Next Meeting

at the chapter hanger at Gundy's.
Snacks: Last names starting with G-H

Table of Contents

• President's Report for March
• 2006 EAA Air Academy Scholarship Applications
• Danger! Danger! Danger!
• One of Those Flights
• Young Eagles Rally
• Poker Run
• Pushing or Pulling Your Aircraft
• Newsletter Editor Relief
• Items For Sale
• 2006 Calendar Of Events
• Who Brings Snacks????
• Web Page Newsletter

President's Report for March

by Craig Loomiller

I guess that old saying is true. You know the one. It goes something like this "March winds bring April Showers…". All I know is it sure has been windy lately. Hopefully, some rain will come our way.

Poker Run

In order to help it along, our board of directors seem to think we need a poker run. I missed the meeting last Monday due to another evening work assignment, my schedule sure sucks sometimes. Jeff said everybody agreed that I should put on another poker run and oh by the way, would I set it up. That's what happens when you miss a meeting. The date that has been selected is Saturday, April 1st. Check out the flyer in this newsletter for more details.

After missing last month's meeting, Bhrent Waddell assured us he would bring his airplane by for our March meeting. Well, he backed out on us again. Some lame excuse about his daughter getting married or something. It sounds kind of fishy to me but we will move on. Fortunately, we were able to find another speaker to fill his place.

March Program

John Nys was able to arrange for a gentleman named Bob Nuckolls from Wichita, Kansas to be our guest speaker. Bob is the owner of AeroElectric Connection. This is an outfit that specializes in General Aviation electronics and their installation. John has used several of their products and services during the construction of the RV-10's. I looked over his website at www.aeroelectric.com and was really impressed with what I saw. I especially liked the section called “articles” found in the main section titled "reference documents." There was a great deal of information there. It was well worth the visit. Check it out for yourself. I am looking forward to his visit; it should be a pretty interesting meeting.

Final Notice for Dues

We are already into the third month of the year, and what that means is, if you haven't paid your dues yet, unfortunately this will be your last newsletter. I talked to the treasurer the other day and he informed me that a little over 80% of you have renewed already. So you're all doing pretty well. If you haven't renewed yet, either mail it in or bring to the next meeting so you don't miss out on any of the action.

Air Academy Scholaraship

There is only one month left to get your EAA Flight Academy scholarship applications in. Remember, if you know someone between the ages of 13-15 who would like to go, they need to submit two letters of recommendation and another letter explaining why they should be selected. I believe we will make our selection at the end of this month. See our vice-president Jeff Wedman for more details.

Volunteers Needed

Jim Gentry from the Confederate Air Force contacted me the other day about volunteers. They need a lot of help to put on their annual big Band Hangar Dance each November over at the Tulsa Technology Center. This event has turned into an all day and an all night event. They are looking for both day and evening volunteers as well as people to display their aircraft. The event is Saturday, November 11 from 9:00 in the morning until 11:00 p.m. at night. If you are interested, please contact him at jjgetry@cox.net or phone him at 918-605-5093.

With the weather like it is, I need to get out into the hangar and annual all my aircraft. My excuse for not doing it up until now was that all my daughter's crap was in the way. I can't use that excuse any more since she finally moved her stuff out last week or should I say that I moved it out. Either way, I finally have some room to move around in my hangar again. It sure is nice!

See you at the meeting.

Craig

2006 EAA Air Academy Scholarship Applications

by Jeff Wedman

Everyone please make note that this will be the last news letter before the Air Academy applications are due. We are currently taking application from 13 thru 15 year old kids. To apply we must receive a letter stating aviation experiences, interest and career goals. Please include age and birth date. We must also have two letters of recommendation from teachers, clergy, flight instructors, EAA members, etc. No letters of recommendation from family members please. These letters are required by the Academy and Chapter 10 will use these letters to make our selection. The successful candidate's letters will be forwarded to the Air Academy. Please send these letters to

EAA Chapter 10
PO BOX 1985
OWASSO OK 74055-1985 

You can also hand deliver application letters to a Chapter 10 officer at the monthly meetings. All application letters must be received by March 31, 2006.

The Chapter 10 Air Academy Scholarship recipient will be selected in the month of April. Once our candidate is chosen, he or she will receive a packet of information including:

• Permission to participate
• Liability Waiver
• Release & Indemnification
• Health Form
• Travel Form
• other pertinent information

A physical exam within the 24 months prior to the camp start date is required. All Academy fees and airfares will be provided by EAA Chapter 10. The successful candidate will be able to select his or her attendance dates from the Academy Sessions listed below.

If a 13 year old is chosen the camp dates will be as follows:

If a 14 or 15 year old is chosen the camp dates will be as follows:

If your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, etc or just anyone you know that might be interested in the Air Academy please help get the word to them. Remember the due date for applicants is March 31, 2006. If anyone has any questions please do not hesitate to give me a call at 371-8779.

As a reminder: Anyone can attend the air academy on their own if they want to pay their own way.

