The Smilin’Jack |
|
| EAA Chapter 866 monthly newsletter January 2003 |
As your new president for 2003, I am really looking forward to the challenge of continuing the fine job that Steve Pangborn has done for the past two years. (Steve, remember those pancake breakfasts won't be the same without that special "Pangborn" gourmet touch. I hope you will continue to honor us with that special ingredient that you bring to our monthly fly-in and continue to flip the cakes and thanks for the great job you did for the club over the years).
My main goal for the chapter jn 2003 is to have an interesting and informative program for each of our monthly meetings. I look forward to hearing from any member who has a request for a particular type of program and also from members who have contacts within the aviation community who may be available to attend one our monthly meetings and share their knowledge and experience. Let me hear from you at the meetings or when I am in my continuing training program at Dunn to be a certified "airport bum". I am around most days either at my hanger (#67) or at the Gilbert's hanger looking for handouts. For those of you who don't know me, I am the guy with the faithful sidekick, Trigger. Everbody around Dunn seems to know him. If you prefer, call me at 432-6067 (cell phone-also my only phone) or mail me at my home address of 398 Oak Cove Rd., Titusville 32780. Email is lreynolds3@cfl.rr.com.
I'm aware that many of you don't know me so let me tell you a little about myself. I retired from the St. Petersburg Police Dept. 4 years ago and my wife, Marilyn soon received a transfer in her job with the V.A. to Orlando. We moved to New Smyrna Beach where we lived for two years prior to moving to Titusville two years ago so she could be closer to her job. We live in our motorhome at The Great Outdoors and when she retires next year, our intention is to travel some and see this great country of ours. We also have a home in the mountains of Northeast Georgia where we spend most of our vacations. I have, by the way, been gaining some good cross country experience, flying to Franklin, N.C. where the closest airport is located. I have only recently gotten my private ticket in 2001 and within 6 months I was the proud owner of a newly painted Piper Warrior (N1228R). I want to build a plane one day so I bought the Warrior to really learn to fly first. My interest is in RV's, Europas, and amphibians ( Seareys and Aventuras).
One of my biggest pleasures is learning from all of the great and vast experineces that so many of you are willing to share with a "newbie" like me. I won't pretend to have any great aviation experience but I do have the enthusiasm of a kid with a new toy, so forgive me for sometimes asking "dumb" questions but you guys have a lot of knowledge packed away and I want to pry some of it loose. See you on the first Wednesdays at the new time of 0700.
Larry Reynolds
It was cold and windy when we got the pancakes and sausage going on Dec. 4th at our monthly breakfast. My friends up north who read this are going to read the word cold and ridicule us about it but hey, they aren't holding any outdoor chapter breakfasts this time of year. The temps were in the 50s when we got started but by the time we tore down at 10:00 or so it was about 70 and very comfortable. About 45 people attended our breakfast and as usual everyone seemed to be having a good time. Jackie Johnson flew in from New Smryna in his Subaru powered Zenieth. As usual the food was excellent. In addition to the pancakes and sausage there was biscuits and sausage gravy and Loretta's home made cinnamon rolls. Coffee and orange juice to drink too, man that's good eatin! Best kept secret is this, (it's still only $3.00!) What a deal!!!!
The December meeting was attended by enough members to fill all of our chairs. Standing room only! John ……………. Who owns a Stinson attended our meeting for the first time and told us the story about an engine failure he had and how he has since found a new used 165HP Franklin engine. He has inspected the engine and found it to be in good condition and is in the process of installing it on his plane. John said that he should be flying by Jan. Neale said we had enough money to pay the rent and electric bill again this month. The Newport builders have been goofing off and not doing much with their projects, according to Bill Furnholm. Jim Morgan's progress on the RV6 is slow but John has gotten to the point where he is taxi testing his RV6. Jim Webb showed us some wing strut parts that he pull tested. Pulled the parts until something broke and it snapped at 4300+ pounds of pull. What broke was a bold that was fully threaded and this was not even an AN bolt. Sounds as though that part will be strong enough.
