EAA Chapter 186

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

Last month, we cued you in to new galleries opening this summer at the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall: now we have actual dates! The Milestones of Flight gallery – with its brand new, gorgeous winged portico entrance on the Mall – will open July 28, 2025, along with Pioneers of Flight, World War I: The Birth of Military Aviation, Futures in Space, and Innovations: Aerospace and Our Changing Environment galleries, and the updated Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater.

Free timed entry tickets are available right now on the museum’s website (https://www.etix.com/ticket/e/1029945/timed-entry-washington-the-smithsonian -national-air-and-space-museum-general-public): make sure you get yours for the date you want to visit! With more of the museum open to absorb the crowds, about twice as many tickets will be available each hour as have been offered up to now. Here are some pro tips on ticketing:

• Don’t come early and stand in line! If you plan to arrive at the museum about 15 minutes after the time on your ticket, you will likely be able to walk right up to and through the entry door. The line to get tickets scanned on your way in moves fast once the doors open each hour, but it’s no fun standing in sweltering heat (or maybe pouring rain) while you wait for your turn through the door. Even a line running around the corner of the building is mostly inside within 15 or 20 minutes.
• You can go out and come back in once on your timed ticket. If you need to move your car (but why drive into town when the Metro is so convenient?) or get lunch outside the museum (yeah, the Mars Cafe inside is very small, pretty limited in menu, and museum-pricey; the food trucks on the street are a better deal), don’t worry; you can go out once and come back in using your ticket. When you come back, come straight to the entry doors; don’t join the line waiting for the next hourly admission. They’ll scan your ticket again and welcome you back in. But make certain you’ve finished eating and drinking before you return: only water is allowed inside the museum! There are water bottle fillers near the restrooms on each floor.
• There’s only one way in: you MUST use the Mall doors! Beginning on July 28, you WON’T be able to enter the museum through the Independence Avenue doors; all entry will be through the new portico doors on the Mall side, on Jefferson Drive, SW. When you reserve entry tickets from the new opening onward, you’ll see that notice. There hasn’t been any announcement explaining the single- entrance decision, but it makes sense especially from a cost perspective: duplicating screening machinery and ticket-scanning staff adds up fast, and budget cuts are having effects. Historically, more people always entered from the Mall than from Independence, and accommodating security screening is precisely why the new portico was added to the building design. I’m guessing that the line for entry will probably run from the doors toward 7th Street, since more foot traffic comes from the western side than from the Capitol Hill one. You’ll be able to exit using the Independence Avenue doors, which will provide convenient access to food trucks for lunch and to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station for your tired ride home.
• Once you’re in, you can stay until the museum closes. It doesn’t matter if your ticket is for 10:00 AM or 2:00 PM: once you’re inside, the only limit on your stay is closing time for the museum. But be aware that the gift shops close when the museum does, so make sure you get your shopping done within time!
• Daytime IMAX and Planetarium tickets are ONLY available onsite! This makes sense if you think about it: since timed tickets are required for entry to the Mall museum, you can’t buy tickets to the shows until you’re inside the museum. I’m betting that you will be able to buy tickets online for the big Hollywood blockbusters that will run in IMAX after museum hours, the same way as you can for the Airbus IMAX theater at Udvar-Hazy, but I haven’t seen any show schedules for the downtown theater yet. The Northrop Grumman Planetarium box office is on the second floor, above the west side of the Milestones gallery; the Lockheed Martin IMAX box office is on the first floor, east of the round Welcome Center.
• Maps and docent tour information will be available at the Welcome Center in Milestones. Do stop at the round Welcome Center (near the nuclear missiles!) in the Milestones of Flight gallery to pick up maps. The Welcome Center is still being assembled, so I can’t provide details, but I believe there will be monitor displays with theater information and signs for any available highlight (walking around) or spotlight (docent in a gallery) tours. Tours in the brand new galleries will probably be a bit limited for a while, because docent training for all the new displays hasn’t been completed yet; we’re working on it, but there are lots of new stories we’ll be able to tell. Heck – Futures in Space includes things happening right now, like the development of commercial space travel and tourism, that never appeared in the museum before! Fun times

Once you’re inside and touring around, take three more pro tips to make your visit more immersive and enjoyable:

• Always, always, always remember to LOOK UP! Our artifacts fly, so if you’re not looking up – something we humans are notoriously bad at doing! – you will literally miss half the museum. If I had a dime for all the times I’ve casually asked visitors in Destination Moon near Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit if they’ve looked above them, only to see them doing a flabbergasted double-take when they realize they’ve been standing under 18,000 pounds of rocket engine (an actual F1 engine from a Saturn V rocket!), I could afford dinner at an upscale DC restaurant. Poe Dameron’s X-Wing fighter from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is hanging right above the west side escalators to the second floor; I’ve seen people who rode that escalator up totally
  miss it until they’re walking back to the escalator to head back downstairs!

