EAA Chapter 25

by Pat Halligan, Chapter 25 President

from On Final May 2005

In the past month I had the privilege of giving an airplane ride to Sean Clarke and sitting on the committee that chose Noah Lorsung as the student we will send to the EAA summer air camp. Sean is the Lakeville High School student who won our chapter’s college scholarship. I will be presenting him with his $500 scholarship on May 19th at the Lakeville award ceremony. Not only did I give Sean a ride, but also his mom and younger sister. Peter Denny says we made an excellent choice by picking Noah to attend the air camp. Noah will give a full report to the chapter when he returns from Oshkosh later this summer. These are just a couple of the perks that being your chapter president has allowed me to enjoy. I really do feel a great deal of pride representing the chapter during these activities.

Last years scholarship winner, Kevin Blendermann, just sent me an e-mail to say “thanks” as the money helped pay for his private license. He has had a great freshman year at UND and he will write an article and send some pictures when he finishes finals next week.

By paying your yearly dues you keep the chapter’s day to day operations running smoothly. The members’ airplanes in our hangar help pay off our mortgage and the raffle gives us money to make scholarships and summer camp available to young aviators. I would be remiss not to mention our newsletter sponsors, whose continued support has been outstanding.

It is a team effort that keeps this chapter moving (flying) forward. Without your support none of this would be possible. I THANK all of you, for everything you do to make my job easier.

We just held an officers meeting in early May and by the time the drinks were gone and the excitement over (drinks were coffee and pop, the excitement - a Boston cream pie) we had covered a lot of topics in two hours. We talked about the raffle, young eagles, scholarships, chapter picnics, private pilot ground school, the hangar, EAA work weekends, and …blah, blah, blah. We even talked about a toilet for the hangar…blah, blah. BLAH. The bottom line is we are trying to make sure we have a little something for everyone.

I know everyone has a busy schedule that makes it hard to volunteer and/or participate in all our functions, but do try and mark your calendar in advance and bring a friend or family member to the chapter functions. For the people who do all the work setting up a monthly meeting or chapter picnic, it is very rewarding to see fifty people attend as opposed to twenty or thirty.

This year’s chapter picnic will be held on June 18th at the hangar. Watch the newsletter and website for more information. We will also be kicking off our raffle/fund raiser at the picnic. The raffle will be a lot like last years. You may recall that last years raffle was simpler and low keyed compared to the previous years, but we will still need everyone’s participation to make it a success.

Later in this newsletter you will see an ad for my airplane (picture above) and I’m sure some of you will be wondering why I’m selling N7252A. I thought I better say a few words to stop any rumors before they start. My plan is to look for a floatplane after I sell my C-172. My current airplane would not work well on floats and it would be too expensive to change. (bigger engine-float kit etc…) If you know of any good C-180 or 185’s, let me know.

I want to thank Jon Cumpton for running some of the chapter meetings lately and writing last month’s column. My schedule got a little busy with my annual check ride, four and five day trips and a wedding anniversary. My wife Sandy and I celebrated number twenty-five. I like to think of it as being married for one fantastic year and then just repeating it twenty-five times. That way every year is like a honeymoon.

Hope to see all of you at the hangar this summer.

Pat - the honeymooner.

Sean is a senior at Lakeville High School and is the recipient of Chapter 25’s $500 aviation scholarship for 2005. Sean has served as captain of Lakeville’s basketball team and plans to attend Rochester Community Technical College. He has an academic scholarship and also plans to play basketball at Rochester. After his two year program at Rochester, Sean plans to enroll in an aviation program at either Minnesota State University, Mankato or the University of North Dakota.

by Celia Poehls
Tat-tat-tat-tat, brrrrrrrrrrrr, thunkthunk- thunk. (Ouch!) These sounds rise in volume as one descends the cement steps to the “Hangar” in the basement at Washburn High School. Here, in a converted storeroom, roughly 30 students are actively learning about aviation in its most practical sense. They are working together to build a complete airplane.

For about three years now, Peter Denny, our adopted “Aussie” and the Washburn Aviation Small Learning Community (”SLC”) Lead Teacher and Coordinator, has been striving for this moment.

In his free time Peter treks from group to group sharing his dreams and vision to bring a more “hands-on” style of learning to make Aviation real for students. Peter’s experiences teaching in Australia proves this method is successful. As he talks and travels, he has been hoping someone would be able to provide the financial backing to make this “take off.”

Earlier this year, this finally transpired. An Alumnus from the Washburn High School Class of 1958 kindly stepped forward and contributed the funds necessary to purchase the two-person monoplane “kit” from Sonex-Ltd., in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Several of his classmates have pledged their support for this project and he made good on their pledges.

Building a plane from “spinner to rudder” is without a doubt the best way to expose students to the many-sided nature of aviation. In practical terms, professional aviators will tell you it is beneficial to be a “Jack-of-all-Trades.” The best pilots know you need experience and skills with mathematics, metallurgy, geography, economics, architecture, graphics, aerodynamics, carpentry, physics, English, design and meteorology to name a few. This hands-on plane building class supplies participants with much needed experience in supportive and positive surroundings.

Class members will be able to take this practical learning experience and their successes and apply it, no matter what career choice lies ahead for them.

A few issues pushed the target start date for building out a few months. This down time was wisely used preparing and studying blueprints, manuals and other documents needed for this momentous undertaking.

To-date, the building teams have been established and the students are researching their components. They have also been practicing with pneumatic tools, forming gussets and putting in rivets. It’s not as easy as Mr. Denny makes it Appropriating a line from Cap’n Jack Sparrow in a recent blockbuster movie Pirates of the Carribean, this “Ship is more than a keel and a hull and a deck.” This ship is called Spirit of Washburn’s Band of Brothers for its contributors and its intention to signify the dreams and hopes of the young people who have studied and are studying Aviation and Aerospace at Washburn.

When the plane is completed in about two years, it is Peter’s plan to first fly the plane generally along the Louis and Clark trail from St. Louis, Missouri to Haystack Rock, on the Pacific shoreline in Oregon. Exploring “uncharted territory,” so to speak.

After that, he will fly it “in formation” with many other Sonex builders in a cross-country fly-by with touch-downs in places like Jefferson City, Missouri; Sioux City, Iowa; Pierre, South Dakota; Bismarck, North Dakota; Missouri Breaks, Montana and Lewiston, Idaho, as a practical exhibition of “working outside the box” and going to the edge.

The Diary of the building class can be found at:
http://washburn.mpls.k12.mn.us/The_Sonex_Diaries.html.
We would certainly appreciate your comments, questions, suggestions and support in any form. Please direct inquiries to Mr. Denny at peter.denny@mpls.k12.mn.us or Celia Poehls (Aviation SLC Parent Team Leader) at cezzium@yahoo.com.