EAA Chapter 1025

Yeah, we’re a small EAA Chapter, but the proof keeps rolling in that we KNOW how to build and maintain airplanes. Yesterday at the Cracker Fly-In in Gainesville, our own SAM WOOTEN came away with BEST OF SHOW honors for his beautiful 1946 Ercoupe model 415-C. Sam and the Ercoupe have won many awards, but a BEST OF SHOW award is always extra-special.    CONGRATULATIONS, SAM!

(Note : You’re correct, that’s NOT Sam’s Ercoupe in the background !  :)

The beautiful weather was surely responsible in part for the excellent turnout for our May 2011 Pancake Breakfast and Meeting.  Thanks to all who drove and flew in for the event.  A special thanks to Brad Williams for providing a Young Eagle Husky ride to an excited youngster.

Bringing a close to an eight-year build, Bill Bailey’s beautiful  RV-7A took to the skies today, piloted by one of the best RV test pilots around — the venerable Billy Waters.  Billy cleared the runway  at 3:35PM and put the new Bailey RV-7a through its paces for about an hour, remaining in the general area of 9A1. According to Billy, the aircraft flew very well with no problems.   Congratulations to Bill on a great build!

Bill and Billy confer just prior to the flight

Pilot Billy Waters breaks ground after a short ground roll

N948WD in a beautiful January sky

On Friday, January 14, long-time Chapter member Oscar Moffitt passed away suddenly. Please keep Oscar’s wife JoAnn and his family in your thoughts and prayers during  this painful time.

Oscar was our engineer and fabricating genius. Give him a box of toothpicks and some resin and he could build a spaceship.  We’re going to miss him terribly.

Oscar’s EAA 1025 family

All who had the priviledge of knowing Keith and Christopher knew that they were both very special people. We may not have known the extent to which they touched lives all over this country. Below are some of the links to remembrances and articles about Keith and Christopher, most of which include hundreds of comments entered by the public. The first link is to a wonderful article written by Robin Newcomer, Keith and Steve’s beloved sister.

Article written by Robin Newcomer       (large article, downloads slowly)

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/blogthing/2010/10/19/arcata-exchange-co-owner-young-son-die-plane-crash/

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=63899

http://surfriderhumboldt.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/keith-newcomber/

http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/newtonnews/headlines/Pilot_and_son_memorial_set_for_Saturday_105499123.html

http://www.covnews.com/section/13/article/15105/

http://www.covnews.com/section/13/article/15099/

The Newcomer Family would like to extend their sincere thanks to all who were a part of Keith and Christopher’s Memorial Service this past Saturday.

A crowd estimated to be 225+ came to pay their respects to two wonderful people. Len Strozier led a service to be remembered by all who attended. Numerous friends and family related some fond memories of Keith and Christopher.

As Steve Newcomer, Keith’s brother stated’ “Keith Lee Newcomer and Christopher Lee Newcomer are flying side by side forever”.

I miss it. During its 10-year residency at 9A1, I can’t tell you how many times I crossed the tarmac to say hello, to touch it, or to tell it how I would like to see it flying. I walked over to its’ old spot yesterday, thinking how elated I am that it is flying again, and what an incredible  feat Clive Edwards and his crew accomplished in just 6.5 weeks. Delighted that it is in the air again. But – yep, I miss it.

The photo on the left was taken May29, 2010.  The center photo was taken July 27, 2010 at 9A1. The right photo was taken by Jeff Reuschle at Oshkosh on July 29th, 2010.   Wow.

Flight records are starting to show up on FlightAware.com. For those who would like to track this beautiful old gal while in the US, go to FlightAware.com and key in her tail number (N74589).

Attendance was a little light at our May Pancake Breakfast, but it was an enjoyable morning. We had several visitors and visiting aircraft.

Kip Laurie dropped in with his Kolb FireStar. Kip completed the aircraft in 2000 and has been flying it for ten years. He is also building a Sonerai, but says he’s keeping the FireStar. Additional photos in Kip’s Gallery.

Patrick Horvath flew his beautiful Citabria. Patrick is a former Navy and current professional pilot and will be the subject of our next Member Profile. Additional photos in Patrick’s Gallery.

No doubt, Billy Waters has spent more time helping our other builders than building his own plane. Here, Billy installs his prop in preparation for his soon-to-be first flight. More photos in Billy’s  Gallery.

The next project to take flight may well be Dick Seiders’ RV-12.  Dick reports that the wings will be mounted this week, and canopy work is under way. More photos in Dick’s Gallery.

Our Chapter has FOUR projects that are within weeks of flying — Dick Seider’s RV12, Bill Bailey’s RV-7A, Billy Water’s RV-4, and Chris Metzger’s Metzger Special. Stay tuned for first-flight announcements and photos!

Any Chapter members not visiting the airport in the past few days missed a lot of activity.  Dick Seiders’ RV12A quickly outgrew his home shop and is now being completed at the airport. This is Dick’s second build, and he may well be close to a record build time for the RV-12.

And just today, two builds received their wings within minutes of each other. Ron Brown’s RV-9a got its wings first. Ron moved his project to the airport a few weeks ago.

 Just moments later, Bill Bailey’s RV7A received its wings. This task occurred under the watchful eye of Steve Newcomer, who can be seen working hard in the lower right photo.

Congratulations to Dick, Ron and Bill on achieving these very significant milestones! Additional photos of these and other member’s projects and aircraft can be seen in the Project Gallery.

The crowd was a little thin at our monthly Pancake Breakfast this morning. Rumor has it that quite a few of our regulars were down South at Sun ‘N Fun.    Dave Henderson of Lawrenceville, Ga. dropped by with his beautiful, newly painted RV-7.

OK, RV experts. First one to correctly identify the purpose of the pod under Dave’s right wing will win a coupon for a $5 breakfast next month.

More photos of Dave’s RV7 can be found in the Photo Gallery.

Also, John Martino of Peachtree City dropped by with his awesome Mustang II. John has put 560 hours on his Mustang since completing the build nine years ago.  This bird, with its 200 HP IO-360 hits 215+ MPH in level flight. Many, many thanks to John for my (Emory’s) first ride in a Mustang. It motivated me to get back to work on mine.