Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be Monday, August 21st, 7:30pm at the chapter hanger at Gundy's.
Come enjoy watermelon and a presentation by this years Air Academy scholarship winners Jake Barber and Ben Hill.

Table of Contents

• President's Report for August
• Oshkosh 2006 Report
• A Trip to the Past

 
• Items For Sale
• 2006 Calendar Of Events
• Who Brings Snacks????
• Web Page Newsletter

President's Report for August

by Craig Loomiller

I hope every one is enjoying the heat. Ha! Ha! I figure it’s all relative. In just a couple of months everyone will be complaining about the cold. If you can’t complain about the weather, just what else is there to do?

Getting with the program

My record for guest speakers not showing up is going to be hard to beat by the future leadership of Chapter 10. It turned out that George Hurt from Adventure Aviation and I got our days mixed up. The meeting turned out okay, though. It turns out that several of our members have projects well underway. I would like to thank everyone who stood and talked about their project at the meeting. I received another e-mail from George a couple of days ago and he indicated that he would be more than happy to be our September guest speaker. So stay tuned!

Oshkosh

Depending who you talk to, Oshkosh this year was totally awesome or was a rainy, soggy mess. I really don’t know who to believe. I heard the headcount was down this year but the people who did show up were in a buying mood. It also sounds like there was a good selection f stuff to choose from. I wonder if this will be the year when Light sport really takes off. I know there are several under construction in Chapter 10. We’ll just have to see what turns up next year at Oshkosh.

Gliding

Even though it is hotter than fire, soaring has been pretty good this summer. I was out in Boulder, Colorado a couple of weeks ago and got a chance to soar over the city. It was pretty neat as I had the opportunity to soar over the Rockies and also directly over Folsom Field. There was a lot of downwash coming off the continental divide, though, which created a lot of sink to fly in. I got back to Tulsa and flew a 55 mile cross-country in 107 degree weather last Sunday. Once you got above 5,000 feet, the weather got pretty tolerable. I made it up to 8,000 feet and it actually got pretty nice. It sure was a lot of fun.

Tulsa Fly-in

I went to the Tulsa Fly-in meeting a couple of days ago. Charlie Harris has put together an impressive line-up for the 50th annual Tulsa Fly-in. I’m not authorized to divulge the guests and aircraft slated to attend yet, but I promise you won’t want to miss it this year. We are really going to go all out. In order to do this though, we will need everybody’s help. I am going to give you a call in the next 2-3 weeks asking for your help. Our group is going to be in charge of aircraft parking and registration again. Our biggest area of concern will be the aircraft parking assignment. We are expecting a lot of aircraft to attend and will need enough volunteers to ensure nothing gets broken or anybody gets hurt. Please volunteer to help when we contact you.

August Program & Watermelon feed

Our August meeting will be our annual watermelon feed. We will also have our EAA Flight Academy grads Jake Barber and Ben Hill in attendance. They are planning on filling us in on their adventures up in Oshkosh. We normally send only one scholarship winner each year, but we were fortunate to send two with the help of the other EAA chapters in Tulsa. Without their help, it would have been hard for us to send both winners. Come on out and hear what Jake and Ben have to say.

Bits and Pieces

Our Young Eagles coordinator Charles Freeland has scheduled another Young Eagles event on Saturday October 14th. Look for his article in this issue.

We just gave our commitment for Jamil’s to cater our Christmas party again this year. They really do a good job each year.

See you at the meeting

Craig

Oshkosh 2006 Report

by Bhrent Waddell

The EAA publicity for AirVenture 2006 in Oshkosh used the theme, “You gotta be there!” I agreed and left at noon on Saturday anticipating arriving after the Bonanza, Mooney and Cessna mass arrivals. The first leg was to Miami, OK for fuel then to Monroe City, MO for the same. Monroe City is about halfway and has always been a very friendly place to stop for fuel.

EAA 10 Row 557 Bunch

Course deviations were necessary for several isolated thunderstorms after that on the way to Oshkosh. Thunderstorms over Oshkosh and Fond du Lac dictated that I land at Janesville, WI. The thunderstorms opened up enough to allow the flight into Oshkosh, and I landed at 7:30 that evening. I wasn’t the first Chapter 10 member to arrive in the North Forty, but the storms that delayed me gave the early arrivals a wet welcome. By the next day, nine Chapter 10 members and passengers were camped on our row.

