Daily Archives: August 23, 2019

13 posts

Chairman’s Corner for Aug./Sept. 2019

President's Corner

 Hey fellow Flyers!

 I hope the summer has been as good to you as it has to me. No Whammies!

 Well it hasn’t been as hot so far as last summer, However the rains earlier in the year and really caused a growth explosion in the outer field area. The fire hazard and is high, and I appreciate the members that routinely bring fire extinguishers for the worst case scenario. Please be extremely careful anytime you’re walking around out there as there a whole lot of gopher holes, and trip hazards in the field.

   We are still without an official letter of agreement with Lindbergh air traffic control. We submitted our LOA proposal about a month ago, and the FAA rejected it, stating that they were going to make their own proposal to cover all flying sites in Southern California.  For now we have not received communication stating we were restricted, and the AMAs FAA rep stated at the beginning to fly unless told otherwise. More to follow on the LOA, hopefully the process doesn’t take too long. Remember an FAA Officer did visit our field a while back and re-stated requirement for each pilot to register with the FAA and display their registration number on each aircraft. Also each pilot is required to print out their FAA letter that they received upon registration and have it with them to display upon request. The officer clearly stated that he is able to administer fines for each aircraft not displaying the pilots number, but I don’t want to come to that. It is currently the rule and we should follow it!.  Remember our hard ceiling for any aircraft operations is 400 feet, I need everyone to stay below that mark. It looks like the changes Jeff has made to electroglide have been effective in making that event legal.

    We have had a chance to get some field maintenance done this month, from reinforcing the latch on the porta potty, getting the runway doused and rolled out, to replacing five of the table tops on site. I want to throw out a thanks to George Sullivan for managing the field rolling. He was greatly assisted in the process by Jim Bonnardel, Carl Cox, and Dennis LaBerge.   Jim was also the driving force and replacing five of the old damaged tables with quality boards that should last 10 to 12 years. Thank you guys for all your help!

   As we are on the downward side of 2019, I’d like to mention a couple things. I’m still looking for a volunteer to assist Quan in planning and setting up our 2019 end of your banquet. We’ve had a great events the last couple years and I would like to carry this on! If you would like to get involved please let either myself, Tony, or Quan know. Also as we finish off the year we’re going to be looking for club officers to take us into 2020. If you’re interested in a position on the board of directors please communicate that interest to any boardmember and we will give instructions on how to proceed.  Serving on the board for a year or two gives you a chance to see how the club operates and allows you to have a guiding hand to make the club your vision of what you think it should be.

 I have seen some pretty bad sunburns this month, so please if you need to – bring portable shade, and make sure you have enough fluids to stay hydrated.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the flea circus at last months fun Fly, it was a great time! This months event will be limbo, as run by Ken Dresser. Kenny has stepped up and volunteered to run all the fun flies for the rest of the year, thank you Ken Dresser!  Keep in mind that for the limbo fun fly this month there will be no micros. Kenny will be on spot to decide what counts as a micro The Fun Fly should run between approximately 10 o’clock and 11:30 AM, after which we will have the monthly club meeting at the field, and our customary hotdog lunch  prepared by Mark Davis. 

Here’s to hoping it cools off for September!

Brad

President’s Corner for Aug./Sept. 2019

President's Corner

Hey Pilots,

First off I wanted to start by saying thank you to all our members for making this club super great. And continue to do what is required to keep our site safe and allow pilots to fly without any interruptions. Remember, your AMA number must be displayed on the outside of the aircraft and also your AMA UAS number must be on there as well. Just a reminder to stay within our boundaries and below ceiling limits, this will help us to maintain our Fields as a recreational flying field. 
This month we rolled the field for the second time this year and the field looks great so it should hold up for the next couple of months. Hopefully, we have one more rolling right before the end of the year. Also three tables were changed out, so please be aware that we still have tables that are in disrepair so please don’t sit on those tables. We will continue to monitor the situation with the tables and remove and replace as necessary. 
As always please remember to close the gate behind you when you are the only one there and the last one leaving the field. Our site safety depends on every member to maintain the gate locked when necessary. If you need a new key they can be purchased for three dollars from the president, VP, the chairman and member at large Dennis Laberge. 
We are still in process for our letter of agreement, any major announcements will be made to the club when necessary. Please follow Mission bay park rules, AMA and FAA regulations during flight. 
Thank you again for another great month of flying and look forward to many more, see you at the field. 

