This month we will have a couple of very important topics to discuss. We may lose Rocky’s Restaurant for good. The restaurant owner (and friend of Chapter 40) Marisa has been served with a notice to leave in a very short time. Chapter 40 has a very good relationship with the restaurant owner, they have been good to us, and we would be sad to see them go.

The B-17 will be coming once again, and we will need to begin working on this in earnest. Dave Kolstad will need to have everyone’s attention and participation, so he can be able to finalize plans and put those plans into action.

The EAA Chapter Hangar will also be the subject of discussion. Building Project Manager Carlos Spillari will have an update on our Cygnet project, Hangar Manager Ferd Kuhn will have an update on the hangar finances, and we will be soliciting your opinions and votes on the hangar’s future.

So please be at the meeting this Saturday to be an active participant!

This year’s event will take place on Friday, April 20, 2012 from 9:00 AM- 2:00PM. We hope that you will join us in providing students with this unique opportunity and insight into the aviation industry. As always, we received positive feedback from teachers and students who participated last year. Your participation truly makes an impact on these students lives.

Attached you will find our event flyer, fact sheet, and registration form. We are inviting new, returning, and previous exhibitors to join hand- in- hand with us to allow our future professionals an opportunity to let their dreams take flight.

Please contact me with any questions of concerns via email or at 818.901.9828

Best Regards,

Leticia Miranda

lety@saicraftsmen.com

ACD 2012 Exhibitor Form

2012 fact sheet

Next Chapter Meeting January 21; Be there Or Else!

The next meeting is THIS Saturday, January 21st, at 9:30 AM at Rocky’s Restaurant. This is the first meeting of 2012, and we will be discussing several topics of interest. Please make time to come and participate… we’ve got some new members to introduce, some progress on our project to announce, and a few important group decisions to make.

Most importantly, Chapter 40’s credit default swap consultant and Cayman Islands banking expert Ferd “White Collar” Kuhn will be there with his collection associates Rocco and Nunzio… to collect your $20 yearly Chapter 40 dues. All official Chapter 40 members please bring a check or cash, weave your way through the tent city and cardboard box mansions of the “Occupy Whiteman” movement, and get the money into Ferd’s hands at Saturday’s meeting.

Happy New Year!

On behalf of all Chapter 40, we wish all members a healthy, happy and prosperous 2012! We look forward to the new year with a new building project, new activities at the Chapter 40 and Oshkosh level, and having several new chapter members.

Christmas Party

Please join Chapter 40 in expressing our sincere thanks to Tom Hastings and his family for once again hosting our annual Christmas and Holiday Party. Tom and Joyce opened their home to a wild horde of babbling, boisterous airport bums, and created a memorable event where we shared much joy and camaraderie. Thank you as always to Tom, Joyce, Jake, Amber, Maddy, and TC for your generosity and welcome. Our world famous (and infamous) White Elephant Gift Exchange was a huge hit, seething with all of the Machiavellian maneuverings and slippery subterfuge we expect, to the delight of all.

Young Eagles and Old Eagles

The next Eagles event will be January 28th at Whiteman Airport. I say “Eagles” because a recent decision was made by EAA HQ to expand the Young Eagles concept to offer flights to adults as well. This addition represents a tremendous opportunity for EAA to make more friends in the community and create more aviation enthusiasts. There are also several other aspects and pro/con effects that must be factored in to our chapter’s decisions on how and when we should incorporate this new Eagles component into our activities. In fact, this subject is one of the most important topics that you will be discussing at Saturday’s meeting. On a related note, Charlie will have our 2012 Young Eagles permission slips at the meeting, so we can start promoting the program. In 2012, Chapter 40 will once again be holding the Eagles program flight events on the 4th Saturday morning of each month, weather permitting.

Chapter 40 Cygnet Building Project

Our chapter building project is off to a great start. Project Coordinator Carlos Spillari is doing an incredible job sorting out how this should progress. Carlos’ enthusiasm and commitment is inspiring, and even in these earliest stages (when we’re still looking for the right groove) it’s obvious that he’s the right man for the job. One of the topics that Carlos will likely be addressing at the meeting is whether there should be any changes in the time and/or day of the builders group events (to make it more accessible or desirable for others to become involved). Please come to the meeting and participate in this discussion.

The Tax Man

If your aircraft meets the requirements for property tax exemption, your paperwork to qualify for the exemption is due by February 15th. Public display of your historic aircraft can include (among other venues), the Whiteman Airport Association Display Day, public airshow event displays, and Chapter 40 Young Eagles events.

