CHAPTER OFFICERS:

PRESIDENT: Bob Mohr, 103 North 12th Street, Wausau, WI 54403 (715) 842

VICE PRESIDENT: Wyatt Chmiel, 511 Kent Street, Wausau, WI 54403 (715) 848

SECRETARY: Dustin Burt, 9033 North 28th Ave., Merrill WI 54452 (715) 212

TREASURER: DAVE CONRAD, 1711 KICKBUSH STREET, WAUSAU, WI 54403 (715) 845

YOUNG EAGLES COORDINATOR: SYD COHEN, 705 KENT STREET, WAUSAU, WI 54403 (715) 842

LIBRARIAN: SYD COHEN, 705 KENT STREET, WAUSAU, WI 54403 (715) 842

TECHNICAL COUNSELOR: DAVE CONRAD, 1711 KICKBUSH STREET, WAUSAU, WI 54403 (715) 845

WEBMASTER: ROGER GRAHL, 1730 EAST TURNER LAKE ROAD, LAC DU FLAMBEAU, WI 54538 (715) 588

Volume XXIX, Number 5

Next Meeting Date, Time, and Locatio

Sunday, May 17, 12:00 PM, Don and Katy Winch's Airstrip

3813 County Hwy. C

Wisconsin Rapids, WI

We will meet in their hangar. Plan to eat lunch at 11:30 am, and we will hold our meeting at noon.

The strip is 1400' long, running east and west with no obstructions on the east and trees about ½mile away on the west

3644. Call to see if the field is OK for landing.

Driving directions to Winch's Airfield:

From Wausau, Merrill, Mosinee and points north: Drive

Rudolph, turn right onto County Rd. "C," drive about 4 miles west.

From Stevens Point: Drive west on US 10 west, turn left onto Hwy

house, green hangar and airstrip are on the south side of the road.

Future meetings:

• June: Dana and Wayne Podeweltz's Saturday 6/13/15 Noon

• July: Deb and Bob's Hangar Friday 07/12/15 7PM

PRESIDENT: Bob Mohr, 103 North 12th Street, Wausau, WI 54403 (715) 842-9823 flymohr@dwave.net

VICE PRESIDENT: Wyatt Chmiel, 511 Kent Street, Wausau, WI 54403 (715) 848-2815 flyingchmiel@gmail.com

SECRETARY: Dustin Burt, 9033 North 28th Ave., Merrill WI 54452 (715) 212-4522 clusterbomb67@gmail.com TREASURER: DAVE CONRAD, 1711 KICKBUSH STREET, WAUSAU, WI 54403 (715) 845-7545 dtconrad@frontier.com

SYD COHEN, 705 KENT STREET, WAUSAU, WI 54403 (715) 842-7814 sydlois@charter.net SYD COHEN, 705 KENT STREET, WAUSAU, WI 54403 (715) 842-7814 sydlois@charter.net

CHNICAL COUNSELOR: DAVE CONRAD, 1711 KICKBUSH STREET, WAUSAU, WI 54403 (715) 845-7545 dtconrad@frontier.com

WEBMASTER: ROGER GRAHL, 1730 EAST TURNER LAKE ROAD, LAC DU FLAMBEAU, WI 54538 (715) 588-7655 roger@mossylog.net

May

Our 36th

Year!

Date, Time, and Location :

Don and Katy Winch's Airstrip

Plan to eat lunch at 11:30 am, and we will hold our meeting at noon.

long, running east and west with no obstructions on the east and trees about ½mile away on the west. Their phone number is 715

Drive south on I-39, exit onto Hwy 34 south, turn right onto US 10 west, turn

drive about 4 miles west. Their green house, green hangar and airstrip are on the south side of the road.

west, turn left onto Hwy 34 south to Rudolph, turn right onto County Rd. "C," drive about 4 miles

are on the south side of the road.

June: Dana and Wayne Podeweltz's Saturday 6/13/15 Noon

May, 2015

Their phone number is 715-435-

Hwy 34 south, turn right onto US 10 west, turn left onto Hwy 34 south to

the south side of the road.

