EAA Chapter 430 Newsletter, April 2026

From the Left Seat with President Ray Ballantyne Well, I must say that the last few weeks have shaped up to be a great start to this spring. On the last day of March, I joined Mark Long and Dave Woodcock on a journey to the Seattle Regional o ffi ce to turn in our applications for Light Sport Repairman Inspection for Airplane. Although I used to work in the former FAA Regional O ffi ce which was in Renton, I was surprised at the level of security involved at the Des Moines building. None the less, we persevered through all the hoops and were rewarded with our temporary airman certi fi cate. While there, I asked about an FAASTeam presentation and have con fi rmed that a representative will join us at the April Gathering and will return in August to provide a presentation. So, the journey ended up being a very enjoyable trip with fellow 430ers. On the last day of Winter (March 19), Lisa and I enjoyed our Stay and Play package at 7 Cedars which came from last year’s Poker Run. We used it to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Then it was time for our birthdays, and I celebrated mine on the beach at Paci fi c City, Oregon (KPFC.) And then there were at least 17 aviators who were dazzled by Harry Cook’s VMC/IMC Club meeting on April 8th. The following day, 20 people showed up in Arlington to enjoy lunch together for the April fl y-out at Arlington. It’s a great start to the summer fl ying season! I’m looking forward to George Steed from EAA 406 who will be providing our April presentation about the youth-built Sonex Electric airplane. I’m getting excited about presenting the “Flying Start” program for adults interested in learning to fl y on May 16. Please let me know if you would be willing to take one of the participants for an airplane ride. EAA Chapter 430 Serving Northern Olympic Peninsula April 2026 — Newsletter

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter I hope to tune up my IFR skills in the near future which will give me the most fl exibility for travels this summer. I plan to reach out to fellow chapter members to make this happen. It sure is great to be part of our chapter. Wishing you CAVU, Ray Presentation — Saturday, April 25, W28, 1000 Xenos Electric Motor Glider Project — George Steed, EAA 406 Young Eagles — Saturday, June 6, KCLM, 1100 Pilots — please let Bud Davies know you’re going to volunteer to fl y some kids! Upcoming Events Board of Directors Meeting April 17 - 9:00am Mariner Cafe Membership Gathering April 25 - 10:00 am Sequim Valley Airport Hangar #15 (follow sign) (social time — come early) VMC/IMC Club May 13 - 7:00pm (social time — come early) Mariner Cafe In This Issue • From the Left Seat — Ray Ballantyne • Upcoming Events • March Gathering Recap • Life and Little Airports • EAA 105 Blueberry Pancake Fly-in • March Gathering Minutes — Rob Stephens A Quick Note Spring has sprung and we’re meeting once again in Bud Davies’ hangar. When you see him, please give Bud a big thank you for sharing his place with us. Thanks Bud!

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter March Gathering Recap We had a nice turnout for our monthly meeting and were treated to yet another wonderful breakfast feast, thanks to the hard work of our hospitality directors — Charlene and Kevin Tracy and dedicated volunteers. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Thank you all! We’re always glad to see one another, every month. It’s so nice to see new faces and to welcome new members. Let all please do what we can to get to know each other and make EAA Chapter 430 a worthwhile and enjoyable experience for us all. Please introduce yourselves to one another and let’s learn how we can support everyone toward getting the most out of our organization. Guests We are also fortunate and happy to welcome wonderful guests — like the Larrance family, Ryan and Marianne, and their 7 month old daughter. Ryan and Marianne have their own private air fi eld — Olympic Field (WA45) — and are planning to host an open house fl y-in on June 20. Keep an eye on your social media for their announcement and details about that. Aspiring Aviators Monthly gatherings are often when we hear about our newest aviators. Many of us are closely following the trajectories of folks like Jazmin Stamper, Sid Vandiver and Kevin Tracy.

