February Meeting Minutes
Respectfully Submitted by Jeff Dinius, Secretary

Mike Bond called the meeting to order.

Visitors: The only new person was a bit more than a visitor as he paid his dues to join. Chris Murphy is a United Airlines employee that moved to the area about 7 years ago. He brought an RV-4 with him and flies it in the area. It is yellow with a checkered tail.

On the Spot: Mike Bond 
Mike grew up in Colorado in a small town in the mountains. He got interested in flying after his brother got his instructors rating and began teaching his dad. Mike was more interested in the technical part of ground school and got into flying from that aspect.

Mike moved to Texas to work on a construction project and was staying at an air strip in an RV while working the job. He traded labor for training and got his license while in Texas in 1990.

Mike has never had aspirations to fly for a living. He just enjoys flying for pleasure with his current passion being back country flying. Mike has shared his videos and pictures of trips into Idaho’s back country.

Mike told of a trip returning from Idaho and ran into weather in Wyoming. He spent a couple days on the ground at a sparsely populated part of the country and was ready to get home. He made it down to I-80 and was following the highway with improving conditions ahead. Suddenly the weather turned solid in front so he turned around only to find the clear area he had just traveled was solid weather also. Mike circled and considered landing on a dirt road but made a jump through a notch and found enough clear sky to land at an airport. The weather cleared and he continued his trip but the lesson he learned was to look behind you as a 180 degree turn may not always be an option.

Treasurer’s report: Ernie Stevens reported we had money in the bank when he left home but had some additional income in the form of dues. He also had some bills from EAA HQ and another bill so the final amount was not available. See Ernie for a complete accounting of finances.

Young Eagles: Leslie Thompson had some certificates of appreciation for the ground crews for last year’s rallies. The ground crew job was recognized as extremely important in not only getting paperwork complete but insuring the safety of the families and the soon to be Young Eagles. Pilots currently receive some sort of recognition so this focus was on the ground crews.

Leslie mentioned she had 15 signed up but she also mentioned that she and her husband would not be conducting an aviation club this year. She would be providing brochures to the school but no active teaching or recruiting. A discussion followed about the age of students being approached. Seemed most were young (elementary school age) and why more was not done to reach those closer to flying age. The general feeling was the older students had many other distractions and were not interested in aviation. A couple plans were circulated to try and reach middle school and possibly high school with the warning that some school boards would not allow recruitment in school due to insurance issues. Thoughts of private schools or other groups were mentioned.  

Leslie had an action item from the last meeting to contact EA A HQ to inquire about the credits pilots accrue for making Young Eagle flights. Leslie said the program was changing and she was promised a letter with the new rules when it was finalized. The credits are usable to offset the expenses for sending a student to the week long Air Academy held several times per summer.

A preliminary look at scheduling an April Rally ended with the possible dates of April 4, 5, 11, and 12. Leslie was going to check on the availability  of the Allegiant Air facility which would play heavily in the decision on dates to fly Young Eagles.

EAA Headquarter annual report: Mike received the annual report from HQ and noticed the mention of rental car discounts. Mike had recently tried to rent a car through this program only to find the EAA discount rate was higher than any other rate he could find by a significant amount. He sent a message to HQ to understand the functioning of the discount. Mike’s final words were beware of the “deal” being offered by the rental companies.

Announcements:
As mentioned last month a “get well soon” card was circulated for Adrian Stack.

Mike again attempted to distribute the volunteer certificates and pins for last year’s officers. Leslie Thompson received her recognition as Young Eagles Coordinator.

Bob still has one of the chapter’s cook stoves in his hanger and would like to have it find a new home. The smaller of the two stoves went to chapter 43 but the large one is still in its resting place in Greeley. Options for finding the stove a new home were discussed with several options available. In the short term the stove will be removed from the hanger and stored with the trailer until final disposition is determined.

New Business: Mike is planning to fly to Sun ‘n Fun this year and made the offer for a couple others to ride along with him. If you are interested in a ride, contact Mike Bond.

Evening Program:
The program was a screening of the movie “One Six Right” the story of Van Nuys airport in the Los Angles California area. It was a good movie with a lot of historical information and a strong example of what positive things can happen to a “general aviation” airport.  

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March Program

In one capacity or another, Tim Cole has served in every U.S. round-the-world balloon attempt since 1981, and he will be sharing his experiences as a crew member with Steve Fossett.

In 1994, Cole flew as copilot with Steve Fossett on a record-setting transatlantic balloon flight from St. Johns, New Foundland to Hamburg, Germany. This was deemed the most technically perfect transatlantic balloon crossing, flying 75 hours, 27 minutes, with a standup landing within 1/2 mile of their stated goal.

Cole served as project director and engineer for Fossett's round-the-world attempts in 1996, 1997 (which set absolute duration and distance records), 1998, and 2001; and in 2002 when Steve successfully circumnavigated the globe solo, from Northam, Australia to Central Queensland, Australia.

Currently, Tim is the flight director and chief engineer for the Celestial Eagle Trans-Pacific world record balloon attempt from Japan to North America. As chief engineer, he oversees the operational readiness of all systems, and improvements of systems and design changes.

Cole is a holder of two world and 26 national ballooning records, and was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame. A 1991 duration record flight was cited by the National Aeronautics Association as one of the top 10 flights of 1991. In 1995, Cole, along with Dennis Brown, was awarded the Diploma Montgolfier, the highest award given to a balloonist. He has been an agent with Farmers Insurance Group, in Greeley, CO., for the past 26 years.

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Poker for Programs Tournament

Where: JetLinx Hangar, 11824 Corporate Way, Jeffco Airport, Broomfield

When: Saturday, March 14

Support For : Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center (EGSMC)

Cost: $50 registration; $250 corporate table sponsorship

Registration Deadline: 8 March

Contact: 303.689.5252 or folsoml@exempla.org

 

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