EAA Chapter 81 Meeting Minutes

May 18, 2008

Meeting was called to order at 1000 by President Duane Boyd at the Ryan Field meeting room.

The first order of business was the Secretary's report, Presented by Secretary Bob Miller. The report consisted of a reading and approval of the minutes of the Project Meeting of April 19, and an off-the-cuff summary of our Chapter visit to the Pima Air and Space Museum the following Saturday April 26.

Next, Treasurer Mick Myal presented his report: Our checking balance is $2,636.87. One Umbrella Bank CD rolled over, paying $177.33 with its 5.3% interest. Unfortunately, it will now pay only 3.3%. The total for Chapter 81 CD investments is now $7077.33. Treasurer's report was approved.

Chapter member George Michaels received his name tag and membership card.

The issue of double addresses for those Chapter 81 members who are winter visitors was briefly discussed. We will try to make sure that Skywriter goes to the correct address.

Chapter 81 guest Bill Shertz is building a V-star and is looking for a local builder of a Starduster.

Bill Wrench told us about sailplane flying at El Tiro Airpark, which is off Trico Road, west of Marana Airpark. Membership is $400 initially, $65 per month, $ 15 per tow, and a half-day of duty per month. There are currently 9 gliders and another coming soon. There are three Piper Pawnee towplanes. Glider ratings are provided and guest flights are available. Best to come weekends and to call first. They start at 0900. Website is tucsonsoaring.org. The always amazing Roy McCaldin was able to give us additional insight into the world of soaring (he must be pretty good at energy management, as he is the only one I know who can keep a Boeing B-17 in the air with half a wing missing)! Summer is the season for soaring, with great lift and amazing altitudes and distances to be achieved. Typical flights are 12-14 thousand feet, and flights over Mt. Lemmon, to Phoenix, or even to New Mexico are achieveable. By the way, Roy still holds the Arizona altitude record for soaring at 31,000 feet. (He claims to have done this on purpose, but there were muttered rumors about a thunderstorm and some unexpected lift!)

Secretary Bob Miller next discussed the evolution of kit plane manufacturing (and perhaps the reason that the FAA placed a moratorium on approval of new designs that meet the 51% rule). There is, of course, a whole spectrum of experimental aircraft building, from scratch-building from a few photographs and maybe a blueprint if you're lucky (Mary Hanson has done just that, producing an amazing replica of the rare Alexander Bullet), to aircraft so complete from the factory that they appear only to need a coat of paint to be ready to fly. The latter, of course, are the reason for the FAA's concern; the purposes of Experimental Aircraft certification are Recreation and Education. There is little to be had of either when most of the aircraft arrives factory-finished. Bob gave, as an intermediate example, his Kitfox Mark IV project. This is a true composite aircraft, in the sense that it contains examples of most materials used in aircraft construction, including chrome-moly tubing, fiberglass,

wood, sheet metal, and fabric. It is, however, noteably lacking in carbon fiber and titanium. It was one of the most complete kits available at the time, with molded plastic fuel tanks, wheels, tires, windshield, wing spars, every nut and bold and washer and cotter pin, and a fully-welded, powder-coated fuselage, all shipped in one large wooden box. Even the spring aluminum main landing gear was rifle-drilled to allow internal hydraulic brake lines. In fact, it was claimed that everything was included in that box with the exception of covering fabric, the fabric finish, interior upholstery, the engine, propeller, and instruments! What was not apparent was that everything required to make the finished parts was there, but, in fact, there is a substantial difference from an aluminum bracket of just such a shape and size, and the piece of aluminum angle that was shipped with the kit and has to be cajoled into becoming that bracket by looking at a picture and removing everything that is not part of the bracket. This requires a certain amount of work, artistry, and, of course, time. If you measure once and cut twice, there is not enough aluminum angle to try again. We Kitfox builders are extremely grateful that the McBeans, a family of Kitfox aftermarket parts suppliers, bought the company and have resumed production of the latest iteration, the Super Sport. This means that there is a source of supply again and an opportunity to purchase replacements for botched parts! It should be noted that, as complete as this kit was, the newer ones have a great deal more of the tricky fabrication already done by the factory. Nonetheless, no one is going to accuse a Kitfox builder of having his/her airplane built for her/him by the factory. Bob's project will be displayed at the October Project Meeting for all to see his amazing lack of progress.

Webmaster Bruce Noon gave an update on the Chapter 81 website, asking members to provide feedback about they would like to appear on the webpage. There will be a Members-Only section containing, for example, Chapter 81 Members' addresses and phone #s, information that is not necessarily a good thing to make accessible to the general public. E-mail Bruce for your password. He also is making available to Chapter members loan of his breathing apparatus, for those who would like to paint with minimal Dain Bramage (too late for some of us)!

Our Newsletter Editor, Steve Hulland suffered a death in the family and was unable to get Skywriter out in time for this month's meeting. Vice President Hal Burlingame, who was the previous newletter editor, is going to get together with Steve when he returns, to provide backup in case another circumstance arises that prevents Steve from publishing on time. Our best wishes go with Steve in his time of loss. Hal and Steve are also proposing a combined meeting with the Casa Grande EAA Chapter, which is active in the Young Eagles program, has air-conditioned facilities, and offers relatively cheap Avgas (do I sense an oxymoron here?). As it is Phillips fuel, there is also a $1 per gallon credit for Young Eagles. Suggestions include combined Young Eagles and perhaps sharing a Pancake Breakfast/Fly-In. Hal also asked for (and received by vote) permission to make some of our Pancake Breakfast apparatus available to "Select Non-Profit Organizations," under his direct supervision.

Tom Covell graciously moved his Project Meeting to immediately after the Chapter Meeting, as his RANS S6S project, nearly completed and awaiting inspection, is just down the road at Hangar C22. Tom is also making available for loan a CD for Preparing for Instrument Rating. By having the Project Meeting the same day as the Chapter Meeting, we freed up time for another Project Meeting on Saturday, June 21, which will be Eric Witherspoon's Sonex. This will take place at Marana Airpark, Hangar 131 on the Avra Valley Road side of the runway. The August 16 Project Meeting will be Eric Fierstad's RV-6A. Bob Miller's Kitfox is highlighted for October 18. All Chapter Meetings and Project

Meetings start at 10 AM. There will be no December Project Meeting, as the Annual X-mas dinner takes the place of that month's event.

Meeting was adjourned at 1103.

Respectfully Submitted by

Secretary Bob Miller