The excitement of aircraft descending upon Pecan
Plantation, TX in various formations to listen to Bruce Bohannon describe his
experiences and achievements with the Exxon Flying Tiger set the stage for one of those
chapter meetings with a star in the logbook. AirVenture 2000 was just winding down and the
news from Oshkosh, along with our special program speaker provided the topics of
discussion for our August meeting. Friendships made during the AirVenture Cup Race from
Kitty Hawk to Oshkosh resulted in Debbie Keyt suggesting to Bruce that our chapter
members would enjoy hearing about the world record for 9000 meter time-to-climb first hand
and also seeing the Exxon Flying Tiger at our chapter meeting.
As the chapter members arrived that morning, a photo flight was being
conducted with Dick Keyt's Polen Special, Bruce Bohannon's Exxon Flying Tiger, Don Saint's
Glasair, Gary Green's Thorp. The meeting was officially brought to order by a pass down
the runway led by Gene Keyt flying his Bonanza and Rick Chapman handling the camera
equipment. Several other formation flights from nearby chapters along with many other
aircraft in the pattern brought the local airpark neighborhood out to the meeting.
Special recognition was made at the meeting for the achievements of
local members at AirVenture 2000:
Bill Steppling was recognized for being awarded
the Stan Dzik Memorial Award for Design Contribution. This Gold Lindy award was for the
Retractable Pitot Tube on the Steppling's RV6-A, N69RV. Bill and Debbie can be seen on
Discovery Wings describing their building and flying experiences.
Dick Keyt was recognized for winning the AirVenture Cup 2000
Formula RG class in the Polen Special for the second year in a row. Dick averaged 265 MPH
over the course from Dayton to Oshkosh. Don Saint placed fourth in the FX class
averaging 221 MPH in his Glasair.
Jonathan Ragle reported his experiences during the EAA Air Academy.
Jonathan was sponsored by our chapter this year and all the members were eager to hear his
summary.
Bruce Bohannon spoke about his experiences from
his days as a young crop duster pilot through the present achievements with the Exxon
Flying Tiger and less recently the Pushy Galore. He related experience as an important
element in a pilot's flying career and what value it has meant for him personally.
Bruce talked at length about the flying characteristics of his Formula
Racer "Pushy Galore". A question from Mike Bridges (Long EZ Driver) about why
the canard was added triggered a long discussion. The aircraft was apparently nose heavy
and required an approximate 20 lb. pull on the stick when straight and level at race
speed. Bruce was preparing to change the angle of incidence of the horizontal stabilizer
to create more tail-down force. His friend "Hoot" Gibson suggested instead,
installing a canard to put a lifting force on the nose. With some quick calculations, Hoot
advised Bruce on what airfoil to use, the angle of incidence and the square footage of the
canard. Bruce built the initial canard 75% of what Hoot recommended and used approximately
half the angle of incidence. When all the testing was complete, they had increased the
size to 100% and the angle of incidence recommended by Hoot was perfect!
The success of the Nemesis Team in Formula Class
racing caused Bruce to turn in another direction. He started to focus on time-to-climb
records. Category C-1A records were set in Pushy for the 3000, 6000 and 9000 Meter
time-to-climb. "Drag" races at Sun-n-Fun for any challenger were held for 3
years with Pushy Galore undefeated.
This experience led to the development of the "Exxon Tiger".
This aircraft was built from parts of various RV kits with a Harmon Rocket nose. It
combines light weight with high horsepower. Last year, Bruce broke the Class C-1B record
to 3000 meters and at AirVenture 2000, the record to 9000 meters was broken. The old
record was 27 minutes 13 seconds and Bruces's unofficial time was an unbelievable 8
minutes shorter at approximately 19 minutes.
The chapter meeting ended with Chapter 187 members
from Austin and Chapter 983 members joining together for an eight-ship formation. The
Texas afternoon turbulence allowed for only a few brief moments of tight formations, but
the spirit of recreation was alive and well.
This special event in our chapter 983 history will be long remembered
by those who attended and participated. Thanks to Debbie Keyt for suggesting that
friendships be shared.
EAA Chapter 983 at Pecan Plantation, TX is an active and dynamic
chapter. Approximately 150 members share knowledge and experience from the more that 30
projects in various stages of completion. Many of the projects have been completed and
safely flight-tested. Recreation is at its best when many of the projects are seen flying
and traveling to many of the EAA activities as well as local formation flying by the
members of the chapter.
Chapter activities can be viewed on the web at http://www2.itexas.net/eaa983/.