February 2010 Meeting Minutes

Vice President Bill Doherty presided over our February meeting.

First order of business was recognizing visitors and guests. Robert Vasquez is a former member who has come back to the chapter. Don Alwine, with a professional background in B-17 turrets back in the forties stopped in. He was, in part, lured out to KSET by Bob Dooley's mention of our resident Gooney Bird. Howard and Jennifer Woodard, members and Velocity builders, are attending meetings after an absence, thanks to the new Saturday date. To add to the Chapter 32's contingent of Daves, Dave, son of President Dave, is visiting from Wichita, Kansas.

Old Business: Rick May reports that the Midwest Aviation Conference and Trade Show went well. It was especially busy Saturday with lots of instructors getting recertified. Several good speakers were there as well. The facility in Maryland Heights has a big stage, plenty of seating room for an audience, plus space left over for seats and booths. Attendance was down Sunday, Rick feels that more advertising to the general public may be in order. Overall it was a success, and we should consider attending again next year.

Our first movie night went well, the few hitches were minor, and to be expected in such a new venture. It turns out that the restaurant is closed during this time slot, so we're thinking about food (besides popcorn.) The folding chairs become a bit uncomfortable after a long film and you are advised to bring comfortable lawn chairs to the next show that will, incidentally, be 'Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines.' Bud asked if it's still possible to get the original, much longer, version of the Howard Hughes production of 'Hell's Angels,' noting that the unedited version was a real airplane movie versus a love story.

Rick May is progressing on the ARC reorganization. Tables are up, and he's installing wheels on equipment where possible.

We are resurrecting the Clean Water Project. Doug Killibrew is reconnecting with Leo Lang to get the information he collected. Doug is also doing some research on our new ramp. He advises that our most economical solution would be to have members do the prep work, and then call a concrete or asphalt contractor comes when all is ready.

Don gave the treasurer's report, showing all the relevant numbers via overhead and laptop. The checking account is down a bit due to a big food coupon purchase. Please buy lots. Upcoming expenses include filling the propane tank. We have enough to cover chapter expenses over the year, though we'll need to raise more for extra projects. Tracy mentioned an upcoming raise in hangar rent, approximately $10, though he did not specify when.

Bill returned to the podium and spoke about the door lock and passcodes. He's decided not to change all the combinations at this point, but will go through the member list and send passcodes to everyone who has paid dues. These codes are assigned to you specifically, so please do not share with anyone. If you have, and need your code changed you can call Bill and he'll get you a new passcode.

Activities: The March welding workshop is postponed for now. Instead, on March 6, we'll go through the equipment, make sure it's safe, and see if we need anything. Don spoke with St. Charles Community College regarding gas welding classes, they do not offer these any longer as everything is going to TIG. To get into MIG/TIG class you have to first take a ten week arc welding class. The classes are around $300 per course, therefore you are looking at approximately $600 and 20 weeks. We discussed the possibility of paying an instructor: even at 50 to 100 dollars per student this would be a deal for us and the instructor, who would stand to make a tidy sum for a weekend's teaching. Gale made a motion that we allow $400 prior to the welding equipment check. Otherwise, if we find expenses, we'd have to wait until next meeting to vote, further postponing the possibility of welding training. Rick seconded, and we voted in favor.

Bill Jagust is working on getting a doctor in for a medical program, though this might not happen until May or June. Bill proposes an AME to come in for Q&A earlier than that,EAA HQ or AOPA might have resources to offer in this arena. (Note that Bill Doherty recommends dual membership in both organizations.) Our medical information programs will likely be stand-alone rather than after-meeting sessions.

Dave and Bill both attended the Oshkosh leadership academy and recommend this to all chapter leaders. They were fortunate to meet Paul and Audrey Poberezny and enjoy dinner and a nice personal conversation, during which they described how EAA has impacted the Doherty family. The attendees organized to sing "Happy Birthday" to Audrey, who had celebrated another year just two days prior to the academy weekend. They learned that Paul is a self-professed millionaire: a man with "a million friends." The HQ staff was very approachable and communicated their desire to help chapters like ours.

Our new president and vice-president returned with plenty of good ideas, inspired by topics covered at the leadership academy. They went over Chapter Guidelines and related issues, bringing up the idea that we should review our own by-laws. We may form a by-laws committee for this. They also covered recruiting and membership. Many organizations besides EAA see an aging of membership and need to attract new members. One such angle is the new Young Eagles Next Step program, which they discussed. To cover fundraising the attendees broke up into teams and did some brainstorming. One chapter has a 'Monopoly Night' which is very successful. This led into public relations, including dealing with situations like the recent tragedy in Texas. Remember that we're all ambassadors of aviation and the face of GA in America. EAA suggested establishing relationships with local media outlets. An additional benefit of this is publicity when events like our recent tri-motor visit come around. On top of all this they found time to cover changes to the EAA Website: there's a ton of stuff under the chapters tab, and you can find online copies of EAA magazines nearly back to the dawn of time. Good and bad points of the new Sport Aviation magazine format were also discussed: some suggested bigger fonts.

The HQ staff is impressed with how we present Chapter 32, and has asked for our assistance in an upcoming event. There's a major (approximately 10,000 in attendance) Boy Scout jamboree in Forest Park in June, they'd like our help with the aviation merit badge. We estimate that 300 to 500 interested scouts might attend our clinics. Dave's son, an Eagle Scout, agrees that this is realistic. Dave (Sr.) has contacted Bill Jagust regarding the event. Laura notes that the following weekend is International YE day.

As a surprise bit of good news we learned that we'll be hosting the B-17 again: a midweek stop in 2010 (7/12 - 7/15) and a weekend in 2011. Doug Killibrew notes that we get a cut of the proceeds, not to mention the chance to recruit some new members, plus it's lots of fun for volunteers. As Bill related it's not uncommon to meet veterans who actually flew B-17's in combat at these events. I spoke with a few at our last visit and believe me, it makes dealing with the July heat worth it.

As the meeting closed we viewed some photographs from the leadership academy on the laptop overhead.

The meeting was followed by a Tech Counsellor presentation by Gale Derosier.

Dave Deweese
Secretary