Dear fellow Homebuilders,

Chapter 866 Smilin ‘Jack 2003 Winter Party Breaks Attendance Record!!!

By Larry Gilbert

Good fellowship, great entertainment, generous door prizes, well deserved chapter awards, good food all at this year’s chapter party.

Our new president, Larry Reynolds welcomed the chapter members and guests who packed the party room at the Holiday Inn. We ate and then were entertained by Ron Rich who is a well known John Denver impersonator. He sang many of the familiar John Denver hits like “Country Road” for us. After the John Denver show president Larry did the chapter awards. Awards were presented to members Steve Pangborn, Bill Furnholm, Gil Jones, and Neale Cranston. A couple of humorous awards were given, one to Bill Furnholm for his outstanding job of keeping the Dunn Airpark restroom clean for a month last year. (Chapter members have taken the responsibility of keeping this clean to reduce maintenance costs at our airport and Furnholm took the job seriously by cleaning every day.) He was awarded the golden plunger and cap award for his effort. Larry Reynolds was awarded his “Official Airport Bum” achievement certificate because after a year of serious airport attendance and meeting the criteria required, he finally made the grade. This year’s chapter award certificates were not the generic kind usually furnished by EAA, but tailor made Smilin ‘Jack certificates.

After the awards, door prizes were drawn and the grand prize a Vision Of Eagles leather jacket was won by member Ray Thomas.

After this Ron Rich entertained again as himself and some members and guests danced to the music.

We were honored to have in attendance Mr. Robert Decatur of Tuskegee airman fame and our president did an outstanding job of recognizing him at the party.

There were two complaints about the meal that I know about. It kind of spoiled the evening for me to hear the complaints, but after talking to everyone who I could get near and getting no more complaints, I think that 2 two of 70 people means that 96% of the guests were satisfied and I don’t think you can do much better than that. Besides that, compared to the overall picture, the meal is a small part of the deal and the bigger idea is to get friends and spouses out for a great evening.

A special thanks to those who donated door prizes.

If you have any comments or suggestions about future winter parties, send this to me and we’ll publish in this newsletter so we can discuss at our meetings.

President’s Corner

I want to thank all of you who attended and supported your EAA Chapter 866 annual party recently. Hopefully everyone had a great time with good entertainment, great fellowship, and good food. We had some great door prizes with the most envious prize of a beautiful EAA leather jacket going to Ray Thomas. We couldn't have picked a more deserving guy than Ray to receive that prize. Also congratulations to Neale Cranston for receiving the well deserved annual award for outstanding service to the Chapter. Thanks Neale for all of your hard work!

I was especially proud of receiving an official certificate announcing that I had graduated from the apprentice program and had qualified to be a real "Airport Bum". According to Bill Mitchell, however, I just barely made the grade and have a lot more work to do to become a polished "hangar liar" who can begin to even hold a candle to Mr. Mitchell himself. Fortunately I have a lot of very experienced role models to learn from.

Just a reminder that our regular Wednesday meetings are now starting at 1900 hrs. Also, the Board of Directors has elected to hold its board meetings the night of our regular meetings starting at 1800 hrs. Mark your calendars now for March 1 as we are planning to hold a Young Eagles event on that Saturday. More on that at the meeting. A special thanks goes out to Trevor Sayer for putting on a very interesting program at the January meeting about 3-axis and weight shifting ultralight flying. A reminder for our next meeting in February - we are fortunate to have the Regional Sales Manager for Cessna Aircraft Company, Bruce Keller, to be our featured speaker. Bruce has informed me that he will have a nice door prize for the meeting, so plan to be there. Bruce has been with Cessna for 31 years and has recently been transferred to Florida and operates out of Kissimmee. Come to the meeting and help welcome Bruce to Florida.

For your information, several of us attended a meeting recently held at the Skydive Center and conducted by Airport Manager Scott Carr concerning an airport runway lighting maintenance project that will be starting in February, 2003. We were advised that a substantial portion of the underground wiring for the lighting is due for upgrading and that trenching along the runway and taxiway will be necessary to perform the upgrade. This will be approximately a two month project and will commence in February. While the work is being done by the private contractor, the airport will be open while they are working along the taxiways but the airport will be closed Monday through Thursdays while the work is being done along the runway. Even then, runway 4/22 should be open most of the time because there is no lighting there. According to Scott Carr, information will be available on the Airport Authority's website about specific dates. The taxiway work is scheduled to be done first, followed by the runway work. Scott has agreed to email Larry Gilbert information concerning scheduling and progress so that he can keep us informed via newsletter. Also, the Authority personnel will be meeting weekly with the contractor in our EAA chapter meeting room and this meeting is open to the public. A schedule of this will be forthcoming.

