March 2006

Hello, Members!
The daffodils are peeking their faces above ground and soon we will see the matching forsythias in bloom, too. The redwings and robins are here, the cardinals are in their bright spring red and singing every morning. Wow, we made it through winter again! This is an up and down time weather wise. Take every opportunity to fly, but don't get caught in low visibility or the gusty winds that follow storms.

Sun 'n Fun is rapidly approaching. It will be quite early in April this year. Two more from Chapter 1218 are planning to go, Bob Brantley and Berlin Batesel in Bob's Falco. Any others?

February Meeting
The February meeting was on a cold winter morning, kind of gloomy. Not many ventured out—knowing, I guess, that there wouldn't be much activity associated with the meeting. We enjoyed Ron's hot breakfast and some good conversation. After the business meeting, we moved up closer to the furnace and watched an aviation video showing some of the air show at Oshkosh. It was just too cold for hangar work. It's hard to work in mittens!

Gene Pascoe, Treasurer, reads his report.	Phyllis White, Secretary, reads the minutes.	Henny Christensen, Prez, checks her agenda.
Photographs by Sue Kalhoefer

Rotary Club Talk
Since then, Henny Christensen and Ron White had an invitation to speak to Rotary Club members at their weekly meeting at Hillbilly Junction. They told about the history of our Chapter, the building of the Wright Flyer, and our activities in the community, especially Young Eagles and the school programs featuring the flight simulator. Such programs enhance our standing in the communities we represent, and occasionally attract new members. A story and picture appeared in the "Willow Springs Community & Business News" edition of February 24.

Has anybody noticed how pretty the airport looks when the lights are on? I saw them on the morning of February 25, evidently turned on by a pilot circling in the vicinity, and they looked great. Checking the NOTAMs a few days later, this is what I found:

K1H5 WILLOW SPRINGS MEMORIAL

11/006 - AP UNSAFE TURF LDG 01 NOV 20:25 UNTIL UFN

02/181 - RWY LGTS PCL CMSND KEY 122.9 7 TIMES HIGH/5 TIMES MED/3 TIMES LOW INTST 27 FEB 17:40 UNTIL UFN

So, we are still supposed to stay off the grass, but now you know how many clicks for the lights!

The March Meeting & Work Day
Once again, in March the meeting, which will be on the 11th, will be preceded by breakfast at Ron's hangar. We plan to hold the meeting itself in the Chapter hangar. Official meeting time is 9:00 a.m. Even though March mornings can be quite chilly, we plan to work on the hangar after the meeting. There is still plenty of indoor work which can be accomplished. It is time to start some of the painting. Doc Openshaw has given us a load of oak lumber from which to build cabinets. Surely some of you have cabinetry skills and others can help them with this. Hey, John, time to hightail it back to Missouri! We need kitchen cabinets, storage cabinets, and library shelving. Then they will have to be painted or varnished.

Library
Someone set up a box to receive donated library materials. Good. Looking inside, there are a few aviation videos in it already. Check your closets and attic for books and other materials for the library. Something that you have already read will be of interest to others. Instructional texts may be useful if we ever get to present a ground school program.

Heavy Lifters
Last month we started highlighting the contributions of members who have been especially active in the building of the Chapter hangar. This month we mention Doc Openshaw and Kent Clotfelter.

Doc has been quite involved since work on the interior started. He arranged the donation of a lot of folding chairs from his church. The lights in the hangar came from another building of his. And now he has given us the oak lumber for the cabinetry, in addition to cash donations. Doc has spent hours working on the plywood decking upstairs, and the hanging of drywall downstairs.

Another person who has spent hours and hours working on the hangar is Kent Clotfelter. Kent's area of expertise is with the electrical circuits needed to run all the high wattage equipment in the building. I'm sure we won't be tripping circuit breakers every time we plug something in, thanks to Kent. Much of the material it takes to do this was donated by Kent.

Kent does careful electrical work; Doc does precise drywall cutouts; both are on hand for hard and dirty work.
Photographs by Sue Kalhoefer

We will mention more of our faithful members next month. Thank you, each and every one, we appreciate your work.

The Word Gets Around
This Saturday at the end of the breakfast, Ron White received a surprise visit from a fellow Stearman owner who had heard about Ron's Stearman. He introduced himself as Alan Hoover. Making his acquaintance, we learned that he retired from the U.S. Air Force, where he was a fighter pilot most recently flying F-16s. Now he is an ATP flying 737s for Southwest Airlines. He bought a Stearman, and he lives in Prescott, Arizona. He said he heard there was a Stearman here, and "just had to see it" while visiting in the area. He walked all around Ron's Stearman, clearly enjoying what he saw, then sat down to a plate of biscuits and gravy, pronouncing it the best he'd ever had.

Dues News
One last thing. Thank you all for attending to the small chore of getting your dues in to Gene. We did not lose a single active member. Only a small handful who were not active anyway did not rejoin. Maybe we will see some of them become active in the future…

We Celebrate

March Meeting Announcement