Yearly Archives: 2019

178 posts

Chairman’s Corner for Dec 2019 – Jan 2020

President's Corner

Hey guys, I hope Christmas brought you all of the little goodies you were hoping for!

I wish everybody a happy New Year’s and I hope 2020 is the year that meet your expectations.

Quite a few things to talk about as we finish up 2019, so I’ll jump right into it. Thank you everybody for respecting the altitude limitations that have been placed on us by the FAA and air traffic control, and keeping your aircraft below the 200 foot ceiling imposed upon us. Like you, I am unhappy with the decrease, but at the current time this is our ceiling. Quan, Eric, and Steve Manganelli will be dealing with air traffic control and the FAA in the future to see if we can get our flight ceiling restored to at or near 400 feet – which was our previous limit.

 We had elections for the Board of Directors in the end of November, and I would like to welcome the board members for 2020. Tony Blackhurst is again our President, stepping in as vice president is Steve Manganelli, Quan Nguyen carries over his duties as treasurer, Ken Dresser continues the secretary and as our monthly FUNFLY event coordinator, Jeff Struthers is new to the board as one of our members at large, Carl Cox continues as a member at large, and Eric Shapiro also continues as a member at large. As the previous President, I will continue as Chairman. Thanks to all of you for stepping up to help guide our club into 2020. George Sullivan is stepping away from the Board of Directors, but will continue on as our membership coordinator. Steve Belknap, of course, continues as our editor for SEFFSD newsletters and the manager for our website. A great big “THANK YOU” to all mentioned for stepping up instead of stepping back!

2020 membership is in progress. All 2019 club memberships expire At midnight on December 31. There are no exceptions. The date printed on the bottom of your membership cards denoted your AMA expiration date – not the club member expiration date. We do not pro-rate, and there are no 2-year memberships for SEFSD. George has designed and is printing the new 2020 badges. For those of you who don’t pick up your badge on badge day at the field, Jan 4th, you should receive them in the mail within the first couple weeks of January. Have you renewed yet? There’s no reason to wait! Once you have your AMA membership for 2020 you can renew your club membership at  https://sefsd.azurewebsites.net/VerifyAma  and 2019 members can purchase their tickets to the holiday banquet at https://sefsd.azurewebsites.net/EventTicket .  As of this writing, there are about 30 seats remaining to the holiday banquet at the Harbor House at 6PM on Saturday, Jan 18th. I highly recommend you get your seats reserved, it will be a great event again this year with lots of raffle prizes and also- like last year, prizes for the ladies.

We have received a lot of rain over the last month and the field is in very fine condition. I really appreciate the members staying off of the field when it’s damp or muddy. Please continue with this trend, all will appreciate it! A couple things to mention from a safety standpoint since we seem to have past members who forget some basics, and new members coming in from other clubs. Unless taking off or landing, please keep your aircraft over the weeds at the far edge of the field. High speed passes do not belong over the fence! One small error and your aircraft is in somebody’s face or in somebody’s vehicle. If you know you are losing control of your aircraft you should be the first to speaking up, warning other pilots that you have an issue. A loud “ HEADS UP!” or “LOOK OUT!” could stop a potential visit to the emergency room. Also, please call out loudly announcing your take offs, landings, and anytime you step out of a gate or from the field onto the runway. We continue to have issues of members stepping out – without announcement – right in the path of aircraft that are landing or taking off. The pilots are concentrating on their aircrafts, it’s on you to call out – and just as important, to turn your head and LOOK to ensure it is safe. Let’s be safe!

Now is also a good time to take a look at your first aid gear and see if it’s still up to your expectation. While some items don’t have an expiration date, some do – and you don’t want to be in need of something that you can’t use. Maybe a look at your extinguishers is also justifiable?

Weather permitting, we will have badge day at the field on Saturday, January 4. This will be an opportunity to come to the field grab a slice of pizza and save the club some postage by collecting your badge in person. New members who need keys for the gate in the bathroom can purchase them at this time for our cost, which is three dollars apiece.

