EAA 992 Name Tags
At the last meeting it was decided that we should use the $10 membership fee to get official name tags for EAA members to wear at meetings, AirVenture, the pancake breakfast, chili feed and other events.  The name tags have arrived and will be available for pick up starting with the May meeting in Medford.  Hopefully these name tags will make us more recognizable during the events as an EAA member.  The goal is to make our chapter more recognizable, personal and approachable.  Traditionally the $10 membership fee for our chapter has been used to cover the cost of printing and mailing the news letter but since everything has gone electronic we no longer incur those costs.  The decision was made to use the $10 this year for name tags.  Next year… who knows?

Upcoming Fly Out
We will be scheduling at least two fly-outs this year. One in early summer and one in early fall.  As you recall, our single attempt last year got fogged in. This year our first fly out will be to Madeline Island on Saturday 6/16 with a back up date of 6/23.  Visit www.madelineisland.com for more information.  There is a bicycle/moped rental shop on the island that has agreed to pick us up at the airport and get us to their shop.  From there you can rent a bike or moped and see the entire island including the trail system in Big Bay State Park.  More details to follow.

Young Eagles Update
There is a LOT happening on the national scene with the Young Eagles program, including an adult version of the program coming this summer.  The first two adult eagle rides will be given at Airventure 2012.  At the local level, Starr LeVoy has retired as the Young Eagle Coordinator for our chapter after many many years of heading up the position.  Dwayne Parkinson has volunteered to be the Young Eagle Coordinator unless someone else wants to step forward.  Please contact Dwayne if you’re ready, willing and able.  Also, if you fly any Young Eagles going forward please forward their contact information to Dwayne.  If you have flown Young Eagles in the past and you have records of their name, address, etc. please forward that information to Dwayne as well.  You can send the information to vicepresident@eaa992.org.

Taylor County Airport Changes
For those keeping track at home, there have been some changes at the Taylor County Airport lately.  Jim Wood has resigned as airport manager and is pursuing other interests.  Most of you know Jim because he is an EAA member from Medford who has been involved in our chapter.  He is building on a Double Eagle and also flies a powered parachute. As airport manager, Jim worked very hard to make the airport accessible to the community and especially our chapter.  He also led the Taylor County Airmen and has been instrumental in every event that occurred at KMDZ including the Upper Midwest Bearhawk BBQ and Cheese Extravaganza, the Young Eagle flights, Boy Scout events and the charity airshow a few years ago.  Whenever our chapter met at KMDZ Jim was also the one behind the scenes who made sure the hangar was open and the room was heated.

In typical “Jim” fashion, after he moved on he sent our chapter a nice “Thank You” for all of our support at those airport events and he encouraged us to keep up the EAA mission.  I’ll bring the thank you card to the next meeting in Medford so everyone can read it.  Jim is still around but will likely be moving closer to his new job in the near future.

Moving on; with Jim’s departure the airport will most likely restructure.  The latest rumors, speculation and general direction is that resources from the county will be used to do the maintenance (mowing, plowing, etc).  Rick Makovsky (assistant airport manager) will also do some of that work and provide services needed to assist pilots and aircraft, but there will be no airport manager any time soon.  There will be reduced hours of operation when a person is physically present at KMDZ simply because there’s only one person now.

Of course everything may change with the latest election and a new airport committee, but for now Rick will be on site to serve the pilots and he will also open the Hurd Hangar which chapter 992 will continue to use for our meetings at KMDZ.

Bearhawk Build Updates
Chris and Dwayne continue to make progress on their Bearhawks.  Chris explained some of the details of bending and fluting wing ribs at the March meeting.

Chris explaining how to flute wing ribs

Another action shot of the wing rib tutorial during the last meeting.

Since the meeting all of the nose ribs for the planes have been completed.

Bearhawk Nose Ribs

Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the April 9, 2012, EAA Chapter 992 meeting, held at the Marshfield Airport FBO.

President Chris Owens opened the meeting at 7:10p.m.

Minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and approved.

