April, May, June Newsletter

As usual the past 3 months have gone by so fast at 10CO that it is hard to keep up. There is so much happening with EAA Chapter 800 and HAWK that I have not had time to sit down and even get the newsletter out. In this time frame there has been the Fat Tire Jamboree at 10CO. EAA 800 and HAWK worked together on to provide help, meals, t-shirts and other support so that the event went smoothly. EAA 800 supplied the food and the meals and Ken and Jeri Hurt plus Kim deserve a big big thank you. The meals were excellent and nobody went hungry. (Although more people attended than planned.) The weather was perfect for the Jamboree and the Jamboree came off without a hitch. 50 some airplanes and over a hundred and twenty-five people ate at the event. Both EAA 800 and HAWK managed to get sufficient funds to help pay for the campground fees for Kids to Oshkosh for both organizations. The fat tire Jamboree was a huge success. Travis Reese and his wife did an excellent job with promotion and logistics. Thank you both! And thanks for including EAA 800 and HAWK in the planning.
Greg Lucas donated the Poker run winnings to HAWK $320.00 – that was a pleasant surprise- Thanks Greg!. Travis Reese donated $300.00, Tyler McClymond donated $400.00, Rick at Sun Country Cubs donated $500.00. And thanks to everyone who donated to EAA 800 and HAWK to support the programs. Both EAA Chapter 800 and HAWK paid for the band and the food out of what was donated but the donations exceeded the expenses. Life was good for all who worked the Jamboree.

HAWK owes a very big thank you to Beth Stanton for her excellent article in the April Sport Aviation about the EAA chapter 800 and HAWK program. Beth Stanton, the author of the April Sport Aviation article, attended the Jamboree and was amazed at the goings on at MACK. Beth felt like royalty, as she got an hour of instruction in the HAWK balloon, she was introduced to the flying fun of Randy Miller’s 450 Stearman, flights in Carbon Cubs and to cap her trip, about 45 minutes of time in Rlee and JF’s A350B2 Eurocopter. Bet she is still grinning. If you see Beth at Oshkosh, say Hi from EAA 800 and HAWK. Beth had a really good weekend camping at MACK. Her article has really generated donations in both cash and goods to help keep the programs viable. Some of the donations include $2000.00 from Micheal Jager, Mark Guenin donated $1000,00. Erwin Oertli, and Brian Kelly of Balloons West donated a used AX8B balloon system with 4.9 basket, burners and tanks, Josh Stanley donated an AX8B envelope with 4.9A1 basket plus an 8HP Fan for HAWK to repair and sell. Gary Owens donated numerous rivet guns, angle air drill, straight air drill, bucking bars, Cleco’s and P&W 985 tools. Brian Miller had a really good pneumatic Rivet puller donated by a guy named Tom out of Dillon Colorado.

HAWK mentor Tim Allen, HAWK’s certified ground instructor Michelle, HAWK president Brian Miller and three HAWK kids Caiden, Ryan and Jake made a road trip to Salt Lake City and picked up Will and Karen Jefferies’ Hot Air Balloon, tether harness, night lights, radios, inflation fan, 6 tanks, and other stuff they donated to HAWK. The kids set up the balloon the end of June. Braden inflated the balloon with HAWK kids help. The Galaxy AX7 N5244J is in exceptional shape. The balloon is solid red and the kids are calling it the Tomato. The balloon sat for years and does not have a lot of time on it. Will can no longer fly due to new knees and other parts. It will make a good backup for N90555, the balloon HAWK kids are currently flying. THANKS WILL AND KAREN. The balloon will teach lots of kids. In addition, I am going to fly out to Oshkosh in the Mooney and stop to look at a 2 thirds scale Fieseler Storch Fi 156 a nice gentleman wants to donate to HAWK and possibly we will pick up on the way back from Oshkosh as Russel Franke is towing a transport trailer to Oshkosh. Mike Duggan of Longmont EAA 648 and Tom Aguirre donated his flight bag and headphones to the program. Every week something new shows up. BETH YOU DUN GOOD! (As a side note – HAWK only works on donations and currently pays for 3 hangers, the expenses do not stop. Hopefully with the sale of airplanes HAWK can do more to make aviation affordable for the kids. No mentors are compensated for their time, in fact most mentors contribute funds to keep the kids flying and building).

A very big thank you to West Star Aviation. West Star donated $2000.00 to EAA 800 and HAWK to help pay for fuel and meals for the kids. Thanks Mr. Krogman West Star president. West Star’s very generous donation helps make the trip happen. They have been our primary Oshkosh trip sponsor the past 3 years. They donated the awesome paint job on the Cherokee. Hightower Supply donated the Jet Glow paint which is the best and very expensive- Thanks Pat Trimm.

Saturdays in the HAWK hanger have been very busy. HAWK kids are making the necessary preparations for the trip to Oshkosh. HAWK was attempting to have their Zenith 701 flight ready for Oshkosh and up until the end of March thought it possible. The problems due to the Pega Daedalus wings have really slowed that project. Because of donations, and the funds from the jamboree meals, EAA Chapter 800 was able pay for the two campsites at Oshkosh for the kids. Preparing for the trip to Oshkosh has been interesting. The kids going have constantly changed and HAWK mentors have had so many problems that their schedules have also been constantly changing. This year scheduling has been worse than previous years. I would equate it to herding cats. HAWK and EAA 800 are taking seven kids to the Oshkosh show. The seven kids are the ones who are always working in the shop each Saturday. This years Oshkosh trip should be really interesting. Braden Hobbs, HAWK’s new 17 year old pilot, is planning on flying the Cherokee N9606W to Oshkosh (with Mom and Dad’s approval). Braden is working on his instrument and commercial fixed wing ratings and his private balloon rating. He is rapidly building hours.

