The Hernando Flyer
Chapter 1298
Brooksville, Florida
March 2, 2011
President:
Bernie Berger
bberger4@tampabay.rr.com
352-799-2721
Vice-President:
Tom Longo
tclongo@att.net
352-232-2825
Acting Secretary
Edgar Fleig
ezedgar@tampabay.rr.com
(352) 428-4507
Chapter meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month.
All meetings are open to anyone with an interest in building, restoring, and
flying airplanes. The meetings are held at the CAP Building located on the
east side of the National Guard Hangar.
Meetings start at 7:00 pm. There is ample parking in front of the building.
Please note that the Chapter does not meet during the months of July and
August.
Any questions on meeting location, contact Bernie or Tom Longo.
President’s message
Treasurer:
V. Jim Doan
dejidoan@tampabay.rr.com
352-797-4797
Webmaster
Larry Wimble
Technical Counselor:
Dan Landry
dan@3dsky.us
352-397-5729
Newsletter Editor
Falk Nicolaus
bayrischerhof@gmail.com.
Greetings Chapter Members! Well, winter came in early and appears to
be leaving on a quiet note. Airport conditions lately have ranged from
fog in the morning to gusting winds. Coupled with some flight
restrictions due to the 101st airborne jumping into the west side infield
which restricted the traffic patterns, coupled with taxi way work, the
motor coach show and runways being closed for maintenance, pilots have
had to be aware of changing conditions on a daily basis. During our
recent Young Eagles event, Paul Attard sat at the end of runway 27 and
was advising visiting pilots of the day’s NOTAM to ensure that the
possibility of an incident was prevented.
Tom Longo, our Vice President, went to South Lakeland and worked for
Jay Kurtz installing instrument panels for his RV9 that Jay is building as
LSAs. Although not conceived as an LSA, the RV9 can qualify as one
with careful building techniques. Jay appears to be selling them as
quickly as he is able to complete building them. Tom’s electronics
background provided Jay with the expertise he needed.
Our hangar now has a cipher lock. All current Chapter members are
asked to provide a discreet 6 digit pass code so they can have access
to the hangar whenever they want to. Please get your code to me as
quickly as possible. Also take note that the walk through gate on the east
Respectfully submitted by
side of the field has a combination lock on it. We will talk about the gate
code at the meeting or email me for more information. Please be sure to
secure the gate lock when you come onto the field else the lock could
grow legs.
Our next meeting we will have a speaker. Jack Ohle has been hard at work lining up interesting subject matter
experts. Our next meeting we will have discussion on propeller maintenance. If you have ever had to file a
rock hit nick from a propeller, the balance is upset and the engine operation will be degraded. On a personal
note, I removed one side of my propeller edge protector after is started to lift up. That small strip of stainless
steel, in removed from one leading edge provided me with a significant engine vibration issue until I landed
and removed the edge protector from the other blade. A side note: if we can get at least 3 plane owners who
want their propellers balanced, they will get $50.00 off a normal $250.00 balance job. If that happens, the
propeller shop will come to BKV and do the work at our hangar on a date that those involved can agree to.
The Chapter is going to participate in an open hangar/open house for airport tenants on March 26th. Our only
role will be to set up tables and chairs for those folks who will be buying food from food vendors who will be
setting up on the side of the hangar. This will be a fly-in, not open to the drive-in public as was the last event.
The airport management is planning to have an LSA dealer or two on hand plus a representative of an LSA
flight school. The event should be interesting.
Our next meeting is March 1st this coming Wednesday. Hope to see everyone there.
Bernie
Secretary’s Report
The February meeting started at 7:00 PM. After the Pledge of Allegiance, Edgar presented last month’s
Secretary’s report, which was accepted as read. Next Jim Doan presented the Treasurer’s report:
Bernie, Jim and Edgar had a follow-up meeting with Kim from the Airport Authority to discuss an “Open
House” the weekend prior to Sun‘n Fun. As part of the “Open House”, the Chapter is planning to fly the
children of the airport tenants as part of the Young Eagles program. Vendors will provide the food services and
will not be charged a set-up fee.
A cipher lock will be installed on the hangar door, which will allow library access to all members.
John Ducey is selling his Kolb Firefly for $8,500, which includes free flying lessons. More details are at the end
of the newsletter.
The 50/50 raffle went to Falk who collected $20.00.
John Longo and Jim Wright attended the Sebring LSA show and Tom presented the photos he took.
On January 29, the Chapter flew 33 Young Eagles and despite several runway restrictions, there were no
incidents.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.
Edgar Fleig
Acting Secretary
THE NEXT CHAPTER (continued)
By Walt Doiron
Welcome to Chapter 282. Would you like a hamburger, hot dog, or maybe both? How about some of our
homemade red wine? Would you like to try some?
Not a bad way to begin a chapter meeting I thought as I introduced myself.
Ed Dolezal, the gentleman who had noticed the arrival of an unfamiliar face at chapter 282’s hangar, was the
man behind the friendly, welcoming greeting. Ed also happens to be the chapter president.
I had contacted Chapter 282 a few days prior to their monthly meeting via e-mail expressing a desire to attend.
I really had expected a similar response to my original, first contact with an EAA chapter, but was pleasantly
surprised. Within a few hours my phone rang and James Porter, the chapter vice president, was on the line.