"C," drive about 4 miles west. Their green

Last month’s meeting minutes:

April Meeting: held at the Merrill Airport. Meeting started at 2:16 PM and adjourned at 3:05 PM. 19 people attended.

Treasurer's Report for April 15:

• Cash on Hand...................................................................................................................... $25.00

• Checking Balance.............................................................................................................. $850.36

Payzer Gift Fund Report for March 15th:

• Fund balance...............…………………………………........…………………..………........................ $35,500.00 approximate as reported

Harold Straw Young Eagles Fund Report for December, 2014:

• Beginning balance............................................................................................................ $ 673.74

• Plus interest……………………………………………….………..………………………….............................. 0.03

• Ending balance.................................................................................................................. $673.7

Other Business:

• Joe Malsack discussed the new terminal building and future plans for the Merrill Airport.

• Syd discussed the upcoming Boy Scout aviation merit badge on May 6th at the Wausau Downtown Airport. There are enough people for

instruction, but he could use pilots on May 20th to fly the scouts. If you are interested in helping out call Syd.

• Kurt discussed the Learn/Build/Fly project and they now have acquired the 501 C3 status. The Buttercup and the Baby Ace will be featured at the

Balloon Rally on July 11th. Dave Conrad will be in charge of the exhibit.

• On July 19th the Air Racers will use Wausau Downtown Airport as their final destination. We are looking for volunteers to help with setup, parking

and fueling. If you are interested in helping contact John Chmiel or Bob Mohr.

• We are looking for one more person to be a board member. If you are interested contact Bob Mohr.

• Central Wisconsin Hamburger Social kicks off the season at Wausau Downtown Airport on June 3rd. For the dates for the rest of the season go to:

www.wisconsinflying.com. This link is also on the home page of the Chapter 640 website.

First Ditch Fly In, LeSueur, MN:

Saturday Chapter Members Dave & Terri Conrad, Kurt Mehre, John Chmiel, Lyman and Judy Hatz and Mike Wienfurter all made their way to the "First Ditch"

Fly in at (12Y) LeSueur MN. From the Wausau Airport the trip is 188 nautical miles. The "First Ditch" is Sponsored by the Marginal Aviation group which is an

official chapter of The Antique Airplane Association. Members of Marginal Aviation support and promote antique aircraft and don't take much else seriously.

( That's direct from their facebook page.) Kurt flew the Mechanics Illustrated Baby Ace Replica Leaving at 7:00 AM into a quartering headwind that gave him

a nice 4 hour ride. The Baby Ace was well received by the group and has shown up in many pictures shared online. On the other end of the speed spectrum

Terri and I flew our Tailwind to LeSueur in 1 hour and 22 minutes. We had a very nice social gathering of people from many surrounding states and a nice

dinner was served. We all left for home in the area of 3:00 PM Saturday leaving Lyman and Judy behind for their flight back on Sunday. The way home was

faster with the wind giving us a little help. Kurt made it back to KAUW in about 3 hours and the Tailwind made it back in 1 hour 11 min. Not to brag too much

here but we held a ground speed of 204-211 MPH the entire way home! In closing I can't say enough about the great time we all had.

Dave Conrad

Kurt Arriving Dave and Terri Departing

Airport Bums and Shade Hogs

LEARN BUILD FLY BUILDERS’ GROUP REPORT:

• Tax deductable donations can now be accepted to keep the group moving forward. Please consider donating.

The Learn Build Fly group is busy building wing ribs for the Wittman / Clemmet Buttercup project. We meet every Tuesday evening at Rick and Glenn’s

hangar on the Wausau Downtown Airport, 7 to 9 pm. Volunteers are always welcome. Join the fun!

