EAA Chapter 983 Newsletter

October 2000

Pres.: Don Saint 579-0941
Vice Pres.: Dave Boldenow 579-0946
Secretary: Ken Morgan 578-3646
Treasurer: Dick Keyt 279-7590
Newsletter Editor: Gene Keyt 578-3163 "E" mail: gkeytnebg@aol.com
Young Eagles & flying start Coord.: Dave Moore 573-4642
Tech Counselor: Gary Green 579-1995
Tech Counselor: Jerry Althouse 579-0737
Flight Advisor: Don Saint 579-0941
Advertising Manager: Ed. Brown 573-7768
Historian/photos: Jonathan Ragle 596-7370
Mailing Address: EAA Chapter 983, P.O. Box 903, Granbury, TX. 76049
Website http://WWW2.itexas.net/EAA983/

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 Airport

Our October meeting featured Willie Bennet describing in blow-by-blow fashion, (not a good analogy!) the construction of his new Glastar. Willie is a retired Lockheed stability and control engineer and this background helped in construction. He gave a very complete slide show of his progress. He found that one important key to an easy FAA sign-off was keeping complete logs and documentation.

He started by remodeling his garage and enlarging it so that it was almost a small hangar. He built many jigs to build and hold pieces in the correct position. Willie felt that the combination of welded steel tubing and aluminum was a good one. It might seem like an anachronism, but the steel cage around the cabin gave him a very secure feeling. It has an I-O-320 engine and an empty weight of 1306 Lbs. He has equipped it with a full panel of goodies appropriate for IFR. With full fuel and two people it still can carry 140 Lbs. of baggage. The tanks gravity feed the engine and the 33 Gal. Of fuel lasts 4 hours. The 63" pitch Sesenitch prop gives him a good compromise between climb and cruise. His total outlay was $75K with a build time of 2900 hours. He appreciated having a chase plane (Don Saint) and another Glastar pilot, Lee Clements, in close proximity. (Lee actually started his Glastar before Willie, but Willie beat him to the 1^st flight.)

Congratulations Willie on a well executed Glastar build! Go enjoy!

Ye editor sometimes has "foot-in-mouth disease".An article in last months newsletter is a case in point. I wrote an article describing the Abby Bend Aerobatic box. The last paragraph had some items that should be clarified. I stated that: "This (the Abby bend Aerobatic box) is not 'waivered' airspace" .It is waivered airspace, but not in the usual sense. Most pilots think of waivered airspace as the "closed" airspace around Abilene and Oshkosh, for example, when an Air Show is in progress. The Abby bend aerobatic box has no such restriction when pilots are using it for aerobatics. It is open to all pilots on a see-and-be-seen basis who may be landing or taking off at Pecan. The Ross's monitor 123.05 as a courtesy to coordinate any possible conflict which may be unseen by either pilot.

Richard Keyt wins big in Copperstate Dash Air Race

Phoenix, Az. News Release -"Flying his 30-year-old Polen Special, Richard Keyt of Granbury, TX, smoked the competition in the Sixth Annual Copperstate Dash Air Race sponsored by Aircraft Spruce and Specialty. Keyt covered the 304 NM. In 1:13:18, giving him a course record speed of 249 Kts. He crossed the finish line 20 minutes ahead of the next competitor and 50 knots faster in average speed. There were 7 contestants in the Millennium category. John Daniels won 2^nd place in a Berkut, with Frank Donnelly close behind in his RV3A. The other four entries in that group, which included aircraft with 180 Hp or less, were all flying RV's."

OK, that's the good news. The bad news is that Dick could not get the gear down after the race and had to make a belly landing. Incredibly there was comparatively little damage. The inboard gear doors (which at the moment are the suspects in the failure to extend) are damaged, and a small area just aft of the doors. The prop tips were curled and the engine will have to be overhauled, but the flaps are OK (he got them up in time) and there is no other damage on the bottom of the fuselage or wings! Congratulations Dick, on winning the race and a super job of handling that gear up! Dick and Kip Yearwood brought the "bird" back to Pecan and the next day took it down to Austin where the University of TX Aero Dept. Is doing a test program to determine flutter susceptibility.

Late Flash! Just saw a video of the gear-up crash. The right gear was down and the gear door open at touch down, but nothing open on the left side. Dick did a super job riding on the right gear as long as he could until the left wing dropped. This put too much of a load on the right gear and it buckled. Overall, it is difficult to see how the damage could have been any less.

NOTAMS:

1) Art Lombas has been an avid ultralight pilot. (He is the talented welder that helped Dick Keyt out so much on the Polen exhaust and main gear struts.) Art has the late shift at Alliance working for American. He finished at 12 A.M. two nights in a row and then drove down to Pecan to weld the gear for Dicks Copper state race. Talk about above and beyond!

Anyway, he has gotten so good at flying ultralights, with a National win to his credit, that he has been invited to compete in the International arena and will be off to Spain!

2) We understand that a Micco SP-26 will fly in to our November meeting. This is the former Meyers 145 design now being built in Florida. A very advanced airplane for it's day and still is. It is a two place retractable, conventional gear bird that was introduced in the early 40's. Come see!

3) Martin Sutter has installed a constant speed prop on his RV and is quite pleased with the performance.

4) Speaking of RV's, I hear that Kevin Ross is giving up the race that he and Bill Steppling had going for the fastest RV and he is willing to concede defeat. Do you believe that? Neither do I. (See classifieds) I understand that he is buying an RV-6 fast build kit.

5) Congratulations to the 99's for an outstanding Aviation Program they gave to 450 little tykes from the Emma Roberson Grammar school in Granbury. Konnie Sasser was instrumental in organizing many pilots from the 99's and EAA to give a picture as to what aviation is all about. A three day program introduced aviation, with pilots giving classroom presentations on the first day. The second day was an airport visit and show-and-tell on aircraft with skydivers dropping in by parachute. The third day found lots of little fingers pointing at the sky as three RV's made a formation pass over the school, topped off with a balloon launch. Thanks for giving the kids such a great educational experience and us the story!

6) If you have picked up a new sectional, you may have noticed that the 123.05 frequency for Pecan has been dropped. This means that legally we should be using 122.9, the frequency for non-unicom airports. More to the point, itinerant pilots may be using 122.9 frequency, if they go by the chart, while we continue to use 123.05. Pecan did have a Unicom at the clubhouse, but it is now obsolete and needs replacement. Stay tuned.

Classifieds (We know you have something for sale!)

For Sale! Ads of aviation related items are run at the discretion of the editor, free of charge for two months. After two months they will automatically be removed unless requested to run again.

• 20 Ft. telescoping flagpoles installed with flags and golden Eagle on top. Perfect for home or business, great gift. $250 installed. Contact Dick Keyt 817-279-7590 Proceeds go to EAA Chapter 983.

• Airpark home in Pecan Plantation for sale. 2500 Sq. Ft. with 40x50 hangar. Photos at www.hcnews.com/saint/homeforsale.html