March's meeting was held March 3, 2010, 6:30 p.m., in the Operations Building at Hendricks County Airport, and chaired by Chapter President Vern Sullenger.
In Attendance: Myron Anderson, John Broyles, Skip Budny, Jim Buist, David Clark, Mark Eminger, Troy Grover, Dale Gustafson, Mike Laurenzano, Chuck Leucht, Mark MacKenzie, Glen Matejcek, Doug Moncreiff, Michael Mossman, Gary Reynolds, Mark Rinehart, David Stucker, Vern Sullenger, Steve Weathers and Jim Winings. If you were there but we didn't record it, let us know.
Guests: Chris Anderson, Casey Campbell and Joe Stefanic.
Treasurer's Report: Doug Moncreiff reports that the chapter has $2,171.00 in the new checking account, plus $79.31 iin the old account, plus the funds from dues and the sale of a hat, 50/50 proceeds, but minus $678.05 spent on the toolbox.
Secretary's Report: Michael Mossman read the minutes from the February 2010 meeting.
Calendars: The chapter still has a few EAA calendars, for sale, which are now discounted one dollar per month passed.
Toolbox Report: Gary Reynolds reported that the Paul Vogel Memorial Toolbox is now completed and ready to go to the tech center. Dave Clark furnished the box and dolly. All tool kits now have an inventory sheet. Reynolds and Clark to meet on March 5 and delivery to Vincennes University, where there are two or three potential candidates who could use the tools.
New Business: Dale Gustafson reported that the chapter is using the facility with the blessing of the airport authority and has an on-going obligation to keep it clean during the meetings and put things away before we leave.
New Business: The chapter voted on a new chapter logo. See story, below.
Project Reports: Skip Budny reports that the Huey will fly in hover on Saturday, March 6. mark Rinehart is hoping to get his Kolb Mark III Classic flying this summer. He is looking for instruction in a Kolb or a Champ, and needs help with the Rotax engine installation.
Airport Reports: Dave Clark reported on Hendricks County Airport. See story below.
Young Eagles: Several Boy Scout troops will be at Hendricks County Airport on Saturday, March 6 for a Young Eagles event, as they are working on aviation merit badges.
Fly-Ins: Frasca Field at Champaign/Urbana is having a fly-in on June 25-27, with camping on the field. They ask for an RSVP. Purdue University is hosting a fly-in on Saturday, April 17, from 7 to noon. There will be no landing or ramp fees.
Upcoming Programs: Jim Buist will talk about the Civil Air Patrol in April; the May meeting will be at Metro Airport to view the Huey restoration. Troy Grover would like for the chapter to plan a flyout/drive out to Dixon IL, where a builder is working on a one-half scale B-17.
50/50 Drawing: Gary Reynolds won the 50/50 and donated his half of the $43 pot to the chapter.
Program: What's New at Grov-Air. See story towards end of newsletter.
Web Newsletter in Two Sections
The web newsletter is divided into two 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.
Welcome New Members
New member and Danville resident Myron Anderson joined the Chapter during the March meeting. Myron, who is a Purdue University Aviation Maintenance and Professional Pilot graduate, is an A&P, Flight Engineer, ATP and has Flight Instructor Ratings. He flew for ATA Airlines for 26 years, and currently flies for Compass Airlines. He currently serves on the Hendricks County Council. He just purchased the plans for the Pietenpol Air Camper and is preparing his first order of spruce to begin construction. He'd like to volunteer as a Young Eagles pilot, Young Eagles ground support, and flight or ground school instruction. Myron and his wife Debra have three children and three grandchildren.
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.
To get a downloadable PDF membership application see http://www.eaa1311.org/PDF_files/membership_application.pdf
Dues are Due!
Once again it's time for Chapter 1311 members to ante up with dues. The chapter's board of directors will again set the 2010 dues at $15 to help meet the chapter's on-going expenses. Since we don't have any chapter fund raising events, we need to pay our EAA assessments, insurance, web site maintenance, and other internal expenses with what we raise from dues.
Please send your $15 dues to the treasurer: Doug Moncreiff, 8113 Traders Hollow Lane, Indianapolis IN 46278, or give it to Doug at the next meeting. Make your check out to EAA Chapter 1311.
New Chapter Logo Announced
Prompted by Chapter 1311 President Vern Sullenger's desire for some new hats in a summer-sun-friendly lighter color, we now have a new logo to embroider on the hats and potentially on shirts and other apparel that the chapter members might like to buy. We had several logo ideas for members to view at the February meeting. The chapter voted at the March meeting to adopt Mark Eminger's design, shown here.
Now that we've settled on a design, the chapter will select a company to stitch them onto some hats, which will be offered for sale at chapter meetings and other events. We would also like to offer chapter shirts, too. Because of size issues, we will have to order commitments for the shirts before we order them.
Chapter 1311 Flies Young Eagles
Great weather, with clear skies and smooth air, prevailed for Chapter 1311's first Young Eagles participation for the 2010 year. Three Boy Scout troops from Brownsburg and Danville converged on Hendricks County Airport on Saturday morning, March 6 for a fun day of aviation activities.