Thank you,

Tony Blackhurst. 

Limbo Throwdown

Events

Club Event

Limbo Throwdown

August 24, 10:00am
Any aircraft (except micro’s) can play.
Typical 3S 2200 style airplanes will probably do best.

How low can you go?  Points awarded, $150 in prizes!

Meeting & lunch to follow

An MQ-9 Story pt. 5 – The IR/EO Ball

Builds & Reviews

After getting the rear end or the MQ-9 project sorted out, it was time to work on the front end.
The most prominent feature is the IR/EO ball. This is the acronym for the Infrared/electromagnetic Optical sensor array. There is a whole lot more going on here and you will have to look up the Raytheon site to get more information because there is a LOT of information about this sensor suite! Please note the size of the front “ball” on the full scale aircraft”.
In the next picture you can see that the Chinese model makers did not have the complete engineering drawings at the time of manufacture and as such, the proportions are a little bit off. I am only guessing that they might have been preoccupied with procuring model 35 information during this time period.

Continue reading →

The FAA and You

General Interest

FAADronezone

If you are a long time aero modeler then you may have recently overheard some murmurings about the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from other modelers.  You might even be a little uncertain what those voices were about, but you’re pretty sure you heard something.  The fact of the matter is the FAA does have something to share with all aero modelers.  Let’s see if the air can be cleared up a bit here.

This isn’t meant as a long dissertation but, more simply, a public service announcement (PSA) to help you comply with the newest regulations affecting R/C flight here and around the U.S.  Compliance is mandated by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 and was signed into law on Oct 5, 2018.  The law is broad-reaching and affects the entire U.S. aviation community including members of Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego (SEFSD).  In fact, aero modeling was specifically targeted by some provisions within the body of this federal legislation.  The need for such change was required to provide a way to monitor the increasingly prolific use of the national airspace.  Among the most immediate requirements is the need to place a personal FAA sUAS registration number on the outside of your aircraft.

You may have heard the term sUAS (Small Unmanned Aerial System) being bandied around in the last little while.  The term sUAS originally seemed to relate strictly to drones, but it is now clear that any unmanned aerial system is included – which means your Piper Cub, pattern ship, 3D Edge 540, helicopter and/or any other remotely controlled model encompassed within the lawful definition is included.  The FAA has provided the following portals which provides greater explanation:

https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/

https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/ua/

SEFSD will not patrol members for compliance since we are not the police and don’t want to be the police.  The responsibility will be yours to demonstrate compliance if ever asked by an FAA agent.

Responsible R/C flying in the future will also require recreational R/C pilots to demonstrate an understanding of the latest policies by taking a simple online test.  Any drone operator making money as part of their flying is already doing so as a provision of FAA Part 107 rules.  It’s expected that the recreational pilot test will be less intensive than the one for commercial pilots so it doesn’t seem there will be much to fret about.

If you’d rather go straight to registering your aircraft then you may do so here (or on the graphic at the top of the page):

FAADroneZone – https://faadronezone.faa.gov/#/

This PSA hopefully helps you continue safe and fun flying with our wonderful club.

– Your Board of Directors (2019)

BOD Minutes for July 2019

Meeting Minutes

By Ken Dresser

Meeting starts at 7:15 pm

For this month’s meeting we discussed the pending agreement with San Diego Control Tower.  We drafted the agreement and approved it for submission.

We talked about rolling the field in August ,or sooner, depending on condition of runway.

Also doing some dust control.

The flea circus was a great success, thank you all who participated.  Gift Certificates are in the flight box.

On the Raffle we sold 1912 tickets.

The club has training gear (airplanes) available for new pilots and we approved bringing the trainers up to specs.

Anybody interested in some training or have a prospect club member that might be interested, please don’t hesitate to call.  [https://www.sefsd.org/resources/flight-training/]

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 8:05 p.m.

Club Heros! – Field Maintenance

General Interest

On August 17th, several of the club faithful gathered for a good old fashioned field revival meetin’.  George made a very nice video of Dennis rollin’ the runway.  Just click it.

