October Meeting Minutes
Respectfully Submitted by Lesley Thompson

Many thanks to Lesley for filling in while Jeff was out of town!!!

Mike Bond, President was out of town so Dave Nabors, Vice President, led the meeting.

Visitors/New Members:
Ron Stark was a visitor at the last meeting and will become a member tonight. 

Jack Welsh, a former pilot with Western and Delta Airlines, was introduced, along with Terry Wells, visiting from Kauai.   Terry remarked that there is no EAA chapter in Kauai.  He is building a motor glider, and is in the area visiting his daughter.

Adrian Stack has just moved here from California and is originally from England.  He hasn't flown for six years, but is getting back into flying as a sport pilot.

Note:
John Massolich reported that the plane that he has been flying was the one that crashed in Erie.  It was an Evector. They think that the student was not experienced and turned too sharp and stalled it.  John was scheduled to fly that same plane the next day after the crash.  

Program:
No business was discussed, and Dave introduced the guest speaker, Trell Kennett. Trell gave a very interesting, informative presentation about fighting fires.  

Trell is employed by Fire Bomber and flies an F model 802 out of the Loveland-Ft. Collins Airport during the summer season.  He is housed at Boise during the winter.  

The F model 802 weighs 16,000 lbs. (gross) when loaded with 8,000 lbs. of retardant and fuel.  

The plane cruises at 190 mph and red lines at 220 mph.  Trell started flying in Agriculture when he was 21 and went on to co-pilot in a P-2 tanker.   After 9/11 he eventually started to fly the F-802.   The 802 has a PT-6-67 and has 1350 HP.   The new 1002 which is soon to come out, weighs 21,000 lbs. loaded with 10,000 lbs. of retardant. (1650 HP)

Colorado has three 802 planes, and has them located at small airports.  Our state is very efficient at locating and containing fires.

When a fire is reported, a F802 is sent out, then P-2 or P-3 tankers are sent in if requested, and finally Sky Crane helicopters.   The helicopters run $28,000.00 a day,

Planes working a fire must fly no lower than 60 ft.

The state of Colorado has a contract that runs for 5 to 7 months with this company,

Trell will be at the Loveland-Ft. Collins Airport for a couple more weeks and anyone may come out to look at the F -802 .  Please call him first if you would like to see the plane: 208/670-8735.

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Cold Weather Inflight Hazards and Tips
Technical Counselor Dave VanDenburg, EAA Chapter 439 (www.eaa.439.org)
email:  WA8DOF@yahoo.com

This month I would like to discuss cold weather operations by discussing some in-flight hazards and tips applicable in the winter months.

Probably the first in-flight hazard that comes to mind when we think about winter is icing.  I have flown combat aircraft in a lot of areas of the world, and short of actual combat, only two things scare me in an aircraft.  One is thunderstorms (which we don’t see much of in the winter) and icing, which we do.  If you see ice build up on your windshield or wings, change altitude or find clear air quickly.  Don’t be afraid to use the “E” word (emergency) to get whatever help is available from ARTCC.

If you experience a reduction in RPM (fixed pitch prop) or a reduction in manifold pressure (constant speed prop) suspect induction system icing.  This could be carb ice or impact ice on your air filter.  If you think you are experiencing induction system icing, apply full carb heat or select alternate air.  If you have carb ice, the engine will probably run rougher (as the ice melts) but will clear up soon.  I do not recommend using partial carb heat unless you have a carb air temp gauge.  Partial heat may increase the carb ice problems.

If you are flying behind a constant speed prop, cycle it every 30 minutes or so to keep warm oil in the dome.  A sluggish pitch change mechanism could be slow to react and result in an engine overspeed during a rapid power application.  This could be real expensive (and dangerous).

Switch fuel tanks with plenty of fuel remaining in the tank.  If you have a frozen valve and cannot select the full tank, you will still have enough fuel to land safely.  If you wait until the engine coughs, and then find you cannot move the selector valve, you will probably call yourself a few bad names and join the ranks of those called “Glider Pilots.”

Avoid power off letdowns.  A high speed, idle, descent can result in very rapid cooling of your engine (shock cooling) and cracked cylinder heads.  Lycoming recommends a maximum temperature change of 50 degrees F per minute.  Keeping the engine leaned until you are approaching pattern altitude can also help keep your engine temps up.

After landing, run your engine at a low power setting for several minutes prior to shutdown.  This also promotes slow cooling and will reduce oil cooking if you are turbo supercharged.

Lastly, I highly recommend you carry some form of survival kit.  It would really stink to survive an off airport landing and then freeze to death before someone found you.  Some of the things I recommend are space blankets, some duct tape, matches, an aluminum cup, knife, freeze dried coffee, tea, signaling mirror (a CD works great) and warm clothing to include a hat and gloves.  Also carry a hand held radio.

These have been just a few ideas to consider when flying during the winter months.  Lycoming has some cold weather tips in their book “Key Reprints.”  This book is available free online at www.lycoming.textron.com.  Your POH is also a great source of cold weather operating tips.

Winter flying is fun and can be just as safe and enjoyable as summer, if we take a few precautions.

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Looking for Engines & Airframes
From Russ Lasseter, EAA Member in GA

Hello,

I am helping a fellow (Jerry Yagen) www.fighterfactory.com locate World-War-One era engines/airframes or replicas. Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes, Hall-Scott, Liberty, OX-5, Siemens-Halske, Oberursel, Clerget, LeRhone, Gnome, other rotaries, etc. If you know of anything for sale or trade I'd appreciate any information.

I also do aircraft construction/restoration if I can be of service to anyone.

Sincerely,

Russ Lassetter
EAA# 0448996
Cleveland, GA
rblassett@alltel.net
706-348-7514

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A Sneak Preview of December's Meeting

John Duck will be the guest speaker. John volunteers at the Brooklands Museum in the UK and rebuilds all kinds of aircraft (see http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/)

John has helped to restore many types of aircraft, including the Hurricane, a WWII fighter. Currently at Brooklands, they are restoring a Link Trainer, which was the stepping stone to competence in instrument flying for service pilots in WWII.

John will also talk about the history of the Brooklands site.

Note: To accommodate John's schedule, this, our December meeting, will be one week earlier than usual. This meeting will be on November 27th (the week after Thanksgiving), at 7:30 p.m. At least one email will go out the week before to remind everyone, but please note the change to December's meeting on your calendar.

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