From the Prez:
RAMBLINGS: Out
in my garage working away on the HATZ biplane (rag wing) reminds me that
sometimes one has to “eat a little crow”.
Since about 1987 I have been an advocate of composite (“compost”) airplane construction as
opposed to the “spam can” or wood and fabric
approach but now have come to realize it depends what your penchant is at the time. Nearing completion of all the four wooden wing
panels made me reflect on the ingenuity and foresight the Wright brothers had
. Whereas they started pretty much from
scratch, we can go to our EAA 407 library and check out many
books and manuals on the building of EAA biplanes, Starduster, Skybolt, etc.
which surprisingly, at least to me, use very similar time proven design and
construction techniques . With that and
good workmanship we can produce very
maneuverable and safe to fly airplanes which blend yesteryear and
today’s technology. See how lucky we are to have tons of data,
kits, materials, technical counselors, etc. available because of the EAA and
it’s visionaries.
SUMMER
BREAK? Officers , Committee Chairman, Website
Manager and our Newsletter Editor worked hard for the first six months of this
year and need a bit of a break. You may
find a briefer newsletter, less meeting formality and more socializing throughout the Summer months as the vacation
season is upon us. YoungEagles under
Gary Shipley will however continue with throttle to the firewall.
Special
Thanks: To
Harold Turvey and Jerry Phillips who were the “prime movers” for our last
meeting, in Blackfoot . Harold made all
the arrangements for meeting at the terminal building and brought all the
chairs, while Jerry baked and brought all the spuds along with the condiments
and refreshments. Thanks also to all
the members who helped clean up afterwards so the facility was left at least as
spic and span as when we arrived. Nice to see those who
arrived and departed via their aircraft . Good food, good meeting, good fun!!
Hal
Johansen
P.S. OPERATION BEAR LAKE EAGLES - AN
AMAZING PERFORMANCE BY OUR CHAPTER ON 6-14-03. Details in next article.
A NEW RECORD
A new record was achieved by chapter 407 at the Bear Lake
County fly in. The record setting event
was supported by the following ground support crew members: Mary Ellen
Phillips, Zila Santos, Ben Phillips, Pete Stewart, Frank Prickett, John Bakken,
Tyler Van Heule, and Dale Cressup.
These outstanding volunteers endured hours in the hot Bear Lake sun to
make sure every single Young Eagle in Bear Lake County got the appropriate
ground orientation, ushered to and from the planes safely, and received their
certificates in a timely manner. The
spirit of volunteerism is alive and well in the 407th.
The rally started with an old fashioned boy scout breakfast,
you know the kind when the scouts are learning to cook, complete with bacon and
pancakes. We had something that
resembled eggs, but we are not sure if any chickens were involved. Following breakfast a make shift pilots
briefing was held to insure safe air and ground operations were conducted. The air boss was a retired controller from the
Salt Lake area and I am remiss for not recording his name for this article.
Not long after the pilots gathered the line began to form at
the Young Eagles table. The task before
us began to come into focus. An
estimated 45 kid were there before the props started turning. “When do we get to fly?” was a uniform
question fielded by many EAA volunteers.
And fly we did. The
record number in Idaho Falls was doubled and then some.
Our incredible flight crews included the following pilots
and aircraft: Darin Dobbins, fresh from a MAF mission to Venezuela, and his
PA-22, Hal “El Presidente” Johansen and his Lancair, Mark Edwards and his Rans
S-6, Jerry Phillips and the Avcenter’s donated C-172, Steve Henderson and his
C-180, and Steve Hildreth and his C-172.
These guys did the most impossible job.
“Just one more mission, please!”
was repeated a time or two by the mission coordinator. They all stepped up under difficult
conditions of high temperatures and high density altitude and got the job
done. We even commandeered the
Avcenter’s other C-172 while the Avcenter crew took a lunch break, and Dale
Cressup flew one last mission with the last three kids! Multi-task!
Dale did a fine job in the air just like on the ground.
