Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be Monday, August 16th at 7:30pm.
The August meeting includes our Watermelon Feed.

Table of Contents

• President's Report for August 2010
  • August Program
• Board report
  • Tri-Motor volunteers needed
  
  
  
• Who's Who in Chapter 10 - Earl Klebbs
• Oshkosh - A First Timer's Perspective
• The ELT Mess - Pilots Caught in Middle of Conflicting Federal Rules
  
  
• Items For Sale
• 2010 Calendar Of Events
• Who Brings Snacks????
• Web Page Newsletter

President's Report for August 2010

by John Nys

This month we will be looking at pictures of and talking about our Oshkosh experiences. Or as some people are calling it, (and there are T-shirts) Sloshkosh 2010. According to the locals and Volunteers that had been there for a while, Oshkosh had rain every day for a month and a half before the big event. Parking and camping was a mess with the ground so soft that they were afraid to let airplanes off the concrete in most areas. Lynn and Paul got a couple of good spots in Homebuilt Camping on Saturday. Myself, Bhrent, Jim Gallaway, and Jerry Thomas straggled in through the next three days, and suprisingly got parked fairly close. All in all a very pleasant week of weather (by past Oshkosh standards) and a good time had by all.

Weston Powell, who we sent to the Air Academy will also tell us about his experiences. We selected him for the Academy last year but could not get him enrolled in time. I'm sure it was worth the wait.

Ford Tri-Motor August 26th through the 29th. Volunteers are still needed. Let Mark know when you are available.

See you all Monday! Fly safe, be safe, John Nys

WATERMELON FEED PIC HERE XXX

Fly safe.
John Nys

Board report

by Mark Chouinard

Having just returned from Oshkosh, much of our meeting consisted of sharing stories of the event. Since so many of us attended, and because there were no great ideas on a program, it was decided that we would just share photos and stories. This month is also the watermelon feed, so no need to bring snacks. If anyone wants to partake in the show-and-tell program, please feel free to bring some photos on a flash drive or CD and we’ll try to take turns showing a few.

The EAA’s Ford Tri-Motor will be back in Tulsa this month (Thursday, August 26 – Sunday, August 29). I am still looking for volunteers to work shifts during those four days. I have a list started and will try to publish a schedule the week before the event so that we have time to work out any conflicts. If you would like to volunteer for one or more shifts (~5 hours), send me an e-mail (hangar10@cox.net) or give me a call (918-237-0844), or you can sign up at the meeting. Thanks to all that are planning to help out.

A quick word on the Land Of Enchantment Fly-In mentioned in the schedule elsewhere this issue... this is not the EAA 179 event that occurs in early September out in Moriarty, New Mexico. Apparently there is some confusion about the two since they both advertise under the same name. The event in N.M. is the 19th annual Land Of Enchantment Fly-In, whereas the event in Weatherford is the LOE Fly-In... LOE apparently means different things from year to year (i.e. Lots Of Experimentals), but it is mostly geared towards RVs. Read more at www.landofenchantmentflyin.com.

Mark

Who's Who in Chapter 10 - Earl Klebbs

by Mark Chouinard

Earl with his Zenith 701 and Pietenpol Air Camper

After we returned from our trips up north, Earl and I had a chance to sit and talk in his home at Sand Ridge Airpark. He lives in a spacious home that his wife Lil designed back in the mid 1980s, with a detached shop that she also designed and he built. He spoke fondly of Lil, and of the years they spent together. He told me of the many projects that she helped him with, and of her interest in his flying hobby. He said, “Lil would hang a flag outside displaying a coffee cup on Sunday morning... when she first started hanging that flag up, I looked out one Sunday and counted a dozen cars and three airplanes in my yard.” Folks started gathering on their patio... it was a friendly offering that would turn into a Sunday morning tradition for Earl, Lil and many of their close friends.