B-17 Aluminum Overcast Tour 2012

The B-17 event for Chapter 40 in 2012 will begin with its arrival Thursday April 26th and through that weekend until departure Monday April 30th. As always, Chapter 40 is requesting full participation from all of its members, because the B-17 event is now our only scheduled ongoing fundraising event. This year, due to the higher cost of fuel to operate the aircraft, B-17 program headquarters has informed us that 80 paid ride seats need to be sold in order for the Van Nuys event to be considered a viable tour stop. Chapter 40 President Charlie Ducat has made it a priority to meet this goal, and requests that every chapter member make it a personal goal to sell at least one ride on the aircraft. This year, Chapter 40’s Vice President Dave Kolstad has generously volunteered to serve as the B-17 event coordinator.

Get Well Soon!

Speaking of Dave, he was injured recently and is now recovering from a broken back. Please join all of Chapter 40 in sending our sincerest get well soon wishes to Dave. Thankfully, we all know very well that Dave Kolstad is not the kind of guy to let any setback get the better of him, and you can bet your last nickel that he’ll be back good as new.

Once approved by the Chapter President, Carlos will become the central point of contact for the project, interfacing with and between the various individual builders, the chapter leadership, and the various volunteer experts in the various technical disciplines. Carlos’ generosity and effort will make it so that everyone can contribute something of value without having to be “the boss”. The Project Coordinator will essentially keep everyone in the information loop, and coordinate the building activities among the participants.

Carlos will be supported by the various experts and experienced technical advisors, engineers, and the volunteers who wish to participate in the building activities. Those of us who wish to participate can discuss ideas, come up with a list of priorities, and help figure out what to do next anbd how to do it… and Carlos will be able to keep track of and coordinate thison behalf of the group.

It is my suggestion that this coming Wednesday (thats today (Nov 30th) night (after 8pm) (when 4 or 5 of the usual suspects from Shay’s Air Force will probably already be at Whiteman) would be a good time for the first exploratory meeting with Carlos and the builder’s group. The usual “Midnight Munchies Meeting” at Denny’s in San Fernando would be an obvious choice for the FIRST meeting… this can of course be moved or changed to suit the participants’ desires and schedules.

Please all parites distribute, publish and proselytize this development everywhere appropriate.

Please visit the forum at http://eaa40.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15 to join the discussion.

EAA Chapter 40 News ADDENDUM -

As Lt. Columbo used to say on television… “Oh, one more thing!”

This deserves a separate message and a moment of congratulations outside of the “regular” chapter business.

Please join Chapter 40 in congratulating Chapter 40 webmaster and passionate airplane builder Christian Stoehr and his lovely wife Tiffany on the arrival of their baby Enzo, 8 pounds 11 ounces on November 1, 2011.

If Enzo’s anywhere near as classy, handsome, generous and talented as both of his parents are, watch out world!

Chapter 40 congratulates the proud parents Tiffany and Christian, and wishes the family good health, happiness and prosperity.

November will see the last Chapter 40 meeting of the year, so don’t miss it. This month’s meeting will be held this Saturday, November 19th, at 9:30AM in Rocky’s Restaurant. Please show up, to hear a very interesting presentation about a very interesting pilot!

Our speaker will be Ms. Barbara Schultz, who has a fine historical presentation on Moye Stephens. Moye Stephens was part of the founding of Northrop in 1939, flew the N-1M and other Northrop prototypes, and piloted author Richard Halliburton around the world in a Stearman C3B in 1930-32.  Also included is Moye’s flying at Clover Field and Rogers Field as well as his stint as a captain for Maddux, TAT and TWA Airlines in Ford Tri-Motors. This promises to be an excellent and interesting look into the Golden Age of aviation, focusing on one of the people who played a part in history. Be there or be square!

The Fat Man’s Coming!

No, we don’t mean Orson Welles… we mean the one and only Santa Claus! That’s right, kiddies, once again it’s almost time for the annual EAA Chapter 40 Christmas and Holiday Season Extravaganza! There will be no monthly meeting in December, the Christmas party will serve as our last meeting of the year. The big event will be held on Sunday December 18th at 5PM, once again through the boundless generosity of the Tom Hastings family. The address is 8344 Oso Avenue in Winnetka, CA a block north of Roscoe and a block west of Winnetka Ave.

