A Well Attended Warm One – The morning was pleasant and about 15 members hung on until the end for the VMC/IMC Club and helped put the airplanes away. Two gyros, Grumman Widgeon, Stearman, and Stinson were seen parked in the grass. Sue Cole and Barb Wilson were expertly handling the pancake grill this month while Mike Parrish and John Theis worked the sausage and eggs griddle. The serving line was well staffed with Pat Hockett, Sandy Stultz, Kris Jaeckle, and Linda Eslick filling the plates and serving drinks. We ended up with about 70 in attendance for the meeting and 61 breakfasts sold.
Call to Order – President Dick Keyt called the meeting to order and recognized the breakfast crew. Dick asked to identify any visitors in attendance. Dick noted that a Grumman Widgeon arrived and left before he could get the owner to speak about it. Mr. Stottlemyre flew his Stinson in. He is a Navy T-6 instructor and stationed at JRB. Chris Minatelli lives at Bourland Field and is a new member. He flew his Silver Stearman in. Emma is an exchange student from France who is staying for the summer with Geneva and Bruce McJunkin. She has a student pilot certificate equivalent from France and is looking to complete her PPL. Garrett Alexander recently got his PPL and working on Instrument.
Project Reports – Sam Butler is getting to work on the partially complete S-21 and engine he acquired – avoiding kit and new engine lead times. He thought he was done building after the RV-10 and gave away most of his tools. Lawrence Ryan has completed most of the wiring on his Zenith 750 Cruzer. He mentioned he is struggling with a Push to Talk wires that are not working quite right and is soliciting expert advice from a chapter member. Dick Keyt said the glider club recently flew the 2 seat Schweizer SGS 2-32 glider after several months. They installed a state of art variometer which will significantly improve the training. John Goble mentioned his experience getting a Pitts landing gear fairing where it took 4-5 months due to backlog at the factory. In his discussion with the owners they were desperate for mechanics in GA. This was a plea to steer young people into GA maintenance. Bruce McJunkin followed up on his recent purchase of a 1940 Funk B that was originally equipped with Ford car engine. The engine subsequently replaced with a more reliable Lycoming O-320, however, during that mod the tailwheel springs were removed. Bruce spent part of his Oshkosh trip hunting down the only other Funk B at the show to see how tailwheel springs were installed. John Bowen has their Bonanza in the avionics shop for a panel upgrade. Carl Keil made a plea to setup an information sharing platform like Google Groups. This would allow members to tap into the expansive talent across the chapter.
AirVenture: Dick Keyt mentioned how he sought future speakers for the chapter meetings and found two that would be very interesting programs. Dick stated how pleased he was at the turnout at the pizza party sponsored by Flight Outfitters at the campsite we won in the EAA raffle. Pat Hockett thanked the chapter for allowing her and Karen Sparks to stay in the trailer for the week. It was a very convenient located close to the gate. Flight Outfitters has also offered to provide merchandise the chapter can use for giveaways or awards. Dick will be coordinating that over the next couple weeks.
Youth Air Academy: Jenny Hayenga and Mason Vickers gave the audience highlights of their week at the Air Academy. Mason said much of the time was spent in the shop learning various construction techniques for aircraft. They passed around examples of their new skills in welding, fiberglass, sheet metal, and wood. Jenny discussed how she enjoyed learning how to Tig weld and the steel box she welded was impressive. They enjoyed meeting other youth from around the country as well as seeing all types of aircraft. Mason and Jenny closed with how this was such an incredible experience and they were extremely thankful to the chapter for making happen.
Youth Programs: Following the reports of the Air Academy attendees, John Bowen mentioned that the chapter is planning to send two youth again for next year’s Air Academy. He is planning to accelerate the selection of candidates and asked chapter members to start getting the word out to any youth ages 16-18. He reminded the membership that it costs about $2500 per attendee and that chapter dues and Young Eagles flights ($5 credit per flight) helps fund this endeavor.
John announced the next Young Eagles event will be at the September 27th Fly In. He is in dire need of Young Eagles pilots due to competing volunteer efforts executing the Fly In. Pilots should sign up even if they are only able to fly one or two flights. Thanks to Geneva McJunkin, Young Eagles pilots will receive a cap and T-shirt for participating. John also announced that he is planning for three events each in the Fall and Spring. If one of the events get weathered out it won’t be rescheduled.
September Fly In: Bob Pastusek said the site plan has been finalized and he has a good list of volunteer for each of the committees. He emphasized how important it is for members to help with setup (0800 on the Friday before) and teardown at around 1500 on Saturday. He encouraged all Pecan and Landings residents to display their aircraft. The stack of fliers was distributed for members to place at airports in the area.
Nominating Committee: Dick announced that a committee has been formed with Tom Woodward and John Bowen seeking officer candidates for 2026. Nominations will be announced at the October meeting and voting will occur at the November meeting. A list was circulated for those that were interested in serving. Those who missed the meeting should contact Tom and John directly.
Program: Bob Pastusek – Recently Released FAA MOSAIC Rule
Bob did not excellent job summarizing the significant changes to the rules for Sport pilots and LSA aircraft. These changes open up burdensome restrictions on the definition of LSA aircraft and sport pilot limitations. It would be very difficult to summarize all the changes in this text. Several references are provided to seek more information.
MOSAIC FAA Final Rule Issuance: https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/MOSAIC_Final_Rule_Issuance.pdf
EAA Summary: https://www.eaa.org/eaa/advocacy/top-issues/mosaic-aircraft-certificate
Podcast with Sean Elliott starting at 30 mins: https://aviationnewstalk.libsyn.com/396-how-all-pilots-benefit-from-new-mosaic-sport-pilot-and-lsa-rules-with-sean-elliott-ga-news
All EAA members need to study this new rule. It will likely help you and many others!
VMC/IMC Club
Doug Crumrine and Tom Woodward were facilitators for this month. There was a good turnout with about 15 pilots and lots of great discussion. Tom Woodward collects a roster of all attendees for FAA Wings Credit.
Thanks to all who stayed to store the tables and chairs and help put the airplanes back in the hanger.
