The Plane Newsletter
A publication of Chapter 1111 Experimental Aircraft Association
From
the President
How cheap can a
flying machine be?
A friend of
mine, Tony Bequette, just acquired a Cherokee for $150. This is not a
misprint! OK… it is a Cherokee sailplane made of wood that is about
75% complete. This is one of those projects that has probably moved from garage
to garage for about 35 years. There is a good chance it will be stored in my
hangar while the new owner sorts out the plans and the remaining work to do.
The Cherokee looks like an early Schwietzer trainer, with a shoulder-mounted
wing. Span about 40 feet and length a bit over 20 feet.
Why so cheap? It had been donated to “Habitat for Humanity” and
they really wanted to move it off the floor. Details forthcoming at the
December 6 meeting.
President’s
Observations:
Surprise test
flight
This is an old
story, but it is true. I share my “goof ups” for educational
purposes, consistent with the EAA’s mission to educate.
In June 1972, I completed a Jeenie Teenie (JT) that was a VW powered, all
metal, tri-gear plane. The span was 20 feet, and length 12 feet. Empty weight
was 360 #. I took it to Evergreen airport for assembly and taxi tests. I
would go to the airport at 6:30 a.m. to perform slow speed taxi tests. This
early time kept me out of the way of the many of the Wally Olson training
flights that took place the rest of the day. As the week went on, the taxi
speeds increased to where I was rotating the nose gear.
On a Saturday morning, I wanted to perform a few more taxi tests while waiting
for the FAA to do the final inspection the following week. I topped of
the fuel tank and taxied to runway 28 for a fast taxi to the end, to put the
plane away in the hangar.
I added power and got plenty of speed built up, then closed the throttle and
eased back on the stick to rotate the nose-wheel off. It rotated and the plane
jumped up to about 5-10 feet. I added a touch of power to avoid a stall-flop
onto the runway. The mains kissed the runway but the momentum, added
power, and over-controlling ballooned me to 20 feet or more off the ground. Now
what?
With little runway left and too much altitude, I gave it full power and
committed to fly it around the pattern and land ASAP. This early version of the
JT had an open cockpit and I was wearing my motorcycle crash helmet, but
the wind over the shield kept pushing the visor down. As I tried to cinch
the helmet tighter, I was inducing lots of undesired pitch. This thing was so
sensitive, or I as so scared, I had to brace may arm against my leg in an
attempt to hold the plane steady.
About this time, I felt hot oil mist on my face and could see it covering the
windshield. The engine was partly exposed to the elements like the
ultra-lights of today, and I noticed my homemade oil breather cap had rotated
with the vent tube aimed at the windshield. This rear facing position created
too vacuum in the engine and with my negative “G” input, helped to
scavenge out the oil.
By this time, I was well down-wind and made a careful turn to line up with the
runway, but I was far too wide and did not want to tighten up the turn, so I
went around.
On the second pass I lined up OK, but by now I had climbed and was too high to
consider a landing. (Evergreen is about ½ the length of Kelso)
For the third pass I extended the downwind and lined up. As soon as I brought
the throttle back to about ½, the engine quit, but the prop still windmilled. I
pushed the throttle in and the power was there! So I had all power or no power,
but at least it was two options.
When I felt I could safely glide (never did this before), I could cut the power
and flare to land (never did this before). Over the power lines and small fir
trees, I cut the power. The landing was a pure luck deal as the mains touched
nicely but I dragged the tail due to over-rotation. This was better than
under-rotation. The engine was idling perfectly.
I taxied straight to the hangar and put the plane away. Remember, the FAA had
not arrived to issue the special airworthiness certificate and permit me to
fly. I asked the witnesses I knew of, to keep the lid on this matter until the
FAA had officially blessed the machine.
What’s the lesson here?
·
·
·
·
·
Correcting the “all or none” throttle problem and pitch
sensitivity will be saved for another newsletter.
Plane
Thoughts
Looking
for old stuff
Your editor would like to scan in old newsletters to start a
comprehensive library of our chapter’s documentation. If you have a collection of newsletters,
pictures, news articles, or whatever, please let him know. Your memorabilia will be handled with the
utmost care and returned quickly. The
finished product will be saved to a CD and available to whomever wants a copy.
Minutes/Notes
From Last Meeting
Officer’s
Pre-Meeting Minutes
A meeting of the
officers was held at Mike Lewis’ shop at 6:00pm on Thursday, November 1st.
