A reminder that the key Chapter reports from the Treasurer, Board and the monthly Business Reports are all available in the ‘Members Only’ area of this web site, available to…
Happy New Year to Chapter Members and Friends of EAA240!
Chapter Board and Events Teams have been working hard in recent weeks to establish our programs for this new year and we’ve now publish our list of activities here at the Chapter web site.
At the refreshed web site you’ll view:
Very latest eMails to members announcing upcoming Chapter happenings
Updated 2024 Events Calendar
Monthly Membership Meeting dates and details for Q1
Chapter Fly-Outs, a mix of old favorite destinations and some new!
Pancake Breakfast dates (4)
Young Eagle Rally dates
Airport Future Aviator Camp dates
Airport Evening of Aviation Air Show 2024 date
Local Aviation Event dates
EAA National Recognition Program update and accomplishments
Chapter 240 Annual Report to Members 2023
The information will, of course, be updated and added-to as we progress through the year.
Members can also renew their Chapter Membership for 2024 here, or new members may join the 188-strong current Chapter membership.
All this – right here, at the Chapter web site. This is going to be a great year of general, local aviation – join us!
Communications, EAA Chapter 240
communications@eaa240.org
What a fine way to end the year for the Chapter! Members gathered for our December get-together, to celebrate Christmas and the holidays, to enjoy an impressive mix of foods and to relish in the company of fellow members, families and invited guests. There were few empty seats as we filled the entire hangar at 1pm on Saturday.
After loading up our plates with varying combinations (and volumes!) of turkey, beef, ham, curried dishes, crab bisque, meatballs, salads along with an array of side-dishes, followed by ice cream and an amazing choice of dessert dishes, cakes, cookies, pies and more. Bud Swenson then took to the floor to lead the drawing for the holiday prizes, donated and arranged by your Board members. These included several very nice aviation gifts, including free time on the N57 Flight Simulator (donated by Jon Martin), and several Sporty’s aviation products. Prizes also included vouchers enabling members to join the 2024 Young Eagles team, or to join Hangar Work parties in 2024!
Plenty of hangar-flying and catch-up holiday conversations followed, as we all wallowed in our satisfied appetites, and we considered the highlights of the year and readied ourselves for the holiday season and the new year to come.
This was a wonderful informal and relaxed way to wrap up the Chapter main activities for 2023. It was great to see so many members together and to enjoy the camaraderie that is clearly present in our amazing Chapter.
Our thanks to all who contributed the excellent foods we enjoyed and also who helped in the event set-up and breakdown. My personal thanks to my fellow Board members and Chapter Officers for their efforts and expertise throughout the past year, keeping the Chapter moving forward. Hey – we had fun too!
Merry Christmas, seasons greetings and happy, happy holidays!
Mike Parry
President, EAA Chapter 240
Board Members and Chapter Officers have prepared summaries of Chapter activities, achievements and challenges in our Annual Report to the Membership which is published at the ‘Members Only’ area of…
Busy morning at the Chapter hangar Saturday as 11 members participated in the third Chapter Workshop of 2023 – the Fabric Workshop.
Led by Chuck Shipman, the group had hands-on practical experience of covering an aircraft surface with fabric – done properly and per code! Several sample control surfaces were covered during the morning workshop, providing challenges with their shapes, fittings and more. Chuck demonstrated the best techniques, explained the choice of materials and offered counsel as the groups worked on their individual sample pieces.
There was a request for the next stage in fabric covering to be demonstrated in a future class, including rib-stitching, and Chuck will work with the Events Team to arrange.
This was the third Chapter Fall Workshops. The Events Team hope to have more workshops in the new year, including one on fiberglass. If you have any suggestions or requirements email us.
Pizza lunch finished the Saturday session, with thanks and appreciation to Chuck for putting the workshop together, assembling the materials etc, for the benefit of the Chapter membership. Much appreciated.
Mike Parry
President, EAA240
Members gathered Monday evening for our Chapter November Meeting, serving as our AGM, and also for our first Fly Mart event!