FLYING TO SUN N FUN AND RETURN BY ERCOUPE By Syd Cohen

Friday, April 17, 2015 My copilot Zach Freiberg and I

lifted off the ground in Wausau, WI at 7:10 am today,

heading eventually to Sun N Fun. The air was super-

smooth as we headed south to our first fuel stop at

Galesburg, IL. The goal for this evening was to be Baton

Rouge, LA, but the weather map looked very doubtful that

we would be able to make it. We cruised about 1000' to

1500' above ground with a groundspeed of about 116 mph

the whole way to Galesburg. We had a fairly short leg

from there to St. Louis Regional on the northeast side of St.

Louis, still with a mild tailwind, and met Ercouper Tom

Murrell, who was very pleasant. We parked in front of the

airport restaurant and had a nice lunch and an interesting

conversation.

We looked at the weather again and decided that heading

farther south would be foolish, but southeast looked fairly

good, so we headed to Owensboro, KY. After refueling

one of the line boys told us about a fellow on the field who

was building an RV-7, but his next project was an Ercoupe.

We went to his hangar and chatted with him. It turns out

that we know each other! He has attended our Ercoupe

Forum at AirVenture several times and asked many

questions.

We are staying overnight at a motel here in Owensboro,

and tomorrow we plan to continue south, since most of the

bad weather has gone by.

Saturday, April 18, 2015 This morning Zach and I were

picked up at our motel in Owensboro, KY by Richard, the

fellow we met yesterday who is building an RV-7 and

owns an Ercoupe project. He said that his partner in the

Ercoupe would be at the airport this morning at a pancake

breakfast that they are having there. I said I would taxi my

Ercoupe across the field to the pancake breakfast and show

it to him. We did that, and soon had a crowd around it

admiring and asking questions. We all went inside and had

breakfast, and then went outside to answer more questions.

Flight Service had predicted that it would be IFR pretty

much all day, but it looked good by 10:30 am, so we

packed the plane back up and headed for Huntsville, AL.

We really wanted to go southeast, but that was not possible

due to weather in that direction. Weather was good all the

way to Huntsville, though, and we landed at the big

Huntsville airport around 2 pm.

We fueled up and borrowed a crew car and got a hotel

room and then drove to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center

and toured the buildings and grounds and displays and

took lots of pictures until about 5 pm, when we drove back

to the airport, unpacked the airplane and secured it for the

night and went to the hotel.

Tomorrow we plan to fly to Americus, GA for fuel and

then to Cannon Creek Airpark on the west side of Lake

City's, FL to stay with Ercouper Col. John Barber.

Sunday, April 19, 2015 Today we were able to depart

Huntsville International about 9 am and had to head

southwest, due to IFR and haze south and southeast. We

could see all the nasty weather on my Foreflight app on my

iPad, and avoided it. We flew to Tuscaloosa, AL, refueled,

ate lunch, and headed for the easternmost VFR airport that

was near the Gulf, which was Mobile, AL. We landed

there, refueled and washed the bugs off the airplane.

By that time (about 3:45 pm) the big storm had moved east

quite a bit, so we took off again, heading east, destination,

Marianna, FL.

As we passed Eglin Air Force Base we noticed that it was

getting hazier and hazier ahead, so we elected to land at

DeFuniak Springs, FL. We refueled, tied down, buttoned

up the airplane and got a taxi ride to a motel room. The

storm has now moved out over the Atlantic. Tomorrow we

should be able to fly to Cross City and then to Cedar Key

for lunch and then to Zephyrhills and then into Sun N Fun.

We should have about 5 Ercoupes in the flight from

Zephyrhills to Lakeland.

Monday, April 20, 2015 We spent most of this morning

just sitting around the FBO at DeFuniak Springs airport

looking at the radar, waiting for the latest mass of bad

weather to pass on by. Ercouper Larry Snyder called from

Meridian, MS saying that he and his son Aaron were

waiting there but planned to fly to our airport as soon as it

became VFR. He called back about 11 am and said they

were leaving there, and that the flight would take about 2

hours.

