The Pasco Flyer

Chapter 791 Hidden Lake May 9, 2010

President: Scott Murphy tenraii@verizon.net
Vice-president: Steve Carper
Secretary: Pete Porebski
Treasurer: Les Conwell
Newsletter Editor: Dean Psiropoulos Phone: 727-937-7986 dean.psiropoulos@verizon.net
Flight Advisor: Les Conwell Phone: 727-841-9764
Technical Counselor: Rodney Daulton

***JUNE MEETING AT HIDDEN LAKE PAVILLION***

The Chapter's next regular meeting will be held on June 12th 2010. Future chapter meetings will also be held on the second Saturday of each month, and will be continued on that date for the foreseeable future. Meetings are open to anyone with an interest in building, restoring, and flying airplanes. Meetings are held at the River Ridge Golf Course clubhouse from May through September and at the Hidden Lake Airport pavilion from October through April. See driving directions for both places at the bottom of this newsletter. Exceptions are made and things can change on a monthly basis so watch this space for notices. This month's meeting is at the Hidden Lake Pavillion.

Presidents Corner:
Hello Everyone,
Recently I was reading an account of a fellow aviators experience on an NTSB report. It seems that after talking to some of this particular pilots acquaintances, we learn that he did not take his preflight and basic safety all to serious. He was of the mind set that "it was running and flying well when I parked it" so, it must still be ok. Well .. it turns out this man had a partner in the plane. He had flown the plane unbeknownst to the first pilot. The partner had encountered a problem, taxied back to the hangar, and promptly disassembled something back in the tail of the airplane, and took the part to be repaired. No problem right ? Well .. one unfortunate thing happened. The partner neglected to tell our pilot of the situation. Our guy shows up to fly ..... jumps in .. taxi's out ... and as he takes off he gets to about 500 ft and the plane becomes uncontrollable and spins in. NO survivors!

Please take the time to do that preflight walkaround. You never know who has been around that plane last. Maybe they left a pen on the elevator, and it rolls in the gap and jams your flight control at some point. Think of it this way ...

As a pilot only two bad things can happen to you and eventually one of them will:

1.One day you will walk out to the aircraft knowing that it is your last flight.

2.One day you will walk out to the airplane not knowing that it is your last flight.

Opening: Scott Murphy called the meeting of EAA Chapter 791 to order at 0920 hrs on May 20th, 2010 at the Hidden Lake Airport Pavilion with the Pledge of Allegiance and a Moment of Silence.

Guests and First Timers: Phil Kircher, who lives in Waters Edge and is a former Grumman A1A, KR2 pilot, and a friend of Bill Maytum.

Approval of Previous Months Minutes: As there was no meeting last month due to Sun-N-Fun there were no minutes to be approved.

Treasurers Report: See Les Conwell for more information. Les reported 44 members have paid their 2010 dues so far. We have 2 new members from Wisconsin and 2 more from Indiana. They met us at the SNF campsite SEE...WE HAVE SUCH A GREAT TIME THERE WE EVEN ATTRACT NEW MEMBERS, JOIN US NEXT YEAR!!!

Announcements:

• On 5/29 @ 0900 hrs there will be a Young Eagle flight at Hidden Lake airport. Kids will be from Gulf High School Navy ROTC. Estimated number is 20 -30. Volunteers are needed 5 to 10 minutes early.

Old Business:

Sid had a new Young Eagles sign prepared as per motion at last meeting in March.

Sun-N-Fun report:

• Everyone met at the campsite in lieu of April's meeting.
• There are now several Chapter Out-of-State Members. Chris and Beth Cummins from Indiana. Mark Marino from Minnesota "re-upped" for another year. Peter Wei from Indiana and Jim Nelson from Wisconson are new members. Everyone says they plan on coming out and camping with us again next year. Report on Bob B. - he injured his knee and is healing now. Bruce Waters had a surprise ride on a "Huey" chopper as it was 35 yrs to the month since his last ride in Vietnam. On that ride the helicopter was shot down, and Bruce was injured. The Chapter presented a souvenir sign to Bruce for his efforts as Camping Coordinator.

New Business:

• There was a discussion of Hank Hiscox's condition. It appears that Hank suffered a stroke. His condition is unknown at this time.
• There was a discussion of an email the Chapter received from the Aviation Authority of Hernando County airport (KBKV) requesting support for changing the Unicom frequency from 123.00 to 122.925 MHz. Craig LaPorte made a motion of support, seconded by everyone present and unanimously passed. Letter of Chapter support to be sent and signed by our esteemed President, Scotty. Additonally, Scott will forward the email to the Chapter for individual members own action.

Safety Tip(s):

• Remember, the flight begins with engine start and ends with engine shutdown.

Meeting Program: This month's presentation was a last minute change due to planned speaker's unavailability. Steve Carper spoke about the Space Shuttle Replacement Programs and Les Conwell spoke about and demonstrated his recently completed GP-4.