Chris handed out copies of the current financial statement.  The bank balance, after disbursements and deposits is $3,112.06. This balance reflects one payment made to Tom Jablonicky – a reimbursement for repair supplies for recovering a few damaged chairs.  Tyler Stargardt paid his chapter Membership dues – of $10.  Cash, to be forwarded to Harry for deposit.

Chris reported he had had further talks with John Hopkins, Weeks Hanger staff, as well as the membership – and the date of our visit has been changed to April 28. It may turn out that we will be working at the Pioneer Airport.  Travel arrangements will be worked on and forwarded to the membership prior to that date.

He also confirmed a few member names/spellings and will proceed with the order for member name tags.

Chris reported that several clinics are available during the months of April/May – in Wausau, including those of Stall/Spin recovery, Tail dragger experience, and beginning aerobatics. A list of the available clinics may be found at www.flywausau.com. It was also noted that the Wausau Balloon Glow and rally will be held in July.

Chris said he is not aware of any contact from the Student intern-Rachel (Community Access T.V. ) who wished to have a Young Eagles plane ride.

Dates were reviewed for the Annual Pancake Breakfast and Fly-in – and confirmed to be July 15.  Set up to happen the day before, no time decided.

Noreen confirmed list of places to post advertisements for the breakfast – which includes: AOPA, EAA calendar, WI DOT/Aviation calendar, local T.V. channels, Medford Star News, and the Marshfield News Herald.  She will place the ads at the appropriate times.

The business meeting was adjourned at 8:00

Show and tell:

Chris showed the group samples of the wing ribs he is currently working on for his Bear Hawk Project.  Progress is being made.

Canadian fattening goodies provided for a snack.

Respectfully submitted:      Noreen Moen

Builder Updates:
Hatz Bi-Plane: Tom Jakel
Many of you remember that Tom brought some steel parts for his Hatz bi-plane project to a meeting a few months ago.   Unfortunately Tom’s business appointments haven’t allowed him to get to a meeting lately, but he has been making really great progress on his bi-plane. The wings are pretty much ready for covering.

Bi-Plane Wing

The fuselage is welded together.

Fuselage

And right now he’s working on the landing gear. Great progress Tom!!!

Bearhawks: Chris Owens & Dwayne Parkinson
The Bearhawks being built by Chris and Dwayne are making steady progress. The rough cut wing parts have turned into nicely shaped parts that look like they belong in an airplane. Here are the big wing parts for both planes.
Once the wing parts are cut to shape, the edges are smoothed using Scotch Brite sanding disks so stress cracks don’t form. The edges then get bent and over and “fluted” (put little dents in them) so the curved pieces lay flat after the edges are bent. Here are the half of the nose ribs for both planes, bent and fluted.

Bearhawk Nose Ribs

Beyond the big impressive pieces, Dwayne and Chris are also making progress on all of the little pieces such as flap nose ribs. Here are all of the flap nose ribs ready to go on the airplane!

Flap Nose Ribs

Dave’s Famous Chili Feed & Ski Plane Fly In:

We had a good turn out for our Chili Feed & Ski Plane Fly in.  Although we didn’t have enough snow for the ski planes to land, we still had a good turn out.  Five members from Medford flew in: Pat Colwell (Cessna 172), Don Earl (Luscomb), Bob Lee (Luscomb), Al Mader (Challenger) and Jeff Lemmenes (Archer).

As usual, Dave and Starr were the chief chili disher outers and as with any chili feed, it’s good to have a 50 gallon drum of mineral spirits and other flammable chemicals behind you… just in case.

The Chili disher outers

We had a steady flow of people coming and going.  At times we even had people lined up to get the chili.

Lining up to get chili!

We also got a visit from several EAA members from the Oshkosh chapter.  A couple of our members rubbed elbows and traded stories.

Oshkosh Visitors

Overall, we seemed to have a good turn out.  At one point all of the seats were taken… unfortunately this photo was taken after the rush, but it gives you an idea of how many people we were expecting.

Chili Feed

As usual, all proceeds go to fund chapter activities and scholarships.

