EAA CHAPTER 315 ON THE WEB: Vice-President: Lew Levison 11 Cromwell Lane Jackson, NJ (732)

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1 AS THE PROP TURNS EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION Main Article Heading CHAPTER 315 NORTH JERSEY SHORE EAA CHAPTER 315 ON THE WEB: President: Bob Lorber 7 Eggers Street East Brunswick, NJ (732) rlorber@ece.rutgers.edu Treasurer: Tom Goeddel 31 McCarter Avenue Fair Haven, NJ (732) tgoeddel@comcast.net Vice-President: Lew Levison 11 Cromwell Lane Jackson, NJ (732) Young Eagle s Coordinator: Frank Fine 3311 Belmar Blvd. Wall NJ (732) thefines@juno.com Secretary: Jane Finton 104 Arbor Court Tinton Falls, NJ (732) Newsletter Editor: Richard Bielak 2 Bartlett Court Matawan, NJ Home: (732) Mobile: (732) richieb@gmail.com Minutes of the January 2015 Meeting of EAA Chapter 315 The January 2015 meeting of EAA Chapter 315 was called to order by President Bob Lorber at 7:40PM. There were 15 members present. The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as published in the newsletter. Treasurer, Tom Goedell, reported $ in our account, with dues for 2015 still coming in.

2 Lew is trying to arrange for James Pitcairn to be out speaker for this year s Awards Dinner. Once we know when Mr. Pitcairn is available we will pick a date for the dinner. We are planning a fly out to Cape May on January 11th for brunch. EAT is 10:45AM. We expect about 8 airplanes to go. Perl Acres is being sold to the State. The land will most likely be managed by the Fish and Wildlife Commission. There is a possibility that Perl Acres can remain as a leased back airport. Consider writing state Senator Linda Greenstein in support of the airport (her is: SenGreenstein@njleg.org). The restaurant at Sky Manor has closed and the owners are opening a new place at Cherry Ridge Airport in Pennsylvania. There are plans to have someone else run the restaurant at Sky Manor. Our President got a letter from HQ and a pin for flying more than 10 Young Eagles in the past year. There was a suggestion to include a profile of a member of the chapter in each newsletter (We start this month with Roger Elowitz). Eagle s Nest airport now has 36 hangars and they all have been rented. 50/50 was won by our guest Ignatio in the sum of $15. Next meeting will take place at Old Bridge airport office on Monday 2/1 at 7:30PM. Richie Bielak, Editor As The Prop Turns - EAA Chapter 315 2

3 My interest in aviation was fostered by my father who was a pilot in the early 1930's when Lindbergh inspired many young men into the air. Dad introduced me to flying when I was 8-years old with a ride in a DC-3 at Floyd Bennett airport and later a ride in a Cub at Flushing Airport in Queens where the field owner, Speedy Hanslick was a friend of my dad's. By the age of 10 I was building model planes and later flying them on "U" control. I always wanted to fly radio control planes but the ones I really cared about had realistic multi-channel simultaneous proportional control which was phenomenally expensive at the time. Then I found out that I could learn to fly "real airplanes" for less money. So, in my senior year in high school (when I was old enough to drive my father's 1949 Pontiac), I drove from Brooklyn to Deer Park, Long Island for my pilot training... paid for by my mother. Dual instruction was $14 an hour. That was a fortune for a kid with no job. At Deer Park I flew the school's Champion Tri-Traveler 7FC's and also did some training at Zahn's Airport in Amityville, LI, NY in Cubs. By 18, I had a Private Pilot's license and I was flying college friends from Zahn's in Piper Cherokees and Piper Tri-Pacers and Colts. Soon I was married and expecting our first son and flying took its place on "the back burner" with me having accumulated only about 120-hours total in about six years. Not much but I was itching to get back in the air for many, many years after that. My dad in the middle of the fun 3

4 Roger and his girlfriend (now wife) in 1964 Then, I retired from teaching in 1996 and all things were then possible. I was flying regularly with a neighbor in his Piper Cherokee 180 out of Marlboro airport and actively looking to own my own plane. In 1998 I finally found a 1979 Piper Dakota in New Orleans and it's been an on-going love affair ever since. That's because my wife, Joyce, flies with me just about everywhere I go. She enjoys the flying just as much as I do and she's an invaluable co-pilot... even without her own license. She handles the radios and navigation although she's "mike-shy" so I do the radio talking. She shouldn't be mike-shy since she also has her ham license. But I don't enjoy looking a "gift horse in the mouth." By of the end of 2014 I have amassed a little more than 2000-hours and have flown from Nova Scotia to Key West on the east coast and as far west as Oshkosh, WI. Most of my time in the Dakota is doing cross-country flights and almost always for a nice lunch somewhere. Flying is a joy I will never tire of. I never stop learning and I love our ability to fly back and forth to our Florida home in only seven hours. The Dakota is the perfect machine for me to do the kind of flying I really love and it fills my "mission" to a "T." I also love the local flying I do with Lew in his Cruiser. It's a completely different mission with its own special rewards. The other loves of my life Joyce and our Dakota As The Prop Turns - EAA Chapter 315 4

