January 2004

Happy New Year to Our Members!
It seems like yesterday that we were wishing each other a happy 2003, and here it is 2004. In addition to keeping busy with our personal pursuits, we've had lots of activities as a Chapter. We set—and met— some major goals as a Chapter, including especially the building of the Wright Flyer with Bill Ghan, and flying our 1000th Young Eagle.

Photographs by Sue Kalhoefer
The hangar doors were opened and the crowd watched as the Wright Flyer was moved out into the sunshine. Bill gave Jerry Jacobs a last minute update as the camera turned. The spectators settled down to watch. Every safety precaution was observed, including fire protection and crowd control. After engine start, taxi tests began and problems were identified. There was no sustained flight on December 17th, but stay tuned!

December 17, 2003
The Wright Flyer still has to fly for that goal to be truly met, but we had a great day at Willow Springs on December 17. There was no better way to celebrate the Centennial of Aviation than to be working as a group to test the airplane. To the spectators and media, the airplane may have "failed" to fly, but that is due to a lack of understanding on their part. We all know that it takes a lot of testing to discover the bugs, and it was our first day of testing. We found the major bug, that of the chain coming off the main drive sprocket when power is increased, and that is being worked out now. Bill also decided to calculate a lateral center of gravity in case it will affect his ability to control the aircraft because the left wing wants to lift off first. When circumstances and the weather are right, we will test again. In the meantime, Bill has applied to national EAA for a special centennial year data plate for the Flyer.

Recording History
As most of you know, the story of the building of the Wright Flyer became a feature in the Chapter hangar section of Sport Aviation. The editor for that section, Chapter Administrator Brenda Anderson, and her staff, did a very nice job for us.

I am trying to collect all the other articles that have appeared in more local publications for our "archives." The publication will be preserved intact where I have it. Scans will be made for the two Chapter scrapbooks, the one Henny brings to show the public and the one I keep of our newsletters, news articles and correspondence. I am also collecting as many photos as possible from our members documenting the Wright Flyer, and these will be assembled into a set of CDs. Robert Harshman commented that there was "probably a million dollars worth of photographic equipment" at the airport on the Centennial day. Interesting thought. Every time I looked around, I saw a camera being lined up for another picture. Many of you have already sent me pictures, and I appreciate every one of them, especially those taken on December 17. They've been taken from many different spots along the runway, providing many different views. It has been suggested that we sell the CDs as a fundraiser. However, a gift set will be distributed to each member who worked on the Wright Flyer first. If you have photos to contribute for the CDs, please get them to me. If they are digital, put them on a CD or floppy or send them by e-mail. Please refrain from editing or resizing them. If they are on film, I can use prints or negatives (negatives "digitize" very nicely). Hand them to me at the meeting; I will scan them and get them back to you.

Photographs by Sue Kalhoefer
Bill and Margaret Ghan arrived early for the Christmas dinner meeting so they could visit. Arnold Zimmerman bought raffle tickets for the Wright Flyer model. The Wright Flyer was on display, almost finished. The ladies get to know Erika Zimmerman, her first time at a meeting. The business session was brief, but outgoing vice president Tom White handed the gavel to new president Charlie Ward. Bob Brantley recognized this year’s Young Eagle ground volunteers. Bill Marx won the raffle for the Wright Flyer model.

Christmas Dinner
Our last meeting was brief, 13 minutes to be exact! We dispensed with the necessary business at hand, then shared in our delicious Christmas buffet, the main dishes being supplied and prepared by Ron White and all the family. They do such a beautiful job, always going all out with the very best of results. The dinner was rounded out with dishes brought by you, the members. Several members came early in the day to decorate the hangar with Phyllis White, who is not quite as athletic right now as she has been in previous years. But have you noticed how far she has progressed since that freak accident? We applaud her for the hard work of getting her leg as strong as it is now. We know it has to be frustrating at times, though—right, Phyllis?

The time finally came to draw for the Wright Flyer model that was raffled this year. Bill Marx was the winner. He was surprised, but smiling! Congratulations on winning, Bill!

We ended the afternoon with some service awards to members who served as officers this year, and those who helped with the Young Eagles rallies during the year. According to national EAA information, the pilots who reached landmarks for numbers of Young Eagles flown during the year 2003 will receive recognition when all the records are in for the year. They expect this to be sometime around February.

So far, we haven't gotten the new officers together for a group picture for the newsletter. We hope you will all be present at the January meeting and plan to stand up and smile big for a picture, OK?

