Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Next Meeting


Next Meeting !!
Monday November 10th 2008
At 6:00 PM
The meeting will held @ Sparta Airport
Pilot Lounge

Next Meeting


Meeting to Start at 6:00pm
Any business for the chapter that needs to be done will happen just before the Aviation Safety-Education Seminar
The program is on
“Making (some) Sense of the Federal Aviation Regulations”
Speaker : Tom Krashen

Chapter Shirts

The EAA Chapter 704 shirts will be in November 10th and Dan will be taking another order for more. If you ordered a shirt please come and pick it up at the next meeting.

President Message

Presidents Corner
Summer is over, Fall is here and snow is on the way. It's time to break out the aircraft winterizing supplies, winter weight oil, oil cooler, block off plates, engine preheater, snow skies, and snowmobile suits for the crew.
In my old days, late 50's to mid 60's, we used our cars and a 10 foot length of flexible exhaust pipe pointed at the oil tank and waited for about half an hour.

If your annual condition inspection is done in late winter or early spring, your heater muff was checked then. It's a good idea to check it again as a lot of hours have been put on it and small cracks can quickly spread and become big ones that let exhaust into the cabin when heater vents are opened. If you haven't already done so, review the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning and brief your crew of the same so you can keep track of each other. Some people rely on a detector, if you do, check it for any expiration date. Have a fun and safe winter flying season.

John D. Smith

Boy Scout Troop 704 will have their Court of Honor promotion program on November 10, 2008. If you would like to attend, contact John Kozal at 616-481-5590

Monday, November 03, 2008

October Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the EAA Chapter 704 meeting held on October 13, 2008
EAA Chapter 704 held it’s regular meeting at 7:00 pm in the pilot’s lounge at Sparta Paul C Miller airport on Monday Oct 13, 2008 with 18 members and guests present.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as printed in the news letter. The treasure reported 1516.07 in the checkbook with all bills paid.
Member John Kozal, Scout leader for the BSA Troop 704, gave a report on the troop’s activities. He reported that one boy was working on his Eagle Scout Badge and was planning to build a deck for his required Eagle project. There is also to be a camp out this weekend. The troop is working on several community projects.
Mr . Kozal reported the troop is in need of a trailer to transport gear on campouts and other events. Inasmuch as BSA precludes them from owning property someone has to hold title to the trailer. He was asking ok the EAA 704 would be willing to hold title and some discussion was held as to whether EAA Headquarters would approve this. President John Smith is to call EAA to get an opinion. There was a motion passed to accept title to the trailer if EAA headquarters has no objection.
The question of EAA 704 having an Employers Identification Number (EIN) came up. Occasionally we are asked, by the bank and others, for this number but we have never had one since we have never had one since we have no paid employees and do not intend to have any in the future. This is to be investigated further.
Paul Zimmer, coordinator for the recent Young Eagles project reported that 121 young people were flown during the event held on Saturday, October 11. There were 10 or 11 pilots and numerous ground control persons to help with this very successful event. Mr. Zimmer was applauded for his efforts in planning and executing this event – even providing perfect weather.
Bill Fish is now flying his newly completed Maule project.
Dan Bauman reported on the project of obtaining EAA 704 logo shirts. He had some samples to show and much interest was shown. A number of members placed orders and Dan said the shirts should be ready in a couple of weeks or so.
Meeting adjourned

