Letters to the Editor
May 2018 - Readers of ChapterGram are always encouraged to share their thoughts via a letter to the editor. Send your letters to chapters@eaa.org.
John Wigney, EAA 448965, from Chapter 309 in Charlotte, North Carolina, sent in this letter in regard to last month’s lead article, “Added Value: What Does Your Chapter Offer?”
I enjoyed the article “Added Value: What Does Your Chapter Offer?” and I would like to suggest an additional activity, which has always been a major feature of our chapter. It has helped recruit new members and injects a lot of energy into our chapter.
The activity is the Tuesday night build session, which combines both education and social aspects. Every Tuesday evening we meet at one of our local airfields (Lake Norman Airpark, 14A) where we have several build projects in different hangars. Our standard schedule is to meet from 5 to 8 p.m. to work on the projects, and then we go to eat at a local restaurant. Each project usually gathers about three to 10 volunteers, and our restaurant gatherings almost invariably have 20 to 30 people at the table. This restaurant aspect is most important as it enables everybody to get to know each other with lots of hangar flying. A spinoff is that when our chapter-owned projects are complete, the income from the sale finances the next chapter project. The chapter has completed and sold a total of three projects to date — these were an RV-6A, a Kitfox Lite, and a Zenith CH 650. Two of these projects and the RV-9A were donated to the chapter, which is qualified as a 501(c)(3) organization, meaning donations are tax-deductible.
At the moment, we have:
- An RV-9A project — approximately 50 percent complete. This project was donated and is now owned and financed by the chapter.
- A ULF-1 wood-and-fabric microlight glider private project — approximately 70 percent complete.
- A Cozy Mk IV composite private project — approximately 60 percent complete.
- A Hummel Bird private project — approximately 50 percent complete.
- A Volmer VJ-22 private restoration project — major work required.
- Finally, we are just starting to assist a member with a Zenith CH 750 project at his home in Charlotte.
If you look through some of our newsletters, you will see photos in many of the issues with project updates.
Thanks for sharing, John!