For those of you who have had problems finding aviation oil locally, Jerry Russell introduced me recently to Watkins Oil Co. located at 175 Fisher Ave., in Titusville (phone 267-1725). They stock Aeroshell in all formulations and have reasonable prices. Speaking of Jerry, I had the honor of being the first maintenance logbook signoff with Jerry's new FAA A&P certificate number when Jerry helped me repair a main landing gear strut on 1228R. Congratulations Jerry for your completion of the Embry Riddle Aircraft and Powerplant program and gaining your certificate.

See you at the next Saturday morning fly-in breakfast on Feb. 1.

Larry Reynolds

January Pancake Breakfast

January 4^th 1^st breakfast was held indoors at our chapter meeting room. Hey, 36 degrees and sittin outdoors eatin pancakes just ain’t natural unless you’re out in the north woods tryin to murder a big buck or moose. I had to scrape the windshield in order to drive to the breakfast and that ain’t natural here either! While we were in PA last month I purchased a scraper/snow brush because we needed this up there. Didn’t expect to have to use the thing down here though!

Jim’s Piet

By Larry Gilbert

Wayne, Neale, Bill Furnholm, Loretta and I drove down to Jim Web’s home in Cocoa to look at his Pietenpol that he’s working on. His project is about 85% complete and only has 90% to go, according to Jim. The plane is beautiful and it’s sitting on it own landing gear and the wings were on it but not covered yet. He even has a Corvair engine mounted on it just to see how it fits. The elevator and rudder controls are all hooked up. Bill Furnholm and I took turns getting in and out of the plane and working the elevator and rudder. The front seat is easy enough to get in and out of but most of us don’t fit! The problem is leg room. Once in the seat there is was no way I could get my feet on the rudder pedals. Jim said he had the same problem. I guess a person who is built closer to the ground than Jim and me would be OK in the front. Jim has designed a neat portable handle to grab on to while getting in the back seat. Portable means that it hooks into a hole in a metal fitting up on top of the wing, once you’re in the seat you remove the handle. When you’re ready to get out, hook the handle in the strap and pull yourself out. Cool! The Corvair engine has to be built up and installed yet , a propeller built and mounted, the ailerons installed and rigged, and fabric applied and painted. Jim said it’ll probably be ready by August. (03 I think) It’s gonna be a beaut! Pictures to follow.

Pilots Ponder this

Larry Gilbert

Dunn Airpark is in what class of airspace? What are VFR requirements for cloud clearances in this airspace? If you don’t know this, go ahead and look it up. The class of airspace can be found on the sectional and the cloud clearance regs can be found in the FARs. If you need help with this part see me. The question is this, if we have a 1000’ broken ceiling at Dunn, is it legal for you to go fly in the pattern? I’m real interested in your answer so if you have an one, send it to me and I’ll publish your answers in the next newsletter.

January Meeting

Another really good meeting in January! Trevor Sayer of trike fame did a presentation on the Mainair Trike aircraft that he sells and instructs in. He explained that it takes 10 to 15 hrs to train a conventional pilot to fly one of these aircraft mainly because the control inputs and flying characteristics are different. Basically, you’re flying a hang glider type wing. He kind of related the concept by saying it’s kinda like when you were a kid and were pretending you could fly and raised one wing (arm) and lowered the other wing (arm) to maneuver. Huh, that’s what it takes to turn one of these trikes Since you have your arms kind of spread and one hand on each side of the bar, to make it go where you want fly with your arms. Ok then you want to go up, push, want to go down, pull. Wait a minute isn’t that backwards? Landing, can you track straight down the runway in a xwind? Nope! Ya gotta fly the thing 6” or so off the ground and put it down sideways and Trevor says it’ll straighten out when you touch down. Man, we’ve all done that in conventional planes and they will usually straighten out or maybe you straighten em out after almost ripping the wheels off. Oh yeah, I think he said that on the ground you push the right pedal and she goes left and vice versa. My mind is screwed up just trying to think about all of this! You see why it might take 10 to 15 hours for a high time pilot?? Trevor convinced most of us that they are very safe though. When he said that the whole wing was attached to the rest of the machine by one 5/16 bolt though, I saw some people act a little squeamish. Trevor sells and instructs in these aircraft and invites all to come down to hangar 50 at Dunn to see these. Bring fifteen grand and drive one home.

