Smoke Signals

The Official Newsletter of Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 175

Vandenberg Airport  VDF

 

 

Have a Merry Christmas

 

No December Meeting

Due to Christmas Holiday

 

You are invited to the EAA Chapter 175 Annual Dinner

Saturday, January 7th, 2006

Hospitality Room of the Florida Air Museum

Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In Site

 

Our special speaker for the evening is CDR Tom Strong, P3 pilot with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), better know as the “Hurricane Hunters”. Dinner will again be provided by “chef extraordinaire” and past chapter member Bill Williams and his associates. The main course is charcoal grilled filet mignon, done to order, with garden salad, refreshments and dessert. Note: If you prefer chicken, inform Lyle Flagg when you make your reservations. Social hour will begin at 6:30, with dinner served at 7 o’clock. BYOB. This is a wonderful opportunity to share an evening with chapter members, family and friends, review the chapter’s year just concluded and plans for 2006, as well as enjoying our feature presentation by CDR Strong. Price is $16 per person.

Please make your reservations by calling Lyle Flagg at (813) 689-3393---the sooner the better, so we can finalize plans---but no later than December 28th, to assure seating. Note: The chapter is responsible for all food and facility costs, so any cancellations made after January 3rd will be charged to the individual member.

 

 

 

 

 

EAA CHAPTER 175 MONTHLY MEETING MINUTES

DATE: NOVEMBER 26, 2005

LOCATION: EAA CHAPTER 175 BUILDING

ATTENDENCE: 16

Minutes submitted by Steve Reisser, November 27, 2005

 

The monthly EAA Chapter 175 meeting was attended by 16 persons with breakfast served by Jim Fleming at 8 AM. The monthly chapter meeting began at 9:00 AM and was adjourned at 10:30 AM. Three guests, Earl and Pat Groff and Bobby Peek were introduced.

Wings and Things

• Bud Yerly opened the meeting with information about the Wings and Things breakfast. We serviced 1,142 persons during the event netting the chapter $887.

Sun and Fun

• An update on Sun and Fun insurance was given by Bud. Last year we served 23,000 meals. The litigation risk for that is considerable. Sun and Fun is reducing that litigation risk next year by providing the chapter with reimbursement rather than paying for services. The details of the reimbursement are still being worked out.

• Sun and Fun has crafted a new relationship with the city of Lakeland with a 50 year lease.

• Sun 'n Fun has always been a separate corporation from EAA, but retains close working ties with EAA. The continued growth of the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In and its other activities has resulted in a re-evaluation of the relationship between the two organizations. As a result, .Sun 'n Fun is no longer a regional EAA fly-in, but a stand-alone operation. An updated working agreement has been ratified by both organizations and the relationship between EAA and Sun 'n Fun continues to be mutually-beneficial and sound. The new agreement gives Sun 'n Fun additional flexibility while still promoting the fundamental concepts of EAA.

• There is a monthly lecture series being offered at Sun and Fun called the “Aviation Expressions.” Gordon Knapp shared stories of this month’s presentation. The next lecture is scheduled in January 2006.

• Gordon Knapp is chairman of the “Emeritus Member Committee” at Sun and Fun. That is no small honor in that to become an emeritus member, individuals must have a minimum of 10 years of service on the Sun 'n Fun corporation board as officer or director, as well as having made significant other contributions as volunteers to the organization. Lyle Flagg was honored with emeritus status at the Annual Meeting last weekend. Lyle has been on the board for 30 years and is a past president of Sun 'n Fun Fly-In. Congratulations to both Gordon and Lyle.

Chapter 175 Annual Dinner

• Lyle Flagg is organizing the Chapter 175 Annual Dinner at Sun and Fun. The event will take place on January 7, 2006 opening at 6:30 PM with dinner served at 7:00 PM. A program will be presented after dinner. Lyle will be sending a formal announcement soon and requested RSVPs as soon as possible.

Monthly Meeting Program: Video and discussion “Engine Failure After Take-Off,”

Captain Barry Schiff.

• Altitude is the primary determinate for consideration of a straight ahead engine failure or attempting a 180 to return to the airport. FAA and all major sources of aeronautical information recommend straight ahead landings since the incidence of stall/spin related accidents have been high in attempts to make it back to the runway. It was stated that most of the 180 attempts were holding level flight which bleeds airspeed and the resultant stall. Captain Schiff stated the primary consideration is ALTITUDE. A careful balance with altitude and angle of bankwas discussed. One way to test what altitude you can determine for your aircraft is to climb to a safe altitude and note it. Cut power, wait 4 seconds (usual reaction time) establish a safe speed - 45 degree descending bank for 360 degrees, then level as if you were to flair at landing. Note the loss of altitude at that point. The difference in the altitude would be the altitude AGL that you might consider a 180 to the airport, BUT you must also consider winds, traffic, runway length or

other items that might reduce your ability to return to the field for a safe landing. Bud Yerly added to the discussion that you must PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and become comfortable with high bank, descending turns. The level turns are the killers.

