EAA Ch. 66 

President: Scott Blixt (sblixt@bevcomm.net) (507)744-2613 

Treasurer: Bob Powell (ultralightbob@frontiernet.net)(952) 469-2789 

Newsletter: Mike Schweim (weedhopr@myclearwave.net)(507)245-3390 

website: http://www.1rl.com/liteflyers 
Yahoo Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EAAUL66 

Jan 10 Lite Flyers meeting 2-4pm Faribault airport 

December meeting: 

We had a disappointing attendance of only 2 members for the meeting, and we both left 
early. Scott had to work, arrived an hour late, to an empty room. 

Club future: 

Please, everyone show up for this month’s meeting! We need to decide on the club’s 
future! After the last meeting, Scott sent an e-mail to all members with e-mail, and 
to the club’s Yahoo group, concerning the future of the club. According to an e-mail 
from Scott last week, 5 members replied to his e-mail stating that they want to keep 
the club going. Club dues for 2010 are also due at this time. The following is Scott’s 
e-mail: 

Hi guys 
Well, I heard back from 5 guys total. I realize we have several on the mailing list 
that haven’t been members in quite some time. So I didn’t expect to hear from any of 
them. What I did hear loud and clear was that everyone would like to see the club 
continue. Yes, we all can’t make every meeting. I understand that. So I will throw 
this out to everyone to think about and see what comes of it. 
We need to look at our meeting time and day. One person asked that we think about 
moving the meeting to Saturday from 1:30 to 3:30 PM. We could keep it the second Sat 
to keep us on the same weekend that we have come to expect. Sundays tend to be church 
and family days. 
So lets think about that. 
Also, should we continue to meet every month? Would every other month be something to 
think about or would it get too confusing as to whether we are meeting this month or 
the next? 
How about winter only and take the summer off? Maybe just getting together for fly 
ins? 
One thing I would like to see is every member who has an email address be added to 
our yahoo group mailing list. The yahoo group list is a great resource that allows 
instant messaging between all members of the list. It tends to be very low volume so 
no one is bombed with constant emails from the list. Its also a way for any of us to 
share last minute messages that are from the club. 
So, I guess we will have a January meeting. It will be the second Sunday at 2PM at 
FBL. I cant make it this month as I will be working. Mike Schweim will be in charge. 
Let me know what the group decides as far as meeting day and time, and feel free to 
post your thoughts back to the group either with a reply to everyone on this email, 
or the SMUF yahoo group list. I’ll include the info for that at the end of this note. 
If you want help getting on the list, Mike Schweim can help. He is the list leader. 
Please pass this around if you don’t see someone on this email list that should have 
it. And please make sure we have your current email address. 
Thanks everyone. Hope to see you at the FEB meeting 
I hope you all had a very merry Xmas & a very happy new year to you all! 
Scott Blixt 
 

Flying report: 

I haven’t heard of any reports of members flying lately. I got my wheels swapped our 
for skis a couple weeks ago, and got in about an hour of ski flying in. I posted a 
video of my winter flight to my YouTube channel. 

You can see it at www.youtube.com/weedhopr. 

Hopefully the temperature warms up a little, and I can get some more ski flying in. 
(It’s -10 here outside now, -30 overnight) 

Too cold to fly? 

If winter flying isn’t your “thing”, or you’re just looking for something to do on 
the days you can’t fly, I found a website for you. It’s a free, online “newspaper” 
covering all forms of “slow, low, affordable, and fun flying“. There’s quite a bit of 
ultralight material there, and more gets added to the site daily. Check it out at: 
http://machnoneflying.com/ 

Feb 14 Lite Flyers meeting 2-4pm Faribault airport 

March 13 Wisconsin Aviation Safety Seminar, Oshkosh, WI 

January meeting: 

We had a good turnout for our last meeting. There were 8 members in attendance. It was decided by those in attendance to keep the club going. There were a few suggestions on ways to improve attendance. One brought up that Saturday’s might work out better, as Sunday is “family” day for many people. Also Sunday afternoons can be difficult for those who drive long distances to the meetings after church. It was also brought up that with our current membership, Faribault may not be the “central” location for the membership as a whole. It was brought up that Waseca, or Mankato might be more central. Larry Olson passed around some photos of his Skyraider on skis, and also Jim Hansen’s Kitfox on skis. Tim Bjork reported that he had wheel penetration skis for his Kolb, but had to remove the wheels, and cover the wheel holes. The wheels extending thru the ski causes too much drag in the snow. With the Kolb’s light tail, it would tip onto its nose. He made a pair of dollies that he puts under the skis when he pushes his plane in and out of his hangar. 

