We encourage our members to send comments to DOT about how two of their proposed routes would negatively affect Merrill Field and the gravel strip in particular. You can comment via the "Contact Us" or "Comments" links near the upper right. DOT proposal

First breakfast meeting of 2025. It was a good one.

Where: Kava’s Pancake House

Our monthly Saturday breakfast get-together is at Kava’s Pancake House at 100 Muldoon Rd. Great food and great conversation. See you there!

Where: Las Margaritas

Join us at Las Margaritas Mexican & Italian Restaurant at 541 W Dimond Blvd (on the north side of Dimond between Arctic and C Streets). When you walk in, turn left into the front room that is separated from the main dining area and we'll be on the right. So come, get your margarita and nachos and we will talk about aviation and maybe do some Chapter business. As always, all Chapter 42 members are invited and encouraged to attend.

Where: Birchwood Airport

Our January meeting will be held on January 28th at 7PM at Birchwood Airport. Greg Miller will be displaying his nearly completed Glasair III. A map to Gregs hangar is below.

We had a great meeting last night with about 20 attendees to see Greg Miller's nearly completed Glasair III.

Where: Las Margaritas

Join us at Las Margaritas Mexican & Italian Restaurant at 541 W Dimond Blvd (on the north side of Dimond between Arctic and C Streets). When you walk in, turn left into the front room that is separated from the main dining area and we'll be on the right. So come, get your margarita and nachos and we will talk about aviation and maybe do some Chapter business. As always, all Chapter 42 members are invited and encouraged to attend.

Where: Fairbanks AK

Where: Kava’s Pancake House

Our monthly Saturday breakfast get-together is at Kava’s Pancake House at 100 Muldoon Rd. Great food and great conversation. See you there!

Where: Birchwood Civil Air Patrol Hangar

The FAA will have a meeting in person and available online regarding Birchwood Airport Helicopter Operations and Non-Towered Pattern Operations at the Birchwood Civil Air Patrol Hangar. Full information and registration is available here: https://www.faasafety.gov/SPANS/event_details.aspx?eid=135089

Where: 2021 Merrill Field Dr, Hangar I

Here is a map to Tom's hangar for our chapter meeting this week. Tom will discuss putting skis on his GlaStar. Call Chris or Tom for the security gate code.

Chris Gill will also bring a pot of mild chili to the meeting for anyone that is hungry. He’ll make enough for 20 folks, and will bring some water and shredded cheese! See you there. If you are not already a member come along and join the club this week! We’ll also do a drawing for a $75 gift card from our great sponsor, Northern Lights Avionics for all current members and joiners.

Tom Lawhorn hosted our February meeting at his hangar to show us his ski installation on his Glastar and treated us to chili. Tom is planning his first flight this Spring after he gets some transition training. All 20 of us greatly appreciated the craftmanship of both aircraft and chilli!

Where: Las Margaritas

Join us at Las Margaritas Mexican & Italian Restaurant at 541 W Dimond Blvd (on the north side of Dimond between Arctic and C Streets). When you walk in, turn left into the front room that is separated from the main dining area and we'll be on the right. So come, get your margarita and nachos and we will talk about aviation and maybe do some Chapter business. As always, all Chapter 42 members are invited and encouraged to attend.

Where: Kava’s Pancake House

Our monthly Saturday breakfast get-together is at Kava’s Pancake House at 100 Muldoon Rd. Great food and great conversation. See you there!

Where: CAP Polaris Squadron @ Merrill Field, 1910 E 5th Ave

President Chris has coordinated with Carl Siebe of the CAP Polaris Composite Squadron at Merrill Field for Chapter 42 to attend the Squadron's weekly meeting at the same time as our normal monthly meeting, Tues, 25 Mar at 7:00 pm. The Squadron meeting will be followed by Maj. Lance Gruner (Sqn Cmdr) and Caleb Newville (Deputy Sqn Cmdr & FAA ATCT Supervisor) briefing our Chapter 42 on CAP mission, activities, aircraft, etc. Ref https://polaris.cap.gov/

Address is 1910 E 5th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501.

ACCESS & PARKING: Turn off 5th into Ardaiz Circle. Enter thru gate N4 (code to be provided). Carl says, "Park either on CAP ramp if there is space, or between the ATCT fence and the yellow line for Taxiway A. MOST importantly please remind your members to not cross the yellow active area line. The ATCT will call the Anchorage Police if a vehicle crosses the line."

The CAP Polaris Composite Squadron is "a volunteer organization, specializing in aviation missions throughout Alaska, including: Search & Rescue, Cadet Programs, and Aerospace Education. We have the resources and personnel to carry out a variety of aerial and land-based missions for a variety of customers, including aerial photography, aerial surveys, and transport of personnel, equipment and supplies."

A half-dozen of us attended the March meeting at the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Polaris Composite Squadron.

Maj Lance Brunner (Squadron Commander) briefed us on the mission of the CAP, including search & rescue, cadet programs, and education.

Maj Caleb Newville (Deputy Sqdn Cmdr) provided a great "walk-thru" of the National Weather Service Alaska Aviation Weather Unit (AAWU) website. He also discussed preparations for the potential Mr. Spurr eruption.

Tom had an opportunity to instruct a group of youth at Swoop Flight Training Center on the Orca Street side of Merrill Field. Swoop provides mentorship and aviation career training to underserved Alaskan youth and owned/operated by Jamie Klaes. Jamie says Swoop is "The only aviation training facility in Alaska offering professional career training AND training for entry level jobs in the aviation industry."

