TO THE MEMBERS OF EAA CHAPTER 141

 My name is Jim Lynch and I was elected your President to succeed Bill Ciommo for the coming year. I would like to introduce myself to those who do not know me. I have been past president and was one of the original members when 141 was formed in the 50’s. I served in the Navy as a Fire Control Technician , 3^rd Class Petty Officer. I learned to fly at a little airport in Suffolk, VA. On liberty week end, I and another crewman of the USS NEW, would go to the airport for the weekend and stay in a bunkhouse that had four bunks. We learned in J3 Cubs and the instructors were all US Navy Fighter Pilots and we had a blast. We realy learned how to fly and do things we never knew that a J3 Cub could do. They had a Stearman and we would have fun with the pilots doing aerobatics. I was 19 to 20 years old – good memories. After I was discharged I decided if I could fly these things maybe I should learn to fix them so I went back to school at East Coast Aero Tech in Massachusetts. I started working at Port of Maine Airport in Scarborough in 1962 as an aircraft mechanic. When it closed I worked at Northeast Airways at the then Portland International Airport as an aircraft mechanic. I was Service Manager at Comber Marine in Portland and at Harrasseket Marine in Freeport, taught Small Engine Repair at Portland Regional Vocational Technical Institute in Portland, ran my own small engine repair shop in Cumberland and lastly, owned and operated a set of sporting camps in Northern Maine.

I am asking members to e-mail ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) me with some ideas regarding activities you would like to see the chapter involved with. We have a good core group of members that have done a lot of work to the Chapter hanger and it is coming along great but as a Chapter we need to do more activities to generate more funds; i.e., fly-in, poker runs, Young Eagles Day, seminars, etc.

As a Chapter we have many members with a lot of talent in aircraft maintenance and construction, flight instruction, etc. We should also be pro-active in the Sport Pilot License to get people into flying and work their way up the ladder. We should also contact other chapters and invite them to our Chapter activities and have some fun and exchange ideas.

As I am reading this month’s Sport Aviation, it was interesting to read Tom Poberezny’s section on his building strengths.

We should invite other chapters to our hanger – to have chapter fly-ins and cook outs, etc.

Bob Pomerleau has done a great job on the Young Eagles Day but we need more kids and have something for them to do besides just the ride in a plane. Some ideas are:

• Display of models that kids have made

• Model airplane flying

• Aviation movies

• Cook out – for entire family – make it a family outing

The hanger belongs to all of use and we should use it to promote aviation, homebuilding, aircraft restoration, workshops on building and repair, etc.

We could hold workshops, advertise them to the general public, and invite those interested in aviation to view the building of an aircraft from the ground up.

Please let me hear your ideas and also what you believe could push our Chapter more into the spotlight so we can attract new members.

Jim