The main dish will be catered courtesy of EAA Chapter 40… and the remainder by YOU. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. We had a slight imbalance last year, with much more desserts than side dishes, so your intrepid, insipid, vapid author has devised a brilliant scheme to even it out: If your last name begins with letters A-Q bring a side dish. If your last name begins with R-Z bring a dessert dish.

The highlight of our event is always the much-ballyhooed and world famous White Elephant Gift Exchange. Please bring an unmarked, wrapped gift with a value between $20 and $20,000. Each participant will pick a mystery gift from Tom’s Table of Temptation, upon which the next participant will have the opportunity to savagely pilfer your gift… forcing you to pick another. A good time is guaranteed for all!

In recent years there have been a few White Elephant gifts which were found to be… not quite worthy of our esteemed membership. So in a draconian, iron-fisted demonstration of absolute authority, Chapter 40 President Charlie Ducat will be borrowing a fingerprint scanner and police criminal identification database from the dreaded Project Police division of our neighboring Chapter 1000, to identify (and punish severely) anyone not observing the minimum gift value threshold stated above.

Eagles Young and Old

There will be 2 more Young Eagles events for 2011, and some exciting news about 2012. Chapter 40’s last two 2011 events will be held on Saturday November 26th and Saturday December 24th (yes, we know that’s the day before Christmas). But some truly exciting news is the pending public announcement of a new program to compliment the fabulous Young Eagles program.

Your sneaky, snarky, slithering, salacious, espionage-soaked mole of a reporter brings you the scoop of the decade! Thanks to the incredible success of the Young Eagles program for all parties (and for aviation overall), EAA has wisely decided to expand the concept. EAA Eagle Flights is the name of a new program that will provide the same type of Young Eagles flight experience for adults over 18! Expect a formal announcement later this year. Although many of the details have not been finalized, this will become an equally worthwhile program to involve adults, parents, and interested people in aviation. As an EAA chapter, our direct benefit will be in making friends for aviation, bringing in new members, and strengthening aviation’s acceptance in our community. The design of the program, and how/when Chapter 40 incorporates this program into our lives will be one of the important subjects at this month’s meeting and certainly other meetings in 2012.

In Conclusion (and in Collusion)

November is also time for the annual Chapter 40 election of corrupt officers. You have the privilege and moral duty to vote in the election, de-election, re-election, recall, incitement and and indictment of various candidates for positions of leadership. There will be newly designed positions we will be voting on as well (such as manager of the group building project, Eagle Flights adult program coordinator, etc.) These are both existing and newly created positions where your time and effort can make a difference. Chapter 40 wants YOU to volunteer for, and assume a leadership role in, any or all of these areas. This is not the Daley machine in Chicago, we truly want new people to get involved!

So you simply must get off your empennage and show up at this month’s meeting, Saturday at 9:30AM in Rocky’s Restaurant! We need you to participate in interesting discussions of great relevance to our local aviation world, to hear an interesting presentation on a guy who played a part in aviation history, and to help steer our ship into the future.

On Wednesday, November 9, 16R/34L will be closed between 8 am – 9 am.  16L/34R will be closed between 9 am and 10 am.

You can also go to our website and click on the link to see upcoming runway closures: www.VNYProp.org

I hope you have a nice weekend.

Dan Katz

Van Nuys Propeller Aircraft Association

info@vnyprop.org

(818) 714-0714

This November 3-5, 2011, Auctions America by RM in partnership with RM Auctions will be lifting the gavel on one of the Chicago area’s best known treasures — The Lee Hartung Collection.  Billed as the “Ultimate Barn Find Auction”, the three-day sale will include over 2500 lots, and will put up for sale literally hundreds of America’s rarest and most unique two- and four-wheeled vehicles.

Lee Hartung was a collector’s collector.  Based in Glenview, IL, Hartungs collection rested on 4 acres in the middle of the North Chicago suburb, and was amassed over the 60 years since he purchased the property in the 1940s.  For those fortunate enough to get a glimpse of Lee’s collection over the past decades — they were among a select few to step into a time-warp that told a unique story of 20th century Chicago —- from Lee’s point of view.

Dale was one of those fortunate individuals, having stumbled across the collection in the mid-1980s during a trip through the Chicago area to visit a friend.  Immediately, Dale recognized the gravity of the collection, as well as the unique and passionate individual that had made it his life’s mission to preserve and amass the history housed within those walls.

read more here