--- title: 'Joe Gauthier Flies West' url: 'https://www.eaa27.org/joe-gauthier-flies-west' markdown: 'https://www.eaa27.org/joe-gauthier-flies-west.md' date: '2024-07-23' description: "We're saddened to report that Joe Gauthier passed away this morning. Joe was a major presence in the homebuilding and aircraft restoration world. He built five planes and helped countless others with theirs as a tech counselor. He was a CFI and active flight advisor. He was an experimental test pil…" taxonomy: category: - blog tag: - journal - 'Joe Gauther' - CFI - DAR - 'Tony Bingelis' --- ![gold chapter](https://www.eaa27.org/user/themes/eaa-mods/images/logo.png) # [Joe Gauthier Flies West](https://www.eaa27.org/joe-gauthier-flies-west) 23rd Jul 2024 ![](https://www.eaa27.org/images/4/2/8/4/3/428434c4f803c152f282690f8bdb2f6da30a830a-img9273.jpg) We're saddened to report that Joe Gauthier passed away this morning. Joe was a major presence in the homebuilding and aircraft restoration world. He built five planes and helped countless others with theirs as a tech counselor. He was a CFI and active flight advisor. He was an experimental test pilot and flew well over one hundred first flights of newly finished planes. In 2007 he received the Society of Experimental Test Pilots "Spirit of Flight" award. In 1991, Joe received the EAA's President Award which allows the EAA leadership to personally acknowledge members whose participation and contributions represent the "essence" of EAA. When the EAA created the Tony Bingelis Award to recognize EAA technical counselors for dedicated service and/or significant contributions in assisting members to build and restore aircraft in 2003, Joe was the inaugural winner. When the FAA created the Designated Airworthiness Representative, or DAR, program in 2004 to help streamline experimental aircraft inspections, Joe was the first again. He did the FAA's first AB-DAR inspection on David Faile's RV-6. Joe was a member of EAA's Homebuilt Advisory Council and worked diligently on a set of test flight standards called XP3 which later evolved into the EAA's "Flight Test Manual" Joe was an active member of EAA Chapter 166 in Hartford but also contributed a lot to Chapter 27. He will be greatly missed. (photos by Rick Beebe and Dave Prizio) [ Previous Post](https://www.eaa27.org/chapter-27-is-gold-again) [Next Post ](https://www.eaa27.org/registration-for-our-fall-young-eagles-rally-opens-september-28) # Joe Gauthier Flies West ## Search ## Next Meeting ### Saturday, September 19, 2026 70th Anniversary Picnic! --- ## Meetings Meetings are generally held at 10am on the third Sunday of the month in the FBO at **Meriden-Markham Municipal Airport**(KMMK) 213 Evansville Avenue Meriden, CT 06451 [See map](http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=213%20Evansville%20Ave&city=Meriden&state=CT&zipcode=06451-5155&country=US&title=%3Cb%3E213%20Evansville%20Ave%3C%2Fb%3E%3Cbr%20%2F%3E%20Meriden%2C%20CT%2006451-5155%2C%20%20US&cid=lfmaplink2&name=) For more information contact Rick Beebe, Membership Coordinator --- ## Upcoming Events | Date | Event | |---|---| | 9/19/2026 | Chapter Picnic & 70th Anniversary at MMK | | 10/3/2026 | Young Eagles Rally, 9-3 at MMK | | 10/18/2026 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 10/25/2026 | Run the Runway 5K Rally | | 11/15/2026 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 1/9/2027 | Holiday Banquet, 5pm Manor Inn, Southington | | 1/17/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 2/21/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 3/21/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 4/18/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 5/16/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 6/12/2027 | International Young Eagles Day | | 6/27/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 7/26 - 8/1/2027 | EAA AirVenture Oshkosh | | 8/22/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 9/19/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 10/17/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | | 11/21/2027 | Chapter Meeting, 10:00am at MMK | This site was built using [Grav](http://getgrav.org) and the [Open Matter Course Hub](http://learn.hibbittsdesign.org/coursehub). Copyright 2025, EAA Chapter 27 --- ## Navigation - Parent: [Home](https://www.eaa27.org/index.md) - Previous: [Registration for our Fall Young Eagles Rally opens September 28](https://www.eaa27.org/registration-for-our-fall-young-eagles-rally-opens-september-28.md) - Next: [Chapter 27 is Gold again!](https://www.eaa27.org/chapter-27-is-gold-again.md)