Past Meetings

Archive of past meeting agendas, learning resources, and pictures of activities. Also includes special events and learning opportunities attended by Explorers. Visit the Home and Next Event page for the calendar of upcoming events.

May 13, 2026 - Post & Club Meeting

Discovering the importance of balance and center of gravity (CG) with hands-on activities led by Rachna Patel.

Try balancing on one leg with eyes closed while moving your head. Turbulence simulated by your head movement causes you to feel more off-balance.
Try finding the center of gravity of a ladle or serving spoon by balancing it on one of your fingers. The balance of the ladle depends on how much mass is on either side of your finger (it balances when your finger is at the center of gravity).

Experimenting with weighting paper airplanes to adjust their center of gravity to fly straighter and further.
Playing Suspend, a balancing game where players compete to balance all of their share of 24 pieces without having them touch the table or fall. Watch a video of people playing Suspend.
Viewing planes on the RHV tarmac, seeing if we can identify their CGs. Also continuing to learn about different plane types.

Balancing on one leg with eyes closed while moving your head is harder than you think!

Finding the center of gravity of a ladle.

Constructing paper airplanes with balance *and* aerodynamics in mind.

Viewing planes on the RHV tarmac, seeing if we can identify their CGs.

Viewing planes on the RHV tarmac, some are in a state of disrepair/disassembly, allowing us to see their inner workings.

May 9, 2026 - Scout-O-Rama

Tabling at Scout-O-Rama at History Park, San Jose
Demonstrating our Wind Tunnel
Our booth was between Hiller Aviation and Sea Scout Ship 300. Hiller had a portable flight simulator, and Ship 300 brought 3 boats - a Sunfish sailboat, a kayak, and a Puddle Duck Racer (PDRacer) under construction.
Learn more about the annual Scout-O-Rama event

Post 747 and Club 707 booth in between Hiller Aviation (right) and Sea Scout Ship 300 (left)

Sea Scouts. David (left) is also an explorer with Post 747!

Sea Scouts. Edwin, Nathan, and Sofia are also members of Post 747!

Sea Scout Ship 300's current project, a Puddle Duck Racer (PDRacer).

Sea Scouts with Sunfish sailboat and Dagger kayak.

April 19, 2026 - Metal Workshop with EAA 20

Hosted by EAA 20 at San Carlos Airport

The workshop taught basic riveting and metal bending to make a picture frame.

Pre-cut sheet metal was aligned and marked to prepare for drilling pilot holes.

Pilot holes were drilled using a drill press.

Pilot holes were dimpled to create a recess for the rivet to sit flush with the surface.

Rivets were used to secure the frame to the backing, and to attach an EAA badge.

Hand riveters were used with dimple and rivet attachments.

Cleco fasteners were used to hold pieces together while riveting.

EAA 20 has built two Van RV-12s. Many of their members have gotten certified in the planes they helped build! Click here to learn more about their build projects.

Two airfoils were on display/in storage in their workshop hangar.

The EAA 20 workshop hangar at San Carlos Airport.

April 8, 2026 - Post & Club Meeting

Walked through RHV Airfield to look at planes and surrounding facilities (Nice Air flight school, Tradewinds Aviation flight school, etc)
Hands-on learning by balancing model aircraft propellers and rotors in a magnetic balancer (see images in gallery below).
Hands-on learning with model aircraft assembly drawings. This drawing is for this plane. More drawings can be found in the image gallery below.
View presentation.
Download Meeting Agenda

DC Motor rotor armature and commutator (left) and stator (right)

Wound rotor motor, note the flat surface on the shaft for securing it to components like keys or pulleys

Wound rotor motor, note the "holes" (near the outer edge) where material has been removed for balancing

ERCO Ercoupe with two venturi meters on either side. Click here to learn more about the ERCO Ercoupe.

March 11, 2026 - Post & Club Meeting

Discovering and applying principles of aerodynamics and engineering by constructing and testing paper airplanes. A Zap! Extra Complete Paper Plane Challenge kit and included book were used to guide the explorers in their experiments. Constructed planes were then flown in various challenges and competitions to test their airworthiness.
Discussing upcoming projects, events, and opportunities. View presentation.
Explorers to browse the Post 747 website and share what Careers and Activities interest them.
Download Meeting Agenda

February 11, 2026 - Post & Club Meeting

Surveying using a transit
Learning about electricity with a Jacob's Ladder
Explorers to browse the Post 747 website and share what Careers and Activities interest them.
Download Meeting Agenda

January 14, 2026 - Post & Club Meeting

Wind Tunnel experiments with airfoil, toy cars, and toy mammoth.
New explorer sign-ups
Explorers to browse the Post 747 website and share what Careers and Activities interest them.
Download Meeting Agenda

Aviation Career Exploring

Post 747

&

Club 707

San Jose, California, USA