He explained that chapter meetings begin at 7:00, but that I was more than welcome to attend the chapter premeeting barbeque at 6:00. He gave me complete driving directions and instruction on gaining access to the
airport. The encounter was very professional, friendly, and welcoming, but also important, the response to my
inquiry was prompt.
If there’s one thing that is immediately obvious about Ed, it’s that he is very passionate about chapter 282.
“Our chapter is not one of those chapters which is dusted off once a month for a meeting, then put away and
forgotten about for the rest of the month. Ours is a very dynamic and vibrant chapter community. At the heart
of that community is our chapter hangar. It takes much more than hanging a sign on a building to make a
chapter hangar. This is where it all takes place. Our hangar is a fully equipped workshop, (including paint
booth), for all of our members to use, whether it’s for their own project or one of our many chapter sponsored
projects. We have several technical advisors (licensed A&P mechanics) who willingly share their skills and
knowledge with curious and eager members. Whether you want to learn how to apply fabric, spray a finish
coat, conduct an annual inspection, weigh an airplane and calculate weight and balance, do a compression test,
or even rebuild an engine, you can get your hands dirty here as you gain experience and confidence. Our
current chapter sponsored project is that Playboy sitting over there. We’re doing a complete restoration.
There are workshops every Tuesday and Thursday and some Saturdays. Each workshop is under the direct
supervision of a licensed A&P mechanic. Our hangar is also the center of all our various chapter activities
including our meetings.”
All of this was sounding really good to me and now seemed as good a time as any to get many of my
questions answered. “Do you have all of your chapter meetings here?” I asked.
“Well yeah! We have a chapter hangar. Where else would we have them?” he responded. “All of our events
take place here except for one. We team up with the FBO for our annual Christmas party.”
“Do you always have a barbeque before every meeting?” I continued. “Looks like you have about 35 people
here so far. Isn’t it a lot of work?”
“Yes, we’ve been doing the pre-meeting barbeque for quite some time. As you can see, it’s very popular. We
ask for three volunteers, one to purchase the food, one to set up the hangar, and one to man the grill. We ask
that they volunteer for three months, rotating positions so that each member becomes familiar with every
task.”
Because I don’t currently own a personal aircraft, and because I am not likely to own one until real estate
returns to its former glory, the next question was important to me. “Are there many flying opportunities
available in this chapter?”
“Not a problem”, Ed replied. “First of all, we have the Champ Club within our chapter. You see that Champ
over there?”
The Champ was parked adjacent to the chapter hanger. It was one of many items, which had been removed
from the hanger in preparation for the meeting.
“There’s a separate flying club within our chapter. Once a member is checked out, they can reserve the
Champ, come down to our hangar and fly whenever they like. If you participate in one of our Saturday
workshops, there’s a good chance of flying in the afternoon. There are usually quite a few co-pilot seats
available in our many flying events such as our recent flight to Williston to tour the Team Tango factory, and
our up-coming Poker Run. We’re even planning a flight to the Bahamas in May.”
While participating in a Saturday Chapter Workshop, I also met a gentleman who was in search of a regular
co-pilot, so flying opportunities did indeed seem to be in abundance at Chapter 282.
Through my conversation with Ed and other chapter members, the answer to the big question was already
being answered. How difficult is it to get members to step forward and volunteer? Chapter 282 seemed to be
not unlike any other organization I’ve ever been involved with. What makes these folks raise their hand and
step forward? What is their secret? The answer seems to be that Chapter 282 members feel fully vested in
their chapter and feel that they play an important role. Members feel that the chapter exists solely for their
benefit and that their involvement only makes the chapter better. Ed constantly reminds the membership at
meetings and in his newsletter column. “Please remember that your chapter needs you and your ideas. We are
always open to constructive suggestions. Please reach out to one of your chapter officers, and of course, you
are always welcome to participate in the leadership meeting every third Thursday of each month at Villa Maria
restaurant.” He goes on to say, “If we’re not doing it, then organize it. We value and encourage members to
take charge.”
Chapter 282 meetings are interesting and generally have at least three speakers: one main program, one
presentation on Tech Tips, and another on Safety. Their newsletter is first class. It’s usually about eleven
pages long and loaded with useful and interesting articles and information, including color photos. I really
look forward to reading it each month. The web site is also very well done. Members can communicate with
the entire chapter any time via the member’s section blog. If anyone is interested in having a look, go to
www.eaa282.org. Also, if anyone would like to attend a Chapter 282 meeting, workshop, or event and would
like to carpool, give me a call. Better yet, we could always fly there.
I plan to continue my quest to visit all of the other chapters in our area and share what I find, but it seems that
I’ve hit the jackpot on my first try. After having seen the potential of an EAA chapter realized, and after
experiencing some of the benefits first hand, the next question that arises is this: How will we write the next
chapter of 1298? The answer is clear. We can write it any way we want because it is our chapter. I learned
long ago that the amount of effort expended generally determines quality of the result. Perhaps it’s time for all
of us to step forward to help insure that each succeeding chapter of 1298 is better than the last.
I heard that there is a member of 282 that is something like ninety six years old who has built something like
seventeen airplanes to date, and is currently building two more. This dude sounds interesting to me! I hope to
drop in on his hangar and listen to his story. Hopefully, I can get it together in time for the next newsletter.