The Fun Flyer Experimental Aircraft Association, Chapter 1189, Macon, Mississippi President: Vice President: Secretary/Treasurer: Newsletter Editor: Mitch Hendrix Andy Fultz John Peters Gerald McKibben January, 2002 The First One Writing a newsletter is something this Editor hasn t tried before. How it looks depends a lot on how well he gets along with Microsoft Publisher; I suspect that it s able to do more than he knows how to ask it to. Anyway, for better or worse, this is the first of a series of issues of our Chapter newsletter with me at the helm. If you have any suggestions on what to call it (Other than the first thing that popped into my head, above), or for its content, let me know. I am sorry to have missed the meeting in Starkville January 12. I understand there were more than fifty present, and that the food was good. Too bad the Saturday flight had to be cancelled because of the weather. Who would have thought the weather would be a problem in Mississippi in February! Anyway, it was encouraging to hear that the attendance was good, and that so many showed enthusiasm for keeping our Chapter active. And thanks, Mitch, for taking on the BIG job! Coming Events Mitch mentioned going down to Meridian or Jackson some time to tour the tower. That should be interesting and informative. He s Events, cont. planning the following schedule of events for February; Feb. 2 Grenada Fly out with a rain date of Feb. 16; Feb. 9 Pisgah Fly-in Feb. 23 Monthly meeting. Also, it s not too early to plan for Sun-N-Fun, April 7-13. If I remember correctly there were at least 7 or 8 Chapter members at Lakeland last year. From the President s Desk Dear Chapter Members, I welcome all the members for the 2002 FLYING season. I would like to take this time to tell you a little bit about your new president. I've been married seven times, have 9 children and don't believe in child support. I've been in prison 3 times, one of those times for embezzlement. No, that's really not me. I just wanted to get your attention. The real me is originally from Bastrop, La. That's where I learned to fly, but I got my license in Prattville, Al. 1 1
I left college and went into the Air Force in Wichita, KS and became a Jet Engine mechanic. Finished college in Kansas. My wife, my only wife, got accepted into Veterinary Medicine School in Baton Rouge, so we went back to La for six years, during which I worked as a Process engineer for an Air Separation plant that made liquid/gas oxygen, nitrogen and argon. Then we made our journey to the frozen tundra of Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN. We didn't intend on staying 12 years up there. It was a beautiful place to live except for those 5-6 month winters. The coldest I remember was -51 degrees and that was not the wind chill. Talking about having to preheat your airplane to go flying. Most general aviation flying would cease at about 10 to -10 degrees. For me, once the temp got to zero (0), I couldn't tell the difference from 0 to -50. It was just cold. I changed careers and went into flying full time once I got to MN. I had just finished my CFI, II, MEI & instructed for two years.then I flew Cargo for two years flying a Metroliner. Talk about flying in all kinds of wx. Do you ever wonder how those freight companies can say "Guaranteed over night delivery", that's because you (the small guy that's flying the 206's, 310's, Barons, Metroliners and the Lears) will get fired if you do not get that cargo to where it's supposed to be. So, being young, dumb and full of #@^%, along with no flight time to speak of, you do it. After that stint I started flying a Sabreliner, Citation II, & III along with a King Air 200 for a corporation. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The King Air was the most fun for me. You flew that single pilot with several stops in a day. Not many overnights. Then as my wife and I started really getting tired of the winter we started talking of moving SOUTH. I decided that the airlines would be a way for us to live in a small town and still be able to fly. So, I got on with Sun Country Airlines Flying a B-727. Actually, I was a Flight engineer. That rating was the hardest rating to ever get, knowledge wise. Ask any Flight Engineer. During this time I'm also pursuing employment with the major airlines. In August of 2001,we made the move to STARKVILLE, MS. I had just interviewed with Southwest Airlines and was waiting to hear from them. In Sept., just before the attacks, Southwest called and said "congratulations, you're hired", just waiting on your class date. Then the attacks happened. I got furloughed Oct. 31st and then my airline shut down Dec. 8th, so, I'm unemployed right now and am somewhat enjoying it. I'm suppose to start training in March/ April with Southwest. That is my background. I'm looking forward to being El Presidente'. Flying in Minnesota was very active. Everybody wanted to fly all the time. So we are going to fly a lot down here. The chapter is only as strong and active as the members want it to be. We can come up with lots of activities to do but if the members don't come out to have fun, there is not much else the chapter can do. I'm looking for input from all as to what you as a member want to do this season. We will have a schedule of activities in the next newsletter. Feel free to email everyone if you are going flying on a sat/sun and just say "Hey, I'm going flying, anybody want to go". Sometimes that's all it takes. I look forward to meeting everyone again and going FLYING. Until the next newsletter, Stay alert and fly safe. Mitch The Editor s Corner - Coming Attractions One thing I'd like to do is feature one or more Chapter members in each issue of The Fun Flyer (See Member Profiles, page 3).You don t have to be a super pilot or hero to be featured. It s interesting to the rest of us to learn how someone else got interested in flying, and what airplanes they ve owned, built, or restored. Let me know of any happenings that may be interesting to the group. Especially we would like to know of your progress on your building or restoration project, if you have one. We may even have a gossip column. Not real gossip, just the ordinary flights one pilot makes, no matter how 2 2