Jay T Dean, Sec/Treas EAA 704

September Meeting Minutes

Minutes of EAA Chapter 704 September 2008 Meeting

EAA Chapter 704 met on September 8, 2008 for its regular monthly meeting. The meeting was held in member Bill Fish’s hanger with 18 members present.
President John Smith called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm and called for the mintes of the previous meeting to be read. The minutes as printed in the newsletter were reviewed and approved as read. The treasurer reported $1687.12 in the checkbook with all bills paid.
It was moved and passed that we send $100.00 to the Boy Scout Troop 704 for their contribution to the pancake breakfast held in July.
It was reported that 12 members went to the Grand Rapids Tower facility last month.
Dan Bauman has been investigating the possibility of designing and obtaining shirts with an appropriate 704 chapter logo. There are several styles to pick from as well as the specific logo design. These will be produced and available for purchase by the members of 704.
Paul Zimmer brought up the subject of a young eagles day this fall. He pointed out the credential requirements of the participating pilots and their aircraft. This event is in the planning stage and more information will be going out to the membership as details fall into place.
A poker run is being planned with Sparta being one of the stops along with Lakeview, Allegan, and Hastings. This event is scheduled for October 4th.
Dave Duperron reported that he has contacted the Michigan DOT Aeronautics division for upcoming programs.
The meeting was turned over to Bill Fish who was displaying his beautiful Maul restoration project. It is very near completion and is impeccable in workmanship. Bill is to commended very highly for the quality for his work as clearly indicated in the end result. A previous project, a Kitfox, was also in the hanger and looking good. Our sincere congratulations go to Bill for his accomplishments in building and/or restoring his aircraft. It has to be noted also that the workshop area was in showroom condition---very neat and tidy. Thank you, Bill

Meeting adjourned

Jay T Dean,, Sec/Treas EAA 704

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Meeting Place Changed!

Monday September 8th we will be meeting @ Bill Fish's hanger.

He lives off from 11 mile road. his driveway is the first one East of Wells Field. The driveway runs along the runway heading South. Hanger at the end.

See you there!


Ken

Meeting Place Changed!

August Meeting Minutes

Minutes of EAA Chapter 704 meeting 8/11/08
EAA Chapter 704 met for its regular monthly meeting on Monday August 11, 2008 at Paul C. Miller Airport Pilot’s Lounge.
Vice President Dave Duperron called the meeting to order in the absence of the President John Smith. There were 16 members present.
There was a general discussion held on various topics with no business being conducted.
Paul Kovalak reported that the Greenville pilot’s group is planning a Poker Run for October 4th with a rain date of October 5th. They are planning stops at Sparta, Hastings, Lakeview and either Grand Haven or Holland. Details will be available later. Dave Duperron said he will contact local pilots to enlist participation.
The next meeting of EAA704 will be at Bill Fish’s house (Hanger) off 11 mile rd. His driveway is the first one East of the Wells Strip and runs South parallel to the runway all the way to the south end. Bill is restoring a Maul and by all reports is doing a masterful job of doing so.
Paul Kovalak has arranged for a visit to the Grand Rapids Tower Facility for Tuesday August 19th at 7:00 pm. For car pooling meet at Sparta Airport by 6:30 pm – otherwise meet in the Grand Rapids terminal building by the Starbucks Coffee stand.
After the discussions were completed, Ron Fritz showed an narrated a number of slides depicting the history and development of aviation from the earliest flyers to the most recent high tech machines. Ron has a very good collection of pictures and with his extensive knowledge of the subject was able to present a very interesting program.
Meeting Adjourned
Jay T Dean, Sec/Treasurer EAA 704

Friday, July 11, 2008

Next Meeting

Next Meeting for the Peach Ridge Air Force is Monday July 14th 7:00 at Sparta Paul C Miller Airport,,,see you there.

Meeting Minutes

Eaa Chapter 704 met for its regular monthly meeting on 6/9/08 at the Sparta Paul C. Miller Airport Pilot’s lounge with 18 members and guests present.

President John Smith called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm and asked that the minutes of the previous meeting be approved as printed in the newsletter. (Approved) The treasurer reported $1373.70 in the checkbook with all bills paid.

President Smith held a discussion on the current by-laws and asked for a committee to review these and look for re-writing them to consider extending the term limits of elected officers to two years. John Smith, Dave Duperron, and Jay Dean agreed to serve in this capacity.
Paul Kovalak agreed to make the arrangements for a tour of the Grand Rapids Control Tower and suggested that we might also want to visit the weather station.

The owners and operators of Grand Rapids Technologies presented a program on their newest and most sophisticated electronic units. These Instruments are absolutely phenomenal in what they contain and what they will do from such a small little “box”. One has to be impressed with the expertise that conceives and builds these items.

Meeting adjourned 9:00 pm
Jay T Dean
Sec/Treas EAA Chapter 704

Presidents Message!

July 4, 2008 is in the record books.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday.

Our country has given us the opportunity to enjoy our passion, whether hobby or vacation, to move ourselves through the air using various types of flying machines. There are some people in Congress who think we have way too much fun and don't pay enough in taxes to justify our use of the airspace. I am writing in references to a news article in Sport Aviation about a new registration program the FAA is trying to push through. Some of the news blurbs are a bit boring but it pays to at least scan through them.