5 January 11th, Chapter Fly out to Cape May Airport. The food at the diner at Cape May Airport was excellent! Although the museum at Cape May is normally closed for the winter, Lew got hold of the guy who had the key and we got to see some cool airplanes! TBF Avenger above and a Stearman to the left. 5

6 TWENTY YEARS AGO IN SPORT AVIATION The cover of the February, 1995 issue of Sport Aviation featured a photo of the Berkut, a carbon fiber version of Burt Rutan s Long- EZ, designed and built by Dave Ronnenberg. Dave had built many Long- EZ s, and in the course of those efforts had developed a long list of improvements that he wanted to incorporate into a totally new design. Major items were a pre-molded fuselage, larger engine, and retractable main gear. Since he needed to lengthen the fuselage to balance the Lycoming I0-360 engine he planned to use, he was able to use the extra space in the fuselage for the retracted gear. The fuselage and strakes were molded from carbon fiber, but the builder still constructed the wings from foam cores. The difference was that the kit included foam cores that were about ¼ inch too large, and the builder only needed to make straight and true sanding blocks to form the cores to the final dimensions, thus eliminating the fid-gety hot-wire foam cutting. 75% cruise speed was reported as 208 knots true at 8,000 feet using 10.3 gph, and economy cruise of 187 knots using 7.7 gph. Jack Cox introduced the Air Master, a two-place, side-by-side, low wing, retractable designed and built by Jerry Stallings. Jerry was a retired engineer who had worked for various companies involved in the aerospace industry. Over the years he had built Long-EZ s, Defiants, and Lancair 320 s, and felt that there was a niche for a conventional Lancair/Glassair type that could be built more inexpensively using the Rutan wet lay-up method of construction instead of a premolded kit. Jerry could offer some pre-molded parts such as the main spars, forward deck, and cowling, but the builder could decide how little or how much he could afford versus how much labor he wanted to contribute. Jerry reported that the prototype using a used engine and propeller cost under $35,000 and offered true 200 mph speed. Carlys Sjoholm contributed an article describing the newly introduced Express Design Series 90. The new design is a four-place version of the Express FT, which in turn was an improved version of the Wheeler Express. Dave Ullrich had completed a Lancair 320 kit, and became very interested in composite construction to the point that he set up a business that made air pollution control equipment of composite materials. When he learned that the Wheeler Express assets were to be put up for auction, he made a bid that was accepted. A few modifications were made to the Wheeler Express design, and the new Express FT was put on the market. As The Prop Turns - EAA Chapter 315 6

7 The Series 90 could accept engines from a 200 hp Lycoming I0-360 up to 300 hp I The smaller engines yield a cruise speed of around 200 mph at about 9 gph, while the 300 hp version will produce about 220 mph at about 13 gph. Express Design is now called Express Aircraft, and apparently does not offer a twoplace model anymore. The four-place model is now called the Express 2000, and can be ordered in either a fixed or retractable gear version. Terry Bowden told us the story of his father s Curtiss Robin, NR-82H that had been used in the late 1920 s and early 1930 s as the tanker aircraft during several endurance record attempts. It had been recently restored, and had been finished in the paint scheme of Texaco, one of the sponsors of the endurance record attempts. Among the record attempts that it participated was one that took place from August 14 to August 22 of NR-82H was used to refuel a Curtiss Thrush nicknamed I.J. Fox that was sponsored by the New York fur company of the same name. Pilots Louise Thaden and Frances Marsalis established a new endurance record for women by staying aloft for a total of 196 hours. Jack Cox related the efforts of R.W. Buzz Kaplan who had formed a company called Born Again Restorations for the purpose of building two Sikorsky S-38 amphibians. Buzz had obtained copies of all original blueprints and intended to build the planes as true to the originals as possible. Jack Cox also covered the 1994 Copper State EAA Fly-In and provided lots of photos. H.G. Frautschy described events at the 1994 Staggerwing Convention, held at the Beech Staggerwing Museum s home on Parish Aerodrome in Tullahoma, TN. H.G. also attended the Aerodrome 94 fly-in at Gadsden, AL that was sponsored by the Replica Fighter Museum of nearby Guntersville. Many well known and some little known WWI aircraft replicas were in attendance. Norm Ginn, who constructed a Smith Miniplane in 1967 and then sold it in 1969 due to a job transfer, related how 20 years later he found the present owner and arranged to be reunited with his firs homebuilt. Klauss Savier explained solid state electronic ignition systems and related his experiences using them. In the Sportplne Buillder, Tony discussed hand drills and various attachments that could make the building experience easier. Bob Hartmaier 7

8 Richie Bielak 2 Bartlett Court Matawan, NJ E.A.A CHAPTER 315 As The Prop Turns Newsletter of the Monmouth-Ocean County New Jersey Chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association February 2015 Editor: Richie Bielak (732) Next meeting Monday, February 2nd, 7:30 PM Office at Old Bridge Airport