It was decided that the January meeting is to be held on Jan 8 rather than Jan 1. The chapter drunks (yeah right) wouldn't be able to make the meeting on New Years Day, our regularly scheduled 1 st Wednesday. Time change - time change…. No don't touch your watch, the membership voted to change our meeting start time to 7:00Pm rather than 7:30.
We have printed tickets for our winter party and several members have already purchased theirs. Most of the membership too extra tickets to sell to others. Gil Jones said that his employer has agreed to donate some door prizes and Sam Beddingfield said that he'd check with the Valiant Air Command to see if they will donate as well. Twas a good meeting!
Steve,
Please tell all the folks at 866 the Grace, Dave and I all had a very good time at your meeting. Despite the fact that I may not always look the part, I am a dyed in the wool, grass roots American. I was raised to know that the strength and value of our country was in the hands and the hearts of average people, not the rich or famous. Your meeting, with its grass roots traditional American flavor brought back many memories of a youth in Scouting and many other times which were elements in my definition of being an American. Thanks for the experience.
William Wynne
The board met (almost) on Weds. Nov. 20th. Present were Neale, Gil, Larry & Loretta. Discussed the up and coming "Big Winter Party", our annual awards banquet to be held on Friday Jan. 17th at the Titusville Holiday Inn. Tickets are being prepared and will be available at our regular chapter meeting on Dec. 4th. The cost will be $20.00 ea again this year. We want to hold some Young Eagle rallies starting in January. Gill Jones pointed up that a good source of youth might be the soccer fields right on the airport. Pull a plane over there and let them look at it to spark some interest in the program. Good idea, right? Member Harry Merritt has donated a steel door for the dilapidated door on the North side of bldg. 10 and even offered to help with the installation.
The Smilin Jack chapter board met again on Dec. 18. The meeting was attended by Pres. E;ect Larry Reynolds, Neale Cranston, Gil Jones, Bill Furnholm, Larry, and Loretta gilbert. We discussed the fact that for those 866 chapter members who don't belong to national EAA have to be considered associate members of our chapter. The only distinction that we know of is the fact that there is certain insurance coverage that is not applicable to those who do not belong to national. We welcome all to our chapter whether a national member or not. Our secretary must report to EAA national office the status or our membership. In this report is required the national # of each member. We've decided that we will again in 2003 have a Pietenpol fly-in. This year we will tout this as a Pietenpol/antique/replica + everything else fly-in. We will move our Smilin 'Jack fly-in into the month of October and tentatively set the date as October 4th. This will combine our 1st Saturday breakfast and the Smilin Jack so that we have only one event in October. We're going to do a Young Eagle rally. Larry & Loretta are working with a group of youth to do this with. Date not set yet.
Pres elect Larry Reynolds announced that he has a program set up for the January meeting. Trevor Sayer of Atlantic Sport Aviation inc. has agreed to do a presentation on training in the special Trike Ultra light aircraft.
Our treasurer said we still have some money even after his Christmas shopping is done.
The first person to answer this question correctly will receive one attaboy (or girl) . Since power controls airspeed, according to the FAA training publications, what is the best power setting for the slowest airspeed? If you provide an answer and explanation for your answer, put it in writing on paper , e-mail, or disk and get this to me. I think some of the answers will be interesting. I'll publish the correct answer in next month's Smilin 'Jack along with some answers I receive from you, the readers.
The above is a question I put forth in last month's newsletter. I was hoping for some response to this question. There was none other than what I initiated when talking to some 866 members. What follows is a follow up to the question put forth.
