EAA Chapters Question?

kimberlyanne546

kimberlyanne546

Final Approach
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Kimberly
Hello,

So in an effort to try and "get creative" about flying, I decided to do some research. I can't afford to rent the airplane for a short flight more than once a month at full price, so I need to think out of the box here.

There are three EAA chapters "sort of" near me:

Sonoma Skypark airport

Santa Rosa airport

Novato airport


Can a person be a member of more than one chapter? What is the best way to check out the EAA? Attend a meeting or . . . ?

Also, I called the Sonoma Jet Center (KSTS) today and asked if they know of any weekend A&P's / shops that would let a pilot watch an annual to learn more about planes. Talked to a very nice mechanic who I may one day meet and perhaps get a tour of the tower.

Unfortunately, though, he said most mechanics do not work weekends.

What have all of you done to network with local pilots? There aren't a lot on POA, and I've met some from the Red Board, but I just want to fly or second best be around planes. I don't really know that I want to hang out at an airport (aka airport bum)..... but I guess I could try that. I would be happy to give pilots some avgas money, or buy them lunch at the destination, or give them free labor (help them work on the hangar or plane).

Kimberly

PS - Sonoma Skypark has Saturday BBQs from 12-1 rain or shine so I'm going to check that out tomorrow and see the Citabria that I can't yet fly. They said it is not associated with the EAA, and I feel odd going to a lunch alone, but it is a start. Just wish the airport wasn't an hour away....
 
You can be a member of as may chapters as you wish to send your dues to, but you'll need to be a member of the national organization first in most if not all cases.

I'd call the chapter president before attending a regular meeting as often the meeting time and place has been changed to accomodate a flight activity that may substitute for the "regular" meeting. Chapter contact info is on the EAA website.

Don't be shy, even if it's not an EAA related event you're going to most pilots are happy to see new faces at the airport that have a genuine interest in flying.
 
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Steve said:
You can be a member of as may chapters as you wish to send your dues to, but you'll need to be a member of the national organization first in most if not all cases.
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Plus, the dues to the national organization get you discount prices to a neat little fly-in/airshow in Wisconsin, the last weekend in July! :cheers:
 
nddons said:
Plus, the dues to the national organization get you discount prices to a neat little fly-in/airshow in Wisconsin, the last weekend in July! :cheers:
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I'm not sure if / when I'll be able to attend, but that is good info also. Is it expensive to go?
 
1. Local chapters of the 99s www.99.org
2. Local chapters of the Women in Aviation www.wai.org
3. Angel Flight West - no, you don't need to be a pilot, but many times a mission assistant is needed to fly along. And if the pilot on the non-pax leg is nice, you may get to do the flying and (maybe) log the time. www.angelflightwest.org
4. California Pilots Assoc http://www.calpilots.org/
5. Local squadrons of the Civil Air Patrol
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I'm not sure if / when I'll be able to attend, but that is good info also. Is it expensive to go?
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Randy beat me to it with the AirVenture site. EAA membership is $40, but you get 40% off of admission and other EAA stuff, so $25 admission vs $37 for nonmembers.

Now, if you can keep your credit card in your pocket while visiting approximately 2 million venders trying to sell you anything from airplanes to kneeboards and other pilot stuff, it can be relatively affordable!

And if you want to get involved, they use about 4,800 volunteers. I worked the flight line last year and it was cool!
 
Thanks everyone!

About travel - I think if I can afford to go anywhere it will be to one of the 2012 POA events (not sure which):

6Y9 fly-in

Gastons

Fly B Q


-Kimberly
 
I think the only good way to enjoy aviation without making it a career is to become filthy rich and then blow the money on airplanes.

P.S. Helicopters, too.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I'm not sure if / when I'll be able to attend, but that is good info also. Is it expensive to go?
Click to expand...

Plan on attending K. Once you do you will not want to miss it. There are many seminars put on my world renowned experts on everything from soup to nuts. Next year is a special tribute to Vans aircraft. Parties every night, great people from all over the world, and anything that flies is there. You gotta be there. ;)
 
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Geico266 said:
Plan on attending K. Once you do you will not want to miss it. There are many seminars put on my world renowned experts on everything from soup to nuts. Next year is a special tribute to Vans aircraft. Parties every night, great people from all over he world, and anything that flies is there. You gotta be there. ;)
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Parties every night? I think I'd rather go to a POA event, where there is flying every day - I had a blast (Thanks Tim, David, Ed, and -almost- Clark for airplane rides).

Seminars vs. flying . . . . hmmm...
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Parties every night? I think I'd rather go to a POA event, where there is flying every day - I had a blast (Thanks Tim, David, Ed, and -almost- Clark for airplane rides).

