November 2017 Meeting Minutes

November's meeting began with the Pledge, Dave Doherty presiding.

Minutes approved as published in the newsletter.

Pierre Moeser (German and Swiss) is visiting today. He's an EAA member and also a member of the Missouri Pilots' Association. He flies a 172.

Rick May followed up on his 2017 recap in the newsletter. He believes this is the most Young Eagles, 292, that we've flown in a single year. Don Jonas tops the list with 71 over 35 flights. A few pilots, including Jeff Stephenson, are just a few short of the "25 in 25" goal and are aiming to

Does anyone have a line on a small sheet metal bending brake?

The turnout for the Pumpkin Drop was low due to the weather, but we did end up clearing about $1,200 in food sales.

Michelle and Jeff host an annual geocaching event and the group ended up donating $205. Bill and Dave were also able to cook up some of the uneaten food from the October event.

Our holiday Christmas event is on 12/9. Dave will be mailing out an invitation to try and get an accurate headcount. Entrees will be chicken or beef, catered by Valenti's. Tickets are $20 in advance (or reserved) in advance, or $25 at the door without a reservation. Alan Hoffman will be our speaker, he's an author who wrote a book about the history of Lambert Field. This year the event will be held at the Creve Coeur airport.

The chapter re-charter is due in December. This is a big expense, around $1,700 to $1,800, including a charter fee and insurance on the ARC and two hangars. Chapter dues are due by the end of the year: $40.

Fundraisers include food coupons and smile.amazon.com. Ron Burnett has the coupons and reminded everyone that they make great holiday gifts. See him after the meeting to get yours.

Vice President and Treasurer are up for election this year.  We passed out ballots and counted them, Bill and Don were unanimously re-elected.

Chris is bringing his 750 project on December 18, the first tasks being to replace some rivets, run wiring, and fix some hangar rash. He welcomes any volunteers and we'll be working in the mornings.

Ron Burnett mentioned that he spent $6,400 for a Grand Rapids unit including GPS in 2006. The one he recently bought at Oshkosh was $1,500 and takes up a lot less space behind the panel. Lesson: wait until later in your project to buy the avionics. He also recommends the Grand Rapids brand.

Dave Doherty mentioned that Dynon's about to get an STC for SkyViews in 172's.

Chris recommends doing an Eagles event (versus Young Eagles) next year. He's also spoken with a local school about matching a donation for an Air Academy Scholarship.

We then held our 50/50 drawing. John Knight won half the $67 and donated it to the chapter. (This may pay for the window that broke earlier, partly caused by a stiff north wind and broken door-closer.)

Kim Nack's headed to Winterhaven airport in Florida for the winter. If he stays long enough he may end up with a chapter member or two sleeping over during Sun-n-Fun.

Dave sent in applications for the B-17 and Tri-Motor in 2018. We may have a better shot with the July 4 event on the riverfront. We're going to try and have a presence there.

Bill mentions they're trying to do another Spirit air show in Chesterfield, probably later in the year.

Motion made and seconded to adjourn.

August 2016 Minutes

August's meeting began with the Pledge, Dave Doherty presiding.

We approved last month's minutes as posted in the newsletter.

Don Doherty gave the treasurer's report including checking and savings account balances.

Today's visitors included (Frank McGhee Wilson AW-95 helicopter) Alex Baldwin visiting, has a J-3 Kitten and a Javelin ultralight he's reworking. His kids are starting to get out of college so more money is available for aviation.

Ron Burnett has food coupons, see him after the meeting for Shop & Save or Dierberg's cards in $50 or $100 denominations.

Our BD-4 is still available, Dave's going to reach out to the fellow who originally expressed interest to let him know. Ron Wright bought the Cavalier. Lindy Mueller, a former chapter member who worked with the SkyCoupe, built both a full and a scale model of a Cavalier. Dave received the scale model from the family as a donation.

We're planning to fill gravel in between the sidewalk and building. The east garage door needs new paint, as does the inside of the ARC. We're also planning to paint EAA32 on the roof.

EAA32 has absorbed the IMC organization, the local "Gateway Chapter" is meeting September 6 at Creve Coeur at 6:30 p.m.

Next month, September 17, is the CAF Hangar Dance: big band music, dancing, period costumes, silent auction. If you haven't attended before it's worth checking out.