Sterling is planning on flying the donated Huddelston Arion Lightening N732RN to the show with plans of selling it to support the HAWK program. Anyone wanting a real nice light sport, this is the one. Shay and Logan are again flying their 172 to the show. Logan has soloed and is building time. The plan is similar to the past years. The ground caravan will rendezvous with the airplanes at Aurora Nebraska on Friday night and continue to Oshkosh Saturday the 21st. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. No problem for the ground crew, big problem for the 3 air crews.

Now the hanger talk-

N838CP the HAWK 701 has proven to be a handful. HAWK wanted to fly it to the show but issues keep showing up. Pat Wheling, one of HAWK ‘s mentors, and Tim Allen, another Mentor, have taken on the project with the kids. The Canadian Pega company, that made the wings, is no longer in business. HAWK has their build data but it is severely lacking. The center of lift is different than the standard wings. And the center of lift has presented a whole set of problems with the weight and balance. Pat and Tim are closing in. Hal Stockman (Zipper Big Bore) examined the airplane and engine and gave us some good ideas. He also had a spare Luga ground adjustable carbon fiber prop he fixed us up with. The prop is extremely light. I have never heard of a Luga prop. Apparently it is Russian. Hal is the guy who rebuilt the HAWK 912UL’s drive. Hal is a Rotax expert. Hal will be flying his new Rans S-7 with his special Rotax engine that turns out 130HP in the Oshkosh STOL show. You can always identify Hal as he wears coveralls with a reflective strip on them everywhere he goes. If you see him, say Hi. Last year Hal flew lots of Young Eagles at Oshkosh. N838CP hopefully will make the show next year.

Russel Franke got in trouble with his HOA at his home because he has to many airplanes in his yard (One can never have too many airplanes). Russel’s new lawyer neighbor who built a huge house directly across the street from Russel’s is really hassling Russell. Just like people who buy a house under an airport approach and then gripe about the airplanes. (The house now blocks Russel’s view. Russel did not contest it). Anyway Russell gave HAWK a Luscombe 8A he had in the yard to appease the neighbor. Hope it works for Russel’s sake, but doubt it. Anyway. the Luscombe Data plate says its an 8A but in reality it is an 8E as it has wing tanks and “D” window’s. The Log books show it as an ‘8A special’ The Luscombe society says Luscombe made some 8A’s that were similar to 8E’s. They had all the 8E modes but still had a continental 65 in them. On this airplane someone was modifying the firewall with the pan to accept electrical. The workmanship is not good and a new firewall has not been located to date. Russell also gave HAWK an 0-200 off a Cessna 150. The airplane and engine have full logs but the registration expired and the N-number is now on a Cessna 205. The project will be shelved for a while until parts are found. The air frame is in really good shape and should polish out. Thanks Russel!

N13245. the 172 Russel Franke gave HAWK is progressing nicely. Solomon, Krista and Jaden have the hail damaged wing skins drilled off. And Krista and Braden are riveting the new flap skin on and are about finished. Krista has all the new skins fit for the elevators and trim tab and is working on reassembly. Again Hightower Supply came through and supplied the Sherman Williams epoxy primer for the project. The 172 will be totally primed inside all the areas where the skins are removed and replaced. Krista and Braden are doing an awesome job of riveting the skins back on the flap.

N9606W is being cleaned, serviced and polished for the Oshkosh trip.

N90555 the HAWK balloon now has the fancy Firefly donated 4.0 basket officially installed with the extra Fuel tanks HAWK acquired with the donated systems. Watch for the HAWK balloon N90555 at Oshkosh. It is signed up for the Monday tether and the last Saturday free fly. EAA Chapter 800 president Kim Neibauer is towing it out. The winds have not been kind at 10CO so the HAWK balloon has not been flown much. Fall is coming – it has been a very hot windy spring as evidenced by all the Colorado and Utah wildfires. The HAWK kids are working on HAWK- EAA 800 banners for the balloon- hopefully they will be done, but like everything, time is flying by. OSHKOSH IS COMING!

As a side note, The Sport Aviation Article has generated a lot of interest by other EAA Chapters and interested individuals as to how EAA Chapter 800 and HAWK set up the program. Oshkosh will be interesting in that I am going to take paperwork and other items to share with other chapters who want to talk about the program. So far the HAWK program has been a resounding success and others want to copy it. All of the HAWK mentors are more than happy to share any info with other EAA chapters about how to set up similar programs. HAWK started with nothing but an idea of doing something beyond Young Eagles. And HAWK has turned the idea into a real functioning program and kids are becoming pilots that would not have had a hope before. This is evidenced by kids flying airplanes into Oshkosh. It has not been done without trials and tribulations but so far the program is working better than anyone believed. Any EAA Chapter can do the same thing. It is really nice to see a dying EAA Chapter become a active viable program. EAA Chapter 800 now has a good turnout each chapter meeting of kids younger than 80, and now has aviation excitement again. Again I want to say THANKS to all the HAWK MENTORS who make the program work!