There will be some changes to the clubs monthly events for 2020. Popwing Racing has officially ended due to the non-availability of Popwings. There have been a few suggestions of other aircraft to use as alternates. However, our Popwing master (Thanks JIMMY) for the last several years is currently too busy to run the race series for the year… If you have an aircraft to suggest that is inexpensive and readily available *AND* you would like to take over as race master for the year, please bring your suggestions to Tony, Steve, or myself. The current height limitations are forcing us to modify the electro-glide event, however, It will continue on the 3rd Saturday monthly with a slightly different format. The F5B, F5D teams will also continue with a few modifications, and their 2020 schedule should be on the Calendar within a few weeks. Night flying is also currently on hold per our agreement with ATC at Lindburgh, but hopefully we can have that discussion and renew night operations shortly…

Mark Davis has been our hot dog master for the last year, and he has done an amazing job!! THANKS Mark!  His work plan for this year has a lot more travel in it and we are looking for a volunteer to take over on fun fly days. It involved moving/taking custody of the club grill, and purchasing/bringing the supplies (Dogs, Buns, Condiments, Chips, and Beverages) You will be reimbursed by the club. Please let us know if you would like to help!

There is no event this month with so many on travel. Kenny is making the event calendar for 2020 now, If you want to suggest something new, let me know and I will pass it on.

Here’s to a Happy and Healthy New Year!!

Brad

 

Adventure Multiplex Panda, Fly the Thing

Builds & Reviews

By Carl Murphy

Flight (10) 11 End of January year 2018 (So.) The wind swirls over the hills and between the apartment buildings where I live, so, I was way off, ninety degrees on the wind direction and half down on the strength. Up in the Tanus Hills, where I expected the wind to be blowing up the saddle, the wind was blowing up a forested hill and back down. Which is normally too turbulent to fly a plane of this type, except that, right at the saddle is a pocket of not much swirl and I’m here. The Panda flew for twelve minutes, just not right and it was quickly evident this is a still air airplane. I’ve been flying a medium speed, way up powered Mentor which responds directly to control inputs, I had to relearn how to fly with just ruder and elevator. Even full stick throw, which seemingly doesn’t do enough, until putting full amps to the Panda.

Flight 12 same day At the nearest slope soaring hill (38) km away. With rain or snow every other day and the winter darkness of this fifty degrees north latitude I’ve been stuck in a tunnel for months, I just had to get out some. This can be a gently slope soaring experience looking out over the valley. Instead the wind is blowing up the slight slope covered with trees, conditions aloft are turbulent, the view under the clouds a thousand feet up clear.   The Panda flew for fifteen minutes, this time using all the down trim the transmitter had and holding the elevator down from stick neutral too.

Flight 13 I marked the elevator for reference, then moved the aileron one tooth at the servo arm. Now it needs all the up trim and some more holding down. The flight went twenty minutes. Considering the unsuitable flying conditions and that the battery still had a third more usable charge there was more to be had.

I put my Reinforced Mentor in the air, what a difference.

I reset the full flying elevator to correct neutral. That (1/16) inch off (about one and a half millimeters) as measured at the leading edge of the full flying stab is likely why the original owner gave up on this Panda although that casting lip at the wings leading edge made it worse too. It is now up for sale or trade.

 

A Multiplex Panda

A True ARF   Easy to Carry Ok to Fly

No Longer In Production  

Conclusion

I could add more rudder and elevator (half an hour, nominal cost), even add in ailerons (two to three hours, thirty to forty bucks, plus forty grams) and more power (an hour or two, fifty to a couple of hundred bucks). But I won’t. They had a near identical RC airplane with from the factory ailerons (also discontinued, although a local store in Rhein-Main has a new one in stock) I won’t be looking for one at any price. Multiplex insisted if it had their name on it that the quality would be up to their high standards, there can’t have been any profit for them with the Panda at what they sold for. Kind of like the Edsel, the Panda didn’t fit a need for when it came out. Unlike the Edsel though (the Edsel may have set the all time record for poor build quality of American cars) the Panda quality was consistently rather better than comparable ARFs. You get what you pay for! Continue reading →

Chairman’s Corner for Nov./Dec. 2019

President's Corner

Hey folks!

Welcome to the fall! Hopefully the hottest days and the red flag warnings are behind us. With rain in the forecast as I write this, the field should smooth itself out and be in AMAZING shape for the rest of the year.

One major point of interest this month for the club is the agreement coming out of Lindbergh air traffic control which is based upon changes from the FAA regarding the use of small unmanned aircraft systems within 5 miles of an operational airport. I know other board members will be discussing the requirements, so I won’t go too deep. Starting December 1 we will have to have a really good look at how high we are flying at our site. The agreement presented to us by the FAA Western Service Center will limit flights at our site to 200 ft AGL.  Quan has engaged the air traffic control center in an attempt to discuss options. More as we go into 2020.