Our airport is holding an Open House October 29, we'll open the ARC and sell food. St. Charles Flying Service will hold their annual Pumpkin Drop.

In October we're electing the President and Secretary for another 2 year term. If anyone's interested in running for either office let Dave know.

Now's the time to start planning for the holiday banquet. We're trying to get Bob Schepp, who worked for McDonnell Douglas on the Mercury project, to speak. We're tentatively planning for December 3 or 10.

August 27 will be our next movie at the ARC. This month is the Dam Busters.

A recent test of the airport water found some bad stuff, though the last test was good. The airport suggests running water to clear out our end.

Frank Baldwin's coming out Thursday for the airworthiness inspection. The club is anticipating approval, after which they'll fly off the initial 5 hours. We had a round of applause for the builders. Gale Derosier had done at least 5 inspections, and there's a written 30 page acceptance checklist that goes with the aircraft. The test pilot is TBD. Charlie Becker has invited the group to fly the plane to Oshkosh and put together an article in Sport Aviation. Dave helped Charlie out with a presentation on forming flying clubs.

Dave Doherty passed the "50 Young Eagles" threshold and received a 50-mission cap.

There were 13 members in the chapter picture at Oshkosh. A number were both attendees and volunteers. Dave reports it was quite a show and enjoyed the Martin Mars. Bill reports an incident in which the water bomber struck a rock on landing, they had to run bilge pumps in order to perform repairs. Dave flew his Taylorcraft, it took 5 hours total engine time, including a stop at Poplar Grove for fuel. He arrived Thursday before the show to avoid the prospect of hundreds of planes behind his empennage. He departed Tuesday after a maintenance class and spent the night in Poplar Grove.  The next day he got as far as Jacksonville as weather closed in. It took around an hour for the clouds to clear away, He received a plaque for the Taylorcraft, which he presented for judging in vintage aircraft.

Ron Burnett got to listen to Richard Cole, Jimmy Dolittle's copilot. He's just short of 101 years old and the last survivor of the mission. They bailed out and it took around a day for the crew to join back up. After that mission he spent another two years flying the hump.

Chuck Gorman got to drive a Gator all over, including visiting Dave's plane. Rich Emery noted dodging thunderstorms. Joe Sargent noted that this is the second year in a row he's damaged his nose fairing going to Oshkosh. "Go slower," Rich advised.

Brian Borton from the IMC club spoke. The organization formed to help pilots stay current in IFR. They meet twice a month in an open forum with a presentation on a flight situation that did not turn out well. He advises that this is valuable for any level of pilot, from VFR sport to airline pilots. You can find them on meetup.com. (Any month with a 3rd Tuesday will include a fly-out, weather permitting. August's will be to Alton.) His company does recurrent training for corporate pilots, and working on a current project he's discovered that many of the same accidents have the same causes as they did 20 years ago: loss of control on takeoff and landing.

Rick May debriefed on last week's Young Eagles event. We got a late start after low ceilings, ended up flying 28 kids over 21 flights: 187 over 148 for the year to date. Don Jonas has 45 this year alone. September 10 and October 8 are the last two events for 2016. The 10th will coincide with the Ozark reunion. In October we'll have 30 American Heritage Girls at the least, so this one will be a big event. The 99s will be here to work with Laura on the presentation. Chris and Victoria will there along with the Miano's and Jeff: Rick will be absent for a work obligation.

June 2016 Meeting Minutes

June 2016's meeting began with the Pledge, Dave Doherty presiding.

We approved May minutes as written.

Don Doherty gave the Treasurer's report including checking and savings account balances. This includes last week's expense for fixing the air conditioner.

Jim Hall is visiting today, he lives in Town & Country and has been taking light sport lessons at St. Charles Flying Service and has previously brought his kids to our Young Eagles events. Bob Miller is getting back into aviation after a hiatus. He's a chapter 64 member and flies an RV-6. Bob also has an interest in STEM activities in relation to Young Eagles.

Rick May debriefed us on last weekend's Young Eagles event. We flew 33 kids and 9 parents with 6 pilots. YTD we've had 58 kids over 54 flights. Volunteer participation is way up. Our next event will take place in July. If you're a pilot Rick can give you your exact numbers.