Many of the scouts were working on Aviation merit badges, so they had a list of requirements to meet that day. They were shown how to preflight an aircraft, given a short ground school by the HCA and then went up for a flight with the Chapter 1311 pilots and other volunteers. The chapter pilots, who included Vern Sullenger in his Cherokee and Chuck Long in his Zenair, were joined by Susan Zellers in the Cloud Niners Cherokee, Gary Hood in his twin-engine Cessna 310 and another pilot with a Stinson. Chapter 1311's Doug Moncreiff and David Stucker led the ground crew, and Joe Sims from the HCA worked the ground crew, assisting with pre-flighting and ground school.
Vern Sullenger reports that it was an outstanding group of polite young men, and he was impressed with their parents and level of involvement.
In addition to getting the scouts interested in aviation, one parent got the bug and asked about the Light Sport/private certification. Vern gave him some magazines and information about Light Sport. Hopefully, we'll see him at a meeting soon.
Young Eagles photos by David Stucker
HCAA Wright-Patterson Bus Trip Is On
The Hendricks County Aviation Association is planning a bus trip to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum on Saturday, May 8. The trip is open to EAA members and guests. They need to get a head count no later than April 5 so they can confirm the bus.
Cost is $25 per seat, which pays for the bus. Meals are up to the attendees. The bus will leave Hendricks County Airport at 7:00 a.m., and plans to leave Wright-Patterson at closing (around 5:00 p.m.). Attendees can buy lunch or snacks at Wright-Patterson during the day. They plan to stop somewhere close-by after leaving Wright-Patterson for dinner before coming home.
The HCAA should have room for all who wish to attend; they will need numbers by April 5.
Attendees may send their check made out to HCAA for $25 to:
Rick Princell
456 Avon Ave.
Plainfield, IN 46168
317-281-4303
Ask Your Tech Counselor
It's Annual Time Again
By Michael Mossman
I was asked who should do the annual Condition Inspection on a homebuilt aircraft. The answer should be easy: if you built it, you should apply for the Repairman Certificate and do the inspection. Think about it: if you built the aircraft, who better to know the "ins and outs" of your aircraft? Besides, the Repairman Certificate is worth some money to you. How much? Figure an annual will run from $200 to $300 (maybe more) from an A&P, if nothing other than the inspection needs to be done. That's enough money for fuel for a round trip to Oshkosh, a day pass for the big show and perhaps lunch. Need any another reason to do it? What if repairs need to be made? You'll get to source your own parts and make repairs at your leisure or to meet your own specifications.
Not everyone can get a Repairman Certificate for a homebuilt aircraft. You will need to attest that you built the aircraft. If you built with one or more partners only one of you will get the certificate. And it isn't transferable; if you sell the aircraft the certificate stays with you. But if you need the requirements, getting it is easy. You'll need form 208610-2, which is available on the FAA website, to make the application.
If you own an Experimental Light Sport Aircraft, you can get a Repairman Certificate for that specific make/model by completing an FAA-approved class, which generally runs 16 hours. If you change models, you'll need another certificate.
I have a close friend who owns two experimental aircraft, which were transitioned over from the "fat" ultralight category. He has a solid mechanical background so I thought he would be a natural for the Repairman Certificate. He declined on the spot; he said he'd rather have someone else's eyes on the aircraft. That's a good idea. Even if you are doing your own annual, someone else who is willing to follow along behind you can help spot defects that you may have glossed over. Another set of eyes can really keep you honest.
I started my fourth annual on my Zenair this March. The weather has been warming up so the hangar wasn't miserably cold. That's something to think about. A former mechanic told me that you should always plan for your inspections in the winter so you don't miss any flying time. After doing several of my own inspections, I can tell you that if the weather is too cold to fly, you won't be enthusiastic about flying on a concrete floor to open up your aircraft unless the hangar is really warm. You don't want to be uncomfortable or miserable while you do your inspection, as you may get careless or lack the commitment to do a thorough job. Pencil whipping an inspection is a very bad idea. Plan your inspections for a time when you know that you'll be able to do it right. If you end up missing a weekend or two of good flying weather while your bird is dissected, so be it. You don't want to be in the air with real, undiscovered problems lurking under the surface.
My elevator controls just developed a scratchy sound so I resolved to find it during this inspection. I opened up the center console and found that a plastic fairlead had worn through after 300+ hours of operation. The scratchy sound was the stainless steel cable cutting a slot through a soft aluminum sheet. Not good! I fabricated a new fairlead from a heavier gauge of nylon plate and riveted it into place, then beefed up the aluminum that got sliced. But that little problem got me thinking about the other fairleads. I had one installed in the tail with no access; I built that part early in the project and never thought that it would need fixing. Getting to it would require drilling out about thirty rivets, which is easily done. What is not easy is watching a nice paint job get ripped up by a drill bit. Paint cutting bits wouldn't save the work either, so I had postponed this for a couple of years. Chuck Leucht was helping me with this inspection so I had him drill out the rivets while I walked away. Once the fairing was off, it was easy to peek inside. We did notice that one rudder cable had bounced out of a fairlead (it wasn't possible to fully retain it) and had worn a groove in the rear fuselage skin where it exited to the rudder horn. I made another fairlead and attached this one under the cable's fairing. I also found a few bolts back there that needed their torque checked. Next time I am going to install the fairing with rivnuts and machine screws. (Note to self and other builders: you can never have too many inspection plates.)