New Cessna designs

This year the Cessna 172 was featured with several displays and speakers. Since its introduction in 1956, over 42,500 C-172’s have been built. It seems to have cornered a sizable piece of the general aviation market. However, Cessna appears to be about ready to introduce their NGP, Next Generation Piston, aircraft. This new plane made a fly-by at Oshkosh. Will the NGP replace the 172? I don’t know. The proof of concept has a forward-swept, strutless high-wing with a sleek fuselage. Since I fly a Cessna C-177 Cardinal, I couldn’t help but see some resemblance. The NGP had flown about 20 hours when it flew by, so I’m sure more flight test hours are needed before production begins.

Shade at any price.

One thing I wanted to see this year was how many new light sport aircraft (LSA) would be introduced. LSA’s were in the spotlight, and I was pleased to see the potential for new designs. The EAA daily newspaper pictured 20 flying aircraft and they didn’t include proof of concepts from Van’s Aircraft and, believe it or not, Cessna. Cessna has a proof-of concept that appears to resemble a scaled down version of the NGP. The Cessna LSA has a forward-swept, strutless high-wing. The doors are hinged near the wing root and swing up to the bottom of the wing. The fuselage is 48 eight inches wide and very clean. The engine will be powered by a 100 hp Rotax 912, as are many of the LSA’s.

Van’s Aircraft had stated that their LSA, the RV-12, would not be ready for Airventure this year. I was surprised and pleased to see the airframe for the proof on concept on display at the Van’s tent. The all-metal, low wing design had a few new features like a steerable-nosewheel, removable wings, a lower step from the wing into the cockpit and pop rivet construction. The wings aren’t foldable but are designed to be “easily” removed by two people. Although it seemed a little strange to see a built-in handle on the wing tip, it was there for a reason. A two-place plane that will go as fast as my Cardinal for half the fuel burn and not require an airport hanger makes good sense to me.

Taking a break from aviation

We were fortunate this year that the days were warm (not too warm), and the nights were very cool, thanks in part to nightly showers. When it came time to leave, the weather forecast wasn’t that great, and the next day’s forecast was much better. That forecast and improving weather at Oshkosh was all I needed to tempt me to fly to Fond du Lac and take a mountain bike ride on the Wild Goose bike trail that starts just a couple of miles from Fond du Lac airport.

I took off from Oshkosh at noon and by 1:00 I was at Fond du Lac on my bike headed for the trail. I didn’t finish the whole 34-mile trail for fear of running out of day light and leg before dark. The trail was in perfect condition. The only problem was that it was flat, perfectly flat. No coasting. No resting and rolling. If you wanted to go forward, you had to push the pedals. Since the trail was an abandoned railroad track, the trees had grown up and over it so much of it was covered with shade. It was a great day for a bike ride, and I was back before dark. Fond du Lac is a good place to camp if you don’t like crowds at the showers.

The return flight to Oklahoma the next day required few weather deviations, and I even had a tailwind. The trip is one to look forward to and enjoy in company of other people interested in flying. Each year there are many things that are familiar at AirVenture and there is always something new.

Bhrent

A Trip to the Past

by Jeff Wedman

Jana and I have had two weeks of vacation scheduled for July and of course one of those weeks was supposed to be for Oshkosh. We had plans to spend one of those weeks with some old friends in French Lick, Indiana and then go on up to Oshkosh for the second week. Our plans were to leave on July 16.

Jeff, it's a two place!

I really wanted to get my new autopilot installed before the trip. I figured this would be a good trip to check it out. I worked all night the Friday before and got most of it done. When Jana and I built the airplane we had every intention of installing an autopilot but at the time the funds just were not there so we at least wired it for the best autopilot that TruTrak had at the time. I knew I would not get the best one but this way all I had to do was make a short harness to attach between the plug we received from TruTrak and the plug we installed when we did the wiring. All of the wires we needed had already been run but not used, so we just pinned the plug on the short harness to match the wires we needed for the autopilot. We installed an ADI Pilot II which is an attitude and directional indicator with autopilot functions. This autopilot will track a GPS or a selected heading and also has altitude hold. I got most of the autopilot installed that Friday and after a little bit of sleep. Saturday I finished her up and gave it a test flight that evening. Every thing worked as advertised. I got the airplane fueled up and Jana and I got her loaded up for a 5:30 am Sunday the 16th departure.