The Spirits of Aviation LLC Flying Club is close to finishing the RV-12. Gale's going to check it over today as they approach time for final inspection. Dave Doherty's preparing to head to Wisconsin for transition training. The club has scored their custom number: N32YE.

We have 2 current fundraisers: food cards, see Ron Burnett. We're also collecting aluminum cans, so if you drink soda or beer bring in your empties.

Jon Thayer is our membership coordinator. See Bill Doherty for lock codes if you are a new member, or a current member who has lost or forgotten their number.

The Cavalier is still for sale, $500 obo. We almost had a buyer for the BD-4 but he has been unable to unload his Long-EZ project. He gave that up due to sensitivity to fiberglass.

Oshkosh is coming up soon. Traditionally the chapter has had a campsite, and would like to do so again. We had a show of hands and there appears to be plenty of interest. Mike Young has a room available at Day's Inn, contact Ron Wright if you're interested, details are also on the Yahoo Board. Chapter picture is usually taken at the chapter house with all our attendees.  Jeff suggests early evening as a time in consideration of volunteers. Dave proposes Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Since the chapter house is gone so the brown arch will be the new location.

This month's movie is Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines.

Bob Kraemer's remembrance is today at Creve Couer airport's main hangar. A formation of Stearmans will do a flyover around 5:00.

Zenith is holding an open house in Mexico, Missouri today.

Next Saturday Chapter 16 in Effingham, Illinois will be holding a pancake breakfast from 8 to 11.

Chapter 64 is looking for Young Eagles pilots for Friday, July 15, they have about 20 kids coming out of an aviation-related class at Rankin Technical.

On October 1 Jefferson City's chapter will have an open house. They're offering free breakfast for anyone from Chapter 32, plus free lunch for pilots. 

Following the meeting Bob Murray will present regarding ADS-B.

May 2016 Meeting Minutes

May's meeting began with the Pledge, Dave Doherty presiding. 

No objections to April's minutes as written.

Don Doherty gave the Treasurer's report including savings and checking account balances.

Bob Kraemer, Bud Cole, Howard Henderson will all be on the Oshkosh memorial wall. Bob's kids The total fee was $1050, partially paid for by our memorial fund.

David Warapius is visiting, an EAA member who has not been active in a local chapter. Allan Reeves is visiting, he's the president of what used to be chapter 1394 at Creve Coeur, and helped out in the construction of the ARC. In January they were asked if they'd be interested in converting to a vintage aviation chapter, so they have become VAA 39. They're planning on a fly-in and pancake breakfast in August. Requirements for local membership include EAA and Vintage Aircraft Association memberships. Meetings are held at 1:00 pm on the 2nd Sunday of the month, lunch provided for a nominal fee.

Rick May reports that we flew about 30 kids at our Young Eagles event Saturday. The next event is two weeks away, coinciding with International Young Eagles Day. This may be the day the two millionth Young Eagle flies. Dave's planning on promoting this through various media channels, meaning that this will be require a big effort.

The week prior to YE was the Spirit Air Show. Bill Doherty worked behind the scenes. He described how efficiently the Blue Angels swapped out jets when one had an issue. He also received a Challenge Coin from the F-22 team.

The RV-12 is in the painting phase, the back quarter of the ARC is occupied by the paint booth. It's a fairly complex theme with three colors and sweeping curves, though the group is saving quite a bit by doing the work themselves. Avionics are nearly installed as well. They are about to apply for the custom N-number. Hopefully the plane will be ready by July.

Fundraising. Bill has the food cards from Rob Burnett. We're also doing a can drive, exchanging our aluminum cans for money.

Chapter members who have not paid past dues will have their access codes deactivated. If, for any other reason, your lock code does not work please see Bill Doherty.

We need a chairperson for our membership committee. Duties include orienting new members, giving them a packet. Jon Thayer volunteered.

We may have a buyer for our BD-4 project: he had to abandon a Long-EZ project after becoming sensitized to fiberglass. 

June activities: we'll have a board meeting on the 4th at noon. On the same day in Highland Illinois the glider club will have a pancake breakfast. Young Eagles will be June 11. The Waco Fly-In will be the same weekend, 11 and 12. June 18 is our next chapter meeting. In the afternoon (around 3pm) there will be an event at Creve Coeur in memory of Bob Kraemer. The program will be audience participation, reviewing events of Bob's life. 

The movie will be shown on June 26.

