EAA Sport Aviation - November 2010

I HAVE AN EAA STICKER on my car window. Recently, while loading
groceries at the store, a woman came up to me to thank me for
giving a Young Eagles flight to her Boy Scout son. I explained
that I was not a pilot and shouldn’t receive her gratitude, but she
countered, “But you do belong to EAA, so you have a right to be
proud of your organization!”
I am, but I want to transfer this special tribute to Harrison
Ford and all you women and men who have made the Young
Eagles flights happen all over the world. So, along with her thanks,
add mine, too.

Doug Skare, EAA 399433 Long Beach, California

Great EGT Info

THANK YOU FOR PUBLISHING Mike Busch’s great educational article “EGT Myths Debunked.” I was perfectly happy with my exhaust gas temperatures until I installed a probe on each cylinder and began to worry about the spread on my carbed O-360. I wish I knew this info three years ago. Thanks again; keep up the good work!

John Adams, EAA 536114 Snohomish, Washington

Corrections:

Robert Miller’s airplane was incorrectly identified in the October 2010 issue of EAA Sport Aviation. His airplane is a Hummel Ultra Cruiser, not a Hummel Bird, as was reported in “What Our Members Are Building & Restoring.” We apologize for any confusion.

In our Flightline article about the electric-powered Sonex Waiex (September, page 12), we incorrectly listed the capacity of the battery as 14,500 kilowatt-hours. In fact the battery is 14,500 watt-hours or 14. 5 k W-h. We apologize for the error.

When it was announced that Richard Daley would not seek re-election to a seventh term as mayor of Chicago, pilots everywhere quietly asked a single question: Would this have any effect on Meigs Field? Greg Pinnell kicked off an interesting discussion on Oshkosh365 about a possible future for the lakefront airport that is so sorely missed.

Here are a few highlights from this ongoing discussion:

So, Mayor Daley is not going to run again. Does anyone out there have a feel for who might be GA-friendly toward a possible revisitation of the Meigs Field idea? –Greg Pinnell

Meigs Field was the default field in subLOGIC’s and later Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. As such, it…has a small, but real worldwide emotional appeal. –Greg Long

I think it would be awesome if Meigs could be rebuilt and called Daley Field, just to cheese off the idiot. –Andy Gamache

The Meigs Field travesty is so far down the list of priorities for the locals…it could just as well be off the radar until next century! I hate to bear bad news, but Meigs is gone. –Ried Jacobsen

I think we should put some runway lights around the park and make it a grass field! Then they will want it paved and voilà! Meigs is back! –Bill Colleran

I don’t expect to see a runway on the old Meigs site in my lifetime. Glad I can say I did log a landing there before the bulldozers showed up! –Joe LaMantia

I would love to see Meigs reopened, I never had a chance to fly there and would absolutely love to go… But I think this is a bit of a pipe dream. –Neil Glazer

An interesting note, WGN-TV has a poll on the Meigs issue, and it’s running 62 percent to 38 percent in favor of rebuilding Meigs! As of right now, I’m sticking with my original post and won’t bet on landing at Meigs in my lifetime. Then again…maybe we’ll luck out! –Joe LaMantia

This will take a lot of work, but if Meigs can be reopened, it would be a historically precedent-setting action. It’s likely up to EAA/AOPA/GA-community members to keep the story in the headlines through sharing the story on social networking sites, with mainstream journalists, etc. –Greg Long

The fact that the Friends of Meigs still exists as an organization is a positive sign. I’m still doubtful Meigs will reopen, but who knows. I have been wrong before, and I would love to be wrong this time! –Ried Jacobsen