As the chairman
of the 2002 Fly-out committee, Fernando was present to help put the wheels in
motion for that event.
Official EAA
information was distributed to the officers.
Our finances
were discussed along with the need to have at least two club members audit the
previous year’s books.
Based on
Terry’s suggestion, the need for quality programs was addressed and VP
Mark Edwards came up with some good ideas (to be discussed below).
Club
Meeting Minutes
Eleven people
excluding officers were at the Kelso FBO for the meeting.
Eric Hoppe took
a positive poll from the club pertaining the newsletter and accepted revisions
and corrections.
Finances stand
at $68.99 in checking and $9259.97 in the building fund.
Harry Blair made
a motion to allow the officers to make the decision to move the building fund
money from the low interest bearing savings account to a slightly higher interest
bearing CD. The motion was
seconded. There was little discussion
and no questions. A vote was taken with
10 ayes and 1 nay.
The club members
were asked for volunteers to audit the previous year’s books. Harry Blair and Terry Creamer obliged.
Dues for the
next year are welcome now. Please make
sure you include your National EAA number.
The club was
reminded Fernando is the head of the 2002 Kelso Fly-In. Sam and Sandi will be handling Young
Eagles. Fernando is going to discuss
with the FBO about moving the aircraft to the other side of the FBO in order to
be placed next to the cars.
The chapter was
reminded of the daily changes happening to our national airspace due to
security concerns. PLEASE remember to check with your FSS before flying
to make sure you don’t test the slow flying capabilities of the F-15
pilots!
Five couples
from Chapter 1111 will be going on the 14-day Australia flying
expedition! We all hope they have a wonderful and safe time and we look
forward to the presentation they are sure to give upon their return…
November
Program
The chapter
spent the evening admiring the Murphy Rebel Elite belonging to Sam and Sandi
Archer. From the multitude of rivets to the ready-and-waiting panel to
the extra heavy-duty nose gear, the project looked fantastic. As always,
the hospitality of the Archers was second to none. Thank you, Archers,
for letting us into your shop.
Calendar
of events
Next
Meeting: Thursday, December 6th.
Meetings are usually held the first Thursday
of the Month, 7:00 p.m. They are held at Kelso
Flying Service located on the east side of the Kelso airport. Everyone is
welcome! Bring a friend!
The officers will be meeting in Mike Lewis’
shop at 6:00 p.m.
Program
Presentation on Fabric Work
Mark
Edwards will demonstrate fabric application, tautening, and stitch work.
This is almost a lost art for the plastic and metal people.
Tech
Visits
Jay went to see Wayne Riggs’s Glastar project
and Leon Smith’s Lancair project. Details at the meeting. Jerry
assisted Keith Hamilton with reversing tires, wheel bearing grease application,
and installing new brake pads. Keith is in the process of annual condition
inspection.
Misc
Points of Interest
An anonymous
person has donated a brand new Palm Pilot VIIx to the chapter. We are to
raffle it off at the annual fly-in and the proceeds go to the chapter.
Classifieds
Buy, Sell, and
Swap your stuff here!!!
Dues
Dues are $24.00 per year. If you join midyear, they are pro-rated $2.00
per month. Send dues to treasurer Al Drewry. Include your National EAA number,
as the Chapter 1111 bylaws require it for membership.
From
the Editor:
If anyone has anything they would like to share, (a nice trip, lessons
learned from flying or building, project status, or whatever) please
don’t be shy. I would love to work with you to get your thoughts and
ideas published. Your contributions make the editor’s job much easier and
it makes for a better newsletter.
Although we will send the
newsletter to you via ‘snail mail’, please seriously consider
receiving it electronically via email as it saves the chapter significant
amounts of money.
Officers
and Committee Chairpersons:
|
President & Tech Counselor |
Jerry Sorrell |
263-1532 |
|
|
V. President |
Mark Edwards |
225-8821 |
|
|
Treasurer |
Al Drewry |
274-6115 |
|
|
Secretary & Newsletter Editor |
Eric Hoppe |
263-6691 |
|
|
Tech. Counselor |
Jay Tabor |
425-6278 |
|
|
Member at Large |
Mike Lewis |
274-8860 |
|
|
Historian |
Bev Smith, Lou Ann Tabor |
274-8860 |
|
|
Hospitality chairperson |
George Robertson |
636-3814 |
|
|
Young Eagles Coordinator |
Karen Fenton |
546-1550 |
|
|
Fly Out Director |
Jim Ylvisaker |
636-0242 |