EAA Chapter 186

For the 2026 Air Academy we have spent our credits available to help with the tuition for two campers that are going in June and July. One is going to the Explore Camp Session 1 in late June and one is going to Session 2 in early July.

The EAA Air Academy offers away-from-home aviation themed camps. For 2026 there were two separate camps: Explore Aviation Camp and Navigating Horizons Camp for either of two age groups, 14 to 15 and 16 to 18. The information (dates, course content, ages, tuition costs) for the 2026 camps is available at https://www.eaa.org/eaa/youth/eaa-aviation-and-flight-summer-camps and the info for the 2027 camps and on-line registration will be posted there in September 2026. Parents: Info for the 2027 camps and on-line registration will be posted there in September 2026. Camper slots fill up quickly! Once
registered and accepted for a camp, you can apply directly to the EAA for an EAA campership which may help pay for the tuition. EAA Ch 186 has also tuition assistance in the past couple years. If you are already registered for an Air Academy camp, let us know and we may be able to help with tuition assistance. Transportation to and from Air Academy is the responsibility of the parents. Room and board are included in the tuition.

The May 9 Young Eagles rally at Warrenton Airport was canceled. We had 30 kids plus 15 on the waitlist but the pilot/aircraft list shrank in the days leading up to the event to the point that we could not have held a successful rally.

Pilots: In an effort to push the total of Young Eagles flown to 2.5 million kids, EAA has announced Mission 2.5 where Young Eagle Pilots have an incentive to fly 25 kids between 10/1/2025 to 7/31/2026. Any volunteer pilot that rises to the challenge and flies 25 Young Eagles or more from October 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026, will be issued a limited-edition commemorative hat courtesy of Sporty’s.

Below are our current totals through May 2026 for
each Young Eagles pilot:

Chris Berg 12

Dan Botzer 26

Matthew Friedman 8

Joseph Fry 3

Dave Huss 3

Michael Iachini 8

Allan Osborn 20

Michael Osmers 6

Grant Peterson 2

Bob Prange 32

Brian Roy 17

Paul Schafer 13

Curtis Smith 11

Jeff Swedo 9

David Taylor 4

Our next Young Eagles Rallies are:
June 13 – Manassas at 0900
July 11 – Manassas at 0900
August 22 – Manassas at 0900

Young Eagles flights are available for kids between ages 8 and 17. We normally hold our rallies on the second Saturday each month. Parents can register at eaachapters.org beginning at 8:00 AM on the 1st of each month.

Chapter 186 Young Eagles Coordinators
David Richards
Bob Prange

Saturday May 23 Member Gathering
1000 Guest Speaker
Coffee and Doughnuts at 0920

Please join us Saturday.  This month our speaker is Phil Soucy.  Phil is a retired Air Force Officer and former SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO).  Phil is a graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School as well as the Air Force Fighter Weapons School.  He is also a docent at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.  Phil is Co-Founder and Chairman of MTSI, an Alexandria VA based Aerospace Engineering company.  He is an aircraft owner and general aviation pilot.  His presentation will be about the SR-71 and his experiences flying the world’s fastest aircraft.  The presentation will also talk about the technical attributes of the aircraft with an emphasis on the navigation systems that allowed it to accomplish its cold war mission.

Due to a handful of aircraft cancellations, our 5/9 Young Eagles rally has been cancelled. Please join us for our next Young Eagles rally on June 13 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in Manassas. Registration for the event begins June 1.

Friday May 1
7:00 PM
Movie Night at the Chapter House

Experimental Aircraft Association
Chapter 186
National Capital Chapter
10629 Aviator Avenue
Manassas, VA  20110

A big thank you is in order for Michelle Gill. New members in the last year, Michelle and husband Josh Chambers offered that if we came up with the paint, she would refurbish the chapter house deck. She spent a couple days, with her parents helping, pressure-washing and scraping our very old deck. Then a day of replacing a handful of boards and painting along with the help of Jorge Botero, Rori Ross, Moheb Keddis, Josh and Michelle’s parents. This will help our old deck last longer while we wait to learn when and where we will move in the next 2 to 20 years.

I have not talked flying inthis column for several
months. Instead, I have been using this space to
update our membership on various Chapter happenings. This month I want to talk a little about maintaining safe habits as we fly in this busy area.Most pilots based at
Manassas know the “unwritten” rule about arriving/departing VFR to/from the FLUKY gate, i.e.,
stay on the correct side of the train tracks while in the SFRA. This helps deconflict this busy traffic area. I propose we should extend that concept a few more miles westof Warrenton airport, KHWY. The acrobatic box and parachute activity are two reasons to never overfly KHWY so stay on your side of the tracks until west of KHWY. While departing KHEF there is not enough time to tune in to KHWY AWOS (it has a phone number to call in advance) so it is best to assume those are both active. ATC does not have time to remind you of those activities.

We all need to occasionally review the AIM for traffic pattern procedures for pilot-controlled fields. If the desired route of flight is left, your climb should continue straight ahead until within 300’ of the pattern altitude. Turning left sooner puts you in conflict with downwind traffic. Any right turn should not be made before reaching pattern altitude, at least. An earlier right turn conflicts with traffic entering on the crosswind leg. It is amazing how many creative pattern procedures we can observe in one session of pattern work. The often-heard call from an aircraft arriving several miles out usually has too much information in it. Traffic in the pattern does not need to hear 20 to 30 seconds detailing your plan to over-fly the field, head southeast, descend to pattern altitude, do a 180° turn and head northwest to enter the pattern. A simple “10 miles west landing XXX” will suffice. Update us when you are closer.

I was recently at my hangar late enough that aircraft could get in their night currency landings. A Blackhawk helicopter showed up to do just that. At the time there were no other aircraft in the pattern and I have no doubt they were making all their appropriate calls on CTAF but it got me thinking a light aircraft could easily show up to do a couple landings and become quite surprised by a torrent of wake turbulence from the Blackhawk, The repetitive hovering, go around and normal pattern maneuvers by this Blackhawk reminded me of the need to review again the wake turbulence we should expect from helicopters. Wake turbulence is addressed in AIM 7.4 but the only specific helicopter reference is the mention that light aircraft should maintain a distance of at least three rotors from a helicopter in a hover or in a hover-taxi. Think of rotor lengths varying from 25’ for an R-22 to 53’ for a Blackhawk. So, we should stay 75’ to 160’ away from a hovering helicopter, depending on its size. Is a helicopter in a hover over the grass next to the runway far enough away? Probably not. If it is hovering over a parallel taxiway, it may or may not be far enough away for you to use the runway safely. The AIM does not specifically mention how much distance to allow for a helicopter in forward travel, but the FAA recommends the “3-3-2 Rule.” That is 3 rotor discs, 3 miles and 2 minutes, so keep a hoveringmhelicopter 3 blade lengths away and when passing behind a moving helicopter, give it a 3 mile and 2 minutes buffer.

Every pilot needs a Flight Review within the past 24 months to fly. Historically we usually wait until the 24th month (or later) and look for a CFI to fly with. You do not see the term biennial used much anymore. The FAA would like pilots to consider doing a more ongoing method of staying current rather than getting a flight review in the 24th month. Under the FAA Wings program, if you attend three Wings credit classes (Ch 186 does two every month with our IMC Club and VMC Club meetings) and fly three one-hour Wings flight exercises with a CFI, your flight review expiration date will move forward two years. Yes, this is more work than the
minimum one hour of ground and one hour of flight required for a flight review but much more comprehensive. Look in your account on faasafety.gov for more Wings program info.

Blue Skies,
Bob