EAA CHAPTER 229 Oct 2008 Dick Ripper--Newsletter Editor

Winter Haven, Florida (rwripper@verizon.net)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++NEXT Board Meeting-this Fall

NEXT GENERAL MEETING-Saturday 10/04/08 9am

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

Treasurer--Warren Krabbe; Secretary----------OPEN

Web Site--Earle Richardson www.eaa229.org; Young Eagles & Tech Inspection----Mike Bauer (new phone 863-670-0385); Shop Foreman-----Dick Ripper; Membership Chairman--- OPEN

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Newsletter distribution is via email to each person, an electronic copy on the website and a paper copy on the hanger bulletin board. Target distribution is shortly before the monthly First Saturday meeting. The Newsletter is just fact, fiction, rumor, a mistake or opinion <G>.

Supposedly the new FBO is opening this month…Steve Megill is taking the AutoTrain up to New Jersey with his truck and Harley. He is going to teach his granddaughter to ride the Hog. Looks like everyone around here survived "Fay" without any damage. Maybe Warren Krabbe will be completing the 601 as Ray Mallette has obtained employment up in the Florida Panhandle.. His African Grey parrot is being babysat at Warrens and it sounds like Ray is right there <G>.. Ray also has a Monnett Monerai P Project For Sale . Details on 229 website. Price is $2000 firm. contact Warren at

863-852-3623 or wkrabbe@tampabay.rr.com Thought Ken Harrell had quit building but saw him working on a plane part recently in the 229 hanger.

It appears Derrell Brown is covering another Cub inside his hanger. Rumor has it that Tom Olson frequents the Andrea restaurant over on Havendale and turns a deaf ear to anyone paging him<G>…If the retired shop foreman Westerman can forget to sign out a three jaw puller recently, and myself a sparkplug gaper, it appears anyone can. Maybe this is a good time to remind all of the loan and general cleanup policies as tools continue to disappear and trash accumulates….That reminds me, the newer bandsaw needs a new blade again. Apparently some don't adjust the cutting speed to match the material being cut.

Just like the Presidential Elections in November, volunteers need to step in for the December 229 elections. Appears many replacements are necessary for the chapter to continue in 2009...

Someone saw a pusher, 2 tandem seat plane was being loaded on a trailer by Dick Jason's hanger. Apparently that famous or infamous <g> Sonex building team of Tony Lewis and Jim Newman were going to truck it out to Oklahoma. Tony made his third trip to Oskosh in his Sonex. He and Jim just purchased another Sonex project and a wrecked one that they will phoenix into one flyer. Sometimes I wonder who goes with the name on the membership list. Recent communication with Woody Woodard yielded that his part time residence in Tullahoma, Tenn had both a Legend Cub and a Bucker Jungmann with a RV8 at Winter Haven. Not being familiar with the Bucker, googling produced the following:

"The BU-131 Jungmann, was, as most folks know, originally a primary trainer for the Luftwaffe. A dainty, light machine, it weighed only 1450 pounds gross with lots of wing area, so it performed admirably on the 105 horses it was born with. It was such a good little trainer that Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Spain all built the airplane under license, the Spanish building them as late as the mid Sixties. In the Spanish-built CASA Jungmanns they went as high as 145 horses and quite a number of these have been brought into the U.S. to be restored and sold to buffs.


The Jungmann is not a simple airplane, at least not by 1930s, U.S. biplane standards. The fuselage is the typical Bucker structure with a lot of small tubes rather than a few larger ones, which keeps the weight down and the building time up. The dozens of fittings in the wings and flying wire attach points are twice as complicated as any used on contemporary U.S. bipes. Even the tailwheel is overly complicated, and it is mounted on an oleo strut that is up inside the fuselage and incorporates the ability to be either full steering or full swivel." I've always wanted a ride in a biplane but have to settle for the Zodiac <G>.

Dick Wilbers reports he is enjoying flying as a part-owner in a LSA legal Ercoup based at Vandenberg. President Tom Olson posted an article on buying outdated tires. I wonder what prompted this <G>. Basically anything older than 6 years is considered unsafe. Three digits at the end of the DOT required info means tire was made in 1900's. I.e.: 414 means tire made in 41st week of 1994 year. Four digits are 2000's. Ie: 1301 would be week 13 in year 2001 while 4204 would be 42 week in year 2004. 5308 is a mistake as there are only 52 weeks in the calendar <G>. Nothing has been heard from vice president Luke Bowman and inquiring minds want to know if he is planning on wintering here in South Florida again or staying on his newly acquired Canadian farm/to be airport. Bumped into J. Amundsen one day who said the Taildragger school almost had it worked out to use that "egg shaped" LSA.

The biggest "tire spoon" I had ever seen (1" thick steel handle x 24" long) was the smallest that Tractor Supply had available.. While changing tires might have been a common skill in the "old" days, men and machines of today can't handle small airplane tires. Fortunately a member just back from a cooling trip to Michigan stepped up to the plate to help (reading between the lines means he actually did the work with me holding <G>) remove the tire. My thanks to Mike Hoffman for taking time off from his 701 project. I understand that Tom Olson gave a hand to Warren/Ray with a similar tire problem. Helpful guys are appreciated. Since being recovered from it's theft, Katie Gilbert's engine was stored in WHPA's Bernice William's hanger for several years. The high tech method of relocation was Katie sitting in my truck facing rearward and holding onto a rope tied to the engine hoist suspending the big Lycoming.

The Oct 2008 Kitplanes had a very favorable article on Van's new RV-12 LSA. It will be an builder assembled ELSA, not a SLSA built by a factory. One difference with the E-AB (experimental amateur built 51%er) allows the builder to get a repairman's ticket and make modifications. A SLSA allows mods only if approved by the factory and necessitates a 3 day formal course to obtain a repairman's ticket. I believe Duke Bledsoe took this course. Ethanol induced problems continue as one reported VDO float gauge neoprene gasket deteriorated and caused leaking..A recent article in one of my Hot Rod magazines identified the 1930's German made Buna-N rubber used for o-rings as standing up well for old-fashioned gasoline but deteriorating with Ethanol contact. Apparently Viton rubber is okay with Ethanol as is Leather.

Valley Engineering/Culver Props of Rolla, Missouri had an interesting twin belt reduction drive and an early WW1 type swinging wing. The wing pivots as one piece and store in a fore/aft position for transport. Valley engineering appears innovative and worth going to their website.