Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be Monday, August 20th, 7:30 pm at the chapter hanger at Gundy's.
Come enjoy watermelon and a presentation and learn about the Rotax 912.

Table of Contents

• President's Report for August
  • August program
• Say No To User's Fees
• A Rite of Passage
• Diamond Lil Receives a Makeover
• Drilling Stainless Steel
• From the July meeting
  
  
• Items For Sale
• 2007 Calendar Of Events
• Who Brings Snacks????
• Web Page Newsletter

President's Report for August

by Bhrent Waddell

Although the temperature is getting too hot to work in an un-air-conditioned hanger, dry weather and clear skies are a welcome. Following the Pancake breakfast in Ponca City on the first Saturday of July several members made the flight to the EAA fly-in at El Dorado, KS. These trips were a good warm-up for those who would make the trip Oshkosh at the end of the month.

Oshkosh 2007

About ten Chapter 10 members and friends camped together in the North Forty at Oshkosh. The flight up on Saturday was nearly perfect. I liked the way one pilot gave a PIREP to Chicago Flight Watch, “It’s so clear, if the world were flat you could see China.” For some reason, the annual thunderstorm missed Oshkosh during our stay in the early part of the week, and the temperatures were great for camping. Sport planes, personal jets, and everything aeronautical were there for inspection, buying and selling.

This was my first trip to Oshkosh in my RV-6. While loading it, I was very pleased that my Montague folding bicycle fit very compactly in the baggage area. After packing the tent, chair, sleeping bag, clothes, stove, bike, and even a brat pot, it was full but within CG.

Mike Aichele’s program in July about his visit to the museum containing the Hughes “Hercules” or “Spruce Goose” was very interesting. We appreciate him sharing his trip with us.

August Program

We are featuring operating and maintaining of the Rotax 912 engine at this month’s meeting. We have had three aircraft at this year’s meetings powered by these engines, so I thought it might be worthwhile to learn a little more about them. If you familiar with these engines, your comments will be welcome. We will also open the meeting to comments and observations about Oshkosh.

Ford Tri-motor Visit

Looking ahead to September, two major events will in the Tulsa area. First, the EAA Ford tri-motor tour will be at Riverside on September 12-16. Chapter 10 volunteers will provide ground support at Riverside. This has been a major fund-raiser of our chapter. We are fortunate to have the tour here and to be able to participate in it.

Tulsa Fly-in

The second event is the Tulsa Fly-in on September 21 and 22. This year the Flyin will feature Sport Planes and the Sport pilot rating. We anticipate many Sport plane manufactures and dealers will have planes there for viewing. Chapter 10 will provide parking and registration support for the event. We will need a lot of volunteers for this event so mark your calendars and plan on being a part of the Tulsa Fly-in.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the meeting.

Bhrent

Say No To User's Fees

On August 7, 2007, EAA sent a mass e-mail to all EAA members (with e-mail addresses on file) enlisting their immediate help in urging U.S. Senators and Representatives to reject user fees for general aviation.

The user fee debates are approaching their climax. When Congressional leaders return from their summer break on September 7, final debate will begin in earnest. Versions of H.R. 2118 and S. 1300 will be addressed by them shortly after September 7, then forwarded to a joint committee to work out differences between the two bills. After the joint committee approves a joint bill, the proposed legislation will go to the White House for the President’s signature. This could occur within a two- to four-week period.

EAA is asking you, your friends, your neighbors, and airport partners to WRITE NOW.

Inform your elected congressional leaders you support House Bill 2881 (no user fees) and are strongly opposed to the user fee sections of Senate Bill 1300. .

To stay abreast of the user fee issues, we urge all EAA members to sign up for the EAA weekly electronic newsletter, e-Hotline. Sign up today.

Questions? E-mail govt@eaa.org

A Rite of Passage

by Lynn Coltharp

A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status. Rites of passage are often ceremonies surrounding events such as childbirth, menarche or other mnilestones within puberty, coming of age, weddings menopause, and death. So the dictionary says.

In the aviation world, it can be the culmination of years of building a homebuilt airplane with a trip to Oshkosh in the airplane that one has built with his own hands. It seems that one of the most common answers to "when are you going to finish it?" is "hopefully in time to take it to Oshkosh next year."

It really is a satisfyng experience to make a first trip to Oshksh in your homebuilt airplane. I got to enjoy that this year in my Rans S6S. It is hard to explain, but somehow the project does not really seem complete until it has made it to Oshkosh.

Paul Shireman and I both got to enjoy that experience together since he also flew his Rans S6ES up. We both took off about 6:30am on Saturday the 21st of July. Our first stop was Lee's Summit, Missouri. They had premium auto gas available on field and that is what our Rotax 912ULS engines like to sip on. The weather getting there was nice except for a slight headwind. A few days before we left my windshield had developed a strange cracking and when on the ground at Lee's Summit I noticed it had dramatically increased. Fortunately I had packed a roll of good old duct tape so I applied a liberal amount because it looked like the cracks could open up on me. The duct tape managed to keep everything in place for the rest of the trip.

