Light Aircraft Association

Well folks, June is nearly here which means it's time for our East Midlands Strut meeting. As usual, we will meet at 7:30pm on the 3rd June at The Plough, Main St, Normanton on Soar, Loughborough, LE12 5HB. They should be serving food again for those who like to eat there, but please check beforehan...

Good evening everyone,  I hope you are enjoying the fine weather we are having and have been able to take advantage of it to do a bit of aviating. The next meeting of the East Midlands LAA Strut will be at 7:30pm on Tuesday 6th May at The Plough, Main St, Normanton on Soar, Loughborough, LE12 5HB. T...

Hi everyone, Firstly the good news: the next East Midlands LAA Strut meeting is on Tuesday the 1st April at 7:30pm at The Plough, Main St, Normanton on Soar, LE12 5HB, use of the back room confirmed by phone this evening so we are good to go. The bad news is that our speaker has had to pull out at s...

How time flies - it is already nearly March and the next meeting of the East Midlands LAA Strut is 7:30pm on Tuesday the 4th March at The Plough, Main Street, Normanton on Soar, nr Loughborough, LE12 5HB. Please note that due to The Plough still operating a reduced winter service, there will be no f...

I should add that I bought a cheap B&Q table saw and a planer thicknesser from Screwfix. I got away with it but it might help to talk to a local wood yard with the right kit to process the wood for you - be prepared for a lot of wastage for the thinner sections!

Tony Razzell

I have had success with getting wood from Stones boat builders who are based in Salcombe. They have space at a depot in Exeter where I went down to select Douglas Fir for my Menestrel wing spar (see the recent article in Light Aviation). I believe that they have supplied Sitka Spruce to the Comet Ra...

Hi everyone, The next meeting of the East Midlands LAA Strut will be from 7:30pm on the 4th Feb. As mentioned for last month's meeting, we will have to have the 4th February meeting on Zoom due to The Plough being closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Martin Jones has kindly offered the talk that he reco...

Hi everyone, I have just been informed that The Plough at Normanton on Soar is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays in January and February!  I'm disappointed that they did not contact me about this as I had made a booking for the 7th January in December which they had accepted. This unfortunately means t...

Hello and a very Happy New Year to everyone, here's hoping for a year of decent flying weather! Nearly a month has gone by since our Strut Christmas meal, and our next meeting will be on Tuesday 7th January, 7:30pm at The Plough, Main St, Normanton on Soar, nr. Loughborough, LE12 5HB. We will be hav...

I agree that a simple stress assessment would be a good idea. There is information available online on the strength of PETG and other 3D print filament materials. A quick google search yielded this paper for example: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667022424000355 The 3D printing...

I'd be interested in where you get to with this question. I've made a few small pieces by 3D printing for my Menestrel (vent/inspection panel in the front turtledeck bulkhead, COM antenna mounts so far). Anything that is basically non-structural should be considered as a possible candidate for 3D pr...

The next meeting of the East Midlands LAA Strut will be on Tuesday 1st October, 7:30pm for 8:00pm start at The Plough, Main St, Normanton on Soar, nr Loughborough, LE12 5HB. This month I am delighted to welcome Gordon Moir who will be talking about his experiences flying to the EAA Oshkosh fly-in. H...

I'll be interested in the response to your question for when I install the Revmaster 2100D into my Menestrel, but my understanding is that cooling in VWs is important, and the more understanding you have of temperatures the better.

Tony Razzell

Hi everyone, I hope that you are having a good summer and have been able to get in the air for those who fly.  The next meeting of the East Midlands LAA Strut will be at 7:30pm for an 8:00pm talk on the 3rd Sept at The Plough, Main St, Normanton on Soar, nr Loughborough, LE12 5HB. This month, we wil...

Hi everyone, I hope that you are having a great summer and getting some aviation in for those that fly. I've been to Fenland today for lunch with my wife Cathy and we were treated to a pair of Chipmunks based there doing a run and break, plus a pair of F16s (I think) at 5-10k ft doing a mock dogfigh...