WHERE ARE THOSE ACRO BOXES

In light of the recent mid air collision between a glider performing aerobatics and a Cub at Turf everyone should familiarize themselves where these aerobatic boxes are located. Check it out on line, at www.aftw.org and click on the links to take you to the map.

In light of the recent mid air collision between a glider performing aerobatics and a Cub at Turf everyone should familiarize themselves where these aerobatic boxes are located. Check it out on line, at www.aftw.org and click on the should click on the button for Topics of Discussion, then Practice Areas and Aerobatic Practice. There is another web site that depicts the same map, asag.home.att.net, click on Aerobatic Practice Areas. However, the OFFICIAL source for checking on aerobatic boxes is by checking NOTAMS with FSS. In addition, the Airport/Facility Directory has a Special Notices section that lists the aerobatic practice areas.

HEAD ‘EM UP - MOVE ‘EM OUT

By Curtis Clark

There comes a time in most projects where the plane outgrows the shop and it’s time to take it out to the local airport. Since you forked over your hard-earned money and joined your local EAA Chapter four years ago when you first decided to undertake it, you have a nice hangar waiting for you for final assembly. Most airports have hangar waiting lists and it is very important to get on the list years in advance of your projects intended completion date. By planning ahead you can make sure that hangar space is available when you are ready to fly. All airports take a pretty dim view on subletting space in someone else’s hangar, so plan ahead. It is also a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the rules of your planned airport. Don’t expect to be able to do any painting or welding, for instance, in your hangar. These are things that need to be done before your bird shows up at the airport.

It seems logical to assume that if you took five years to build your Cosmic Superfloater that you don’t want it to get damaged or scratched before you have a chance to fly it. You might give some consideration to transporting the smaller parts like horizontal stabilizers to the airport in advance since they are easily damaged and often exceed the 8’6" maximum width for road travel without a permit. Wing panels can be easily transported in an enclosed U-Haul truck on the rack they have been sitting on in the garage. I transported a set of Breezy wings to Eloy on an open trailer a while back, and I can speak from experience that when a dust devil hits the open trailer with the wings on it you better hold on tight!

In the past I have moved a Cessna 140, Cub, Stearman, and RV-3 by simply putting the tailwheel in the back of my pickup. This works good for very short moves even though you could probably get a ticket if you were spotted. Something to remember is aircraft brakes were not designed to be towed backwards at highway speeds. Also, new brakes tend to drag and can create a lot of heat. When Jack Pollack and I towed our Cub to the airport the heat caused the paint on the wheels to start smoking, and we had to pull over and borrow a guy’s hose to cool off the brakes. On Cleveland brakes it is a good idea to remove the pads from the brakes to make sure the brakes don’t drag.

Talking to some folks that recently moved form the home phase to the airport phase there are some lessons to be learned. Jerry Sparks called a towing company with a roll-off flat bed to transport his Glastar to DVT. He said the gear fit perfectly inside the edges and no problems were encountered. I also heard of an RV-6 where the guy did the same thing but convinced the driver to say it wasn’t an airplane but his Blazer because he had towing coverage on his auto insurance.

While the roll off flat bed seems like a good idea it does have a couple of serious drawbacks. One is the drivers aren’t trained in how to move planes, and when Bubba straight out of Deliverance heads down the 101 with your pride and joy on the back of his truck, you will have flashbacks to why it is called a wrecker. If your plane gets damaged in transport it is your problem. None of the normal auto towing companies have any provision for insuring airplanes.

Bill Grieme had a different problem in moving his Glastar to the airport. It seems Bill had decided to put his plane on amphibious floats and it had grown into a top-heavy beast. Bill said he had dealt with many top-heavy beasts in his airline career but this was the first one that had wings. He did his homework and called a local plane moving company called Air Transport Inc. Most of the planes that Air Transport moves are wrecks, but they do have experience, cranes and most importantly complete insurance to protect you if your plane gets damaged. They picked up the Glastar, floats and all, and 30 minutes later it was sitting in its hangar at DVT.

The moral of the story is put some effort into planning how you are going to move your plane. Spending a little extra money to have some professional help can help the process go a lot smoother. I have had Chris Jarman from Air Transport move planes from as far away as San Francisco, and have always had excellent experience and never have been overcharged or had hidden charges thrown in. Chris can be reached at 602-484-0421. He even offered our float equipped friend a discount on underwater aircraft recovery if he ever needed it, and gave him a laminated waterproof business card!