• Don’t miss looking at the floor, either! The new museum design makes the floors in the common areas and the galleries integral parts of the display. The commons hallways include inspiring, sometimes funny quotations from aerospace luminaries. The floor in the Milestones of Flight gallery, extending into the South Lobby, displays an updated version of the pulsar map carried into interstellar space by the Voyager probes, designating Earth as the origin point of those probes; look at the cover of the Voyager Golden Record in the Exploring the Planets gallery to see the original. The floor in the One World Connected gallery provides a graphical depiction of orbital distances for satellites. Just outside the new Pioneers of Flight gallery, the museum’s new compass rose (replacing the one that used to be outside the Time and Navigation gallery), celebrates the 99’s, the very first organization of women pilots. Every floor tells part of the overall story, and I find them magical.

Engage with interactives! Every gallery now has built-in interactive elements letting you drill down further into individual stories of people both famous and not; participate in opinion research; explore how various technologies work; see different depictions of satellite and other data to better understand their implications; and test your knowledge and comprehension. Play with our toys kids, definitely make a beeline for any large cart you see with someone standing behind it: they’re our Discovery carts staffed by student Explainers (plus some adult volunteers) who exist to share interactive learning with visitors on everything from gravity and black holes to spacesuit construction to meteorites to principles of flight and more. They set up in different areas of the museum, most often near the entrance to galleries or in open common areas, and welcome all comers. and touch our screens! And if you’re visiting with kids, definitely make a beeline for any large cart you see with someone standing behind it: they’re our Discovery carts staffed by student Explainers (plus some adult volunteers) who exist to share interactive learning with visitors on everything from gravity and black holes to spacesuit construction to meteorites to principles of flight and more. They set up in different areas of the museum, most often near the entrance to galleries or in open common areas, and welcome all comers.

The floor in the One World Connected gallery illustrates the relative distances of satellites in orbit around Earth. The globe at the center is an interactive, letting you explore global population, transportation, communication, and wildlife tracking as revealed by satellite information.

Director Chris Browne announced that the rest of the museum is scheduled to open on July 1, 2026; the 50th anniversary of the opening of the original museum on the Mall. Galleries opening then will include World War II in the Air; Modern Military Aviation; the super interactive, two-level How Things Fly; Living in the Space Age; At Home in Space; the new astronomy display, Discovering Our Universe; and our art gallery.

Stay tuned to the NASM website for more information, and for photos of the new galleries and exhibits!

The Young Eagles Rally for 7/12 is cancelled.

The Air Traffic Control Tower at Manassas is closed until Monday due to a building safety issue. Due to air safety concerns, we are cancelling the Young Eagles Rally scheduled for 7/12/25.

The next EAA Chapter 186 Young Eagles Rally is planned for August 9. Online registration at events.eaachapters.org begins at 8:00 AM on August 1.

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

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.

Our speaker this Saturday will be Richard Genaille with the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society (VAHS).  Dick will present “Firsts in Flight Along the Potomac” on the early aviation history of Virginia. His presentation addresses The Civil War Balloon Corps, Samuel Langley and development of the first heavier than air mechanically driven aircraft, testing and acquisition of the first military dirigible and the first military piloted and controllable heavier than air aircraft at Fort Myer, the history of Washington-Hoover Airport where the Pentagon is now, the origins and construction of Washington National Airport, the first modern airport in the U.S. and the early history of Bolling Field and Anacostia Naval Station, the first U.S. military “joint base.”  Dick has spent hundreds of hours collecting and analyzing information about early aviation in Virginia.  This is a high level summary of several of his other other presentations.  This one concentrates on events along the Potomac River from Washington to Quantico.  I will bet you learn some new aviation firsts!

We will see you tomorrow!

*July meeting reminder:   Our July member gathering will be at AirVenture on Tuesday June 22 at 8:00 AM at the Tailwinds Café; near the Forums area on the south side of the Homebuilders Hangar.  Map coordinates are K-9.