Chap-17Meeting & Fly-in Aug-22

[Minnesota_Mike]

Chapter-17 held our monthly meeting on Sat. the 22-09 at Northern Lights Ultralight Airpark in Lake Elmo, MN. (the east side of Downtown St. Paul Mn. in the suburbs). We've held I think 4 of our meetings out there since the Chapter was reformed and activated again after many years of chapter inactivity.

An Ultralight Club meets with us at the same time so there's lots'a folks, food, and talk....and or course...AIRCRAFT.
Items on our agenda include chapter business, safety discussions, hang tests, thrust tests, technical talk, etc.

Shown in these photos are the Airpark, a line up of machines, this Air Command flown by Ken Jones, and a nice tandem UL that flew in.

 

[Minnesota_Mike]

Here are some good photo's of the UL...this is a really sweet craft, but I'm still a gyro Junkie.
Our Chapter Secretary, Denis Berke is nearing completion of his neon green Sparrow. Engine tuning, thrust tests, setting Prop pitch etc.
He's getting excited because he feels he's long over due in getting it done....I think we can all relate to those feelings of wanting to get air born as soon as possible.

 

[All_In]

Looks like so much fun Mike, thanks for sharing it with us!!!

 

[Minnesota_Mike]

Here is another shot of Denis Berke's machine the Sparrow...it's coming along nicely.

This VW powered Bensen is owned by Al Kretsinger. Al's been working on getting his RPM's up...consensus is he may be having a fuel pump problem...his RPM's start dropping off and the engine just dies when it gets warmed up.

This huge, beautiful Subaru powered Tandem is owned by our Chapter VP. Tom Patterson.
Tom sometimes jokingly refers to his machine as his "money pit" owing to the large amount of very detailed work he has completed on this machine since he bought it used.
Tom was testing his static thrust this week-end, dialing in his prop pitch.

 

[Minnesota_Mike]

More of Tom's machine.

 

[Minnesota_Mike]

Here is Brent Bruns (also known here on the forum as IGoToFar) and his Hornet build seen with his newly acquired Dragon Wing blades. Brent, along with another forum member Denis Schoemaker (RoboNipsy) are building these from parts that Denis is making on his CNC equipment from Hornet plans.
Denis also has a Hornet build thread here on the forum.
Many small mistakes were found in the original plans that Denis corrected in his CAD software before any machining began, and small tweaks and improvements were made to the original design to incorporate the "best of the best" in both of their builds.


This direct drive Subaru powered Bensen is owned by Ken Jones who owns the Air Command (seen at the beginning of the thread). Ken wanted to fire this up and get it running since it hasn't been run since last year.

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Well...fun was had by all, the weather was superb and safe flying was the rule of the day.


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I'll post as many of these meetings with photos as possibly here in the Chapter section.

If you are a Minnesotan and are interested in Gyro's and flying, and would like to "Drop by" and chat to learn more....you'll find the address and meeting dates posted regularly here:
http://www.minnesotarotorcraftclub.com/html/meeting_dates___location.html
or you can call me personally at:

 507-236-2892

(If your calling long distance, do so after 9pm and I'll call you back from my cell to save you from paying long distance charges).
You may also PM me here for more info.

Sincerely...
Minnesota_Mike

 

[UtahBenson]

Hey Mike, show us a picture or 2 of your stuff, clutter, parts, projects etc. I'm curious what that tall mast you have looks like.