From the President
by Bob Prange
At the end of 2024 we awarded members either for a position they held in the Chapter or for something extra they did to further the Chapter’s purpose. In the December newsletter I discussed the George Lutz Awards given to Brian Lester
and Judy Sparks. Last month I highlighted the Chapter accomplishments for 2024 but did not mention names since
so many people help in so many ways, there will always be names left out when we start listing awards and giving thanks.
Here’s a list of the certificates and plaques given out at the Dec 2024 Holiday Dinner:
George Lutz Award – Brian Lester
George Lutz Award – Judy Sparks
The following six recipients were given a plaque:
Volunteer of the Year – Tim Nash – More than once Tim has dropped everything to make a repair or to replace an item to keep things moving. He has made runs to Target, Home Depot, his hangar, etc. to find a tool, part or printer ink when he saw the need. And always with cheer. And he flips a mean burger.
Young Eagles Pilot of the Year – Darrel Watson enthusiastically shares his Kitfox experience with the kids at our rallies. As a Designated Airworthiness Representative for E-AB and E-LSA Darrel keeps us apprised on the latest in regs and procedures in aircraft building, testing and certification.
Young Eagles Crew Member of the Year – Our 2023 Ray Scholar Grant Peterson has been volunteering at our rallies helping marshal and keep the ramp safe. He is taking college classes, works at an FBO at HEF and is working on his instrument rating.
In Appreciation – Richard Long is stepping down from his role in Chapter House Support that he has done for several years. Richard, I hope you will keep coming out when you can and just sit back on the deck and watch the planes.
Ford Tri-Motor Volunteer – Pierre Huggins volunteered with tons of energy with the Ford Tri-Motor tour stop. He
signed up for every day except for the last shift on Sunday. Even then he hung around during that shift anyway, in case we came up short on keeping the aircraft launch and recovery positions staffed. Pierre was quite instrumental in staffing the Builder Table at the Women Can Fly event in June at Warrenton Airport.
Junior Volunteer of the Year – Cliff Storey has been helping at our Young Eagles rallies while also active with his sailplane training. He made a presentation at our April meeting about winch-tow launch operations and has since been training at Skyline Soaring at FRR.
Award certificates were given to:
Air Tours Manager – Mary Dominiak worked wonders with securing a necessary hangar again for the Tri-Motor visit as well as dealt with the EAA and HEF paperwork to make the tour stop a success. Mary also keeps us safe and orderly at our monthly Young Eagles rallies, runs our raffle table drawings, keeps us informed on Air &Space Museum happenings. Mary is also one of our FaceBook contributors and is still the only one that has the knack for storing 100
chairs in a space where I could only fit 30! Mary is a docent at the Air and Space Museum.
Website Assistant – Meredith Richards has been helping to update the Chapter website with current articles and upcoming calendar events as well as helping with admin at our monthly Young Eagles rallies.
Newsletter Contributor – Dave Farrell created a lifetime supply of pilot cartoons and shares them with us in our monthlyStick and Rudder newsletter. Dave has also spent time and talent repairing our aging
Chapter House windows and doors.
Information Technology Coordinator – Sam Bingham keeps our computers, Live ATC feed, TV, internet, WiFi and printers running smoothly and puts on a neat Movie Night. He also volunteers at Young Eagles rallies and is a great photographer and is one of our Facebook contributors. He isn’t yet convinced that plumbing pipes are in his department.
Events and Sunshine Coordinator – Cathy Carey is involved with planning all of our Chapter events, works with our monthly Young Eagles rallies and is one heckuva party hostess!
Flight Safety Contributor – John Zinkus has helped promote flight safety among our group with both making presentations and arranging for others to present at our IMC and VMC safety meetings.
Certificates for the Chapter Board positions were given out as follows:
President – Bob Prange
Vice President – Jim Stone has irons in many fires. He helps with our monthlyspeaker program, tools, facilities, Young Eagles rallies, movie night, cook trailer and everything we do. And he is an expert A&P mechanic.
Treasurer – Brian Lester received the George Lutz Award, see December newsletter. Brian is building an RV-10.
Michael Iachini has stepped in as Treasurer or 2025 and is maintaining our payments, books and accounts and helping with the membership renewal process. He is a Young Eagles Pilot as well.
Secretary – Dan Botzer keeps us honest with minutes of our business and membership meetings but is also involved
with the cook trailer, Chapter House facilities and furnishings and everything else we do. And he flies lots of Young
Eagles.
Young Eagles Coordinator – David Richards manages the check-in process of the pilots, kids and parents and assigns kids to flights, keeping sanity to the whole rally process. He has helped move us to using a tablet to minimize paperwork and to the new registration system.
Eagle Flight Leader – Paul Schafer manages the flow of information from adults who want to discover or re-discover
flying to our Eagle Pilots. Paul is on the board at EAA and keeps us apprised of news from headquarters and is an
enthusiastic Young Eagles Pilot and a docent at the Air and Space Museum.
Membership Coordinator – Judy Sparks has held this position for several years and is involved with planning and carrying out our Chapter events. Judy received the George Lutz Award, see the December newsletter.
Newsletter Editor – Danny Miller has been compiling this important part of our communications for several years and as past president and vice president has great knowledge of chapter operations. Danny is also our coordinator on matters with the FAA and ATC.
Technical Counselors – Ralph Hoover, Dick Koehler, Lee Ragsdale, Rob Brooks and Danny Miller each use their vast knowledge and experience in aircraft homebuilding in advising the building community. I would venture to say that this level of expertise in Chapter 186 is unmatched.
IMC Program Coordinator – TR Proven keeps the information interesting and flowing at our monthly instrument flying based safety meeting. As TR always says, he is not the instructor here, just the facilitator for the discussion.
VMC Coordinator – Chuck Kyle continues to bring a variety of topics to generate productive discussion at our monthly visual flying based safety meeting. Chuck also volunteers often at our Young Eagles rallies.
Scholarship Coordinator – Bob Prange
Young Eagles Coordinator – Bob Prange
We are still in need of a webmaster. The EAA186.org website needs maintenance so that we can keep our membership informed and up-to-date with announcements, calendar items, membership renewal screens, sign-up sheets, etc. Please let us know if you would like to help in this area.
We are finishing the annual Chapter 186 membership renewal process. Chapter 186 membership is for the calendar year. If you renew now you will reduce our postage expenses and mailing efforts. To renew right now on line and pay by PayPal or Zelle, click here: https://eaa186.org/events/eaa-chapter-186-membership-onlineapplication-2025/. Or if you prefer, print and fill in the 2025 membership renewal form in this newsletter and mail it with your payment. Or bring your form and payment with you to the Feb 22 meeting.
Blue Skies,
Bob
