20 minute read
EAA Seaplane Base
AROUND THE GROUNDS
Seaplane Base Is EAA’s Best-Kept Secret
STORY AND PHOTOS BY BARBARA A. SCHMITZ
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
WHEN MOST PEOPLE think of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, they think of the main convention grounds: the workshops, the speakers, the exhibitors, the people, and the planes.
But just off the shores of Lake Winnebago in a secluded bay is another part of the fly-in convention that many don’t know about or bother to see: the EAA Seaplane Base, presented by Wipaire. While also offering airplanes, exhibits, events, and many amenities, it has one thing that the main convention grounds do not: peace and quiet in a park-like setting. And if you’re lucky, a chance to see a seaplane land or depart.
A round-trip bus ticket to the EAA Seaplane Base costs $3 and can be purchased at the EAA Bus Park Tower just outside the main gate and in the amphibian parking area at the south end of the airport.
Seaplane Chair Shane Albers, a 27-year EAA volunteer, said former EAA President Tom Poberezny always described the Seaplane Base as EAA’s best-kept secret. “And that’s a problem,” he said. “Everyone should know about this and experience it with their own eyes.”
With a light breeze and a musician playing steel drums in the background, people sitting on benches or chairs watching for seaplanes to arrive or depart, and others just enjoying the quietness of the place and taking a quick nap, the EAA Seaplane Base has a Margaritaville feel.
“It’s the sun, the shade trees, and the sand beach that is a perfect spot to cool down on a hot summer day,” Albers said.
About 10,000-15,000 people visit the EAA Seaplane Base throughout the convention week. But Albers is certain that once people discover the magic of this place, they’ll be back.
“This place is about the lifestyle,” he said. “You can take a break, get away from the concrete. In fact, the most concrete we have is in Lake Winnebago in the concrete blocks that hold the airplanes in place.”
By Friday noon, 82 seaplanes had registered at the base, up 20 percent from last year. Albers said the increase was likely due to Canada reopening its borders after COVID. Altogether, 175 seaplanes have been registered on both convention sites, he said.
Since the seaplanes are moored in the bay and people can’t get up close to them, the base offers a free pontoon boat tour, Albers said.
The base also holds the annual Wipaire Watermelon Social, which was held Friday. “It’s a traditional Wisconsin pig roast and pulled pork sandwiches, plus all the trimmings,” Albers said. “It’s an opportunity to share camaraderie with like-minded people and celebrate seaplanes and aviation.”
The base has more than 300-plus volunteers, and Albers said they are like an extended family. He should know. He started volunteering here when he was about 8 with his grandfather, Lon Nanke, who died in April.
“Without him and his aviation background as a master pilot, I never would have been able to experience what aviation is and what seaplanes can do,” said Albers, who is now a student pilot.
The Androfskis, of Waunakee, Wisconsin, said they hadn’t visited the EAA Seaplane Base for a while.
“It’s so laid back here,” said Kitti, which is the name she uses only at AirVenture. “It’s just someplace different to go and get away from it all. After six days, you’re looking for a little quiet before we go back to work.”
Joe, EAA 141879, is a volunteer tram driver and Kitti a tram conductor during AirVenture.
Martin and Kerstin Renschler, EAA 1086618, of San Diego, California, come to the EAA Seaplane Base each year. “I just think seaplanes are cool,” said Martin, a private pilot who is building an RV-10. “It’s one more thing to drool over.”
But Kerstin appreciates the beauty of the area. “It is less crowded, a wonderful place to explore, and if you’re lucky enough, a place to watch seaplanes come and go.”
Located on private property, the EAA Seaplane Base is open to the public only this one week of the year.
AROUND THE GROUNDS
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No, It’s an Electric Ultralight!
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY BARBARA A. SCHMITZ
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
JEAN PRECKEL HAD just retired and was looking for a new challenge in 2020, something that was different from anything she had ever done.
She found her answer in an eGull, an electric-powered ultralight designed and produced by Earthstar Aircraft.
“The fact that it was electric was the deciding factor,” said Preckel, who arrived on Tuesday and is camping under her red and white ultralight near the Fun Fly Zone. “I had flown in gas planes before and didn’t like the vibration and noise,” she said. But she also didn’t want to deal with the gas and oil needed for an internal combustion engine.
Preckel said if she takes off with the battery at 100 percent, she can fly about one-and-one-quarter hour. “But when I fly, I like to fly with 20-30 percent reserve in electricity,” she said. That meant she had to fly in “hops” and zigzag a bit on her 808-mile route to get here. She flew 12 days and made 24 stops.
She thoroughly researched her route before, trying to find airports the right distance apart. If an airport was more than 40-50 miles away, she’d stop at a closer one, charge up her eGull and then do another leg.