 

Frank Sutton took 23 photos on Saturday before, during, and after the Electroglide.  Here are his impressions:
“Photos of several SEFSD members working hard at various maintenance projects on and off the runway! The projects include photos of rolling the runway, painting new bullseyes, disassembling old tables, installing new tables, and the resulting foliage having been cleared around the “No Parking” telephone logs all the way down to the entrance to SEFSD Field!
  I can tell you that Alex and I agreed, we have NEVER seen SEFSD Field’s runway and adjacent areas in such great shape! That runway was SMOOOOTH and the new tables look outstanding!
  WOW! Let me assure you that if had the authority to bestow awards to everyone who was working so hard (and I know others assisted too but I don’t have photos of everything!) I would do so, but I’m not in the Navy any longer so I’ve not written a Navy Achievement Medal Award for anyone in quite a few years!
  As Randy and I were talking Saturday afternoon, however, there is one person that stood out amongst all the hard chargers as the one person that went, in my own humble opinion, above and beyond the call of duty, and that person is Dennis LaBerge.
  From what I heard, he was out there watering down the field Friday evening, then showed up at 0600 Saturday morning and started rolling the field with the steam roller! From what I saw, I can tell you he was working very hard the entire time Alex and I were there, and was still going at it when we left just after noon!
  He didn’t stop working! I watched and took a photo of Dennis smoothing out a few bad patches on the runway with his hoe even while the Electroglide was underway! I told him I’d call out to him when a sailplane started its approach so he could get out of the way! Even after the Electroglide, he continued working on the field and clearing the brush away from all of the telephone poles so visitors could now actually see the “No Parking” signs in many of them! Even when Alex was flying his F/A-18 Dennis came down to our end of the field several times to empty a plastic bag full of sand into the trash can or adjust the carpet (with Alex’s assistance once) at the gate entrance to the field, and then he used his hoe again to smooth out the area around the carpet where it went from behind the fence out into the runway area! As Alex and I were preparing to leave, Dennis was going at the old (removed) tables with a hand saw and was cutting each one into two pieces! I’ll tell you what, he just kept going and going like he had an unlimited supply of lithium batteries better than the Energizer Bunny!
  I have to be honest with you, I’m too old and too heavy these days to keep up with him, but even when I wasn’t so old and heavy, I would have struggled to keep up with Dennis and all the work he did in support of SEFSD members all day long!
  I’d have to salute Dennis, and for that matter, I’d have to salute all the Pilots that helped out with all the maintenance work this past weekend!
I believe they all did one heck of a job, and I’m really thinking of another word to use and it’s not heck!”

Here are Frank’s  and George’s pics:

Randy sent in a few pics of the activities as well:

“Here’s a couple pics from Saturday morning.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XqF342wViz1rkCCv9

On behalf of the club membership, please take a moment next time you see Dennis, Jim, George and Brad to thank them for the work put into the field and tables on Friday and Saturday!!

Dennis and George graded, watered and rolled the field Friday and Saturday…….Jim and Brad removed and replaced 5 tables with really nice straight 2 x 10s …. That JIM painted a couple days before.  Great work and thank you so much!!”

Safety Corner for August 2019

Safety
So far there is little new news to report on the process of getting a LOA (Letter Of Authorization) from the Lindberg tower. We have submitted our letter and after from prodding from Quan, did get an acknowledgement that they had received our letter. They only said that they would be writing their own version and that they would be back in touch at some point in the future. So for now we can continue to as we have. 
 
Some things that we can do to bolster our standing is to be proactive in making sure every member gets their FAA number and puts them on all their models. The requirements are pretty easy—the numbers need to be on an external surface of the model—there is no size requirement. If you don’t have one you can pick up an inexpensive label maker like this Brother label maker: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Brother-P-touch-PT-45M-Handheld-Label-Maker/44487918. I expect that at some point we might get a visit from some FAA people and it would be in our best interests to be able to show that we all are complying with the new rules.
 
If you have not already started the process please visit this AMA web link and start the process. The FAA will charge you $5 which will get you a number that is good for 3 years. http://air.modelaircraft.org/updated-faa-regulations/
 
Finally we need to get used to the fact that for gliders and larger planes that operate at higher altitudes spotters will need to become routine. Please follow this link and review the “see and avoid” document from the AMA:https://www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/540-D.pdf. I can’t stress enough that full size manned aircraft have the absolute right of way at all times!  Having a spotter is a fun way to share your flying with your friends.
 