Bruce Hotz gave us a five minute dissertation about a single place B17 he’s going to build and fly. Gonna use 4 , 20 Horse power 32 cubic inch Continentals for power. Using scaled model plans, he is going to scale up to get it big enough to haul his skinny frame around……hmmmm

We had a visitor and I wrote his name down the way it sounded to me and Rich DeBerry is what I wrote. He was in the Navy and flew T28s and also served on Submarines and recently completed a mission on a NASA ship. I shoulda listened better. Any way, he might be back and should be an asset to our chapter if he joins.

Chapter member Bill Hall attends all of the airport authority meetings and reported that at the last meeting it was decided that one seat on the TICO airport authority will be held by the city of Titusville from now on. He said that the city of Titusville tried at one time to turn Dunn Airpark into a ballfield so maybe it’s not a good move to have a city person on the board…. Uh, I dunno, how bout you? When we first moved here 3 years ago, I heard about the attempt to make a sports complex out of our airport some ten or so years back and the valiant effort it took by the Dunn pilots to save the airport. If anyone has the story, please tell me about it. It sounds like good writing.

Our treasurer said that we had some money for a while but he was held up on the way home from the pancake breakfast and now we have to sell the Lear to generate some revenue. Really though, we sold enough breakfasts in spite of the weather to stay afloat another month or two.

Our meetings will be held at 1900 hrs instead of 1930hrs from now on until we decide to change again. For those of us who are 24hr clock challenged, this is 7:00PM eastern standard time. All of this is giving me a headache…………the editor

This Month’s Flying

By Larry Gilbert

Some of my friends keep telling me about how they go out and practice lazy eights and I got to thinking about this. I haven’t done a lazy eight since I took a ride for the commercial ticket. Flying with Ray Thomas, Bill Mitchell, and Bill Furnholm, they would do lazy eights for the fun of it. One day while flying with Furnholm he did one of these and said why don’t you try one. OK so I tried one is was a sorry excuse for a maneuver so I decided to try at least one of these every time I go flying. Got the book out and read and talked to Mark Barnett about these and I’ve been practicing. Furnholm says I’m doing pretty good now! It is really a fun thing to do because you have to pay attention to get the pitch and bank co-ordinated and all the while keep the turns co-ordinated (ball centered). Couple of more flights and I’ll have it down pat and it’ll feel more natural. Wanna try one? Bill Furnholm and I flew 52L up to Deland and Jim Garrison took Gene Driggers and Lonney with him in his Bonanza. He made it there in half the time we did and burned the same amount of fuel (theoretically). Jim thought this was hot stuff, but Bill and I got to fly longer than Jim did and don’t we do it for the fun of it? Everybody has to justify their stuff, right?

One day Tony Gyngell stopped by our hangar shortly after one of his C152s departed Dunn. I asked how come the plane went out without him and he said that there were three people and only a two seat airplane, so he let the other two guys go. They were headed for Deland for breakfast. I asked him if he wanted to go up there and he said OK so we put Loretta in the back seat and Tony flew 52L up and we surprised the other two by getting there before them.

Mitchell and I have been looking for the perfect picture day and went up to take a look a couple of times. Mark Barnett and I flew around doing maneuvers one day in 52L. Mark does good lazy eights!

One day Larry Reynolds said lets go to Flagler and get a sandwich and since there were six of us we took two planes, Larry’s Warrior & my Skyhawk. Well worth the 1.7hrs for that portabello mushroom sandwich they serve at the airport restaurant there!

Launch Day at Dunn Airpark

On launch day 01/16/03 we entered Dunn Airpark and were stopped by armed police and a picture was taken of our vehicle. No problem, the officers were civil and only told us that the airspace was closed and let us go.

Have you noticed the new signs about launch days at the airport? For the November launch we had made a decent sign and hung it on the fence by the electronic gate opener on launch day to help notify any pilot who thought he might want to fly about possible flight restrictions. Our sign was portable and we only intended to put it out on launch days. On this day in Nov. it was removed by someone and never returned. It was posted for a couple of hours before it disappeared. Now the launch warning signs are permanent. I think it is more effective to post them only on launch days because they become too familiar if they are there all of the time. What do you think?

“Keep’em Flyin”

Owner produced parts for certified aircraft

By Jerry Russell A&P

Along with the pilot shortage and the mechanic shortage, there is also a parts shortage that plagues the general aviation industry. Because supply and demand is out of balance the cost of new and used parts seem to increase every day. There are several reasons why this is so.

