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FlyPaper |
4560 Flightline Drive
EAA Chapter 765 May 2006 Kingman, AZ 86401
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Regular EAA Chapter 765 meetings are held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday each month at the EAA Hangar on Flightline Drive at the Kingman Airport. Chapter 765 Officers President John Pool 692-8026 Vice-President Harry May 718-5896 Treasurer Scott Brackett 753-9075 Secretary Dennis Macklin 692-5553 Directors T. W. Aronson 681-4980 Ed Covington 753-3060 Other Positions Hangar Coordinator Gene Wolff 757-3870 Newsletter Editor Julia Downie 757-8477 Young Eagle Coord. Scott Brackett 753-9075 |
Membership Meeting Agenda Don Downie Memorial Hangar May 9th 2006 7:00 p.m. Meeting call to order: John Pool, President Welcome to Guests: Harry May, Vice President Secretary’s Report: Dennis Macklin Approval of Minutes Treasurer’s Report: Scott Brackett Approval of Minutes Old Business: Young Eagle DAY – John Pool Chapter Offer Public Relations – Mike Finnegan/ Potluck – Harry May New Business: Young Eagle Day Addition – September 16th – Third Saturday ??? Hangar Needs – Air Conditioning/Insulation?? Program: Ideas Needed!!!!! Next Meeting: June 13TH 2006 - 7:00pm - Adjourn |
President’s Message:
Saturday, April 22nd, chapter members Scott Brackett, Carlos Hernandez, King Sharp, and Joe Shelton gave demonstration rides to forty-four (44) Young Eagles. Twenty-two youth were not able to fly because of high winds. I want to thank all members and guests who worked thru the frustrations to make this day successful for Kingman’s youth and our chapter.
The following is a list of individuals/businesses/organizations that without their contributions our Young Eagle Day would not have been such a success:
Kingman Modeler’s - Radio Aircraft display and Flight simulator. 2
Kingman Airfield Museum – Tours and Transportation.
Kingman Air-Zona – Fuel
Kingman Aero – Weather Station
Shebly’s – Use of aircraft.
Martha Gonzales – Computer desk.
Aunt Di – Sign-in desk.
Kingman Daily Miner – Publication of EAA news articles.
Parents of Young Eagles.
Tip Lemon – Weather station.
Boy & Girl Scout Leaders.
We voted for another Young Eagle Day September 16th. There are a number of items that need volunteers that will make sure they get accomplished prior to 9/16/06. I will bring these to your attention at the meeting May 9th.
John Pool
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Date: Tuesday, April 11th, 2006
Time: 7:00 pm
Place: EAA Hanger
Meeting called to order: John Pool, President
Welcome Guests: No guests
Secretary’s Report: Dennis Macklin, Secretary
No meeting notes in March due to potluck, March 14th.
Treasurer’s Report: Scott Brackett, Treasurer
Scott reported $1,951.28 in checking, $92.52 cash for a total of $2022.80. King Sharp made motion to approve report. Seconded by Malcolm Hart. Motion made to pay $10.00 corporation fees by King and seconded by Julia Downie.
Old Business: John Pool – Young Eagles Day
Discussed Young Eagles Day Sat. April 22, 2006 – 7:30 am – 2 p.m. Volunteers needed to direct young people to the different stations, and walkers to the airplanes. There will be seven stations and Ron will bring his flight simulator program again.
Public Relations/Web site: Mike Finnegan – not present.
Pot-Luck dinner, Harry May, tentatively set for June 13th. The use of envelopes for newsletters seem to help getting to homes in one piece. E-mail is preferred.
New Business:
Discussed adding a Young Eagles Day around Oct. 14th. Need to look into used waste oil heater and evaporative cooler for hanger to help keep down costs. John discussed Paul’s
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offer to share profit from Mustang II project with chapter. Bill Aronson also added he would donate 20% of proceeds to chapter for items he has for sale. Needs help to get them on eBay.
