December 17, 2024
This is the semimonthly email newsletter from the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 54 of Lake Elmo, Minn. If you have difficulty reading this information, view it on the chapter website. Unless otherwise noted, all events occur at the Chapter House, at the south entrance of Lake Elmo Airport off Manning Avenue. Find fly-in and drive-in information here.
Holiday Party caps a big year for Chapter 54
It was a full chapter house on Monday December 16 when the chapter celebrated the conclusion of the first year of the Marlon Gunderson - Jay Schrankler administration. Members enjoyed a filling dinner and many sugary desserts thanks to several members who brought good things to share. Chapter recognition awards were given out. Of those in attendance Jay was recognized for his work as vice president, Emma Hanson as treasurer, Scott Hanson as membership coordinator, Bill Schanks as events coordinator, Bruce Olson as Ray Scholarship director, Jeff Dale as education director, and Bob Collins as facilities director, newsletter editor, web editor and chapter MVP. President Marlon Gunderson also recognized a number of members who joined the chapter in 2024. Following dinner, Kevin Szalapski and Aaron Hoffman presented their film of flying Kevin's trike from Osceola to Sky Harbor Airport in Duluth, and along the coastline of Lake Superior. Kevin has made the film available for downloading and viewing. It can be streamed but the quality is much better if you download it. And the evening concluded with Jay Schrankler's excellent trivia contest, won this year by Gregg Adler, Jon Dekko, Hoffman, Szalapski, Jim Pearsall, and Carol Marsyla. Find more pictures from the holiday party here.
The Saturday open house and Wings seminar on Saturday December 14 was one of our best attended yet. And why not? The topic is incredibly important, and the presenter is well known for her engaging presentations and knowledge. You can watch the presentation here. You'll need to log in with your EAA account. Here's a reminder that when attending the Saturday session, you cannot receive Wings knowledge credit unless you have an account on FAASafety.gov.
Tech Counselor Visit: Mark Shanahan's Zenith CH 750
The day after the holiday party, I made a technical counselor visit to member Mark Shanahan's Woodbury garage, where a Zenith CH 750 Cruzer is being birthed. Mark, who moved to Woodbury from Washington State after retiring, is making his first airplane build, with the assistance of his son, Daniel. The EAA technical counselor program is a free service that offers another pair of eyes to the work, helpful assistance with tasks and information tools and procedures. The goal not only is to have a safe airplane upon completion, but to actually complete the project, as too many projects go dormant without a little cheerleading nudge from time to time.
The Shanahans' plane is a light sport utility airplane that Mark and Dan say requires about 400 hours of airframe construction. Mark has not yet decided on a powerplant. For his sheet metal construction education, he attended a workshop at the company's headquarters in Mexico, Missouri, where he constructed the plane's rudder.
According to the company website, the plane is "famous for its roomy cabin with comfortable side-by-side seating and easy cabin access from both sides. While influenced by its well-known STOL predecessors (the STOL CH 701 'Sky Jeep', the STOL CH 750 and three-seat CH 750-SD sport utility aircraft), the CH 750 Cruzer is an all-new design optimized as an economical cross-country cruiser for typical (airport) operations."
Eventually, he'll move the project to a hangar at Fleming Field. You can follow his progress on the EAA Builder Log, which is also accessible through the Chapter 54 website Builder Projects page.
Chapter 54 has two EAA technical counselors ready to be of assistance in planning or considering your building project.
If you want to learn more about building your own airplane, EAA is again hosting its Homebuilder's Week, January 21-27, with an entire week of webinars dedicated to the process. You can find the list here or on the EAA Chapter 54 calendar.
Incidentally, Sebastian Heinz, the CEO of Zenith, will be leading a program on his product line at Chapter 54's meeting in May.
January meeting: ForeFlight 101
Learn how to use the ForeFlight App efficiently. From which iPad works best to Essential Tools, Initial set up, features discussion, weather, plan a flight, and more. ForeFlight Provides virtually all the information a pilot would need to fly almost anywhere. But getting started takes a little help. EAA Chapter 54 member Scott Hanson comes to the rescue. He'll show you how as a student or instructor, it is an invaluable tool for storing and retrieving pilot, plane, and mission info. Making it easy isn't that hard once you get how it's organized.
Be sure to bring your iPad.
This presentation qualifies for FAA Wings program credit, so be sure to grab an account at FAASafety.gov.
We are setting aside 10 seats for guests.
Upcoming Programs
January 2025: Using ForeFlight. Presented by Scott Hanson
February 2025: An Evening with Al Kupferschmidt
March 2025: Choosing the right avionics for your mission. Presented by Jay Schrankler.
April 2025: (Open)
May 2025: Sebastian Heinz, CEO of Zenith Aircraft
June 2025: Annual Chapter picnic and hangar tour
July 2025: John Mohr-Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame Member
August 2025: Oshkosh postmortem
Stay Young Eagles eligible; renew Youth Protection certification
In order to fly or provide ground support for the EAA Young Eagles program, members need to keep their youth protection status up to date. Many current volunteers have expiring certifications before the next likely Young Eagles Day at Lake Elmo Airport. Renewing (or obtaining, if you're interested in being a Young Eagle volunteer), is easy. The steps to do so are listed on the Chapter 54 website. You can check your status by signing into your EAA account at EAA.org, selecting "My Account" in the top navigation ribbon, then scrolling down to "training information." If you've had Youth Protection Training in the past, your expiration date will be shown and there will be links to take the online training. Winter is a great time to do this because, well, what else are you going to do in the dead of winter?
Oh, hey! Another Rotax service bulletin
The latest Rotax service bulletin looks like it's going to be a major pain in the neck for those using the "i" series engines, including the 912iS common to Van's RV-12iS model. The affected serial numbers are very wide. At issue is the possibility that too much Loctite was applied to the oil spray nozzle, which could lead to the loss of a Lane. The bad news is there's no way to do an inspection without removing the engine from your plane. You can find the service bulletin here (pdf). Rotax-Owner.com has a preview of the fix here. The full video is available to the site's paying customers.
January Anniversaries
Jim Anderson (30 years)
Dana Vannen Anderson (28 years)
Al Kupferschmidt (28 years)
Norm Weston (28 years)
Tim Reberg (25 years)
Jim Pearsall (17 years)
John Roznick (17 years)
Gregg Adler (13 years)
Vicky Moore (13 years)
Randy Meyers (4 years)
Al Meuli (1 year)
(Note: Anniversaries are based on the EAA Roster Tool. Actual anniversary years are much earlier for those whose membership predates some computer records)
Who's Who in Chapter 54 President: Marlon Gunderson president@eaa54.org |
The E-Beacon is a semimonthly newsletter highlighting news items from Chapter 54. If you no longer wish to receive the email, you can unsubscribe by sending an mail to facilities@eaa54.org.