EAA Current Newsletter

BRAZOS AREA RECREATIONAL
FLYERS BRAGGING AND GOSSIP

EAA Chapter 983 Newsletter
June 2003

EAA Chapter 983, P.O. Box 5191, Granbury, Tx. 76049
Website http://www.eaa983.org

Chapter 983 meets on the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 AM. in Ken houseman's hangar. N.E. corner of Pecan Plantation Airpark.

June Program: Mack Angel, Team History and His Experiences as an Air Force Thunderbird

May has been great this year for fly-in successes. This newsletter seems to be the fly-in issue because the weather has been extremely cooperative and the weekends have seen blue skies and sunshine.

Once again our effort produced lots of airplanes and lots of friends coming by to visit.

As always, without volunteer support we couldn’t put on an event of this size. Vice Prez Dick Jones was the head cheese this time and his team was made up of Roe and Marsha Walker (Visitor Flights), Jackie Bricker (Kidsville), Martin and Claudia Sutter (Food and Beverages), Don Saint and Tom Woodward (Spot landing contest), Steve Wilson (Set up and tear down) and Jim Kuholtz (Parking and traffic). In addition almost everyone else in the chapter performed the many tasks necessary to keep this going and we’d like to thank you for the effort you put in. It was a great time.

Every fly-in there always seems to be one guy who just can’t stand not being up and flying instead of doing his assigned job. A couple of fly-ins ago Ed Askins left wife Miranda holding the bag so he could partake in the numerous fly bys and formation hops. She had a name for him at the end of the day and I don’t think it was “Lover”. This time the “Sorry, gotta go” award goes to past prez Don Saint who told Tom Woodward that the Spot landing contest needed a single voice running the show and that voice was Toms. Then Don was free to fly the 12 ship formation and participate in the contest himself.. There is justice however, Don placed 124th. His landing being further from the line than several airplanes at Granbury Municipal that didn’t even fly that day. Oh yeah, the winners: First Place was won by our friend from Nassau Bay, Gary Brandon in his Cessna 140. He told me later that he’d always been intimidated by all the people in the contest who had many hours of flying compared to him. Obviously there is not much correlation between numbers of hours and accuracy of landings. Congratulations Gary!

Second place: once again in a testament to my quest for mediocrity, for the second year in a row, your newsletter editor in his T-18. A big Thank You to Rick and Brenda Chapman who provided the terrific award plaques.

Probably the busiest job was done by Jim Kuholtz who directed parking and operated the radio for traffic assistance. He didn’t direct but the info he gave to arrivals and taxiing a/c was invaluable and professionally delivered. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait until Fall!

Lee Clements successfully flew his beautiful Glastar for the first time on May 23, 2003.

A lot of work was put into the project by EAA volunteers like Flight Advisor Don Saint and Tech Counselors Kevin Ross, Gary Green and Dick Keyt.

There is always a small group in any organization that is responsible for doing the lions share of the work. Two of those people in our chapter have been Kevin and Karla Ross. They’ve been mainstays with Karla as Chapter President and Kevin as Newsletter Editor a few years ago. In addition Kevin has been one of our most prolific technical talents. I can’t begin to list the number of homebuilt projects he has been involved with in his role as Tech Counselor and Flight Advisor.. Just about every first flight in our chapter and many others outside of it have had his hand in the building and advisory aspects. Kevin is no longer going to serve in the role of Tech Counselor for the chapter but I feel quite sure that anyone in need of help or advice on his project only has to pick up the phone and he’ll be there. Kevin’s been there many times for me and as a chapter we’ll miss his experience and willingness to serve. Thank you from all of us.

Mack Angel (presenting this months program) is not now, has never been and has never wanted to be: a Blue Angel. Somehow the newsletter editor got confused, perhaps Mack’s name has something to do with it (5 out of 3 newsletter editors are dyslexic), and printed the unthinkable last month.

Ol’ Bessie vs. Man O’ War and Secretariat. With the smallest of head starts, which Chapter 983 T-18 almost beat the fire breathing machines of Saint and Keyt home from the SWRFI?

Nexus Mustang.. A beautiful two place version of the Midget Mustang just made its first flight and hopefully will show up at Osh Kosh. See it at: www.xu-aviation.com/nexusmustang..htm

Superior Air Parts will be receiving the type certificate from the FAA for their new SP360 engine in a few months. On the drawing board for SAP is a 200 hp and 300 hp engine and a diesel engine marketing arrangement. (see “Bits and Pieces”)

Stewart/Williams RV6 has been inspected and received it’s Special Airworthiness Certificate. First flight TBA.

If you were Stan Shannon and had been running the Southwest Regional Fly In for the last few years, you had to feel like you’d been tossed in a West Texas arroyo and been snakebit a few dozen times. With less than adequate facilities and downright rotten weather, I’m surprised we still have a SWRFI.