Seminars vs. flying . . . . hmmm...
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Yea, you are right. You would be bored at OSH, nothing to learn, nothing to see, never mind. It is for experimental AC anyway, please stay home. :mad2:
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Thanks everyone!

About travel - I think if I can afford to go anywhere it will be to one of the 2012 POA events (not sure which):

6Y9 fly-in

Gastons

Fly B Q
Click to expand...

I'm a huge fan of PoA, and still have yet to attend a fly-in, but ...

Oshkosh is indescribable. Imagine a fly-in so big that most of your PoA friends are there, half of your CFI's from back home, a huge group of people you know in "your" aircraft type organization, folks from your home airport you just know from seeing them on the ramp (I know, Petaluma is small -- but I bet there'll be pilots from Petaluma there), and all of the biggest names in aviation both performing in the sky, and speaking on the ground...

Plus, camping, an outdoor movie theatre, parties, and what a friend of mine calls "sitting on the beach"... parking a chair next to either of the runways and watching airplane after airplane arrive or depart. So many that my Sony A55 camera overheated its stabilization mechanism and shut down...

Then there's forums, walking through warbirds, homebuilts, all the "regular" airplane parking, classics, and even a shuttle bus down to the seaplane base, as well as a hike over to the non-stop activity at the ultralight strip, and Pioneer Airport where the helicopters giving rides start at sun-up and don't stop until sun-down.

That's just Day One. Then the blimp shows up. And this time, I'm not referring to the blimp jokes referring to you... I mean, a friggin' blimp shows up overhead and lands in a big field next to the museum, and flies around all day, every day. Not to mention the two Ford Tri-Motors giving rides continuously all day, every day. :)

It's complete aviation overload -- in a good way. A true aviator's pilgrimage and probably as spiritual as that sounds.

If you can't make it this year, put it on your bucket list. I think if you do make it, just once, it'll go on your permanent "I'm going" list for every year of your life. I've already made this decision -- that I will hitchhike from Colorado to Wisconsin if I have to, but I'm going to be there, every year that I possibly can, from now on.
 
Kimberly, there are 500 EAA members within a 30 NM radius of our local EAA chapter hangar, and our location - Jacksonville, FL; pop: medium sized city of ~1M - is not that unique. So imagine for your area the number of potential contacts an EAA membership might bring! A couple of related notes:

-- the EAA national org recently decided, in order to sustain/grow its membership, that anyone attending a local chapter meeting should be offered free EAA membership for 6 mos. (AOPA does something similar for student pilots, a great offer given the quality of their Training magazine but one most students don't know about and most FBO's/schools don't publicize). Ask about this initial free membership period when you talk with your chapter rep.
-- while there are 3 EAA chapters in our Jax area, we (Chapter 193) just happen to be sending out a post card to all 500 of those EAA members this week, inviting them to our meetings & programs. I'll bet this 'open door' orientation is fairly common. Each chapter here is distinctly different from the other two, so I'd encourage you over time to visit each of the ones convenient to you and see which one(s) fit you best.
-- many states have a state-level pilots association or club (as mentioned above) altho' they can be oriented more to political interests; I'd be less optimistic about how the CA group would meet the interests you've expressed
-- some local women here in Jax created their own WIA chapter here from scratch, and for exactly meeting some of the interests you outlined. (Your words and hers were almost identical...) So if you don't find an active chapter near you, consider starting one: http://www.wai.org/ 'Our' Jax chapter is very inclusive and is open to men & women of all ages, but I think it's especially important that women can find a place like this, created by women aviators.
-- to get a glimpse of one chapter, here's the November chapter newsletter I just finished if you'd like to look it over: http://www.193.eaachapter.org/apps/documents/

Like getting involved more deeply in any avocation, the key step is to build your own network. Patricia and I started doing this, for some of the same reasons you mentioned, when arriving here in Jax a few months ago. It didn't take long to begin paying dividends. Good luck to you on your efforts.

Jack
 
Thanks. So far my efforts have not paid off (no flights). The only efforts which resulted in flights have been my participation in the Blue / Red / Purple boards.

I am building a local network of pilots, slowly, and trying to just say hello at the airport or send a friendly note every month or two asking if they would like a pax on a flight who would contribute avgas money. There has been one "almost" flight but that is it.

I think a lot of people are polite, give you their contact information, text you, and say "yes we should fly sometime" when perhaps they don't really mean it.

Today I am leaving for an airport-sponsored BBQ at Sonoma Skypark. There will be something for me to do, even if it is raining - get to see and hopefully sit in the Citabria I want to get my tailwheel endorsement with. I haven't been able to afford the intro lesson and feel bad for cancelling on the instructor - so I'm going all the way over there to introduce myself (about a 1 hour drive, each way).

In reality, I'm hoping to meet some taildragger owners who can show me their planes or become friends.


