Merry Christmas, Everyone!
We are busy getting ready to
celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth. I
hope each one is giving someone else the most valuable
gift there is: our prayers.
First of all, we want to welcome all our new Chapter
members. They are Curtis and Ruth Venn, Robert and
Kathyrin Bohemier, Bill and Theresa Johnson, and (at
last!) Ray Fine. Then we want to thank all of the new
officers for 2003 for agreeing to serve. They are Ben
Hurtt, Tom White, Phyllis White, Gene Pascoe, and Lloyd
Darter. Bob Brantley and Sue Kalhoefer will be Young
Eagles Co-Coordinators. I will take over the whole
responsibility for the newsletter since it essentially
meshes with the web page. Fred says he needed a rest from
it, but I think he will lend me a hand. We benefited from
Lloyd's advice already as he addressed the anticipated
improvements at Willow Springs Memorial Airport, made
possible by a MODoT grant, as to the type of lighting
most beneficial to general aviation pilots — and
taking care not to jeopardize safety with open drainage
ditches along the runway. We were assured by the city's
engineering consultant that all the drainage at the south
end of the runway will be underground. He also expressed
thanks for the en"light"enment with regard to
the lights. With regard to MODoT activities, we've been
told that traffic counters have been placed at Mansfield.
They did it at a time when there's been a lot of bad
weather for flying, though, so the count probably won't
be as high as hoped.
Thank you, Ron and Tom, for serving up such a nice,
tummy-warming breakfast for the meeting. For those who
don't know, Ron prepares the sausage gravy the long,
slow-cooked way, carefully browning the flour as it is
added. Tom's biscuits just keep getting better and
better. We also want to thank the officers who served
during 2002. They all did a great job for us. But the
members do a great job for them, too, when you think
about it. And thank you all, too, for a good start on
paying 2003 dues, so Gene won't have to take care of it
all at once in January.
Cookbook
Project
Some of the ladies are planning a Chapter cookbook as a
fundraiser. They will be looking for each of us to
provide recipes. Ron White asked me if it is a "ploy
to get some of my secret recipes." Well, Ron, they
won't be secret if you give them up, so pick some that
aren't secret. None of us can compete with Ron anyway,
and it probably wouldn't taste the same if we tried.
Virtual
Skies
At the meeting, Gene Pascoe
gave me information about a neat website by NASA called
"Virtual Skies." I checked it out and it's a
lot of fun. The URL is http://virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov/ and I'm adding it to the Lots of Links section of our Chapter website. At the
same time, I've added some neat airport directory sites
that have been made available in Missouri and surrounding
states.
Christmas
Dinner
Winter arrived with a blanket of the white stuff today.
Reminds me of two years ago, when it came early and never
went away. Let's hope this is just a token that will soon
disappear, and then we can pretend we're in Florida for
the rest of the season. Dear Santa, we really want the
roads to be nice and dry for our Christmas dinner-meeting
on Saturday, December 14, 2002, at Ron's hangar. First we
set dinner for 4:00 p.m., then decided we'd better gather
early for the business meeting at 3:00 p.m., then found
out we will have bluegrass and gospel music starting at
2:00 p.m. I know Phyllis has been planning beautiful
decorations for the dinner, too. So take a day off from
Christmas shopping and spend the day having fun with your
fellow EAAers starting at 2:00 p.m. Don't forget to bring
a side dish or dessert, OK?
Member
Bio: Lloyd Darter
Lloyd is our featured member
this month. He is more than qualified to be your board
member-at-large. He made me interview him instead of
writing this himself, and I warned him I could make
mistakes, but I guess he thinks he can survive them. So,
here's his story:
Lloyd
Darter
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Lloyd
Darter says he wanted to fly almost as soon as he
learned to walk, but there wasn't any money. He
came from a small farm near Atkins, Arkansas.
When he graduated from high school, he had been
outside of Arkansas only once before in his life,
for a couple of hours. He went on the senior
trip, all the way to Louisiana, but had to cut it
short to be back to report for the Army. In the
Army, he was trained and served as a combat
engineer. During his three-year enlistment, he
was sent to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas; Fort Belvoir,
Virginia (near Arlington); Fort Ord, California;
and finally Zweibrücken, Germany. Near the end
of his enlistment, the Army tried to entice him
to re-enlist, promising him a choice of
specialties, including a chance to become a
pilot. However, this was 1961, and Viet Nam was
changing from an unknown place where the United
States had sent "advisers" to a place
of full-scale hostilities in which we were the
primary forces. We also had a blockade around
Cuba. Lloyd says the prospect of getting to fly
wasn't worth bullets. So he came home to Arkansas
and went to work, maintaining heavy construction
equipment.
