestown, were we had the party last year. We have the same room, scheduled from 6:30 to"whenever" in the evening.
4 South Main Street
Whitestown IN 46075
Phone: 317-769-7503
Newsletter concludes on Section 3