We had a very successful Nightfly event the evening of November 10. Thank you Ken Dresser for organizing it! About a dozen pilots and quite a few family members showed up at dusk for pizza and fun. We may look at a night fly again as we move into 2020. However, right now part of the memorandum with air traffic control states no flying from dusk to dawn, but one fight at a time…

As we mentioned last month, our post holiday banquet for 2019 will again be held at the Harbor House on 18 Jan. Like last year, there will be $20 collected for each attendee which will cover an amazing meal, good times with family and friends, and your raffle ticket for some amazing prizes. As last year, there will be prizes for fliers and spouses. Quan is using his computing expertise to automate the process to purchase your tickets. Expect to hear more from him, and a blast from the club during the first week of December as ticket sales open. Seating will again be limited to 130 members and their guests, and will only be available to members for the 2019 calendar year. Buy your tickets early to ensure you attend!

Also, kicking off at the beginning of December will be renewals for a club membership for 2020. It looks like we will finish 2019 with 345 members. If you know you are going to join for 2020, please get it done early so we can get your badge to you early Jan! Quan will be shifting over the membership application to 2020 on the website the beginning of December. The system will again validate that your AMA membership is up-to-date before allowing you to proceed for payment. Have you purchased next years AMA yet? If you need your card quickly, please mail either Quan or myself and let us know.

This Saturday, 23 November, we will have the club meeting which will include the end of year vote for club officers to carry us into 2020. I have had a couple members step up to fill board positions for departing members. Steve Manganelli has volunteered himself as your vice president, and Jeff Struthers has stepped up to fill an open member at large position. I fully expect both of them to provide valuable insights in the future guidance of our club. If you have decided to nominate yourself last minute, I will be unable to send ballots out via email, and will need you to present yourself at the meeting with your nomination for any club officer position.

The Fun Fly event which will be held prior to the club meeting on the 23rd will be Warbird Day. Between approximately 10 AM and noon, flying will be restricted to any aircraft that has fought in any conflict in the world. Ken Dresser, your new master of fun, well set the rules allowing people a chance at a $150 worth of gift certificate to Discount Hobby Warehouse.

I would like to close out this month with a big THANK YOU to a lot of people who have went above and beyond in supporting the club and it’s endeavors this year. For our yearly club events, I want to shout out to Jim Bonnardel, and Jeff Struthers. Thank both of you for running pop wing racing and electroglide so well. Right now their futures are unclear, But hopefully we can figure something out as we move ahead. Thanks Ken Dresser for stepping in to make the monthly events a lot of fun.  I also want to thank Dennis Laberge for all of his support and keeping the site maintained, from pulling weeds, to assisting with maintenance of the tables, and driving the roller for hours when we are maintaining the field, Dennis is always there when there is work to be done with a smile on his face. Carl Cox and Scott Vance also step up whenever we ask for a work party. Another to Jim Bonnardel for his time and effort s getting the fencing right at the rotorplex, and replacing numerous tables with a lasting solution.  Please take a chance to say THANK YOU to John Weaver the next time you see him at Discount Hobbies for Giving us a break on the Fun Fly raffle prizes which lets us give back even more to the members. Thank you Steve Belknap for managing our website and putting together this newsletter for your monthly reading pleasure. A SUPER Big shout out to Mark Davis for taking care of us on Fun Fly/meeting days with the hot dogs and refreshments. His Salsa is the best!!, and Finally a thank you to our 2019 Board of directors for stepping to the plate this past year.

THANK YOU!