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter Some of the other young pilots in our chapter are building on their successes, like Gunner Rogers, Genna Nickel and Aiden Lara. We’re delighted to support them all, as they take the next steps in their aviation journeys. Scholarship Of course we’re also keeping an eye out for upcoming aviation scholarship candidates that EAA Chapter 430 can sponsor in 2026 and beyond. We won’t name names, just yet, but we’re excited that our chapter has again been approved to administer a Ray Foundation aviation scholarship for 2026. These valuable fi nancial sponsorships are a team e ff ort that parents, students and other chapter members all strive to support for our young people that are motivated to learn to fl y and become pilots. Projects We are always pleased to hear about various ongoing projects and we have a few. Harry Cook is making steady progress on his Sonex Waiex B. Rick Sto ff el and Doug Medema are each building Van’s RV-10s. We also have a few other builders who may be fi nding themselves to be ever so slightly distracted from their own exciting builds and restorations. They know who they are — James, Collette, Dana and Erik. Let’s cheer them all on!

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter March Presentation Our March gathering brought us together to hear Harry Cook talk about his time fl ying in the Alaskan frontier. His thoughtful presentation gave us a glimpse of what most of us can’t begin to imagine — fl ying surprisingly varied types of aircraft, on absolutely serious and essential real-world missions, to the most remote locations, and so often under unbelievably harsh and unforgiving conditions. Wow! Chieftain at Fairbanks Loading a Pickup Anaktuvuk Pass Everts DC-6

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter Life and Little Airports As one gets to know better the members of our local EAA chapter it’s not hard to become aware of overlaps and intertwining of lives and places, meshed with the fabric of the surrounding area and the magic that thrives at little airstrips. Flying machines have a way of intersecting some of the nicest things in life. They are perhaps bit like unicorns — extraordinarily wondrous and rare — and yet, an aircraft can be accessible. Pursuit of fl ight is worthwhile. It’s an open door. Where we fl y and who we encounter can’t help but be in fl uenced by the airports themselves. Every airport is a gem — a treasure. Each has it’s own character and situation. How we weave them together is what makes them all so special. Let’s visit upon a few of the places where several our members have some interesting history and a good number of our members have experienced meaningful contact. Many of us probably have familiarity with airports like Sequim Valley, Port Angeles-Fairchild and Port Townsend. But, what about Diamond Point, Blue Ribbon, Rakes Glen, Big Andy, Olympic Field, Orcas Island, Crest Air Park and Friday Harbor? Beyond those are dozens of other gems scattered about — Concrete, Darrington, Forks, Sekiu, Roche Harbor, Whidbey Airpark and Blakely Island — to name just a few — all wonderfully unique. There are many more such places, pretty much within a stone’s throw of where most of us are sitting right now. No matter how you get there, you can take in some of the magic. This month’s newsletter will share a few thoughts and stories about people, planes, airports and life, in our neck of the woods. If we touch on connections between Alaska and Sequim, we’ll fi nd EAA 430 members who’ve lived here and there and have known one another for many years. Flying — and the places fl own to — is what stitches the tales together. Whether we’re a pilot or not, as EAA Chapter members, we’re all part of it in some way. Let aviation inspire you! A Tale by Dave Woodcock The Sea fi re Amphibian, designed by David Thurston of Lake Amphibian fame, was initially set to be a certi fi cated four place aircraft. Times were tough for general aviation back in the mid 1980s, and the design never achieved this goal. The tractor con fi guration was based on his success with the Teal Amphibian. Thurston sold a number of sets of plans to home builders but to my knowledge only 5 or 6 were ever completed. Bob Hammer and I built two these over an 18 year period and won Grand and Reserve Grand Champion Seaplane at Oshkosh in 1998. My aircraft had a

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter Continental IO-520 with 300 hp and was IFR equipped. I had also fl own it twice to California and three trips above the Arctic Circle in Alaska and the Yukon. In 1993 Margie and I along with Bob and Lynn Hammer purchased a runway home on Blakely Island in the San Juans. Margie and I have had an aircraft as part of our family for our entire married life of 55 years. We had always dreamed of living on a private airport. The vacation home on Blakely was perfect for fl ying an amphib into. It spurred us along to complete the projects and, in the meantime, we fl ew there in our fl ying club C-182. We spent many great seasons there. However, it was not a great place to live full time due to its isolation. Everything had to be brought in by boat or aircraft. We used to fl y the whole family in, including two dogs and a cat. Seeing retirement down the road, this led to the discovery of property available on Blue