Earl was born on a farm in a rural area of north central Minnesota (Todd County) in 1920. He recalls a simple life of farm lands and tinkering. He and his family spent several years there, but his father didn’t really like farming, so he attended Sweeney Auto School in Kansas City, MO, which allowed the family to move to town where he could service cars for a living. Earl’s father later got into the business of selling Cletrac tractors... he mortgaged the house to finance the first sale but the depression was setting in and his customer never paid. They lost the house in town and moved back out to the farm when Earl was 13. That was also the end of formal education for Earl as the school near the farm only went to eighth grade and he couldn’t make it to town regularly. From then on, Earl received most of his education from Popular Mechanics and Modern Mechanics magazines, and even built his first airplane from the pages of the latter. He recalls his first experience with an airplane... he and his family were eating salmon sandwiches as they picnicked, but Earl didn’t care too much for the salmon. His dad told him that if he ate his sandwich, he would buy him an airplane ride... he did finish that sandwich, and he got the ride. “After that” says Earl, “nothing else mattered... all I thought about was airplanes.” Earl also studied mechanical things... he recalls watching the old Maytag motor churn the washing machine on their front porch, and through studying the action, he was able to design his own power saw, which he used to cut wood strip for his first project. He built a glider using whatever materials he could get his hands on, and required a pull from his father’s car whenever he wanted to fly it.

Earl's first project, from the pages of Modern Mechanics

In 1940, Earl joined the Army and was a reconnaissance scout with the 3rd Infantry Division. For those who have seen the movie “To Hell and Back” – the story of Audie Murphy, you know that the 3rd I.D. was a tough outfit. He recalls going in to Morocco and pulling coastal patrol duties... later, his group would help chase Rommel and the Germans out of Algeria. From there they took a troop carrier boat across the Medeterranien, where Earl’s radio operating skills were put to use copying Morse codem essages. He and the 3rd fought campaigns through Sicily and on to Italy, where he was injured and sent home just before the battle of Monte Cassino in 1944. Earl has lots of stories from the war... more that I can print here. Just ask him, he’s a sharp fellow that can recall many details from those years.

After his time in the military, Earl married Lil and opened a machine shop in Minnesota, where they lived for many years until they moved to Catoosa, Oklahoma and he went to work for Bama pies. He built and repaired several airplanes; one of his favorites was a Cessna170, which he owned for more than 30 years. He also had an Aeronca C-3, Taylorcraft, Fly Baby, and Breezy to name a few. He currently keeps a Zenith 701, a Pietenpol Air Camper and a Himax. Earl is a super nice guy that exhibits an abundance of aviation knowledge.

Thanks for visiting with me Earl, and for sharing your stories with us.

Oshkosh - A First Timer's Perspective

by Mark Chouinard

We entered the field from the north end, which gave us an excellent view of the north 40 where there should have been thousands of airplanes parked... we saw only three of four out on the grass. What was supposed to be one of those jaw- dropping scenes for a first time visitor was instead just another airport runway. I remember seeing lots of airplanes down the road at Fond Du Lac... I imagine that many of the other outlying fields looked similar. As we continued, we were directed through a maze of roads as we tried to catch glimpses of all the stuff we were driving past. We could tell already that this place was huge... what we didn’t know is that we were only seeing a small fraction of the area from our vehicle.

After meandering around the field, we were directed to our campground. Once there, we went to check in and found that the confusion was widespread... not only were airplanes being diverted to alternative fields, vehicles, tent campers, RVs and people were also in search of high ground. Once we found a safe (somewhat dry) parking area we went to get checked in. Registration was running pretty smooth, but I was required to provide some sort of proof that I was actually volunteering for the area in which I was attempting to establish camp... Warbirds. Without going in to the long and drawn out details, it was generally a wild goose chase since everything was FUBAR due to the condition of the grounds. I couldn’t find any of the people I was sent to look for, and even if I had, I felt like my situation was very minor compared to the circumstances they were dealing with. We knew we were in the right place, so I told Theresa, “the heck with the formalities, let’s go set up camp and we’ll catch up with these folks later on... adapt, improvise and overcome”, so that’s what we did. I only point all of this out to illustrate some of the conditions when we arrived. While the situation was somewhat difficult, the volunteers had traffic moving and everyone seemed to be taking care of the issues that required the most immediate attention. Things may not have been as smooth as they were planned to be, but everything seemed to work out.

Paul Shireman, John Nys, myself and Lynn Coltharp enjoying a cold drink under the wing of Paul's airplane.

During the first afternoon we caught up with Lynn Coltharp and Paul Shireman. They happened to be camping in the homebuilt area, which was right next to our campground. Bill Harrison, who was instrumental in making sure that I got to volunteer and camp close to the action, was also camped out nearby in his motor home with his son Richard. He called to invite all of us to the Warbird picnic the first night we were in town. Thanks for your generosity and guidance Bill, you are obviously well liked and respected around those parts, as you are here at home.

