We've planned a no-work night out for the December meeting/Christmas party. The meeting will be held Dec. 11 at 6:30 at the Royal Fork Buffet Restaurant, 2745 Blairs Ferry Road NE, Cedar Rapids. This is directly in front of the Wal Mart store. Price, including tax, is $8.28. Kids from 2 to 12 pay 54 cents per year of age.
To help get everyone in the Christmas spirit, we'll again have a gift exchange-and exchange, and exchange! (Some call it a Chinese gift exchange; I'm not certain what the proper name for it is.) This is the type where you can either select an unopened gift or take one from someone who has already opened theirs. If you wish to participate, bring a wrapped gift valued between five and ten bucks and prepare to have some fun! Remember the Passenger Cockpit Heater provided by Steve Chia last year! It was the hit of the party!
The Royal Fork offers a varied and complete menu. Come and have a great night out with your friends!

Officer's Column

- Keith Williams, President

This will be my last Officer's Column as President of Chapter 33, a post I've held for the past two years. That being the case, some reflection on Chapter accomplishments and activities is appropriate.
It reflects well on the Chapter that we have three very active Technical Counselors and one Flight Advisor. These people are great resources for the entire aviation community. The Chapter is proud to have them as active Chapter members.
We have a good relationship with EAA HQ and have had guest speakers from HQ at our banquets each of the past two years. We are fortunate that we live only 250 miles from Oshkosh, so personal relationships can be established relatively conveniently.
This year, Chapter 33 supplied 6 volunteers for our "work weekend." This is a great program; look into it (ask Steve Chia, Volunteer Coordinator) and consider going next year. It will give you a very different view of OSH (few people, no airplanes, etc.) and will increase your feeling of ownership in the organization.
You have supported the monthly meetings very well, with attendance ranging from 32 to 47 at the indoor meetings. I attribute this to interesting programs announced ahead of time.
I look forward to a smooth transition from the current to the new leadership. Our President-elect, Tom Olson, is currently serving as Vice President. He's been very involved and interested in the Chapter's activities. He's a manager at The Radio Company and is full of enthusiasm and energy. With our support, I'm sure the Chapter will continue to flourish under his leadership.
Pleasantly, we have some newer members in leadership roles, namely Steve Chia and Alan Kritzman. These guys are both good thinkers and energetic; sign on with either of these and you'd better be prepared to work!
Tim Busch will become more visible as our new newsletter editor. While a member for several years, he's kept a low profile as he orchestrated Young Eagles events. That's about to change!
Ron White has been elected a Director and will join others who have had leadership roles. Ron's energy, cool head, common sense, and experience will be an asset to the leadership group.
Thanks to the Officers and Directors who assisted with Chapter duties over the last two years. You were a great group who could always be counted on for help.
David Griffiths is due a special Thank You for editing the newsletter the past two years. This is a fair amount of work and has a schedule which must be met. Thank you, David.
And Thanks! to my wife Pat. She helped tremendously with Chapter activities, from phone calls to party planning to organizing the coffee-maker box.
We thank you, each member, for the words of encouragement we've received over the last two years; they were appreciated and kept us charging forward. We plan to continue to support the EAA and Chapter 33 as our schedule permits.
Best Wishes for the Christmas Season and the coming year.

Last Meeting

- Keith Williams, President

The last meeting was held November 5 at Hills Bank in North Liberty with 32 attendees.
Alan Kritzman presented the recommendations of the nominating committee in the absence of Dave Yeoman, committee chairman. After brief but careful consideration of the recommendations and the possibility of nominating others, a motion was made that the proposed slate be elected by acclimation. It passed. (See the list of officers in a different article.)
Greg Zimmerman offered the assets of his Christmas tree field to the Chapter for use as a fund raiser if we were interested. The process includes trimming, spraying, cutting, and marketing the trees. There was little discussion at the meeting, but Tom Olson is investigating further.
John Graf provided samples of medical instrument used in laproscopic surgery. These high-quality "grabbers" will certainly find use in the shops of the lucky attendees who went home with one or more. John's son works for the manufacturer. John was ecology-minded and prevented these instruments from cluttering up the land fill. Thanks for your quick and sound thinking, John.
Our three Technical Counselors (Marv Hoppenworth, Tom Olson, and Ron White) presented a program on the duties and activities of Technical Counselors. Several examples of questionable building practices or workmanship were presented. The EAA Technical Counselor program is a free program which anyone building an aircraft should use.
A video on bush flying in Alaska, provided by Marv Hoppenworth, was shown. Lots of pretty scenery! Airplanes are to Alaskans what pickups are to Iowans. They really get used!

Potential Members

Within the last month, I've received e-mail messages from two people, both potential chapter members, whom I did not and can not answer. You see, I was being kind to my computer and "cleaned it up"-inadvertently wiping out my entire address book and received messages in the process.
The first was from a retired gentleman from North English, if I remember correctly, who has his own strip, hangar, and airplane. He was feeling sort of out of the EAA mainstream and was wondering what activities we had. If anyone is down that way and can find him, drop in and express my apologies for not getting back to him and invite him to our meetings.
The second was from someone who is building a Kolb Firestar. He contacted the FAA office and they suggested that he get in touch with us. He did his part, then I dropped the ball. As a result, he probably thinks we don't care about him; nothing could be further from the truth. So, if you happen to run into a Firestar builder who "tried to contact the local EAA chapter but they haven't gotten back to me" please invite him to participate!