A quick call to the flight service station that morning warned of heavy fog all the way to the Mississippi river. We had no fog here and there was no fog in French Lick so we headed on out. That autopilot will sure spoil a person. We got off the ground from Sageeyah right at 5:30 and I hit the nav button and I never touched the controls for about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Once at altitude I hit the hold button but that was it until we were in French Lick. It was 2 hours 45 minutes to French Lick, Indiana. The fog was definitely heavy at places but it was no problem.

When we got on the ground we called our old friends, Mark and Peggy Jones. They were surprised to hear from us so early.

What was that name again?

Now I know some of you are wondering how in the world a town got a name like French Lick. Do a google search on that one and see what you come up with. French Lick is known for its mineral springs and these springs bring up minerals and deposit them on the surface. The animals would come to these springs and lick the surface deposits to satisfy their needs for minerals. They were referred to as licks. The French came in and put in a trading post at this particular lick so it became French Lick. Just a mile down the road the Germans settled at another lick but it was called West Baden the Carlsbad of America. In 1845 a hotel was opened at French Lick as a resort. It seems someone thought the mineral water would cure all kinds of things. It became very popular. At one time the hotel had 700 rooms but it is now under renovation and when finished it will have 485 rooms. We didn’t get to go inside this hotel but we did go down the road to another.

French Lick Springs Hotel

The West Baden hotel is unbelievable. It has 240 rooms and was built in 1902. Until 1962 when the Astrodome was built this hotel had the largest dome in the world. The dome is larger than St. Peters, Basilica and the pantheon. It too was a resort and had the mineral springs. It is really hard to believe until you see these hotels that such treasures are in a town with a population of just 1941 people. Jana, Peggy and Peggy’s mom Bonnie Joe, went to a tea at the West Baden hotel and I guess they were treated like royalty. If any of you are ever in Indiana don’t pass up the opportunity to see these two hotels.

West Baden Hotel

French Lick is best known for its most famous citizen, Larry Bird. If you follow basketball at all you know who he is. Larry Bird grew up in French Lick and then went to Terre Haute for college, then on to the NBA. Larry and my cousin Scott Wedman were team mates and played for the Boston Celtics.

Jana and I had such a good time with Mark, Peggy, Bonnie Joe and Peggy’s dad, Lindy, that we stayed the whole 2 weeks with them. Yes we missed Oshkosh but I don’t think it could have been any better a vacation. It was really tough leaving after two weeks but the bills have to be paid. We know now that it is just a short flight back so maybe we will be back very soon.

The flight back was not as good as the flight going. The autopilot worked great but we had weather to tackle. We had to go around a cell just to the south of St. Louis. We diverted to the north a little bit then resumed our course back to Sageeyah. Our flying time was right at 3 hours which is still pretty darn good. I am definitely spoiled with that new autopilot.

Mark and Peggy Jones and there two children Steven and Christy lived next door to us for many years in Owasso. Some of you might even know them. Mark worked for Bank of Oklahoma and Peggy was a flight instructor in the area and also flew for a small airline out of Tulsa. She is now a captain for Midwest out of Milwaukee. Mark has retired from banking and is working on Peggy’s family farm. Peggy is still flying and bringing home the bacon. WAY TO GO MARK!

Until next time, keep the greasy side down.

Jeff

Items For Sale

click to enlarge

FOR SALE
N7515C Forney Aircoupe
1957 Metal Wing
TT 2787.9
eng TT 1542.2
eng SMOH 506.0
eng STOH 306.0
90 HP Continental
April 2006 annual
Autogas STC
Single Comm radio
Intercom
ELT
Transponder(encoder)
Basic VFR. Great flyer. No rudder pedals.
Cruise 114 mph
About 5.5 GPH
Good tires (1-2 yrs old)
Good brakes

$20,000 OBO

Contact: Rene Stephens 918-272-3143 or 918-346-8886.

FOR RENT
60X24 Building with heat and air at Gundy’s 
See Roger Wieden 798-2060

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????

The August meeting includes our Watermelon Feed.

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.