From time to time, we provide originally-written articles. This is the archive of those articles.
2025
Former chapter president Paul Hove dies
Hove, a former Director of Naval Systems at Unisys, was president of Chapter 54 from 2004 to 2007. After flying a Warrior for a number of years, he began building an RV-7A at Lake Elmo Airport in a hangar on Mooney Lane he shared with Doug Weiler, who started the Twin Cities RV Builders Group. He was a fixture at the group's meetings as well as the Saturday-morning crowd at the Anderson hangar not far away. The private pilot ground school once hosted by Chapter 54 began under the Hove administration. He also opened up the Chapter House on occasional Saturday mornings for safety seminars, a practice that was resurrected by the chapter in 2024. Hove also led a number of spring work parties to Oshkosh, to help the organization prepare the grounds for AirVenture each July. When his illness forced his retirement from chapter leadership a few months ago, he had accumulated a total of 24 consecutive years as a Chapter 54 officer.
2024
Remembering Bill Schanks
Bill Schanks, who presided over EAA Chapter 54 during its most prolific years, died on October 27, Chapter President Marlon Gunderson announced. "Bill personified aviation at Lake Elmo for many decades," Gunderson said. "He was an early and longtime member of Chapter 54, building his own Acrosport Biplane and serving many roles including President (1999-2001). Bill was a CFI and Tech Counselor, and I was fortunate enough to take my dual instruction from him in my own J5 Cub on the way to earning my PPL. He was always upbeat, ready with a joke or a quip, and had a bottomless supply of entertaining stories. Bill was a founding member of the Holman Hobos aircraft club, which maintained and flew an L2 Taylorcraft (Elvira), and then a Champ after the demise of the Taylorcraft. For decades, on any given Saturday you could find Bill somewhere at a dozen different hangars at 21D helping with the rebuild or repair of some classic airplane. He taught me how to self-annual my own aircraft and introduced me to A&P Jim Montague who would inspect my work and sign off my annuals. Bill was a regular at AirVenture and was a camp instructor at Air Academy for a number of years."
A matrimonial mission
The mission was clear: a parade of airplanes would find the spot where the chapter's treasurer was getting married, then crash the party at just the right time. It was the idea of Luke Hanson, the lucky gentleman set to marry Emma Gaustad, EAA Chapter 54's treasurer. He suggested a flyover at roughly the moment of their nuptials. The military was busy that day so he turned to Chapter 54 for help. A few exchanged messages later and the plan was put into the hands of VP Jay Schrankler with member Paul Rankin the mission officer and flight planner.
Two days in Oshkosh: "Do Something"
It occurred to me about halfway through the two-day EAA Chapter Leadership Academy in Oshkosh October 23-25 that these things must be murder on the chapter leaders back home, what with their attendees coming back with all this enthusiasm and desire to swing into action and all. But I already had enthusiasm and desire so I didn't really think the EAA's session was going to make much difference. I was wrong. Sorry, Chapter 54 leaders. Brace yourselves! I’m not the first Chapter 54 member to attend one of these things and I’ve never heard anything but enthusiasm from attendees so perhaps I should’ve expected a caffeine-like injection of ideas. And, really, the whole takeaway from the session can be summed up in EAA Communities Director Charlie Becker’s bottom line: “Do something!”
Avoiding loss-of-control accidents
Whether you have a certificated airplane, an amateur built experimental or a light sport airplane there are several maintenance actions you can do on your own airplane. These tips will apply to whatever you are working on. All these tips are the result of mistakes I made in the past. You can measure ability by the effectiveness of recovery from mistakes.
Maintenance tips for working on your airplane
Whether you have a certificated airplane, an amateur built experimental or a light sport airplane there are several maintenance actions you can do on your own airplane. These tips will apply to whatever you are working on. All these tips are the result of mistakes I made in the past. You can measure ability by the effectiveness of recovery from mistakes.
St. Paul tower controllers seek to reduce air conflicts
Meeting with area pilots at South St. Paul's Fleming Field, two tower controllers from downtown St. Paul Airport sought to enlist help in reducing the number of traffic conflicts between pilots arriving and leaving South St. Paul and air traffic -- mostly jets -- arriving downtown. To be sure, the controllers noted that conflicts have been substantially reduced over the last few years in the East Metro because of increased emphasis on "hot zones" by ATC and the FAA.
Two chapter members killed in Afton plane crash
EAA Chapter 54 members Pat Moore and Mitch Zahler were killed Saturday March 2 when Moore's Globe Swift went down in Afton, shortly after taking off from Lake Elmo Airport. Moore, 85, of White Bear Lake, and Zahler, 68, of Baytown Township, were enroute to the Fagen Fighters Aviation Museum in Granite Falls with a group of other aviators, according to an email from member Bill Schanks Jr., who had departed the airport just before the Swift.
Chapter House renovations completed
After about a month of work, this phase of the renovation of the Chapter 54 house has been completed. The effort involved repainting the walls and reimagining the space to make it more comfortable and welcoming. It's also to move us forward as a chapter, thinking about who we are and where we're going. The history of the chapter is certainly properly preserved and acknowledged -- possibly more so -- while allowing us to use the space to declare who we are now.The changes were guided by a visit to the space in 2022 by Robyn Stoller's sister, an interior designer. While we didn't comply with all of her recommendations, they guided the process.
A conversation with Marlon Gunderson
I'm from East Central Minnesota -- Rush City and Mora. I was the 8th of 11 children in a dairy farm family. My Dad almost went broke farming before I was born. He moved 5 kids to Thief River Falls and had a couple of crop failures. He bought a place in Rush City and took an hourly job to pay the contract off and grow the farm to where he could support his family again. My brothers and sister were the labor supply. We were given a lot of responsibility and the boys got pretty mechanically inclined.
The Wall of Planes
The wall full of pictures at the EAA 54 headquarters has been moved from the north to the west wall. Culled from the group, however, are planes from people who are no longer active members of the chapter. That amounts to the majority of the pictures that were hanging. We want to display only the planes built/owned by active members. We're looking for yours.
