Next Meeting

Come early (6:30 pm) to the chapter hanger at Gundy's for this year's Brat feed.
Later at 7:30 pm, Lynn Coltharp and Paul Shireman will present their RANS projects.

Table of Contents

• President's Report for June
  • June program
  • Come early for brats
• Notes From Your Editor
• Are You Blind?
• Pictures from the May picnic
  
  
• Items For Sale
• 2007 Calendar Of Events
• Who Brings Snacks????
• Web Page Newsletter

President's Report for June

by Bhrent Waddell

For the May meeting we had a great day for a picnic. I think everyone found plenty of hamburgers, hot dogs, and side dishes to eat. Lacking an official head count, I think we had more than 80 members, friends and families enjoying the meal. We had a good variety of airplanes, a few vintage and a few of the latest kit planes.

Fly-ins

Although opportunities to find a weekend fly-in have increased, the weather still isn’t cooperating like it should. The weekend of the Bi-plane fly-in at Bartlesville was hampered with rain and cloudy weather. I tried to head south to the Southwest Regional Fly-in at Hondo, but only got as far as Mineral Wells before thunderstorms forced me to head back to Tulsa. The day of the Watonga fly-in was clear in eastern Oklahoma and shaded by high clouds west of I-35. Although it was cool, Watonga had a good turn out for their Centennial celebration flyin. Looking forward, check the calendar for the Sand Ridge Hamburger Bash on Sunday, June 24. The same weekend on June 22 and 23, the EAA Rocky Mountain fly-in will be at Front Range airport in Denver.

June program

June’s meeting will feature two of the newest completed projects at Gundy’s. Lynn Coltharp and Paul Shireman have been building their RANS projects for about the last 18 months. Both of them are flying off their 40-hour restrictions. Hopefully, they will be ready to go to Oshkosh in July.

Come early for brats

A few years ago while we were camped at Oshkosh, we were given a secret Oshkosh brat recipe. We tried it the next day at our campsite and loved the brats. After that we decided we would have our own annual Bhrat night at Chapter 10. At the June meeting, we’ll be selling Bhrats for $1.00 a piece. Sides and drinks will be included so show up early at 6:30 and see if you can taste the difference in these Bhrats. This month's program at starts at 7:30. Be careful and don’t get any mustard on the projects.

Bhrent

Notes From Your Editor

I’m starting to wonder if there is anybody out there? I have put out several requests from you guys for articles for everyone to read. So far I have received a grand total of two! I guess that means that there’s not a whole lot of aviating going on or something. Come on! Don’t worry about spelling or grammar, I’ll edit your story so you’ll come out looking good. Give it a try.

I haven’t had a chance to do much flying the last couple of weeks. My wife and her job have transferred to Houston. We finally got her moved in last weekend. While I was in Houston, I found some time to visit the local glider port. They have their own airport equipped with a 3,000 foot runway. It reminds me a lot of Gundy’s except that all the aircraft are gliders. It was really pretty cool.

I’m in the process of performing an annual on my Ercoupe. It hasn’t flown for a couple of years, but that shouldn’t be that big of a problem. Once I get it flying, I think I’ll put an ad on it in Trade-A-plane. I think I need to have a late model high performance fiberglass glider, and the only way to get it is to liquidate airplanes. So that means the Warcoupe will have to go.

Are You Blind?

by Len Kauffman

(Editor’s note: This article was sent to us by EAA National Chapter Office. It was written by Len Kauffman, who is a member of EAA Chapter 105 in Portland, OR.)

Last month we talked about a mid-air nightmare emphasizing the importance of keeping heads-down time to a minimum. This month we’ll consider a related topic ­- the blind spot in our eyes. Under certain conditions this phenomenon could prevent a pilot from seeing an airplane even if he/she is looking outside. The blind spot is nothing new to most, if not all, pilots but is worth revisiting from time to time. Let’s take a look at it again using the two small aircraft pictured above. Hold this page at arms length in front of your eyes. Close your left eye and stare at the center of the Cessna while moving the page slowly toward you. The RV disappears. Now close your right eye, look at the center of the RV and bring the page closer. The Cessna disappears. The brain cleverly fills in the blank spot to match the surrounding area.