In addition to the updates on membership (188, 8 new members in the past 3 months), Financials (strong, no issues), Hangar updates, Christmas & Holiday sign-ups, upcoming Board Meeting (Nov 21st) the meeting voted on the two open Board Positions of Vice President and Treasurer. The Chapter President passed the meeting to Bert Shipman.
Chapter By-laws required voting for two Executive Board positions. Member Bert Shipman had taken on the task of Nominations Chair to oversee the voting process. Bert reported and directed the following at the meeting:
“Having received two nominations, one for Octavian Codreanu as Chapter Vice President (nominated by Mike Parry), and for Chuck Shipman as Chapter Treasurer (nominated by Bud Swenson) and, having received no additional nominations up to the published cut-off date , the meeting moved to vote.
All members present approved both nominations (no nays), and Bert congratulated Octavian and Chuck on their volunteer Chapter Board assignments”.
On completion of the regular business, the attending members moved to the Chapter Hangar for the Fly Mart!
Chapter members also got a chance to try the new Brandywine Soaring Club’s Glider Simulator (thanks Eric!) – very impressive!
It was a very successful evening and one we’ll repeat next year. Thanks to all who contributed, bought or sold. A total of $185 was donated to Chapter funds. And, equally importantly, fun was had!
Mike
President, EAA240
From Flight Leader Jay Jacobs:
Piper here, Piper there,
Piper, Pipers everywhere!!!
8 aircraft & 10 passengers attended the Chapter weekend flyout to William T. Piper Memorial Airport & a visit to the Piper Memorial Museum. It was a huge success! Ed Watson, the museum Manager & our guide, was a walking Piper aviation book as he toured us through two floors of Piper aircraft & memorabilia. Unless you read ‘the book’, there was an awful lot of unknowns brought to light about Piper history on Saturday! Do you know why GA Piper aircraft were yellow? Either read the book, visit the museum, or ask an EAA240 member who attended the fly out :) for the answer! The Chapter made a donation to the excellent museum, the least we could do!
Our initial lunch plans crashed & burned shortly after walking out of the museum. Thankfully, someone suggested a phone call ahead to warn of our large-crowd coming to lunch…and we found out the lunch destination wasn’t serving lunch any longer! Plan B – Fly to Lancaster Airport, which we did, and make it a slightly longer day. It was a good opportunity to brush up on our Tower skills as well! This unplanned diversion was a huge success as well!
Several members took photographs during the trip, we’ve loaded these here at the Chapter Photograph Vault. and will add more as they come in.
Stay tuned for the next Chapter Fly Out!
Jay!
As you can see in the images below, and thanks to our presenters Jon Martin, Dan Plunkett and Jeff Geist our Welding Workshop was completed Saturday morning, with 16 members attending. After a safety briefing, each had an opportunity to view a demonstration and to have hands-on experience of welding, both TIG and gas-based, guided by our presenters.
Our collective thanks to Jon, Dan and Jeff for sharing their expertise, equipment and time. It was an excellent session, and feedback was very positive. The session ended with pizza lunch and lots of Q&A.
Our next Workshops (riveting and fabric covering) are detailed here, with a few places remaining open.
It has been suggested (at the Membership Meting last Monday) that we arrange an additional Workshop on fiberglass, and we are currently researching how best to accomplish this. More to come.
As always the Event Calendar lists all the Chapter activities up to the year-end.
Chapter Events Team 2023
Members can view and/or download the Business Report for July and August 2023 using the link below. The Notes of the latest Board Meeting (informal) are also posted for your viewing,
The reports shows the continued expansion of the Chapter, with strong financials enabling capital investments and continued facility upgrades and maintenance. We had several new members join the Chapter during the summer months, with our membership now reaching 182. Welcome!
The report also lists our Fall Events Program, including planned members workshops in Fabric, Riveting and Welding being scheduled soon. We’ll also hold a Fly Mart in November!
My continued thanks to the Board and Officers, and to the member volunteers, who all make this Chapter the amazing entity it is.
Mike Parry, President EAA240 – for the Chapter Board and Officers