Dr. Jay Dean has been filling the office of secretary and treasurer since Kathy resigned about three years ago. I would like for someone to volunteer to take over the office of secretary. The more people we have serving the less work any one person has to do. You must be a national member of EAA.

A couple of meeting ago I asked for someone to be the chapter historian. It's hard for one person to be every place at once. With a lot of cell phones having cameras in them, I'm asking you to take pictures at our events and submit a copy, with a caption, to me and I will keep the photo albums, and bring them to the meetings.

The program this month will be about the Sopwith Camel by Tom Kozura.

John D. Smith

Monday, June 09, 2008

Aviation Events in Michigan

June 14th Kingford—Iron Mountain Ford Airport (IMT) 8:00 am—12:00
Port Huron—St Clair County Airport (PHN) 7:00 am—12:00 pm.

June 15th White Cloud—White Cloud Airport (42C) 7:30 am—11:30 am
Flushing - Dalton Airport (3DA) 7:00 am—12:00 pm
Canton—Plymouth-Mettetal Airport (1D2) 7:00am—12:30pm
` Bad Axe—Huron County Memorial Airport (BAX) 7:00 am—11:30 am
Bay City—James Clements Airport (3CM) 7:00 am—12:00 pm
Hart-Shelby—Oceana County Airport (C04) 7:30 am—12:00 pm
Eastport—Torchport Airport (59M) 8:00 am—12:00 pm
June 21st Kalkaska—Kalkaska City Airport (Y89) 8:00 am—12:00 pm
Lakeview—Lakeview Airport (13C) 7:00 am—11:00 am
Drummond Island—Drummond Island Airport (DRM) 8:00 am—11:00am
West Branch—West Branch Community Airport (Y31) 7:00 am—12:00 pm
June 22nd Flushing—Dalton Airport (3DA) 12:00pm—4:00pm
June 28th Howell—Livingston County Airport (OZW) 7:00 am—3:00 pm
Midland—Barstow Airport (3BS) 7:00 am—11:00am
June 29th Sandusky—Sandusky City Airport (Y83) 7:00am—12:00pm
Hillsdale—Hillsdale Municipal Airport (JYM) 7:00am

http://mdotwas1.mdot.state.mi.us/public/aero/calendar/dp.cfm
Is the Dawn Patrol site.

May 2008 Meeting Minutes

EAA Chapter 704 held its regular monthly meeting on Monday, May 12th at the Sparta Paul C. Miller pilot’s lounge.
President John Smith called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. with 20 members and guests present.
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved as printed in the newsletter. The Treasurer reported $1362.67 in the check book with all the bills paid.
President Smith again brought up the subject of extending the term of offices for the elected positions to two years as suggested in the EAA Chapter manual. Our current By-Laws limit the terms to one year and states that no one may succeed himself. A discussion was held to amend the by-laws in order to adopt the new term limit provision. The general consensus was in favor of this proposal but no action was taken at this meeting.
President Smith had appointed a committee to seek out programs for the coming year. They held a short meeting just prior to our regular meeting and discussed several ideas. A program for June was all ready planned with a future meeting to host the M-Dot/FAA team to conduct another safty seminar in the summer.
The question of our participation in the Sparta Town and Country Days celebration was held. We have held a Pancake Breakfast / Fly-In along with cooperation with the Lion’s Club and Scout Troop 704 in the past years. We decided to do this again since this is one of our main sources of funding for the programs that we sponsor. The Date of the event will be Sunday July 20th and plans will need to be made to “bring it all together”.
There was a general discussion of the flying activities of the pilots in attendance. It was suggested that anyone desiring to have a ride to a fly-in on any given weekend should be at the airport early that day and most likely would find a willing pilot with an empty seat to share.
Meeting adjourned
Jay T Dean
Sec/Treas EAA Chapter 704

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Next Meeting


Next Meeting !!
Monday May 12th 2008
At 7:00 PM

The meeting will be held at
The Sparta Airport
Please plan on attending.