Larry Gilbert
The most usual answer is "no power" and although this seems sensible because it works with boats and cars. The correct answer is full power allows the slowest airspeed in a prop plane. Is that weird or what? Full power also provides for the fastest airspeed as well. The only reliable airspeed control is angle of attack. Think about this, if you fly along maintaining altitude at the lowest possible airspeed (full power) what do you have to do to climb? Release the back pressure or move the stick/yoke forward is the only way. Right? Why is this important to know? How about a go around from the landing flare? In the landing flare you're pitched up flying at the slowest airspeed (this is good and usually with no power), a guy on an electric scooter suddenly appears on the runway ahead practicing power turns, no time to think about it you have to go around and now! Full power and reduce pitch so you can climb. Right? The book, 'Stick and Rudder has a wonderful explanation of this.
This message is for America's most famous athletes:
Someday you may be invited to fly in the back-seat of one of your country's most powerful fighter jets. Many of you already have - John Elway, John Stockton,Tiger Woods to name a few. If you get this opportunity, let me urge you, with the greatest sincerity.... Move to Guam. Change your name. Fake your own death. Whatever you do, do not go! I
know. The US Navy invited me to try it. I was thrilled. I was pumped. I was toast! I should've known when they told me my pilot would be Chip (Biff) King of Fighter Squadron 213 at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.
Whatever you're thinking a Top Gun named Chip (Biff) King looks like, triple it. He's about six-foot, tan, ice-blue eyes, wavy surfer hair, finger-crippling handshake -- the kind of man who wrestles dyspeptic alligators in his leisure time. If you see this man, run the other way. Fast. Biff King was born to fly.
His father, Jack King, was for years the voice of NASA missions. ("T-minus15 seconds and counting."Remember?) Chip would charge neighborhood
kids a quarter each to hear his dad. Jack would wake up from naps surrounded by nine-year-olds waiting for him to say, "We have a liftoff."
Biff was to fly me in an F-14D Tomcat, a ridiculously powerful $60 million weapon with nearly as much thrust as weight, not unlike Colin Montgomerie. I was worried about getting airsick, so the night before the flight I asked Biff if there was anything I should eat the next morning.
"Bananas," he said.
"For the potassium?" I asked.
"No," Biff said, "because they taste about the same coming up as they do going down."
The next morning, out on the tarmac, I had on my flight suit with my name sewn over the left breast. (No call sign -- like Crash or Sticky or Leadfoot but, still, very cool.) I carried my helmet in the crook of my arm as
Biff had instructed. If ever in my life I had a chance to nail Nicole Kidman, that was it.
A fighter pilot named Psycho gave me a safety briefing and then fastened me into my ejection seat, which, when employed, would "egress" me out of the plane at such a velocity that I would be immediately knocked
unconscious. Just as I was thinking about aborting the flight, the canopy closed over me, and Biff gave the ground crew a thumbs-up. In minutes we were firing nose up at 600 mph. We leveled out and then canopy-rolled over
another F-14. Those 20 minutes were the rush of my life. Unfortunately, the ride lasted 80.
It was like being on the roller coaster at Six Flags Over *. Only without rails. We did barrel rolls, snap rolls, loops, yanks and banks. We dived, rose and dived again, sometimes with a vertical velocity of 10,000 feet per minute. We chased another F-14, and it chased us. We broke the speed of sound. Sea was sky and sky was sea. Flying at 200 feet we did 90-degree turns at 550 mph, creating a G-force of 6.5, which is to say I
felt as if 6.5 times my body weight was smashing against me, thereby approximating life as Mrs. Colin Montgomerie.
And I egressed the bananas. I egressed the pizza from the night before. And the lunch before that. I egressed a box of Milk Duds -- from the sixth grade. I made Linda Blair look polite. Because of the G forces, I was egressing stuff that did not even want to be egressed. I went through
not one airsick bag, but two. Biff said I passed
out. Twice. I was coated in sweat. At one point, as we were coming in upside down in a banked curve on a mock bombing target and the G's were flattening me like a tortilla and I was in and out of consciousness, I
realized I was the first person in history to throw down.
