Terre Haute Ultralight Club
Club Web Site: http://thuc.evinger.com/ KeeDot GPS 39-21-42 x 87-29-00 June 25, 2008
Minutes for the May 31, 2008 meeting Submitted by: John Hill, Secretary
President, Terry Brentlinger called the monthly meeting of the Terre Haute Ultralight Club to order on May 31, 2008.
The meeting was held at Keedot Field.
The following members were present: Dale Barkley, Bob Bedwell, Terry Bergdolt, Ted Brentlinger, Terry Brentlinger, Doug Butrum, Jim Parr, John Ennis, Tim Hayes, John Hill, Don Hughes, Darren Krockenberger, Dick Lutz, Alan Neal, Pete Peterson, John Seifert and Lynn Walton.
Minutes of the April 26, 2008 were approved. Treasurer, Niles Newton not present. Previous balance $843.10.
Old Business
Alan Neal announced that only ten members now receive newsletter by U.S. Mail.
July 19, 2008 is the official date of Fly-In at Keedot Field. This will also be our July meeting date. Terry Brentlinger will invite Tom Long, Manager of Hulman Field to the meeting and Fly-In.
Terry Brentlinger reminded everyone that the EAA Ford Tri-Motor will be at Hulman Field starting June 12 through Sunday, June 15.
New Business
Doug Butrum and Dale Varble are both getting married on June 7, 2008. Best wishes to both of them and their new brides.
Thursday evening hanger talk will begin on June 5th. Come and bring a covered dish or snack.
THUC Safety Officer, Doug Butrum shared some facts on Pennzoil 2 Cycle Air Cooled Engine Oil. Pennzoil has relabeled their 2cycle oil causing much confusion. There are several types of 2 cycle oil now labeled - Outdoor (for small engines). Make sure you get the right stuff! The last four numbers for the bar-code on the 16 oz container is – 4130. For the smaller 8 oz bottle the last four numbers of the bar-code is – 4051. You probably won’t find this on the shelf locally.
Dale Barkley announced that the Edgar County Airport is hosting a pancake breakfast on June 22, 2008 – 7a.m. to 1p.m. CDST.
A very close friend of Darren Krockenberger, Todd Bitts of Jasonville, was a guest at our May meeting. He gave a lengthy description on his single place Auto Gyro Copter.
Alan Neal has completed the conversion of his older 2 place PPC to a single seat machine.
Bi-Annual Reviews are drawing close for some of our light sport pilots. Word is some CFI’s are charging as much as $350.00. Hope this isn’t SO!!!!!
Lynn Walton is still working on his HKS Engine. Hopes to get it going soon.
Next Meeting: June 28, 2008 - 10:00 a.m. – Keedot Field.
Motion to close the meeting by Doug Butrum. Seconded by John Ennis.
FLASH: Thursday Evening Hanger Talk at Keedot Suspended until further notice.
How to get to KeeDot during these flood times
State Road 63 is open from either the north or south but the east-west roads are still flooded. If you are coming from the south you might want to take 246 over to 63 or you will have to come clear up to Ryman Road to get over to 63.
Keedot traffic patterns
John Hill suggested to Terry Brentlinger that we need to discuss traffic patterns. PPC’s can use a much tighter pattern than fixed wings and trikes. Should we publish the information that PPC’s are to use a tighter pattern?
The FAA does make recommendations but allows each airport to establish its patterns. The patterns become official upon publication.
Got Your Pontoons?
In case your are wondering why a boater is featured in a flying clubs newsletter, know that the young man floating in the canoe is Alan Neal’s grandson canoing over Alan’s grass strip during the recent flooding.
Alan said, “We couldn’t go flying so we went canoeing.” Talk about making lemonade when life gives you lemons.
Need a fuel cart? Here’s a freebee by Bob Evinger
I have a "project" (right pic) that I want to offer up if someone is interested. It’s a fuel cart, pictured right, that needs new hoses, lots of other cleanup. It’s a 20 gallon sprayer tank at the moment. There is a manual transfer pump and an electric pump. It’s free but you will need to pick it up at my place.
I will also give away two side bags that fit a Honda cm400 80's vintage. Brackets are somewhat adjustable
Neal completes project: Below is the single place PPC Alan Neal converted from his two place HyFlyer PPC.
Ford Tri-Motor At HUF E-mail from Bill Foraker EAA Club
Flying Friends, Below is a link to some nice photos taken of the EAA Ford Tri-Motor at Hulman Field in Terre Haute, IN. The visit is sponsored by EAA Chapter 83 and the pictures were taken by Eric Dawson, a HUF Air Traffic Controller and photographer. Thought you might like. http://www.digital-salsa.com/galleries/Trimotor
Thucker Flies the friendly Ford Skies. By John Seifert
This is abstracted from an article in The New York Times June 11, 2008 page A-18.
Jerry Halstead, former THUC member, and I met at HUF about 9 AM Thursday, June 12 to catch a flight in the Ford Tri-motor. The plane was about an hour late arriving from its Illinois stopover and after another hour of visiting with other pilots and airplane fans, we were seated inside the terminal on folding chairs lined up as we would be on the plane.
Our host collected our tickets and led us out to the plane and let us sit in any one of the nine seats on either side of the aisle we liked. A tenth passenger was seated in the co-pilot’s seat. I felt less crowded in my seat than I feel in coach on the jet liners.
The door locked, our pilot been cranking the engines. One at a time, he brought the three radials to life and immediately taxied out to the runway. He did not stop as he approached the runway but kept up his momentum and even goosed it as he turned onto the runway and very quickly the plane began lifting.
First the landing gear shock actually allowed the leg to extend as the weight was transferred to the wing and the Ford lifted off after what seemed like an ultralight short take-off roll. The cockpit floor was about 8 inches above the floor of the aisle so it appeared when we looked at the pilot that we were in a continual climb. In fact we climbed to about 800 feet and made a huge circle around Terre Haute. We took off the east and circled south and then west on a line just south of I-70.
I was sitting on the right side and so could see Terre Haute, noted the new construction on 13th street out to Canal Road and the I-70 bridge across the Wabash. We turned north and I could see St. Mary of the Woods College to the west—visibility was excellent, both the air and through the huge windows, huge compared to the small windows on a jet liner. We flew north about to Hay thorn before turning east again and crossed the industrial park on Fruitridge and so lined up with HUF and down.
Total time about 20 minutes, a bargain at 40 bucks. I have been enjoying the memory ever since. And for the next two days got a big kick out of seeing the all metal plane flying near my house on South 11th Street. Seemed really low and big as the music of the three radials announces its arrival.
Will flying before your evening meal and improve your fuel burn?
Learn from the airlines
Price of jet fuel is up 84% of last years price and is the single biggest expense of the airlines. Eight years ago, 15% of the ticket price went to pay for fuel and now it is 40%, according to the Air Transport Association, the industry trade group.
Maintenance crews are now reducing engine drag by washing the engines much more often than previously, a task performed in the past only during major maintenance schedules. Another weight reduction is to load 25% less water for the toilets and faucets, reducing the paper load such as tech books for the pilot and co-pilot. Both pilot and copilot have their own copies in the cockpit and one copy would suffice.. Further paper reduction being considered is reducing paper work by keeping the information such as check lists and emergency procedures only on the computer.
Every 25 pounds removed saves $440,000.00 (almost half a mill) a year for one airline. One airline is planning to swap seats and drink carts for less weighty seats and now being used.
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