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

We just returned from Oshkosh this morning and it suddenly dawned on me that our meeting is coming up in one week. So here are my remarks for the August newsletter.




Our July meeting was a little different with respects to the program. As most of you know, I’ve been involved with antique free flight planes and have gotten to know a lot of the local “old timers”. Karl Spielmaker has been modeling for nearly sixty years and is a walking history book on modeling. He has a nice collection of old engines and was kind enough to bring some up to show and run for you. We thank him for his efforts. He was joined by Ward Delano and Bob Pattison. I hope all of you had a good a time as I did.

The annual pancake breakfast came off well. We had excellent weather at Sparta and all had a good time. We thank Paramount Aviation for making their excellent facilities available for us. The weather around Sparta wasn’t all that good and that kept many planes from flying in. Our chapter members made a good showing and made the event a success. I haven’t heard if we made any money but hope to have that information available at the meeting.

Our next, and probably biggest effort of the year will happen on September 10 when we will put on chicken barbecue like we did in years past. We will be inviting the public as well as other chapters. We will have to finalize our plans at the August meeting so plan on that as being the largest part of the meeting. Our program will be a two-part program. John Smith will be showing us how to lay out an airfoil using coordinates provided. This is how things used to be done so it will be fun to see how things were done in days gone by. Also, members, Tim and Lori Layne will be talking about their new business located at the airport.

See you all at the meeting.

August (2005) Meeting Minutes

EAA Chapter 704 met for its regular monthly meeting on Monday, July 11 at the Sparta Paul C. Miller Airport's pilot lounge. There were 27 members and 3 guests present.

The regular monthly meeting of EAA Chapter 704 was held on July 11, 2005 at the Sparta Paul C Miller Airport pilot's lounge.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Ron Fritz.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. The treasurer report showed $1692.24 in the checkbook with $50.00 cash on hand. $21.00 was received from dues and sale of shoulder patches.

The main item of business was the upcoming pancake breakfast/Fly-In to be held Saturday, July 17th. A work party to set up the facilities was planned for Friday to collect the tables and chairs needed for the event. Workers would also gather at 6:00 am on Sunday to complete the set up.

The Secretary was instructed to contact EAA headquarters to activate the insurance policy to cover the event.

The Sparta Pilot's Association is planning a hotdog/brat sale for Saturday the 16th and a discussion was held in this regard. There will also be a Radio Controlled Airplane rally that day.
There being no other business the meeting was adjourned for snacks after which a very fine program was presented by the Antique Model Airplane Group represented by Karl Spiellmaker, Ward Delano and Bob Pattison. Karl spoke about the early development of the model airplane engines dating back to the early 1900's and described the efforts to create these tiny power plants. After the discussion the group retired to the patio where several examples of these small engines were set up and ran. The collection included 2 stroke, 4 stroke and even a diesel model. A wankle engine was demonstrated as well as a 5 cylinder radial. The intricate machining required to create these engines was most impressive and it was a delight to watch them operate. A husky thank you goes out to these men for their program and to Ron Fritz for arranging it.

Meeting adjourned

Jay Dean, Secretary/Treasurer

Sparta Area Pilots Association BBQ

On July 16th starting at 11:00am (in conjunction with the events of Sparta Town & Country Days).The location for this event will be just outside “hangar D”. The menu includes brats, hotdogs, etc...

Dawn Patrol Pancake Breakfast

On July 17th from 7:30am til 11:30am in conjunction with Sparta Town & Country Days with tractor pulls, lawn mower races & radio control airplanes airshows during festival days.

Cost: Adult $5.00 Child $2.50

Sponsored by EAA 704 & Sparta Lions Club. Call 616-887-5744.

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

It looks like the June meeting was well received and it was nice to see our group welcome our guests to our meeting. A warm thank you goes out to our guests, Scott DeGaynor from Chapter 211 and Bill Willyard from Chapter 145. Their presentations on the Bede 4 and Kitfox were very well done and it gave our members the chance to see a nice perspective on the merits of both planes.

The program for the July meeting is still up in the air as of the time of this writing. I am hoping to have an old friend and fellow modeler at the meeting to talk about building old-time ignition model airplane engines and flying the older models. If this program comes off, there will also be a running of several old and rare engines on the deck at the airport. If this program doesn’t work out, there will be another surprise in store for you.

