jjconstant
Well Known Member
This year Golden West started a friendly competition between chapters, inviting each of them show 5 airplanes from their chapter to represent it. They would then be judged and the total points would be tallied and the chapter with the most point would win. Well, for the inaugural contest EAA Chapter 663 from Livermore won! Participants were: Harry Crosby-RV6, Bob Steffen-RV7A, John Youngblood-Velocity and highest points winner, Bob Cowan-RV7A and Jeremy Constant-RV7A. What we didn't win was any prize for photography...nothin', nada, zilch. I'll see if I can't get some photos of all the planes separately. One interesting thing to note...they were all painted by Juan Solorio at T and P Aero Refinishers in Salinas, CA. I know that in every region there's a place that establishes a reputation for high quality at a price that folks feel is fair for that quality. Well, Juan has earned that reputation around Livermore.
The planes represented by all the chapters were very impressive and there were some beautiful examples of many different types. A personal favorite was a gorgeous Volksplane that was also there the previous day, braving the howling winds tied down in the dirt. Most participants appeared to fly in that morning. Some left before the airshow, some after. I think it's a great idea and gets more channels of communication going between the chapters. Apparently, in the process of setting it up, it also enabled some Young Eagles call for pilots to go out to some neighboring chapters that hadn't previously communicated.
A suggestion for next year was to include a provision for very high time airplanes to have some kind of allowance made for condition, based on flight hours. If a plane was once stunning and has been well maintained and cared for but has a lot of hous on it, well, that's why we build them and it's an inspiration for those people still building or thinking of it. It's a shame if they aren't included in representing the accomplishments of a chapter because of wear. Perhaps some kind of points multiplier based on hours. Any suggestions for making it even better will be passed along. We're just participants not organizers.
All in all, good fun and congratulations to everyone.
All Best
Jeremy Constant
The planes represented by all the chapters were very impressive and there were some beautiful examples of many different types. A personal favorite was a gorgeous Volksplane that was also there the previous day, braving the howling winds tied down in the dirt. Most participants appeared to fly in that morning. Some left before the airshow, some after. I think it's a great idea and gets more channels of communication going between the chapters. Apparently, in the process of setting it up, it also enabled some Young Eagles call for pilots to go out to some neighboring chapters that hadn't previously communicated.
A suggestion for next year was to include a provision for very high time airplanes to have some kind of allowance made for condition, based on flight hours. If a plane was once stunning and has been well maintained and cared for but has a lot of hous on it, well, that's why we build them and it's an inspiration for those people still building or thinking of it. It's a shame if they aren't included in representing the accomplishments of a chapter because of wear. Perhaps some kind of points multiplier based on hours. Any suggestions for making it even better will be passed along. We're just participants not organizers.
All in all, good fun and congratulations to everyone.
All Best
Jeremy Constant
