Happy October!
As we approach Halloween we have had another record setting month – again both for temperatures and precipitation levels. Sounds like the next 5 months will be interesting as El Nino rolls upon us. I would like to thank our club members once again for keeping off of the runway immediately after the rain stops. We have had a small amount of footprints to deal with, but nothing compared to last year.
Thanks to Jeff Struthers who stepped up to take over duties as Electroglide Master! We look forward to this event continuing under his direction. I believe fellow board member George R. is running this month’s fun fly event. On that note, I would like to encourage you all to volunteer periodically to run or assist with an event. It’s never hard and you get to meet people outside of your normal group. If you have an event in mind that you think our members would enjoy, feel free to bring it up to a board member for inclusion in our discussions at the board meeting.
The club sent numerous e-mails to all members before the weekend of the 10th that the field would be closed without exception from the evening of the 10th until the afternoon of the 12th due to NOTAMS (a written notification issued to pilots before a flight, advising them of circumstances relating to the state of flying to include unmanned and model aircraft) Issued to restrict all flight activities within a 30 mile radius of Lindbergh field (we are a hair over 3 miles away). Jim went down and double locked the gate to keep people out. This is VERY SERIOUS. If we are documented as having model/hobby aircraft in the air within 30 miles of the airport while Air Force One is in the area that WILL be the last day of flying EVER – did I say EVER??? at our site. Pay attention to this! If anyone cuts the lock off and is flying in a restricted situation they will be asked to leave the club (I would vote permanently).
Everybody should have received their Ballots for AMA District X Vice President. Please take the few moments and vote. Ours is one of the largest clubs in the District so our vote can make a difference in the election. The nominees are Jerry Nueberger, the current president of the Miramar R/C Flyers, and the incumbent VP Lawrence Tougas who joined us at the September meeting/fun fly to say a few words.
While on the subject of elections, our year is coming to an end and starting October 24th we will be accepting nominations for the 2016 Board of Directors. While most of our current board has indicated their desire to maintain their current positions next year, I encourage each member to reflect upon themselves and decide if they feel they can bring something to the table that will benefit the club as a whole. The Board of Directors are responsible for safely guiding the club for the year. They make all business decisions regarding the clubs operation, serve as grievance arbitrators, and have the ability to suspend, revoke, and re-instate membership as mandated by club by-laws. Board members are volunteers and as such do not get paid for their services, and they pay for their memberships just like everyone else. Nominations will be open from October 24th until the November 21st meeting at which time the vote will take place. Nominations can be made this weekend at the meeting, in person or via e-mail to a board member during the open period, or the morning of the vote. If desired, each nominee can have a few moments to speak before the vote.
As we near the end of the year we are still accepting new member requests for people wanting to join the club for the last quarter of 2015. I would like to remind current members that we are not able to accept renewals for 2016 until it is announced mid-November that our system has been configured to accept the new year. If you attempt to renew early, there will be a bit of a hassle as we have no choice but to return your payment. There has been a change in the way AMA processes their membership that can cause a timing conflict between their membership periods and ours. The best way to avoid conflict is to ask that all current members make a determined effort to renew their current AMA membership BEFORE it actually expires on December 31st.
As put out last month our holiday banquet will be happening on 16 Jan at the 94th Aero Squadron. It will be a GREAT time and there should be an amazing raffle this year. Just like last year we will be asking a small fee to RSVP your seat, give us accurate numbers for laying in the food, and pitch in a little more towards the raffle prizes. We are expecting approximately 150 attendees with room for more if we identify early. This will be a family friendly event (water/soft drinks). The fee will be $5.00 per person and can be paid in cash directly to any board member or sent to me Via PayPal using the gift or family option. Do not send it as a merchandise purchase unless you also pay the fee – the club needs $5 per person. To keep one person from buying a lot of tickets and walking away with 2/3 of the prizes, there will be one ticket per paid guest. My Paypal address is Bradley.bender@cox.net Please make sure your full name is in the comments block as I have seen many of your addresses and some are difficult to figure out who the owner is… I will be collecting between now and November 30.
This months fun fly event on the 24th will be the wildly popular POKER FLY which only requires a pilot take off and land a couple of full flights (safely) to earn cards towards your deck. Winning hands get prizes – no special skills required so EVERYONE (Fred!) can join in. Following the fun fly will be the club meeting (nominations ). Breaking from the norm, the club officers will not be providing lunch as there will be a food truck Tasty Sliders on site in support of a separate event going on at the Heli-pad. Continuing that thought – the Heli-pad will be closed from 08:00am to 4:00pm in support of IDRA FPV drone racing. Also, unless you are using DJI Lightbridge all FPV flying from the main runway will be restricted to allow the racers full access to channels.
Have a great month and don’t forget to dust off the night flyers as daylight savings time ends on Nov. 1st!
Brad