She also called all the airports in advance to ensure she could charge her battery there. She found that about half had 220 outlets, half had 110. “But there are a lot of different outlets that are 220, and they are all shaped a little differently, so I had to buy several adapters.”
Preckel said she flew at about 1,000 feet over fields, but over the mountains of West Virginia or areas that were heavily forested, she flew about 2,000 feet above the ground, just in case there was a problem.
“You can see everything when you’re up in the air. It was absolutely a hoot.” 2022 may have been the first year she flew into Oshkosh, but it wasn’t her first trip here. She drove in 2021, she said, since she knew she needed more flight experience and the weather didn’t cooperate.
While the 72-year-old Preckel doesn’t need a pilot’s certificate or medical to fly her ultralight, she does have training, about 100 hours of training, in fact, with Earthstar Aircraft founder and designer Mark Beierle, who is also is providing ground support for her journey.
“I figured since he designed the plane he would know what works best,” she said. “After every flight, I have questions and he gives me pointers. I’ve really learned a lot on this trip.”
Preckel likes her eGull so much that she’s building a second one.
“When I first decided to get an airplane, I wanted to build it,” she said. But she didn’t want to wait a year before she could fly, so Earthstar modified her current ultralight from gas to electric so she could start flying immediately.
However, when she went to California last winter, she bought a kit and brought it home with her. “It’s now in my living room and I’m putting it together,” she said. “The fuselage is 18-feet-long so that fits in the house. But the 28-foot wings are at my hangar.”
For others thinking about learning to fly, especially at a later age, she encourages them to go for it. “You have one life to live,” she said, “so give it a whirl.”
Jean Preckel flew her eGull, an electric ultralight, from West Virginia to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture. The 808-mile journey took her 12 days and 24 stops.
NEWS & INFO
Reporting Wildlife Strikes Helps Keep Aircraft Safe
STORY AND PHOTOS BY BARBARA A. SCHMITZ
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
THANKS TO PILOT Sully Sullenberger and his successful ditching of an Airbus 320 in the Hudson River after both engines were disabled by a bird strike in 2009, even the general public knows how serious aircraft wildlife strikes can be.
And with that awareness comes a renewed push for airports and pilots to report strikes, said Michal Junik, an airport operations supervisor at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin, and a volunteer with the Bird Strike Committee USA.
In 2021, 15,556 wildlife strikes were reported in the United States, up 33 percent from the 11,666 strikes reported in 2020, according to an FAA/USDA report. The 33 percent increase was related to the respective 30 percent and 8 percent increases in aircraft movements at Part 139 and general aviation airports in 2021, compared to 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That data is important because it allows airports to take steps to stop hazards from occurring, Junik said, noting it is a Part 139 airport’s responsibility to assess, plan, and document incidents. Assessment can include simple things like looking if fences are high enough to keep animals out, or if there are holes underneath big enough for mammals to get through.
Airports must also document what methods they use to remove or reduce hazards, he said.
There are many ways an airport will try to get rid of wildlife before resorting to lethal ones. Harassing animals is often effective, using lights, sirens or pyrotechnics to let particular birds or animals know that this is not where they are supposed to be.
Birds like raptors can be trapped, branded, and relocated 50-100 miles away. But bald eagles cannot be killed, no matter the risk they present. And that risk is increasing with the population increasing fivefold since 1990, according to the FAA/ USDA report.
However, Junik said airports can get permits to haze eagles and try to scare them away from airport property.
Airports can also keep the airport grass at 7-14 inches long, making it less likely that animals and birds will take refuge there, he said, as well as cut down trees where birds might perch. Aerial surveys help with deer management and identify where herds congregate.
Some airports use trained raptors or dogs to haze other animals, and others use radio-controlled predators to keep animals out of a certain areas. “It all comes with being repetitive as you haze the wildlife,” Junik said.
The most important thing pilots can do is report strikes when they occur, no matter how big or small.
“You can report the strike to the airport or go to Wildlife.FAA.gov and fill out a form,” he said. “Even if you’re 30 miles away from an airport when you hit a raptor, report it. That helps us determine flight patterns and if the strike was a one-time incident.”
The Bird Strike Committee booth can be found in the International Federal Pavilion, located within Exhibit Hangar D.
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INNOVATION
NASA AT THE FOREFRONT IN SUSTAINABLE AVIATION
NASA PUBLIC AFFAIRS
NASA AERONAUTICS IS engaging with industry, academia, and other agencies to accomplish the aviation community’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Through collective work in three areas — advanced vehicle technologies, efficient airline operations, and sustainable aviation fuels — NASA is committed to contributing viable solutions for achieving the extreme challenge of aviation decarbonization.
This includes enabling 25-30 percent energy efficiency improvements in next-generation transports with the capability to use 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel and also fly optimal trajectories.