I put the time to good use and cleaned up the airplane and

we packed up again, in hopes of continuing east after Larry

landed and refueled. But by the time Larry landed at about

1pm our planned next stop, Perry Foley, FL was still in the

soup.

We all waited and chatted for about two hours, by which

time Perry Foley did go VFR, so off we went. The air was

super-smooth all the way. Larry flew about 500' behind us

and we chatted on 122.75. The last 30 miles were

smoother yet, unbelievably so, and reminded me of some

of my flying dreams that I have had over the years.

We landed, refueled, tied down, unpacked and buttoned up

the planes for the night. We were able to borrow the crew

car to get to a motel and we could keep it overnight.

We plan to depart about 9:30 tomorrow morning and fly to

Cedar Key for early lunch, then to Zephyrhills to top off

our tanks and then follow the NOTAM into Sun N Fun.

The Ercoupe Maintenance Forum will be Thursday

morning at 11 am and the Ercoupe Dinner will be

Thursday evening at 6 pm at the Golden Corral on South

Florida Avenue.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 We finally made it to Sun N

Fun yesterday. We departed Perry-Foley about 9 am and

flew along the Gulf Coast to Cedar Key for early lunch.

We wanted to eat early so we could get into the Lakeland

airport before it closed for the daily airshow. The flight

along the coast was very pretty. Larry Snyder followed us,

spacing his plane about 1000' behind ours. We called

downwind for Cedar Key and the taxi lady called us on her

radio and asked if we wanted transportation. I said we did,

so she showed up soon and brought us from the “airport”

island to the "downtown" island and dropped us off at the

restaurant. The restaurant is on the second floor, and we

found seats on their outdoor balcony overlooking the water.

It was very pleasant.

It took quite a while for our lunch order to be served to us

though, and we kept looking at our watches. We were

finally served and ate quickly, got picked up again by the

taxi and we're back in the air by about 12:40. Cutting it

close.

The Foreflight app on my iPad said we would get to our

turning point on the east side of Lake Parker at 1:42, so we

didn't deviate from our course even a little bit.

As we approached Lake Parker we noticed that the

Approach frequency was quiet. I began to wonder if it was

already closed. Then the Approach Controller asked if

there were any inbound aircraft for Sun N Fun. I replied,

"Two Ercoupes about a mile north." He said we would

probably be the last two in. Suddenly the frequency came

alive with other pilots calling in from 3 miles out and 4

miles out. He told each of them that they could come in.

Then a Cessna called in and said he was 18 miles out. The

controller told him to land somewhere else.

We followed the procedure and landed on Runway 27 Left

and were taxied to the Vintage Area, where we were

parked with two other Ercoupes, making a row of four.

Later on we went to the Pavilion, where Jessica Cox was

to speak. We saw her in the rear of the chairs, getting

ready. She gave us all a big smile and asked about our

flight. She put on her presentation, and then started selling

and signing copies of her new book. I purchased one, and

we chatted a little more.

This morning I went to the shower house trailer and took a

shower, and afterward I walked down the steps and

apparently twisted my right knee. I couldn't put any weight

on my right leg at all. Ercouper Bill Murry happened along

in his golf cart and took me back to my tent. I woke Zach

up and told him what had happened and asked him to go to

the first aid station and get help. He did so, and came back

with the first aid people on their golf cart. They brought

me back to the first aid station, where they wrapped my

knee with an ice pack and told me to rent an electric cart to

get around.

My knee is quite a bit better already, and I'm using a cane

when I have to get off the cart. As long as I don't twist and

am careful I don't feel any pain at all.

Jessica came by the plane for a photo shoot by the FAA for

their safety magazine.

She was also in an article with a picture next to Bill

Murry's Ercoupe in the Lakeland newspaper. She said she

would stop by again tomorrow.

I've had lots of people stop by my Ercoupe to admire and

ask questions. I've been talking up the Ercoupe Convention

in Sheboygan to the Ercoupers who stop by. Another

couple that stopped by was Junior Ricci and his wife,

Karen Winters, members of EAA Chapter 640. They now

spend their winters in Florida. It was good to see them

again.