Medford Middle School Mini Course

For the second year in a row EAA Chapter 992 has been instrumental in the Medford Middle School’s “mini-course” project.  The goal of the project is to take topics that aren’t normally taught in school (such as aviation… and ice fishing) and for three consecutive Fridays have students participate in two hour classes about that subject.  Last year we had seven students, this year we have 26!  The first session is spent in the class room, the next session is spent at the airport and for the third session we got permission to take all of the kids to the EAA Museum in Oshkosh for the day.

The course received incredibly good feedback from educators, parents, students and the school board last year so that along with the trip to a world class museum explains the growth from seven to 26 students (which is one over the maximum allowed).  Below are some shots from the first session which was taught in the classroom.  EAA members Al Mader, Pat Colwell, Allan Hughes and Dwayne Parkinson handled the first session.  They were joined by EAA members Julie Thums and Bob Lee for the session at the airport.

During the first session, Allan Hughes talked about the four forces of flight and did a great job of getting the kids involved.

Four forces of flight

He then went on to explain aerobatics.  Notice for this demonstration he switched from a low and slow model airplane to something a little more capable.

Aerobatic Jet

Al Mader talked about parts of an airplane and how they’re built.  Here you can see him showing parts from a challenger (not his).  He passed them around and the students were amazed at how light they were and the fact that they were made out of fabric!

Challenger Parts

He also explained some of the building process that goes into a more traditional airplane and showed parts from his Sonex which is currently under construction.

Sonex Parts

Look for an update on the last two sessions in the March BLOG entry!

Meeting Minutes
Date: 2/13/2012
Location: Marshfield, WI (KMFI)

Present: Harry Dolan, Tom Jablonicky, Allen Hughes, Jeff Lemmenes, Jim Masephol, Danny Rossow, Don Halloran, Alan Mader, Dave LeVoy, Taylor Stargardt, Noreen Moen, Chris Owens, and Mona Griffith.

Chris called meeting to order at 19:07

Treasurer Report:
Balance               $6,364.48
Disbursements    $2,769.97
Current balance  $3,614.51
Moved by Dave and seconded by Noreen

Minutes: Available on Website.

Old Business:

1. Dues for this year:still being accepted $30.00 accepted.
2. Repair of 6 large tables: by Tom J. Bill submitted. Thank you Tom.
   The next plan for tables will be to purchase white plastic tables if they need to be replaced.
3. Chili FeedSaturday February 18, 2012, 10:00 to 13:00Chili – Dave
   Soda – Dwayne
   All – snacks.EAA staff to comeAdvertising Event:
   Community Calendar – local posted
   EAA Event Calendar
   Question:
   Do we want to have paid advertisement listed in the newspaper?
   Agree, Noreen will take care of the advertisement.
4. Scholarship:
   The scholarship form is on the EAA website. Notice to be given to Community Foundation and schools.

New Business:

1. Medford: Middle School Aviation Mini Course:  Twenty six children participating in program at Medford.

a. Thursday 2-16-12 Pre-Flight for plane at Hurd Hanger at MedfordAirport.

b. Friday 2-24-12 Travel to EAA Museum

Date to remember:
Next Meeting Medford Airport March 14, 2012

Dave’s famous ski plane fly-in and chili feed is finally here!

When: Saturday, February 18, 2012, 10:00a – 1:00p (or longer!)
Where: Marshfield Municipal Airport (KMFI), Marshfield, WI
Cost: Whatever you donate.

Join us on Saturday for Dave’s home-made chili, ski planes, and fun!  Planes on wheels are also welcome, of course!

The preferred ski landing area is the center of the field, east of runway 34, between runway 23 and the north taxiway from runway 34. Areas north of the taxiway off of runway 34 and south of runway 23 are rough-plowed cornfield, and not recommended. Approximate field lengths:

East side of Runway 34: ~1400ft
North side of Runway 23: ~2000 ft

Ski Plane Landing Areas

View Overhead Map of the Airport here.

Chris and Dwayne continue to work diligently on building their Bearhawks.  The joint work sessions are saving time and proving to be more fun than making parts alone in your basement.  The last meeting the wing rib form blocks were shown.  This meeting rough cut metal parts were handed around for review and the overall process for making the parts was explained.

