EAA Chapter 186

The Culpeper Air Fest is Saturday October 11. We will take the Chapter 186 food trailer and grill to serve the usual burgers and dogs. This is a fund- raising event for us. Since the Ford TriMotor is not winging its way to the east coast this season, we have not had a chance to serve our culinary delights and raise some funds for the Chapter. We often have the longest line at our concession when next to other food trucks. We have a few volunteers, but we need more people to cook, sell food and staff our information table. This is an opportunity to spread the word about our Chapter. We will put the trailer in place the day before. On Saturday we will have an 8:00 to 1:00 shift and a 12:00 to 5:00 shift. Please let Cathy Carey 703-855-7235 or Judy Sparks 703-581-7667 know how you can help.

Planned performances are:

-The Flying Circus Airshow
-Kevin Russo & The Jersey Jerks (T-6s)
-RJ Gritter (J-3 Piper Cub)
-Manfred Radius (Glider)
-Scott Francis (MXS)
-General Robert “Rooster” Schmidle Pitts Special
-Mark Meredith – DHC-1 Super Chipmunk
-Tom Larkin – Sonex Mini-Jet
-Jerry Conley – DH-115 Vampire Jet
-Mike Hartman – Navion War Bird Parade to possibly include the Commemorative Air Force’s TBM, Fairchild (Coast Guard), L-Bird, T-6s, the T-28, Navions

Find out more about Culpeper Air Fest here: https://
www.culpeperairfest.com/.

From the President by Bob Prange

AirVenture 2025 was a success with good weather, another record crowd and some familiar and new aircraft in attendance. My first task on day one was to have our Chapter 186 directional sign installed on a post at the Blue Barn. Thank you to member Jim Heidish for making the sign. It is wrapped instead of painted and is a great combination of colors that stands out well. The Tuesday morning breakfast gathering provided for quick fellowship and a chance to compare plans for the week with other members. Member couples from Texas, Bob
and Judy Pastusek and Steve and Barb Wilson came the farthest.

The ME-262 from the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach arrived mid-week and flew in the show a couple times. Adrian Eichhorn flew his 1945 PT-19 from Manassas and displayed it all week at Vintage in Review. He received a World War II Era (1942 – 1945) Champion Bronze Lindy Award. The Goodyear blimps were continually flying nearby for a close look. A U-2 arrived and was on display in Boeing Plaza.

Elsewhere in this issue: Read about a special anniversary celebrated at AirVenture. Also, our next several member gatherings will be special. August will bring us Erica Gilbert, an aviation weather YouTuber with a presentation on aviation weather. September will be a different type of meeting, a panel discussion about aging and flying. October will be our Chili Cook-off. Please plan to enter a pot of your favorite chili or plan to be a chili judge. November will bring HEF airport management to discuss changes coming soon with airline operations starting in 2026. December will of course be our epic holiday party.

Young Eagle Pilots: Warrenton Airport has invitedus to conduct a Young Eagles rally there on October 18.Here is a chance to fly Young Eagles without tower, SFRA and ramp issues. Let’s make this a big rally. We will initially open the registration for Fauquier County area kids before the public registration begins.

Chapter 186 is planning to support the Culpeper Air Fest on October 11 with the cook trailer and sell the usual goodies, hamburgers, hot dogs, maybe bbq, ice cream, sodas, and water. We are in need of someone with a 2 5/16″ trailer hitch to haul the cook trailer for the Culpeper Air Fest. And we are in need of volunteers to staff the cook trailer, info table, set-up, clean-up. Please consider helping out as this is a Chapter 186 fund-raising event.

Blue Skies,
Bob

August 29 Movie Night at the Chapter House
7:00 PM

Join us next Friday night to watch:

Apollo 13

From Wikipedia:  The film tells the story of astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 for the United States’ fifth crewed mission to the Moon, which was intended to be the third to land.  En route, an on-board explosion deprives their spacecraft of much of its oxygen supply and electrical power, which forces NASA’s flight controllers to abandon the moon landing and improvise scientific and mechanical solutions to get the three astronauts to Earth safely.

Feel free to bring snacks to share.  Popcorn, sodas, and water will be available.