Ethanol Update

- Jack Else

It has been several weeks since I last communicated with you concerning this issue. As you may recall I have been on a letter writing and phone call campaign to derail this movement by a democratic governor, secretary of agriculture and attorney general to mandate ethanol only gasoline in the State of Iowa. I just heard from one of the representatives in the Iowa House of Representatives, Lance Horbach, who said this is now a dead issue and it is not going any where. The reason is because of the mandate. His comment was that he and most of the legislative body favor ethanol but not a mandate. His felt that mandating anything is un-American. He spoke at a recent farm meeting and used the example that John Deere, an Iowa corporation, is having a bit of a tough go of it. Suppose the Iowa legislature mandated that the only farm equipment which could be purchased in Iowa was the John Deere line of equipment? Obviously the farmers, an independent lot would not favor that and the point was made.
So, (at least for now), this battle is over.

Announcements

Hi there fellow EAA member: I just wanted to let you know about the Tango 2 website. It's at www.teamtango.com . We are going to be following one of our new builders through his Build Center construction this month. He started on Tuesday of this week and already has the spar bonded in and the bottom wing skins on. The website will have weekly updates with the first one up this weekend. Please Join us! Blue skies, David Brainard Team Tango 800-340-4305 dave@teamtango.com P.S. There are opportunities available for Team Tango Distributorships / Build Centers if any of your members are interested.

I would like to introduce our company to your members. We have heard from a local Dayton member that cutting Styrofoam shapes for components would be a great service to those who need a shape to use for wings or canopies. We can cut Styrofoam shapes to your specifications. Fax us your prints and we can make the shape and ship it in one or several pieces.

We are:

Global Manufacturing Solutions, Inc. A member of the Better Business Bureau of Dayton www.globalms.com e-mail: bbankes@globalms.com 937-865-5039 937-865-4749 fax

In an effort to increase the level of communication between the EAA Chapter Office and the Chapters and Squadrons, EAA is asking you to send in your e-mail address to: Chapters@eaa.org

Wanted

Beg borrow or rent any RV building aids, tools, jigs, patterns, plans, radios, etc.

Jim Neagle (319) 298-9068

I am looking to find individuals who are interested in owning property on a rural Air park in Eastern Iowa, Linn, Johnson, Iowa or Benton county. Or simply persons interested in buying land for a private airstrip.

Call Walter M. Rich (319) 364-3733

I am looking for a Taylor monoplane (flying or project) or a Bowers Flybaby. I will give $100 to the person or club that leads to the purchase of the planes or project I buy. I know that the Taylors are hard to find, but would love to have one, but Flybaby would be great also. Please email(aainds@yahoo.com) or call toll free 1 888 754 3980, ask for Dave

Looking for miscellaneous AN hardware, 4130-N tubing and fittings. Tom Harris (319) 362-6323

For Sale

A 40,000 BTU natural gas radiant heater, and a 10" spinner with double back plate and prop cut-out. Call Bob Schrieber, (319) 264-5753.

One set of RV6-6A plans with manuals, some newsletters. Call Merrill Knouse, (319) 732-2861.

Baby Ace type fuselage, all welding done. Call Henry Rahlf, (319) 263-7953.

Small Sears lathe, 30" lathe, drill press, small farm tractor, some blacksmith tools. Call Kenny Kemper (319) 263-8843.

Chapter Leadership

Chapter Leaders for next year are:

President Tom Olson

Vice President Steve Chia

Secretary/Newsletter Editor Tim Busch

Treasurer Terry Scherman

New Board Members Dave Yeoman, Ron White, Keith Williams

One share of interest in two airplanes based at Greencastle airport, $2,700. The first airplane is a 1946 J-3 Cub($13.00/hour wet). The second is a 1947 Cessna 140($15.00/hour wet). Well maintained and always accessible. Tail wheel endorsement required. Monthly dues of $45.00 for hangar rent and insurance. Dale Yoder (319) 337-7071 or Walter Rich (319) 364-3733.

Acro Sport II, fuselage on gear, wings nearly ready to assemble, fittings cut out, most material to finish. $8,500.00 Warren Lacey (319) 462-4009

I produce software for airfoil analysis and plotting. In addition, I am publishing an on-line magazine on the use of computers for aircraft analysis. It will appear in January, 1998. The url is: http://www.hanleyinnovations.com Patrick Hanley, Ph.D. Software Developer. Mail Inquiries to:

Hanley Innovations
PO Box 870
Storrs, CT 06268
Phone: (860) 423-4060

Thank You Keith!

I want to thank Keith for all of the hard work he has done over the last two years. Being President of the chapter is a huge responsibility and Keith has lived up to the challenge and then some. The President is the glue that holds the chapter together and Keith has brought us through his term in fine fashion. In addition to everything else he has done, Keith deserves most all of the credit for putting out the newsletter each month. Keith provides nearly all of the content. My job has been a simple matter of copying, pasting and reformatting.

I would also like to thank the other officers and volunteers for all they have done and wish good luck to the new officers.

Experimental Aircraft Association
Alexander M. Lippisch Chapter 33
c/o Dave Griffiths
900 Garfield Ave.
Tipton, IA 52772