April meeting Minutes

The regular meeting of EAA Chapter 704 was held as a safety seminar put on by Michigan Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division. It was led by Tom Krashen and Jerry Hough, and air traffic controller from the Grand rapids tower. There were between 55-60 in attendance
They spent a couple of hours or so in discussing, first of all, the various types of airspace and spoke of the pilots responsibilities in regard the these various areas.
This was followed by some advice on communicating with the tower in a number of situations from clearance deliveries and take off procedures to in-flight checking and approach procedures.
There were a number of questions to be answered which were fielded nicely by one or the other of these gentlemen and, since there was considerable variety in the level of training amongst the attending pilots, a lot discussion ensued.
It was Emphasized that pilots are invited to visit the tower and get to understand what is going on inside the “box” they are talking to when talking to these people from the cockpit.
There was no formal meeting or business conducted at this time.
Jay Dean Sec/Treas EAA Chapter 704

An Aircraft is Born



Congratulations in in order for John Gill and his beautiful RV7 “Plum Crazy”. First flight was on Sunday April 13th. It’s a great looking plane and according to John flies great. So when you get a chance to look at the plane please note the craftsmanship and attention to detail. This is the second RV for John. Visit
http://www.vansaircraft.com for more information on the RV7 and other of Van’s airplane kits. A couple of other EAA704 members are building Van’s RV 7’s and RV9A’s.
When finished you also can have a RV grin just like John :-)

Friday, April 04, 2008

Next Meeting 6:00 April 14th

Meeting is moved forward 1 hour to do the normal business of the chapter. Following that there is a Safety Seminar
Sparta Paul C. Miller Airport (8D4) 6:30 p.m.
ATC Communication Made Easy, Tom Krashen, MDOT Aeronautics
Sponsored by the Sparta Airport and EAA Chapter 704. Call 517-335-9977

BSA Troop 704

From the EAA 704 Sponcered BSA Troop 704

I would like to extend to all of you an invitation for a day in May:EAA 704 sponsors BSA Troop 704 in Sparta and our Troop would like to extend an invitation to you all of you for our next Court of Honor Potluck dinner, Monday May 19. This is a special night to give recognition to all scouts who have earned rank advancements, merit badges, or both. I will have more details to follow later.

Sincerely,John KozalEAA 704 memberBSA 704 Scoutmaster887-8137

March Meeting Minutes

EAA Chapter704 held its regular meeting on March 10th at the Sparta Paul C miller Airport Pilot’s Lounge. Meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.

The minutes of the previous meeting were printed in the previous newsletter and approved as printed.

The treasurer reported $1065.15 in the checkbook with all the bills paid.

This being the first meeting of the new season, prsident Smith held a discussion on the various tasks and the responsibilities necessary to carry on the meetings for the coming year.

President Smith commented that the EAA Chapter Handbook had suggested that each elected officer hold the office for a period of two years. After dome discussion it was moved by John Gill and seconded by Paul Spetoskey that we adopt the motion.

President Smith asked for volunteers to work with Vice President Dave Duperron as a committee to develop program ideas for the coming year. John Gill and Paul Kovalak agreed to do this and will meet with VP Dave in this reguard.

It was noted by Pres. Smith that there is a MOA just Northeast of our area and at time the military A-10 fighter aircraft flying low altitude that one should be aware of. The times of operation are listed on the flight chart and should be noted by any pilot flying in that area.

Vic Johnston, whose son Jermy is an A-10 pilot out of a base in Georgia, has attended one of their pilot briefings led by his son and was in awe at the type and amount of information that is relayed in one of these meetings. He suggested that sometime when his son is visiting he might go through one such briefing with us just to give us the experience of hearing one.

Meeting Adjourned 8:15 pm.

Jay Dean, Sec/Treasurer, EAA 704

EAA Chapter 704 Presidents Message

Another year has come and we had our first meeting on the 10th of March. There were about 16 members present, not bad for the first meeting.
We had some discussion about programs for this year. A committee was formed to develop ideas and make contacts to provide programs for our meetings. The committee members are Dave Duperron, John Gill, Paul Kovalak. If you have any ideas for programs, please give them a call.
We have a new newsletter editor, his name is, Ken Barnum. He is continuing with the same content and schedule that P.J. had. You can send him your submissions at EAA704@gmail.com, or call him at 616-675-5227.
For those who do not have it my phone numbers are: home: 616-636-8797; cell: 231-629-2503; email: vpijds47@wildblue.net.
John SmithChapter President