And he started learning to fly. His instructor
was Peter Joyce, who was running a charter
service in Mountain Home, whom Lloyd would talk
to on CB. Lloyd says, "It took me 8½
hours to solo in a Cessna 150, and I was sick
every one of 'em." It was motion
sickness, but he says he overcame it by
perseverance. After soloing, he bought a
Taylorcraft and took 9½ hours to solo it. At the
time, he was in no hurry to get his private
license, so he flew the Taylorcraft for a year or
so, then bought a Tri-Pacer. Then there was talk
of new rules for licensure being instituted, so
he decided to take his practical test, which he
did in the Tri-Pacer. In all, he flew it for
twelve years before selling it. It had several
owners after that, until now it is owned by Sonny
McMurtrey.
During the mid-1970s, Lloyd worked on getting his
instrument rating, commercial ticket, and CFI
— as time permitted — over a period of
two years. He had to work all the time, which "got
in the way of flying." Then he got his
multi-engine rating, and things started to
change. He got a job flying a twin Beech for
FedEx five nights a week, mostly Little Rock to
Memphis and back. He especially remembers one
night, though, when they made a run in a King Air
from Little Rock to Memphis to St. Louis to
Atlanta, and back to St. Louis, Memphis, and
Little Rock "all in the dark hours of
the same night" — and it was
snowing. He says, "We flew hard
instruments." After a year and a half
of flying for them, FedEx revised its operating
plan and started laying off all the contract
airplanes.
Lloyd started "working mechanics"
at Little Rock, working for a contractor who
operated heavy earth-moving equipment. He also
started studying for his A&P license,
attending classes at night. He continued working
for the contractor until 1982, while doing some
flight instruction and aircraft mechanic work
part time.
Then his old friend and flight instructor, Pete
Joyce, bought a place at Gentryville in Douglas
County. So Lloyd came to Mountain Grove, where
they started L & P Aviation. Lloyd brought
the Tri-Pacer and a Luscombe with him. They also
bought a spray plane, a Piper Pawnee. Before the
Pawnee, they used Stearmans. Lloyd says Stearmans
didn't carry enough for the amount of noise they
made and the fuel they guzzled. As they developed
the business, Lloyd says he "did all
sorts of work — bouncer and 'waitress' at
the Branding Iron" (an infamous local
night spot for a while), "instructing,
[and] mechanic work." Then Pete died
— leaving a son, Ronnie, who is also an
A&P and works in Mountain Home. Lloyd kept
the business name.
Lloyd still instructs "a little
bit." He probably could find more
students, but "I tell them right up
front that I'm mean!" That scares away
all but the most serious students, which is the
only kind he really wants. Then he likes to work
with them intensively, saying, "They
will really know how to fly an airplane when I'm
done with them." One student was ready
to take his private in a week, but they had to
wait for the results of his written test to come
back from Oklahoma City before he could give him
his final prep and send him for his practical. He
had flown in three different airplanes in that
week. Of course, he passed. Some of his students
completed their forty hours on their way to take
the practical test. Lloyd likes to sign off
students for some really adventuresome solo cross
countries. He tells them to pick places where
they have a real reason to go, and so some have
gone to places like Dallas Love Field and
Davenport, Iowa. He taught his own son, Randy, to
fly and Randy went to Russellville, Arkansas when
he soloed, returning "half in the
dark," in a Beech Sport. He now flies
for a living in Iowa and Alaska — airplanes
include the DC3. He also taught Henny Christensen
to fly, and she makes her living doing aerial
photography under contract to the federal
government, thus combining her love of picture
taking and flying. She had formerly worked
freelance for the Mountain Grove newspaper.
Lloyd read me some pretty impressive statistics
out of his current logbook. Well over 10,000
logged hours of flying, including 1600
instructing, 2800 ag spraying, 9900
single-engine, 650 multi-engine, 500 instrument,
7606 daytime, 3048 nighttime, 3244 cross-country.
Right now, Lloyd is in the process of overhauling
the engine in our airplane. He overhauled the
engine in Jerry Luna's airplane, too. He likes to
give me what-for about the Tomahawk being a "dangerous"
airplane, contending that he won't fly it.
Recently, however, he slipped and admitted that
he plans to fly it for the break-in period after
the overhaul, adding "but I won't stall
it." (I detect a double meaning there!)
I asked him how many engines he has rebuilt: "more
than two dozen, mostly Continentals and
Lycomings."