The iconic centerpiece of the partnership will be a fullscale technology demonstrator X-plane built to test an ultra-efficient aerodynamic design and possibly other new technologies, to solve the challenges of integrating those technologies and proving their predicted benefits in flight.
NASA is soliciting industry for preliminary designs of aircraft configurations that could be tested, with the potential for first flight of the demonstrator no earlier than late 2026. This achievement will be key to ensuring that we are able to slow the growth of CO2 emissions in the future and achieve net zero by 2050.
SUSTAINABLE AVIATION ACTIVITIES NASA and partners are focused on multiple synergistic commercial transport vehicle technologies, which include airframe configurations, manufacturing, propulsion and electrification, airspace operations, and sustainable aviation fuels. These include the following: • The Transonic Truss-Braced Wing is a unique design of the aircraft’s wings that reduces drag during flight and so reduces fuel consumption by up to 10 percent. NASA is testing this innovative configuration as an option for future airliners. • The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator will be a full-scale technology demonstrator X-plane built to test an ultra-efficient aerodynamic design and possibly other new technologies, to prove their predicted benefits in flight to inform industry decisions associated with a next-generation single-aisle seat product. • Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core is accelerating the development and demonstration of advanced turbine engine technologies in a high-powerdensity core to enable next-generation commercial transport aircraft. • Electrified Aircraft Propulsion offers new possibilities for reducing fuel and energy usage in aviation from small passenger aircraft to singleaisle transports. Innovative technologies, aircraft concepts, test aircraft, and ground test facilities will turn this vision of efficient flight from science fiction to reality. • The Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project will enable megawatt-class power systems to propel short-range and regional aircraft. The project will integrate and demonstrate components and systems in flight to accelerate the transition of these technologies into practical use to benefit the flying public. • The Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing project seeks a dramatic 400-600 percent improvement in manufacturing rates for composite airframe structures, so that lighter, more fuel-efficient airframes can meet market demand and replace heavier aircraft. • The Air Traffic Management — eXploration project will transform the air traffic management system to safely accommodate the growing demand of new air vehicles to enter the airspace to perform a variety of missions. • NASA researchers will continue sampling and characterizing the makeup of sustainable aviation fuel emissions to verify performance and to ensure compatibility of sustainable aviation fuels with existing and future aircraft.
IMAGE COURTESY OF NASA
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AROUND THE GROUNDS
A Fitting Tale
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JIM ROBERTS
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
IN THE CONSTELLATION of single-engine aircraft built by the Lockheed Corp. between 1927 and 1934 (Vega, Air Express, Sirius, Orion, and Altair), most were wood. But Lockheed built 13 metal airframes: 10 Vega and three Altair. Today, seven of the original metal birds remain.
If Tom Haueter has his way, in a few years an eighth will join the fleet. Tom, of Savannah, Georgia, began building a 1934 Lockheed Altair in 2006. Based on copies of original Lockheed drawings and engineering studies, the project is well on the road to completion.
Tom’s DNA makes him well suited to the task. His grandfather flew a Curtiss Jenny after World War I, and his father was a B-17 pilot in World War II. Tom, an aeronautical engineer, spent 30 years at the NTSB, retiring as director of its Office of Aviation Safety. The Altair is not his first restoration rodeo. In 1990 he completed a Navy N2S-3 Stearman that he still flies today. A self-described “aviation nut,” Tom said, “I play with airplanes, I fly airplanes, I dream airplanes.”
After extensive homework on the Altair, in 2005 Tom showed a picture of a small wing-to-fuselage fitting to machinist friend Steve Berkman and asked if he could make it. At first skeptical, Steve came back two weeks later with the finished part, and the project was underway. Tom and Steve created the fuselage skeleton in Steve’s workshop, and Tom made wood pieces for the horizontal and vertical stabilizers at home in his basement.
When they began making the aluminum fuselage skins, Tom recalled, “We made a lot of scrap until I came across D&D Classic in Covington, Ohio.” Tom moved the project and jigs there, where a team of artisans proved adept at crafting the eight 22-foot-long panels that wrap the fuselage. Tom noted, “They have the equipment and skills to pull this off,” including an 8,000-pound Yoder power hammer used to form the skins.
Because each panel runs continuously from firewall to tail cone, team leader Mark Kennison said shaping them is “… just like a flight. You have to make adjustments along the way.” Tom added, “If you get a really good fit on the front of the airplane and you have a little pucker towards the back; when you get rid of that pucker, it changes the fit at the front.”
A co-owner of D&D, Mark commented that to date the Altair is the largest metal project they’ve undertaken. Spoken like a true metal craftsman, he said, “It literally stretched us in all kinds of different ways.”