First reason, we have an old General Aviation (GA) fleet. The average GA single engine airplane is approximately 32 years old. So because of long term wear and tear the demand for replacement parts and large sub-assemblies is much greater today than it was even 10 years ago.

The second reason is our GA fleet has been well maintained over the years. So well maintained in fact, the average GA aircraft with a mid-time engine and decent avionics has appreciated to two or three times its original purchase price and is still climbing. Yet even in that land of many zeros the older aircraft are still substantially lower in price than the cost of a brand new aircraft with similar performance numbers and equipment. So the value of older aircraft in good shape are proven investments that over time have beaten the best known stock indexs. So we have an economic imperative on the part of the owners to keep maintaining older aircraft in flying condition which increases the demand for replacement parts.

The third reason is the increasing production costs to make a part. Today aircraft manufacturers are not making makes and models of aircraft in the same quantity they made them back in the Seventies. So the production runs for parts are not as frequent and not as many parts are produced. In addition, it is not cost effective for a manufacturer to make a lot of parts even if the unit price for each part is out of this world because taxes on maintaining a large inventory of parts would eat up all the profits. This low parts production keeps the supply of replacement parts low.

The fourth reason is that some manufacturers would prefer that their older makes and model aircraft-made a GAzillion years ago-would quietly disappear from the aircraft registry. This retroactive birth control on the part of the manufacturers may seem not to make any sense until you look at aircraft market dynamics of creating demand and reducing costs. First, each older aircraft that is no longer in service creates a demand for a new, more expensive aircraft to take its place. Second, despite some tort claim relief granted to GA manufacturers in the early Nineties, the fewer older aircraft there are in service, the manufacturers of those aircraft enjoy reduced overall liability claims and ever decreasing continuing airworthiness responsibilities.

So how are we going to maintain these older aircraft with an ever dwindling parts supply when (Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR)Part 21, section 21.303 Replacement and modification of parts, requires us to use the Parts Manufactured Approval (PMA) parts on a type certificated product? Well, the same rule grants four exemptions to the PMA requirement.

1. You can use parts produced under a type or production certificate such as a Piper, Cessna, or Mooney produced part;

2. An owner or operator produced part to maintain or alter his or her own product;

3. Parts produced under a Technical Standard Order (TSO) such as radios, life vests and rafts, and GPS; or,

4. A standard aviation part such as fasteners, washers, or safety wire.

Before I get into the subject of "owner produced parts" as called out in section 21.303, which is the purpose of this article. I would like to clarify one thing with this statement: "FAA Airframe and Powerplant rated mechanics can maintain, repair, and modify parts, but they cannot make a brand new part and call it a repair." This is specified in the FAR’s section 65.81 General privileges and limitations. The section talks about maintenance, preventive maintenance, and alterations, but not the manufacturing of parts. Nor is it an implied privilege in Part 65, because Part 21 section 21.303 says "no person" may make a replacement part for a type certificated (TC) product unless that person has a PMA, etc.

So here is our problem that we must solve. Since mechanics cannot legally make parts for aircraft and aircraft need replacement parts, how are we going to keep our planes flying? If we cannot find PMA, TSO, standard, or production holder replacement parts, we are left to make the part under the owner-produced option under section 21.303(b)(2). However, we must remember that the part is for the owner/operator's aircraft only and is not manufactured for sale to other TC aircraft.

To get through confusing regulatory policy with our sanity intact, let's try a question and answer routine. (Note: reference FAA 's AGC-200 policy memorandum to AFS-300 on the definition of "Owner-Produced Parts" dated August 5, 1993)

Question 1: Do the owners have to manufacture the part him or herself in order to meet the intent of the rule?

Answer 1: No, the owner does not have to make the part him or herself. However to be considered a producer of the part he/she must have participated in controlling the design, manufacturer, or quality of the part such as:

1. Provide the manufacturer with the design or performance data from which to make the part, or

2. Provide the manufacturer with the materials to make the part, or

3. Provide the manufacturer with fabrication processes or assembly methods to make the part, or

4. Provide the quality control procedures to make the part, or

5. Personally supervised the manufacturer of the part.

Question 2: Can the owner contract out for the manufacture of the part and still have a part that is considered "owner-produced?"

Answer 2: Yes, as long as the owner participated in one of the five functions listed above.

Question 3: Can the owner contract out the manufacture of the part to a non-certificated person and still have a part that is considered "owner-produced?"

Answer 3: Yes, as long as the owner participated in one of the five functions listed in above.