Libby notes that a book is coming out detailing the history of Lambert and of aviation in St. Louis.

The chapter will try to stake out a campground at Oshkosh this year.

We'll be electing President and Secretary this year and need a nomination committee.

April 2016 Meeting Minutes

April’s meeting began with the Pledge, Dave Doherty presiding. We approved the minutes as
posted in the newsletter.

Don gave the treasurer’s report including checking and savings account balances.

Visitors include Brett, a friend of Don Jonas who works at Boeing. He moved here from Washington where he could not fly much due to the climate. John Christian is a new member at his first meeting.
He’s working on an Airdrome Sopwith Camel replica with a Rotec radial.

We flew 37 kids and 4 or 5 kids at last weekend’s Young Eagles event. Chris, our new member from Jeff City, came out to volunteer for ground crew. Next month’s event will be a week later than usual because of the air show and will likely be a big event.

We’ll be at the air show, setting up on the 13th and taking place on the 14th and 15th. Dave passed a sign-up sheet around: if your name’s included you won’t have to pay admission.

Dave talked to a fellow with a Taylor Coot amphibian. It needs restoration. He wants $2500. Contact Dave Doherty if you’re interested.

Next chapter meeting is the 4th Saturday in May, coinciding with the movie, which is TBD.

Dave turned the floor over to Laura and Phil Bissonnette, who spoke about the upcoming Spirit of St. Louis Air Show.

The Kraemers are going to pay for their dad’s memorial on the wall at Oshkosh. We’re still taking donations to cover Bud and Howard’s memorials; we have around $500 to go.

Bring aluminum cans to the ARC, we can turn them in for funds.

Frank McGhee has a proposal for memorials, basically a large block of granite onto which we can sandblast names. It’d be too big to steal and can be hosed off if it’s flooded. He proposes a stainless steel sculpture on top. We can place it behind the building which would discourage vandalism.

March 2016 Minutes

March’s meeting began with the Pledge, Dave Doherty presiding.

February meeting minutes approved.

Bill Bould, a new member in attendance, is building a Sonex. Chris became a new member, he’s a transplant from Jefferson City. New members see Bill Doherty for door codes, if you’re an existing member and are not paid up your door code will become inactive.

Rick May addressed us regarding Young Eagles. First event is April 9, Joe Miano will be out with Rick Friday night setting up, Rick will be playing a bigger role in addition to being a pilot. We’ll start taking signups at 8:00 a.m. Saturday. Much of last year’s crew of pilots will be active again this year, and the RV project will be ready to fly in a month or so and will be giving rides soon. Please let Rick know if you’re going to participate and have completed the online checks. Pilots need training and the background check, it’s possible for ground crew to just do the training. This year we technically need two Youth-Protection trained on premises at each event.

 We’ve got two new freezers and need to move the old unit out. (Though the broken unit still works as a great mouse-proof chip storage.)

We’re setting up a separate fund and committee for handling memorial wall additions.

Chapter 32 will have a roughly 50x75’ section at the air show and we’ll give two seminars. We will need lots of volunteers to meet the public and recruit new members. 

Joe Miano will take over Safety at the YE events, replacing the late Bob Kraemer.

Dave updated us on the RV project. Among other jobs they’re filling the outside rivet holes with epoxy in preparation for painting. (Using Polyfiber Aerothane.) The plan is to set up a paint booth in the ARC. They’re using a 16 gauge needle with two part epoxy for rivet after rivet after rivet. 

Avionics will ship next week. Further updates will be posted on the Yahoo board. Sign up if you’re not a member, link is on the chapter site.

Dave turned the meeting over to Don to cover last year’s expenditures and the projected expenses for 2016.

February 2016 Minutes

February's meeting began with the Pledge, Dave Doherty presiding.

Last meeting's minutes approved.

Don Doherty reported checking and savings account balances.

John Knight is visiting, and thinking about joining. He's got a RANS S-12 with a Rotax 912. Bill Bould is halfway through building a Sonex, his first project was a Quad City Challenger.

