EAA180 advocates for aviation and public awareness-involvement, building aircraft, mentoring aircraft builders and owners, provides safety programs, membership education, and flying activities. Everyone is welcome!!

Objectives

• Advocate for aviation and public awareness-involvement
  • Liaison with SRQ to represent EAA Chapter 180 at their monthly meetings.
  • Cultivate contacts with video, newspaper, and radio media to advocate for general aviation.
  • Provide Young Eagles youth (ages 8-17) exposure to aviation including a free flight.
  • Be inclusive to adopted and foster youth in the Young Eagles program.
  • Educate the public about aviation.
  • Provide aircraft experiences to the general public so that they may touch, feel, and fly in the (RARE) EAA B-17 and EAA Ford Tri-motor historic aircraft.

• Build aircraft
  • Schedule Show-N-Tell of builder’s projects.
  • Visit aircraft manufacturers in Florida to learn their techniques.
  • Visit aircraft paint shops to evaluate “best practices”.
  • Conduct workshops to demonstrate best practices for epoxy, metal fabrication, kit assembly, and wiring.
  • Support and mentor the Teen Aircraft Factory of Manasota (TAFM).

• Mentor aircraft builders and owners
  • Encourage groups independent of EAA180 to build aircraft.
  • Activate Tech Counseling and Flight Counseling.
  • Emphasize the importance of pilot fitness.
  • Provide guidance selecting and using new FAA mandated avionics.

• Social
  • Conduct cookouts and potluck socials.
  • Schedue excursions to Sun-N-Fun, Fantasy of Flight, aircraft manufacturers in Florida, etc.
  • Provide a dynamic and educational Monthly Meeting Program including inviting outside speakers.
  • Sponsor appreciation dinner for Young Eagles pilots.
  • Schedule Pilots & ATC annual social mingling.
  • Invite home-built aircraft to our Fall Cookout & Fly-In
  • Coordinate with Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation to give rides in their Stearman biplane (and invite other bi-planes to this event) at the Jubilee Year Spring Cookout & Fly-In.

• Safety programs
  • Promote FAAST/Wings programs by presenting FAA created programs to educate pilots.
  • Checking fuel flow and carb-heat.
  • Establish multiple venting of fuel tanks to prevent siphoning of fuel (features of Monarch fuel cap).

• Fundraising to support programs
  • Link with Amazon.com.
  • General Public flights/walk-arounds of RARE  EAA B-17 and EAA Ford Tri-motor aircraft.
  • Consignment sales posted on Chapter web-site.
  • Organize a “Try-N-Buy” fly-in for consignment sales.
  • Expand the sponsor support platform for EAA Chapter 180 Missions & Objectives and for EAA aircraft tours.

• Recruit new members
  • Identify interested prospects, retired aviation professionals, and active aviators.
  • Advertise using posters at surrounding airports and promoting word-of-mouth.
  • Publish and maintain an interactive and dynamic website.
  • Recruit from EAA National membership roster.
  • Utilize social media (e.g., Facebook, Social Flight. Meet-Up, etc.) to reach new markets of aviation enthusiasts.

• Flying
  • Brunch-Bunch Fliers encouraging non-pilots to accompany them as guests on outings.
  • Pilot proficiency events.
  • Training to optimize flight altitudes, and tips for flying into non-towered airports.

• Membership education
  • Preparation for making “First Flight” in homebuilts.
  • Education and  compliance with FAA policy of dual pilots on first flights.
  • Cooper-Harper scale testing methods for ergonomic flight-control handling.
  • Proficient-efficient piloting.
  • Optimal transitioning to Glass panel from steam gauge avionics.
  • Flying with icing conditions.

• Membership active involvement
  • Strive to have each member volunteer to voice her/his ideas and actively participate in the direction and improvement of our Chapter.
  • Make job functions available for members to be Coordinators of Core Objectives.

Counters