Club future: 

As mentioned in the meeting report, some thought that Mankato or Waseca might be a better location for our meetings, as the location would be more centrally located for the members. 

I think Waseca would be the better of the 2 choices, as Mankato’s airspace can get pretty crowded when the weather is nice, especially when college is in session. I called the Waseca airport manager, Maynard Stensrud about our meeting there. He said he’d be glad to have us meet there and put their conference room to use. I’ve been there several times, and flew there 2 times last summer. The airport has always been “dead” when I’ve been there. Once, the local skydiving club was jumping, but it didn’t cause any difficulty with ultrlalight operations. They had 1 jump plane, making a flight about every ½ hr. Something to consider. 

Paper Airman Certificates anyone? 

If anyone still has a paper pilot’s certificate, it must be replaced with a permanent plastic card by March 31, 2010. After that date, you can no longer fly using your paper “license”. If your certificate has your Social Security number, the FAA will issue a new certificate, with a new number at no charge. If your certificate does not have your SSN, they charge $2 for a replacement. You can download the forms from the FAA website: http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/change_certificate_number/ 

Safety Seminar: 

March 13 is the annual Wisconsin Aviation Safety Seminar. There is no charge for the event. If you’re in the FAA WINGS program, it counts toward the program. I went last year, and found it to be a very good event. In the past, it’s been held in Wisconsin Rapids. This year, they’re changing the location to the EAA museum’s Founder’s Wing in Oshkosh, WI. Information is on their website: http://www.av8safe.org/event.html 

Congratulations: 

I just received word that Craig Skunberg recently beat the deadline, and got his experimental light sport airworthiness certificates issued for his 3 planes. Tim Mahoney did the inspections for him. Congratulations Craig! 

It’s finally available: 

I just received word that the new Aeroshell Sport 2 oil is finally available. It’s Shell’s replacement for the Pennzoil 2 cycle oil for air-cooled engines, which was discontinued in the pint bottles 2 years ago. (It’s only available in 8 oz bottles now) It’s the first 2 cycle oil designed specifically for ultralight and light sport aircraft engines.  
 

March 14 Lite Flyers meeting 2-4pm Faribault airport 

July 26-Aug 1 EAA Airventure 2010, Oshkosh, WI 

Aug 29 Jewel Ness End of Summer Fly in/Drive in, Wannamingo, MN 

February meeting: 

We had 4 members in attendance for our February meeting. Our meeting date coincided with Valentine’s day, and there was also blowing snow. Hopefully that is the reason for the poor attendance. I brought it up about talking with Maynard Stensrud, Waseca Airport manager. With only 4 members present, no decision was made as far as meeting there. Jewel Passed out “business” cards advertising his fly in, Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 

Club future: 

I e-mailed a letter to all club members, asking for opinions on trying to meet at Waseca in the future. So far, I’ve received 6 replies, 4 in favor of meeting at Waseca, 1 with concerns about the skydiving club jumping there, and 1 making note that it would be an extra 35 mile drive for him, but he’s willing to try 1 meeting there, and then discussing our options. We will meet at Faribault for our March meeting, and hopefully will have enough members present to discuss the idea, and make a decision as to our next step. 

Aeroshell Sport 2 Oil: 

I received word that the new Aeroshell Sport 2 oil is finally available. It’s Shell’s replacement for the Pennzoil 2 cycle oil for air-cooled engines, which was discontinued in the pint bottles 2 years ago. (It’s only available in 8 oz bottles now) It’s the first 2 cycle oil designed specifically for ultralight and light sport aircraft engines. I checked online at oilstore.com, and found it’s priced at $82 for a case of 12 quarts. $80 a case, direct from Shell. 

Flight Planning Info: 

I got an e-mail telling about a website that is useful for flight planning, although it can’t legally be used for navigation. http://skyvector.com/ It shows an image of a sectional chart for the area you fly in. You can enter the airport identifiers, and your expected groundspeed for a route you want to fly. It then calculates, and shows the route on the chart, and gives direction, distance, and time to each leg, and total distance and time for the flight. I haven’t played with it enough to find out if there’s a way to plot flights to and from locations other than public airports.

Scott Blixt  
EAA UL Chapter 66 president

It was decided, based on those in attendance, that Faribault is pretty much the central location for those there. It was decided to remain meeting at the Faribault airport for the present time. 

