by J. Rion Bourgeois
Breakfast Report
We served 251 at the September 2, 2023 breakfast compared with 218 at the August breakfast, 260 at the July breakfast, and 257 at the June breakfast. Our regular volunteers received personalized monogrammed Aileron Café aprons. There are still some regular slots available if you want to commit and earn an apron. Ten pilots flew 18 YE flights down at Hangar G1 with our experienced ground crew.
Poker Run Report
We held our annual Poker Run on Sunday, August 27, 2023. The weather was lousy. Sign-up at Independence was delayed due to an overcast, no one was able to get to either of the stops on the coast (although Richard Graves and his granddaughter Gloria got close to Pacific City), and the valley was hot and bumpy, with limited visibility due to smoke. We had a total of nine aircraft (three RV-12s, two RV-10s, one RV-4, one DeHavilland Beaver on amphibious floats, one Sling LSA, and one Flight Design) playing fourteen hands. Mark Easton had three Young Eagles in his RV-10, one of whom had a seat for one leg in Ted Millar’s Beaver. There were three wives participating: Michelle Singh, Michele Millar, and Jenny Hickman. Several of us had a nice lunch at the Flight Deck Restaurant and Lounge at the Salem Airport where Peter Miramon made a serendipitous appearance. Weather has been problematic for the last several years: rain in June and smoke after Oshkosh. The top three finishers received monogrammed ball caps. I dare say a good time was had by all despite the conditions.
Monthly Chapter Meeting
The September 14 monthly meeting program at Hangar G1 at Twin Oaks Airpark will be “Top Gun wannabe? 24 hours on an aircraft carrier”, presented by local aircraft designer Dick Van Grunsven. Details can be found on the front page of this website.
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Upcoming events, including the Pie Auction (11/9/23), Holiday Banquet (1/12/24), and the First Saturday of Every Month Pancake and Grits Breakfast are on the chapter website EAA105.org under the “Calendar” tab. I hope to see y’all at the next Saturday breakfast on October 7, 2023. The next monthly chapter meeting is on Thursday, September 14, 2023. Regularly scheduled Young Eagle Events are concluded for the year. A total of 101 kids were flown from our hangar at Twin Oaks during 2023. The Cessna 120 project group meets on Saturdays or Sundays and the Build and Fly youth program meets on Sundays at the chapter’s project hangar G1 at Twin Oaks. Details and contact information is available on our website. The last of the Reno Air Races will be held in Reno September 13-17, 2023. See airrace.org. The Jordan Chicken Dinner is September 24, 2023 (see their brochure here on our website).