March 26th, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Numerous members took advantage of the fine weather and flew in to the meeting. Karsten and his kids supplied KFC and soda; various other individuals brought side dishes and desserts. A fine feast was had by all (for as long as the food held out).

The meeting began at 2:00 pm with the Pledge of Allegiance, then guests and visitors were introduced and recognized.

Old business:
President Karsten proposed a solution to our water quality problem. For approximately $200.00, we can install two filters that will remove all the impurities causing the stains in the bathroom fixtures. This solution will NOT make the water potable, however. A motion to accept
the proposal was made, voted on, and passed.

Gale Derosier is off the hook with regards to the legal harrasment caused by Hager Hinge. A motion to pay the final legal bill of $175.00 was made and passed. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing when and if Hager Hinge or any other duck hunters will continue harassing the chapter by legal means, or otherwise.

New business:
Jim Hann presented the treasurer's report to the membership. He said in addition to a monthly verbal report, his binder (containing all account activity) will be available for scrutiny at each meeting he can attend. A motion was made to accept the report, and was passed.

Bob Jude demonstrated the new comm radio he built up from a standard panel-mount VHF radio. The elegant cabinet contains the radio, a battery, speaker, headphone jacks, a PTT switch, and antenna. In addition, a roof-mount antenna is available for longrange use. This radio will be useful during Young Eagle rallys.

George Stephenson and Dave Deweese presented the Young Eagle schedule. We have a rather
ambitious series of rallys this year, and George made a general appeal for pilots and ground crew to help out.

The B-17 is coming. Several Daves are running the show: Deweese, Domeier, McGoogan, and Dougherty. Volunteers are requested to help out with crowd control, souvenier sales, and other jobs. Please see one of the Daves for a sign-up sheet. The chapter voted to purchase one ride
ticket for $360.00. We plan to raffle off the ride for about $1.00 per ticket. This has proven to be a good money-maker in the past.

Rick Galati made a motion for the chapter to purchase a flaring tool. Everybody who builds an airplane needs such a tool for making 37 degree flares in fuel, brake, vent, and pitot/static lines. The tool in question would cost the chapter about $80.00. The main idea is although such a tool is vital, it's fairly expensive to own, given the relative sparse usage each builder will put it to. A shared tool will make much more sense, as long as everybody plays nice. This means it should be
signed out (so people know who has it) and returned as soon as possible so somebody else can use it. The proposal was enthusiastically seconded and approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 for a general discussion and observation of Jim Hann's RC models.

February 26th, 2006 Meeting Minutes

The meeting began with the Pledge of Alle giance.

President Karsten gave a short report on the state of our bad water issue. He said that we won't be able to get anything for less than $1,000.00.

The Hager Hinge/duck hunter legal issue has not gone away. We are continuing to fight this intrusion, and we voted an additional $600.00 for legal fees.

Upcoming events:
On May 6 Downtown airport will be having an open house; and chapter 32 will participate. There will be Young Eagle flights. June 10th marks the Smartt Field open house in concurrence with International Young Eagle Day. Leo Lang is spearheading this event. He said that several organizations are going to participate, including Missour Pilots. He has yet to get any committment from the Commemorative Air Force as to whether they will be involved. At issue is fuel availability. If the CAF is involved, we can't close that end of the taxiway to enable easier fueling. More to come.

Fund raisers:
Some Entertainment books are still available at a slightly reduced rate.
Jim Bower's wife Donna works for an office supply company that is once again extending an offer to Chapter 32. The chapter will get 1% of annual sales that result from any leads generated by a Chapter 32 member. See elsewhere in the newsletter for more details on this program.

Gemeral:
We had a short discussion on whether to publish the treasurer's report in the newsletter, as is written in the bylaws. The contention is that given the aforementioned legal situation, we are not willing to make our financial picture available to the general public. It was suggested that we publish this information in the members-only section of the website. This way, it will be available only to! members in good standing. Obviously, Web Designer Laura will have to monitor who is privy to the password necessary to view this area. We will propose a wording change to the bylaws allowing this to take place.

A member raised the question of whether we can save money by publishing the newsletter online rather than spending money to print and mail hard copies. Newsletter Editor Jim stated that the newsletter is being carried online, and some of our members are taking advantage of that fact. Everybody is entitled to a newsletter, and if they do not wish to view them online
and/or print them at home, they have a right to recieve them via snail-mail. We encouraged everyone to take advantage of the electronic format in order to save money. The February newsletter cost the chapter about $67.00 in combined printing and postage. See elsewhere
in the newsletter for more on this subject.

Visitors were introduced and recognized.

The meeting was adjourned for a fabric covering demonstration.

Respectfully submitted,
Jim Bower, Secretary/Newsletter Editor

January 22, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Turnout was good for the first meeting of 2006: around fifty people in attendance. Unfortunately our regular keeper of the minutes, Mr. Bower, was under the weather and could not make it. Therefore it fell to your new Vice President try and scribble down as much as possible. Food was good and disappeared quickly. The shiny new grill seems to work well on hotdogs. Mr. Bill provided mealtime entertainment with an Oshkosh 2005 DVD.