Next meeting: 

It was brought to my attention that our next meeting date falls on Mother’s Day. We should discuss whether to hold our meeting then, postpone the meeting till the following week, or ?. 

Meeting topic: 

I will be presenting a short “class” on ELT maintenance requirements at our meeting. I’ve found that many people aren’t aware of the inspection and maintenance requirements for ELT’s. 

June 13 
Lite Flyers meeting 2-4pm Faribault airport 
June 13 Fly in breakfast, Albert Lea, MN 7am - 12:30pm 
June 13 Fly in breakfast, Rush City, MN 8am - noon 
June 13 Princeton EAA Ch 1360 open house, 8am - 2pm Hangar 7, pancake breakfast 
July 26-Aug 1 EAA Airventure 2010, Oshkosh, WI 
Aug 29 Jewel Ness End of Summer Fly in/Drive in, Wannamingo, MN 

May meeting: 

We had 6 members in attendance. Del Voegele showed a photo of his plane after a mishap at a friend’s strip. He hit a well pipe at the corner of the runway, and smashed in the leading edge of the lower right wing. He hopes to have it repaired and flying again soon. 

Tracy, MN fly in: 

I attended the 3rd annual Tracy, MN flyin on Saturday and Sunday, June 5,6. Attendance was down, due to high winds on Friday, and rain on Saturday. (2 powered parachutes, and my Weedhopper) I had planned to leave on Friday, but with the wind, and rain forecast overnight, I waited till Saturday. I drove into rain about ½ way there. I arrived at 11am, and met the other people there. We had a pot luck lunch, and BS’d the afternoon away, waiting for the weather to clear. Rain stopped, and we were able to play in the sky from around 6pm till dark. After dark, we all sat around the campfire, and cooked our supper. Even with the questionable weather, they were able to fly each day. (I wish I’d have left on Friday as planned) They flew about 2 hrs Friday evening, 4 hrs Saturday morning, and another 3 hrs Saturday evening. Sunday, we woke up at 6am to 15 mph winds, so most went back to bed. Everyone spent Sunday morning packing up to go home. There were about a dozen people there, and we had another 20 or so spectators lined up along the fence Saturday evening. It was a good time, and I’m planning to return next year. First weekend in June. Tracy Municipal Airport is a perfect place for ultralights. Almost no air traffic, 3 runways, so you can always takeoff and land into the wind. The municipal campground is on the Southeast corner of the airport. The manager opened the gate between the airport and campground so we could have direct access to the runways from our campsites. 

News and Views: 

Please share any ultralight related news, flying reports, etc to be published in the newsletter. Also, ideas for meetings, or topics for education. 

Fly safe, fly often  - Scott Blixt  Club President

July 11 - Lite Flyers meeting 2-4pm Faribault airport
July 17 - Air Expo, Flying Cloud Airport, Eden Prairie, MN
July 18 - Sleepy Eye, MN Fly in breakfast. 6:30am - 12:30pm
July 18 - Fillmore Co. Fly in breakfast. Preston, MN 7am-12pm. Build your own omlets
July 26 - Aug 1 EAA Airventure 2010, Oshkosh, WI
Aug 29 - Jewel Ness End of Summer Fly in/Drive in, Wannamingo, MN

June meeting:

We had 8 members and 1 visitor in attendance. Scott reported that he finally sold, and delivered his old trike. It was sold to a guy from the Duluth area, and delivered to New Richland, WI, where the buyer is receiving instruction. Mark Crandall, from Lake City, MN was our visitor. He purchased a Weedhopper B model last fall. He’s been busy over winter going over everything to get it ready for flight. He’s taken instruction in a 2 seat Quicksilver, and has about 5 hrs solo time in it. He passed around some photos of his plane. It’s a really nicely done aircraft. I gave a report on the Tracy, MN fly in, and passed around photos from the event.

Father’s Day fly in, by Scott Blixt:

With the weather looking bad down at Dodge Center, I changed course and headed to Stanton. The flight over was smooth as glass :-) Very nice. A good turn out with a lot of planes. Ralph made it down in his Kolbra, and Dale Seitzer flew in with his Sky Ranger. Tom Fitzgerald flew around in his PPC and I of course was there in the trike. On the radio it sounded like Buffalo had a great event going with lots of chatter on the airwaves.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for next year as I would like to fly in to a different airport like Dodge Center or maybe Buffalo. 
Next weekend, Wells

Scott Blixt
A Minnesota MadMan