I had the wing joint covers off so I could check the spar bolts and electrical connections. One of the guys helping me looked at the aileron bell crank and wasn't happy with the angle that the pushrod bearing end joined the bell crank. There wasn't anything wrong there, but while checking it out he noticed that the bolt that connected the bearing end to the bell crank wasn't long enough; there weren't any threads showing beyond the lock nut. I'd flown the airplane for five years without a problem (thank God that locknuts really work) but I knew I couldn't ignore it. We found a longer bolt and replaced it. That prompted a closer look at the rest of the control linkage bolts, which were all OK.
The rest of the airframe is in pretty good shape, considering its age and how it has been flown. I still need to check in front of the firewall at the really expensive parts. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish the inspection this weekend.
My comments above aren't intended to give any one a false impression on inspections. They are easy to do and will save you some money if you can do it yourself. If you are a reasonably conscientious person you can do a good job. Having an inspection checklist really helps. But if you have a buddy with the right skills who is willing to help out, never turn down the offer.
Correspondents Needed
Chapter 1311 is always looking for correspondents and contributors to our monthly newsletter. Whenever you have a story or photo that would be of interest to our readers, we would like to publish it.
We are looking especially for correspondents for some of the upcoming fly-ins. If you are heading to any fly-ins this coming year, would you please consider submitting a story and photo or two about the event? We'd love to hear about it and hope that one of our members or readers will be there and write about it. Please contact the newsletter editor at michaelandkatie1@comcast.net.
Chapter 1311 Builders' Local Resource Directory
Start thinking of the places where you locally buy for AN hardware, sheet metal, paint, tools and other items. We'll need an address, phone number and web site, if they have one. Be sure to let us know if you would recommend them to others or not. The idea here is that members should be able to look to suppliers that you trust and would continue to do business with. Please forward your ideas and recommendations to Michael Mossman at michaelandkatie1@comcast.net
Check out our online directory at http://www.eaa1311.org. Click on the link "Homebuilder's Resources" on the left. Note that all resources listed are merely suggestions; as a chapter we do not endorse any of them. Our recommendation: "Caveat Emptor" (let the buyer beware).
Boone County Airport News
Hangar Space: All hangar spaces are occupied. Anyone desiring to base an aircraft at the airport or use the maintenance hangar will be required to join the association. For more information contact Michael Mossman, association secretary, or see the website at http://www.booneairport.org.
Hendricks County Airport News
Dave Clark and Myron Anderson, who serve on the Airport Advisory Committee, state that the committee, which meets four times per year, just finished its 30-year airport plane. The airport authority is conducting a new study for aeronautical and non-aeronautical uses. The "non-aeronautical uses" portion does not imply that the FAA is looking to close down the airport; normally that means something like hotels, restaurants, and other compatible uses.
The group has discussed extending the runway to 5,000 feet in the future. The county has already specified a zoning overlay to prevent housing from being built on the north and south ends of the runway. The city of Danville plans on annexing the property.
Several pilots have complained that the AWOS is programmed in centigrade so they have provided some conversion sheets.
The airport authority is also looking for new uses for the old Indianapolis International Airport terminal building.
Newsletter continued on Section 2
One of the greatest pleasures I have received from my privilege to fly has been taking kids for airplane rides. I have done that in rented airplanes and in my own. I have done it associated with Young Eagles, various scouting programs and just on my own. The EAA established the Young Eagles program because it was recognized that for general aviation to survive, the next generation must always embrace it. It's important not only to develop interest in that next crop of pilots, but also to create a feeling of good will toward the aviation community in that next generation of citizens. A teenager who has had a good experience with a friend or neighbor taking them for a ride is not as likely to become an enemy of the aviation community as one who never knew who we were. But apart from those practical reasons, it's just plain fun. If you have access to an airplane and have not shared it with a child, I encourage you to give it a try. Whether or not you have an airplane, you can share in the excitement through Young Eagles. Volunteers are needed in the air and on the ground at all Young Eagles events.
One question you might have is at what age is it best to start a child flying. I have known parents who started flying with their children when they were babies and never quit. If you do that I would encourage you to provide hearing protection. The best suggestion I know of for protecting a baby is to use cotton or some other type of earplug held in with adhesive tape. If it's not to hot, you can put a hat with earflaps on them so they don't pull at the tape. Once they get past the baby stage, I wait for them to ask. When you think they might be ready, take them to the airport and let them see the airplane, sit in it, help with a preflight etc. and in general make them feel comfortable with asking if they can have a ride. I've had good luck with doing this at around age 3. I always take another adult along on that first ride just in case things don't go so well I can still stay focused on flying.