There will be NO DECEMBER MEETING at the Chapter 175 building; instead, the next meeting will be at the annual dinner scheduled for January 7, 2006.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 A.M.

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ILS for Category A, B, and C Aircraft at VDF 

 

The ILS approach procedures have been approved for runway 23 at VDF. The ILS will allow category A, B, and C aircraft to land in Instrument conditions. The approach has been initially approved for an 280 feet decision altitude and 3/4 mile visibility. After some tree trimming the approach will be certified for a decision height of 221feet and 1/2 mile visibility. The approach will increase utilization of runway 23 and allow for safe all weather operations. It is truly a benefit for all that use the airport.

 

Stephanie Pemberton
Leading Edge Aviation Services, Inc.
Hangar Leasing Agent
(813) 626-1515

 

 

THE CHAMP IS ON ITS WAY BACK

American Champion is working on bringing back the classic tailwheel Champ, and it's destined to have, perhaps, even broader appeal. Dubbed the 7LS, it's a modernized version of the 7EC, featuring a Continental O-200 engine. American Champion President Jerry Mehlhaff said it will be type certified under an old amended certificate, but it will be light enough to comply
with the specifications for light sport aircraft. American Champion expects the base price to be $84,900 and plans to have it flying as an experimental before Christmas. Certification will soon follow. In addition, the company is working on certifying the Ultimate Adventure, a hopped-up
version of the Citabria Adventure that features the Superior Air Parts Vantage engine and an MT composite propeller. It gives the airplane 20 extra horsepower along with the option of burning auto fuel for a markup of about $7,000. The 2006 line of Citabria models feature lighter weight
aluminum landing gear as standard equipment, which saves 13 pounds.

 

Kermit Weeks amassed the biggest private collection of vintage aircraft. Now he wants to use it to liberate the human spirit.

 

I don't have to do this," says Kermit Weeks, with a sweep of his hand taking in the full scope of his $80 million empire: 150 vintage planes, a gift shop, a restaurant, three art deco hangars covering a combined 70,000 square feet, 8,000 feet of runway, 60 employees and more than 1,000 acres of choice central Florida land on which to expand. Part theme park, part museum, part experiment in pop psychology, Fantasy of Flight, open to the public since 1995, sits halfway between Orlando and Tampa. Weeks paid for it out of his own pocket.

Why do it? Not for the money. Boyish and jaunty, the ponytailed 52-year-old is lucky to be independently rich, since Fantasy of Flight has never earned a nickel. Gross revenues last year were $2 million, from 70,000 visitors spending $25 a ticket, plus revenue from parties and corporate events; Weeks won't divulge operating costs. "The numbers," he says, "aren't good." But he is on a mission. What you see today is but a hint of what's to come. In the future Weeks hopes to expand his fantasy to include not just many more and different attractions but a city, to be called Orlampa. "And when I finish Orlampa," he says, "that will be only the beginning of my dream to become the focal point on the planet for unleashing human potential."

Such pure conviction plus an unbridled enthusiasm make Weeks sound at times like a flyboy who's looped one too many loops. Narcissism? You bet. His autobiography lists, among the salient events of 1992, Hurricane Andrew and "began his ponytail." Then there's his spirituality, which he discusses with no more inhibition than he would the cruising speed of a Lockheed Vega. "In my late 20s I started having out-of-body experiences. Do you believe in ghosts? I do; I became one. I went out of my body and floated through walls." He came to view aviation as the physical complement to an inner yearning: to be free, to surmount all obstacles.

Through clever simulation, visitors to Fantasy of Flight can already taste a bit of reality-based, out-of-body adventure. They can, for example, relive the sights, sounds, vibrations and even smells that the crew of a B-17 would have felt on a World War II bombing raid over Germany. Such experiences, thinks Weeks, have the power to move people emotionally, nudging them in new directions by inspiration or provocation. A future exhibit on Lindbergh will re-create a moment during his solo crossing of the Atlantic when he believed he was visited by "spirit entities" that urged him to go on. The incident, says Weeks, forces a participant to wonder: Am I alone on my own journey? Do I, too, have a destiny?

Weeks' fascination with flight began in 1967, when at age 13 he heard a song on the radio: "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron," by the Royal Guardsmen. The song, he says, triggered something within. By 17 he had learned to fly and was building his first airplane from a $40 set of plans he paid for by mowing lawns. At 20 he took up aerobatics, twice becoming U.S. National Aerobatic Champion and placing second best in world competition.