Rick May reported on changes to the Young Eagles program. Events for this year start in April and run through October. All will be held the second Saturday of the month, except for May, which will be the 21st as the prior weekend will coincide with a large air show at Spirit. The Youth Protection Policy went into effect with EAA at the beginning of the year and will be official in May. Ultimately there will be three, with one for Young Eagles will pilots and coordinators. Second-tier management covers some others. The policy will require training and a background check. Per Rick this is a simple and quick process that you can get to through the YE site in the volunteer section. A number of chapter members have already completed the process. If you complete the questionnaire you'll receive a certificate via email, please forward a copy to Rick May. There was discussion around a requirement for more than two people in the airplane, and how this relates to two-place machines.

Bob Kraemer passed in January, and Dave would like to get his name, along with Howard Henderson and Bud Cole. Motion made and seconded. We discussed the possibility of an automatic process for members who have been with the chapter for a certain number of years. Due to the cost we should look at options: another type of memorial or a special fundraiser, or memorial fund, for this purpose. We'll discuss this in the next Executive Meeting.

Libby was in attendance and noted that this is the organization that he spent the most time with in recent years. Bob had been looking forward to big year of flying as he'd gotten some significant maintenance issues squared away, and had just bought a new log book to fill in 2016.

Dave Doherty noted that Bob made many contributions to the chapter, noting in particular the Tri-Motor visit, during which he bought out an entire flight.

The RV-12 is looking nearly complete with wings, canopy, engine and cowling all mounted. All the controls are hooked up. The flood set the project back a bit but the progress is still impressive. April may be an aggressive goal, but it should be close. The club is awaiting some electronics from Dynon.

There will be a big air show on the second Saturday in May (14,15) at Spirit of St. Louis. Bill Doherty is involved, and will be the ground support coordinator for the Canadian Snowbirds. Blue Angels will attend as well. Fat Albert, the CF-18 Hornet demo team, Skip Steward and his Pitts, Sky Soldiers will attend with their helicopters, the F-22 will do a flyover and be based at Spirit, a number of Boeing products. B-1 and B-2 flyovers. A C-17 Globemaster will attend, the largest plane ever to land at Spirit. The CAF will be there with FiFi and all the players from Smartt.

Bill notes that there's a new taxiway where they'll park the big, heavy planes. Taxiway delta will hold static displays. He's not sure where we'll be stationed. Volunteers should arrive early as parking will be an issue.

We'd like to be involved in the STEM area. We'll bring flight simulators, and would like to include small construction projects. Zenith is interested, Dave's has already been working on a student-built aircraft but notes that it would require corporate sponsorship.

There will be a celebration for Bob at Creve Coeur in June that will coincide with our meeting, so it will be held there.

Ron Burnett has food cards.

Newman Richard [sp] has donated a freezer.

Jim Hann bought the Fly Baby, trading a bit of cash and the Cavalier project, which is now sitting in the Fly Baby's spot. The Cavalier's for sale, see Dave if interested. The BD-4 project is also for sale, Art Zemon notes that Jim Bede's company now sponsors a charitable project that takes back unfinished projects, refurbishes them, and donates them to schools. Art feels the project itself is worth 3,000 to 5,000 dollars if sold on the Bede forum.

Dave asks, as he does each year, what the membership would like to see from the chapter. Free food forever was mentioned. Work parties for painting the ARC was suggested. Don notes were down about 6,000 from last year. He'll do a financial presentation next meeting. While food's not an option there might be fundraising opportunities at the air show. Ron suggested raffling off a ride in one of their aircraft. We probably won't have the TriMotor or the B-17 in attendance, and both are solid money makers. Workshops are a good activity, though participants will need to chip in enough to cover materials. Jeff suggested getting several chapters together and doing a poker run.

Bob was always a good source of speakers so we'll need new ideas here. Jeff suggested having Dr. Miriani back to speak again.

Don suggested a field trip to the tower at Lambert, though there are some security restrictions involved, Bill says we could also tour the facilities at Spirit.

We voted on the Memorial Wall, Don noted that we have some money left over from last years donations to the fund, and Dave will put

Libby had an announcement. On 4/25 David Moore's holding an auction night for 3 days at Oshkosh for two including a flight there in a light aircraft, funds to COCA. They're looking for a legal pilot and aircraft to fly the auction winners. COCA will pay fuel, tie-downs, etc., plus admission for the pilot and two nights in a hotel.

Dave got an email from a headhunter looking for drone pilots with a high-res-equipped drone. An example of an application would be cell phone tower inspection. See Dave if interested.

Motion made and seconded to adjourn.