Brad

President’s Corner for Nov./Dec. 2019

President's Corner

Hey pilots,

We are coming to the end of the year and I want to thank everybody for a great year of flying. I would like to remind everybody that we are voting this month for club officers. So if there’s anybody you would like to nominate, please do so.  If you want to nominate yourself, that’s fine as well. We will be holding the vote at this months meeting which is on November 23. Please have a say in what your club does and how it operates. 
We have received a response to our LOA from the FAA. As of December 1, we are restricted to a 200 foot altitude and daylight hours only. I know this is not ideal but we are still allowed to fly and have access to our flying field. We are negotiating with the FAA and hope to bring our flight ceiling back up to 400 feet but in the meantime please respect the altitude change until further notice. We know 200 feet is low for some pilots we are doing what we can to bring that back up so please be respectful and fly to 200 feet. We want to be back at 400 feet and are working hard to get there and get it done so please be patient with us. This is ongoing and we will keep you informed. 
We will be holding our Christmas party on January 18. We will be reserving the harbor house again this year and are expecting around 130 seats to be available. Tickets will be $20 apiece so first come first serve. Once 130 have been sold there will be no more seats available. We always have a great time at the party and hope to see you all there. 
I want to thank you all again for bringing your fire extinguishers. I have seen a lot more fire extinguishers at the field which is great, keep it up. You guys are awesome and I hope to serve you better in the coming year so please feel free to contact me and give me any input that you have.  Thank you again. 
 
Sincerely 

Tony Blackhurst. 

Warbird Day

Events

November’s Event

 

Warbird Day

 

This Saturday, November 23, 2019.

Bring down all your warbirds for this pilot choice
fun fly event.

Pilot meeting at 10 a.m. + or – 10 minutes. 

If it flew during a conflict, then it’s a warbird.

Any questions contact: Ken at (858) 405-0421

AMA Expo East and West Come to an End

General Interest

“MUNCIE—After a good 20-year run, AMA Expo as we know it, has come to an end. AMA officials announced the decision at this year’s show AMA Expo West, held November 1-3, in Pomona, California, after the AMA Executive Council voted to end the show.

In 1999, AMA acquired what was then known as the International Modelers Show (IMS), from Bill and Anita Northrop. The couple founded the event in 1978, with the first IMS held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. They later moved it to Pasadena, California, where it was held for 20 years until it was acquired by AMA.

After AMA purchased the show, its name was changed to AMA Convention, then to AMA Expo. For many years, the trade show was held at the Ontario Convention Center, in Ontario, California. The event traditionally took place in early January each year.

In 2018, AMA Expo West was held twice. The first was held in January in Ontario, but the second AMA Expo West that year took place November 2-4 at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California. The show was moved to the fall in hopes of attracting Christmas shoppers. The new venue also provided space for outdoor flying.

In 2019, the January AMA Expo West was eliminated, and the event was again held in Pomona in November.

Since Bill and Anita first established the trade show, the aeromodeling industry, and how modelers shop, have changed tremendously. When the event began, AMA members came from far and wide to catch a glimpse of the newest products. Rows and rows of vendor booths showed off new goods, with the hopes of exciting potential and returning customers.

Years later, we saw a boom in e-commerce. Instead of only seeing new products at trade shows, hobby shops, or in magazines, shoppers could find and purchase them online. Across the country, attendance at hobby trade shows began to dwindle, along with the number of exhibitors.

In lieu of hosting a national trade show once a year in Southern California and in New Jersey (AMA Expo East), AMA has decided to explore multiple district events across the country in 2020 and in the years to follow. This allows AMA to serve and impact more members.

This new approach embraces elements of Expo West that members have grown to love, such as the fun-fly and educational opportunities. If you live in Southern California, look for details on the District X Fun Fly tentatively slated at the Las Vegas Radio Control club in October 2020. We will provide more information in the coming months.

AMA thanks all of the members, sponsors, and exhibitors who have supported AMA Expo throughout the years. Also, thank you to those who have volunteered at our shows.”