Lloyd has a well-known outspoken manner. It is
consistent, to say the least. It doesn't matter
whether the recipients of his comments are
customers, the "feds" in the shape of
the FBI (inquiries about the "security"
of his ag plane following 9/11) or the FAA; TV
film crews (a story following 9/11); or
prospective students. Lacy Martin referred to him
as "a crotchety bearded dude" in his
bio. But just watch him around the airport, where
an assortment of old cats know there is really
nothing to his bluster, and he treats airplanes
with TLC. As our new board member, he has already
gotten his point across about the worthlessness
of PCL! Sorry, Lloyd, I've just "blown your
cover."
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My Bio
On the subject of bios, Fred pestered me for a long time
to write mine. I kept putting him off with, "Wait
till I pass my test." Then I conveniently forgot
about it. But Sharon Vaughn was quick and smart and
caught up with me — literally blindsided me —
and asked me to write it for the MPA newsletter. How
could I refuse, since I expect others not to refuse when
I ask them? So, for those who aren't also MPA members,
but like to use the bios to get to know people, it is
included here:
Sue
Kalhoefer
 |
"Just in case
this is all a dream, please don't wake me up!
Have you ever been afraid to hope for something,
so you just didn't? Well, that's sort of where I
was about learning to fly. But given a few quiet
days alone with time to think about where I was
in life, it suddenly hit me that the time had
come. Fred was at Oshkosh for his annual
pilgrimage with Bill Ghan to worship airplanes,
and I was at home alone with the Internet to
follow what was going on there. I no longer had
family responsibilities nor a job taking all my
time. By the time Fred got home, I had decided to
start with ground school. As he has always done
when I want to pursue a new goal, Fred heartily
helped me get started. He knew just who to call
to find out about it, and not only went with me
to buy my course books and supplies, he attended
with me to give me moral support. He said he
could use the refresher. I did feel a little
hesitation about whether I could learn the
material, so I made no commitment beyond taking
the ground school at that point. However, by the
time I was about half way through it, I knew I
had to find a way to take flying lessons upon
completion. It turned out to be really fun, and I
was doing OK. I took the FAA written exam and
passed it. So I started thinking of going to a
flight school for lessons — expensive as
that would be — because we didn't have an
airplane.
"We've been in the dairy business for over
twenty years. It has it's ups and downs, the
downs usually lasting longer than the ups; the
ups only last long enough to pay down a few
debts, then it's down again. For most of 1999, we
had been led to think things were really going to
change for the better and stay that way for a
while. Nope, not to be. As I was finishing ground
school, milk prices crashed and oil prices took a
sharp hike. Forget the flying lessons for a
while.
"Once again, Fred came to the rescue. He had
been shopping Trade-A-Plane. By the end of
summer, it was looking like milk prices were
going to recover after all, and he found a very
cheap "used airplane," a Piper Tomahawk
then residing at Houston Memorial Airport. We
bought it. Fred wasn't current, and I certainly
couldn't fly it, so Bill Newton (our EAA Chapter
Technical Advisor), who had agreed to teach me to
fly, flew it home. Fred said I should ride with
him, since I was the one who was going to learn
to fly in it. He would drive the car home.
"While we were at Houston, clouds had been
gathering on the horizon, but they really didn't
look threatening. By the time we were over
Norwood on our way to Mansfield, it started
raining. A few minutes later, one of those steaks
of water crawling up the windshield in the wind
started to look frozen. I looked down at the wing
and sure enough — ice was forming. I knew
from ground school that that was BAD, and I told
Bill. He was, as ever, calm, cool and collected.
Thankfully, we were soon at Mansfield and on the
ground. I knew I had the right flight instructor!
"Fred and I went for our aviation physicals,
then we got down to the nitty gritty of flying
lessons. I had a little over five hours of
instruction in four lessons when the snow came to
Mansfield. And stayed, and stayed. Spring had
sprung before we could start again. Keep in mind
we are now in the year 2001. In between very
windy days and Bill's trips to visit relatives,
we flew. I soloed on Friday the 13th of July.
Bill asked me if I was superstitious. I said no,
are you? He grinned, and got out of the airplane.
By the time I was coming in for the second
landing, Don Anderson had arrived; by the time I
was coming in for the third, Roddy Clark had
arrived. I thought, wow, I'd better get this
right or I'll never hear the end of it! None of
them had the guts to cut the back out of my
shirt, though, so I missed that tradition.
"Things went routinely after that. Fred had
gotten current with Bill, and I was progressing
toward doing tower-controlled airport experience
and solo cross country. Then 9/11 happened and
everything came to a screeching halt. So many
questions about the future of general aviation,
how many hoops will we have to jump through from
now on? But fifteen days later, we were back in
the air. After that, it was only weather and
avionics glitches that slowed things down, and I
was able to take my checkride on June 20 this
year. After that, I made it a point to fly as
often as possible, and was really enjoying it.