I used to know cool. Cool was Unitas throwing a touchdown pass, or Norman making a five-iron bite. But now I really know cool. Cool is guys like Biff, men with cast-iron stomachs and Freon nerves. I wouldn't go
up there again for Hugh Hefners black book, but I'm glad Biff does every day, and for less a year than a rookie reliever makes in a home stand.
A week later, when the spins finally stopped, Biff called. He said he and the other fighter pilots had the perfect call sign for me. Said he'd send it on a patch for my flight suit. What is it? I asked.
He replied with a chuckle, "Two Bags."
Starting this fall, the National Park Service and the FAA will begin the almost unimaginably complex task of applying Grand Canyon-style air regs to the rest of the U.S.'s national parks. A new final rule has been
issued by the FAA "that calls for site specific plans to protect the environment of U.S. national parks," according to an FAA news release posted Wednesday. The new rule will affect airspace over thousands of square miles at as many as 345 national parks.
A sailplane turned final too low to make the desired runway. Equipped
with a hand-held microphone, the pilot radioed his intention to change
runways ...
Glider: Glider ABC can't make 29 taking 24.
Unicom: Glider ABC are you having control problems?
Glider: I can eliminate one if I let go of this microphone.
A ground controller observed an aircraft make a wrong turn off the ramp.
Controller: Waterski 1234, it appears you've made a wrong turn and are heading in the wrong direction. Turn right next taxiway and taxi via Runway 22 to Runway 31.
Pilot: We're looking at the map and every thing looks good to us.
Controller: Turn the map over...
Steve Pangborn has done a bang up job with the chapter for the past two years. Membership continues to grow and the chapter is becoming healthier all the time. When you see Steve tell him thanks for doing the almost thankless job of Pres. For our Smilin 'Jack Chapter #866 of the EAA.
Larry Reynolds has stepped up to the plate and he has an agenda for our chapter for the coming meetings. Larry will work hard as our president so lets do our best to support him and Marilyn, the chapter 1st lady.
Larry Gilbert
Furnholm and I took 52L out one day and we tried the best power setting for the slowest flight while maintaining altitude. Whatda ya know, it's full power!! We wallowed around at about 50 mph for a while with no flaps and we could've maybe flown slower with some flaps. Then Bill did some nice lazy eights from the right seat too.
Bill Mitchell and I flew up to Melrose Landing to their annual fly - in. Strong winds and cool temperatures that day! Wonderful for take offs, extra horse power from the cold and some free airspeed from the wind. Gainsville was calling it 290 gusting to 22knots. Nice Upon reaching the airport there we thought about the wind shear we might encounter when we dropped below the tree line when landing. It wasn't a problem. While we were there we met up with Alan Wise and an old friend of Bill's (Bill Gregg) who has a Czechoslovakian military jet trainer called a L29. It is flying and in excellent condition. A pilot named Schlicter flies it quite frequently out of there. He and Bill Gregg say it is a pussy cat to fly. Landing speed over the fence 90kts touch down about 70kt. Will give rides for fuel costs. Only burns 180 gal of jet A per hour! By the way this plane is for sale for only $65,000! Is registered as experimental. Mitchell and I had a good time there and they served up a great breakfast too. Our trip up there took 1 hr 10 min. Ground speed at between 75 and 81kt. Coming back 40 minutes ground speeds between 125 and 136kt. We liked that!
Gene Day, local A&P and IA is working on a Cessna 170 that is at Tradewinds airport. Tradewinds is a sod strip located next to the Indian river just north of Mims. Gene ahs been telling me that Jack Russell, who owns the airport wants people to fly in so, after talking with Gene one day I decided to try taking old faithful 52L in there. The wind was blowing out of the Southeast and the sock at Dunn was straight out and almost directly down 15. By myself with not much fuel made for a short takeoff roll at Dunn and I was on my way to Tradewinds. The sod there is in fine shape. The wind was slightly from the right but almost down the runway there and the ground speed when landing was nice and slow. I met Gene there and he showed me the project 170 and she's gonna be a beaut! When it was time to leave I decided take off to the south and was considering using soft field technique and decided that the field was solid enough to just use short field technique. Gene was standing about halfway down the runway watching. I brought the engine up to full power holding the brakes and then released them. The plane was flying after what seemed like about a hundred foot roll due to lots of wind. By the time I passed Gene, we must have had 100' under us. Back at Dunn the wind right down 15 and I used a little power to correct in the flare touched down and had to use power to get to the 1st exit from the runway. Love to fly when it's like that!
