President s Message Steve Krazer

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1 November President s Message Steve Krazer Just do it! Quite frequently when a few of us are together someone will say We should. Whether it be a tour of an air museum in a nearby city, a movie night or a party the ideas come up time after time. But most of the time, nothing happens. If you have an idea of something that would be fun for our group put a plan together and run it by a board member. To get started, write down your idea. Look and the calendar and get a date in mind. Then think through the logistics of what needs to happen to make it a successful event. Ask some club friends for help if the job is more than you can handle by yourself. If buying or catering food is part of your plan. make sure you work out how this will be paid for. All club functions need to be revenue neutral in other words, no expense to the club. If the club can make money on your event, that s all the better. Many ideas have roadblocks. As an example I ve wanted us to do more fly-outs. Obviously, my roadblock on this idea is the fact that I m not a pilot, and don t have an airplane. So, automatically I think how can I do that if I can t do that. Well, the simple answer is that I need to ask other members who can to help. I plan to do that in the upcoming weeks. After all, flying is what our club is all about. While we are on the topic of events, we need to discuss and make a decision on whether or not we want to pitch to host the L.O.E. Fly-in next fall. It is a lot of work also at lot of fun! Ad when we host it, then can make it what we want it to be. What do you want it to be? By now you should have received your ballot for the upcoming officer elections in the mail. We hope to see you at breakfast for our annual business meeting on November 14. Be sure to bring your ballot. Or if you can t make it, follow the instructions on the ballot for how to vote. Steve

2 Chapter Officer Elections Saturday, November 14 Our Chapter officer elections will be held this coming Saturday during the breakfast meeting. A sample ballot is shown below. Ballots have been mailed out to members. If you did not receive a ballot, you can still vote on Saturday at the breakfast meeting. *********************************** Chapter Welcomes New Members EAA Chapter 471 is happy to welcome new members Harry Amthauer (l) and Mel Saunders (r). Harry and Mel were present at out October breakfast.

3 The following article was submitted to the newsletter by Steve Krazer. The article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal and was written by Jonathan Welsh. Forget Flying Commercial: The Personal Airplane Is Taking Off Delays. Cramped seats. Interminable security lines. Flying commercial can be a drag. But a clever new class of small aircraft offers a way out and getting a license to pilot one yourself (yes, you) is surprisingly easy. Let s fantasize a little: It s the Friday afternoon of a long weekend. The roads are jammed, so driving from Manhattan to your vacation home in Massachusetts Berkshire hills will take hours. The airports are going to be mobbed, too. But the Hudson River dock where you park your seaplane is walking distance from the office. You get in, start her up and take off. The Icon A5 is one of the first aircraft to take advantage of the FAA's relatively new "light sport" category, which promises smaller, lighter, and innovative new planes. But are they practical? We took the A5 on a test flight in New York City to find out. While this may sound improbable, it isn t completely outlandish, thanks to a newish class of diminutive, twoseat aircraft known as light-sport planes. In addition to being easier to fly than many of the traditional small planes that have been on the market for decades, a few of these newcomers have been bestowed with superpowers of the aviation world. There s the ICON A5, which can take off and land on water as well as paved runways and grass. A flying car called the Transition, slated for release in a year or two (if all goes as planned), promises to eliminate the hassle of renting a car at your destination since, after you land, you can drive away in this aircraft. And the SuperSTOL, an old-fashioned-looking plane with a fabric-covered steel-tube frame, may eliminate the need for airports altogether. It can take off and land in relatively tight spaces runways as short as 150 feet long, instead of the 2,000 feet or more required by similarly sized planes. Light-sport aircraft have been around for more than a decade. They cater to pilots with a starter license that the Federal Aviation Administration introduced in 2004, part of an effort, hashed out with pilots groups and plane manufacturers, to make personal-air travel more accessible. A light-sport license is considerably easier to acquire than a traditional private-pilot certificate: It requires about half as many hours of training roughly 20 hours which also makes it less costly. (Budget about $4,000 to $6,000 if you want one.) Of course, there are restrictions: You can only fly during daylight in good weather, not in conditions that call for flight instruments (foggy or cloudy skies, for example). Also, the weight and power of your plane cannot exceed set limits, and it can carry no more than two people. ~ You can see the article along with graphics by following this link.

4 Behind the Scenes There are a lot of things that go on in the back ground. Most I never see nor have they been brought to my attention. But, every now and then, I see good deeds in process and try to include in the newsletter. These are the members that help keep the Chapter in order. Left Dave Bradshaw (AKA The Hangar Mother ) helps keep the Hangar 3 floors looking nice. Right Jim Berry wraps up the base molding around the restrooms in Hangar 3.

5 Left Gary Potter recently bought some florescent vests at a yard sale and has donated them to the Chapter. They can be used by linemen to direct & park planes at Chapter flyins. ************************* More Wright Patterson AFB Museum Pics! Last month, Steve Krazer sent photos from a recent visit to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Some were included in the October newsletter. Steve said that these are some of his favorites. Convair B-36 Peacemaker.

6 Convair B-58 Hustler. (Above) The business end of a Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. (AKA Warthog ). The aircraft was built around the forty foot long, 30mm Gatling gun.

7 (foreground) Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Behind the SR-71 is one of our own Dyess B-1B. As Steve mentioned, this is the only airplane in the museum that is kept airworthy for use on a moment s notice. ***************************** Flyin Reports Few & Far Between In the September and October newsletters, I mentioned several flyins that had been scheduled. However, there isn t much to report from Chapter members attendance. Dave Arrighi drove up to Lubbock to check-out LOE. He reported that it was poorly attended; probably because of conflicts with other popular flyins. Dick Humphrey and Jim Berry had plans to go to Reklaw but it was rained-out. If you went to or have plans of attending a flyin, let me know & I ll get it in the newsletter. Sam Around the Airport Well, there may have not been many 471 flyers going to flyins, but that s not to say that there hasn t been any activity around the airport. Among those I ve seen enjoying the good flying weather are David Bradshaw, Larry Chapman, Jim Berry, Gary Potter, Steve Johnson, Jeff Clement and Jeff Randall. Keep em flying! Sam

8 Monthly Breakfast and Business Meeting Hangar 3 Saturday, November 14 9:00AM EAA 471 Hangar Waiting List 1. Clifford Hale 2. Wes Schwarz 3. Sam Evans Note: This list will be published in the newsletter each month. Refer to the Chapter By-Laws of qualifications for a Chapter hangar.