March breakfast

Great breakfast this morning! This month’s menu was scrambled eggs, pancakes, gravy, and bacon so thick, it was almost ham.

We had one flyin today before the VFR window closed up for a couple hours, so most of our members logged their travel in Chevrolet, Ford, & Toyota.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, April 1. See you there!

03/21/09

March 4th, 2009 Meeting

The meeting started with our normally great hamburger/hotdog/ Chili Bar-B-Q at 6:00. Ben Hallert, our new President, did himself proud again!! It was delicious! One of our guests was past member Gary Ludeke who, along with Paul Bueler became our newest renewing members. Welcome back Guys!!

[View with PicLens]

Meeting called to order at 7:08 PM by President Ben Hallert. V.P. Bill Dewey and Sec./Tres. Randy Stout were also present. The 18 members and guests in attendance then introduced themselves. During introductions, Walt Weischedel again mentioned that his 90% complete (with 90% to go) RV-4 is for sale and will be on eBay this weekend. Call him at 747-4808 if you have an interest.

Our nice airport manager, Shelly Humble, then asked for the floor to speak about the upcoming Creswell Centennial Celebration. She is selling buttons as a fund raiser for $2. She also went into detail about the federal stimulus money grants and AIP (Airport Improvement Program) grants that she has applied for with the Creswell Airport. She also talked about the time capsule that they are making for this celebration. Sounds like fun. More details as they arrive.

It was noted with sadness the passing at age 88 of one of our founding members, Glen Commons. Glen was a signer of our chapter charter in 1957 (along with Dick Van Grunsven) and flew until just this last year in his Whitman Cougar (Tailwind). His wake will be this Friday at the Westside Baptist Church at noon. Goodbye old friend!! Tailwinds to you!!

Gary Ludeke, the aforementioned newest past member, volunteered for a field trip to Dale Young’s workshop at 725 26th Place in Springfield after the February breakfast (on the 21st). He is helping Dale build a RV-9. It was a very nice tour and gave everyone working on their bird a bit of a boost.

V.P. Bill Dewey and Rusty Bartel have replaced one of the 2 windows in the clubhouse (the only ones not replaced this summer) Bill also brought up for discussion the potential to cover the patio area. Suggestions to cover the 45×16 area are now being finalized with an acrylic type of cover on a framework. Brent Burgess will go to the County and ask about the necessary permits (if needed). No final decision was made at this meeting on final design or costs.

We have changed the breakfast from the 2nd Saturday to the 3rd. Saturday so that we would not conflict with the Independence group, and that they might find that Creswell is a great place to fly out to for breakfast. The next breakfast is on the 21st. Apologies were accepted by the group for the lack of Chapter 272 Independence people due to weather problems. Don’t push it guys!! We want you to come when it’s fun!

Secretary Stout noted that dues are due again. Please see him at the meeting or mail your $25 to EAA Chapter 31, 86277 Panorama Rd., Springfield, OR  97478

President Ben then asked everyone to check out the new and improved web site. The hope is that eventually everyone will have a access code to add content (that means pictures and words to you old timers) when possible. Thanks again to Ben for the hard work that this project required!!

Also, the YE flying event has been tentatively set for September 5th. He also held a brief discussion about the availability of non-ethanol 100LL and alternatives. All very informative. Check our the web site for more.

Doug Kindred then suggested we try to get Mike Daniels (a U-2 pilot?) for a program this year. He will check it out and ask him.

There being no new business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:47 and a brief workshop by Rusty Bartell was held on fiberglass panel repair. Rusty showed everyone the technique and tools required to fix your Cessna type panels, and the results speak for themselves. Thanks Rusty!!

Next time program:

April- Bob Severns- Engine overhaul procedures.

Respectfully submitted,

Randall Stout
Secretary/ Treasurer

Followup to ethanol/100LL alternatives talk

GA uses 570 million gallons of gasoline a year, but compared to cars, this is a drop in the bucket.  The future of aviation fuel is in doubt, so we briefly discussed possible future alternatives if 100LL disappears for financial or environmental reasons.

• Mogas without Ethanol
  The supply of car gas without ethanol is drying up.  Mandatory blending laws such as (Oregon) HB-2210 (passed 2007) or HB-2559 (Being considered) contain exceptions for aircraft and off road vehicles, but there is little incentive for fuel manufacturers to take on the added expense and complexity to provide ethanol free fuel.  There are few airports that carry this, and federal laws such as EISA 2007 may make that even more difficult.  Groups opposing this have popped up, click to read more.
  The Ethanol-Free Premium Coalition is leading an effort to modify the upcoming HB-2559 legislation to prohibit the mixing of ethanol with premium fuel.  This would solve the problem of availability and provide a reliable supply of Mogas to aircraft in Oregon.  To show support for this, contact members of the Oregon House Environment & Water Committee.
• Mogas with Ethanol
  If ethanol-free automotive fuel becomes the only option, many aircraft will require very expensive modifications to run on it, from changes in fuel systems (the ethanol corrodes many of the metals and rubbers used in our aircraft) and there are no STCs in existence documenting how this may be done safely.  It’s possible that the environments in which aircraft are operated may not allow safe use of fuel containing ethanol, but more research must be done.
• 100% Ethanol
  Brazil has many aircraft flying on 100% denatured ethanol made from sugar cane.  The aircraft have been severely modified for this and see a roughly equivalent performance per lb.  Baylor University did experiments with pure alcohol powered aircraft and found that TBO could likely be increased and emissions were cleaner, but there was a 10-20% reduction in range and difficulty starting in temperatures below 65F.  Additionally, as a domestic ethanol would likely be generated via corn, the price would be set by subsidy and that may not be a reliable predictor going forward.  Without subsidy, the price of corn-ethanol would likely be much higher.
• Swiftfuel
  Swift Enterprises advertises that they have created a synthetic fuel that converts cellulosic biomass (switch grass & agricultural waste)  into synthetic hydrocarbons.  The FAA has done preliminary testing and has noted that it appears to match the claims made, but time is needed before it’s likely to make it to market.  Benefits include no modification needed to engines or fuel systems.  Swift claims a target manufactured price of roughly $2 a gallon, and as of August 2008 has generated small quantities at $60 a gallon.  The ASTM has not published any documents on this yet, so approval may be far off.

An interesting note: In 1999, 838 pilots were surveyed in-state.  1073 planes in state were estimated to use mogas with an average annual consumption of 422.8 gallons

Update 3/10/09: AvWeb has an article on Swift Fuel with some interesting speculative numbers.