April Meeting Minutes
Respectfully Submitted by Jeff Dinius, Secretary

The was held at the Jet Center at Ft. Collins-Loveland airport and was called to order by president Mike Bond.

The following visitors were present:

• Walter Dorlac is restoring an N3N
• Bill Koester (a friend of Doug Dempsey)
• Joe Slowiak is interested in building an RV of some sort
• Josh Baker

Treasurer's report: Ernie Stevens gave the treasurer's report stating there is $1905.81 but he had collected some money for dues at the meeting so the actual number was higher.

Young Eagles: Tom Barlow reminded the group the Young Eagles event is scheduled for Saturday the 28th or April with the rain day alternate of the 5th of May. Tom provided details as meet around 8 AM near the Firewall Forward or Eagle Hanger (what ever the place is currently called) ramp area. There are currently 11 children scheduled but Tom was expecting somewhere around 20. As of the meeting, Tom had 3 planes and pilots lined up for the event. As always, ground crew is required and any volunteer are welcome.

Tom also mentioned the possibility of having another Young Eagles event for the Children's Hospital. No details but the seed has been planted.

Announcements:

• Ft Collins-Loveland (FNL) airport is holding an open house on July 4th. A B-17 and a B-24 are scheduled to attend.
  
  
• Michael Jerder of Colorado Springs is looking for information on the BD-4 or any other BD aircraft. Hugh Beckham knows something about these and volunteered to talk to Michael.
  
  
• Mike Power announced he has a Mooney for sale. He is asking $33,000 for a 1965. Mike Bond offered to post the information to the web site.

Old Business:

If there are any members that have tools available for loan, Mike Bond will keep that list and /or keep the equipment. Contact Mike for additional information.

Dave Nabors and Doug Dempsey distributed their findings on equipment the chapter could purchase but there was insufficient time available to discuss the recommendation. Discussion was tabled for a later meeting.

New Business: There was no new business to discuss so the business portion of the meeting ended to allow more time for the program.

Program: Steve Boese was to present a program on developing and testing an Mazda 13B rotary engine in an RV6. Unfortunately, Steve experienced some problems getting to the meeting so Doug Dempsey stepped in and did a great job presenting the information. If you would like additional information on this project or would just like to know more about the Mazda Rotary. Contact Doug.

Next month's program will be hosted by Hugh Beckham. The topic is Airlines of Other Nations. This meeting will be held at our usual location.

FNL Open House Update
From Mike Bond

A little update on the FNL open house scheduled for July 4th: There is going to be a meeting on April 27th at the FNL Fire House to finalize details. After that I believe details should be available for static displays (planes) and booths. I will be down in Texas then, but will try to get details for any of the EAA515 people who may be interested in showing their planes, etc.

The Collins Foundation is now planning on bringing the B-25 in, along with the B17 & B24.

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Volunteers Needed for Young Eagles Rally
From Tom Barlo

Date: April 28, 2007, with an alternate date of May 5, 2007 if the weather is bad.

Location: The ramp on the west side of the Eagle Air Hangar at the Fort Collins-Loveland Airport (street address: 5235 Gulfstream Ct., Loveland CO).

Time: 8:00 am to approximately Noon

Volunteers Needed: Ground personnel as well as pilots.

Participants: We currently have 15 kids signed up; I'm anticipating we will have 20 - 25 participants by the day of the event.

If you are available on either or both of the above dates, please send me an email and include:

• The date(s) you are available to help
• Whether you are volunteering as ground personnel or as a pilot
• If you are volunteering as a pilot, the plane you will be flying

If you have any questions, please send me an email or give me a call.

More information (pilot guidelines, insurance, etc.) for volunteers is also available at http://www.youngeagles.org/volunteers/.

This is a chance to help promote aviation at the grass roots level, and nothing is more rewarding than seeing the smiles when the Young Eagles return from their plane rides!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for your support,

Tom Barlow
tkbarlow@hotmail.com
970-204-0508

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Flyin & Breakfast

Don't forget Chapter 808's flyin on May 5th. See the flyer for more info.

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Sneak Preview of May's Meeting
From Hugh Beckham

If you are like me, it is pretty scary to think of getting onto some foreign airlines, especially those from the emerging countries. You really wonder just how safe are these planes and pilots. I recently heard a presentation by Mr. Wes Tewinkle that addressed all of my questions and more.

I invited Wes to come make the same presentation to our chapter and he eagerly accepted. I think that there is nobody on earth better qualified to tell "how it is" with international air travel. Wes also has some experiences that relate to licensing homebuilt aircraft and amateur pilots, which he said he would like to share with us.

If you travel, you will want to hear Tewinkle.

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New Page on the Club Website

Check out the new Links page.

If you have any sites that you'd like added, let me know.

