Saturday, January 27, BBQ Lunch and Program

EAA Chapter 1541’s Fourth Saturday BBQ Lunch and Program will be held on Saturday, January 27, from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm. The BBQ Lunch starts at 11:00 at our hangar at the Lincoln Regional Airport. If you are not familiar with our hangar’s location, come to the airport and just follow the “EAA” signs.

The grill is hot from 11:00 a.m. until 11:45 a.m. when it shuts down, so come early. BBQ Lunch is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for kids 17 or under (yep, we changed the age range to 17 and under), and $25 for families.

There will be a short business meeting at 11:45, followed by our program beginning at 12:00 noon.

Our program for January will be presented by chapter member Cris Ferguson. He will speak on designing, building, and flying the LR1 biplane air racer. Cris flew the LR1 when he won the 2007 National Champion Air Race for the Biplane Class.

Cris has been flying since he was 12 years old. Since then, he has accumulated more than 5,000 flight hours in 75 different aircraft ranging from a 1918 Jenny bi-plane to a Grumman US-2C Tracker. He has flown competitive aerobatics, performed in more than 80 air shows, and raced at the Reno National Championship Air Races in the Bi-Plan class and Formula One class for 20 years. Besides this, he also holds an Airframe and Powerplant mechanics certificate With Inspection Authorization.

He owned an S1-C Pitts for 22 years which he rebuilt from the wheels up. It had a highly modified engine capable of generating 230+ horsepower and he used this for airshows and air racing for many years.

His passion is building and designing experimental aircraft and race planes. This led him into the aircraft restoration business after he rebuilt a fellow racer’s aircraft after it was damaged in a runway accident.

In 2000, he moved to Arkansas to help start C & H Aircraft Restoration, Inc. Projects he worked on included an AQC-6 Cabin Waco and Meyers 145 (one of only 20 in existence). Plus, he designed and built a new race plane, the LR1, for fellow race pilot Jeff Lo; it debuted at the Reno Air Races in 2003. Chris later flew the LR1 himself at Reno and won the National Championship in the Biplane class.

Additionally in years past he worked for All Coast Aircraft Recovery. In moving various types of military aircraft across the United States for museums, he gained a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

In 2011 he and his wife Margret moved to California where he worked as the Service Manager for Selway Machine Tool Company in Hayward and retired from them in 2022.

Today he lives in Yuba City and joined Chapter 1541 last fall.

 

Pancake Breakfast and Airport User’s Meeting This Coming Saturday (January 13)

This coming Saturday, January 13, we will be having our Second Saturday Pancake Breakfast from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. at the EAA hangar, S-12 at the Lincoln Regional Airport. If you are not familiar with the airport, navigate to Flight Line Drive and follow the “EAA” signs. All are welcome.

​We’ll be cooking pancakes, eggs, and other good stuff from 8:00 am to 9:30 am when the grill shuts down, so come early. Breakfast is  $10.00 per person, $5.00 per child under 12, or $25.00 per family. We’ll also happily renew your chapter dues for 2024. Cost is $30 for individuals or families.

We’ll have both the free chapter flight simulators, our Sim 1 pod and our virtual reality simulator, up and running and attended to help you or your kids take flight. 

Airport User’s Meeting

Also on Saturday, January 13, our chapter will host an Airport User’s Meeting immediately after the pancake breakfast. Beginning at 10 am, the meeting will provide an opportunity for representatives from the City of Lincoln to present information about the current status of the airport and future plans, and also provide an open forum for users to ask questions and give input to the city, our airport operator.

Representatives from the city are expected to be:

  • Sean Scully-City Manager
  • Matthew Medill-Public Works Director
  • Scott Boynton-Maintenance Services Manager
  • Rich Spinale-Sr. Airport Maintenance Worker II
  • Roland Neufeld-Senior Engineer.

The planned agenda includes:

  • Introductions
  • Greeting from City Manager
  • Housekeeping (Code Enforcement Inspection Checklist)
  • Capital Improvement Plan Update
  • Fuel Truck Updates
  • Tee Hanger Development Update
  • Open Forum  

The meeting is open to all airport users and interested parties. Please forward this email to interested non-members and spread the word about the meeting. This is an opportunity to learn, ask questions, and provide input.

January IMC/VMC club online meeting Thursday Jan. 4, 2024

The IMC/VMC club meeting for January will be held Thursday, January 4th beginning at 7 pm Pacific time.  The program will include discussion of two “What Would You Do?” video scenarios.  The VMC scenario involves a flight to a remote airport in the desert east of San Diego, where you bounce twice trying to land and are unsure of what to do next. The IMC scenario involves an IFR training flight where communications become garbled at a critical time.
The link to join this meeting at 7 pm is included below, and all are invited to participate and share their knowledge and experience.
Safe flying in 2024!