Fly safe!
 
Steve Neu
SEFSD 2019 Safety Officer

Electroglide Report for August 2019

Electroglide Contest Results

We had an enjoyable Electroglide this month. Lindbergh Field was reporting a South West wind of 6mph at the 10:00 a.m. start time. The skies were clearing, and it was 68 degrees.

Seven pilots took to the skies shortly after 10:00, four Radians, two Conscendo’s and one Easy Glider. Most of the gliders were sent westward, yet Arthur Markiewicz flew his Radian to just north east of the FPV area. That paid of well with the longest flight of 6:20 minutes. Eric Byrd had the second longest flight at 4:07 and picked up a 20-point landing. Alex Sutton came in third at 3:58, also with a 20-point landing. Scott Vance picked up a 30-point landing, Bob Stinson and Vince Gonsowski both picked up 10-point landings.

Second launch had Jon Graber’s repaired Radian joining the group as most pilots headed west again. Arthur again had the long flight of 8:18 working the eastern end of our flight area, plus getting a 10-point landing on the return. Scott came in second at 4:31 with a 20-point landing. Alex again came in third with a time of 3:59 and placing a 30-point landing. Eric picked up a 30-point landing, Jon got a 20-point and Bob Stinson placed a 10-point landing.

We had to pause the third launch countdown as a full-size helicopter passed overhead, but soon eight gliders rose up into the now blue sky. Arthur was bringing his Radian back over the runway after about a 4-minute flight when his glider suddenly flew through a lift zone. With a quick turn, he reentered the lifting column gaining some altitude. By keeping a sharp turn going, Arthur stayed with the narrow lifting air and extended his flight time to 8:44. Scott had the second longest flight at 8:14 and Alex was third at 3:47. Stephen Treger picked up a 30-point landing and Bob picked up a 10-point landing.

Fourth and final launch again had Scott and Arthur battling for the longest flight. Arthur had a 9:48 aloft with a 20-point landing. Scott had 9:04 aloft with a 20-point landing. Alex, came in third again with a flight at 3:58, also with 20-point landing.

I’ll point out that Jon Graber had at least a 7-minute flight on that last launch but landing off runway produced no score situation. Still, this was Jon’s longest flight thus far in the Electroglide.

Winner for the day was Arthur Markiewicz at 230 total points. Scott Vance was a close second at 225 points and Alex Sutton came in third at 165 points.

Nice flying everyone, I hope you all had a good time.

Thanks to Frank Sutton for being our event photographer.

Next Electroglide is set for September 21st., 10:00 a.m. start.

See you there,

Jeff

This Really Should Go Without Saying!

General Interest

Drones and Weapons, A Dangerous Mix

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is warning the general public that it is illegal to operate a drone with a dangerous weapon attached.

Perhaps you’ve seen online photos and videos of drones with attached guns, bombs, fireworks, flamethrowers, and other dangerous items. Do not consider attaching any items such as these to a drone because operating a drone with such an item may result in significant harm to a person and to your bank account.

Operating a drone that has a dangerous weapon attached to it is a violation of Section 363 of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act enacted Oct. 5, 2018. Operators are subject to civil penalties up to $25,000 for each violation, unless the operator has received specific authorization from the Administrator of the FAA to conduct the operation. “Dangerous Weapon” means any item that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury.

Operators should keep in mind that federal regulations and statutes that generally govern drone operations still apply. Some state and federal criminal laws regarding weapons and hazardous materials may also apply to drone operators or manufacturers involved in certain operations.

SEFSD Display at Staples

General Interest

This month, Frank, Hoang, and I volunteered two days at Staples in Kearny Mesa to share our hobby to teachers and students at the Back to School event. It was a good opportunity to not just promote our club, but get young people interested in radio control models. Thank you Frank and Hoang!!

Dear Quan,

On behalf of the management and associates of Staples 0266, Kearny Mesa, I thank you and the other members of the Silent Electric Flyers San Diego for your participation in the first-ever Staples Back-to-School Block Party this past weekend.

Your enthusiasm and prompt efforts to be part of this event on such short notice was nothing short of amazing. I hope you were able to open some young eyes to the excitement of flight.

Thank you again for your efforts and I hope I may call upon you again for the next Staples Block Party event.

Sincerely,

Bob Sanford

Operations Supervisor

Staples 0266