Get started for another year of fun flying by attending the annual Illinois ultralight seminar, which will be held just one week after this next meeting.  Also if your engine needs some repair or maintenance, see the report below about a Rotax repair service which is based at the Kankakee airport.

The next meeting of Illini Skyriders will be held this Saturday, February 18 at the Red Wheel Restaurant, 741 Broadmeadow Rd in Rantoul, ILL.  The location is on the west edge of Rantoul on Rt. 136 about one block south of the Amoco (BP) station.  Please join us for dinner as early as 6:00 PM.  The meeting will start at 7:00..

The 26th Annual Illinois Ultralight & Light Plane Safety Seminar will be held on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2006, in Springfield, IL. Topics include Prop Balancing for Ultralight & Light Sport aircraft, Rotax Engine Maintenance, Passing the Sport Pilot Practical Test (Check Ride) and Understanding Aviation Weather Services. Aircraft will be on static display along with dealer and manufacturer displays.

To get to the safety seminar, take the I-55 Sangamon Avenue exit (Exit A-B) and go west on Sangamon to the main gate entrance of the state fairgrounds, which is on the north side of Sangamon Avenue. The event will be held in the first building (Illinois Building), on your left as you enter the fairgrounds. Look for the Abe Lincoln statue, which is adjacent to the Illinois Building. Ample parking is available just past the Illinois Building on the left.  Attendance is FREE.

Registration for the event will be from 8:00 am to 9:00 am, with the seminar sessions beginning promptly at 9 am. Arrive early for viewing the exhibits, since the featured seminar sessions will consume a major portion of the day.  The program will conclude around 4:00 pm.

Coffee and doughnuts will be available. As in previous years, a catered meal for the noon lunch will be provided for a nominal charge. Meal tickets for this lunch can be purchased during registration.

The January 21 meeting of Illini Skyriders was held at the Red Wheel Restaurant in Rantoul Illinois.  There were 17 members present including some new members and visitors from the Danville area.  The meeting was called to order at 7:30PM by president Richard Davis.   It was reported that our club insurance premium of $194 has been paid.   We collected annual member dues of $25. Chapter service awards from EAA (pins and certificates) were presented to the officers for 2005.  There was a discussion about the new Sport pilot rules.  The secretary promised to compile a directory of the private airstrips in our club along with the appropriate GPS coordinates.

With a total of 730 hours on my Rotax 447, I decided that it needed a complete inspection and overhaul, even though it has been running perfectly.  Dave Patrick, our safety officer directed me to  “TheUltralightPlace” a Rotax repair service based on the west side of the Greater Kankakee Airport.  The owner is Jim Leon who has been involved with ultralights for over 20 years and holds the highest possible repair rating from Rotax.  The location is convenient, his rates are very reasonable, and the service is excellent.   Go to the website,  www.theultralightplace.com for more information or call Jim Leon at 815-529-3000.

My engine was found to be in excellent condition mechanically.  All the specs were within acceptable limits and the engine will go back together with the same pistons, rings, wristpins etc.  The carbon buildup was minimal, and the rings were not sticking at 230 hours since last overhaul.

However, the charging circuit was found to be leaking which might explain the hard starting I have experienced.  A good replacement unit has been found from a wrecked engine. Most shocking was the fact that both gears in my gearbox were badly worn and must be replaced.  I was suspicious when the gear oil was drained and found to be black and full of sludge.  It had been in the engine only 83 hours but was a new type of synthetic oil I had not tried before.  The amount of sludge in the oil was incredible.  The oil had been degraded.  In future I will stick to a gear oil that has been proven to be acceptable in our Rotax gearboxes.  Jim Leon says they use Mystic 75-95W synthetic gear oil from Farm and Fleet.

The Carrier petition, which was submitted some time ago to the FAA, was a scheme to allow overweight ultralights to become legal by participating in a safety study.  It was intended to show that safety items like brakes and electric starter would improve the safety record of ultralights The proposal has been rejected by the FAA, as was expected by many observers.  There is nothing pending at this time that would suggest that the weight limit for ultralights will be increased in the future.