Membership
If you have visited the home page lately, you have seen we are over 1,100 members (1,101 at the time of writing this.) Truly not bad for a group turning 3 this July. Keep spreading the word.
Maintenance
No plane is perfect. But we can devise a plan to get there from here. Sit down with your mechanic and make a multi-year plan sop that every year you plane is better. That way with a well maintained plane, when you are ready to fly, so is you bird!
Wrench & Elbow Bending
Just a bit over two weeks till this event kicks off. Bring your friends and especially your mechanic to see the special love these birds need. We cover a lot in just 2 and a half days, but we cannot place it in order after the first item, we just go with the flow.
We tend to end at 5 or so, have a beer and chat about the days with questions and answers. Then we go out for dinner.
Lots to learn and see and this will probably be the last free such weekends.
National Gathering
Continuing the fun, the wrench and elbow weekend winds down with a late afternoon BBQ, live music and cold drinks.
We are leaving social time in the schedule for folks to meet and chat. We also want to hear about how your year of flying has been.
GPA is Pet Friendly
We have a member from California who is making a minimum 1741 nm trip (one-way) with ‘Grumman’, his traveling canine. 
We look forward to seeing Rich and Grumman again.
Garner
Garner Rice want me to convey to ya’ll that he is living the life of a ‘Gentleman Mower/Handyman’. He gets up right after dawn, mows, haul away trash, etc., then head home to a shower to remove the dirt, has dinner and goes to bed. Living the Dream.
Second Set of Rigging Tools
We now have the latest additions to the rigging tool set in house and are boxing them up now. We had more of the bearing sizing tools made, aileron bullets, AMOC gauge for SI 61-01, a canopy track sizing tool, and the elevator rigging tool for the AA1C. They will be available until gone, so be sure and see them at the Wrench Bending or National Gathering. We will be posting prices on the web site shortly.
ElectroAir
Probably one of the biggest bangs for the buck in our planes are the ElectroAir EIS 41000 electronic ignition systems replacing one mag. These unit fire a 70,000 volt spark across a wider gap High Energy spark plug and advance the spark advance as the engine loads up. Savings from 0.8 to 1.5 gph can be achieved along with easier starts (yes you can start on the EIS) and cleaner combustion. You also develop a few more horsepower as well.
We have installed 10 of these units now in Cheetah and Tigers and so far, no one has asked for it to be removed.
Kaye Coates
Kaye Coates, wife of Geoffrey Coates, both of Austrialia and early Founders of the GPA. Sadly I must tell you that Kaye lost her long battle with cancer on May 22, 2017. She was a gracious lady with a wonderful view of life and flight. She will be missed. Our prayers and condolences to Geoffrey and the rest of the family, relative and extended.
Neil Walker
Neil Walker of Cincinnati, former GE engine designer, lost his battle with cancer quietly among family May 22, 2017. Neil’s passion for flying machines rubbed off on his son, Martin, who owned a Grumman for a number of years and still has the passion. Neil was a good friend and wonderful advisor. He will be missed. Our sympathies to the family.
Sensenich Propeller
We just had a second Sensenich propeller that was not twisted as marked. The new prop was stamped 61, but after turning well over red line in flight at altitude, we had it checked and it was a perfect 60. So it was repitched. Bob Hodo had one a few years ago also mis-marked.
Tow Bar
We had a member that wanted to share a recent event while flying. Basically, during preflight, he failed to remove the tow bar from the front fairing.
I lost my tow bar the other day and wanted to share what I learned.
I’ve attached two pictures of the tow bar and found a tag on it from Redro Inc in Minn. After I lost the tow bar I searched the runway immediately but did not find it. Today, I discovered the tow bar about 800 feet from the start of take-off roll on the left side of the runway. Looking over the aircraft, the only evidence of damage was on the right side of the nosewheel pant where the towbar attaches. If you look closely, you will see some damage on the aft right-side wheel pant hole that I suspect occurred when the tow bar separated after lift-off, but cannot confirm, since I bought my Tiger with numerous blemishes as can be seen from the condition of the nose-wheel pant. I inspected the entire aircraft and found no damage to anything including the prop. When I found the tow bar, the only damage was some scraping on the steel ring that I welded onto the tow bar. The scrape was only found on the bottom of the ring and no propeller contact damage was found.