The next meeting and fly-in of Illini Skyriders will be held this Saturday, July 15th at the Airstrip of Gary Gustafson 21398 Henning Rd, Danville, Illinois.  From Rantoul go east on Rt. 136 to the Henning Road which is 5 miles east of Potomac.   Gary is located 8 miles south of Henning on the west side of the road.  Look for the orange balls on the power lines and a windsock.  Coming from the south the location is 1.5 miles north of the Kickapoo Park entrance on the Henning road.  The East-west runway is 1200 feet long and Gary has cleared away trees on the west end.  Phone 217-431-6626 The GPS coordinates are:  N 40 10.835 by W87 41.879

Gary says everyone is welcome anytime in the afternoon.  He will provide all the food and refreshments.  Bring yourself and plan to have a good time.  Food will start about 4:00PM and the club meeting is scheduled around 5:00 so pilots will have plenty of time to fly back home before dark.

The June 17th meeting of IIlini Skyriders was held at the Busboom airstrip near St. Joseph Illinois.  There was a good turnout, but flying was limited by windy conditions and the threat of rain showers.  Four aircraft flew in to the event.  Hank and Mick were there in their Challengers and two gyrocopters were present.

It was Stan Foster from Paxton and a friend from Westville. Everyone enjoyed the food and camaraderie.  Your secretary was not able too attend because I was baling hay, trying to get it up before the rains came.  I was able to drive down there late in the day for a visit with Dale and Loretta after most of the visitors had departed.  I got to see Mick and Hank fly out.

The SAA fly-in at Frasca Field June 24 was a success with several of our members attending.  Your secretary was not able to attend because my engine would not start.  I tried desperately to get it going but kept flooding the engine.  It was later found the engine had no spark and the problem was traced to the wiring.  A few days later I made repairs and it ran fine but then quit suddenly on takeoff at about 75 feet. I removed the engine and took it to Jim Leon in Kankakee who found that the trigger wire for the CDI was shorting out inside the engine.  It was easily repaired.  Mark Anliker reported the same problem had been found in his engine. The lesson learned is you should avoid pulling or yanking on the wiring harness where it exits the engine.  It may eventually wear through the insulation and cause a short.

Mike Ostrander is flying again!  His blue Quicksilver appeared over my airstrip in Loda on Sunday.  It was quite a surprise.  The plane still looks like new.  Mike and his son have been so busy with the very successful soapbox racing that he had not flown it for almost two years.  He plans to fly this year at Oshkosh.

OSHKOSH BEGINS one week after our next meeting.  Look for me working at the seminar tent next to the ultralight barn.  Also the annual trike gathering will take place July 22-23 at Cushing Field (0C8) northwest of Morris, near Newark Illinois.  Trikers from points south stop here for fun, games and camping on their way up to the Oshkosh Fly-in.

Nearly 20 years ago I soloed a Kolb Ultrastar at the Busboom's airfield powered by a Cuyuna UL II-02.  For 16 or so of those years, the engine was incredibly reliable.  Pump up the primer bulb, depress the choke, pull twice, take off the choke and go fly.  In those16 years I suffered two off- field landings due to cooked pistons (one of which was PROBABLY due to very old fuel) and an off- field landing in '96 due to a failed fuel pump. And then my troubles began.  The thing was hard to start, would start to cut out if I backed off the throttle after warmed up, wouldn't run without the choke pulled on but then the plugs would foul.  I rejetted , changed carbs, plugs, made a "leak down" tester for the crankcase which showed no center-seal leakage,  replaced the cylinder base gaskets as well as head and intake gaskets and the carb boot.  Spoke to a repair facility about the CDI box and ruled it out as the culprit.  My enthusiasm for flying on the cheap as I had done for so many years reached a low point when I attempted to fly to Busboom's last year and ended up about 4 miles south on County Road 800.

It looked as if I might be forced to get a new engine or send this one in for a rebuild.  Getting it out of the mothballs this spring, I noticed the exhaust note had changed considerably.  Knowing the muffler to be over 20 years old, I figured the internal baffling had rusted to the point where it no longer "muffled" and it too was going to need replaced along with the engine.  When I got the manifold off I saw a split about 3/4 of an inch along the welded seam that joins the top and bottom stampings of this rather flimsy structure.  It was in a place that would have required a mirror to find had I not taken the manifold off of the engine......... but here was something that I realized may be the culprit of my troubles.  Nineteen years previously I drilled the manifold to accept an exhaust gas temperature probe and ground away some of the metal in the welded seam on each side to better hold the clamp in position.  It was where the metal was removed that the split occurred. A few pennies worth of acetylene and we were back in business.  The engine problems of the past few years appear to have been attributable to the manifold split.  The engine starts on the second pull; the plugs are a nice brown.  I figure that the hole in the manifold gradually got large enough to be heard, but was fouling up the intake side long before that.  Live and learn they say…..  Your Prez, Richard