The next EAA Chapter 87 meeting will be held April 14, 2009 at the old Bowdoin Elementary School on Rte 125 in Bowdoin. Meeting starts at 7:00 P.M.

The facility is locate .08 miles west of Rte 201on the left. As you drive in, stay to the left of the building and drive around back.

The program for this meeting will be a visit by

Dave Peppell from the PWM FSDO.

He will present a discussion on Light Sport certification and maintenance procedures and requirements, as well as answer questions from those in attendance.

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Those who made the March meeting had the opportunity to view Jay Rowe’s stunning RV-10A project. The airplane is in the final stages of construction, (well actually it is now being dis-assembled for paint) with only minor cosmetic issues left to deal with. The airplane sports a new Lycoming IO-540 with a constant speed MT prop. A four place leather interior with modern glass avionics. The airplane was weighed on Tuesday nite and came in at 1714 pounds. During the weighing process, it was noted that the fuselage was sitting at 2.6 degrees nose high to the level flight line of the airplane while on the gear. In this condition, the total weight on the nose wheel was 434 pounds. Wooden shims placed on the scales, along with removing air from the front tire, brought the airplane to the level flight attitude. The weight on the nose wheel increased to 486 pounds. This is a difference of 42 pounds. This drives home how critical it is to correctly balance the airplane during weigh-ins. We did not balance the airplane span wise as the disparity was only 7 pounds. During the final weigh-in, we will be more precise. The data gathered at the last meeting will serve Jay well towards the completion of his plane.

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The Maine Aviation Forum at KRKD on February 28^th had an impressive turnout. There were presentations from many groups along with FAA’s John Wood. I have sat through many of Johns seminars and seriously doubted that he could do one in 15 minutes, but he came through beautifully.

There was a representative of the University of Maine backed Ace Camp. They provided a quick informational video, along with a presentation by Davis Rousseau. Davis is the young man that we sponsored to the camp last fall at the request of Roger Leach. Charlie is a strong advocate of this program and rightfully so. We had a chance to see the scope of activities that are presented to the attendees.

There was also a presentation on the University of Maine flying club.

The group that flew the powered parachutes from Maine to Kitty Hawk in 2003 did a small presentation. These guys accomplished a huge undertaking by making the trip in eleven days. They had to deal with restricted airspace, fuel concerns, lodging, ground support, weather and a host of other issues I left out.

Life Flight of Maine did a quick presentation on their operations. Life Flight was recently given an award on the national level for their safety record of over 8000 missions since start-up.

The Maine Civil Air Patrol was also represented. The Commander of the Maine Wing gave a presentation on the 406 MHZ elt’s. The satellite monitoring of 121.5 mhz has been discontinued as of February 1^st 2009. Although the FAA has not mandated a conversion to the new elt’s, it’s an option well worth considering. Some believe that they can add protection by equipping themselves with personal locator beacons. But as the Commander pointed out, a PLB activation is not treated the same as an elt activation. Plb’s fall under the jurisdiction of the Maine warden Service, while elt activation will mobilize the Civil Air Patrol, which in the case of a plane crash, might delay activation of the proper agency. Although most small airplane crashes are survivable, the risk of serious injury is very real. Most every one is aware of the "magic hour"in which emergency care seems tio be most effective. I want the right people looking for me should the unthinkable occur.