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Hello, Members!
It's hard to believe it's Fall already. Not many airplanes flying
lately. We're still having sticker shock over gas prices, to say nothing
of the rainy weather, runway work at Willow Springs (which finally
started on September 19) and no breakfasts for a couple of weeks. The
exception was a slow-starting but ultimately busy Young Eagles Rally at
Mountain View last Saturday. Auto gas prices had started to decrease,
but went right back up after another hurricane, Rita, hit the Gulf
Coast. I imagine it will be a while before avgas prices start to come
down.
September Meeting
Our last meeting was held in Mountain Grove at the Hayloft Restaurant
for lunch. That was because the runway work at Willow Springs was
supposed to start by then. Alas, it didn't. So the meeting could have
been held at Ron's hangar, with a hangar work day in conjunction with
the meeting. Oh, well.
The Chapter Hangar
Speaking of hangar
work, it is now proceeding very well. Several work days have been held.
Maybe we will be in it in time to celebrate the holidays. It's big and
it's going to be very nice. Your time and your money are both needed to
get it finished.
Willow Springs Improvements
Now that it's been started, the runway work
is also moving along very quickly. They even worked on Saturday. As you
know, the runway is being widened to 60 feet as well as being completely
resurfaced.
Avgas Update
In the meantime, the city council has
decided to continue having avgas available. The price to those based at
1H5 will be 3 cents a gallon over cost. To the general public, the rate
will be in keeping with the surrounding area. That price will be
redetermined on a weekly basis. There will be no advantage for a big
twin transiting the area to drink up a couple hundred gallons of gas.
School Session
The day before our last meeting, four
members presented a session on aviation to a home school cooperative
group in Mountain Grove at a church there. Jim Vokac was the principal
speaker, with Don Anderson assisting him. Henny Christensen introduced
groups of students to the simulator. Now this group wants to have a "by
appointment" Young Eagles session, which we hope to do for them at
Willow Springs or Mountain Grove after the runway is finished at Willow.
Young Eagles at MNF
The Young Eagles Rally at Mountain View was successful in terms of the
number of Young Eagles flown. The difficulty was in the small number of
pilots available to fly them. Mike Vaughn; Tommy Boyd, a local pilot who
belongs to national EAA; and Henny Christensen flew all 58 Young Eagles.
Bob Brantley and Jim Vokac manned the sign-up table, Gene Pascoe worked
the flightline, and Ray Fine supervised the simulator. We are grateful
to all these faithful members who work so hard at almost every Rally.
At the last meeting, it was decided to limit the number of Young Eagles
rallies each year so that we don't go to the same airports every year. I
am presently working on three cycles of airports to be scheduled so that
we have public rallies at only three airports each year. We will also
plan to hold one or two smaller rallies for specific school groups where
we have made presentations during the year. Rallies will not necessarily
be held at the same time as a town festival. Two of our best rallies
this year, where the interest and appreciation shown was high, did not
coincide with festivals.
October Meeting
This month's meeting will be held at John Smith's Aerodrome, as it is
known to Chapter members. On the chart, it is Johnston's Nest (MO80),
two miles north of Mountain Grove Memorial Airport. John and Joyce have
been hosting the October meeting for the last three years, and it is
usually a beautiful day to fly in. The menu will be all Tex-Mex. Joyce
asks that only desserts be brought to the meeting. The date and time are
October 8 starting at 11:00 a.m.
Here's a little information about the airport. The coordinates are N37
09.6 W92 19.4. The elevation is estimated at 1482 feet, runways 16/34,
2,500 feet by 200 feet. Landing is usually to the south and takeoff to
the north. If you prefer to land at 1MO, someone will get you to
Smith's—if you arrive early enough.
Now, if you are driving, take the Business Highway 60 exit (one mile
west of the Highway 95 exit) in Mountain Grove. Go to the north side
outer road, and take the first road going north, which is Coke Road.
Follow it for about 2 miles until the pavement ends, then take
Timberline Road north for about ¼ mile. Arrive as early as 10:00 a.m.
Our Birthdays & Anniversaries
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October and early November
Birthdays |
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October 24: Jim Evertsen
October 31: Orv Neisingh
November 11: Marge Allen |
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Anniversaries |
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October 8: Dave & Sherri
Altis
October 11: Orv & Sheila Neisingh
November 7: Bob & Kathyrin Bohemier
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Around the Patch
We received e-mail from Chuck Hiett, telling about their return to
Mississippi to assess the damage to the house there.
"Friends: Just a note to let you know where we are. We retrieved our
motor-home from the sales lot in Willow Springs and headed back down to
Diamondhead on the 18th, arrived on the 19th. Cold camped for the night
and surveyed the situation, looks like Nagasaki, managed to pick up a
few small items at our house site. A very large tree blew over on our
house before or after the storm surge got there. We are now in Pensacola
at the Oak Grove RV Park, on the base very near the Blues hanger. I went
over to the Blues hanger on Thursday, talked to the Master Chief and now
have a Marine clean up crew slated to go over to Diamondhead on the 8th
of October with chainsaws and trucks to see what we can find under the
rubble. The response has been terrific, all the Marine blues want a
picture with old Blujarone, can't believe it's been over 50 years.
Anyway, we are fine. I will be checking my E-mail about twice a week on
this site. WM Connect is not working for me here. Best to all, Chuck"
That's about it for this month! Till Saturday, tailwinds!
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