At the chapter leaders breakfast on Saturday, several items were announced.
Adam Smith stated that they are working to improve chapter communications. A speakers bureau will be formed by mid-September to provide a list of speakers who will be available to chapters nationwide. Also an online nationwide calendar of events is planned, as well as increase to the number of people staffing the chapter office.
Tom Poberezny expressed the concern to get the public more involved in aviation. Since we don’t have anything like the GI Bill, aging pilots aren’t being replaced. It’s still too expensive and time consuming to get into flying. 70% of those who start flying don’t finish. The new goal of EAA is to increase the pilot population from the current 640,000 to 1 million.
Paul Poberezny also spoke to the group. Paul expressed the need to continue safety improvements. We don’t want to slip backwards with safety. We can’t afford to lose our privileges. He said that EAA and the chapters are an aeronautical, educational, and most importantly, a social organization.
He continued stating a concern that the Light Sport Aircraft are still expensive, and people don’t get the educational experience as you do with homebuilding. Homebuilding too has become mostly an assembly process.
On the concern of the commercialization of the convention, early on he got no response from the major small aircraft manufacturers when he offered them free display space. His wife Audrey suggested charging for the displays so it showed the value
The chapter awards were then presented.
Major Achievement Awards went to:
Chapter 484-San Adreas, CA
Chapter 1300-James Bonelli
Chapter 274-Deactur, IL
Chapter 471-Gray Bridwell
Chapter 976-Barry Davis
Chapter 690-Debbie Huffman
Chapter 1414-Polar Grove, IL
Chapter 13-Ray, MI
Chapter 129-Bloomington-Normal, IL
Newsletter Editor Awards were won by:
5th place Chapter 976
4th Place Chapter 59
3rd Place Chapter 105
2nd Place Chapter 376
1st Place IAC Chapter 19
Web Editor Awards went to:
5th Place Chapter 48
4th Place Chapter 50
3rd Place Chapter 62
2nd Place Chapter 1226
1st Place Chapter 1410
Also announced at the breakfast, there will be a chapter summit workshop held September 14-16 at the Air Academy Lodge.