Kimberly
 
It was raining and when I got there to see a room / hangar full of older male pilots (not ONE single woman) I chickened out.

I said to one man, "I'm looking for Travis" and he pointed me towards the "flight school." I toured the hangar with Travis, and saw my soon to be training Citabria (with no working radios right now). I confessed to his female front desk girl that I was too shy to talk to the BBQ folks.

Travis told the woman to "take me to the BBQ". She introduced me to a few men, she left, and I spent a short while talking to them about flaps, and flying, and engine emergencies, and other pilot stories. It was fun, but I didn't make any contacts and the gathering ended. I plan to (if possible) go back for their EAA chapter meeting next week with the guest speaker on "females in aviation".

It wasn't a wasted day, though, since I had fun, and I learned a lot from the much older and much more experienced pilots. We all watched a student in a 172 make several patterns / landings (geez other pilots are really critical of student landings) . . .



Kimberly
 
Kimberly.... Networking among fellow aviation people cannot be a bad thing at all... I am a EAA lifetime member and the local chapters can be a great source to further your flying addiction.:yesnod::idea:.

Perhaps you can bring your BF along so you don't get the "cold feet" no other girls around thing shy thing...:dunno::dunno:..

Ben
 
Speaking of Chapter questions....I have emailed almost everyone on the Chapter 52 (Sacramento) web site and had no response. Their calendar and newsletter seem to be stuck in 2010. Anything going on with this chapter? Was hoping to talk to some folks from Sac Exec and I think there is a group that meets for breakfast on Saturday mornings but am not sure. :dunno:
 
flyingriki said:
Speaking of Chapter questions....I have emailed almost everyone on the Chapter 52 (Sacramento) web site and had no response. Their calendar and newsletter seem to be stuck in 2010. Anything going on with this chapter? Was hoping to talk to some folks from Sac Exec and I think there is a group that meets for breakfast on Saturday mornings but am not sure. :dunno:
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Did you try calling them or calling the nearest chapter to them? Or emailing headquarters? Or just showing up on a Saturday?
 
While aviation seems to be male "dominated" don't let it scare you off. Be bold and say hi, get involved with these groups. Pilots are pilots regardless of sex and while there can be bad apples in every barrel I think you'll be safe with most of us. Same is true of anywhere else you go as well but I think your chances are better with the flying crowd. There are women out there in aviation and most of them that I know find a place for themselves in spite of the stereotype people expect but don't always find. Celia Aragon is a good example of someone who seemed a bit shy at first but was passionate about flying and made that pretty clear. She's been very successful in aviation, you can too. A good friend of mine told me when I was about 18, "figure out what you want to do, find someone that does it, hang out where they do it until someone puts a wrench in your hand and tells you that you might as well be working if you're going to be standing there anyway." I ended up getting my A&P license this way and learning how to build composite planes. You may not be looking for a wrench but hanging out is a good place to start working toward the tools you do want. Don't be shy, don't look back on your life in 20 years wishing you'd done something. Look back at the things you did instead.
If you ever get out to indiana I'll happily take you flying in the 175. I got a lot of rides in lots of neat planes just by being interested enough to learn about them and asking the owners if they needed ballast.

Frank
 
BiffJ said:
While aviation seems to be male "dominated" don't let it scare you off. Be bold and say hi, get involved with these groups. Pilots are pilots regardless of sex and while there can be bad apples in every barrel I think you'll be safe with most of us. Same is true of anywhere else you go as well but I think your chances are better with the flying crowd. There are women out there in aviation and most of them that I know find a place for themselves in spite of the stereotype people expect but don't always find. Celia Aragon is a good example of someone who seemed a bit shy at first but was passionate about flying and made that pretty clear. She's been very successful in aviation, you can too. A good friend of mine told me when I was about 18, "figure out what you want to do, find someone that does it, hang out where they do it until someone puts a wrench in your hand and tells you that you might as well be working if you're going to be standing there anyway." I ended up getting my A&P license this way and learning how to build composite planes. You may not be looking for a wrench but hanging out is a good place to start working toward the tools you do want. Don't be shy, don't look back on your life in 20 years wishing you'd done something. Look back at the things you did instead.
If you ever get out to indiana I'll happily take you flying in the 175. I got a lot of rides in lots of neat planes just by being interested enough to learn about them and asking the owners if they needed ballast.

Frank
Click to expand...

Thank you!

I've actually met / talked to / emailed plenty of the bad apples - so the fact that I'm still here trying to meet more pilots is good news.

Like you said, most of them are perfectly nice and they mean well.

Though my Saturday at Skypark may not result in any flights, I plan to attend next month's KSTS meeting of EAA and I think I'll send an email to my two 99s chapters soon asking to "tag along."

I will come up with a short letter explaining my situation and offering avgas contributions and it should work.

Kimberly
 
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