Larry Snyder and his son Aaron left the grounds this

morning and went to Disneyworld for the day and will be

back late tonight.

We have an Ercoupe Maintenance Forum tomorrow

conducted by Lynn Nelson at 11 am. And the Ercoupe

Dinner will be tomorrow evening at the Golden Corral on

South Florida Avenue.

I probably won't write again until we start our trip back

north.

Sunday, April 26, 2015 We departed Sun N Fun

yesterday about 11 am, after an interesting time. About 15

people attended the Ercoupe Dinner at the Golden Corral

and I promoted the National Ercoupe Convention at

Sheboygan again.

Yesterday Zach and I flew to Whitted airport in St.

Petersburg to visit my old friend Dale Boettcher. I gave his

daughter and two of Dale's friends rides and let each of

them fly. St. Petersburg is a very pretty city to fly over,

with water everywhere.

We stayed the night with Dale and his family and this

morning we departed and flew across the state to New

Smyrna Beach. We had a nice tailwind, giving us a

groundspeed of about 117 mph. We pulled up to the fuel

pump and it started to pour rain and lightning flashed and

thunder rumbled. Fueling could wait, so we taxied to a tie-

down and went to the airport restaurant and ate lunch. By

the time we were finished with lunch the sky had cleared

up and we fueled and took off, flying up the coastline, past

St. Augustine, past Jacksonville, up to Buaufort County

airport (Frogmore International) near Hilton Head, SC.

The weather was very warm all day, and it was quite

turbulent, but the view below was fabulous. We decided to

stay the night in a motel in Port Royal, SC.

Tomorrow we plan to fly north along the coast again to

Edenton, NC.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015 We departed The Beaufort

County airport SC about 9 am yesterday and followed the

beaches north and east, flying just off the shoreline. The

view was beautiful the whole way. We stopped at Cape

Fear, NC for fuel (this was a short leg of only 1.9 hours,

but was a convenient place to stop), had a nice leisurely

lunch, and then headed inland, avoiding a whole bunch of

restricted areas and flew to Edenton, NC to visit with my

old buddy Richard Korupp, who is the person who got me

into flying about 45 years ago. I am eternally grateful of

that. We stayed overnight with him and his wife in their

house on the south shore of the Albemarle Sound.

Dick brought us back to the airport at Edenton, NC this

morning after breakfast and we got the plane out of the big

hangar there. We preflighted and loaded it up and took

off, heading east to Kittyhawk, a flight of only about 45

minutes. We landed at First Flight Airport, tied down and

hiked the Monument.

We first went to the top of Kill Devil Hill, then down to a

brass sculpture of the first powered takeoff, and then

around the hill to the museum and the actual site of the

first four powered flights. It is an awe-inspiring area for

any aviator.

We departed Kittyhawk about 3 pm, flew along the beach

of the Outer Banks. The Ourter Banks are absolutely

packed with expensive-looking houses, a huge difference

from when the Wright Brothers were here in 1903.

We followed the beach until we had to turn inland due to

another restricted area. We contacted Norfolk Approach

and then Oceana Naval Air Station Approach and they

vectored us through their areas with no problems. We

crossed the very south end of the Chesapeake Bay where it

empties into the Atlantic and flew north up the Delmarva

Peninsula, stopping for fuel at Salisbury, MD for fuel. It

was then just a short flight to Easton, MD, where Ercouper

John Allen keeps his Ercoupe, Gracie. We got a motel,

had dinner and went to bed. John made arrangements with

us to meet us for breakfast at the Easton Café in the

morning.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015 Another 9 am departure.

