EAA Chapter 430 Monthly Gathering Minutes February 29, 2020

Location: W28 #15

The monthly gathering was called to order @ 1008 by President Ken Brown with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America Introduction of Guests: The following guests were introduced: John Dolan. Rick Smith and Al Gross updated their guest status by becoming new members! Welcome! This month’s presentation was “Pass the mike” – What did you learn that you can share? Ken kicked off the discussion with a cross-country flight into MT that resulted in an FAA ramp check (with no action taken). Fifteen different pilots offered tales of yore with a surprising number of them connected with skydiving. From using a Beaver on floats to drop a skydiver to forcing one off the strut, we tumbled through the topic until we learned of “Captain Hook and his Pirates.” Rick Smith provided instruction on doing spot landings on skis with a hang glider while being filmed.

Andy Sallee provided a briefing on the status of Sequim Valley Airport. He said the airport board is working on road repair. Pot hole patches were put in yesterday. He has a bid of $75,000 to repave the road. He has applied for a 2% State loan which is expected to be awarded in April. Paving is planned for May, 2020. Andy said the underground fuel tank will be removed the first week in April for $15,000. He plans to replace the wind sock today, and has plans to repair the rotating beacon. Until then, look for the marijuana farm grow lights on Carlsborg Rd. (visible from 28,000 feet). Andy anticipates runway painting, crack filling and mowing this summer. When asked if the airport is for sale, Andy said he would like to buy out several small investors and partner with someone. But if you have an extra $4.2M, you too can be an airport owner.

Board Summary Reports:

Minutes are on the web site under ABOUT US – CHAPTER BUSINESS PAGES The minutes published in the Newsletter stand approved as published. Overview – Financial balance $3951 in the bank.

Membership is 101 with our new members.

VMC announcement EAA430 VMC Club is a qualified Wings program. Next month will be: “What would you do?” Young Eagles – Joan Miller is making another quilt to auction for YE scholarships.

Thanks, Joan, for such a great and generous project. This year’s YE events will be: May 23 at W28, June 13 at KCLM, August 8 at W28, and September 19 (KCLM Airport appreciation day).

EAA Chapter 430 Monthly Gathering Minutes (continued)

EAA Flying Start – EAA430 is sponsoring Flying Start at the KCLM conference room on May 16, 2020. Flying Start is an EAA program to reach out to the local community and provides a pathway to invite interested people to the world of flight. It’s a four hour program that includes video and a presentation, followed by aircraft rides with EAA members. Tell all your friends who say “I’ve always thought about flying”

Winter Meeting location change – The board of directors have taken action to use the KCLM conference room for monthly gatherings from October 2020 to April 2021. Thanks to Dan Gase for his outstanding help and efforts. Continued thanks to Bud Davies for the use of his hangar. This will reduce Bud’s efforts to provide us a home, and give a break to the Port Angeles people who have faithfully driven to Sequim. It may be a long way from Diamond Point, but at least you can fly there, and it will be warm :>).

Gold Chapter Award – EAA430 has displayed outstanding commitment to EAA by growing grassroots participation in aviation, as well as a desire to improve their chapter by using EAA -provided resources. In total, 214 EAA chapters were recognized in 2019: 63 Gold, 67 Silver, and 84 Bronze. EAA430 scored a 10 out of 10 on the criteria for an outstanding chapter. Congratulation to all, and let’s keep on being excited about aviation.

Food – The pizza’s are working well during the winter, but if we want to have burgers in the summer, who will lift his spatula and volunteer?

50/50 Raffle was won by Bill Shepard. Even though he needs the money to resurrect the Yak 3, he donated back the majority of his winnings to the scholarship fund. Upcoming events:

VMC meeting March11, 2020 7:00 p.m. Mariner’s Café in the Sequim Penny’s parking lot.

Chapter gathering on March 28, 2020 in Hanger 15 Sequim Valley Airport. At the end of the presentation, the pizza arrived and a fine time was had by all.

Respectfully Submitted,

Ray Ballantyne