I was very fortunate to visit the new Udvar-Hazy addition to the National Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport (pictured above), outside Washington, D.C. on June 24th. This is a very new facility and it contains some very interesting and historic airplanes. One plane that I have always wanted to see is the Enola Gay (pictured below), the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan in August 1945. It is well displayed in such a way as to view the cockpit very close-up. If I’ve read my SPORT AVIATION correctly, General Paul Tibbets, the pilot on that mission will be speaking at Oshkosh this year.

Our chapter will be involved with the Sparta Days event again this year. We will be joining with the Sparta Lions Club to put on the pancake breakfast at the airport on Sunday, July 17th. Keep that date in mind and do your best to help put this event on. We generally make enough money off this activity to run the chapter for the year. We’ll be talking about this at the meeting.

See you all at the meeting.

June (2005) Meeting Minutes

EAA Chapter 704 met for its regular monthly meeting on Monday, June 13 at the Sparta Paul C Miller Airport's pilot lounge. There were 22 members present.

President Ron Fritz called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and announced that after the business meeting there would be a program involving Scott DeGayner and Bill Willyard from EAA Chapter 211 discussing their respective airplanes.

Minutes of the last meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter and the treasurer announced there was $1,744.57 in the checkbook with $50.00 cash on hand.

President Fritz announced the death of Curtis Pitts, renowned aircraft designer and aviation enthusiast. As a credit to his legacy there are and will continue to be a number of very fine airplanes built from plans he produced.

Fritz commented on the approach procedures for Oshkosh for those planning on flying in for the convention.

The 704ILion's Club Pancake breakfast will be held on July 17 with more discussion on this at our next meeting.

Paul Kovalak commented on the Sparta Pilot's Association saying there were several events in the planning stage. Any upcoming meetings will be announced to the members through E-mail and/or telephone.

Ron Fritz introduced Scott DeGayner and Bill Willyard from EAA 211. He said they represented the "Fast" and the "Slow" of home built aircraft.

Scott flew in with his beautifully built BD-4 and described the building process along with any modifications he created as he went along. He has a very nice performing airplane that cruises around 200 mph. Scott is likely the most knowledgeable person in this area on this particular design.

Bill Willyard had arrived in his Kitfox which, as he pointed out, had evolved out of the Avid Flyer. He cruises along at about 85 to 90 mph behind a Rotex 912 engine. He also discussed the building and modifications he went through to produce a very fine "Fox".

After the presentations were completed the group ventured onto the ramp to inspect both these excellent examples of homebuilding skills.

Meeting adjourned

Jay Dean, Secretary/Treasurer

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

Here we are, almost halfway through the year. I hope most of you have at least started those projects that you waited, through the cold weather, to get started. Before you know it, the colder fall days will be here and you will have to go full speed ahead to finish them before the winter snows fall. Ah, such is life.

With the later sunsets our days are adjusted to take advantage of the extra daylight each day. The same pretty much occurs with chapter meetings. It’s more fun to sit on the deck at the Sparta airport and relate stories rather than get the chapter meeting started. I think we will be doing that for a couple months. My choice for a meeting program this month fell through at the last minute and I’ve been unable to replace it at the time of this newsletter writing. I have an idea but haven’t worked on it yet. I guess you will all have to wait and see what has come about.

Our chapter has obligated itself to take part in the Sparta Days festivities and we will again be assisting the Lions Club in the annual pancake breakfast on July 17th. Keep that date in mind and do your best to help us out on that day. We do benefit financially and the money earned pretty much runs the chapter for the year. We’ll be talking about this at the June meeting and will have to have most of our plans finalized by the July meeting.

In case you haven’t experienced it, the Sparta airport lounge is a pretty active place during good flying weather. There is usually a good gang of airport “bums” present and there is a good bit of great camaraderie going on. Drop in and join in on the fun.

See you at the meeting...

May (2005) Meeting Minutes

EAA chapter 704 met at 7:00 p.m. on 5/9/05 for a regular meeting. The meeting was held at the Sparta Paul Miller Airport lounge. There were 25 members present.

President Ron Fritz called the meeting to order and reviewed the minutes of the last meeting as printed in the newsletter. He announced that we now have 35 paid members in the chapter.

There was $1725.57 in the checkbook along with $50.00 cash on hand. $40.00 was collected for dues and calendar sales. (Later $10.00 was added from the 50/50 raffle)

President Fritz asked for an update on the newly formed Sparta Pilot’s Association. Kathy Hakeem reported that there had been no meetings recently but they were in the process of polling neighboring airports to get a sense of what the relationship might be between airport management and the pilots at their locations.