Now it is time to set some new goals for ourselves in order to keep the Chapter's life interesting. Come to the meeting in January with ideas to share. There are lots of airplanes out there to be finished…

Meeting & Open House Saturday
For the remainder of the "cold months," we will return to our regular meeting schedule of the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 a.m. at Ron White's hangar. That's the official meeting time, but you can come earlier to enjoy Ron's hangar breakfasts before the meetings. Accordingly, the January meeting will be on the 10th. Fly in or drive in, but come. After the meeting, starting at 11:00, and lasting until 4:00 p.m., we will hold open house for viewing the Wright Flyer. The public is being invited, so we'd like to have as many members as possible on hand to serve as hosts, to answer questions and make guests feel welcome. We'll need some munchies, too. Please bring chips, crackers, dips, nuts, deli items, fruit, veggie plates, whatever you can think of, for a snack table for guests — and ourselves in lieu of lunch. Benny Butler, who is in the finishing stages of building an RV-7, will have the stabilizer and rudder assembly at the hangar also. He will set up his laptop with pictures of the entire building process. He expects the engine to arrive next month, and hopes to be flying by spring. Saturday promises to be another great day.

Member Bio: Mike White
Mike White answered the call of the editor to write his bio for us. He has flown a diversity of airplanes, many of them before he even took his check ride. Taking the check ride in a taildragger is something of a novelty these days. Read on. His comment about the time (and money, for sure) it takes to maintain an assortment of airplanes is really something to think about, too.

Mike White

"I've lived in Willow Springs all of my life, graduating high school in 1979. I've been interested in aircraft and flying for as long as I can remember. I started building model airplanes as a young boy and as a teenager built radio controlled models. "One of my first flying experiences that I remember is, as a teenager, flying with my dad in his Cessna 120. I would often do the flying when I went up with him and even flew the approach to landing before he would take the controls and land. One of these flights in particular had been just such a flight, right up to the point that he told me this time he wasn't going to take the controls. We had been out flying one evening, it had just gotten dark and I was on final when he broke the news to me, "You're going to land this airplane and you're going to do it by doing just as I say." I didn't seem to have much of a choice since I had the controls and he wasn't going to take over. He said, "See the red lights at the far end of the runway? Use them and the cowling as a reference and don't let them move." I did just that! As we got close to the runway, I had to pull back on the controls to make those lights stay put. The result was a picture-perfect three point landing! I was so proud because I had always heard landing at night was the hardest. So, I was pretty sure that my next landing, during the day, would be a breeze. Boy was I wrong! The next landing did not go as planned. This is where I learned about the Cessna spring steel landing gear and how well they bounce. "In 1976 Dad bought a Cessna 195 (a basket case) to rebuild. This was a major rebuild project and the start of my aircraft building experience. With lots of good help, we got it flying in 1977. "It was around this time that I became interested in the old biplanes. At a fly-in at Blakesburg, Iowa, Dad asked a Stearman pilot if he would take me for a ride. He did and I was hooked from that moment on. I knew that someday we would have to have a Stearman. "As it turned out, my flying days were put on hold for several years. In 1983 I married my wife Kay. We had our first child, Jennifer, in 1986 and Eric was born in 1988. Now, with a family to take care of, flying didn't seem to fit into the picture. So in 1991 when my dad offered to pay for flying lessons I took him up on it. I started taking lessons at Mountain View, Missouri, with Lionel Smith. After 6½ hours of flying his Cessna 150, he soloed me. After several hours of flight time in 150s we bought a Cessna 170A. This is what I finished up my flight lessons in. In 1992 I flew to Mountain Home, Arkansas, to take my check ride. I still remember the first thing the examiner said to me, "I'm not a tail dragger pilot, so you better know how to fly this thing!" Well, I must have done all right, because I took home my private pilot's license. "Since that time, I have had the opportunity to fly several different types of aircraft such as: Cherokee 140, 150, and 180; Ercoupe; Cessna 180 and 195; and a Porterfield. In 1995 I even logged a few minutes of left seat time (dual) in a DC-3.   "In 1997, my dream was realized when I started flying our Stearman for the first time. I haven't been able to fly as much as I would like the past couple of years. I find myself having to make time to just keep up with the maintenance on our planes. "The best part about flying is the people. It doesn't matter where you go, if you're around pilots or aviation people, they're good people. And I think our chapter has some of the best! When we get together we can fly, talk about flying, or whatever. It can be good weather or it can be very bad weather. It just doesn't matter. It's the people that make it enjoyable and on Saturday mornings we have some of the best hangar flying around!" Photograph by Sue Kalhoefer The Cessna 170A in which Mike took his check ride.

We'll see you all at the meeting and open house Saturday.
 

January Meeting Announcement