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What is EAA Chapter 83?
EAA Chapter 83 is the Terre Haute chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association. EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT??!!!??! That may sound a little outrageous, but Experimental is simply a category established by the FAA for certification of certain types of aircraft. There is nothing wild or untested about most experimental aircraft.
Chapter 83 is the largest active pilot's club in the area. Many, but not all, of our members are pilots. Some just like flying and hanging around airports. Many members have their own airplanes and many do not. Some members own and fly aircraft certified in the experimental category, but most have typical small airplanes manufactured by Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft, Mooney, Aeronca, Grumman, Luscombe, Stinson, Taylorcraft, North American, and others. Presently, our chapter has about 85 members who collectively own 58 aircraft including 41 regular aircraft, 14 experimentals, and 3 aircraft under construction or restoration.
We have monthly meetings, usually on Saturdays at noon, that change location each month, and we typically get 25 to 50 people at a meeting. We keep our members informed with our great monthly newsletter. In the winter, our meetings are at various indoor locations like ISU, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the HUF FBO, and a couple of our members' aircraft shops. During the flying months (usually April to November), we have fly-in meetings at local airports. On a nice Saturday, 15 to 25 members might fly their planes to a meeting. Our meetings range west from Casey, IL., and east to Monrovia, north to Rockville, and south to Bloomfield, but we also have several meetings in and around Terre Haute. There are more airports around than you might think. In fact, there are 6 hard surfaced and a bunch of grass airstrips within a 20 minute flight from Terre Haute.
Some of our meetings have programs on topics like flying WWII aircraft, restoration techniques, and flight safety issues, but many meetings just feature "hangar flying," which happens when a bunch of pilots, ex-pilots, and aviation enthusiasts hang around airplanes and lie to each other. In case you didn't know, any time spent flying or talking about it is not deducted from your total life span.
If you would like to join, visit as a guest, or receive more information on the EAA or Chapter 83, please email Bill Foraker at SOB@eaa83.net
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