Scholarship Report

Alexis Stramel has continued to make exceptional progress throughout her flight training at Falcon AeroLab and is currently in the final stages of preparation for her Private Pilot checkride. Alexis is the only student at Falcon AeroLab to have successfully soloed all three of our training aircraft, including:

• N23117 – Cessna 150
• N909DB – Cessna 172R
• N5336G – T-41

At this time, Alexis has completed all but 0.4 hours of her required solo XC flight training hours and 2.6 hours of simulated instrument necessary for the Private Pilot Certificate, including:

• Required solo flight hours
• Night flight requirements
• All additional training requirements

She is currently focused on checkride preparation and refining maneuvers, procedures, and oral knowledge in anticipation of her upcoming examination. We still need to fulfill the following requirements.

• 2.6 hours simulated instrument training
• 0.4 solo XC time

Alexis’s Private Pilot checkride is currently scheduled for late June with a DPE out of New Mexico by the Name of Geoff Veneklasen. She will be completing the checkride in N909DB, the Cessna 172R aircraft she has trained extensively in throughout her flight program.

She has recently completed her academic school year and is scheduled to take her FAA Private Pilot License (PPL) Written Exam at the end of May. We will provide a follow-up update with her exam results as soon as she completes the test.

Current Flight Time Summary:

• Total Flight Hours: 65
• Solo Flight Hours: 9.6
• Solo XC Hours: 4.6
• Night Flight Hours: 3.2
• Simulated Instrument Hours: 0.4

Newsletter - June 2026

Message from the President

May was another successful month for our chapter. Our coffee and donuts again turned out pretty good. Zoe purchased some business cards for the chapter, and we were handing those out to parents and other interested people. They were a test run, and they really helped in providing everyone a small reminder of who we are and how to get more information. We didn’t fly that many kids due to weather and a lot of no-shows. But it was still a very successful day. Our Learn to Fly event started out very eventfully with a bad date listed from EAA national. We submitted a chapter blast, but there was a mistype during submission from national. Even with that mistake, I was told that there was still a great turnout. We ended up flying 6 adults, but were unable to fly an additional 3, due to weather. We have those individual’s information, so we will be reaching out to try and get them a flight asap.

I really want to thank George Patty and Rich for taking care of our Ray Scholarship interviews. They will be selecting two deserving individuals to receive this year’s scholarship awards. We spoke at the last board meeting, and George mentioned that all the kids that were interviewed did an outstanding job. I think it’s safe to believe that the two awardees that are selected will be truly deserving of the scholarships.

June’s Young Eagle event will be coming up this week, and I’m sure you’re in good hands. I will again be out of state, but I will be back in town for the project tour on 20 Jun 2026. That will be from 9am – noon for on airport tours. Then we’ll break for lunch at the MLAA hanger for burgers and maybe brats. We’re still settling the menu, but I expect it to be great. This is our first grilling event for the year, so we need volunteers to man the grill and get the tables and food ready for serving. I know everyone wants to see the projects, but we also need help with our chapter. So please consider sparing a little of your time helping man the grill or setting up. I don’t see why you can’t see some of the projects and still help.

I am settling the project tour list, and right now, I have 8 projects listed for on the airport, and only two off airport projects. So please contact me ASAP at the email below if you want to be included in the project tour on 20 June 2026. I am already reaching out to the individuals that I believe are on the list. So, if I have not contacted you, and you’d like to be included in the tour, then please let me know again since it looks like I must have missed you.

I hope you’ve all had a chance to look at our new website. We’re continuing to work out the wrinkles, but it’s looking amazing so far. I know we just went live with our online applications, and we managed to gain 10 new members just through that mechanism alone. We look forward to your input as we build this new website. We need to fill in some of the pictures that are missing and get our Forum up and running. If you have not gotten your login details worked out, then please let us know and we’ll be glad to help get you logged in. This will be beneficial for controlling access to more closely guarded information in the future.

We will not be having our July monthly meeting, so please come out to our Young Eagles and coffee & donut event in July. We look forward to seeing you there.

Important Announcements

Free Van's kit crates. Falcon Aerolab has two empty RV12 crates in the MLAA hangar that are free. The canopy crate is 73Lx49wx28h and the engine crate is 73x48x26. All you need to do is remove them prior to June 30th. Contact Doug DalSoglio, 719-640-8268.

We’re excited to announce that our chapter will be hosting Pancake Breakfast at Airventure Oshkosh in Camp Scholler on Tuesday, July 21st. We’re looking for volunteers to help make this event a success—if
you’re going to Oshkosh this year and are interesting helping, please email us at board@eaa72.org. Stay tuned for exact timing and more details as we get closer.