Report and Pics from the Last Ever AMA Expo

General Interest
  Alex and I attended, Joan and Codey stayed at our nearby Holiday Inn Express and we just got back earlier this afternoon. This was our first year going, but Alex and I enjoyed it so much, we plan to do this again next year! Of course, Joan and Codey enjoyed getting away and enjoying the swimming pool and hot tub at the hotel too so we’ll do another weekend getaway next year. Alex got a nice new FA 18 Hornet for a $50 discount and really fast Blade (drone) for a whopping $200 off the normal $350 price! WOW! These were early Christmas gifts, but Alex helped pay for some of it with his birthday money he’d saved.
  We watched the 1100 show on the main stage with “The Paper Airplane Guy”, it was really a great show and he has the Guinness World Record for longest paper airplane flight (indoors) – it was just short of a full football field length! Alex and I sat right in front, center stage and he had more than a dozen pre-made paper airplanes that he talked about and flew right over our heads out into the audience. He had a slide show going on the side too showing the paper airplanes in detail, and everyone in the audience got to make a paper airplane too (like I have never before made) and we all flew our planes at the conclusion of the show!
  After the show, Alex and I met with “The Airplane Guy” and Alex bought his book ($20) which he autographed to Alex and I got a photo of the two of them. Of course, I got a few photos of him as well while he was presenting his show and flying airplanes over our heads – I’ll forward a few of these photos to you too.
  The R/C Exposition certainly had plenty to offer for eating and drinking! We ate a late lunch and had some leftovers that we had to carry with us back to the hotel and put in the refrigerator for later! It was a little expensive but it was very good and huge portions too! We easily could have gotten by with just one order of French fries instead of two!
  We stopped at the Kearny Mesa Hobby Shop on the way home this afternoon and Alex cashed in $160 worth of Gift Certificates from SEFSD and bought a new Turbo Timber plane too. Of course, I had to help him with the additional overage cost! Joan and I have figured out Alex years ago now, when it comes to him buying a new plane he operates like ENRON did! If you don’t know about ENRON, do a Google search on it! Ha! Alex says it’s not really COSTING me the extra difference when he doesn’t have all the money to buy a new plane or new battery or parts, it’s SAVING me the money that I’m having to pay! Now that’s what ENRON would have said too! Haha!
  Have a great week ahead, and perhaps we’ll see you out there Saturday morning – Alex is looking forward to flying his new planes soon if the weather cooperates!
V/R,
Frank Sutton
Click this pic for all the AMA Expo pics:

Safety Corner for November 2019

Safety
We are getting towards the end of the year and with a little luck we will continue to operate safely. During the past month the number of fliers has been lighter than usual—so it is a good time to do some flying without feeling crowded out! 
 
I urge all members to keep informed on what is going on with the FAA and Congress in regards to rules regarding limits that may be imposed on our model plane activities. Some of the proposed restrictions would pretty much end our ability to fly at Mission Bay. There is a good chance that some adjustments to the proposed rules will be adopted and allow clubs like ours to continue to operate safely. It would be a good idea to keep up to date with the news regarding the moves by the FAA and this link is a good source for what is going on:  https://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amagov/category/400-foot/ 
 
One simple and easy thing you should do is to make sure your FAA numbers are on each of your models.  If the FAA sends someone out to check, it will help our cause if they find that our members are making an effort to comply with the new rules. 
 
The club was sent a copy of a “letter of agreement” (LOA)  by the acting air traffic manager at Lindberg Field. The LOA as drafted has some limitations that are very restrictive in how high we can fly. The letter appears to be a “one size fits all” agreement that did not consider our long history of safe operation at the site.  Your board is soliciting advice from the AMA and others before responding to the LOA. 
 
It is important to continue to observe all the AMA and safety rules at this sensitive time.
 
Steve Neu
Safety Officer SEFSD 

Chairman’s Corner for Oct./Nov. 2019

President's Corner

As we get closer to the end of the year, I hope everyone met their flying goals, whether it was mastering a new type of craft, a new style of flying, or just getting it done without crashing!

Right off the bat, I would like to mention that the seasonal Santa Ana currents are in full swing – bringing warm, dry winds to San Diego. Nearly all of the county is designated a red flag zone as I write this. The outer field area is extremely dry and could flare up easily if there is an incident. Please continue to bring your extinguishers and be ready to use them if needed. If anything gets out of control, we need to call 911 and direct fire response to South Shores Park.

The FAA has held quite a few meetings this month talking about the fate of model aviation in the United States. Still more to follow, but it sounds like – again- we will be needing a letter of agreement with Lindbergh air traffic control center to continue flying at our site into the future. Thank you to Steve Neu, Tony Blackhurst, Quan Nguyen, and Eric Shapiro for spearheading this effort and opening lines of communication with the FAA and ATC Lindbergh. One way to keep ourselves off of the bad FAA radar for now, is to make sure that all active members have registered themselves at the FAA drone zone website and placed their registration numbers on each aircraft. Also, it is more critical than ever that we do not bust our 400 foot ceiling. If we are part of the problem, they will just make us go away.

Last weekend I had a member from the drone area approach me at the main runway inquiring if I knew the status of drone flights from our site. He stated that in the middle of his flight that day, his DJI multi rotor interface instructed him to land and wouldn’t allow him to take off again. He stated that I should send something out to the club with the current condition of permissions at our site. I am sorry, but I am just not that up-to-date on the permissions required to fly the with current updates to each drone used at our site…. While there are a couple club members who are really into it and try to remain current, if you are drone operator it will be in your best interest to go online regularly and see what changes are being made.

