9am Saturday 2/02/08

Guest speaker Ron Miller spoke of his experiences as an homebuilt/experimental test pilot. Although most of the problems encountered in the first few hours of flight are with wiring and "glass" panels, he did have a rudder pedal fall off (due to a lack of cotter pins) during landing a RV7. His backup is a Garmin 496. He said trim is very critical on "heavy planes" but usually cross connected trim can be overpowered on those under 150 mph. He suggested asking for a larger radius than the usual 25 miles for flying off your 25 hours ( or 40 if experimental engined). Tightest cockpit was a Midget Mustang in the Winter time. After D. Tiffnay mentioned his Cri-cri from back in the late 80's, Ron said he always wanted to fly one. He suggested not "crow-hopping" if you have limited tail dragger time and stay in air in order to calm down after 1st takeoff (as oppsed to immediately shooting touch and go's. Ron is available for tail dragger instruction and test flight and has his planes at south Lakeland Airport.

Vice President Luke Bowman said the financial agreement with Sun 'n Fun is still being pursued. Luke also acknowledged that many volunteers are not given the opportunity to be kept busy and suggested that some rotation could be made on a shorter interval. Visitor Jim Kress from the Oskosh area remarked that several planes were looking for tiedowns due the winds at the Sebring LSA Event this year. Luke promised to look into the possibility of some sales. Jim offered to speak at a coming meeting which Jonathon Cook leaped onto and will coordinate it.

Apparently Duke Bledsoe and the Sonex team of Tony Lewis/Jim Newman had the inspections from Mr. Kurtz on the same day. The team brought their Sonex to the meeting and Jim claimed fame by having done the first flight <G>. I believe it was Jack Slay who showed an original WW2 Spitfire Fighter yoke ring . It had a brake lever and firing button. Allen Brown is thinking propeller for his RV/Subaru but going to Germany for a month. Mike Perry drove over rather than fly his 2 seat Longeze. It has a cracked exhaust that he is repairing. Charles Edgington is getting nearer to restarting his Hummelbird project..