Welcome to EAA Chapter 54. We speak aviation!

From its beginnings in the late '50s, Chapter 54 of the Experimental Aircraft Association has served aviation enthusiasts, dreamers, aircraft builders, pilots, would-be pilots, and individuals interested in helping young people become aviators in the East Metro of Minnesota's Twin Cities.  We meet on the second Monday of each month at the Chapter House at Lake Elmo Airport (21D) for informative programs and hangar talk. On Saturdays, we're open for coffee and doughnuts and a Wings safety seminar to help members be safer pilots. We provide Young Eagles rides and aviation scholarships. We help people who are building airplanes.  But you don't need to be a pilot to participate in our activities. Please come to our next meeting or event as our guest. Let us know you're coming so you can be properly greeted and introduced to the chapter. Please explore this site to learn about the many programs and benefits we offer. Select the dropdown menu to the left to learn our history, find out how young people can get a free flight, and the latest chapter news. You can also find flight planning and airplane-watching tools, read about past programs, and find many articles about flying. Find all the details here.

FEBRUARY MEETING   Our next meeting will be held on Monday February 10, featuring an evening with Al Kupferschmidt. Bob Collins interviews the man who might be the greatest member in chapter history. The meeting starts with a social half-hour at 7 pm. The Cinema 54 presentation is "Devotion." Showtime is 4:30 pm. Popcorn will be served. Guests are welcome!  Details >>

Latest Chapter News

February video Magazine

January monthly meeting recap: An introduction to ForeFlight
It was a relatively thin crowd at EAA Chapter 54's monthly meeting on January 13, owing to the Minnesota Vikings playoff game. A lot of members made a poor choice, as the capabilities of ForeFlight for iOS were on display when members Scott Hanson and Bill Schanks Jr. took it out for a run in front of an impressed audience, including one guest who drove to the Chapter House from Marshall, Minn., to learn a little more about the program’s capability.

So called “electronic flight bags” can be used in all phases of flight, Hanson said. “It doesn't replace any of the systems. So just because you have an artificial horizon on your iPad. That doesn't replace the artificial horizon that's in your panel,” he said. “So, you still have to have whatever is required for flying – the T-O-M-A-T-O-Flames. You need all of those. This EFB doesn't replace any of that. It has to be functionally equivalent to the paper copy.  All of your data that's on your iPad, has to be current, valid, and you have to make sure that it doesn't interfere with any of the systems in your plane.” Read more >>

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. Read more >>

You're upset? You need U-P-R-T!
Do you think you can't stall an airplane with its nose below the horizon? You probably need to pay attention to what Brian Lloyd has to say. Lloyd was the speaker at the Saturday Coffee and Wings Open House on January 11th at the EAA 54 Chapter House. Although attendance was slight, the presentation was the kind that can keep you alive and deserves more attention. Read more >>

Upcoming Open House sessions:

Saturday January 25 -  Cabin heating systems. 

February 1 - Common homebuilt and maintenance mistakes. Presenter is DAR Vic Syracuse. This is part of the EAA Homebuilders Week presentations. (Tentative)

February 8 - Ross Gammell, Controller, Minneapolis TRACON talks to us about flying in that airspace.  He'll introduce us to the physical airspace, runway configurations, and controller positions.  We will also talk about ATC duty priorities, and answer questions about going "over the top".  Finally, best radio practices and practice approaches will be covered. Even if you don't fly in the Minneapolis TRACON you are sure to pick up a few tips and tricks for your own forays into a TRACON!

All chapter news >>