Friday, March 26, 2010

EAA News - CBP Announces Penalty Notices Coming Soon

For those that traveling north, make sure you give Boarder Patrol the allotted time!


EAA News - CBP Announces Penalty Notices Coming Soon

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

2010 Northwest Fly-Ins

AnacortesJune 12Anacortes Airport,WAhttp://www.http://anacortesflyin.com/
Fantesy FieldJune 19Fantesy Field, FA99
AirshowJune 19-20Olympia,WAhttp://www.olympicflightmuseum.com/airshow.php
Arlington  Fly-InJuly 7-11Arlington,WAhttp://www.arlingtonflyin.org/default.cfm
Prosser  Fly-InJuly 16-18 Prosser,WA
Concrete Fly-InJuly 23-25Concrete, WAhttp://concrete-wa.com/events.php?ident=26
Friday Harbor Fly-inJuly 24Friday Harbor, WA
Tillamook Air Museum Fly-inJuly 31Tillamook, OR
Orcas FlyinAugust?Eastsound, WA
SeaFair August 7-8Seattle,WAhttp://www.seafair.com/
Hillsboro AirshowAugust 20-22Hillsboro, ORhttp://oregonairshow.com/
2010 NWAAC Fly-InAugust 20-22Vancouver, WAhttp://www.nwaac.com/flyininfo.htm
McMinnville Annual Fly-inSeptember 3-4McMinnville, OR http://www.macflyin.com/Welcome.html

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

March Meeting

The March meeting was held on the usual 3rd Tuesday at the Redmond Library at 7:00 PM, wtih about 15 members present. Ron Wattaja volunteered to do an interesting presentation from his vaired past, when a future aircraft homebuilder got into teh submarine business via his CAP Squadron. Based on the presentation, his Squadron CO decided it was a good idea to build a wet submersable from a tip tank off a T-33. The presentation outlined the efforts to figure out how to make a workign submersable out of the tip tank, encountering many of the same issues aircraft builders encoutner; where to place the battery, and weight and balance. In this case, it sure sounded like it spent more time on the bottom of Midwest lakes, then cruising the waters! Overall an interesting presentation.

Ron also gave us a preview of his most recent AB accident statistics. He has an interest in diving through the accident reports and really getting to the real story of the reports. Ron will be presenting an indepth report on AB accidents in the May or June time-frame.

Thanks goes to Ron for coming out to Redmond and presenting for the meeting!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Oshkosh 2010 (I know, the name changed but old habits die hard!)

If you really needed a reason to attend Oshkosh, this seems to be a pretty good one!

DC-3s Flicking to Join AirVenture Birthday Bash (from EAA.org).
They're coming from everywhere; some three dozen DC-3 and C-47 aircraft that have already shown interest in participating in "The Last Time..." 75th anniversary celebration of the aircraft at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010.

The list of potential aircraft that will be participating in the DC-3 mass arrival is still being finalized, but many of the participants are listed at www.TheLastTime.org website dedicated to the formation arrival coming to Oshkosh.

The registration list for the mass arrival on July 26 has reached its limit of 35 aircraft, because of limitations at the staging airports. Other DC-3/C-47 operators are welcome to participate, however, by individually flying to AirVenture, which will be held July 26-August 1 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh. Those aircraft are encouraged to contact Adam Smith at EAA headquarters at asmith@eaa.org.

"This is a tremendous response in just the several weeks since the 75th anniversary commemoration was announced," said Smith, EAA's vice president of membership. "We are still receiving inquiries from owners of some very special DC-3s, and we welcome all of them to be a part of AirVenture 2010, whether or not they are able to participate in the mass arrival."

Several of the DC-3s have been regular visitors to Oshkosh in past years, while others have made only rare appearances or have never been here. In all, it promises to be the largest airborne group of DC-3s assembled since World War II, and likely for the last time ever.

One of the details being solved currently is parking for this many magnificent DC-3s at Oshkosh. It’s anticipated that AeroShell Square, along with the Warbirds and Vintage Aircraft parking areas, will be fully engaged in showcasing these venerable airplanes.

Fewer than 100 of the aircraft remain airworthy in the United States, meaning that nearly half of the current fleet could be present at AirVenture 2010. The weeklong festivities at Oshkosh will also include historical and technical forums/presentations, fly-bys and a special evening DC-3 commemorative program at Theater in the Woods.

Additional EAA AirVenture information, including advance ticket and camping purchase, is available online at www.airventure.org. EAA members receive lowest prices on admission rates. For more information on EAA and its programs, call 1-800-JOIN-EAA (1-800-564-6322) or visit http://www.eaa.org/. Immediate news is available at http://twitter.com/EAAupdate.

Fun with the Kids

Sometimes this is just what it’s all about! A couple of Dad’s taking the kids for a flight and out to lunch… With a break in the January weather Tom and Jim were able to take the Alexi (Alex x 2) out to lunch over at Bremerton. I think we agreed that we need to do this more often, maybe planning a trip to McMinnville when the weather is better.



Jim, Tom and Alex(s) at Bremerton.

Photo at right is what happens when you let a 6 year take the pictures!

John Marzulli’s little girl Genevieve is usually present at our Chapter meetings, and is always ready to go fly with Dad! She even seems to put up with the rest of us!

December Meeting

The December meeting was held on the 15th at Redmond Library and was the dreaded White Elephant exchange.


This year seemed to be a bit different, possibly due to the economy, but it sure seemed like most gifts had spent time either in the hangar or garage. Possibly the most useful was a bag of old clecos, but not to be out-done by pilots range extender. Either will come in handy when absolutely necessary! Otherwise, a good time was had be all and for once in the last couple years, we weren’t snowed out.

January Pres Column

First I want to thank Mike for the last year of leadership he has provided. I also want to thank Jim for stepping up again to fill the VP position. It is this sort of participation that has helped our chapter thrive in only a few years of existence.
Participation has been perhaps the strongest aspect of our chapter. In the next year I want to expand our chapter’s role. There is much we can do that will help ourselves, our chapter and General Aviation.
It has been a while since we have had a project visit. I would like to make an open call to those whole are building, no matter what stage your project is in. I have been threatening to do one for a while, so on February 20th you are invited to my garage where I will finally make good on this threat.
Looking back on the last year it seems that our best meetings have been outside of the Library. With the return of flying weather only a few months away we should consider what can be done. Tom and Mike’s “Zagat of the Air” idea gives us one more excuse to burn some 100LL ( as if we need an excuse to fly ).
The topic of Young Eagles comes up every few months. I am excited to say Jim is looking into the insurance issues around these sorts of flights. More information and announcements will be coming in February.
Amazingly our club has had the tendency in the last several years to have many members reach the same point in their projects at the same time. We should take advantage of this. In the next several months I would like us to have a member driven and hosted workshop on electrical systems. We may have other members who are interest in metal work, wood work or composites. If you are interested in sharing some work space, knowledge or of a qualified instructor please let us know.
Once again thank you for letting me have the opportunity to lead our club.



John