Quan has again secured us the use of the Harbor House Restaurant for our end-of-year banquet coming up. It has been a great site for our event for the last two years, and I expect it to be just as great this year! It was booked on the day we originally requested, so now we are going to have the event on January 18. Mark your calendar! We try not to use membership funds directly for this event. Due to poor turn outs at our fundraising events, we will again be asking for $20.00 per person as we did last year, and will again limit seating to 130 members/guests. We will have raffle prizes for members and spouses as we did last year. We sold out early last year, so once ticket sales are announced I recommend not procrastinating. More information to come.

We have received enough club member nominations to the Board of Directors to allow us to field a complete board for 2020. If you would like to compete for a position, make sure you get your name to me, and the position you would like to run for, by November 01 so I have the chance to send email ballots to the club for any positions that will be competed. Voting for board members will be held during our club meeting scheduled for November 23rd at the field. Also in November, we are trying to pull together an organized night fly event. On November 10, the day before Veterans Day, and the week after daylight savings reverts, we will have pizza and fun starting around 4 PM and taking us up to 10 PM or later. If you have a night flyer aircraft and want to come out and enjoy an evening of camaraderie, and still be able to sleep in on the holiday, I hope to see you!

It looks like we’re going to finish up 2019 right around 340 members. While AMA is always required to fly at our site, Usually – for the month of November we give new members a pass and have them pay for their next years membership in December when we open renewals for the new year. There are always questions about when your club membership expires. ALL SEFSD membership goes from January 1 to December 31 of the year. All 2019 memberships will expire on December 31 2019. There may be a separate date on your membership card that reflects your AMA expiration date. This is not the club membership expiration date! Speaking of AMA. Have you renewed for 2020 yet?

We finished our two yearly event series in October, Electroglide, and pop-wing racing. Jeff Struthers has already given the awards for first second third place and had a drawing for the participants. Jim Bonnardel plans to present the awards and any other prizes at the banquet in January. Congratulations to all winners! The series were a lot closer this year than ever before.

This months fun fly will be Kenny’s choice, Show up and see what goes down! Following the monthly event we will have our club meeting and Hot Dogs!

Are you going to the AMA EXPO? See you there??

Brad

President’s Corner for Oct./Nov. 2019

President's Corner

Hey pilots,

Another great month of flying has passed. Thank you for help making this club so great. Thank you to those that bring their fire extinguishers with them, that is a good sign that we care about our field and the safety of those around us. We still have a lot of dry weeds so please be prepared for any event.
We are still looking for nominations for Board of Directors. Please make your submissions to the board if you want to be a part of growing your hobby and making this club great the way you see fit. Please remember to vote for those that you want to see lead. 
We are still excepting photos for next year’s ID if you want to see your photo as the ID please bring it to the attention of George Sullivan as he is the coordinator for IDs. So if you would like to see your picture of your airplane submit it so it can be reviewed and voted on for next year‘s club ID. 
Tables are for airplanes. Please refrain from using the tables as chairs.  We still have a few that are in need of repair and we would not like to see anybody injured due to the table giving way.
We did get a new batch of keys and they do work, they are just a little on the loose side I checked them all personally and they do work for both locks that we access. If you do find a key that does not open either, please see one of the board members and we will look at getting you a key that works, thank you for your patience. 
I have enjoyed being your president this year and look forward to next year this is a great club with many members and I want to see it succeed, and with your help I know we can. Thank you and have a great next month of flying. 

Sincerely,

Tony Blackhurst. 

Airplane Derby

Events

October’s Event

Airplane Derby

 

Where skill and luck come together in a fun, crazy day full of prizes.

1.  First event, take off and land as many times as you can without going around.

2.  Second event, take off and do as many loops as you can without going around.

3.  Third event, will be take off and do formation fly by as many times as possible.

Followed by Club Meeting and Hot Dogs.

 

The above is NOT a demolition derby but here is a fun video anyway

Otto’s Journey to Marks Vintage Fly in MD & Home Again

General Interest

Practicing for the Marks Vintage Fly In back here in MD. Swan Hardor RC Field.