1)  Trace form block onto aluminum.
2) Rough cut around the shape leaving about 1/8″ to 1/4″ of scrap aluminum.
3) Sandwhich rough cut parts between form blocks
4) Use a Formica bit in a router and route right down to the form block to make perfectly shaped parts.

A few willing meeting attendees decided to try out the electric aluminum shears to see how fast they make the cutting process compared to hand shears.

Next meeting there should be some perfectly shaped wing ribs to display!  Some ambitious member who shall remain nameless even suggested on the chapter’s Facebook site that we schedule a “work meeting” for one of our upcoming gatherings rather than our standard business meeting.  I think we can arrange that

Dave’s Annual Chili Feed / Ski Plane Fly In

Mark your calendars!  Saturday 2/18 from 10:00 to 2:00 will be the annual ski plane fly in / chili feed at the Marshfield airport!  Members who attend are asked to bring a desert to pass.  More details will come in the next meeting and as always, updates will be posted to Facebook and Twitter.

Meeting Minutes
Date: Jan 9, 2012
Location: Medford Airport (KMDZ) – Hurd Hangar

President Chris Owens opened the meeting at 7:10p.m.

No minutes of the previous meeting were available.

Chris reported that Harry had provided him with the current financial statement – which he had left at home.  The bank balance remained the same as on the last statement – approximately $6000.

Noreen noted that all the scholarship recipients should be reminded that their first semester transcripts should be forwarded to the scholarship committee ASAP – so that the funds can be awarded to them.

Chris thanked Don Halloran for his Christmas get-together presentation about his smoke jumping experiences.  Very interesting!

Patrick Colwell paid his chapter membership dues – $10 cash.

Dwayne led a discussion about the Medford Middle School Aviation Mini Course that is planned for February. Activities will include classroom discussion about aviation/flight properties, etc, pre-flight demos at the Hurd hanger, take home assignments and a day trip to the EAA museum in Oshkosh. Members were asked to volunteer as chaperones for that trip.  Costs for the trip will include transportation, lunch, prizes. Al Mader told the group that it is likely the Medford School board will pay for the transportation of the group, as was done for the 2011 class.  Jeff Lemmenes made the motion that the chapter provide $250 to support the event. Motion seconded and carried.  Check to be sent to Judy Mader, who supervises the financial aspects of the program.

Dave reported he has started his planning for “Dave’s annual Chili Feed/ski plane Fly-in” – to be held at the Marshfield airport on Feb. 18.  Set up to start at 8 a.m. Chili served from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Members are asked to provide desserts( bars/cookies etc.)

Dwayne and Chris showed the group some of the metal bits/pieces and required jigs they have prepared for their Bearhawk Projects.  Lots of time and meticulous preparation involved.

Dwayne provided birthday cake made by his loving wife as a snack – as it was his birthday.

A motion for adjournment was approved at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:  Noreen Moen

Food + millions of Christmas lights + a nifty slide show on smoke jumping = a pretty darn good Christmas party.  As usual there was plenty of food and we were very happy to have so many people show up to eat it!  The Wildwood Station proved to be a very nice place to have a Christmas party.  The light show was spectacular and the facilities at Wildwood Station were bright, clean and worked great.  As always a picture or two is worth a thousand words.

Many EAA members enjoying the party.

Kicking off the "meeting" part of the party.

Don Halloran answering questions about smoke jumping

Don demonstrates how the old parachutes used in smoke jumping were different than parachutes of today.

Thank you so much to everyone who brought food, arranged the party and of course those people who helped set up and stuck around to clean up.

Steven Parkinson busy sweeping up after the party.

See you all at the January meeting!

EAA 992 Goes Social
It’s official.  EAA Chapter 992 is no longer anti-social.  Look for us us on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and even here… on our very own BLOG.  We’re going to use the BLOG in place of the newsletter which has sort of fallen by the wayside as schedules have become hectic.  A printed copy will still be available for the disconnected amoung us.

Beyond the BLOG we will be using Facebook and Twitter to keep our members up to date with current events, interesting any juicy aviation tidbits we find and of course any news from the membership that is “Tweetworthy.” See you in the exciting world of the social Internet.

