The next meeting and fly-in of Illini Skyriders will be held Saturday, November 18th 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.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS is the primary business of this meeting.  Consider if it is your turn to fill a post.  Your newsletter editor and secretary is getting “long-in- he-tooth” in this job.  I’ve been doing it so long I can barely remember when I wasn't doing it.  It sure would be great to have a vacation from the job and get some new blood with new ideas.  I would be most willing to continue writing for the newsletter, if someone else would only take on the routine duties.  Please think about it.  If you can send email and type a few lines, you could do it.

The October 21st meeting and fly-in was held at the Paxton, Illinois Airport.  Brisk winds reduced attendance from distant pilots but we had a great time meeting in the newly utilized big hangar where our members keep their planes.  Thanks to Tom and Rob and everyone who provided the food.

There was no formal business meeting as only lowly officers were present.  With about 18 members present we easily had a quorum but the wind backed off and everyone who had a plane wanted to go flying.  Dan Grunloh reported on his Baja flying trip.  We agreed to have our November meeting in Rantoul.

Several of our members are taking advantage of the grandfathering period for existing ultralight pilots.  Trike pilot Curt Shoaf was the first to complete the process and become a Sport Pilot.  He reports his son Curtis has also passed the practical flight test to earn the Sport Pilot rating.  Two more pilots have passed the written knowledge test, Dan Grunloh and Raymond Theron.   We have until January 31st 2007 to take our check ride in order to get in the program with the least cost.   A couple more members were not registered UL pilots before September 2004.  They will have to take a longer route to get to Sport Pilot.  I think we have 4 or 5 aircraft that may become LSA’s next year.

Do you know what to do if you suddenly find yourself flying in formation with a couple of nasty looking military helicopters?  Do you know the meaning of signals they may give or the correct radio frequency?   TFR’s, (Temporary Flight Restrictions) can pop up in front of you while on a crosscountry flight.  Club safety officer Dave Patrick has been distributing a laminated card of information about TFR’s and intercept procedures.  If you didn’t get one, catch up with Dave on that.  Knowing what to do could save you a lot of trouble.

I’m happy to report that Dave Patrick and I were able to complete the long distance Colibri flight needed for my gold pin.  We left Paxton Wednesday, November 1st on a flight which covered 849 miles over 4-1/2 days.  We landed at 14 airports and flew in 5 states returning on Sunday November 5th.  I flew the entire course with an aviation sectional and a compass but no GPS.  I had one in my trike for emergencies, but never turned it on.  Dave was my official observer and witness for the flight.  I would announce my next leg and then predict my ETA.  Dave would witness the takeoff; wait an appropriate time and then takeoff in his Kitfox so as to arrive at the destination to witness my landing.

We had a great time with good tailwinds, although it was cold.  I used chemical heat packs throughout the flight.  We planned to camp but got lazy and ended up camping indoors in motel rooms and FBO’s.  Here is a summary of my trip.  Most of the airports were chosen because they had a 24 hour credit card fuel pump or a well established FBO.

Mattoon, IL (MTO)     76 miles  - Breakfast at the airport restaurant
Greenville, IL (GRE)  74 miles  Home of Beisswinger PPC school
Sparta, IL (SAR)      56 miles - Walmart, restaurants and motel, one block
Harrisburg, IL (HSB)  67 miles -  typical rural airport, friendly
Cairo, IL (CIR)       64 miles - hard to miss between two huge rivers
Malden, MO (MAW)      53 miles -  flew over cotton and rice being harvested
Dexter, MO (DXE)      13 miles - fabulous airport restaurant breakfast
Dyersburg, TN (DYR)   63 miles - farthest southern point, at edge of sectional
Mayfield, KY (M25)    70 miles - meet terrific 83 years old lady flight instructor
Sturgis, KY (I05)     64 miles - old air force base. Slept in FBO
Lawrenceville (LWV)   87 miles - found local UL club meeting in progress
Greencastle, IN (1I7) 73 miles  stayed overnight in luxury airport motel.
Danville, IL (DNV)    57 miles - almost home, working against headwind.
Loda, IL (home)       35 miles -  took 50 minutes, sighted home from 14 miles