March 29th, 2003
The chamber of commerce there is sponsoring this and EAA Chapter 1181 will prepare breakfast, conduct Young Eagle rides, and judge registered aircraft. This is the weekend before Sun n Fun. 100LL will be priced at $1.85 per gal
A check ride ought to be like a skirt, short enough to be interesting but still be long enough to cover everything.
Don't drop the aircraft in order to fly the microphone. An airplane flies because of a principle discovered by Bernoulli, not Marconi. Cessna pilots are always found in the wreckage with their hand around the microphone.
Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.
Saturday and Sunday, February 22 & 23 in Lakeland, FL on the Sun 'n Fun grounds. These one and two day courses will introduce participants to the joys of building your own aircraft while providing the knowledge and experience necessary to do it safely. EAA will be offering the following hands-on courses:
This 2 day course prepares you to build any sheet metal kit aircraft and teaches the procedures for sheet metal repairs. There is a discussion of all the basics including types of aluminum, rivets, tools, cutting, drilling, deburring, countersinking, and riveting. Tuition for EAA members is $289.
This 2 day course prepares you to cover any type of aircraft, whether certified or experimental. Using the Poly-Fiber Covering System, the class will cover DC-3 ailerons. All steps are demonstrated and practiced, including preparation, gluing the fabric, shrinking, rib stitching, taping and spraying. Repair procedures will also be discussed and practiced. Tuition for EAA members is $259.
This 2 day course provides you with everything you need to know to begin building a composite aircraft. The course will provide a complete discussion of core materials, reinforcement materials, and different types of resin systems. The hands-on portion includes such skills as bonding, hot-wire cutting, and lay-ups. Tuition for EAA members is $259.
This one-day course helps the student prepare for the first flight whether of a homebuilt or a restoration project. Additionally, the course helps the attendee prepare a meaningful flight test program. Among the many topics that are covered are evaluation of the aircraft, from weight and balance to performance characteristics, pilot preparedness and fitness, suitability of the airport, documentation and utilization of data from the test flights, communications between EAA Flight Advisor and pilot during the test flights, and preparation of a Flight Manual or POH. Safety and emergency procedures are stressed. The tuition for this one day course is $99 for EAA members.
This Saturday evening seminar is a fact-filled discussion of regulations and paperwork, the workspace required, the time commitment needed, the financial investment and insurance considerations. May be taken in conjunction with other workshops. Tuition for EAA members is $25 and includes a pizza dinner.
The courses are instructed by experts that not only know the subject matter but know how to teach!
To enroll or learn more about the EAA SportAir Workshops, visit our website www.sportair.com or call 1-800-967-5746.
We need to get more tickets to the party sold. Do you have some and are you soliciting? You should be! It's gonna be a great night out with live entertainment and good food. Wonderful opportunity to include a spouse or girl/boyfriend in one of our activities… Great social event….. Door prizes too! Tickets are $20.00 ea What a deal!
President - Larry Reynolds ..address...homeless Great Outdoors Titusville lreynolds3@cfl.rr.com
Vice President Bill Furnholm.....address Airport bum Dunn Airpark Titusville bill39delta@aol.com
Tres./Secy Neale Cranston..... 2021 Malinda Lane 32796 Titusville pietenpol866@cfl.rr.com
NLE Larry Gilbert 2002 Malinda Ln Tville 32796 gil1cfi@aol.com