Discussed adding sections to the Flypaper, such as calendar of events, dues reminder, quarterly membership roster, and bi-monthly Industrial Park news update. Motion to accept by King seconded by Malcolm, passed unanimously.
Ercoupe Fly in to arrive Friday evening with banquet Saturday evening, departing Sunday.
Program:
Dennis Macklin made a short presentation on his ultralight project, a Challenger II--with an invitation for anyone interested to see it at his home.
Adjourn:
Motion made to adjourn and was seconded. Next regular meeting May 9th.
Adjourned at 8:07 P.M.
IGM- Update
Kingman is expecting its new (to us) ARFF fire truck in June. The bid for its housing is going out this summer.
Fuel prices are from 3.68 to 4.00 on the field; expect increases.
KAA airport committee has a marketing group. Let us know any wishes or wants at (www.kingmanairportauthority.com).
A composite and avionics shop are coming. Location west of Aeroflight hangar.
Drop in at an Airfield Committee meeting first Tuesday of the month at 4:30 pm.
Scott Brackett
baf@citlink.net
(This is planned to be a monthly feature in our newsletter, thanks to Scott.)
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FLYING HIGH IS AN EXHILARATING EXPERIENCE
by Jean Rutter
As a sweaty-palmed and very reluctant passenger in any airplane, I often wondered what kind of madness caused those otherwise normal people known as flyers to risk their lives and limbs, bucketing about the skies on the flimsy wings of small aircraft. Having a brother, sister, husband and finally a daughter all succumb to the joys of single-engine flying didn’t clear up the mystery in any way. Rather I was forced to hide my so-called irrational fears of crash-and-burn disaster behind my excuse of a flighty stomach that, airborne, requires regular administrations of tummy-tranquilizing Marezine to avoid its own disaster.
My cover story was torn asunder in the spring of 1976. Tom, my husband of 25 years and veteran of 24 years of weekend flying with like-minded buddies, acquired a Cherokee 140 of doubtful vintage and casually announced his intention of our flying it from our adopted desert home in Kingman, Arizona, to our old hometown of Calgary, Alberta. That’s some 1,400 miles
as the crow, or airplane, flies--somewhat longer if one wants to avoid the rocks in the 4
Rocky Mountain Range.
I didn’t really worry at first. After all, I had managed to elude all but one short flight in those years of Tom’s piloting. That flight had acquainted him thoroughly with my gastric limitations. As a result, he had not pressed again for the doubtful pleasure of my company in the cockpit. Furthermore, the weather would probably be un-cooperative; doubtless the airplane would develop some weird and expensive malady in final preparation, or finally, Tom would sensibly conclude that it was too large an adventure for a middle-aged couple to cross the high and mighty Rockies in a tiny, aging, single-engine airplane, and we would make a safe, long and dull automobile trip instead.
However, as the departure date approached , air navigational charts piled up alarmingly on the dining room table. Tom charted and re-charted a route over their beige and green surfaces marked so menacingly with the jagged lines of high peaks. Meanwhile, the airplane, its official designation of N6364W shortened to the pilot’s radio jargon of “64 Whisky” passed every inspection with ease. I began to realize with sinking heart--and stomach-- that this trip was going to be “go.”
Despite my inner visions of a smoking, twisted wreck flatten-d against a mountain peak, I couldn’t find the courage to dampen Tom’s obvious enthusiasm and kept the dark images to myself. I made my will and nagged Tom into making his. I was prepared to go, one way or the other.
The first day of our journey started even earlier than planned as sleep did not come easily to the excited pilot about to embark on his longest flight, and not at all to his terror filled co-pilot. We roared off the Kingman runway into the pale pre-dawn of a May morning, Tom’s hands sure and confident on the controls, mine white-knuckled and clutching the seat in search of security.
We climbed through the bumps and thumps of a windy desert morning, just touching a red-tinged cloud of dust stirred up from the desert floor. Its unexpected clatter against the windshield convinced me the end had come already; but in a moment it was gone, falling away below us as “64Whisky” rose into the brilliant orange dawn.
