EAA Chapter 81 Meeting Minutes

April 18, 2009

Meeting was called to order at the Ryan Field meeting room by President Duane Boyd at 1010.

Treasurer’s Report: Our bank balance is $3113.40. A CD worth $7317.93 paid a profit of $293.47 on 4/15/09. Previously paying 2.2%, it now pays 2.1935%. Treasurer Mick Myal has volunteered Secretary Bob Miller to audit the Chapter 81 books. This is akin to asking the Space Shuttle to follow a J3 Cub on a long final; it might be possible, but the results aren’t going to be pretty. Fortunately, Bob has a spouse who is not numerically challenged and will check his arithmetic.

Secretary’s Report: The Minutes for the March 21 Project Meeting were read to the present membership. These are also published on the Website and in SkyWriter.

Old Business: Newsletter Editor Erik Fjerstad continues to request that members accept Skywriter On-Line instead of on paper, as the savings are substantial. He is also soliciting articles.

New Business: President Boyd requested a volunteer to become the Project Manager, a person who would be responsible for lining up Projects for the Project Meetings. The ensuing silence was deafening. We will have to remember this technique when the meeting gets too rowdy and we need to quiet things down! So, we have no new Project Manager, but we do have a volunteer for the next Project: Eric Witherspoon and his Jabiru 3300-powered Sonex, which is currently flying off its 40 hours. Dennis Hall, who has built a Corben Baby Ace, is currently in the process of building a Hatz biplane, and also might host a project meeting later in the year.

Bob Miller read an article from the EAA website about how Teledyne Continental Motors is testing its engines on 94 UL fuel, basically the currently available 100 LL without the lead. This would be a superior alternative to autogas, which is getting increasingly difficult to find in Arizona without alcohol. Several members pointed out that it CAN be found, if bought in quantity, such as is being done at La Cholla Airpark. Avgas has superior qualities as an aviation fuel, such as lower vapor pressure and greater storage longevity, but the lead in 100 LL is harmful to the majority of the engines currently in use in light aircraft. Gil Alexander points out that Lycoming already did this research in the past, but 94 UL remains to be certified as an aircraft fuel. It would be an economical alternative to 100 LL as it costs less than 100 LL to make, transport, and store, and could be stored in the same tanks currently being used. Ryan Field currently has two 100 LL pumps. One could easily be used for 94 UL instead (it would be interesting to see how much of the 100 LL would be purchased if this occurred. There would still be a need for higher-octane fuel for supercharged or higher-compression engines, but it would be quite a limited market).

Duane Boyd held a drawing to give away two books: Lindberg and Just Plane Crazy. Prior to the meeting, he also provided some information about the Young Eagles Program to Mona Hand of Red Rock, whose son has completed a KR-2S.

Visitors present at the meeting were: Dave Fletcher, who is painting his RV8 and is seeking a DAR, Rob Livingstone of Vail, who has a 1960 Cessna 210 in pieces, and Tim Mitchell, newly here from Georgia, who wants to build an RV.

The meeting was adjourned at 1045, deliberately early, in order to give us the opportunity to visit Hangar 19 at The Cabanas (Ryan Field), the project of Ed Davis, who has just finished covering his beautiful Fisher Classic biplane. This is an all-wood tandem 2-seater, powered by an already-mounted Jabiru 3300 120 HP engine. The wings (all four!) are covered, but not yet attached. This aircraft is also available as a tubing fuselage, but Ed decided to do it all in wood, and his excellent craftsmanship shows us why.

After admiring Ed’s project, Bob Miller reported to duty at the hangar of Bruce Noon, noted Webmaster and coffee maker, for his first lesson in bucking rivets (Bob’s, not Bruce’s; Bruce has had plenty of practice at bucking and driving rivets) on his Thorp T-211 project. As those familiar with driven rivets are aware, one must drive the rivet from one side, and buck the rivet from the opposite side of the sheet metal, flattening and expanding the rivet to fill the hole and clamp the two pieces together. Sometimes this can be done by one person, but in the case of these particular rivets, one would have to have arms about 15 feet long to reach both sides. There is some requirement for flexibility and strength in a rivet-bucker, and the ability to withstand some noise and vibration. After a few practice rivets on some scrap aluminum, Bruce declared Bob ready for the Big Time. Bob climbed into the cockpit, crawled into the fuselage, and adequately bucked four whole rivets. A new rivet-bucker is born!

The next meeting will be held at the hangar of Eric Witherspoon at Marana Regional Airpark on Saturday, May 16. Maps will be available on the Website and in Skywriter.

Respectfully Submitted by

Secretary Bob Miller