Just a couple points.
One: we did not have a single air sickness event. Two: 407 did themselves proud in conducting
a well organized and completely incredible job of getting kids in the air. Oh, I almost forgot, we flew 76 kids safely
and professionally in a way they will always remember.
407, ya done good!
Gary Shipley
PS: A special thanks to the Avcenter for their continued
support of our endeavor.
We have a perfect record in
aviation: we never left one up there!
_________________________________________
Chapter Meeting
Minutes
E. A. A. Chapter 407
May 17, 2003
Blackfoot Terminal
The meeting was called to order
by President Hal Johansen at 11:10 a.m., with 26 souls attending. Minutes of
the April 19th meeting were read and approved. A treasurer’s report was given, with an
amount of $4,149.36 in the checking account.
There is a balance of $41 in the Bring-a-Buck account so far. Thanks was expressed for the newspaper and
media work done by Nolan Getsinger, especially with the Young Eagles
project. Jerry Phillips would like input
for fly-ins and other fun things to do.
Driggs fly-in will be June 21st. Also looking at Smiley Creek as a possibility. Don Knauts gave a report on the Library, and
the need to trim it down...needs input as to what the group wants and
needs. He suggested that members take
their old magazines to doctors offices or other places they frequent, to
promote interest in flying and the local chapter. A Bushby Mustang II is available with parts, tools, plans, lots
of clecos, and the landing gear...contact Hal Johansen for more information.
11:35 a.m. lunch break–Jerry
Phillips provided baked spuds with all the trimmings for consumption.
The meeting resumed at 12:13
p.m., with introduction of new members Tom & Carol Strong, who are building
an RV9A, and visitors Arnold Burgemeister from American Falls, and Merrill
Spaulding from Ririe. Hal then
introduce Andy Andrews, of Intermountain Aerospace, for a presentation on what
is available for terrain awareness, stormscopes, and GPS systems that can be
had for $150 to $50k, depending on your needs and available funds.
The Bring-a Buck raffle was conducted, with Mark Edwards
being the winner, and the meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
From the Pulsar Builders Group Network:
Hello Fellow Builders, I thought that the exchange copied below between Jon
Goldenbaum, President of Poly Fiber and me on the subject of UV paint
protection might be of interest to some of you.
'OC' Baker, Builder of KIS TR-1 #116 4/14/97 - ?/?/?
5/20/2003
Hello Jon, There is an ongoing issue amongst local builders and painters on
this subject. The issue is "Do paints which claim to provide some UV
protection to themselves chemically, that is with no barrier material such as
aluminum flakes, carbon black, or mica chips incorporated, provide any UV
protection to an underlying structure such as one made up of fiberglass and
epoxy?"
Mr. Baker, Paints degrade in UV. Those that degrade fastest have little
pigment, like a clear coat. Those that degrade slower actually have metallic
pigments. White, for instance, is pigmented with titanium dioxide which is a
pretty
good UV blocker in and of itself. The best UV blocker is pure metal, like
aluminum flake. Aluminum flake works to reflect and shield all light, both
visible and invisible spectrums.
The thing to understand is that UV is in the invisible spectrum of light.
Aluminum flake reflects and shields both the visible and invisible UV
spectrums. Black pigment however, shields only the visible spectrum. Thus,
black paint
blocks light, but only visible light. The UV still comes through the paint to
the substrate fabric. Because we have always said that the way to tell if you
have enough aluminum product over fabric to be effective is to check that no
light passes through, many are led to believe that black paint does the same
thing. It does not.
Chemical UV blockers can be added to clear coats or those paints that have
little blocking pigments. Chemical UV blockers are like dry sponges however.
Once the blocker fills up with UV, it is like a dry sponge filling with water,
it will absorb no more. So chemical UV blockers work, but only until they are
saturated with uv.
These are pretty simple analogies, I am an airplane guy, not a chemist, but I
listen to the chemists pretty well.
Jon
June, 2003 Edition