Manassas events are held at:
EAA Chapter 186
10629 Observation Road
Manassas, VA  20110

Park in the lot near the FAA Control Tower but do not park in the spaces marked “FAA.”  Walk through the pedestrian gate toward the “EAA 186” sign.

Young Eagles Air Academy from Bob Prange

Parents: Updated information (course content, ages, costs) and on-line registration for the June and July 2026 camps will be available beginning September 3, 2025. Registration will fill up very quickly in early September. Find information on course content, lodge accommodations and registration at https://www.eaa.org/eaa/youth/eaa-aviation-and-flight-summer-camps. Take this link now and click on Air Academy. You can get a
general idea about these camps now by reading about the recent June and July camps. Then on September 3 you can read the updated information for the 2026 camps. Once registered for a camp, there are EAA camperships which help pay for the tuition. EAA Ch 186 also has provided tuition assistance in the past years.

Scholarships
Below is a list of scholarships from other organizations in Virginia plus the bigger EAA and AOPA lists. Many of these are for application during the high school senior year. The AOPA and EAA lists have quite a few that do not apply to everyone (geographical or age/gender restrictions) but are worth searching through to find the applicable ones. Some are for all ages! These are not Chapter 186 scholarships but are presented here as a resource. Instructions are found in the linked information.

Virginia Aviation Business Association:
Charles J. Colgan Scholarship – https://www.thevaba.org/colgan-application

Virginia Department of Aviation: https://doav.virginia.gov/virginia-aviation-scholarships/
Willard G. Plentl Sr. Aviation Scholarship
John R. Lillard Foundation Aviation Scholarship
Kenneth R. Scott Aviation Scholarship
Chad Weaver Aviation Scholarship

Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society:
Captain Earle Worley Scholarship https://www.vahsonline.com/programs/aviation-
scholarships/

AOPA:
Numerous aviation scholarships https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/students/aopa-
flight-training-scholarships

EAA:
Numerous aviation scholarships https://www.eaa.org/eaa/learn-to-fly/scholarships/eaa-
flight-training-scholarships

Ray Scholarship
Our 2025 Ray Scholar Cliff Storey has been officially approved by EAA Headquarters so he will begin his training in August. Cliff has been flying gliders at Petersburg, WV and more recently at Front Royal. He recently passed his Private Pilot-Glider checkride and is ready to get going on powered flight instruction.

Our 2024 Ray Scholar Kobe Kerns is finishing his cross country requirements and awaiting his checkride with a DPE. He is doing his Private Pilot training with the CAP Winchesterm Composite Squadron.

August 23 Member Gathering
Our speaker was Erica Gilbert (https://www.gilbertaviation.com/), a CFI / CFII, FAA Safety Team Representative, and Part 91 commercial TBM pilot. Erica’s passion project is AeroSafe, her YouTube series discussing aviation weather to help pilots fly more safely. She spoke about key weather safety topics for pilots. This was posted as an FAA approved safety seminar which offers one FAA Wings credit. Gathering started at 10:00 AM with coffee and doughnuts at 9:20 AM.

September 27 Member Gathering
How and when should we hang up the airplane keys? Member Glenn Shields will lead a panel consisting of a cross-section of our membership discussing aging and flying and figuring out how and when to call it quits. We have pilot members of all ages and those in their later years may be considering the issues of FAA medicals, insurance, health and abilities. Join us for this gathering, it is sure to be a vibrant discussion.

July 22 Member Gathering
Our July member gathering was breakfast at the Tailwinds Café at AirVenture on Tuesday. We had about 18 or 20 members attend. Many more were at other events or classes so we probably had about 30 Ch 186 members at AirVenture.

Judy has (mostly) retired from several decades of being our Membership Chair. Jerry Stueve is stepping up to the plate for this very important duty and we thank him for doing so. Jerry joined EAA in 1979 at AirVenture and camped in Paul’s Woods at Camp Scholler for the week. He returned a few times to gather buttons pressed from tags and then in later years getting the wrist bands (not as collectible). He soloed in 1985 at Manassas with Squadron Aviation. During that time he also got in a couple of high speed, short runway landings at Dulles with his instructor. After that, life got in the way, he met his wife and the flying was history. The first trip she took to Oshkosh she was pregnant with their first child. Later times at AirVenture his second son accompanied him, first when he was about six. He’s a Software Engineer in his day job and has been doing that for a few companies over
the years. Thanks to Jerry.