Otto’s Vintage RC Trip Home

A year ago I met up with Meyer Gutman (AZ), a long time RC flyer and full scale Pitts performer. Meyer had seen a video of my Classic Pattern Marksman and had the original 1965 fiberglass molds from Paul Ennis, the plane’s designer. Meyer surprised me with a freshly molded Long Nose Marksman fuse.

A few months pasted and in the mail I received another fuse, this time the 1970 evolution of the earlier Marksman design. I was “all in” at this point and had laser cut ribs made for both fuses. I called Meyer to thank him for the additional fuse and he told me of a possible Vintage meet planned in Salisbury Maryland, home of the Marksman’s designer, Paul Ennis, now 88 years young.

I was 13 when I first met Paul in 1967 at my first AMA contest. Paul was the dominant RC flyer in Maryland and competed successfully at the National level. To a kid (me) he was an RC God. I studied everything he did at contests and occasionally he’d provide some pointers and advice.

After a few months of building, my Marksmans were getting close to flight. Meyer informed me he had two Marksman in production and was planning to drive East for the October 12 event. He offered to transport my planes to the event if I brought them to Yuma. I could not say no and plans were made.

Well we had a great time competing with old friends and made many new ones. The Mid Atlantic Radio Kontrol Society (MARKS) hosted the event and provided perfect California weather. Meyer and I brought home all the top hardware placing 1st and 2nd in Vintage Pattern and winning the Pilot’s Choice award for my red Long Nose Marksman. Paul and his wife Ellie made it to the event and he even flew my red Marksman. It was a perfect day.

Electroglide Report for October 2019

Electroglide Contest Results

The final Electroglide of 2019 happened last Saturday, and it could not have happened on a better day. The sky was a solid blue, wind was calm and the was lift just solid fun.

Nine pilots sent their aircraft aloft at the first launch shortly after 10:00 a.m., three open class gliders and six Radians.

The lift must have been still building over Sea World because all the flight times were somewhat short. Bob Stinson, flying a Conscendo in the open class, had the longest flight at 4:04 with a 20-point landing. Alex Sutton was second with a flight lasting 3:35, also with a 20-point landing. Eric Byrd came in third at 3:12 with a 20-point landing. Scott Vance picked up a 30-point landing. All the rest of the flight times were below three minutes.

All of the fun started two minutes later with the second launch. Most pilots headed west and found the lift just beyond the western edge of our runway. It was a strong lift and the flight times jumped. Stephen Treger, flying an Easy Glider, had the longest flight at 9:45 and picked up a 30-point landing, which Stephen noted as a personal best. Eric, flying a Radian, was second at 8:55, with a 20-point landing and Scott came in third at 8:21, also picking up a 20-point landing. Bob scored a 30-point landing, Alex had a 20-point and I had a 10-point landing. Most of the other flight times were in the six-minute range, confirming a big change in the flight conditions.

For the third launch, again pilots headed west. Now remember, we only have 20 seconds of motor run time. That is not much time to get your glider up high enough to find good lift, let alone to where you think the lift is located.

This time, the lift was easy to find. It stretched from the field’s driveway just west of our runway, to above the palm tree line. The lift seemed to start around 250-300 feet, and it was quite strong. Like one large block of rising air.

Both Scott and I have altimeters in our Radians and we quickly found our aircraft flying through 500 feet. This was crazy fun; it was hard to keep our aircraft below 400 feet.

Flight times were all above eight minutes with the longest flight recorded by Jon Graber flying a Radian. He almost landed just before time expired at 10 minutes, but was forced to abort his landing to avoid people on the field. As a result, his time came in at 10:15, and could not be counted. We’re so sorry about that, Jon, and we thank you for being such a good sport.

Stephen had the next longest scoring flight at 9:40. Alex came in after that at 9:20 plus a 30-point landing. Scott came back at 9:15, also picking up a 30-point landing. Bob and Dennis LaBerge both had 30-point landings.

I’ll also point out that Bob flew the shortest time and earned the Lucky Dog award flying a Conscendo. His flight time was at 8 minutes, 15 seconds. Yeah, there was lots of lift!

The fourth and final launch was pretty much into the same conditions. The wind was now starting to pick up, but the lift was still there. Stephen beat his second launch flight time by six seconds, coming back at 9:51 and scoring a 10-point landing. Jon came in second at 9:40 and picked up a 20-point landing. Alex was third with a flight of 9:20 plus a landing worth 30-points. Neil Zhu also earned a 30-point landing. Bob, Dennis and I all had 20-point landings. Scott also picked a 10-point landing.

