Young Eagles Are Coming

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We are happy to announce that Chapter 1541 has scheduled two Young Eagle Rallies for 2018, the first on Saturday, May 12, and the second on Saturday, September 29. For those few who may not be familiar, Young Eagles is an EAA program designed to introduce young people to aviation by offering a short, free airplane ride. The program was launched in 1992 and, nationwide, has provided well over 2 million rides. Our chapter has conducted several Young Eagles Rallies in years past and we’re going to move forward with Rallies this year also.

So what does this mean to you, the chapter member? Well, we need volunteers to help make this event a success. Volunteers are needed for pilots, ground handlers and event helpers. As you can see in the information provided below, the tasks are simple and will provide an opportunity to interact with the community in a positive way.

Our plans are still developing, but we expect that the May 12 Rally will be conducted between 8 am and 2 pm on Saturday. If plans materialize, we will also be offering a BBQ lunch in the late morning.

The Rally organizers need to determine which pilots in our chapter are currently qualified to participate as Young Eagle pilots. This would mean that you are on record with EAA headquarters with a completed and current background check. If you are such a pilot, have access to an airplane, and have interest in participating in our chapter’s Young Eagles Rallies, please let us know. We are making a list. (If you are not sure you are a currently qualified pilot, please contact us and we will help you find out).

Now, let’s look at what it takes to become a volunteer at our chapter Rallies.

Young Eagle Pilots:

  • Be a current EAA member and hold an appropriate airman’s certificate (Sport Pilot or greater)
  • Possess a current medical certificate (if applicable)
  • Be current to carry passengers in the aircraft you plan to use
  • Have a current BFR
  • Complete the simple online Young Eagles training course and basic background check, both of which need to have been completed within the last three years
  • For our events, have access to an aircraft that meets EAA requirements and has passenger liability insurance, preferably in amount that exceeds $100,000 per seat. (This amount allows a supplemental EAA policy to provide additional liability insurance.)
  • For our events, be a EAA Chapter 1541 member.

Young Eagle Ground Support (primarily helping Young Eagles to and from the airplane, providing ramp control, and ensuring ramp safety):

We have need for other event helpers too:

  • Support for a BBQ Lunch
  • Welcome table for registration and check-in
  • Aircraft dispatchers to match pilots/Young Eagles
  • Chapter information table
  • Chapter members to answer questions and meet new friends
  • Other stuff we are working on

For our May 12 Rally, we are early in the planning stages, but we will be going out to the Lincoln and larger community in a variety of ways to reach young people and spark some interest in aviation. Local schools, scouting, and other youth groups will be contacted to spread the word into the community. From our end, we are looking for a small cadre of volunteers to put this activity together. For the day of the event, we are looking for a larger group of help from our chapter members. It should be a well run and organized event so no one person will be overloaded and we will all have a good time.

Please respond to this if you want to get involved early, but the point of this post is to let you know about the events and allow everybody to start looking toward May 12 as one of our chapter’s main events for 2018.

We look forward to having a good time at an event that spreads the word about the exciting things to be found in aviation.

Monthly membership meeting, Wednesday, February 21 at Cattlemens Restaurant.

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Chapter 1541’s February Member Meeting will be held at Cattlemens Restaurant, 2000 Taylor Road, Roseville.

The optional dinner starts at 18:00, with a short business meeting at about 18:45. At 19:00 or so, we’ll hear a presentation from Gary Veer, an ex air traffic controller who worked at both Seattle and Salt Lake Centers. Gary has a bunch of information about how to get the most out of your contacts with ATC and how to make the system work best for you. Gary has a broad background in aviation and is an entertaining speaker. Come and have some fun.

NPRM Issued for Textron Aviation Airplanes

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The FAA last week proposed to issue a new airworthiness directive (AD) that would affect certain (Cessna) Textron Aviation 172/182/206/207/210 airplanes. A report of cracks found in the lower area of the forward cabin doorpost bulkhead prompted this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). This condition is determined to be the result of metal fatigue. If not addressed, it could lead to failure of the wing in operation, which could result in loss of control.

The AD would require repetitive inspection of this area for cracks and would require owners to make any necessary repairs in accordance with the applicable Cessna service kit. The FAA estimates that this proposed AD affects 14,653 airplanes of U.S. registry. For more details on the inspection and repair requirements of this NPRM, as well as instruction for submitting comments, go here. The comment period closes on March 19, 2018.

EAA Chapter 1541 Membership Survey

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Here is a brief Membership Survey. We ran this survey at the January member meeting last week at Cattlemens so if you did it there, you can ignore this.

We’d like your input on a few items covered by the survey, so please take a few minutes to complete it and return it. It would be greatly appreciated.

You can return it via a email, hand it to any board member in the next week or so, bring it to the BBQ Lunch/program this coming Saturday, or mail it back to our postal address (PO Box 1126, Lincoln, CA 95648).

We want to compile the results in the first week of February.

Lunch and a program – January 27th

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Mira Slovak was a noted aviation figure in from the 1950s through the 1970s but he is, surprisingly, largely forgotten today. He escaped from behind the Iron Curtain in 1953 while flying a plane load of passengers as an airline pilot. From there, he settled in the U.S. and became a well-known unlimited air racing and hydroplane pilot. He flew in a variety of aviation career fields including flying in airshows, doing crop dusting and flying air tankers, and eventually went back to work as an airline pilot with Continental Airlines. Join us for this program presented by Richard Pearl on the story of an unusual and talented individual.

BBQ lunch starts at 11:00 am; program starts at 12:00 pm.

Membership meeting January 17th

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Chapter 1541’s January Member Meeting will be held at Cattlemens Restaurant, 2000 Taylor Road, Roseville. Join us for the optional dinner beginning at 18:00, with a short business meeting to follow. We will then have a presentation on the Boeing P-26 Peashooter fighter by chapter member Marty Maisel.

The P-26 was a groundbreaking advance for the Army Air Corps when it was introduced in 1932 and remained in service into the early days of World War II. It marked the transition from fabric covered biplanes to all metal monoplanes for the Air Corps but was quickly surpassed by newer designs with enclosed cockpits and retractable landing gear in the fast moving 1930s of aviation technology.

For those ordering dinner, we will order off a special menu with included non-alcoholic beverage and pay $21.65 including tax and gratuity. Guests are encouraged and welcomed.

New Option Available for Online BasicMed Course

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An online medical course is one of the required steps for pilots seeking to operate under BasicMed without an FAA medical certificate. A pilot must first obtain a physical examination from a state-licensed physician using the Comprehensive Medical Examination Checklist (available here). A pilot must then complete an approved BasicMed medical education course. In addition to the AOPA course that was approved last April, pilots now have the option to take the online BasicMed course with the Mayo Clinic.

To date, 25,755 pilots have opted to fly under BasicMed. To learn more about flying under BasicMed, go here.