Eventually all the components will come together in Tom Haueter’s Savannah workshop. When flight testing begins, Tom will have an ace up his sleeve. He’s acquired an original flight test report on the last Altair produced. “It’s signed by Kelly Johnson when he went up in the airplane and was taking notes.” Today Johnson is revered as an early leader of the Lockheed Skunk Works.
At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022, the massive fuselage is on display in the Aeroplane Workshop across from Homebuilders Headquarters. And fledgling metal crafters can learn from Mark Kennison’s forum across the aisle from the Altair. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to scratchbuild an airplane, heed Tom’s advice: “Start with a little piece. That’s where the Altair started from … that wing-to-fuselage fitting.”
OSHKOSH MOMENTS
Remembering Jack Hooker
BY ERIN HENZE
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
JACK HOOKER, KNOWN for his company Hooker Harness, passed away on Wednesday at 78 years old.
Jack started Hooker Harness in the 1970s, growing to become one of “the most well-known and respected producers of aerobatic seatbelts and shoulder harnesses,” according to its website.
According to Grant Hastings, friend of Jack, Hooker Harness is the go-to company for a performance seatbelt. “He kind of revolutionized the aviation seatbelt industry,” said Grant.
Celebrating his business and the aviation community was an important part of Jack’s life.
“He was here doing what he loved,” said Scott McPhillips, Hooker Harness manager. “He loved the people, loved the aircraft. This was all he wanted to do. Even when he retired, he couldn’t stop being here.”
Whether at a fly-in, working hard at his business, or just hanging out, Jack couldn’t help but bring a community spirit.
“I think he was a very giving person, a very social person,” Grant said. “He was very influential; he knew everybody through his harness company, and always brought a keg of beer to share. He was able to provide a meeting point, a catalyst for everyone to meet everyone. I think the legacy he leaves behind is a component of community, of getting together.”
SCOTT MCPHILLIPS
For many people, including Grant, Jack is the reason they are interested in aviation at all.
“I owe a lot of my interest in aviation to him,” Grant said. “He got me involved in our local EAA chapter and [I] kept spending any and all time that I could at the airport. I didn’t have any family, per se, in aviation, immediate family, so he was kind of one of the main catalysts that was my airport family. I’m forever grateful to him.”
EAA joins the aviation community in mourning Jack’s passing, while also celebrating his immeasurable contributions to aviation safety.
AROUND THE GROUNDS
ODYSSEY VECTOR II JET ON DISPLAY AT AIRVENTURE
BY ROBBIE CULVER
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
RUSS EMANIS IS trying to fulfill a lifelong dream to build and fly an aircraft he designed. The result is the Odyssey Vector II jet prototype on display at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022.
Emanis has given well-received presentations on composites at AirVenture in the past, and has a composites shop in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area. The shop builds kayaks and composite products for other companies, and also has a composites material distribution segment as well as a coatings company.
It’s safe to say he is well-versed on the subject! In his own words, “There’s no learning curve here!”
The Vector II jet represents a design of his own making and is intended to eventually become a kit for sale to the experimental amateur-built community. Kits are not currently for sale, and Emanis said he will not be ready to sell them until he has an airplane to sell. He “doesn’t need deposits” to fund the project.
At AirVenture 2019, Emanis said he did not have a current project, so he sketched up the Odyssey and decided to use advanced infusion — a process where the material is bagged dry and the resin is sucked through it — to create the initial prototype. “My Facebook page blew up when everyone saw the design,” said Emanis.
He is quick to point out he has had help during the design and build phase from aerodynamic experts, engineers, electronic experts, and a group of dedicated supporters. “I can’t do it by myself, ” he said. Words we can all relate to as homebuilders!
Emanis said he wanted to power the aircraft with an electric engine, but the technology wasn’t there, so the prototype is powered by an AMT Netherlands jet engine that produces 181 pounds of thrust. The prototype is a single-seat, all-composite design with a two-seat version planned. The price for the kit is aimed for the $45,000 price point, which does not include the engine. He said AMT has been very supportive of the design and installation.
Specifications include a 25-gallon tank, a wingspan of 18 feet, and a length of 14 feet. The empty weight will be 300 pounds and the gross weight will be 700 pounds on the prototype. He said computer modeling shows a cruise around 200 mph and a stall of 55 knots. The airframe is largely complete, and Emanis intends to have it flying by fall 2022.
Emanis said his experience in the composite industry allows him to “bring the manufacturing process to the kit.” He said the parts are on par with what would come out of an autoclave.
When it comes to fulfilling a dream, many in the experimental community can understand and support the work required to do so. Russ Emanis is well on his way to achieving his lifelong dream.
PHOTO BY ROBBIE CULVER
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PHOTO BY ROBBIE CULVER