Winner for the day? Bob Stinson, flying in the open class scored the most points overall at 319. Second place in the open class goes to Stephen Treger at 236 total points. Neil Zhu came in third at 148 points.

In the Radian class, first place goes to Alex Sutton at 278 points. Second place was earned by Scott Vance at 269 points. Third place goes to at 184 points.

It was a very fun day to close out the Electroglide season for 2019. We will resume the Electroglide on January 18th, 2020.

We also had a prize drawing for all the Electroglide pilots and a trophy ceremony for the total point winners this year.

In the open Class, first place went to Stephen Treger with 781 total points. Second place went to Bob Stinson at 466 total points and third place was earned by Vince Gonsowski at 125 points.

In the Radian Class, first place went to Scott Vance with 1757 total points. Second place went to Arthur Markiewicz with 1439 points and third place was earned by Dennis LaBerge with 1144 points.

A Special thanks goes to Frank Sutton for being our photographer this year.

I would like to close with a request. There are several club members who fly gliders other than the Radian. Perhaps those folks may feel that they can’t compete against the float of a Radian or don’t want to buy an airplane just for competing in the Electroglide.

On this last Electroglide, Bob Stinson proved Park Zone’s Conscendo is a competitive glider. This is also a full house aircraft that can do stunts and general flying. So, if you have a non-Radian Glider, come fly in the open class next year. Like all the club’s contests, it’s about fun and honing your skills as a pilot.

Next Electroglide will be January 18th, 2020. First launch will be at 10:00.

See you there,

Jeff

BOD Minutes for September and October 2019

Meeting Minutes

September

Meeting starts at 6:40 pm

Present: Quan, George, Tony, Steve, Brad

For this month’s meeting, Quan took notes in my absence.

-LOA is on pending action from FAA.  AMA asked if we have a verbal agreement.  SEFSD response was FAA enforcement officer came in July and advised members to have FAA numbers on models.

-Portapotty lock was vandalized again. Brad bought parts to repair.

-Tony to buy another lock.

-Lisa will help Quan will holiday party planning.  Will also inquire about corporate prize contributions.

-Discussed board member nominations. We need more volunteers!

-Approved Prices each for pop wing and electroglide.

-Brad had suggestion for CD account. Quan will look into 9 month CD.

-No safety issues

-332 members

-George to pick badge picture for 2020.

We the Board of Directors thank you, the member for making this the great club it is.

Your Humble Secretary,

Ken Dresser

Meeting Adjourned at 7:33 p.m.

 

October

Meeting starts at 7:12 pm

Present: Quan, Tony, Steve, Brad, Ken, Eric

For this month’s meeting we talked about how to get more people interested in become board members.

The FAA now requires your registration number on your aircraft, and we suggest getting one on your plane to avoid heavy fines.

Fire season is here, please be aware and be ready.

We finally have a CD for the club, with 1.6 % interests for 9 months.

Our holiday party will be at the Harbor House once again, with a tentative date of January 18.  Tickets will be 20 per person.

November’s event will be War Bird Day.  Get your birds ready to rumble.

Club officer voting will be in November, during our scheduled meeting.  Please be ready to volunteer.   

Special Veterans Night Fly event with food scheduled for November 10 Sunday one hour before sunset.

We the Board of Directors thank you, the member for making this the great club it is.

Your Humble Secretary,

Ken Dresser

Meeting Adjourned at 7:12 p.m.

Safety Corner for October 2019

Safety
The past month has been fairly quiet on the safety side of things at Mission Bay. Aside from the couple of the pit overflights when a model gets away from the pilot there is nothing major to report discuss. 
There is little news to report on the LOA with the FAA/Lindberg tower—we are as they say “in a holding pattern”. The best thing we can do is continue to observe all the club rules and be especially aware of any full size traffic in the area and decent to 50 feet or less until the traffic is well out of our field area—a mile or more would be a good rule to follow. If you are flying higher performance model that flies higher and faster please have a fellow club member act as your extra eyes to keep you aware of any full size traffic.
The FAA rules do require that you have your ID number on your models—there is a sizable fine possible for not complying. 
Steve Neu
Safety Officer SEFSD