March 2025 Membership Meeting

The March Membership Meeting will take place on March 11 at Hangar 15, Harvey Airfield in Snohomish. Our social time with snacks starts at 6:00 PM, and the meeting starts at 6:30 PM, with our speaker beginning around 7:00 PM. Thank you to Matt Ryskalczyk for bringing the snacks!

Our speaker this month is chapter member Tom Staggs. He will be speaking about avionics selection, integration, and instalation.

Tom has had a varied aviation career: from flying EA-6B Prowlers in the US Navy, to being a Boeing Production flight test pilot. In between, he was an engineer and senior manager in avionics and airplane systems, rising to the level of Boeing’s Chief for Flight Deck, responsible for Commercial Cockpits. Additionally, he is a CFI/II/ME, was a professional airshow performer in his Long-EZ for 9 years, and was a visiting instructor at USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB.

He retired last year from Boeing and is now working to modify and repaint his Long-EZ, which he has owned for 34 years. He is married to Kay, the most patient and understanding woman on Earth (she needs to be, to put up with him). They have two sons who are both engineers, one working on Amazon’s drone delivery program, and the other interning with General Atomics in their drone group.

Tom is a Flight Advisor and will be completing his A&P this coming June.

February 2025 Membership Meeting Recap

Our February Membership Meeting was held on Tuesday, February 11 starting at 6:30 PM at Hangar 15 at Harvey Airfield. Many thanks to Tom Williams for bringing our refreshments!

Our guest speaker, Alan Jesmer of Precision Airmotive, gave a very informative presentation on carburetors, throttle bodies, and fuel injectors: how they work, and how to maintain them.

January 2025 Membership Meeting Recap

Our January Membership Meeting was held on January 14 starting at 6:30 PM at Hangar 15 at Harvey Airfield. Many thanks to David Weber for bringing our refreshments!

The University of Washington team for the Design Build and Fly Competition spoke about their past participation in this competition and their exciting plans for this year. Chapter members donated more than $400 to help the team in their 2025 competition efforts, and the Board added another $300 in funds. You can still donate if you missed out at https://www.dbfuw.com.

December 7 Holiday Party; No Membership Meeting this Month!

In lieu of our normal membership meeting in December, we will have our annual Holiday Party on December 7, beginning at 5:00 PM in Hangar 15 at Harvey Field. Dinner will be served at about 6:00 PM. After dinner, we will hand out chapter awards/recognition and hold our white elephant gift exchange. Dress is festive casual.

The dinner is potluck. Please bring an entree, side dish, or dessert. The chapter will provide drinks and two entrees, one meat-based and one vegetarian.

The gift exchange is optional. Please bring a gift if you wish to participate. Suggested gift cost is under $20, and you may bring a used item or gag gift. Please wrap your gift or place it in a gift bag. There will be two separate gift tables, one for pilots/aviators and one for non-aviators. You may choose a gift from either table regardless of what type of gift you bring.

If you would like to help with setup, please arrive around 4:30 PM.

I hope to see many of you there!

November 12 Membership Meeting Recap

Our November membership meeting was held on November 12 starting at 7:00 PM at Harvey Field’s Hangar 15. Many thanks to Gerry Bartosh for bringing the snacks!

Our November speaker was Jeff Schans, Director of Business Development at Tempest Aero Group. Tempest Aero Group is a leading general aviation company supporting a portfolio of independent brands including Tempest®, Alcor®, Marvel-Schebler®, Precision Airmotive®, Consolidated Fuel Systems™ and Stratus Tool Technologies™. Jeff gave a very interesting presentation about the theory, operation, and maintenance of aircraft engine spark plugs.

October 8 Membership Meeting Recap

Our October membership meeting was held on October 8 starting at 7:00 PM at Harvey Field’s Hangar 15, preceded by a Burger Burn at the Chapter House starting at 5:30 PM. Many thanks to Glenn Torgerson for doing the Burger Burn! Our original October speaker had to cancel at the last minute, but Chapter 84 member Mike Henderson stepped in to provide an informative presentation on lessons learned from an incident he had involving a flat tire during a landing at Paine Field.

September Membership Meeting Recap

Our September general membership meeting was held on September 10 starting at 7:00 PM at Harvey Field’s Hangar 15. We had a Burger Burn at the Chapter House starting at 5:30 PM. Many thanks to David Weber for doing the Burger Burn and to others who chipped in to help with setup and cleaning.

Our September speaker was chapter member and secretary, Mike Zyskowski, who gave a very interesting presentation on his trip to Oshkosh and what it’s like to have your aircraft inspected by EAA judges.

July 9 Meeting Recap

Our July speaker was George Steed, who is Bonanza pilot and EAA Technical Counselor with Chapter 406 in Bremerton. He holds BA and MA degrees, is an A&P and private pilot, was an A-6 bombardier/navigator with the Navy, and is a member of EAA, WPA, and BPA. He is also a “raconteur and all around good guy.” George gave a very interesting and educaitonal presentation on how engine valves work and tips on preventive maintenance and troubleshooting.

Prior to the meeting, we also had a great Burger Burn and got off to a good start at inventorying and organizing our supplies in the Chapter House. Thank you to all who helped!

June 11 Meeting Recap

Our June speaker was Tim Talen from the Oregon Aviation Historical Society. Tim talked about one of the museum’s stars, Wimpy, which has a remarkable place in the history of experimental aircraft. The Wimpy design was modified several times to create an entire lineage of early homebuilt aircraft and inspired Pete Bowers, a local Seattle designer, to create his popular Fly Baby design. You can read more about Wimpy and other historical aircraft at https://oregonaviation.org/

Please also join us if you can at 5:30 pm for a burger burn and social hour at the chapter hangar (at the end of the row of hangars past Skydive Snohomish). $5 donation suggested.