"We knew when we bought the airplane that it
wasn't in the best of shape and the engine had a
lot of hours. So it wasn't a real surprise to
find that it was gone when we took it in for
annual in September. Lloyd Darter is overhauling
it and converting it to 125 HP according to a
series of STCs available for the Tomahawk. We
ought to get a lot of years of flying out of it
when we get it back, and we are really looking
forward to it.
"Since I've gotten my license, I've thought
a lot about why I love flying so much, and now
see that much more than I realized pointed in
that direction. When I was a little girl, we
lived not very far from Long Beach harbor where
there were some large Navy installations. We
often saw airplanes flying over, and would stop
to watch. It was fun to try to identify them.
"Later on, we moved out to a valley area,
and no longer saw many airplanes. My favorite
things to do were bike riding, taking pictures
with my first camera, bird watching, and Brownie
Scouts. By the time I was ten, I had figured out
that United Airlines flew to Hawaii, where I
always dreamed of going, and that stewardesses on
overseas routes had to be registered nurses. They
also had to weigh a certain amount and have
perfect eyesight without glasses. My dad also
took me with him on an airline flight to visit my
grandparents. It was just great! I announced that
I wanted to go to nursing school.
"During my teenage years, I became more and
more nearsighted and I stayed very skinny. What a
disappointment. But I still wanted to be a nurse.
Then I discovered my parents didn't think nursing
was a suitable occupation. My mother wanted me to
become a teacher and my dad wanted me to go to
his alma mater and major in liberal arts, so
that's what happened. I was bored, and my grades
started to reflect it. After two years, I quit. I
came home and enrolled in some secretarial
courses at the local junior college during the
summer and fall. During the fall, I took an
introductory psychology course. The instructor
assigned a paper on what kind of animal we'd like
to be and why. I chose an eagle because of such
phenomenal eyesight, and the ability to soar high
up in the air.
"Then I got a job. That's where I met Fred.
A mutual friend was frustrated that nothing was
happening, so he played matchmaker, and we
started dating. Fred had a sports car which was
lots of fun (I learned to drive a stick shift in
it) and we both liked spending days in the
mountains. Having discovered that we enjoyed each
other's company very much, we became engaged.
We've been married almost forty years.
"Our boys were born in the first few years
of marriage. With the first baby came the
realization of how fragile these little bundles
of joy are, and I enrolled in a Red Cross First
Aid course. That awakened the desire to become
nurse again, but I suppressed it thinking it
impossible now that we've got a family. One
evening, I mentioned it to friends who were
visiting, and Fred took up the crusade,
encouraging me to do it. The problem was, I was
expecting the second baby at the time! But once
the baby was born, I started the process of
getting into nursing school. A few years later,
that dream finally came true.
"During the time I was in school, Fred
started learning to fly. I quickly became
fascinated with it, and jumped at the chance
whenever his instructor was willing to let me in
the airplane. After he got his private, I got to
do a little navigating for him, just pilotage
following the sectional. We'd rent an airplane,
take the kids, and go for a day trip. It was
great fun, but it was really expensive and we
just didn't have that much money, especially
after the oil embargo came along in 1973. So
flying moved to the back burner for a long time,
and Fred returned to college for the next four
years. After that, we moved to Missouri and took
up farming. Occasionally, Fred would go take some
dual. I was busy working and taking care of the
kids.
"Fred met Bill Ghan while substitute
teaching at Mansfield High School and they
discovered they were both airplane nuts. They
started going to Oshkosh every year, but I was
always working and couldn't go. I've never been
there, but all those trips and all those pictures
finally had their effect, and I'm finally
flying!" |
Buzz Thunderbee by Squawk
| |
 |
|
| Oh
boy, poor Buzz. He learned to fly before those
mean ol' feds got in the act. He tried to tell
them he'd been grandfathered in, but they weren't
impressed with that, either. So he offered 'em
some honeycomb to sweeten them up and, well, you
can guess… |
Photo Montage
Again this year, we had many more photographic records of
the things we've done than we could ever use in the
newsletters. Going through them, I found lots that you
might enjoy seeing, so they are assembled into a montage
on a separate page. For $1 each, I'd be happy to print
one for you on photo paper at higher dpi and bring it to
you at the meeting. That goes for last year's page, too.
Let me know.
See you at the Christmas dinner on the 14th. Sincerely,
Sue Kalhoefer, Newsletter Editor
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