Wing Nuts

Moses Lake Experimental Aircraft Association chapter builds planes

COLUMBIA BASIN - Ron Baker guesses many members of the Experimental Aircraft Association local chapter spent time hanging around airports in their youth.

Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 355 was formed in 1969, Baker said.

About six to 10 chapter members gather in a hangar on Moses Lake Municipal Airport property each Wednesday evening from about 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. to work on several airplanes they're building.

"Most of the members have an airplane or have built one in the past," Baker explained. "A lot of the equipment is owned by individuals who drag it up here so we can use it."

The chapter first began plane work about five years ago after taking over a plane project upon which a group in Richland was putting a motor.

"We brought it up here and then our club here spent a year working it over and putting the motor in it, then we flew it and put it up for sale. " Baker recalled. "That was a club project."

The club spent about two years building another project, an RV-6. That plane is now for sale, and the club hopes to be able to use the sale to finance several of the planes already in the process.

The planes currently under way are the unique design of member Jay Mercer and include a tandem two-seat "off-airport" airplane, a four-seat fun flyer and three light-sport aircraft.

"We call them low and slow," Mercer said.

Mercer has been working on the off-airport airplane for about five years. The chapter built the fuselage on the fun flyer about a year ago, and pulled it out of storage about a month ago. The three light-sport aircraft work began about a month ago, too.

"They're all very similar in design," Baker said.

Engine strengths range from 115 horsepower to 260 horsepower, he added.

The light-sport aircraft are limited to a total of 1,320 gross pounds by regulation, Baker said.

"So to have any kind of payload, we have to keep the weight of the structure under 700 pounds," he explained. "That includes the engine, wings, fuselage, tail, instruments, seats."

Mercer first got the idea because he was "bored with the corporate world," working in manufacturing and design, he said with a chuckle.

"Our ultimate goal is to get some kind of production, so each part is numbered," Mercer explained. "This is really just for educational purposes and keeping the younger people who are aviation nuts, or wing nuts as we call them, involved."

The chapter's dilemma was determining how to build the planes without spending a lot of money, and how to roll large pieces of metal for accuracy, Mercer said.

"You know, we don't have a Boeing budget," he said. "So how do we do this in our garages?"

Work in the hangar, which is owned by Mardon resident Imre Szupky, includes jigs created to line the tubing to take shape of various airplane parts, including doors and firewalls, when welded together.

The ribs of the plane were water cut precisely and edges were bent by a hydropress of Szupky's invention.

"They're all made from scratch," Baker said of the tools in the hangar. "Jay's design is such that there's portions of this that can be assembled in a production line by semi-skilled workers. The advantage there is that Big Bend College, through one of their programs, could teach the workers how to produce."

Some components are farmed out to companies, Mercer said. He praised area suppliers.

"A great asset to this area is quick availability to the things we really need," he said.

Baker said the chapter has begun to have "encouraging" discussions with the Port of Wilson Creek about eventual manufacturing facilities.

"We're not big. We're not going to get big," Mercer said with a chuckle. "We want to have fun. You get big, you don't have fun … It's basically sub assemblies and then come here to put together."

Asked when the plane projects might be finished, Baker blanched slightly.

"We don't ever ask Jay that question, it sends him right over the edge," he said with a laugh. "But roughly, I would think, the way things are going, they're going quite fast, oh, maybe a year. Next summer we might have one or more of them flying. It's just amazing to me how things get done. Everybody just sort of takes on a task and works on it until it's been done, then we go on to the next task."

Chapter member R.J. "Buck" Wheat enjoys the work.

"It's a lot of fun," he said. "Been doing it for about 50 years."

Chapter member and Moses Lake resident Gene Norby has been interested in aviation all his life, working as an air traffic controller in the Air Force and eventually becoming a private pilot.

"I've retired and I can spend quite a bit of time over here if I want to," Norby said. "I've always liked mechanical stuff, and doing things with my hands. I think this group we have in our chapter with the Experimental Aviation Association, there's a tremendous amount of expertise here."

Tyler Newark recently finished his education at Big Bend Community College and has been hanging out at the hangar for the past two years.

"I just like being around aviation, so I just kind of showed up here one day and started talking to people," he said. "Basically, I've kind of been just working on stuff. I've helped everybody out with their plane projects, and you get flight time in return. I'm just kind of an airport bum - the kid that hangs out and always wants to go for a ride. It's kind of like play time."

Mercer said anyone is welcome to come out to see the group or for airplane rides.

For more information, contact the chapter at 509-762-5112.