May 2006

Greetings, Members!
Did you think we were never going to get any rain? Now do you think we will ever see the sun? Oh, well, get out and build an airplane or tend the garden while you can't fly.

Young Eagles
The Young Eagles Rally at Houston was an even match between the number of pilots available and the number of kids who came to ride. The weather was cool and overcast at 6,000 feet. That probably discouraged greater numbers in both groups. However, it was a nice session. The pilots were Mike Vaughn, Henny Christensen, and Bob Bohemier. Our ground crew included Gene Pascoe, Don Anderson, Tom White, and Kathy Bohemier. Ray Fine supervised the simulator, and Bill Ghan and Phyllis White helped me at the table. Moral supporters included Howard Wolford, who let us use his hangar, Carolyn Wolford, and Margaret Ghan. Twenty youngsters took rides. One little boy, seven years old and too young for a ride, was very excited just to get to sit in the cockpit of the KIS and look at the instruments and gauges. After that he “flew” the simulator.

Gene explains airplane basics to young soccer players.	A family checks out their Young Eagles’ certificates.
Phyllis and Bill prepare a certificate for each child.	Don Munson donated 10 gallons of fuel to each pilot.
Photographs by Henny Christensen (upper left) and Sue Kalhoefer

At the end of the session, we found we had a benefactor. He had stood quietly by, observing the proceedings. He then stepped up and introduced himself as based at Houston, a student pilot who has a Cessna 150 which he bought to use for flying lessons. He wanted to know if he could make a donation to the Chapter for gas, adding that it was “for the kids.” We've never had such an offer from a nonmember, so we quickly consulted and decided it was OK. Each of the three pilots who flew received 10 gallons of avgas on his account. His name is Don Munson. We invited him to visit us in Willow Springs for the meeting and Saturday breakfasts. At a time when the price of avgas is undoubtedly causing a slowdown in Young Eagles activities, this was a very gracious gift to make. We hope Mr. Munson will become a member of the local aviation community, and wish him success in completing his private pilot certificate.

Henny takes off with three more Young Eagles.	After another flight, Mike returns with his group
Photographs by Sue Kalhoefer

Have you wondered if the Young Eagles program has any impact on the youth who participate in the program? In the May issue of Sport Aviation, there is an insert called Tailwinds. It is the second time it has been included in the magazine, and evidently will be a quarterly thing. There is a section in it where former Young Eagles tell about their experience and what they are doing in aviation as a result of it.

EAA Air Academy
We have received a packet of Pilot Credit Certificates earned by our Young Eagles pilots in 2005. These are credits toward sending a youth to Aviation Summer Camp at EAA Air Academy. Our Chapter has customarily combined all the credits each year toward sending one young person to an Academy session. We have not had any takers yet. This year, we have 175 available credits. If you have an eligible young person in mind, please see me at the meeting for more information. In the meantime, take a look at www.airacademy.org, or call HQ direct at (920) 426-6820. Credits are not cumulative, so if we don't use them, we lose them.

The Hangar
I hope you've seen the lettering on the Chapter hangar. Ron and Mike installed the letters on the front of the hangar after the meeting April 8th. It is very handsome and dignified. The website home page has been updated with a picture showing the lettering. Since then, hangar work is continuing. Last Saturday, a group worked on constructing cabinets.

Ron and Mike finish installing the lettering.	Isn’t this beautiful?
Photographs by Henny Christensen

Each month, we are mentioning the contributions of some of our members toward the Chapter hangar project. Last month, we learned of a generous donation in cash made by Ben Hurtt. Thank you, Ben, on behalf of all the members. It will help a lot to bring the project to a finished state, so we can “move in.”

Two members who have worked long and hard on building and equipping the hangar are Berlin Batesel and Bob Bohemier. Both Hokie and Bob have spent countless hours working on every aspect of hangar building. They've both donated materials and cash, too. We've seen Hokie doing a lot of welding, especially noticeable when the bifold door was being fitted and installed. Bob donated a refrigerator, bathroom fixtures, and wiring materials. He has been seen installing the metal siding, drywall, and some electrical boxes. He also made the jacket raffle a huge success by “buying” the jacket from the raffle winner, Jim Evertsen—who donated the jacket back to the Chapter for that reason.

Last Fall, Hokie worked on the bifold door frame.	A few days later, Bob attached sheet steel to the door.
Photographs by Sue Kalhoefer

Getting Along
I recently had an interesting conversation with a young man from Collierville, Tennessee, who belongs to the Air National Guard. You may remember that a few years ago AOPA proposed to FAA some changes in the Memphis Class B airspace. The problem was that the airspace wasn't centered on identifiable navaids found in databases, and it was too easy for GA pilots to violate the airspace, especially in the immediate post-9/11 period when everybody was very nervous about that. (Not that we aren't nervous about it now.) AOPA proposed to center it on the VOR instead of the airport, a shift southward of about two nautical miles. In the period during which comments were received, other technical changes were proposed by FAA which would lower the floor of the airspace in parts of the Class B wedding cake, and widen the lateral dimensions of the airspace. These proposals had the potential to provoke opposition by AOPA and the local GA community. The time finally came for the public meetings to be held, and the notices weren't sent out. FAA claimed lack of funding. Naturally, everybody became suspicious. AOPA threatened to send out the notices, so FAA finally did it. Now, more about our young man. He is a very nice person to talk to. In the Air National Guard, he served in Bosnia and Iraq. Not as a pilot (which he is, and commercially rated), but because of his civilian job as an air traffic controller, he does similar work in ANG. He is an ATC in Memphis. We talked about that a little bit, and then I mentioned that I had managed to fly under the “wedding cake” in Tampa without upsetting anybody, and was glad about that. He asked if I had ever flown in the Memphis area. I said no, I always try to avoid Class B, if possible. He said, “Well, you don't need to be afraid. Come on down and try us out.” He went on to explain that, as a controller, he had been appointed to a committee to redesign Memphis Class B after the AOPA request, and the committee came up with the additional proposals, which they thought needful to better protect the ILS approaches to parallel runways—but in widening the airspace, it would also take into the Mode C veil the GA airports at Tunica, Mississippi. In the runup to the public hearings, the committee members began to fear that AOPA would oppose these changes and mobilize the membership. The AOPA threat to send out the notices when FAA didn't only heightened this worry. On the night of the meeting, AOPA sent a representative, and most of the local-area pilots attended. The presentation was made. When the time came to receive questions and comments from attendees, very little opposition was voiced. One man explained, in a nutshell, “You have always dealt with us in a reasonable manner when we fly in the airspace, so we are willing to go along with these changes.” Situation defused, and the redefined Class B airspace was published. ATC was very impressed with the pilots' willingness to accept the changes, not really having considered the impact of their history of fair treatment in the airspace. A lesson for ATC in less pilot-friendly Class B areas.

In Other Chapter News…
There were several guests present at the April meeting. Larry Allen attended with his parents, Clint and Marge Allen. Jim Evertsen brought his son, a med student in Kansas City. The mayor of Willow Springs, Johnny White, was there. And Jim McCord, of Cabool, attended. He had written prior to the meeting to confirm the date and time. He said he was new to the area and had been reading the newsletters on the web site. We extend our welcome to all of our guests.

May Meeting
The regular meeting will be Saturday, May 13, 2006, at 9:00 a.m., following breakfast at Ron's hangar at Willow Springs Memorial Airport (1H5). Come early for breakfast, bring breakfast foods to supplement Ron and Tom's great traditional biscuits and gravy. See you there. Until then, tailwinds!

We Celebrate

May Meeting Announcement