Jeff

Danger! Danger! Danger!

by John Nys - Treasurer

Danger Will Robinson! This is the last newsletter you will receive if your membership is not renewed for 2006. Still an extreme bargain at $20 per year.

It's easy to renew, too. Just fill out a simple membership renewal/application form and bring it to the next chapter meeting on Monday, March 20th at 7:30PM or mail it to to

EAA Chapter 10
PO BOX 1985
OWASSO OK 74055-1985 

Join us for another year of fun, information, and a few tall tales with a great group of people.

One possible dark cloud on the horizon. Rumor has it that Craig is contemplating a Poker Run for April First. Flood insurance, anyone?

By the way did you know? “Lectric” Bob Nuckolls will be the program for our next meeting.

John

One of Those Flights

by Bob Thrasher

Writing about flying is easy with an achievement to share or a flight that you are proud of. Enthusiasm and pride are in great supply. At some point, a flight or flights will come of which you are less than proud or downright embarassed about. Since you are reading this article, you may presume that I've had at least one of those “less than proud” flights.

Preflight

OK, this is a glider article (but does include a towplane). Remember, Craig warned you that it was dangerous to have two confirmed glider nuts on the Chapter Board of Directors.

I'm one of four towpilots in our glider club and it was my turn to tow for the day. Our club owns a Piper PA25-250 Pawnee that has been modified to tow. The day looks good for soaring with light southerly winds and good thermal conditions. Lots of club members are at the Pryor airport (our base of operations) preflighting club gliders and assembling privately-owned gliders in anticipation of a good day. There was also a guest (Larry) that wanted to fly and that guest just happened to work for the FAA as an examiner for gliders. He was with us to get current. No big deal, he flys with us at least twice a year and we've gotten to know him pretty well. Larry's a great guy.

Bob Thrasher always willing to give a helping hand..

I finish the preflight on the towplane and take it for it's customary flight around the pattern to make sure all systems are working. Better to find out on a warm-up flight rather than with a glider in tow. Everything's green, I land and taxi back to parking to wait for the first glider tow.

The Flight

A privately-owned glider is the first tow. In accordance with the FARs, I discuss the upcoming tow with the glider pilot. The discussion includes emergency procedures, including premature release situations. Both the glider and towplane are equipped with releases. The glider pilot normally releases the towrope at altitude, leaving the towrope attached at the towplane end. In case of emergency, the towrope can be released at the towplane.

The towrope is hooked to the towplane release mechanism and checked for proper function. Immediately before takeoff, the towrope is hooked up to the glider as the last thing to do before closing the glider canopy. The signal is given to take up the slack in the rope. After the slack is out and the glider pilot is ready, the signal is given to begin the tow.

The towplane throttle is advanced to full, a departure call given on the Unicom frequency and off we go. Rotate and climb at about 80 MPH. At about 100 feet AGL, I glanced in the mirror (mounted on the left wing strut) to make sure the glider was in position. It was. Everything was going well until about 500 ft AGL when we flew into the “house” thermal at the south end of the runway. My left hand bounced off the throttle and onto the tow release handle. At that point, the handle moved forward, releasing the glider and towrope. Whoops!!

At first, I had no idea why the release handle moved forward. No time to think about that now; deal with the situation which was easy for me because I had 250 horsepower to get me where I wanted to go. The glider was on his own. I turned left and flew east to think about things and wait for the glider to land.

Remember, this premature release occurred in view of a lot of people on the ground, one of which was an FAA employee.

The first thing the glider pilot did was announce over the radio that he was off tow and landing. His voice was tense. I guess he wasn't very happy about being off tow at 500 ft AGL with the towrope still attached. He released the rope somewhere in Mays county and then made a successful downwind landing.

While orbiting the Mid-America Industrial Park, I discovered why the release took place; it wasn't a mechanical failure, rather a failure of the towpilot (me) to latch the tow release handle properly. I figured that after I landed, the towplane would be swarmed by interested individuals (including the FAA and a concerned glider pilot). It crossed my mind that my best coarse of action would be to fly the towplane back to Gundy's (where I live) and take the chicken's way out. Better to land at Pryor and surrender to the authorities so I did. (Now, did I have my license and medical with me?)

Let's see now, didn't I have a glider in tow?

Postflight

As expected, I was greeted by the FAA, a very concerned glider pilot and several other “interested” parties. I fessed up and told them it was my fault for not performing a positive security check on the tow release. The FAA employee thought it was a good learning experience (whew!) and the glider pilot, an attorney, decided not to pursue legal action. He even let me tow him again.

Since the release occurred at 500 ft AGL, the glider pilot had sufficient altitude to fly a pattern and land. Had the release occurred at a lower altitude, the glider pilot would have had to make a decision to make a 180 degree turn and land back on the runway or to land straight ahead on the remaining runway and overrun area. (This same decision process can take place if you lose and engine on takeoff.)