In his mid-20s fate rained money on him--the result of a business deal forged years earlier by his grandfather, Lewis Weeks. As recounted in a June 1974 FORBES story, Lewis, after years of finding oil for Standard Oil of New Jersey as its chief geologist, retired in 1958 and set up shop as a consultant. When Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary (now BHP Billiton) asked him where to drill, he pointed it to the Bass Strait, 30 miles southeast of Melbourne. As to a fee, Lewis said he didn't want one--he was doing nicely on his pension. Instead he asked for a 2.5% royalty (which he intended to share with his descendants). For how long? "Forever," Weeks told BHP. The deal was inked, oil was found, and by the mid-1970s Lewis was seeing $3.5 million a year in royalties. Predicted FORBES, "Weeks and his heirs may end up with as much as a quarter of a billion dollars." Lacking more precise data, we would offer this as an estimate today of the Weeks family net worth. (Besides Kermit there are six other heirs.)

During the years before extraction of the oil started, Kermit and his parents got nothing. His father, also a geologist, had trouble finding work. "My folks went through some difficult financial times," Kermit remembers. For a while his dad sold Fuller brushes door-to-door. Not until Kermit was a high school senior in Miami, contemplating a career as a crop duster, did his first royalty check arrive--$1,200. Five years later he was receiving in excess of $100,000 a year. The payments continue to this day, though he won't divulge their size other than to say they've become less significant than his income from investments.

Armed with this windfall, he started buying planes in earnest: first a World War II AT-6 trainer for $28,000 in 1979, then a P-51 Mustang for $155,000 the same year. In 1981 he picked up a beat-up P-38 for $75,000; in 1983 both a DeHavilland Mosquito ($130,000) and a Grumman Duck ($110,000). He opened the Weeks Air Museum in Miami but immediately outgrew its 26,000-square-foot hangar when in 1985 he acquired, in a single gulp, 36 more aircraft, for $1.2 million. After Hurricane Andrew flattened the museum, Weeks bought Fantasy of Flight's present site and moved his planes.

The collection's jewels include the last four-engine passenger flying boat in airworthy condition--a 1944 Short Sunderland that weighs 57,000 pounds and has a 112-foot wingspan. "I don't buy anything I don't intend to fly," says Weeks, who is certified to pilot every aircraft in the collection. Not only is his the largest private collection in the world, but also subsets of it are themselves extraordinary. Fantasy of Flight contains the largest number of privately owned vintage World War I planes, World War II fighters, bombers and British World War II planes. Weeks figures he has spent $15 million on aircraft, plus another $20 million for land and infrastructure.

Along the way he's had to acquire business skills, even though he says, "I've got to tell you, I find business not particularly fascinating." He reads how-to and self-help books; has attended seminars offered by the Disney Institute, which aims to hone skills in leadership, people management and creativity; and belongs to TEC (the Executive Committee), a support group for chief executives similar to the Young Presidents' Organization. It helps that Weeks is well liked and widely respected in the aviation community and that he's an accomplished horse trader. "A lot of things," he explains, "can't be acquired by cash."

Example: Fellow collector Thomas Friedkin owned a Grumman F3F biplane Weeks wanted. But Friedkin didn't need to sell. "He has more money than God," says Weeks. Knowing Friedkin wanted a Grumman Duck, Kermit bought one and traded him that for the F3F.

What else does Kermit want? He's reluctant to say, for fear of driving up the price, but admits to coveting a Martin Mars--a flying boat even bigger than the one he's got. The last examples still in existence are in Canada, serving as water bombers for a timber consortium. They aren't for sale. Perhaps someday.

He can't tell you the final shape of Fantasy of Flight. "I know life has a plan," he says. "I just can't see it yet." Meantime, he's flying solo. "I will not compromise this product by taking in short-term investors who want to bottom line it," he insists. "I will not compromise my dream."

Did You Know?

 

**U.S. Sport Aviation Expo 2005 January 12 - 15, 2006 http://www.sport-aviation-expo.com/

 

**Tom Reilly's Flying Tigers museum/warbird restorations has moved to Georgia. http://www.warbirdmuseum.com/

 

**Here's an item from the just-arrived EAA "e-hotline" that you may not know.

http://www.eaa.org/communications/eaanews/051215_snf.html

 

**Steve Fossett's next record attempt in the GlobalFlyer

Sunday's December 18, 2005 Tampa Trib, Metro Section, p. 2 (center).

Steve Fossett's next record attempt in the GlobalFlyer---from Kennedy Space Center late this winter. Seems Steve is "one of us" in a Rutan design and the fact Florida will be the starting point makes it even more applicable to us.

 

Hanger available at Vandenberg - If you are interested in sharing a newly refurbished hangar at Vandenberg, contact Dave at 813-962-8229.