The blind spot is about ¾ inch in diameter at one foot from the eye. At a distance of 800 feet, however, it’s about 50 feet across and could easily hide an airplane. Move out to one mile and the blind spot is over 300 feet. That’s enough to hide a 747 or our entire HomeWing Squadron leading the Blackjacks in a huge diamond formation. Something you really don’t want to miss! Remember last month we said two aircraft (at RV speed) heading toward one another will close one mile in less then 10 seconds.

So, what’s up with this blind spot? Light entering the eye is focused on the retina at back of the eye where millions of rods and cones sense incoming rays. They send their signals to an area called the optic disc, where they connect to the optic nerve. This circular area, the optic disc, has no rods or cones and is unable to sense light – resulting in the “blind spot.”

Normally the blind spot in one eye is covered by vision in the other eye so objects are not missed. A person with only one functional eye can overcome the blind spot by constantly moving the eye so an object will not remain in that spot. Those of us with two good eyes could still “lose” an object (perhaps a plane) by staring in one direction while something (side or center windscreen trim, roll bar, pedestal mounted mag compass, large nose, etc.) blocks vision in one eye.

Let’s look at a couple examples. First, stare at a prominent object (doorknob, light switch, etc.) ten or more feet away. Now, hold up your hand at arm’s length to block vision of that object with your left eye. You’ll see it only in your right eye. Keep your hand in place and slowly move your eyes to the left (maintaining the same elevation). The object disappears. If you’re outside, try it with a car at around 300 feet away or an airplane at 800 plus feet.

What about that “large nose” -- you thought I was joking, right? For those of us blessed with a particularly prominent proboscis, try this. Look at the object again, but this time turn your head so left-eye vision is blocked by your nose (those with a small nose can experience it by placing a finger on your nose to make it larger.) Now, slowly move your eyes (don’t turn your head) to the left. It’s gone again.

The nose deal is not likely to be a problem since it requires a somewhat contorted position – but the other examples using cockpit obstructions are quite real. The normal blind spot is about 15 degrees outboard of center- vision for each eye. Anything in your airplane that blocks vision in that position can create a blind spot (obviously, if the obstruction is wide enough it will block both eyes). The solution, of course, is to always keep head and eyes moving. We normally do, but at times could we be tired and maybe a bit bored on a long cross-country flight over uninspiring terrain? Maybe daydreaming a bit? Could we stare long enough for that unseen plane one mile away to come within 200 feet where its wingtips begin to appear? Remember that the “collision” airplane will have no relative motion in the windscreen and could remain in a blind spot if we let it.

All this might be just an interesting academic exercise. It’s probably not a real threat. Right?

Len

Pictures from the May picnic

Click any picture for a larger version.

Items For Sale

FOR SALE
5 acres (2 lots) on Airman Acres, Collinsville, OK.
2650’ grass strip.
Private lot with trees.
Utilities available.
$110,000
Contact Darren @ 857-2728 (Keller Williams Reality)

FOR SALE
7 quarts AeroShell 100 engine oil $2.00 a quart
3 grease guns: AeroShell 5, AeroShell 6, and AeroShell 7 — $5.00 apiece
Contact Bob Thrasher @ 376-2148

To list your aviation items for sale, contact newsletter editor Craig Loomiller.

2007 Calendar Of Events

To add an item to our calendar, get the information to the newsletter editor Craig Loomiller. See the contact info on the home page for e-mail, phone, and mail addresses.

Recurring events

Who Brings Snacks????

If your last name starts with M then June is your month to bring a snack for the meeting. Come early for $1 brats and fixings.

Web Page Newsletter

If you would like to receive the newsletter electronically off of the chapter web site (www.eaa10.org) every month, just send Secretary Bob Thrasher or our web editor Bob Minich an e-mail. This action saves the chapter money on printing and mailing costs, which in turn, helps keep your dues low. It’s really simple to do. We send you a monthly e-mail notice when the latest newsletter is posted online. Just click on the provided link and you are there!

If you haven’t taken a look at our web page lately, you should check it out! Bob has started putting a picture of the author along side the articles, which really adds a lot to the newsletter. Many organizations have gone to an all-online newsletter which really reduces costs. Hopefully, we can get our own chapter moving in that same direction. We are supposed to be a progressive-thinking organization, after all.