Edna Hetchler
ednaeh@hotmail.com

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Youth Education Program Ideas
From EAA Chapter 729 (Columbus, Indiana) Newsletter
Mike Foushee Editor

For several years, Brett Herrick with assistance from other chapter members has conducted aviation oriented classes at the Foundation for Youth in Columbus. He has funded this program himself with some financial assistance from the Columbus Airport and Chapter 729. The programs were initiated as a compliment to the Young Eagle Flight Program. The following is Brett's update on the FFY programs.

At the FFY, the classes continue to use the "Flight Site" that was at Parkside School. But, I have expanded these classes to include the following projects:

• Fantastic Flyer balsa glider
• FFY Flyer balsa glider
• Delta Dart balsa/tissue rubber band airplane
• "Bottle Rockets"
• Sled Kites
• Making Wooden Airplane Ribs
• Fly a remote control model airplane
• Flying Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Participating in a Young Eagle Flight Rally

There are two different ways to look at what the students gain by participating in these classes. Both are equally valid. First and most obvious, these classes are a chance to learn about aviation. The students learn about aviation by learning some affordable/age appropriate ways to be involved in aviation, some basic model making skills and they have fun. To do this, I have a series of projects that the students build and fly. Beyond this, they can fly a flight simulator or get to go flying in an airplane. The second way to view these classes is that it chance to learn basic skills that can be applied in many different ways. The skills learned can include basic math and science, weather, how to make things, goal setting and working in a group. The FFY calls this "stealth learning". I use aviation to make the classes interesting but we are teaching skills that can be applied elsewhere.

One of the things that I have found is that these classes need to be adapted to where ever they are offered. An example of this is that the Parkside Elementary School library, where we previously offered classes, has a great balcony for launching gliders. Whereas, the classes at the airport offered a nice outside area for flying models (i.e. outside the fence) and the ability to take the kids out on to the airport ramp when the models are drying. The classes at the Foundation for Youth have the ability to reserve the gym for flying models. But, these FFY classes need to be more flexible as attendance varies depending if the students are able to attend each week (i.e. may depend on which parent they are staying with that week or when they are getting picked up).

For these classes each student has their own set of tools that they use. This allows each student to focus on their own project. Students do not have to spend time figuring out where the needed tools went or if someone is making their project faster then them. Further, every attempt is made to use tools that are low cost and can be purchased locally (i.e. this gives examples of what they could use if they want to be making models at home). The cost of the contents of these kits is approximately $30/each.

In making the model airplanes we want the students to learn how to build the models correctly and safely. The tools that the students use have been selected to be as safe as possible. Rather than use single edge razor blades we use razor blade holders to keep fingers further away from the shape edge. The modeling knife that we use can not roll off the table. Students are directed to keep knifes retracted or covered when not in use. The glues that the students are washable (i.e. when CA glue is used it is used by one of the adults). Also, the students are told early in the first session that horseplay will not be tolerated.

Because I want to make sure each student has a chance to see their project fly and fly well, we don't let them take their projects home until they have flown it with us. This way we can show them how to adjust their projects to make them fly well. It also ensures that they leave with a sense of accomplishment about their projects rather than frustration. Further, with stories like "When I took it home, my cat jumped on it" "it got broken in my backpack "or "my little brother broke it" we want to make sure that they have seen their projects fly well. Having an indoor location at the FFY to fly the models in is a big advantage (i.e. the weather is dependable; the models can't fly away and it helps with keeping the kids together).

In offering these classes I try to make sure each group gets to see the EAA video tape "Young Eagle". This tape is ten years old but it has an excellent message. Namely, that one needs to have goals and the only way to achieve ones goals is to work toward achieving them. It uses a boy and his chance to fly in Curtiss Jenny to demonstrate this. I view this as a very important message independent of where each of the student's interests may lead.

Another goal of these classes is to keep the cost of offering these classes as low as possible. An example of this is that the raw materials for projects are purchased in bulk and I can use my band saw to cut the wood to the needed sizes. The students then need to round off the ends and make some measurements to apply some reference marks. By the doing this, the cost of the raw materials for all of the projects except one can be kept to less than $1.00/each. Another example is that 35 Delta Dart kits can be purchased for $43.00. By keeping the cost low it isn't a big issue when something needs to be replaced due to errors in making the project or when repairing a broken project. Cost also is kept down by making my own jigs. Rather having to purchase the $10.00 jigs for setting the dihedral of Delta Dart wings I made jigs from some scrap material. Also, for winding up the Delta Darts simple fixtures were made to hold them and a hand drill makes a good winder rather than purchasing these.

Part of why I offer these classes is seeing the joy that the students have in taking these classes and part is knowing these students wouldn't be learning/exposed to these things if these classes weren't being offered. The students clearly want to be in these classes as shown by the disappointment of the students that can not be fit into a particular session. Or the joy when they get to see the projects that they made fly well and the surprise in finding out they get to take their projects home with them.

