April 2007

Hello, Members!
Spring gave us a little dress rehearsal, then reminded us what winter is like! But now I think we will really be in spring by the end of the week. I finally got to fly again, just a short while, taking care of the MPA “mission.” At first, I wasn’t sure I still knew how to fly, but I managed OK. Now it is time to start Wings (or whatever it is called now) again, and have the annual done.

March Meeting Full of Ideas
After a great potluck breakfast, the last meeting consisted of a lot of discussion about what to be doing in the hangar, and how to outfit it for working on projects. Tom White presented his findings from the surveys returned, and most people are in favor of working on members’ projects and getting them finished. Since then, several pieces of equipment have been purchased at Grizzly. Two projects were moved into the hangar for work. One is an ultralight called the “Jagermeister,” designed and built by Jim Tausworthe, which will be “upgraded” to an LSA with a more powerful engine. The other is a Sonerai II belonging to Fred Kalhoefer. Bill Ghan will be supervising the building of the projects, much as he did in his years of instructing industrial education classes. This will be an opportunity for members contemplating their own projects to learn some skills.

Good attendance, lots of discussion at the March meeting.

President Tom White opens the meeting, greets members.	Secretary Phyllis White reads the February minutes.	Treasurer Jim Vokac gives the financial report.
Photographs by Henrietta Christensen

Big new air compressor.	Hokie, Jim, and Clint inspect new shop tools.
Jim Tausworthe’s "Jagermeister" will be upgraded.	Fred Kalhoefer’s Sonerai II will be a building project under Bill Ghan’s supervision.
Photographs by Sue Kalhoefer

Young Eagles Update
Some alarm and confusion was created over the news that Young Eagles has come under the new FAA Air Tour Rule. FAA made some erroneous assumptions about the nature of the Young Eagles program when they drafted the new rule. National EAA worked to explain the design of the program and received clarification and reassurance that the program will not be included under Air Tour, which is meant for commercial operations. Young Eagles, as we have presented it in our Chapter under the national program charter, does not come under this provision. It gets murky when any kind of “donation” is accepted from the Young Eagle or his parents. HQ promises to send out more information in the new Chapter Coordinator packets to be mailed to us this week. One criterion to be aware of is that pilots cannot receive any direct compensation or reimbursement for their fuel, oil, expenses, or time when flying Young Eagles. EAA prepared a chart showing the basic provisions for inclusion or exclusion from the Air Tour Rule. I will bring a few copies to the meeting for our pilots.

One specific question I received is about pilots’ logged hours. So far, I have not found any required number of hours for a pilot to participate, but I will ask HQ to be sure if the answer is not contained in the packet. I expect to have this information in time for the meeting.

We will also resume our discussion of which Saturday of the month to hold our Young Eagles rallies. Insurance is not a problem, as it only requires filling out a one-page form on which the dates and place are entered, then attaching it to an e-mail to the national office. Henny is working on a small pictorial ad to be placed in area newspapers each month, and I will send out a public information article to the same newspapers. We would like to develop a poster to be located in some strategic local businesses or public buildings in the area we serve. Thank you to all the pilots and ground crew who indicated their interest in helping with the Young Eagles program this year.

Wite-Out Time — Again
Henny’s telephone number is 926-1908, not 256-1908. Fix it on your copy of the directory. Sorry, Henny. Think of all the calls you’ve missed — for more than a year!

Member News
We wish to welcome our newest members, Jared Casebeer and Sarah Wittenauer. We also want to welcome Jerry Pfister to the Chapter. We hope you all will find many new friends here. It’s wonderful to see how you all jump right in.

It is reported by those who went that the Easter cantata at Bill Ghan’s and Roddy Clark’s church was very nice. We hope everyone had a beautiful Easter Sunday, wherever they were and whatever they were doing to celebrate. We should all count our blessings, and be thankful.

April Meeting Plans
The April meeting will be another breakfast potluck at the Chapter hangar on Saturday, April 14. By now we are getting good at this, and it is great fun. There are more kinds of food suitable for breakfast than most of us imagined. If you have a new idea for a dish, don’t be afraid to bring it and let us try it out. We will start with breakfast at 9:00 a.m., and have the meeting after we’ve eaten. See you all there.

Till then, tailwinds!

We Celebrate

April Meeting Announcement