Chapter News
VAA Chapter 16
"Flatland Flyers"
"Dedicated to the Preservation and Maintenance of Vintage Aircraft"
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Update on
5/12/10
5/12/10Greg Shetterly's one design
Greg's lovely wife (and resident female airport bum) Mickey sent me these great photos of one of Gregs recient test flights with the One Design. It look great, and from what I hear, the squawk list is pretty short. Greg should be proud, scratch building an airplane is quite an acomplishment!
Enjoy the pics.
Click on a picture to make it larger
Update on 5/12/10
5/12/10Cam Blazer's Monocoupe
I received a call Tuesday afternoon from our own Dale Rose telling me that Cam has now flown (solo) the Chickencoupe (Monocoupe). I called Cam and he reported that all went pretty well. The controls are a little heavy, the cabin is hot and loud, and the Aeromatic prop needs adjustment.....sounds like a normal flight in an antique airplane!
Congratulations to Cam for getting over the first flight hurdle!
Here is a picture Jeff Sullens sent me from the Christmas party last year. As most of you probably know, Cam Blaser had an engine failure on his Stinson during take off earlier in the fall and hit a hay bale at the off the end of the runway. Unfortunately the Stinson did not survive the forced landing that ensued.
Never ones to miss an opportunity to rib a fellow member. Dan Mailin, and Jeff Sullens presented this Trophy to Cam for his aviation prowess. It is a hay bale with an airplane and a GI Joe with his head buried in the hay bale. Cam took the ribbing in stride as usual.
How not to land a Staggerwing (or anything else)
I finally was able to figure out how to get this video on line. This is the infamous vid of my landing at Shell Knob, Mo while bringing the Staggerwing back so John the previous owner could see if again after all the work I did on it. This is about the worst landing I have ever seen without bending something up. I have never done before, or since.
Kevin
Atchison Fly-in5/29/10
5/29/10(Good Weather?)
As any of you that have attended the Atchison Fly-In over the 30+ years that is has been around know, weather usually dampers the fun! But this year it did not. Weather was severe clear with very light winds and great temps. All in all they had about 70 airplanes show up and it was a great little flyin. They do flying events like bowling! If you have never seen bowling from an airplane, it is quite a strange site, and looked like fun to me. There was an unfortunate off airport forced landing that destroyed a nice Cessna 120 (nobody hurt), but aside from that it was a safe event.
About 8 airplanes from the Gardner airport bums were in attendance. Dan Mailin, Dave Gleiter, Mr. Cobb, Dick Michael, Ray Duer, to name a few.
Here is a link to a short video of the RC jet guys at Atchison Jet Video
Thanks to all at the Atchison/St. Joe EAA Chapter for putting on this event!
1st Biplane Expo for Junction City 6/6/10
6/6/10The first (of many we hope) Biplane Expo was held at Junction City (j3c) this last weekend, and I think most folks would have to say it went well for a first year event. The weather was a little hot Saturday, and that probably kept the airplane count down, but there were plenty of airplanes to look at and the people were great! I even won an award for the Staggerwing (Take that Overturf!).
We had a pretty good contingent from Gardner and Chapter 16 in general, as well as many from the Nebraska AAA Chapter. Our thanks to EAA Chapter 1364 for taking on the job of keeping the Expo alive!
I might not be famous.....But I know John Swander! 6/10/10
Well, our very own Garner bum John Swander is at it again. As most of you know, John has had his airplanes and Hot Rods featured, on the cover, and generally written up in about every magazine and publication you can think of. He is truely a celebrity in the Hot Rod and Airplane world. Welp...he's famous again! Last year while at Blakesburg he was approached by "Aero-News.net" an online aircraft news site, to be interviewed for an Internet video about old airplanes and Blakesburg. I must say John is an eloquent speaker. He did a great job and gave big kudos to the people that helped in his award winning Waco UEC and mentioned John Kreckovich by name. Here is the link.
Gathering of Eagles at Gardner was Stormy6/19/10
6/19/10The 2010 edition of EAA Chapter 200's WWI "Gathering of Eagles" went off well considering the weather was unseasonably hot, and a really strong (but brief) storm moved through at about 11:45. The wind picked up to about 40 and the rain moved in for about a half hour. Before and after the storm, the WWI replicas were out in force. My hats off to Marvin Story for putting on another great event for his comrades in arms. I'm not sure how long he's been doing it, but I believe it's over 20 years!
Our Young Eagles event was on the 19th as well (tuff timing) and up until the storm moved in, Jerry Gippner and others were giving rides. Unfortunately they had to leave many kids rideless when the weather moved in. From what I hear, it was a great success non the less! Thanks to Star at McFarlane, Bob Anderson, Jerry Gippner, and all the other pilots that helped! I'll try to get some pics posted here as soon as I get them.