ONLINE APPLICATIONS

https://eaa186.org/events/eaa-chapter-186-
membership-online-application-2025/

To order a nametag, go to https://eaa186.org/events/eaa-chapter-186-name-tag-order-form-
paypal-only/.

CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP FEES
$30 Jan–Dec Single Member Dues
$35 Jan-Dec Family Member Dues
$12 for Name Tag and postage
$12 – hard copy of Directory (printing & mailing)
$2 surcharge if paying by PayPal

DID YOU CHANGE YOUR E-MAIL?
Please advise Jerry Stueve, 703-624-0781 or
g.stueve@ieee.org if any of your membership
directory information changes. Thanks.

We meet on the 4th Tuesday each month. IMC Club at 7 PM. VMC Club at 8 PM. Come for one or both sessions; we usually meet beforehand at 5:30 PM for informal dinner at the Panera Bread at Bristow Center.

The IMC Club’s purpose is to promote instrument flying proficiency, safety and education through a community of pilots sharing information and fostering communications. You don’t have to be instrument rated to come to the IMC Club.

The VMC Club, for pilots wishing to improve their VFR flying proficiency, is modeled after the popular IMC Club providing organized “hangar flying” with a focus on VFR procedures, regulations and publications.

TR Proven and Chuck Kyle are our facilitators for these meetings but the attendees are encouraged to participate with their knowledge and experience. Each one-hour meeting earns you one credit toward the FAA Wings Pilot Proficiency program.

THIS SATURDAY!
August 23 Member Gathering

Weather Briefings and Safety with Erica Gilbert

Join us at 10:00 AM for the meeting;  9:20 AM for coffee and doughnuts.

Erica Gilbert is a CFI / CFII, FAA Safety Team Representative, and Part 91 commercial TBM pilot. Erica’s passion project is AeroSafe, her YouTube series discussing aviation weather to help pilots fly more safely.  Erica will speak about key weather safety topics for pilots:  How to obtain a complete – and legal – weather briefing; Understanding various types of clouds and how to handle them; Thunderstorm formation and how to remain safely clear of dangerous storms; Caution around outflow boundaries.  Join us for weather education from a passionate speaker.

Also, Young Eagles member Dag Guessford will give a Powerpoint presentation of slides about his attendance at Air Academy in July.

We will see you tomorrow!

Bob Prange

50th Anniversary at AV 2025 by Angela Satterly

Fifty years ago, Jack, EAA Lifetime 69122, and Anne McCombs, EAA Lifetime 78375, honeymooned in the most fitting place imaginable for two aviation lovers: the EAA Oshkosh fly-in. In 1975 they attended their first EAA convention and started a lifelong adventure, and they made sure to come back to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Jack soloed in 1969 after years of waiting. His love for aviation began as a toddler, sparked by his father, a pilot, who took him flying in his 1930s Alexander Eaglerock biplane. But when his dad gave up flying, young Jack was left building model airplanes, dreaming of the sky until he had the time and money to return to it after serving in the military.

Anne was already a pilot when they met in 1973. A glider club notice in her college newspaper had drawn her in. She learned to fly in a Schweizer 2- 33 and a 1-26 glider. “I may be one of the last people to literally solo out of a hayfield,” she said. That same passion led her to a job with EAA’s buildings and grounds team, eventually moving into the museum.

Jack built his aviation career teaching others to fly, becoming chief instructor at Basler Flight Service in 1978 before taking to the sky in DC-3s. Anne enjoyed working with EAA, but in 1988 she began a career for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “That is like a baseball player being called up to the majors. You don’t say no,” she said.

Her work at the Smithsonian was remarkable. “I’ve had my hands on the Spirit of St. Louis and the Wright Flyer,” she said. “I’ve walked on an SR-71 wing and spent hours and hours and hours of time in space shuttle Enterprise.” But her favorite she worked on was Charles and Anne Lindbergh’s personal seaplane, a Lockheed Sirius named Tingmissartoq.

Together, Jack and Anne have cared for their homebuilt Pazmany PL-2 and continue to immerse themselves in aviation, trying to come to as many AirVentures as possible. Jack is also currently building a gyroplane, always chasing the next project.

Fifty years after their AirVenture honeymoon, the McCombs are still soaring side by side.