The next stop was at Washington, Iowa because they had good prices on avgas. It was a very nice airport with self-serve gas. The self-serve gas services are very handy. Most of them seem to have a six inch hose and a nozzle that weighs 40lbs though. I had not flown a high wing airplane much since I learned to fly in a Tri-Pacer in the mid '70s. Fueling a low wing is much easier, especially with a huge hose and nozzle. From there we made it on into Oshksh and were very surprised at the casual manner of the controllers this year. They made it a pleasant experience for us. They even asked which runway we preferred. Some of the Tulsa bunch was already there on Row 555 and 556 and they welcomed us.

The weather this year was the best I have ever experienced at Oshksh. We left on Wednesday morning and did not even have any rain while we were there. I understand from others that it did rain on Thursday after we left. It was not too hot during the day and cooled off nicely at night and made it quite pleasant sleeping in a tent. We did our usual "cooking on the field" and had excellent meals always accompanied with grilled corn on the cob. There were about 10 or 11 from our chapter camped out together so we really had enjoyable evenings telling lies with maybe an occasional truth thrown in. There were the usual crowds (maybe a bit less) and plenty of excellent airplanes to look at. I managed to get in three forums and buy needed stuff at the vendors' exhibits.

The trip home was pretty uneventful with very good weather except for a slight headwind. When we arrived back at Washington, Iowa for fuel, we got one of those "life's lessons". The fuel service was out of order so we had to go on down the road for fuel. So, is that why we have always been told to arrive with at least thirty minutes fuel?

All the bugs have been cleaned off. The cowling has been removed and all the parts were still in place after the little airplane's first long cross-country. I replaced the cracked windshield and managed to get over to Ponca City for the "first Saturday breakfast". See you at ROW 556 NEXT YEAR!

Lynn

Diamond Lil Receives a Makeover

Some days one can be so lucky to be in the right place at the right time. July 14, 2007, was one of those days for me. It was the first flight of the transformed OL’ 927 from the Diamond LIL and in-flight pictures needed to be taken. I had my little trusty Nikon Coolpix camera ready to go. Neils Agather was flying his Beech 18 as pilots Bill Goeken and Mack Deeds were piloting the B-24A along with Gary Austin (who masterminded the new look and refurbishment) as the Flight Engineer and Don O'Breiter as Load Master for the first flight. This is what this airplane looked like when she was new in 1941 with the exception of the name.

The airplane performed flawlessly over the entire weekend as she again qualified proud pilots and flight engineers for this year’s tour season. During the weekend some of us were able to try out the waist gun, the tail gun position, and just the overall new look of our darling girl.

OL' 927 will be coming to Tulsa September 10th! Yes, our dear sweet LIL is coming in her new colors. I have been working on this and was hoping it would happen and the word finally came through. We can plan her staying in Tulsa for about a week.

The Spirit of Tulsa Squadron of the CAF should be very proud of what we did for six years allowing the transformation to officially begin. Many of you are not aware that our old LIL has been transformed back to what she looked like when new, and before her sisters went to England to be submarine chasers. Camouflaged paint scheme, bomb racks, radio room, waist and tail guns, etc. You will simply not believe the massive transformation that has just begun.

I have attached some pictures to show what she looked like for decades and what she is becoming.

Jim Gentry
Flight Engineer, etc,
B-29/B-24A Squadron (please note the B-24A)

Drilling Stainless Steel

by Roger White

EJ and I are stting around the breakfast table recapping AirVenture and what we did and the friends we've seen.

In my case I usually pick up a building tip or two. Here's one.

Drilling holes in stainless steel can be a problem. If you treat it as if it were mild steel or aluminum you'll probably get in trouble. Your drill must be sharp. It must be kept cutting, if not cutting but turning, it will overheat the material causing it to harden to the point that it will be impossible to drill. The secret to drilling stainless steel is low speed on drill, a sharp drill, enough pressure to keep it cutting.

I was watching Sam James drilling holes in the new .032 stainless steel fire wall (.019 is standard for a fire wall but I guess they can compensate for the added weight in the front by putting lead in the tail). I noticed that Sam was dipping the drill in water periodically. When asked he pointed out that keeping the heat down is the most important thing and water does the best job, better than oil.

Sam was using an air drill; he would stop and dip the drill in a cup of water. I tried it and it works really well. It is still important to use a sharp drill and sufficient pressure to keep the drill cutting, but low speed isn't important. After all using low speed is to keep the heat down, using water as a coolant allows more speed. I find it works really well.

Roger

From the July meeting

Last month's meeting featured Mike Aichele's vacation odyssey in Oregon.

Click 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
Contact Bob Thrasher @ 376-2148

FOR SALE BY OWNER
Glasair I/II RG
300 hrs TTAF
Lycoming O-320 70 hrs SMOH
Lightspeed electronic ignition
high compression pistons
large rudder
Dual sliding canopys
Panel mount GPS, xponder, intercom and more
New 3 blade MT propeller
New custom interior
Extended wing tips 80% completed
Ready for your paint
$55,000
See at Gundy's (O38), Owasso, OK
Contact Mark Fridley @ 918-274-3574 or 9rmfridley@cox.net
(NOTE: remove the leading 9 to make email work)

WANTED TO RENT, BUY, or BORROW
DRDT-2 aircraft dimpler. Contact Jack Nelson at 918-742-3876.

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????

The August meeting includes our Watermelon Feed.

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.