A Message From Our Chapter President, Ron Fritz (Nov '05)

There is quite a bit of information included in this month's column. First, Chapter 704 has been invited to join two local chapters in their upcoming events.

Chapter 211 in Grand Haven has invited Chapter 704 to join them at their annual Christmas party to be held in John Gill's hangar at the Sparta Airport. For two years now, our chapter has actually provided support to their party and this year they have invited us to join them. The date is Saturday, December 10. More information is contained later in the newsletter and the subject will be brought up at the upcoming meeting.

Chapter 145 in Grand Rapids is planning a group trip down to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo and has invited us to join them. The trip is planned for January 2006 but the actual date hasn't been set yet. I haven't been down to the new museum yet so this might be a good opportunity to check it out. More information will be presented in a future newsletter.

I like to see interaction between the local chapters as it gives the EAA members a chance to see what other groups are doing. For many years I've been a member in other chapters and have enjoyed this opportunity to see what others are doing and if some of their activities might be successful in our chapter. Things can get a little stale limited your EAA contact to one chapter only.

The November program will be very informative and one you should make every effort to see. I've invited long-time friend, Ken Fryling, to bring along his slide show on the restoration of Island Airways' Ford Trimotor. Island Airways owned and flew several Fords to the islands in Lake Erie, off Port Clinton, Ohio. They were all lost to accidents and the one you see in the photo below was taken to Kal-Aero in Kalamazoo and restored to flying condition. It was a monumental task and Ken was instrumental in seeing the plane restored to fly again. As a sidelight, one of the other Fords that was wrecked is now under restoration by the EAA Chapter in the Port Clinton area and will, hopefully, fly again.

Since the year is rapidly coming to a close, I hope all of you have your house chores done. The long, warm fall has allowed us to complete the chores we have put off to the end of the year. With the coming of cold weather we have to give thought to new challenges to flying. Although winter provides us with beautiful, clear flying days, there are new problems to consider before getting the plane out. We may touch on that at the November meeting but will take up the subject in greater detail in December.

I had the opportunity to attend the Fall Board meeting of the Vintage Aircraft Associatiion at Oshkosh in October. You may or may not know that I have the privilege of sitting on the Board of Directors of that association. For your information, the VAA is in very good health and looks forward to great year in 2006. At this annual meeting we all have the opportunity to attend the annual induction ceremonies for those being named to the EAA's Hall of Fame. It is a wonderful time and allows me to see many of my old friends that I've grown to know over the years

See you all at the meeting.