EAA Chapter 31 Meeting, February 5th, 2014

The meeting started at 6:00 (With Melinda Petersen’s famous chili), BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, drinks and cookies and pastry for dessert for only $5 !! Come next month and bring a friend!

Business meeting called to order at 7:01 PM by President Gary Ludeke and V.P. John Kuehl with Sec./Tres. Randy Stout also present.  There were 20 members and one guest in attendance. The guest was Darrell Derossett, a retired military and security man who has moved here recently from Davenport, IA. He has a Luscombe and a 1958 172 that he brought with him. He will need some help re-installing the Luscombe’s wings. (He joined the chapter formally at the end of the meeting) Welcome Darrell!!

President Ludeke suggested that everyone stand and recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag. This was done after the flag was moved to the correct position on the dais. It is intended that we will recite the pledge before the start of each meeting.

Next Chapter breakfast is February 15th at the clubhouse. $5 for an all you can eat breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, OJ, coffee and camaraderie!! That is a great time!!

Secretary Stout mentioned that due are due again. $25 made out to EAA Chapter 31 and given to him or sent to 86277 Panorama Rd., Springfield, OR  97478

President Ludeke then delivered a “State of the Chapter” report. He noted that the club has approximately $2700 cash available for projects, and that we lost around $80 last year. He then outlined his goals for the coming year: (in no particular order)

Goal 1:  Have chapter 31 either participate or stage a community volunteer event this year. This may or may not be aviation oriented, but will be an opportunity to help make the chapter and the airport as a whole, more visible to the local community in a positive way.

Goal 2: Work the local community newspaper (he met with the Creswell Chronicle editor) and have them tour the airport and report on the chapter in the newspaper. Do the same at the Cottage Grove paper and perhaps the Register Guard.

Goal 3: Approach the local High School and offer to fly kids on our YE day, or teach a ground school for a group of interested young people.

Goal 4: Advertise our monthly breakfast’s to the community, groups like the Coffee and Cars folks in order for more people to join us and see what goes on in Chapter 31 EAA

Goal 5: 50 Paid Chapter 31 members, with an average attendance of 25 for the meetings and breakfasts.

Goal 6: Fly more YE’s this year than last.

Goal 7: Get the “buy a brick” program off and running.

 
Goal 8: Monthly programs that are exciting, informative or both. He noted that there are many speakers in our local area who would qualify, so he will be working with John Kuehl in identifying and contacting these people with the intention of having them come and speak with us. He also noted that a “Craftsman Corner” mini program each month, which was started late last year, is something that he wants to see continued.

Dave Eason then spoke about the “buy a brick” program he has been working on. It turns out that the local vendor for bricks may be getting cold feet, so he has endorsed the vendor from Florida, who has a very professional web site and knows how to help clubs like ours get started. Ron Rinaldi stepped up and offered to accept a Presidential appointment as “Honor Guard Garden Chairman” and will coordinate with our web guru and the vendor in order to begin to offer these bricks. Dave Eason Accepted the responsibility of performing the actual brick installations in the Garden. By next month we should be able to have a place on our web site that directs people to the brick company and then we can advertise this new program. A nice example of a large brick was on display. They will sell for $75 and the normal size brick will be $50. The price includes shipping and installation in the “Honor Garden” walkway. These bricks can commemorate a living or dead loved one, or a family that supports EAA and aviation at Creswell.

President Ludeke then appointed past President Bill Dewey as the first chairman of the Scholarship Committee. Bill will research all the liability issues and report back as he begins to flesh out the details of the Program. Hal Skinner and Darrell suggested that we start with a Scholarship for ground school, which by its nature should have less liability attached.  Stay tuned!!

Gary then introduced Dave Eason as our first “Craftsman Corner” presenter for the night. Dave spoke about a de-burring tool he made from a de-burring head and swivel screw driver. It works great! After Dave, John Kuehl spoke about a desiccant dryer he had fashioned from a Pet Smart air pump, some tubing and some Silica Gel with Cobalt Chloride added to change color as it absorbed moisture. He mentioned that you can “Re-charge” the Silica Gel in the microwave, and so the cost is very low. He uses it to keep an engine he has dry by running a hose in one end of the crankcase and closing the loop by running a hose back. I took some pictures that I will attempt to post on the web site.

Tom Cunningham then rose to speak about another project that would be simple, fun and easy for the chapter to do. He showed an example of a calendar that he received from another group that had a picture for each month of a project or completed airplane that someone was working on. Hopefully he can ram-rod this project and we will have a nice calendar for the rest of the year and possibly next.