OFFICERS: PRESIDENT-DENNIS D’ANGELO
VICE PRESIDENT-WALT TURK
SECRETARY-RON PEEK
TREASURER-LARRY FREY
WEBMASTER-BOB MCDANIEL
PROGRAM DIRECTOR – RICK RAY
THE LEADING EDGE
Our After the Holidays Holiday Part was a great success. A great turnout by both Chapter 64 and the Illinois Pilots’ Association, good food, super location and great fellowship—what more can you ask for? I would like to personally thank the Chapter 64 members who helped make the event a success; Mike Brenner, Mike Lotz, Walt Hubert (the genius behind the party) and to Fred Altemeter and the IPA for sharing the event with us—A BIG THANKS.
Combined events are a good thing and we should do more with IPA as well as our ultralight buddies the Gateway Area Ultralight Association (GAUA). The GAUA folks enjoy flying as much as we do—only they do it a little slower. I’ve been approached by the members of EAA Chapter 32 (South St Louis) and they are interested in a fly-in or fly-out event together. My old buddies in Dayton Ohio (EAA Chapter 1393) wish to hold a fly-out meeting somewhere in Indiana—I had to remind my buddies that we Champ flyers can’t go very far in a day…or two. Finally, I would like your thoughts on the types of programs you’d be interested in participating in over the next year. We are setting up a bus trip to Dayton OH to visit the National Museum of the AF at Wright-Patterson AFB, but this is only the beginning. So there are plenty of opportunities for events, just let me know at the next meeting what you would like for your leadership to setup.
Fellow member Brian Kissinger needs our support to rebuild the Piper L-4 he will be using to perform his flight for brain tumor and cancer research (see briansflight.com). The L-4 is located at Sparta Airport in Sparta Illinois—my home field—and is about 85 percent complete (which means he still has 110 percent of the work left to do). The deadline for his trip is coming fast (April 07), so any help you experienced or inexperienced builders can provide is greatly appreciated. Brian’s goal is to raise $100K for brain tumor and cancer research by making the flight. This flight has great significance since Brain is a brain cancer survivor. He is also one of our most active and visible members, having earned the chapter considerable donations through his tenacity. If we do little else this year, supporting Brian’s cause would be one we should not miss out on. Please contact Brian through his website.
The Chapter needs you to support our newsletter and web page. Many of your experiences flying and/or building would be of great interest to our new members—and some older ones too. You don’t have to be a great writer--Ron Peek (our editor) and I will help massage the article for you if you’d like—we just need to hear about your experiences, so go pen an article. Thanks.
Flying season is coming soon so get ready to…
…keep ‘em flying.
dd