BOOK REVIEW…

21 YEARS OF THE RV-ATOR

Every so often we add a book review section to the Thunderword when something interesting comes our way that might be of help to Chapter 1217 members.

The book 21 Years of the RV-ator is actually not a book in itself but a compilation of every technical article which has appeared in the Van’s Aircraft builders newsletter. The book contains reprints of RV-ator articles from 1980-2000 and is laid out in the same sequence as to how most construct their aircraft.

Those already flying will find this book an excellent resource to refresh you memory, to serve as an inspection guide, and to catch up on the latest, both in the shop and in the air. If you are even remotely thinking of building an RV or any other metal airplane these articles give tremendous insight into the process. The fluff pieces on flying to Aunt Mildreds have been eliminated and the articles that deal with the actual building, modify, maintaining and test flying have been retained. Contains 371 pages, cost $27.95, for more information contact:

Builders Bookstore

P.O. Box 270

Tabernash, Colorado 80478

970 887-2207

Buildersbooks.com

Notice to Pilots and Interested Personnel in Southern Arizona:

The U.S. Air Force conducts both day and night, low-level flight operations in Southern Arizona at 500 feet AGL and below. Helicopter operations conducted at night utilize Night Vision Goggles (NVG) and will be conducted without visible aircraft position lights. Lights out operations will be conducted ONLY within the depicted boundaries and will avoid all public use airports by at least 5 NM.

This notification is being provided to all operators to provide 60 days notice prior to operations in accordance with Department of the Air Force FAA Exemption 5891B.

Effective date: 1 July 2003

Purpose: To conduct night, lights out, helicopter, low-level NVG operations.

Boundaries: The affected area of operations extends east from the California border to the New Mexico border and north from the Mexican border to 33 degrees north latitude.

Altitudes: Surface to 500 AGL.

Times of use: 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes prior to sunrise.

Scheduling / using agency: 305th Rescue Squadron, 55th Rescue Squadron, Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ. 

Chapter 1217 member Pat McGarry has added a new honor to his aviation accomplishments, United States  National Aerobatic Champion in the advanced category! Pat has spent the past several years modifying his Pitts S1T biplane, first with a new low drag gear design and later with an engine that he hand built for maximum power. After the plane got in the air he spent countless hours and literally hundreds of flights practicing and being critiqued by judges and coaches. His efforts paid off last month after a week of intensive competition he one the top spot, in the advanced category at the U.S. Nationals in Texas. Congratulations Pat! Also thanks to Scott Germain for the great picture of Pat flying his Pitts.

YOUNG EAGLE THANKS
Copy of a letter received...

By way of a thank you for everybody's efforts, I am presenting every chapter involved with Young Eagles a free copy of the first volume in the "Will Turner Flight Logs" aviation fiction series. We feel the title and the subject of the novel, "The Aviator's Apprentice", are very appropriate to the programmer; and as an aviation enthusiast, and writer, you can understand how important I believe it is to get young people into the air. The series has been launched to great acclaim both in England and inthe USA. The EAA's own H.G.Frautschy has reviewed it in "Vintage Airplane" magazine, and I am pleased to say he liked it very much. You can read about the series by visiting the companion website at www.turnerlogs.com The book is in "Trade paperback" format and usually retails for $18-95. I am paying the postage as well, so you will appreciate that I would like as many people to get the opportunity to read it as possible. If you have a formal chapter library that's great, but I know that a good book usually gets passed around within a chapter anyway.

For more information  visit  www.turnerlogs.com

The library of Congress, in conjunction with the EAA, is working on a program to preserve the stories of our veterans. Each person who served in the military has a unique view of history and how it changed them as a person. The idea is to videotape interviews with veterans and have them tell their stories in their own words about what they saw. These interviews will then be preserved for others to hear long after the veterans have passed on.

Mark Lundell, Chapter 1217 VP, once told me that "our greatest national treasure is our veterans and that we need to hear their stories firsthand before they have left us". He said that one of the most enjoyable things about owning an old warbird (his plane, not his wife) was meeting these men and women who had served in the armed forces.

The Lundell's have been contacted by EAA national and the Library of Congress to help find some one to work as a coordinator for Arizona for this program. If you have an interest, please call Mark or Deb at 480 483-8489.