By the end of the first day we were ready to find the showers, get a good night’s rest and make a fresh go at it the next day. The night time temps were comfortable in the mid-to-upper 60s, which helped us to rest up after the long days. The next morning we got checked in with the Warbird folks to ensure that we had all the proper camping and working credentials, then it was off to what we called “main post”, the vendor and exhibit areas. I caught myself using those terms several times... if we went to the local Wal-Mart we were “off-post”, the camp grounds were “on post”, but not in the main post area. I haven’t used those terms in years... perhaps it was because of all those paratroopers walking around, or maybe it was due to the fact that this place was massive and likely the largest installation I’ve been on since the military. Surely you ex-military folks know what I mean, right? I mean, this place is BIG!

So, off we went to see what we could see, but we didn’t get too far before we discovered that there are waaay too many things to see and do, so we figured that we would learn our way around a bit without worrying too much about our schedule, just kind of see where things are. We found our way to a couple of shops and an ice cream stand. We sat and studied the map a bit and figured we could find our way to the Theater in the Woods or the Fly in Theater that night, but we better leave early because it is waaay over there. Did I say that this place is big? We went back to our camp for lunch, as we did every day. This allowed us to take a load off our feet and avoid the vendors at what seemed to be the busiest time of the day. After we relaxed for a bit I would go out to work for a while, helping to marshal airplanes while Theresa and Tyler explored the grounds and watched the air show. We would normally eat dinner around six o’clock at the Warbird area or at another local eatery, which normally allowed us time to grab our chairs, stop off and have a cold drink or three with the Owasso bunch and then head off to the theater to watch a show. Boy this place is fun... like a big playground for the entire family. Finding friends and familiar faces to share stories with made it even more enjoyable, and there were several in attendance. The chapter had a good showing and everyone made the trip safe.

Me, Tyler, and Theresa in front of the Brown Arch.

As the week went on, our tans got darker and our leg muscles more toned. Oh yeah, lots of walking. I’ll bet we walked 20 miles during the week, much further than I’ve walked since my days in the military, but we were doing fine. Keep pressing on... there was still much more to see. Theresa and Tyler found their way to KidVenture and had a great time over there. Tyler spent some time with an instructor doing a preflight and a bit of flying on the simulator. When he was done he was issued his first log book with two-tenths of an hour ground school... neat stuff! I went back with them a couple of days later and we spent most of a day there. With all the vintage exhibits and the EAA museum, there was a lot to do and see at KidVenture (Pioneer Field). The museum is fantastic! Think of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum... times by 10 and geared towards experimental flight. It is really a neat place... we spent 3 hours in there and only got to study or read a fraction of the exhibits. Early in the week, Tyler received a passport as part of a project, which required him to visit each area on the grounds (i.e. Warbirds, Vintage, Homebuilts, etc.), in order to get a stamp in his passport... once he completed the tour he could turn it in for a hat or t-shirt. Neat-o, even more motivation to stretch our legs and get busy seeing the area... he was excited about this project. It took us a few days to make the rounds, but we finally made it down the ultralight area and even took the bus out to the sea plane base, which was the last stop he needed.

So much to tell... there is no way I can cram our entire week into a couple of pages. I will say this, it is impossible to do or see everything. We left home with an itinerary in the hopes of doing some of the things we were interested in... by the second day, we never looked at that schedule again. While it might have been a useful tool to make sure we accomplished more of the things we set out to do, it would have added a degree of stress that we didn’t want. The best idea, especially for our first trip was to “wing it.” I didn’t make it to a single forum, and there were several that I was interested in. I told Theresa, “You know, I am fortunate to be building at Gundy’s... if I need help with any skill, there are capable folks all around that area that would probably take a look at my work, let’s just keep exploring.”, and that’s what we did. We did do some of the things we were looking forward to... we watched a couple of movies at the Fly-In theater, which was great evening entertainment. This was a five-story inflatable screen located in a clearing with enough room for thousands of lawn chairs, and it was packed every night. Not uncomfortably packed, it was just a popular place... and free popcorn to boot! We also made it to the Theater in the Woods for a couple of presentations and for the Lt. Dan Band on Friday night where we met up with Geoff Alexander. Theresa especially liked that show as she is a Gary Sinise and CSI fan. The theme of the overall event this year was “A Salute to Veterans”, which was evident all around the grounds, especially in the Warbirds area, but Gary Sinise, his band and the DAV really drove that theme home. It was a lot of fun.