 

 

Coming Events at Sun ‘n Fun

(Effective 12/19/2005)

The information provided below is from reliable sources, but always verify dates and details before you go. Information on Sun ‘n Fun activities is available at www.sun-n-fun.org or call (863) 644-2431

 

Aviation Expressions---January 13th, 7pm at the Florida Air Museum. Mary Dilda, career aviator: flight instructor for the Oklahoma State University, Air Force C-9 and C-141 instructor pilot, champion Reno air racer, T-6 aerobatic pilot and FedEx pilot

 

RV Fly-In---January 13-14. Emphasis on RVs, but all aircraft types welcome

 

Sun ‘n Fun 2006 Fly-In Volunteer Meeting #1---January 28th, 10 am, in the FAA Safety Center. Registration required and can be done on-line with the FAA or at the door on the day of the meeting.

 

EAA SportAir Workshop---February 11-12. Register required. Contact Sun ‘n Fun for details.

 

Aviation Expressions---February 17th, 7 pm at the Florida Air Museum Hospitality Room. Giacinta Bradley Koontz, noted aviation historian and lecturer, whose work has been featured on PBS and The History Channel, on Harriet Quimby, pioneer aviatrix.

 

 

 

Cozy Mk IV For Sale

Complete kit from Aircraft Spruce, Includes: Front and main fiberglass gear, all Brock Metal parts, all wood, all foam types and sizes, all fiberglass, and fiberglass release cloth, all bolts and nuts and a/c hardware separated into cabinets (cabinets included.) tires, tubes, wheels, brake lines, throttle, tubing, brakes, epoxy pump, electric sander, table electric belt/disk sander, Campbell Hausfield rotary sander, Craftsman straight-line sander, Rotary die-grinder, Roto-tool, misc “C” and belt clamps, mixing sticks, epoxy brushes and fiberglass tools, some sandpaper. Only chapter 4 partially completed no epoxy. Plans and early Long EZ newsletters included I paid over $22,000. $15,000 FIRM. If you really want to build this airplane, this kit is for you No expense was spared to compile this kit. Yes, this is the best deal at Sun ‘n Fun on this amazing aircraft. You’ll need a trailer from U-Haul or a Ryder Truck to take it back with you.. NO “TIRE KICKER” CALLS Thank you 813-973-4949

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke Signals

 

Experimental Aircraft Association

Chapter 175

Vandenberg Airport, Florida

813-740-2821

 

2005 EAA Chapter 175 Officers

                                          

     President                                            Vice President                                  Secretary                

  Alan “Bud” Yerly                                  Gordon Knapp                                    Steve Reisser             

BudYearly @ msn.com              beep1 @ tampabay.rr.com                itsc@tampabay.rr.com

     813-681-6062                                                                                             

                                    Newsletter Editor &                         Treasurer/Membership

                                    Young Eagle Coordinator                Stan Sutterfield

                                    Tom McLinskey                                 speedy11 @ aol.com

                                    MacPitts @ aol.com              

                                    813-988-4540           

 

 

This newsletter if for the use, education, and enjoyment of Chapter 175 members and others to whom it is provided. No claim is made for technical accuracy. Editorial content is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the position of Chapter 175 0r the EAA.

 

 

Experimental Aircraft Association

Chapter 175

c/o Tom McLinskey

5610 Kenny Drive

Tampa, Florida 33617-7711

 

 

 

 

 

                                                   Mail To:

 

                                                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For your flying and maintenance needs come visit:

 

 

Reliable Aviation, Inc.

Vandenberg Hangar Lane

Tampa, FL 33610

813-626-4884

 

                                                                                                  The Champ Club (Come Join)

                                                                                                   Call David Hansma 962-8229 or

Need a Flight Review                                                                Tom McLinskey 988-4540

Jim Piche Certified Flight Instructor                              

Single & Multiengine.                                                       Wing  Waxers

Call for more information                                                              Barry & Sylvia Ford

813-503-3926                                                                                         3434 Airfield Drive West Ste. #4

E-Mail pichejrbm@aol.com                                                           Lakeland Linder Regional Airport

                                                                                                     Lakeland, Florida 33811-1240

AEROMECH Inc.                                                                      www.wingwaxers@excite.com

Quality Aircraft Parts & Supplies                                               

3454 Airfield Drive West                                             

Lakeland, Florida 33811-1240                                             Leading Edge Aviation Services, Inc.

863-619-8133                                                                                         Mark Moberg

www.aeromech-inc.com                                                               Vandenberg Airport

                                                                                                     6582 Eureka Springs Rd.

Leading Edge Aviation Services, Inc.                                         Tampa, Florida 33610

Maintenance   813-623-6483                                                                  813-626-1515                                                                                                                                     www.leadingedgeaviation.com