September 2021

Once again, there’s not a whole lot of chapter news this month. COVID is back to last winter’s levels and we’re in the vulnerable group so no meetings for a while. In the mean time, I found a couple of things you might be interested in.

Airlander

Airlander is a lighter-than air craft that offers a unique combination of low emissions, fuel burn, noise, and operating costs. Our vision is to be the future of zero-carbon aviation, and we're taking steps today to achieve this long-term goal.

William T Piper

Airfacts was founded in 1938 by Leighton Collins, Richard Collins‘ father and they started an online version in 2011. I subscribe through RSS and they often have interesting articles from current pilots as well as articles from the archives. This article by Bob Buck on William T. Piper is interesting—even if you fly other brands.

Scale Model B-17

I know lots of people who spend almost as much time working on their airplanes as they do flying then—but none as dedicated as this guy building a 1:3 Scale B-17 Flying Fortress.

Jack Bally was a veteran and aviation enthusiast with a knack for building and flying kit planes. His list of builds includes a bush plane and a parasol monoplane. But in 1999, he would take on his greatest challenge yet, spending 17 years and 40,000 man hours building a near-perfect replica of a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress in 1:3 scale.

Engine Oil

Ed Kollin, the inventor of the popular CamGuard oil additive, talks about engine oil in this video with Martin Pauly- what it does, and what pilots and aircraft owners should know about it. This conversation was recorded during AirVenture 2021 in Oshkosh, WI.

tl;dw get your oil temp up to the 210°F to 220°F range at least every two weeks.

Fueling Airplanes on the USS Texas

Fire was a danger on early aircraft carriers (and still is) and rather than using pumps with a danger of sparks they used water to move the fuel from storage tanks in the bottom of the ship to the flight deck.

Lots more videos on this ship if you are interested.

New iPads

Apple briefly showed ForeFlight running on the new iPad Mini at the launch event this week. This is the first refresh of the Mini in several years, so if you like the smaller form factor, now is the time to buy. I’d get the 256GB, $649 one without cellular. They also have a new full-size model if (like me) you like the larger size.

New Member

Mike Dairymple is new to the area. If you see him in his Cessna 182, N96988, say hi!

Humor

How to find out if you're old or not: Fall down in front of a group of people. If they laugh, you’re young. If they panic, you’re old.

Public Service Announcement: COVID Vaccines are available for 12 and older.

Our county has had lots of cases and deaths recently. You can track them at the county website. Be careful out there.

Flu vaccines are available. Vons, CVS, and probably other places will give you coupons for 10% off your next purchase. Considering that the vaccine itself is free, you can actually get paid to get them.