When we got around on Saturday morning, the ceiling was pretty low and it looked like it could rain, so we decided to pack our gear before it got wet. Once we did, we looked around and though it was still looking questionable, and no airplanes were flying either. We ho-hummed a bit and decided that we would just forfeit the night air show and start heading for home. We understand that we missed a great show, but were glad that we got back home when we did. Looking back at the week we had, it was awesome beyond words. We took 700+ photos and nearly an hour of video, but when we look through them we are somewhat disappointed... although we ended up with several good shots, the photos don’t begin to illustrate the sensation of this event. We try to describe some of our experiences to our friends and it just doesn’t resonate the way it would if they were there in person. I sent a text message to several friends the first day I was working the flight line... there were a dozen or more round motors running in preparation for the day’s air show and it was an unbelievable feeling. I told them where I was and what I was doing and just wrote, “goose bump city fellas!” The days were long but there was always something to do. If you have never been to Oshkosh, try to get it on your calendar for next year (July 25 - 31). The family enjoyed it so much that we are already making plans to attend. We can’t wait!

Pilots Caught in Middle of Conflicting Federal Rules
EAA advises members to not take action at this time

Typical ELT

121.5MHz ELTs Still Legal for Aviation Use By AOPA ePublishing Staff

You’re still perfectly legal to fly with that 121.5 MHz ELT in your aircraft. Rumors that the Federal Communications Commission was going to ban the use of 121.5 MHz ELTs by Aug. 1 have sparked concern in the general aviation community.

While the FCC has proposed to ban the “certification, manufacture, importation, sale, or continued use of 121.5 MHz ELTs,” the FAA and general aviation groups have taken steps to prevent such a ban from happening. So far, the FCC has not published its proposal in the Federal Register and has not given any indication that it intends to do so, which means there can be no effective date on the prohibition.

If the FAA and AOPA get their way, the FCC’s proposal will not ban 121.5 MHz ELTs. In July, the FAA started the formal process to ask that the FCC withdraws its proposal.

The ability of the aviation industry to continue the manufacture, importation, sale, and use of 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitters is of utmost importance to the aviation community,” the FAA wrote in its letter requesting that the FCC’s proposal be rescinded.

AOPA has been working with the FAA and FCC, clearly stating the concerns associated with any ban on 121.5 MHz ELTs. The association also has provided briefing to congressional staffers who have inquired about the issue. The bottom line is that pilots can continue using the 121.5 MHz ELT installed on their aircraft,” said Rob Hackman, AOPA vice president of regulatory affairs. “AOPA believes that the move to equip with a 121.5 MHz or 406 MHz ELT should be left to the aircraft owner to decide based upon the type of operations and over what terrain the aircraft performs, and we are working to ensure it stays that way.”

Items For Sale

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
$47,000
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)

Franklin Aircraft Engine
Model 4AC171 60 HP
37/8 bore x 33/8 stroke 6/2 C.R.
s/n 2052
17/32 venturi
Eisenman magnetos
complete
No log book
$1000
Contact Ken Smith 698-4129.

Lycoming O-235-0
T.C. 223, 100 HP, 2600 RPM, SM 1571-15
Two magnetos, no carburetor, otherwise complete.
No logbook
$1,000
Contact Ken Smith 698-4129.

Lycoming O-290-D2
135 HP, T.C. 229, no magnetos, has vacuum pump
engine damaged at L/H magneto mount area
L/H crankcase broken out
accessory case broken out
data plate is titled Lycoming Aviation Engine
No logbook
$1,000
Contact Ken Smith 698-4129

Acreage for sale
2.5 Acres with 330’ of Runway frontage
Airman Acres Airfield, Collinsville OK
Sets on dead end road.
No covenants.
Secluded area.
Build exactly what you desire.
$67,500
Contact Darren 918-857-2728

1967 Beech Musketeer A23-24
200 HP fuel injected
IFR capabnle but not certified since 8/2008
Flies and looks great.
Hangar at Pryor but can be moved to Harvey Young or Gundy's.
Seeking partner.
Contact Larry Murray 918-557-3020.

Precious Pete
Basic Pietenpol
85 HP Continental
Enlarged, extended 2-piece wing
Steel tube fuselage
Roomy cockpits
Metal prop
Flies great!
Contact Roger White 918-698-3771.

To list your aviation items for sale, contact newsletter editor Mark Chouinard .

2010 Calendar Of Events

To add an item to our calendar, get the information to the newsletter editor Mark Chouinard. 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 annual 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 Marvin Williams 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!