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter Ribbon Farms in 2005. The amphib was right at home here as well. I have moved on to other aircraft but the enjoyment of living in a residential airpark community can’t be beat. A Tale by Tim Alentiev Too much to say…Many interesting people and airplanes. I will tell one story: One of the most interesting characters on the fi eld at Crest Air Park was Jim Perry. I am an A&P and asked to use his Cable tool to replace a fraying rudder cable on my Luscombe. This was a $3,000 tool 35 years ago. He did not know me from Adam and let me borrow it! He operated Turboprop Couriers and also a Mustang here. I was impressed that he always did full stall, rather than more typical wheel landings. I have a lot of tailwheel time. Talking to old Mustang pilots, they told me that either was easy, — but, I never saw any done at shows. He always did great approaches and I complimented him. Then I asked why he did them when nobody else did. Answer? Brake Pads were very expensive and he did them to save money! [Editor — Tim’s home at Crest Air Park just happens to be where another chapter member John Meyers once lived, in the early 1970s. John also lived at Rakes Glen for some years, before downsizing a couple of years ago.] A Tale by David Miller Airplanes and Romance I was recently asked if airplanes can foster romance? What a silly question, because fl ying exists in a mythical realm (man defying gravity) and all mythical realms include romance. But don’t just take my word for it, I can provide speci fi cs. In 1994 I placed an ad in the Seattle Weekly Newspaper (for you younger readers online dates didn’t exist at this time). Interestingly enough it was my ex-wife that encouraged me to place the ad because she had remarried and found happiness and thought I should do the same. In that ad I mentioned that my outside interests included fl ying. Joan never saw the ad fi rst hand, but her friend Amy did, and ” fl ying” caught her attention because Joan had just earned a private pilot certi fi cate. So, Amy forwarded the ad (by snail mail, remember this is 1994) to Joan and she responded with a written reply to my mailbox at the Seattle Weekly. Joan thought she was pretty hot stu ff being a woman with a pilot certi fi cate and would be irresistible to a man interested in ” fl ying”. So obviously fl ying, which usually involves “airplanes”, was the romantic spark.

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter Joan’s reply was dutifully forwarded to me by the Seattle Weekly and what I read piqued my interest (it was mostly true but that’s a separate story) so I replied. After some land line phone calls, we decided to meet, at her place. At the time she lived in Friday Harbor and I lived in Renton which presents a travel challenge. By land it’s a long drive to Anacortes, followed by a long ride on a ferry boat, to reach Friday Harbor. The alternative for a me, a pilot with an airplane, even one as humble as a Cherokee 140, was a fl ight of about an hour with great scenery and no tra ffi c. Long story short the Cherokee 140, based at Crest Air Park, made many trips to Friday Harbor over the next several months, the romance blossomed, and we’ve been together ever since. So, the obvious answer to the question is YES, airplanes can foster romance. Dave Miller, smitten pilot The Story goes On and On… In future additions of this newsletter, we’ll hopefully capture more tales of chapter members that we know and are getting to know. In the mean time — at a chapter gathering, go ahead and talk up Mark Long or Doug Medema, Tom Roorda or Ray and Lisa Ballantyne, John Meyers, Barry and Tracy Halsted, Ernie and Jeanne Hansen, Bill and Dot Shepard, Keith and Adine Kretschmer, Dave and Karen Gardner — just about anyone and everyone you see. Let them to tell you how their fl ying and airport stories tie in with others in the chapter. It’s really quite amazing. By being part of EAA Chapter 430 we almost can’t help but be looped in. [Editor — I discovered an amazing link from a good friend and 430 chapter member who is pretty much best friends with someone I once knew and worked with, way back in the mid 1980s. A casual discussion about Santa Paula Airport (KSZP) and then my mention of this fellow I once knew who lived there and built an RV-4, ended up revealing the tie between the three of us, and led to us all getting together several times since then.]

