March 2022 Meeting Highlights

We started our EAA day with a visit to see Steve Murray’s RV-4 project and boy, did we get an eyeful! Steve bought the wings and tail portions from a fellow who bought it from a fellow who …. well, you get the idea. He said it started in NC, then went to GA, then back to NC so it has a good bit of mileage on it before it was even built!

The rain was supposed to start much earlier in the day and quit before meeting time, but that didn’t happen. Instead, it began raining in earnest a couple of hours late and kept on and on. That, coupled with rapidly rising fuel prices due to supply shortfalls after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, impacted our meeting attendance but 22 of our stalwart members showed up.

You have to hand it to fellows like Keith and Dave from Waynesville, Al from north of Weaverville, and Jacob, Jerry and Nancy from the wilds of Buncombe County who braved the elements and distances to come!

Echoes of our early get-togethers last year: our program was supposed to be chock full of progress reports from several of our builders … when the museum doors opened and we got started it was raining to beat the band. Steve was there and we had some pictures from our project visit (he had some on a memory stick which our ever-efficient president forgot were in his pocket), so we got a short description of what was going on in his workshop. And then there was a brief interlude of fumbling silence.

We did manage to remember that Keith stepped up to design some new patches for the chapter that reflect a more up to date look and should be ready .. when they’re ready. Thank you, Keith.

Nancy Marstall and Simon Jennings told us about the upcoming program at the Western North Carolina Pilots Association meeting planned for March 15th at the Lacy Griffin Building at AVL. It’s “how to survive a ramp check”, presented by Tim Haley from the Greensboro FSDO.

Thank goodness for George Heddy, a temporarily flightless bird who is having his Cessna 172 instrument panel re-done! George had just received an email with pictures from the shop in Florida and he and Mike Cola, keeper of the A-V gear, put them up on the screen. George said he caved in and had his windshield and side windows replaced at the same time since the airplane was apart and available so the cost went a teeny bit over the plan, but he’s keeping the airplane and if not then – when? Good call, George.

While George was speaking, Krafton came in from work with pictures of the progress on his Sling TSi. This is a remarkable kit from South Africa. It’s a beautiful airplane, powered by a Rotax 915-iS, with astounding specs: 148kts on 141 horsepower, a useful load of 1,000 pounds and 4 seats! There were a lot of questions about the kit itself, which is packaged beautifully and ready for a first time builder or a serial builder to put together with minimal fuss. We reported on a project visit last year and Krafton has made a lot of progress since then.

Thanks to all our great members for persevering through pandemic and weather and fuel uncertainties to keep the spirit of our chapter and the dream of building and flying airplanes alive. We all need a little encouragement sometimes and it’s so important to be able to call somebody and work out the kinks that inevitably arise.