Despite my certainty that the engine would quit, the wings fall off, or some other unseen calamity would strike us down, the rest of the flight into Salt Lake No. 2, our first refueling stop, was fairly routine. I kept busy following our progress on the navigational charts spread on my lap. The tiny land marks of the map became a panorama of silvery lakes, winding highways and railroads, and green mountains sliding beneath our wing.
On the ground we gratefully gulped hot coffee, mine fortified with another dose of Marezine, while “64 Whisky” took on full tanks of fuel. Soon we were aloft again; the Great Salt lake, now looking like a series of children’s wading pools, slipped past beneath us as we headed toward the checkerboard fields and climbing hills of Idaho.
By two o’clock in the afternoon, we rolled to stop on the parking apron at Idaho Falls and both tired and hungry shut down and chocked the little plane for the night.
Though terribly pleased and inwardly amazed at having survived that first day of our journey, I approached the coming flight with even more dread. The Rockies now loomed close and even higher between us and our destination. Today we must vault their peaks.
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Tom was anxious to be off before the sun could heat up the cold air and make it less stable. We would need all the altitude the Cherokee could make. We were off the ground soon after 6 am and climbed steadily into the bright blue sky. Brown grey hills fell away and were replaced by ever steeper, higher slopes. Still we climbed. Then the pine trees thinned, revealing rivulets of snow which spread to become solid sheets of white almost covering the rocks beneath. Hardly a bobble of rough air disturbed “64 Whisky’s” upward straining, and I began to relax and actually delight in the ever-expanding scene below. Up, up, through 9,000 feet, 10,000, 11,000, and finally level at 11,500 feet we soared, almost silently now, the little engine muted in the thin air. Below us, from horizon to horizon, lay a sea of tossed snow, glistening like white diamonds in the early sun, patterned in waves by the fierce mountain winds, while above, the brilliant blue sky fitted over the scene like a dome.” We hung suspended, seemingly motionless at the top of this pure white and blazing blue world.
I remember grinning expansively at Tom as if this were my very own discovery and hoping we would never have to go down to the ordinary world again. It suddenly occurred to me that this could be why fliers love flying. It is not that they are daredevils defying the elements and gravity for the mad fun of it. Rather it could be that glorious feeling of unity with their aircraft and freedom from the cares and troubles of the distant world below that makes the chancing of flight worthwhile.
My sickly stomach forgotten, I was pleasantly surprised to feel a real reluctance to return to earth when Tom throttled back, adjusted the attitude, and we began the long downward glide to the valley below.
There were many more moments of exciting discovery--and stomach-squeezing fear--before we bade farewell to “64 Whisky.” But the shared joy of our leap off the high Rockies remains the memorable point of that trip. And a comforting security blanket for me when I must take to the skies is the sure knowledge that my pilot is not necessarily mad, but perhaps just longs for that quiet serenity found in high flight.
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Calendar of Events
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Date |
Event |
Location |
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5/12/06-5/14/06 |
EAA Southwest Regional Fly-In |
Hondo, Texas |
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5/27/06-5/28/06 |
12th Annual “World’s Smallest Air Show” |
Llano, California |
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6/03/06 |
EAA Chapter 71 Annual Fly-In |
Bakersfield, California |
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6/24/06-6/25/06 |
Rocky Mountain EAA Regional Fly-In |
Watkins, Colorado |
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7/24/06-7/30/06 |
EAA Air Venture Oshkosh |
Oshkosh, Wisconsin |
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9/09/06 |
EAA Chapter 376 End O’ Summer Fly-In |
Fresno, California |
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(Note: This is another feature requested for the newsletter. Feel free to notify the Editor of any events you would like included. A membership roster is planned to be included in next month’s newsletter.)
EAA Chapter 765
4560 Flightline Drive
Kingman, AZ 86409