A discussion followed about various projects in progress amongst the members.

P.J. Bevelacqua collected for a 50/50 raffle, which was won by Homer Teitsma.

After a brief break for snacks the group reconvened to hear Mr. Harvey Alley give a very interesting description of the early development of airmail service in West Virginia and Pennsylvania area. He told of how a dentist, Lydell Adams, from Chicago devised a method of picking up and dropping mail sacks from a moving, low flying, airplane. First they used a drag cable with a grappling hook on the end and later developed a boom arrangement. This was being done in the mid 1930’s and actually accomplished a surprising number of pickups and drops with very few mishaps. The service was called All American Aviation, which later became U.S. Air as we know it today.

Mr. Alley, who in times past had developed several slide programs involving a 3-screen presentation, offered to return in the future with other discussions for our interest.

Meeting adjourned

Jay Dean, Secretary/Treasurer

DATES TO REMEMBER

JULY, 17
Sparta - Paul C. Miller Airport (8D4) 7:30 - 11:30 am

Dawn Patrol Pancake Breakfast in conjunction with Sparta Town & Country Days with tractor pulls, lawn mower races & radio control airplanes airshows during festival days.

Sponsored by EAA 704 & Sparta Lions Club.
Call 616-887-5744.

July 25 - 31
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005!
Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, WI

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

Now that spring is finally here many of us can dust off the flying machine and go about defying the laws of gravity. I might even dig around in my hangar to see if the Mooney is still there.

I spent the past Friday (April 29th) at Oshkosh and the Vintage Airplane Association Board of Directors meeting. These meetings are always a lot of fun as I get to rekindle friendships with many of my old friends and, also, learn of the happenings around VAA and EAA. I can assure you there is a lot going on behind the scenes that most members don't know about. In short, they are really looking out for all of you. You can all be thankful for that.

With the warmer weather and daylight saving time, we will be able to spend some of our meeting nights outside. It might be a good time to invite EAA guests to the meetings, to show off their flying machines. If any of you know of someone who has an interesting antique, classic or experimental airplane, invite them to join us. It is always an incentive to see what someone else has done which generally gives us the confidence to go forward with our project(s).

See you all at the May meeting...

April Meeting Minutes

The regular meeting of EAA Chapter 704 was held at 7:00 pm on Monday April 11, 2005 at the Sparta Paul C. Miller Airport.

The March minutes were read and approved. The treasurer reported $1697.57 in the check book with $50.00 cash on hand and $40.00 received in dues and calendar sales before the meeting was called to order.

President Fritz brought several items to the floor for discussion. He commented on the work week-end projects held at Oshkosh. Those interested could fill out applications with several week-ends to choose from.

President Fritz also commented on the Pancake Breakfast held at the airport in conjunction with Sparta Community Days. We work along side the Sparta Lions Club and share the profits.

The subject of the Sparta Pilot’s Association also came up for comment. President Fritz noted that the EAA Chapter 704, as an organization, would not be associated with the SPA but individual members of the chapter are free to join and show support for the concerns brought forth by the SPA.

Paul Kovalak, newly elected president of the Sparta Pilot’s Association (SPA) said there had been two meetings so far with about 50 pilots showing interest. The SPA has established a mission statement and a plan of action. He pointed out that there are several airport rules changes being suggested by certain parties that the SPA will oppose inasmuch as they appear detrimental to general aviation as practiced at Sparta Miller Airport. One of the major issues is the freedom of the pilots to perform FAA approved maintenance on their own aircraft on the field. There were other issues as well. The SPA is in the process of polling surrounding airports to establish ways of comparing Sparta with other airports. Some group discussion ensued.

Jim Reeds discussed his Zenith project and showed one of the construction manuals. Several others described their projects.

Dar Nederveld gave a humorous account of his experience of getting his airplane painted by a fellow in Arkansas. The whole episode, from initial contact through the trip down and back, made for quite a story.

P.J. Bevelacqua held a 50/50 raffle which was won by Dar Nederveld -perhaps rightly so in recompense for his delightful Arkansas adventure story.

Ron Fritz showed a number of slides following the history of civil and military aviation from its infancy through more modem times. As usual, Ron puts on a very good show with excellent slides and informative as well as very interesting commentary.

Meeting adjourned: Jay Dean, Sec/Treas EAA 704

2005 Michigan Aeronautical Chart Errata Update

For the latest info check out the MDOT Aeronautical website