Antique Open Bi Plane: Rose Parakeet N14843 Don Pellegreno, Rhome, TX

Aeronca: 15AC N1054F Gareth Gilson, Scottsdale, AZ

Chapter Awards

AAA Headquarters: Rose Parakeet N14843 Don Pellegreno, Rhome, TX

Arthur E. Austin Plane Crash
February 11, 1950
RONALD J ROSENHAHN

During the week of October 7, 2002, a request was made to the Scottsdale Flight Standards District Office to help the son of a man killed in an old plane crash, to locate the wreckage, if it still existed.  The reason for the request was that at the time of the crash the man's son was only three years old and never knew his father.  In going through some of his mother's belongings, the son discovered some old newspaper clippings describing the crash in which his father was killed.  The newspapers were fifty three years old.

The request was made to the FSDO by Eldon Gubler, a family friend and former FAA office manager. 

On February 11, 1950, the aircraft was on a flight from Yuma to Holbrook, Arizona on a direct course.  It passed southeast of Rock Springs just before the crash.  The weather was bad due to the clashing of two major storms in the area.  The crash was reported to have occurred in the New River Mountains at the 2200-ft level, 100 ft below a mesa top.  The crash site was reported to be approximately twenty five miles southeast of Rock Springs and thirty five miles north of Phoenix in the New River Mountains.  It was also reported to have crashed five miles north of the Beaubien Ranch, which had a private airstrip.

The aircraft was a Piper Clipper (PA-16) based in Holbrook. The aircraft color was yellow and the last two digits of the n-number were thought to be 8H.  The Piper Clipper was the predecessor to the Piper Pacer and the Tri-Pacer.  While this sounded like a lot of information to go on, it was later discovered that most of the information was either misleading or false.

Killed in the crash were:  The pilot, Arthur E. Austin, age 31, a former World War Two P-51 combat pilot who had flown bomber escort missions over Europe.  He was a prominent Holbrook businessman, the owner of a Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, and was the secretary of the Holbrook Chamber of Commerce. Also killed was:  Les Gardner, age 30, the passenger on the flight, who was also a Holbrook businessman and the Holbrook town clerk.  He was the
assistant secretary of the Holbrook Chamber of Commerce.  Both men were delegates to the Arizona State Chambers of Commerce and had been attending a meeting in Yuma, which was the purpose of the trip. 

The victim's son, Dennis Austin, was three years old at the time his father was killed.  His wife, Marjorie Austin, did most of the research for the family and worked closely with us to find the crash site. In starting our search, it seemed logical to search all the accident databases to see if we could find something.  Wrong move, as the databases did not have anything listed older than the 1960s, unless it was a military crash.  We then contacted wreckchaser Craig Fuller who has the largest database of old crash sites in the state.  Unfortunately we learned from Craig that records of old civilian plane crashes were next to non-existent in Arizona.

The next thing that seemed logical was to plot a direct course between Yuma and Holbrook and see if the reported twenty five miles southeast of Rock Springs was an accurate location.  Since the crash site was somewhere in the New River Mountains, we found the twenty five miles was not accurate because it placed the crash site southeast of the New River Mountains.  Without a cross reference, the thirty five miles north of Phoenix was not very useful either, although later after the crash site was found, it proved to be an accurate figure if plotted from Sky Harbor Airport. 

In checking old tax records to find the location of the Beaubien ranch we found there was no such ranch listed or no information that showed it ever existed at the time of the crash.  The newspaper article had reported that the crash site was five miles north of the Beaubien ranch.

The next move was to contact Ed Daror, Civil Air Patrol (CAP) wing safety officer, member of the Arizona Safety Advisory Group, and member of EAA Chapter 538, to see if the CAP had any information about this crash.  Ed said he did not know anything about this crash as he had only been in the state since 1972, but he did know someone who he thought might know something, and referred us to Mrs. Helen Crawford, the CAP Historian.  Helen has been a CAP member since 1942 and was from the Holbrook area herself.  She remembered the crash and knew the men that had been killed.  Helen found the old CAP coordinates of latitude thirty four degrees three minutes north, and longitude one hundred eleven degrees fifty nine minutes west as the location of the crash site.  Later, these coordinates were found to be inaccurate
depicting a crash site location nine miles northwest of the actual location.  Helen also gave the n-number of the aircraft as 5984H.  This n-number was accurate and disproved the prior information that 8H was the last two digits of the n-number.  Interestingly, it was found that the data plate of the crashed aircraft and its n-number showed up on another aircraft based in
Naples, Florida which had the original certification done in 1955, five years after the crash in the New River Mountains. 

