Newsletter September 1997 Volume 17, Number 9 Chapter 724, Experimental Aircraft Association Merritt Island, Florida Mailing address: P. O. Box 320923, Cocoa Beach, FL 32931 Internet Web Site: http://www.BeginAt.com/EAA724 Officers Technical Counselors President: John Murphy 783-1515 Ted Yon 783-7966 Vice President: Eric Kennard 631-3264 John Murphy 783-1515 Secretary/Treasurer: John Soukup 783-7128 Young Eagle Coordinator Newsletter Editor: Fred Mahan 452-5797 Tony Yacono 459-0080 The next meeting will be the second Wednesday of September September 10, 1997, 7:30 P. M. Big Merritt Island Air Service Hangar, South Side of Runway Second Floor, Southwest Corner Meeting Room ______________________________________________________________________________ EAA Chapter 724 P. O. Box 320923 Cocoa Beach, FL 32931 Calendar of Upcoming Events Sep 13 Merritt Island Airport, Plane Fun Day, 407- 636-5346. Sep 20 Titusville, FL, EAA Chapter 866 Annual “Smilin’ Jack” Fly-In, 407-267-4488. Sep 20 Kissimmee, Chapter 74 Young Eagles Day and Pancake Breakfast, 407-677-6675 Sep 27 Valkaria Airport, Young Eagles Day plus static displays and cookout, 407-724-8671 Sep 27-28 12 Oaks Air Estates, Hernando, FL, Southern Hospitality Pietenpol Fly-In, 352-726- 5216. Oct 2-4 Lakeland, Silver Wings Meet (for those who soloed 25+ years ago), 1-800-554-1437. Oct 10-11 Plant City, EAA Chapter 1178 Annual Strawberry Aircraft & Auto Show, 1-800-760- 2315. Oct 10-12 Thomasville, GA, Thomasville Aviation Club Fly-In Extravaganza, 912-226-4708. Oct 10-12 Evergreen, AL, SE Regional Fly-In, 334-765-9109. Oct 17-19 Lake Wales Airport, 1997 International (Model) Jet Rally, 941-677-1785. Oct 23-25 Orlando Executive Airport, AOPA Expo '97, 1-301-695-2000. Nov 1-2 Lakeland, Alexander Sportair/EAA/ Aircraft Spruce Workshop, 1-800-967-5746. Nov 7-9 Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, Wings and Strings Music Festival, 941-984-3500. Nov 15-16 Florida Flying Gators Ultralight Association Annual Fly-In, 407-767-9621. Apr 19-25, 1998 Sun 'n Fun. Jul 22-26 PRA Convention, Mentone Airport, Mentone, IN. Jul 29-Aug 4 Oshkosh. Regularly Scheduled EAA Fly-Ins Across Florida Every First Saturday, Cannon Creek Airpark, Lake City, Fly-In Breakfast, 904-755-4760 Every Second Saturday, Charlotte County Airport, Punta Gorda, EAA Chapter 565 Pancake Breakfast, telephone number TBA. Every Third Saturday, Sebring Airport, EAA Chapter 803 Pancake Breakfast, 941-465-6996. Every First Sunday, Ft. Myers Airport, Chapter 66 Pancake Breakfast, 941-945-7000. Every Second Sunday, Naples Airport, EAA Chapter 1067 Fly-In Breakfast, 941-261-5701. Every Third Sunday, Kissimmee Municipal Airport, west side of the field, 9 am on. Every Fourth Sunday, Bob Lee Airport, De Land, EAA Chapter 635 Fly-In Picnic, 904-734-1032. Every Last Sunday, Quincy, FL, EAA Chapter 445 Pancake Breakfast, 904-421-4335. __________________________________________ August Meeting At the August meeting, the assembled faithful were held in thrall by Tom Teek's tale of flying to Oshkosh and Toronto, his hair-raising story of his brake fire in Lexington, and his heartwarming account of EAAers there flocking to help him. Tom recounted how his brother Bob flew down from Toronto and the two of them drove the crippled EZ home in a rental truck. When they arrived at Merritt Island Airport, Chapter 724 volunteers helped unload it. Tom is now at work replacing the damaged gear. __________________________________________ Plane Fun Day September 13 is the date for this year's Plane Fun Day at Merritt Island Airport, put on by the Brevard Aviation Association. The BAA has asked that as many EAA airplanes as possible be brought for display. For more information, call the BAA's president, Ric Lasher, at 636-5346. __________________________________________ Guest Speaker at September Meeting Chapter Secretary/Treasurer John Soukup has arranged for Kevin Kimball to be a guest speaker at out September chapter meeting. Kevin and Jim Kimball operate Jim Kimball Enterprises, Inc., in Zellwood, which constructs aircraft replicas. Kevin is going to