Our Chapter Fly-in 6/26/10
6/26/10Here are some great pictures of our 2010 fly-in. These were taken by a last minute volunteer that found us on the web and wanted to help. Many thanks to Jeff Widgren for these great shots.
Our chapter Treasurer has totalled up the fly-in reciepts and it was a great success. It appears that it may be one of the best years we have ever had as far as total reciepts. Aircraft numbers were up from last year, but below record levels. Every one that worked on or at the fly-in deserves a great round of applause from all of us. We will start working on next year in January 2011, volunteer and help us make it another success!
Oshkosh, and Cam Blazer 8/10/10
8/10/10Our very own restorer and Monocoupe Pilot extraordinar, Cam Blazer took his newly restored Monocoupe to the big show and brought home the bronze. Yep, the Chickencoupe took the Silver Age (1928-1936) Champion - Bronze Lindy. And all while wearing his Chickencoupe t-shirt. His lovely wife Marie drove up to meet him at OSH and was a real trooper to hang out and put up with the masses that were all ogling over the beautiful yellow bird.
In other Oshkosh news, Johnny O. brought the Staggerwing up on Friday with 2 friends. Myself, Dale Rose, Jerry & Nancy Gippner, and Bob Anderson all worked in the Classic Judges trailor. Ray was up in the RV10, but nobody saw him...he is stealthy! They had about 6-7 inches or rain in the are over the weekend before opening day which made the campground and showplane parking unuseable until sometime Tuesday. This prompted the making of buttons for sale at the Red Barn that said "I survived Sloshkosh". All in all though, a great show and a great time.
Is it Heaven?....no, it's Blakesburg! 9/6/2010
This last weekend was the annual AAA invitational fly-in in Blakesburg, IA. Many of our chapter members were in attendance including the Luscombe air force from Vinland Valley including Dick Michaels, Larry Janson, Jerry Cobb, and one more that I don't know. Yours truly was there, as was Bob Gandy with John Krekovich, Cam Blazer (less Monocoupe), and my lovely mother, Carol Womack, as well as Randy Klemp with his new lady Wendy in his 140. My buddy buddy Jeffery Sullens drove up Saturday afternoon because his beloved Red beast was being used by his partner.
The weather on Thursday in KC included ceilings below 1000 ft agl until about noon. So at 12:30 I headed out in the 170, scud running all the way to Antique Field. Cam was going to follow me in a few mins, but felt the weather was less than the Monocoupe deserved, so he was going to come up on Friday morning. Shortly after we go to Blakesburg, the skies opened up and we got 2.5 inches of rain in 30 mins.
Friday morning saw beautiful blue skies with winds of about 25 mph at 90 degs to the runway. That didn't stop Dick, Jerry, and Larry (Luscomb nuts all) from showing up and braving terrible landing conditions, but they all landed in one piece. "By the grace of God" as Jerry Cobb told his wife on the phone! The field was shut down at lunch time after a T-6 went into the trees earlier in the day, and an L-2 T-craft almost went into the crowd when he could not control the drift from the crosswind. Dave Glider had come in Friday morning and planed on departing early afternoon, but had to stay until 6 PM when the field once again opened. He came back again on Saturday morning.
Saturday finally brought great flying weather with blue skies, light winds, and mild temps. Many airplanes had diverted to Ottumwa, and Albea on Saturday, but they came in in force on Saturday. They were so full on the field that they were parking aircraft along the end of the runway on the north end. I have never seen that happen before. Some of the Gardner bunch, Lanny Turner, and Joe Skillet even showed up (drove in) to enjoy the ambiance of the old airplanes. Neither one had ever been to Antique Field before, and I think they may be hooked.
Sunday morning's forecast was for windy conditions back home at k34, so we headed out for home at about 9:30. It was a great smooth flight home, but bumpy once back in the KC area. Randy and Wendy landed just before we did and John & Jay Swander were wiping down the Waco as we taxied in. All and all it was a fantastic fly-in. Great airplanes (some of the rarest antiques in the country), great food (catered by Hy-vee) and great people (airplane people)! For any of our members that have never been, I can not express in stronger terms....you gotta do it next year. It's a one of a kind event.
Is it heaven? No, it's Blakesburg!
There are some great pictures of this years event at the AAA website. Click here
Fly Baby project update 9/6/2010
9/6/2010Our baby is getting closer to the birth every day. In the weeks before Oshkosh and Blakesburg, the fly baby doctor have been hard at work putting the final touches on the fabric work and the intrument panell. Both are now done, and we are ready to build a paint booth to put silver and color on our modified (slicked up) Fly Baby. We have enough silver to finish her up, but we need color. Since this is a chapter project, and most of the funding comes from donations, I am making a request from the membership (or anyone else) for donations toward the purchase of paint. Drop me an email, or you can make a donation on this website page via credit card. Don't be shy, it's for a great cause (to make our baby live).
Below are some pictures of the baby as she was last week before Blakesburg. This week we will start building a paint booth.