This year however, Stan is singin’ a different tune. It was by any standard an unqualified success. In all categories the numbers were several times greater than any of the past fly ins. Total crowd for the week: 4222, over 700 aircraft and over 1800 aircraft movements on Saturday made New Braunfels the third busiest airport in the nation on that day(they had planned for 800). The 96 vendors were very happy with the turnout and you can expect many more vendors next year after showing these numbers. In fact, you can also expect to see an airshow next year. I know a lot of us would prefer not to have the airport shutdown for several hours but there is demand for a show from the surrounding municipal and commercial interests who financially support SWRFI. They want to bring in more out of area spectators.

As you know the wind can still blow and thunderstorms will always be around in the Spring but for one year at least, there was a fabulous Fly In in New Braunfels, Texas.

Rudolf Diesels compression ignition has been around since 1893. Diesel R&D activities has become front burner at automakers and suppliers around the world. Spark - Ignition engines use a spark plug to initiate combustion while a diesels intake air is compressed, fuel is sprayed in and ignition occurs through the heat of compression alone. Thus the term “Compression Ignition”(CI) vs “Spark Ignition”(SI). Diesels made up 35% of Europe’s new car fleet. U.S. 0.26%. Two diesels have progressed to power airplanes, the SMA 230hp SR305 (Cirrus and Maule have ordered engines) and the 135 hp (actually produces thrust levels near 180hp) Thielert Centurion 1.7 on the Diamond Twinstar.. Superior Air Parts has secured exclusive worldwide (except Europe) rights to the four cylinder, liquid cooled, FADEC, turbo Centurion 1.7. A SI engines compression ratio is usually around 10:1, a CI’s about 20:1 or beyond. Higher compression enhances thermal efficiency: it also requires heavier components. The diesel aircraft option promises increased TBO, lower gallon per hour fuel consumption, more readily available fuel, and compliance with environmental regulations. Diesel offers a fuel - economy benefit of perhaps 25-30 %. Diesel fuel, like kerosene and jet fuel is a middle distillate; gasoline, a lighter, high-end product. Europeans refine so much diesel fuel that they have a glut of gasoline, some of which they send our way. U.S. refiners produce gasoline with a byproduct of poor quality diesel with too much sulfur. Sulfur is the real emissions problem. Sulfur in U.S. diesel averages 350 parts per million. European average is 175. Phasing down to 10 by 2005. By June 2006, 80% of U.S. diesel fuel sold by major refineries has a 15 ppm limit. The European Community has really bought into automotive CO2 as a significant contributor to global warming. There’s an excellent argument that diesel particulates (soot) -and not CO2- constitute the most hazardous byproduct. Increasingly stringent emissions-control regulations challenge the diesel even more than its spark-ignition counterpart. Even with ultra-low sulfur fuel, it’s not clear that our coming NOx and particulate regulations can be met. Belgium has the most striking price difference with diesel going for $2.98 /gal. versus gasoline at $4.02. There has never been an appreciable price differential in favor of diesel fuel in this country. Diesel technology was slow to adopt electronic engine management, but todays designs have evolved quickly. As an example, common rail injection all but eliminates engine clatter.. Todays systems pre-condition the combustion through multiple-injection strategies.. Piezioelectric injectors vary their nozzle geometry for super-fine, high-speed metering. In the old days (10 years ago!), for each liter of displacement, diesels produced 45 bhp and 70-80 lb.-ft/ of torque. Today figures are 75 bhp/liter and 110-120 lb.-ft./liter.

What a fun and nostalgic fly-in! Grass strip, 60 year old hangar, lots of friendly people and good food. The Ranger EAA chapter has the unique distinction of managing their own airport. It belongs to the city of Ranger and the chapter raises funds through their fly-ins to meet expenses. At one time it had an asphalt runway which is now almost completely reclaimed by the grass and you know what? I think that’s a good thing. It is a very pretty and old fashioned looking place with a very smooth 2600‘ grass strip. The Mooney’s, Bonanza’s and RV’s seemed to like it just fine. There were about 50 airplanes of all types including a Cherokee painted like a big orange and white checkerboard.(must have been a taping nightmare! ) If you haven’t been there, it’s worth the trip. Right on the North side of Interstate 20 about 50 miles West of Weatherford, it’s easy to find and has a restaurant within walking distance.. Their next fly-in is scheduled for August 30th and they’ll have BBQ. Don’t miss it.

I know, I know. Big, profit driven, self important, corporate oriented puppet. But, AOPA is probably the loudest, most often heard, high profile voice that General Aviation has these days. In years to come we may look back and realize how close we came to having draconian flight restrictions rammed down our throats and the threat is still there. Make no mistake, there are always people out there who would like to control EVERYTHING a person does to suit their own agenda. Writing letters and making phone calls is a great way of influencing events but having a 390,000 member organization with strong financial impact on the economy really adds weight to your argument.

1925 - Travel Air is founded by Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman

1944 - Flt. Sgt. Nicholas Alkenmade jumps out of an RAF Lancaster without a parachute and falls 18,000’ to the ground - without injury. (rumor: F. S. Alkenmade moves to Washington State, USA after the war)

1953 First meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1955 Birth of the Cessna 175 (rumor: 1956, Edsel Ford leaves Cessna to return to family business)

Call me and I’ll add your project to this list. Experimental or not. Bold letters mean completed projects.