bring a slide presentation of construction of a Gee Bee Model Z done in their shop, and perhaps information on other projects they are working on and have completed. Should be quite interesting! Thank you, John, for setting this up for us! __________________________________________ Valkaria Airport According to Mark Cannon, the county Commission hasn’t made a decision concerning the management of Valkaria Airport. The commission voted 5 to 2 on August 20th to have their staff do an in-depth study on the airport and report back later. Support keeping all of Valkaria’s runways open. Attend their Young Eagles Day on September 27 and volunteer your time or airplane if you can. For details on the event contact Mark Cannon at 724-8671. _________________________________________ GP-4 Chapter member Pat Salamone is getting very close to the first flight of his Pereira GP-4. The GP-4 is a 200-hp wood low-wing two-seater with steel tube fuselage structure. GP-4’s are strictly plans-built projects, and Pat has been working on his for several years. By all accounts Pat’s GP-4 is a beautiful example of the type. Perhaps Pat can give us an account of the final preparations, if he hasn’t done his first flight already. _________________________________________ Chapter Internet Site Did you know that Chapter 724 has an Internet Web Site, set up by chapter member and on-line impresario Ron Cadby, and an E-mail address (which forwards your note to your newsletter editor -- me)? The address is: http://www.BeginAt.com/EAA724 Go have a look. You can contact Ron at his E-mail address at: rcadby@BeginAt.com _________________________________________ How Not To Charge A Battery from EAA Technical Counselor News, Winter 1997 My Fisher Classic battery had been low the last time I checked it so I decided to put the charger on it for a few minutes before I tried to crank it over. So I got the charger out, connected the positive lead to the battery side of the starter solenoid and the negative side to the block. I then bent over to plug in the charger to the extension cord on the ground next to the airplane. The next thing I knew I was seeing stars and picking myself up gingerly off the ground. What had happened? Well, the positive lead from the charger had shifted position and fallen across the starter side of the solenoid, and when I plugged in the charger the propeller kicked over and conked me in the back of the ole noggin. More embarrassed than hurt, I reviewed the proper technique for charging a battery: 1. Plug in the charger first. 2. Connect the positive lead securely to the battery if possible, but in any case in a way that it cannot short and make contact with the wrong thing. 3. Stand well clear of all moving parts. 4. Quickly touch the negative lead to ground and be ready for any untoward event. 5. If all goes well in step 4, connect the negative lead to the charger and let it charge. Several times before I had charged the battery in my Classic in just the same way I tried this time with no ill effects. But as the saying goes, there’s always something waiting to jump up and bite you right where it hurts. I got away with nothing more than a sore head and a bruised ego. I was lucky … this time! _________________________________________ Classified Ads Lancair Project For Sale -- 1996 Lancair 320/360 Mk II fast build project, gear installed, one wing ready to close, other wing near completion, horizontal stabilizer closed, elevators and trim tab completed and attached, right side rudder and brakes, extended dynafocal mount, hydraulic inboard gear doors, outback flaps, capacitance fuel probes installed, fuel/water separators, over $30,000 and 600 hours invested, asking $27,000. Carl Gaddis, home 407-242-4643, work 407-752-8964, e-mail: cgaddis@harris.com Cozy Mk. 3 Project For Sale VariEze/Long-EZ canopy, cheap; 3.40/3.00-5 tire and three tubes, all brand new, free. 407-841-7981. Continental 65-8F, 1400 SMOH, compression 80/72 on all four, also 72/42 prop. Asking $2,800. Call Bob Gilpatrick, (407 or 904) 767-0996. _________________________________________ 2 3