The meeting began at 2:00 with the Pledge of Allegiance. Karsten then briefed the group on the letter sent to Bryan Cave in response to their accusations towards Gale. An attorney is on retainer, and the motion was made to cover the fee. The motion passed.

Gale then spoke to the group regarding acquiring a bending brake. Several are available that used to belong to TWA, but now are in the posession of the city of St. Louis who is auctioning them off via silent bids. We agreed to bid on an eight foot brake, a potentially useful item that is a bit too big and heavy for the typical home workshop. In fact, from Gale’s description, it sounds like it’ll take a trailer and a sizable crew to get such a monster into the ARC if and when it
becomes ours.

Karsten then asked the group for nominations for standing committees. The Membership Committee is taken care of: Gale and Dave are already conspiring to expand the ranks. Bill Jagust was nominated to head up the Education Committee, although he has previously compiled a good bit of documentation so that any one of us should be able to act as presenter. George will
again be on the Young Eagles committee but suggested that it might be time for someone new to help out and provide some fresh ideas. Gary Unruh volunteered to work with George in this role. Fund Raising Committee stays in the same hands as well. Ron Burnett and Dave Doherty were both on hand with Dierbergs and Schnuck’s coupons, as well as extra Entertainment coupon books. Dave has some of these left at $25 apiece. There were no nominations for Executive,
Communications Liaison, Safety, or Scholarship committees. If you have an interest in heading up any of these groups please let me or Karsten know.

Young Eagles Pilots are reminded to update their information.

Leo Lang has stepped up as our point of contact with the AOPA. They can be a more effective resource if a member is able to act as a representative of a particular airport.

At this particular moment a buzzer sounded and a yellow light flashed. This was the signal that the sceptic tank was full. As the membership was conveniently present the motion was made to approve the necessary expenditure to have it pumped out. Motion was seconded and approved.

Gale Derosier then introduced new members. Tom McFadden’s been in the area about a year, working as a contractor. When this turned into a permanent position Tom bought a lot at the Troy Air Park and soon his family (currently in Virginia,) will join him. He has a Zenith 601XL homebuilt. Terry Lahey is a Boeing mechanic. He currently flies a 150 but is planning to construct a homebuilt. Neil Wall moved to the area a few months ago and is taking flight lessons. He has a good bit of experience with ultralights and plans to apply his skills to a Sport Pilot category vehicle, something with folding wings. Dave’s Ridge Runner was nearby to provide futher inspiration.

Karsten asked if there was further business, and George asked if we could revisit the water purification issue we discussed in 2005. We went over some of the ideas and concerns covered at that time and agreed to bring this up again at our February meeting.

Roger Moore brought up an RV-4 issue. He was looking at his firewall and found cracks near the attachments. When he called to report this to Van’s they suggested this was the result of flying from a rough, grass strip, (despite the fact that the plane has always flown from asphalt,) and also denied knowledge of similar problems, (even though Roger knew of several similar
instances). This is apparently an issue with early RV-4’s since the firewall was been redesigned.

Jim Hahn arrived in full pilot regalia, having landed scarcely a half an hour before. He fulfilled his role as the new treasurer by reminding us that dues are, well, due. He’ll have a treasurer’s report for us at the next meeting.

Gale asked if someone could build a box for a 2-way radio we have available at the ARC. It needs a battery and a speaker, and would be handy to have at Young Eagles events for communicating with pilots in flight. Bob Jude will take on this project.

This was the last bit of business, after which the meeting adjourned.

Thanks to VP Dave for taking great minutes - ed.

November 20th 2005 Meeting Minutes

Vice President Bill Jagust called the November meeting to order at 2:00 with the Pledge of Allegiance and a welcome to all.

The Smartt Field runway extension was discussed. Bill said he attended the November 14th meeting of the St. Charles County Council. There were some 20-25 airport supporters in attendance, but were outnumbered by a horseshoe throwing club. He asked for our continued
support at the November 28 meeting.

It was announced that the annual Christmas party will be held on December 3, 2005. Due to the guest speaker providing his services for free, the ticket prices hit a new low of $12.00. Volunteers to help clean up and decorate the ARC on the 27th were solicited.

Donations to get Bill Blake's name on the Memorial Wall were within reach of the required $350.00, so the Chapter will make up any difference. The money needed to be sent in soon in order to get Bill's plaque on the wall by the 2006 AirVenture.

The Chapter sent a memorial for Roger Moore's son, who passed away in October.

Ernie Buzard earlier discovered that the bbq grill was in dire straits, so we asked for a vote on replacing it. The members approved a maximum expenditure amount of $700.00 (we are expecting a really good grill). Rick Galati volunteered to research grills and purchase a new one.

The large storage box is halfway painted, thanks to the Saturday ARC elves.

Gary Kasten volunteered to assume the telephone hotline duties from Ted Boerding. Thanks for doing a great job all these years, Ted!

Treasurer-elect Jim Hann said we threw our name in the hat to host the Ford Tri-Motor tour next year. There are some pretty stiff requirements (a hangar with an 80-foot wide door, for one), but if we work together with the Alton chapter, we might pull it off.

The meeting adjourned at 3:05 pm so the members could participate in a weight-and-balance demo, using Dave McGougan's newly re-engined Ridge Runner. Good reports from that effort!