John Allen and Gracie flew with us north along the

Delmarva Peninsula to the north end of the Chesapeake

Bay on the east side of Baltimore and then he peeled away

to head back to Easton. It was nice flying with him, since

he acted as tour guide for us, pointing out many interesting

things down below. We then headed northwest, flying

around the north side of the Washington, D.C. Special

Flight Rules Area and then around the north side of the

Camp David Prohibited Airspace, then headed west across

Pennsylvania. We flew right over the Gettysburg

battlefield and then over quite a few ridges of the

Appalachian Mountain Range, and we stopped for fuel

and lunch at the Arnold Palmer Airport in Latrobe, PA.

The airport restaurant was extremely nice, with exposed

beams, natural wood ceilings and huge windows

overlooking the ramp area. The food was really good,

also. The people in the FBO said that Arnold is still on the

airport board. When we came out of the terminal after

lunch we saw a life-size bronze statue of Arnold in front of

the terminal.

After lunch we headed west, flying on the south side of

Pittsburgh, and on into Ohio, eventually landing at

Crawford County airport in Bucyrus, OH. After refueling

we flew on to Smith Field, on the north side of Fort

Wayne, IN, refueled, got a motel room and stayed the

night.

Thursday, April 30, 2015 We are finally home! It’s

always good to travel, but it’s also good to come home.

We departed Smith Field in Fort Wayne, IN about 9 am

Eastern Time today. I had looked at the terminal forecasts

along our route right after I got up this morning at 6 am,

and saw that they forecast winds from the north gusting to

22 knots, and I figured we would have a long bumpy ride

from Chicago to Wausau. I turned out that the winds

settled down quite a bit.

We flew from Smith Field to Poplar Grove, IL for fuel in

about 2 1/2 hours, and then we headed north. There was

some turbulence, but not anything worse than what we

encountered yesterday. The winds didn’t turn out as

forecast either, so we sailed along with a groundspeed of

around 100 mph. We landed at Wausau just before 1 pm

Central time and refueled, put the plane back in the hangar

and unloaded our gear.

To recap the trip, we flew a total of 42.68 hours, covering

3,638 miles. We had quite a bit of headwind on the trip,

accounting for the higher time than expected. Our trip

went from Wisconsin to Illinois to Indiana to Kentucky to

Tennessee to Alabama to Florida to Georgia to South

Carolina to North Carolina to Virginia to Maryland to

Delaware to Pennsylvania to Ohio back to Indiana back to

Illinois and back to Wisconsin. No significant mechanical

or electrical problems with my Ercoupe were encountered

on the trip.

Fun? You bet! We loved it.

Chapter Library :

• You are invited to borrow aviation-related books and videotapes from the Chapter Library, which is located in Syd Cohen's hangar. Look them

over at the next meeting or call Syd at 842-7814 and the hangar will be opened for you. They are all available for free loan.

Dues reminder: Check your mailing labels if you’re receiving the newsletter by postal mail. It will tell

you if your dues are paid for 2015 or not. • Dues are $8.00. If you can't make it to the meeting please mail it to Dave Conrad’s address, which is at the top of the first page of the newsletter.

Checks should be made out to “EAA Chapter 640.” Those of you receiving the newsletter by email will receive an email reminder.

CHAPTER 640 T-SHIRTS

If you have not yet ordered yours, but want to have one, please use the handy order blank below, or contact Syd with your pre

Name __________________________________________________

Address ____________________________ City ______________ State ______ Zip ___

Please circle your choices:

Size: SMALL MEDIUM LARGE XL XXL (ADD $3)

Shirt color: WHITE ($15.60) GRAY ($19) LT. BLUE ($19.19) YELLOW ($27.20)

Prices include shipping.

Mail form to: Syd Cohen, 705 Kent Street, Wausau, WI 5440

If you have not yet ordered yours, but want to have one, please use the handy order blank below, or contact Syd with your pre

Name __________________________________________________

____________________________ City ______________ State ______ Zip ___

Shirt color: WHITE ($15.60) GRAY ($19) LT. BLUE ($19.19) YELLOW ($27.20)

Cohen, 705 Kent Street, Wausau, WI 5440

If you have not yet ordered yours, but want to have one, please use the handy order blank below, or contact Syd with your preferences.