With things going nowhere and realizing that the location of the alleged Beaubien ranch was of paramount importance in locating this old crash site, we called directory assistance to see if a Beaubien name existed.  There was only one Beaubien name in the whole area and it was unlisted, which was the reason we couldn't find anything in the phone book.  The person was Dorie Beaubien, age 82, and yes there had been a ranch somewhere north of Cave Creek.  She had married a Mr. W. A. Beaubien in 1967.  She was his second wife.  He had sold the ranch before they married and after his brother was killed in another plane crash on the ranch.  But, the name of the ranch was not the Beaubien ranch; it was the Spur Cross Ranch.  Mr. Beaubien died twenty years ago and other than Dorie, there are no other Beaubien survivors.
Five miles north of the Spur Cross Ranch lays Skull Mesa. 

With the approximate location of the ranch now known, Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Austin, the surviving son and his wife, headed north of Cave Creek in their car to see if they could find the ranch or where it had been.  After driving around on dirt roads they came to an old corral with some horses in it and a cowboy nearby.  They asked the cowboy if he knew of the location of the ranch and an old plane crash. He responded, you are standing right in the middle of where the ranch was, and yes he remembered the old plane crash and had a miner friend who knew where it was.  Mr. Austin chartered a helicopter and with the miner on board was flown to the crash site where after fifty three years the wreckage was still there (except for the data plate).  The crash site is located on the southwest corner of Skull Mesa, ten miles north of Cave Creek and exactly five miles north of the old Spur Cross Ranch, formerly owned by W. A. Beaubien.  It is thirty five miles north of the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and sixteen miles southeast of Rock Springs. 

Some interesting historical facts about this accident are that the search conducted in 1950 was the largest air search ever conducted in the state of Arizona.  It involved fifty aircraft and hundreds of ground searchers, an Air Force flying box car and a helicopter from March Air Force Base. Interestingly, the search started in the Payson area on February 11, 1950 and
covered most of the state and some areas of California.  After searching for eight days, CAP pilot E. E. Starr, a Winslow jeweler, decided to plot the direct route from Yuma to Holbrook and fly it.  He found the crash site right on his course February 19, 1950.  Mr. Starr was killed in a plane crash the following year.  Major William Stewart, pilot from Scott Air Force Base flew out the remains of the victims.

The Civil Air Patrol members in charge of the search in 1950 were: Michael J. Morris, CAP wing commander; Thomas E. Moore, search coordinator; and Andy Kurth, radio operator.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !

Chapter 1217 member Pat McGarry has added a new honor to his aviation accomplishments, United States  National Aerobatic Champion in the advanced category! Pat has spent the past several years modifying his Pitts S1T biplane, first with a new low drag gear design and later with an engine that he hand built for maximum power. After the plane got in the air he spent countless hours and literally hundreds of flights practicing and being critiqued by judges and coaches. His efforts paid off last month after a week of intensive competition he one the top spot, in the advanced category at the U.S. Nationals in Texas. Congratulations Pat! Also thanks to Scott Germain for the great picture of Pat flying his Pitts.

VIMY UPDATE

Next June of 2003, the largest flying Homebuilt Experimental the Vickers Vimy replica will re-create the first direct crossing of the Atlantic, performed in 1919 by Alcock and Brown.
The flight captivated the World on both sides of the Atlantic, and ushered in a new era in history; the era of air travel. Appearing twice in EAA's Sport Aviation, the Vimy is the World's largest
flying Homebuilt constructed by a dedicated small team in 1994. The Vimy visited the West Ramp at AirVenture 2001 after successfully flying from London to Cape Town S. Africa in 1999. The Vimy's other tremendous achievement was in 1994 when it was flown from London to
Sydney, as appeared in National Geographic Magazine. This historical replica and the pilots that have flown and worked on it have made their own place in history along side aviation greats like Alcock and Brown. If you would be interested in helping fund this flight the Vimy organization
is soliciting donations. Donations above $200 will receive a professionally mounted souvenir piece of the Vimy replica's original cloth covering from the Silver Queen S. Africa flight. A flight that covered more than 11,000 miles over 58 day period through Europe and all of Africa. For more
information go to www.Vimy.org