Since then, I have not failed to check that tow release before each and every flight. An embarrasing event taught me another lesson! Fortunately, no one was hurt and no equipment damaged. The only losses were a bit of my pride and a $100 towrope somewhere in Mays county.

Bob

Young Eagles Rally

by Charles Freeland

Bhrent Waddell with a crew of young eagles.

The Tulsa Chapter 10 of the Experimental Aircraft Association will conduct a Young Eagles Rally at Gundy Airport east of Owasso on Saturday, May 13th, from 9:00 AM until noon. (Rain date: May 20th)

Ground Crew needed

We will need all of the help we can muster. We will need at least 10 pilots and planes, and 8 – 10 ground crew. Ground crew include:

• car traffic detail (working, hopefully, with 3 Boy Scouts)
• "the paper chase" of forms and certificates (5)
• safety officers on the flight line (2)
• digital photographer, and
• ground school instructor.

Please volunteer immediately by calling Charlie Freeland (272-9829) and leaving a message on his answering machine if necessary!

Pilots, get ready! Finish your annuals - Check your medicals – BFRs - fly off your landings & takeoffs - dues paid up at EAA National - insurance paid up. Speaking of insurance, each pilot must have aircraft passenger seat liability insurance. For those EAA members who choose to insure at a level of $100,000 per passenger seat, EAA will automatically provide an additional $1,000,000 liability umbrella policy. This coverage is only in effect while participating in Young Eagle Flights. Pilots who choose to insure at lower levels may still participate. However, the additional insurance will not apply.

For further information and volunteering, call Charles Freeland, 272-9829 or his office 272-0691.

Charles

April Fool's Day Poker Run

When: April 1, 2006 @ 9:00 AM

Where: EAA Hanger @ Gundy's Airport

Rules

1. You and your crew will fly to each airport on the list.
2. You will then pick up one sealed enveloper for each paid contestant onboard your aircraft.
3. Don't open the envelopes at this time!
4. Upon returning to Gundy's, the final envelope will be drawn by each contestant.
5. You will now be permitted to open your sealed envelopes.
6. The winning hand will then be determined.

The Poker Run will stop at the following airports:

Pushing or Pulling Your Aircraft

by Dr. Dan, The Prop Man!

When pushing or pulling your aircraft into or out of your hangar, tie down spot or at the fuel pumps please don't use the propeller blades as the tow bar! Doing so can dramatically change the face alignment of the blades causing the track to become out of tolerance. Most propeller manufacturers require the track to be within .125 1/8" or less. When we use the blade tips to pull 1200 or more pounds of aircraft weight we will alter the track out of these limits. An out of track propeller can cause minor to severe vibration just like an out of balance condition. So what do you say? Lets all use the tow bar, wing struts or other suitable areas of the aircraft to push or pull our aircraft!

Question for my readers

True Or False? The only structural difference between a Cessna 150 and a Cessna 150 Aerobatic aircraft is the Aerobatic aircraft has beefed up wing ribs.

As always you can visit my web site, www.customprop.com, to read up on this article or any past articles that I have written, for the answer to this month's question and your entire propeller needs and prop information. Stay safe and stay tuned next month for the next prop tip. Until then y'all have a great day and be careful!

Dr. Dan, The Prop Man

Newsletter Editor Relief

by Lynn Coltharp

Well, this is a first for the newsletter. I believe this is the first newsletter that I have not needed to add "my two cents worth." All the articles were contributed by our members and officers. GREAT!!!

Now that all the members and officers are conditioned to making contributions to the newsletter it is an ideal time for someone to step up and take over the newsletter ---- and give me a break from it. I have been doing the newsletter for longer than I can remember and it would be good for the chapter to get a new slant on the newsletter.

Sooo --- this is a plea for someone to take over the newsletter for a while!!!!!!!!!!! Don't be afraid you will get "stuck" with it forever. Like last time, I will be willing to get "back on the job" after I have enjoyed a period of time away from the newsletter.

Thanks

Lynn Coltharp, Newsletter Editor

Items For Sale

*** House at Skyhaven Airpark  ***
4 Beds
2 1/2 baths
3 car garage backs to airstrip
formal living or dining
$219,900
Kimberly 378-1089 owner/associate

(Please note the "9" preceding everyone's email address in our newsletter. Delete the "9" if you want to email anyone. This is to help deter junk mail that gets picked up on the internet.)

To list your aviation items for sale, contact newsletter editor Lynn Coltharp.

2006 Calendar Of Events

To add an item to our calendar, get the information to the newsletter editor Lynn Coltharp. See the contact info on the cover (or home page) for e-mail, phone, and mail addresses.

Recurring events

Who Brings Snacks????

If your last name starts with W-Z, November is your month to brink a snack for the meeting.

Web Page Newsletter

If you would like to get the newsletter on the chapter website (http://www.eaa10.org/) every month, this saves us on mailing and printing costs, helping to keep your dues low. Just send John Nys or Bob Minich an e-mail and we'll stop the paper version and send you a monthly e-mail to let you know when the newsletter is posted online.