Follow @EAA992

Holiday Party
Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat; we’re going to have a party but we don’t know where it’s at.

Several members are checking on some Christmasy options that include lights, sleigh rides, and other festivities for our annual holiday party.  Watch your e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and the BLOG for updates on the party.  The location will largely depend on availability and price but just for kicks check out our poll on Facebook and vote for which day in December will work better for you!

Wings & Ribs
No, we didn’t take a trip to a sports bar to watch the Packers destroy the Vikings on Monday night.  Instead we sat around and talked about wing ribs.  Tom Jakel brought in a sample wing rib from the Hatz bi-plane he’s building.  For those who haven’t seen a Hatz, it’s a nice looking bi-plane that just looks “right” as this picture shows.

The ribs of a Hatz are a classic exercise in wood and glue.  Tom brought in a nifty jig he used for building his ribs that allowed him to build one rib each day.  Remember… it takes time for the wood glue to dry.  The Hatz ribs turned out great!

Bearhawk wing forms (solid wood) along with a Hatz wing rib (wood & glue) sitting on top of the jig

In addition to the ribs Tom brought in a couple of steel pieces for the wing that he took from the plans, drew in CAD and had laser cut locally.  Those are shown in the lower portion of the picture above.

Beyond the Hatz, Chris Owens brought in some gorgeous wing forms and the wing building manual for the Bearhawk.  The Bearhawk is a four seat high wing aircraft that carries full fuel, four passengers AND camping gear all while cruising at 160+ mph.  Yet another plane that just looks right.

The wings of a Bearhawk are made from aluminum ribs with aluminum skins.  Since the wing skin is aluminum only one wing strut is needed.  Fabric airplanes require two struts to keep the wing from twisting.  With aluminum wings the aluminum skin riveted to the aluminum ribs provides the strength needed.

To build the wing ribs for a Bearhawk, the form blocks are traced onto pieces of aluminum and then the individual ribs are rough cut from the aluminum sheets using aviation snips. The rough cut ribs are clamped between the form blocks and a router with a ceramic bit is used to trim the aluminum right down to the form block.  The end result are perfectly smooth, perfectly shaped wing ribs which Dwayne and Chris hope to have at the January meeting!

Minutes From The 11/14 Meeting  
Date: November 14, 2011
Time: 19:00
Place: Hurd Hanger Taylor County Airport
Present: Noreen Moen, Dave LeVoy, Dwayne Parkinson, Tom Jakel, Allen Hughes, Chris Owens, and Mona Griffith,

Chris called meeting to order at 1910

Treasurer Report: No financial repost.
Minutes: None available.
Old Business: No old business to report.

New Business:
1) Chris attended EAA Chapter Leadership forum in Oshkosh
- How to get more members and engage our current membership
- Discussed online tool Group Spaces
– Group Spaces has a data base keeps membership list current, consistent and accessible.
– Group Spaces contains Wiki, events, e-mail blast tools, forums, files and other tools.
– Cost is free.
- News letter – convert to a BLOG.
- Make use of social tools
– Dwayne interested in starting a Face Book site.
– Chris and Dwayne to investigate Twitter, Facebook, BLOG’s, etc. and integration with current web site and run with it.

2) Holiday meeting discussed
- Where to be held.
– Chilly – Stichert’s horse drawn wagons
– Marshfield – Memory Lane Wagon Rides
– Marshfield in the pavilion at Wild Wood Park
- Date looking at December 10 -11 or 17-18 to be determined

3) Dues are coming up in January and will be $10 again in 2012.

4) Bearhawk & Hatz Wing Ribs
- Chris brought Bearhawk wing rib forms that will be used to build all the wing ribs for his and Dwayne’s airplanes.
- Tom brought a sample wing rib and the jig used to make the rib.
- Discussion about building techniques. See the BLOG for details.

5) Dates to remember
- Holiday Gathering: date TBD.
- Next Meeting – Marshfield / Airport January 9, 2010
- Chili Feed in February, Dave will check on date.