EAA Chapter 186

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.

Our next movie night takes us to the Moon via an Australian sheep station! Well, sort of ….

In July 1969, the 64-meter (210 foot) Murriyang radio telescope dish at isolated Parkes Observatory in Australia was the primary receiver in the southern hemisphere for live television signals from Apollo 11. The Australian comedy-drama film The Dish,
released in 2000, tells the story of the role the observatory, its staff, and the nearby town of Parkes played in enabling the worldwide broadcast of the first Moon landing mission.

The quirky characters in the movie are fictional and some historic details were tweaked or manufactured for dramatic or humorous effect, but most of the story is true, the control room set was absolutely authentic, and much of the movie was shot on location at the dish, although the quaint architecture of the small town of Forbes stood in for Parkes.
Sam Neill stars, with Patrick Warburton, Tom Long, and Kevin Harrington. The film has a “96% Fresh” approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s rated PG-13 and has a run time of 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Come to our Chapter House Theater for the 7:00 PM show on Friday, August 1, 2025. See if you can figure out which story details were real and which were created in the script!

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.

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

Chapter 186 helped with partial tuition costs for three kids to attend EAA Air Academy this June and July. Xavier and Frank went to Discover Camp in mid-June and Dag will go to Explore Camp just before AirVenture. Find additional information on course content, lodge accommodations and registration at https://www.eaa.org/eaa/youth/eaa-aviation-and-flight-summer-camps Updated information (course content, ages, costs) and on- line registration for the June and July 2026 camps will be available on September 3, 2025. Parents: Registration will fill up very quickly in early September.

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 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 Winchester Composite Squadron. Kobe was recently interviewed in the following podcast: https://soundcloud.com/wreathsacrossamericaradio/meet-the-civil-air-patrol-
podcast-guest-kobe-kerns-6-26-2025?utm_source=mobi&utm_campaign=social_sharing.
Our 2025 Ray Scholar Cliff Storey will begin his training in August.

We had a successful Young Eagles rally May 10 at Warrenton Airport. We flew 40 kids with 6
aircraft.

July 12 – 0900 at Manassas – CANCELLED
August 9 – 0900 at Manassas

Ground and Pilot Volunteers: If you would like to be a Young Eagles volunteer (pilot or ground) go to events.eaachapters.org and click on “Volunteer Registration.” Submitting your information puts you in the volunteer database. About two/three weeks prior to a Young Eagles Rally, we prompt the events.eaachapters.org system to send an email to everyone in our Young Eagles volunteer database inviting you to click on “confirm” or “will not attend.” Expect an automatic reminder email again on Wednesday three days prior to the Young Eagles Rally asking you to confirm again that you are still planning to volunteer. This assures you will get the Thursday two-days-to-go email to volunteers other notices if anything changes.

Young Eagles flights are available to kids between ages 8 and 17. We normally hold our rallies on the second Saturday each month. We use two time slots 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM in the warmer months. Parents can register at events.eaachapters.org beginning at 8:00 AM on the 1st of each month.

Chapter 186 Young Eagles Coordinators
David Richards
Bob Prange

This month I have a few different items to share and a couple calendar events to point out. With EAA AirVenture toward the end of this month [currently in progress], we will not have our monthly member gathering at the Chapter House but if you will be at AirVenture, please plan to attend the Tuesday morning Ch 186 breakfast, details in this issue. Also, there will not be IMC Club and VMC Club meetings this month.

On Saturday, August 2 the Commemorative Air Force at Culpeper is having a 70th Anniversary celebration for their TBM Avenger. They have invited Chapter 186 members to attend free of charge! The date is significant. August 2 is exactly 80 years, to the day, when their TBM Avenger rolled off the assembly line on August 2, 1945. The following day this warbird was accepted by the US Marine Corps. The CAF Capital Wing is planning a huge celebration. Their plans include a US Marine Corps color guard, a live 1940s jazz band, remarks by the last remaining person of the restoration team, remarks by the artist who painted the Doris Mae nose art and by various CAF Capital Wing members who have been instrumental in keeping the TBM flying, free lunch courtesy of food truck, Law Dawgs, and Warbird rides in the afternoon.

We’re still fleshing out our September membership gathering but the gist of it will be a discussion on aging and flying and how and when we should decide to hang up the airplane keys. Part of that discussion will undoubtedly include difficulties obtaining medical certification. We would like to begin gathering and maintaining a list of local FAA AMEs and doctor offices where you have had success getting an FAA medical certificate or a Basic Med. Please send me the contact info of your AME or Doctor office where you have had a relatively simple process of getting your medical and any pertinent comments.

Our eaa186.org website has taken on a new temporary look while we work to improve and overhaul the functionality. Member, Gladys Rodriguez, has been spending a lot of volunteer time developing a new site, which may go live in the coming weeks.

See you at Oshkosh!

Blue Skies,
Bob