Tom says, "I just completed teaching my first week long class, introduction to aviation maintenance. It was exhausting but very rewarding. Working with a non profit that brings Alaska native kids to Anchorage to expose them to what is involved in being an A&P mechanic. We toured Airglas, Lynden’s air cargo, and Alaska Airlines maintenance shop. Spent half the day in the classroom and the other half in the shop doing a lot of hands on. The students learned about aircraft structures, how engines work, did a fiberglass lay-up, drove rivets, preformed a 100 hour inspection, even weighed a plane. Being a teacher is a lot of work, developing the curriculum, creating review worksheets, and making sure you have all the tools and materials needed to keep them busy all day. I salute every person who has ever been a teacher. I definitely will be teaching more classes."

See Tom's Facebook page for some great photos!

Birchwood Airport Master Plan
The Capitol Improvement Plan which describes and diagrams the changes to be made on the ground begin on page 144 of the pdf.
Birchwood Airport Master Plan

Where: Las Margaritas

April Board meeting moved from Apr 2 to Apr 9.

Join us at Las Margaritas Mexican & Italian Restaurant at 541 W Dimond Blvd (on the north side of Dimond between Arctic and C Streets). When you walk in, turn left into the front room that is separated from the main dining area and we'll be on the right. So come, get your margarita and nachos and we will talk about aviation and maybe do some Chapter business. As always, all Chapter 42 members are invited and encouraged to attend.

Where: Kava’s Pancake House

Our monthly Saturday breakfast get-together is at Kava’s Pancake House at 100 Muldoon Rd. Great food and great conversation. See you there!

Notice from the FAA about the new phone number to call Alaska Flight Service Stations: 1-833-252-7433

Where: Jim Moss's Hangar on Merrill Field

This Tuesday evening we have the EAA Chapter meeting at Jim Moss's Hangar on Merrill Field, It is at Chugach Hangars Co-Op #B6. The subject of the Meeting will be the freshly restored 7GCBC Citabria and how to rig the wings of Citabrias properly. I had once showed this one to the club members while it was all in pieces in Birchwood (the all black one, Not the blue one!) Back then it was mostly un-covered.

In addition to inspecting the Citabria, Jim Moss will discuss his recent emergency biplane landing on a parking garage in Arizona. This should be a good story and Safety discussion.

Here are directions and a map to tonight’s 7 P.M. meeting:
Use gate N7 off of Hudson Circle. The plane we are viewing is at Chugach Hangars Co-Op #B6. Jim Moss will be at gate N7 before the meeting with his remote gate opener to let you in. He'll have signs up to direct you to parking.
Best Regards, Lars

Bernie Willis, John Davis and Rick Henry gave a presentation: "Building Your Own Airplane - From Blueprint To Flight".

Where: Alaska State Fairgrounds (& Palmer Airport)

THANK YOU Robb Smart, Ed White, Cliff Belleau, Sara Maurer, Al George, Isaac Smith, and Mark Frischkorn for volunteering in the 40' x 75' Youth Aviation Center tent at the Great Alaska Aviation Gathering in Palmer on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. Also, THANK YOU Bob Lee for supporting safe air ops at the temporary strip on the Fairgrounds.

All 6 of our stations attracted many, many kids, parents, and adults. This is the 5th year Chapter 42 has supported the Gathering since its move from FedEx's hangar to the Alaska State Fairgrounds (& Palmer Airport) in 2021.

Below, Cliff Belleau helps a young mechanic use a drill press to make a spark plug key ring. At this particular station, the PowerPlant station, Cliff, Ed, & Isaac used a 4-cylinder Continental cut-away engine to introduce young folks to an aircraft spark plug, explaining what it is, where it goes in an aircraft engine, and what it does--demonstrating the 4 strokes of a piston engine.

Merrill Field Construction Notice pdf

Several members of our Chapter attended the briefing regarding the closure of runway 7 / 25 at Merrill Field this summer for reconstruction.
I thought the briefing was very well done and would emphasize that anyone planning to fly in or out of Merrill spend time studying the detailed information available. If you missed the briefing, you can watch the video recording of the full presentation. It can all be accessed at:
https://mri725rehab.com/
They emphasized that NOTAMS need to be checked frequently and even content on their web site may be frequently updated. Because of that, I’m not attaching any documents, just the main website link so that you can help yourself to the most recent versions.

Highlight links:
1) Merrill Field Summer 2025 Construction Pilot’s Handbook
2) Taxiway Diagram
3) Users Briefing (Powerpoint presentation)
4) ForeFlight Content pack
5) Users Briefing presentation recording

Rick Henry

Where: Las Margaritas

Join us at Las Margaritas Mexican & Italian Restaurant at 541 W Dimond Blvd (on the north side of Dimond between Arctic and C Streets). When you walk in, turn left into the front room that is separated from the main dining area and we'll be on the right. So come, get your margarita and nachos and we will talk about aviation and maybe do some Chapter business. As always, all Chapter 42 members are invited and encouraged to attend.

We had a large turnout at our Board Meeting tonight and discussed this summer's plans.

Yesterday Greg Miller fired up his Glasair III at Birchwood and did some short taxi testing.
Greg's plane is looking great and sounds fast!

Where: Kava’s Pancake House

Our monthly Saturday breakfast get-together is at Kava’s Pancake House at 100 Muldoon Rd. Great food and great conversation. See you there!