Question 4: If a mechanic manufactured parts for an owner, is he/she considered in violation of section 21.303(b)(2)?

Answer 4: The answer would be no, if it was found that the owner participated in controlling the design, manufacture, or quality of the part. The mechanic would be considered the producer and would not be in violation of section 21.303(a). On the other hand, if the owner did not play a part in controlling the design, manufacture, or quality of the part, the mechanic runs a good chance of being in violation of section 21.303 (b)(2).

With regards to the above, a mechanic should never make a logbook or maintenance entry saying that he/she made a part under his certificate number. However, the mechanic can say on the work order that he helped manufacture an owner-produced part under section 21.303 (b)(2).

Second, the owner or operator should be encouraged to make a log book entry that is similar to section 43.9 maintenance entry that states; The part is identified as an owner produced part under section 21.303 (b)(2). The part was manufactured in accordance with approved data. The owner/operator's participation in the manufacturer of the part is identified, such as quality control. The owner must declare that the part is airworthy and sign and date the entry.

Question 5: Is there anything your mechanic must do?

Answer 5: The mechanic must ensure that the owner-produced part meets form, fit, and function, and, within reasonable limits, ensure that the part does meet its approved type design (e.g. like looking at the approved data used to make the part). This is just as he/she would do if it was procured through normal channels Then your mechanic installs the part on the aircraft, makes an operational check if applicable, and signs off the required section 43.9 maintenance entry.

Question 6: What is the owner responsible for and what is the mechanic responsible for concerning owner-produced parts?

Answer 6: The owner is responsible for the part meeting type design and being in a condition for safe operation. The mechanic is responsible for the installation of the owner-produced part being correct and airworthy and for a maintenance record of the installation of the part made.

Question 7: How does the owner or operator get the approved data to make a part if the manufacturer and other sources are no longer in business?

Answer 7: For aircraft that the manufacturer is no longer supporting the continuing airworthiness of, the owner or operator can petition the FAA Aircraft Certification Directorate under the Freedom of Information Act for the data on how the part was made. Or the owner or operator can reverse engineer the part and have the data approved under a FAA field approval or, if it is a really complicated part, have the data approved by a FAA engineer or FAA Designated Engineering Representative.

Question 8: What happens to the owner-produced part on the aircraft if the original owner sells the aircraft?

Answer 8: Unless the part is no longer airworthy, the original owner-produced part stays on the aircraft.

This article was presented in the hope of disseminating information contained in little known and greatly misunderstood Federal aviation regulations (FAR) and unwinding some of the convolutes therein The article also contains information and data published elsewhere by others.

Airport Bum

If you were at the wonderful chapter winter party this year, you know that at this time, Larry Reynolds was presented his official “Airport Bum” certification papers. In other words, Larry is now certified! He’s paid his dues. Many desire this status but are somewhat confused about how to achieve this status. What follows is information submitted by Billy Mitchell who is an expert on the subject.

Billy writes: Just what are the qualifications of becoming a certified “Airport Bum”, I might be able to shed a little light on the subject.

An Airport Bum is similar to pornography, it is impossible to define it, but you know it when you see it!

If anyone has the desire, determination, and ambition to become an official airport bum, I can offer some helpful hints.

If you have an irresistible urge to watch an airplane take off and land, you may qualify

If you can discuss the theory of flight and prostate problems at the same time, you may qualify.

Bill Mitchell

The above is just a sampling of the qualifications for Airport Bum certification. Kinda like the famous “you might be a redneck if……………” stuff that used to be around. I think the comedian Gallagher started this. There will be more to come on this subject in future newsletters. Do you have any “you might be an airport bum if………..” stuff for your newsletter?

If so please submit and we’ll see how long we can keep this going.

Watch for the Xs At Dunn Airpark

They are getting ready to update our runway and taxi way lighting at Dunn and soon you may find runways 33/15 closed! During the second phase of the project which will probably start sometime in March, the main runway will be closed Monday through Thursday each week until the project is finished. You may also find the entrance to taxi way Charlie closed from taxiway Alpha while the first phase of the project is under way. Be vigilant.

Young Eagle rally comin up

On March 1, the first Saturday of the month, our chapter in conjunction with the first Saturday breakfast, we’ll be holding a Young Eagle Rally.

President

Larry Reynolds

398 Oak Cove Road

Titusville, Fl 32780 ph 321 432 6067

Lreynolds3@cfl.rr.com

Vice President

William Furnholm

3460 Dove Court

Titusville, FL

32780