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter EAA 105 Blueberry Pancake Fly-in Stark’s Twin Oaks Airpark (7S3), Hillsboro, OR Blueberry Pancakes — Here we come! It’s always a welcome treat to be invited to go fl ying. Rob Stephens generously extended such an invitation to me, to fl y with him in his magni fi cent JMB VL3. The weather on Saturday, April 4 was picture perfect! From the moment we departed Port Angeles to the moment we returned, the air was perfectly smooth — and I do mean perfectly smooth. Not so much as a ripple. Rob’s machine is lightning fast, so we were able to launch by about 0730, streak our way to Hillsboro, Oregon and fi nd ourselves in the pancake queue — co ff ee in hand — by 0845. What an operation! EAA 105 does this every month, on the fi rst Saturday. Best pancakes ever! And to go with them, there were scrambled eggs, thick bacon, sausages and grits — along with co ff ee and orange juice to wash it all down. Fabulous.

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter Hundreds of aviation enthusiasts fi nd their way to this breakfast every month. At $10 per, it’s de fi nitely a revenue generator for the chapter. Rob and I spoke later with chapter Vice President Mike Whelan and others, to hear and learn a bit about what makes EAA Chapter 105 tick. In addition to the monthly breakfast, they have an almost continuous “Build and Fly” program e ff ort for kids — pretty much every Saturday. They do a variety of activities, including — but not limited to — building and fl ying

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter model aircraft. They do several Young Eagles events each year, but cap the number of registrations at about 10 or 12 kids. The chapter leases 2 side-by-side hangars. Chapter gatherings are normally on a Thursday evening. EAA 105 has a distinguished Board of Directors, including Dick VanGrunsven and several other aviation luminaries. All of their programs take lots of volunteers — 30 or so, just for the breakfast every month. They’re doing a lot of cool things and have signi fi cant community visibility and support. Twin Oaks Airpark itself, is a sparkling jewel nestled in the midst of Oregon’s beautiful Willamette Valley. Fly or drive — go there. No excuses. Richard Howell EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter Editor Kevin Tracy — 1946 Ercoupe at Arlington (KAWO)

April 2026 EAA Chapter 430 — Newsletter EAA Chapter 430 – General Membership Meeting Date: March 28, 2026 10:15am call to order 38 members and 1 guests present • Pledge of Allegiance • Minutes approved from February 2026 • Correspondence o EAA National: do not need to be a national member to be a chapter member, cannot serve on BOD or fly YE Old Business • Treasurer/Membership o $6408 in Scholarship, $2615 Checking, $233,500 Building. o 103 Current pd members, 13 unpaid • CAP continues Eric primary lead w/Ray and Richard. Possible flight sim donation. • February flyout Harvey, 7 people April Flyout destination not identified, stay tuned New Business • Ray scholarship, matching funds scholarship was awarded to chapter 430, recipient will be identified over the next few months (Sept latest). • New aviators gave update of their respective progress • Holiday Party, new venues being considered, Sunland, Mariners Café & Cedars, Google vote (2 wks). • March newsletter sent, no issues from membership (file size) • Richard Howell Medical information added to website as well as other tweaks. • Financial audit completed by Harry & Ernie, finding records meticulous! updating signatures 3 total • Flying Start May 16th 1-3pm, invitation for members to participate, see Ray • Private pilot ground school beginning April 6th @ Peninsula college • Safety agreement signed with SVA Project Reports • Multiple reports from those builders in attendance Young Eagles • Event Dates: 6/6, 7/11 & 9/19 • Pilot volunteers needed, requirements and background check requirements on website Meeting adjourned 11:25. Presentation: Harry Cook, Flying Wild Alaska Important April 2026 Dates ● April 8th @ 7 pm VMC/IMC Club, Mariner Café ● April 17th @ 9am BOD, Mariners Café ● April 25th General Meeting @ SVA Hanger 15 Respectfully submitted, Robert Stephens, EAA 430 Secretary