Coming Attractions, cont. kind of news that might be interesting to the rest of us. The small-town weekly newspaper where I grew up ran a regular column which was nothing more than John and Sue Smith were the Sunday afternoon guests of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jones. And people read that stuff! So please send me anything you have done lately (or a long time ago) related to airplanes, exciting or not. Trips are especially interesting. We all like to read about flights to Sun-N-Fun or Oshkosh, for example, especially if we re planning to go there. I m easy to get in touch with: Email: gmckib@ra.msstate.edu Snail mail: 1982 Hickory Drive, Starkville 39759 Telephone 662-323-3676; FAX 323-6371 So please let me know of ANYTHING you may have that might be interesting to other readers. Include photos if you like. Write it up if you want, or just relay the story to me and I ll do the writing. Who knows, one day you may read something like Paul Spurgeon took his Citabria up late last Monday afternoon to inspect his farm, and landed back at his home strip in time to observe a beautiful sunset. Pilots just eat this stuff up! We also plan to have a regular safety column. If you want to write about some safety issue, or an experience you have had that we might benefit from, let me know. Even a short and simple safety admonition, whether based on actual experience or not, would be helpful. Member Profiles - Bill Page It s quicker to buy a finished homebuilt airplane than to build one, according to Chapter member Bill Page, who soloed under Pappy Camp in 1956 and logged a lot of hours towing gliders in a Piper Super Cub at the local glider cub. He and Son Allen ordered a set of KR2 plans from Rand Alan ordered a set of KR2 plans from Rand Robinson Engineering in 1991 with the idea of building two aircraft a Father and Son project. But they didn t get to spend much time together on the project. Alan was in the Air Force and ended up in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Along about 1992 they decided to concentrate on building one plane, so Bill put his project in the attic, and the concentration (and money) was placed on Alan s KR2, which Alan had started in his dining room. The beautiful set of wings and fuselage that I saw Bill hopes to assemble into a completed airplane before long. A big hurdle is the canopy mechanism. It will be one of those complicated-looking unlatch, raise and slide forward affairs. Meanwhile, it s not as though he doesn t have something to fly. In June of 2000 Bill purchased an Acro Sport from a builder in Pascagoula, who was selling it for health reasons. This beautiful little biplane only had 27 hours on it but needed some work on instruments and the rigging, and had sat for 9 years in a hangar without being flown. It s powered by a Lycoming AEIO320 with a fixed pitch metal prop. (That I stands for inverted ). But back to the KR2. There are about 3,000 of these fast little planes flying worldwide, making it the most popular plans-built homebuilt out there. And for good reason: it cruises in the 180 mph range, pulled by a Volkswagen engine sipping less than 4 gal/hr. The KR2 is stressed for +/- 7 g s at 800 lbs. gross. Climb rate should be around 1200 fpm, and a stall speed of around 52 mph. Bill s engine is a Great Plains conversion of the 2180 cc engine used originally in Volkswagen vans. The beetle used a smaller version of the engine. Great Plains installs mags, a high performance crank and cam, and machines the surfaces for larger front bearings inside of a re - enforced crankcase. The engine puts out about 70 hp. Since it turns a few hundred more RPM than a Lycoming or Continental, it will swing a 3 3
Bill Page, Cont. their start in this business by building a KR2 and modifying a Volkswagen engine for it. The premolded wing skins were produced by Dan Diehl, who also once built a KR2, and one thing led to another until today his company builds flight simulator cockpit mockups for the airline industry. The wings, as you d expect from an object produced in a mold, appear perfect. There is less sanding and filling than is necessary with the Rutan foam core construction method. But they are short! The aircraft has a span of only 20.5 ft. to begin with, but 7 of that is taken up by a center section that is molded into the fuselage, leaving only 13.5 ft. Divide that by 2 and you get wings that measure only 6.75 ft. each. (The center section includes wing stubs that stick out a little). Their excellent finish means that they should give an absolutely flawless painted surface. Total cost of the project will be less than $10,000 including engine and instruments. Before he flies the KR2 Bill may need to fly in my RV to get used to looking out the side and not seeing much wing out there! Bill retired recently from his job as teacher in the Starkville Public School System. A couple of business enterprises he s involved in plus having two airplanes to fly should keep him busy in his retirement! GM KR2 wings We put 106 hours on the RV during 2001, including trips to both Sun-N-Fun and Oshkosh. Note bright yellow Global propeller, barely visible behind unidentified spectator. (You ll have to take my word for it being yellow). Page s KR2 fuselage World s largest kit plane, seen at Oshkosh. I think they called it a C-17. Just what you need to haul camping gear to Sun-N-Fun. 4 4
Global s tent at Oshkosh 2001 with Mike Smith Jr. s Glasair Aerial view of the Chapter get-together at Global Aircraft s new building. Wish I could have been there! 5 5
EAA Chapter 1189 1982 Hickory Drive Starkville, MS 39759 Redneck Pilot And finally, as a Certified Redneck myself, I offer the following: You may be a redneck pilot if : You removed your compass to make room for a spit cup. You siphon gas out of your John Deere when you want to go flying. Your radio transmission to the Tower sounds something like: Good buddy, we d like to land this here airplane down there if it s all right with y all. 6 6