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How I Won My First Airplane
Submitted by Brien A. Seeley M.D.
President CAFE Foundation

The CAFE Foundation (comparative aircraft flight efficiency), EAA's flight test agency for over 20 years, is hosting the first annual $250,000 NASA flight competition on August 4, 2007, so time is short for members to join in. This could well become a true story if EAAers awaken to their opportunities. Sometimes luck just goes your way.

"Dude, what a cool airplane! Is it new?"

"Yes. My wife and I won it in a NASA contest", I said.

I read that NASA was going to give away $250,000 cash to the best small aircraft in a flight competition in August 2007. It was called the First Annual NASA Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Challenge and it aimed to popularize small personal aircraft to a larger segment of the American public. From everything I've been hearing, this is just what general aviation needed.

I visited the host website at the CAFE Foundation, (http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pav_home.php) and downloaded the rules for the contest. But what grabbed me right away was that the sweet little Light Sport Aircraft that we'd been dreaming about, the MiTern, not only could qualify for the competition, but could win it. There was no way we could afford the $95,000 for the MiTern, but then I thought of a plan!

I called up the folks at MiTern headquarters and told them I wanted to help them publicize their new LSA to a national audience by flying it in the 2007 NASA PAV Challenge. They said that their demonstrator was down waiting for a new set of brakes. I asked them if I could rent the demonstrator for 2 weeks if I agreed to install the new brakes and fit it with a set of 'racing' wheel pants. They became interested and asked me about my qualifications and insurance. I explained that even though I was only 27 years old, I was an A&P and CFI and had built up a lot of hours flying bush planes in Alaska. I agreed to pay $2500 for renting the MiTern demonstrator, but had to borrow the money from my parents.

As we studied the rules for the flight competition we noted that we would need to score well in all four sub-contests in order to win the $100,000 overall prize. The four events were: Low Noise, Shortest Runway, Best MPG and Best Handling Qualities. I set about tuning MiTern to be a winner.

A friend who is building an RV loaned me a really slick set of wheel pants like those used on the Nemesis Formula I racer. I fitted them to the MiTern. Incredibly, they added 12 mph to the top speed without pants. I found a special muffler made with high-temperature foam core that had been developed by NASA at Ultramet and convinced the owners to let me install it. It lowered the cabin noise by 7 dBA. A Boeing engineer friend showed me how to add a row of vortex generators just upstream of the flaps that would lower the stall speed by 2 mph and shorten the takeoff by 75 feet. Our odds were looking better to win the contest.

A company that makes homebuilt electronic ignitions loaned me a unit that allowed extra spark advance to enhance MPG at lean cruise. The owners said we could try it. The local FAA FSDO inspector got interested in our project and was very cooperative in licensing these several minor modifications.

When the competition began, Jane and I found ourselves competing against teams from all over the USA. Some had strange-looking aircraft. Some were slick racing machines, others were flying cars. The media and press really hovered around these. The MiTern did not stand out in any way, but it had a chance. We waxed it, we taped all the seams, we took out all unnecessary weight.

The first day of contest flying, the MiTern won the Low Noise prize and Shortest Runway prize. On the fourth day, it came in second in Handling Qualities behind the RV-9A. Before the final event, CAFE hosted an informal friday night pasta dinner for all the teams, volunteers and press. A lot of the PAV Challenge teams were hyping each other about who was going to win the final event, a 400 mile race for best MPG x speed. I thought we had a chance. This would determine the grand prize.

On the final day of the competition, we took third place in the CAFE 400 part of the contest behind a modified Sonex and a Pipistrel. But still nobody knew who was going to win the overall "Vantage" prize.

That night, at the Awards Banquet, they announced that, when all the points were tallied, we had won $50,000 for Low Noise, $25,000 for Shortest Runway, and had enough overall points to win the grand "Vantage Prize" of $100,000. Jane and I were so elated at winning $175,000, that we immediately decided to buy the MiTern as our very own first airplane. We named her "Lucky" and planned to fly her to the Grand Canyon for a vacation right after the PAV Challenge.

The sales of the MiTern skyrocketed after that. The company owners set about making plans to enter the 2008 NASA PAV Challenge with an even better aircraft. They wanted me to be on the team. But the other teams also vowed to return next year with even more radical designs. NASA and the CAFE Foundation warned that the rules for 2008 would be even more of a challenge, and that the prize purse would go up to $300,000. I am so glad that we went after our dream and entered the PAV Challenge. I can hardly wait to see what PAVs emerge in the next 5 years of this contest.

CAFE Foundation
www.cafefoundation.org
cafe400@sonic.net
CAFE HQ: 707-545-2233

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