Winter Haven, Florida rwripper@verizon.net

President--Tom Olson; Vice President -- Luke Bowman;

Treasurer--Warren Krabbe; Secretary----------Ray Mallette

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Guess you guys don't read very closely <G>. Last month I said I cut the grass with the "woodworker" and really meant the "weedwacker".

I missed the 3/1 General Meeting but understand it was the shortest ever (wonder if that means I talk too much <G>). Unfortunately the Paradise-USA people from Sebring showed up after most members had left. Some of those remaining got a flight and others a good look at the LSA approved,

Brazilian made, Paradise-P-1 (High wing, tricycle geared , side by side seating, all-aluminum, 100 hp Rotax). Tall Luke Bowman said head room is similar to the Kitfoxes. There were 26 members present and Charles Edgington introduced and spoke for his friend, John Rogerson. John had wanted to put a 40s Altitude Correction Computer in the museum and met our Sun 'n Fun contact, Bud Davidson. Charles mentioned that John had about 35,000 hours in the air, with his longest flight at 52 1/2 hours in a B-36. John was a navigator in one of the very early B-58's that flew from Fort Worth to California while keeping the plane under 500 feet. John had received burns on 90% of his body in an earlier B-24 crash. In the past 5-6 years he has supervised the construction of 2 planes for Gulfstream. A very interesting person.

If the pilot hadn't been carrying a personal locator beacon (PLB) on Feb. 16 when his Piper J-3 Cub went down more than 70 miles out to sea, he probably wouldn't be alive today. While AOPA opposes any attempt to mandate a change to 406-MHz ELTs, it encourages members to proactively seek emergency equipment that matches their flying habits. The old 121.5 Mhz ELT remains legal but the chance locating a downed pilot is very much better with a 406 Mhz unit. Handheld PLB's are at least 1/2 the cost of airplane units. Note that they do need to be manually activated although a clever fellow could add an impact activated switch...

Katie Gilbert moved her long time Vigen project to Gene Wooley's hanger for final assembly and inspection recently. Jim Beisner of the "Jim Squared team" (Jim Campbell is other half) fame recently cleared up some of my questions on control cables and connections. Thanks.

New member Guy Markley recently bought Vic Giles Sonerai, misc. stuff and inherited hanger space. Another new member Bob Barnett will help him as they might recover the 25 year old fuselage skins. Guy had a lot of hours in his Tomahawk sold to Walt Dix and stays current in a Cessna 172 SP. His day job is being a chiropractor and is happy to treat pilots <G>..

A reminder: Ask your shop foreman (me) for a 229 hanger key if needed. Before keys are furnished for the Lathe and Mill, one must demonstrate their competence to operate these expensive, complicated machines. Feel free to ask on other machines if uncertain. Keys cost $5 each but you must be an EAA member to be covered by insurance. Jack Sellet shows up at 229 some times with "Bear" begging for donuts. Tommy Robinson, WW2 "Hump" B-24 pilot, went up to Indiana for what his last employer calls the "Last Reunion"?? Duke Bledsoe is ready to fly of some hours on his ELSA.

Kudos to Warren Krabbe for cutting the 229 grass. Now if someone would just empty the trash and pull the weeds occasionally <G>. Thanks to Ronnie Campbell for the coffee donations. She stays ahead of "Jim Squared" team and the rest of us.