• Steve spoke on his visits to Wallops Island, Virginia. Wallops opened in 1945 and is adjacent to Chincoteague Island.
• There are 2 replacement programs planned: 1)The Aries - first launched in October 2009 and 2)The Taurus - by Orbital Science
• Aries Program, Aries is launched from Kennedy Space Center (BTW - all manned vehicles launch from KSC and unmanned vehicles launch from Cape Canaveral AFB. The two facilities are adjacent to each other on Merritt Island). Aries is big! About the same size as the Saturn V rocket. Uses some of the same parts. 2nd stage is a liquid-solid propellant mix. Boosters are to be reusable. Payload will be 25 tons.
• Taurus Program, Taurus is the smaller and cheaper program. It will be launched from Wallops Is. Is non-reusable. Payload will be 7 tons. The rocket uses 1970s era Russian design rockets. It is unmanned only. Fuel is kerosene.

Les Conwell spoke on his recently completed GP-4 experimental aircraft project:

• The GP-4 is a plans only design by George Pereira, the designer of the Osprey wood 2 place amphibian.
• It is an 2 place (side by side) all wood, low wing, high performance, retractable, canopy, tricycle gear design.
• Performance Data(as per plans):Uses IO-360AIA 200 hp engine, Empty Weight = 1300 lbs, Max Gross Weight = 2076 lbs, Wing span - 24', Length - 21.5', Fuel Cap - 53 gals, Cruise - 220 mph, VNE = 255 mph.
• There have been 18 or 19 GP-4s built including Les's. However, many more plans were sold (Les is plans holder No. 385). So most don't get built due to the complex nature of the project.
• The question came up that since Les already has completed a Thorp T-18 why build another project? There is some history in the answer. Les & Margie moved into Hidden Lake airport in 1985. Shortly after that Margie started a "Honey-Do" list. Les saw no end in sight and so for self protection decided he needed another project, hence the GP-4. Note - the list has kept growing in the interim! So when Les bought the GP-4 project from Harry Wooldridge he sold his Stinson 108. Les Meggers another GP-4 builder, helped with the metal work while Les Conwell did the wood working. They worked as a team building the gas tanks from FRP. The engine was a runout helicopter engine that was rebuilt by a friend of Les's (an IA) in 2007 and was first run last summer, July 2009. The FAA inspection was on 10 August, 2009 and Les presently has about 20 hrs on the aircraft. Les commented that many EAAers helped him with the building process and served as "inspectors" on the project.

Project Status:

• Ed/Alex K.(Piper Archer)- Repainted by Hawk (Vandenburg). Re-upholstering.
• Wes/Gloria (Piper Colt) - Replacing fabric covering.
• Alan Uhr (Zenith 601) - Wings removed to comply with AD (about $350 and 80 hours work).
• Pete P. (Falco/C-172) - Making first scarf joint in the Falco Fueslage.
• Les C. (GP4) - 21 Hours, cruising at 230 MPH now that the gear retracts.
• Wayne (C-150) - Working on wings.
• Marcel B. (Lancair) - 110 hours and flying approaches to Hidden Lake at 120 MPH. Whew!
• Rodney (Swift/Skybolt) - Polishing the Swift. No progress on skybolt.
• John V. (Lancair) - Looking for appraiser for partially built kit.
• Jerry A. (RV-8) - Progress on wings and fuel tanks. Not yet ready for Proseal.
• Charles (Mustang II) - Horizontal/vertical stabilizers on.
• Dean P. (RV-6A) - 35 hours total, swapping the wood prop for FP metal.
• Scott M. (Mustang II) - Hole in fuel tank, painting interior, powder coating pedals.
• Richard B. - Retired, flying and enjoying the RV-7.
• Mike M. - Bought A20 Vista LSE from Ukrane, working aileron counterweights.

50/50 Winner: Total was $29. Winner was Gary Lubben. Gary graciously donated his winnings back to the Chapter. Thanks Gary!!

Last items: Discussion was held regarding another flyout. Nothing decided. Will follow up on monthly basis, probably wait until the fall due to our torrid Florida summer weather.

Adjournment: Scott Murphy adjourned meeting at 1134 hrs. The next general meeting will be at 0900 hrs on June 12th at the Hidden Lake Pavilion.

********* RIVER RIDGE GOLF COURSE MEETING PLACE ***********
May through September meetings are held at the River Ridge Golf Course clubhouse (11022 Tee Time Circle, New Port Richey, 727-848-1048) starting 9:00 AM. There is ample parking in front of the building. To get to the River Ridge Golf Course clubhouse you go EAST on Ridge Road (past Hidden Lakes) until it ends. Once there, you take a right turn and you are on Decubellis Road. Take Decubellis south a short distance untill you see Tee Time Circle on your left. Turn onto Tee Time Circle, the clubhouse entrance will be on your right. To join us for breakfast show up around 8:00-8:30.

********* HIDDEN LAKE PAVILLION MEETING PLACE ***********
October through April meetings are held at the Hidden Lake Pavilion in the Hidden Lake Community at 9am. There is ample parking in front of the building. To get to the pavilion you go in the WEST entrance to the community (north off Ridge Road) and follow Airway Boulevard parallel to the runway to the north end. Continue through the open gate till you see the cars and park on the left. The Hidden Lake Airport Community is adjacent to Ridge Rd about one mile east of Little Rd and four miles east of US Highway 19.