Yearly Archives: 2020

175 posts

Chairman’s Corner for Dec – Jan 2020/21

President's Corner

I hope everyone has a nice Christmas and New Years. Hopefully Santa brings you something you want. Luckily, I am my own Santa, and Santa is good to me!

It has been an odd year, and while I have heard feedback of members and their family catching Covid, I have not heard of any member fatalities attributed to Covid, and hope it stays that way! Our club’s flying site continues to remain open. As we rent from Mission Bay Park, and Parks and Beaches are sanctioned as safe outdoor recreational sites, we are able to operate during the stay-at-home order.

Thank you to the members that continue to practice social distancing on site.

Membership renewal for 2021 is open, and it looks like quite a few people have already renewed. If you were at the field the morning of the 19th, George had a stack of new membership cards for 2021. He may be back on the 26th, but please don’t hold me to it. Officially we will have our annual “Freeze Fly” on Jan 1st. No food or prizes, just enjoy the cold morning. January 2nd is Badge day when you can pick up your badge.  Your second chance will be on 09 Jan.  Following that George will put them in the mail. Please remember to let us know if you don’t want them mailed! Last year a member from Arizona was upset that we has sent his card to the address he had provided… Who Knew?? I will be shifting the lock on the gate and the portable restroom on 15 Jan. The new combination is printed on the back of the 2021 membership cards. If you like the image on the new cards, It was selected from numerous submissions and was provided by Carl Cox.

As we roll into the new year, I would ask everyone to look at your fire extinguishers and see if they still have a charge. A few years back we distributed around 150 fire extinguishers to members to ensure there was always one on site. The caveat was that if it was used, the member needed to replace it themselves – and continue to bring one. If you received one of these, and it still hasn’t been used, look at it and see it the handle is plastic or metal. The Manufacturer ( Kidde ) was replacing them for free a while back due to failures in the plastic heads. There is a phone number and serial number on the label so you can verity if you are eligible. We recently had an ESC failure cause some pretty good damage to a helicopter. A member tried to help, but had one of plastic head extinguishers fail and the fire burned for a minute longer than it should have. Also, if you carry a first aid kit, please look at the contents to ensure they are still usable. There is a shelf life on a lot of those items.

We are behind on our rainfall for this season, and I’m hoping we get some catch-up precipitation in the first quarter of 2021. When we do, please do everyone a favor and stay away from the main runway when it is wet. I can’t count the number of times someone has come out with a micro on the premise that it is light, Then left four inch deep tracks across the runway when it stuck to the mud and they walked out to get it. If it dries like that we have to deal with it for months.

Our incoming President, Jovi Murek, has stated that he will start writing submissions for the newsletter, and I’m excited to get his input. He has been enjoying modeling in many aspects over the years and brings a fresh point of view.

Let’s hope 2021 levels out quickly and we can get closer to normalcy!

Brad

Our Friend Pandi Has Passed

General Interest

Pandi was a great friend to many of us at SEFSD.  I remember his smile and prevalent good nature.  He called me this last Spring after not talking with him for several years.  We had a nice chat and in retrospect I think he was saying goodbye.  I’m glad he called.

You could see him most weekends at the field flying something he had put together.  Even though some did not fly as well as he liked, he was always back with something new the next weekend.  He owned Sureflite Hobbies on Convoy.  That was back in the days when we were blessed with three hobby shops in the area.  Seems so long ago.

Pandi’s Obituaries:

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/san-diego-ca/bala-pandi-9916748

https://www.echovita.com/us/obituaries/ca/san-diego/bala-pandi-11808182

Tis the Season of the Outlaws

General Interest

By Steve Manganelli

The Holidays are the season of the outlaws. We know how it goes: somebody gets a flying Christmas present, they have  general recollection that right near Seaworld is “the place” to fly such things. They timidly set up near one end of the field so as not to disturb anyone else (if there’s anyone else). It’s usually toward the afternoon and most folks have left and the wind is usually blowing. Perfect time for a newbie pilot to maiden a new airplane : how hard could it be? Usually it’s a quick crash, another broken toy, no harm to the rest of us SEFSD members.

This is the fixed wing scenario. As members, and/or officers, our control mechanism is to invite them on a walk to the rules sign while we point out the features of the field, our relationship with the various Government activities that gave us our flying privilege, how to select and instructor pilot, etc.  We strongly suggest they join the AMA, like now, before they try to fly and eventually our club and register with the FAA to become completely legal.  Failing that, if one of us volunteers to be the pilot in command that makes it legal for that day and a successful maiden voyage that will encourage them to come back for more, join our club, be part of our activities, just what we want.

Then there’s the drone scenario.  An out of the box commercial drone should be able to fly without pilot skill. Once again, they may perceive our field is the right place to fly. Hey, maybe even a good place to fly; get some birds eye view pictures of Seaworld, maybe a close up of some Jet ski action just off Fiesta Island, who knows. Never mind that these vantage points are outside our defined safe flight boundaries. These people have probably read our sign, maybe decided following all the rules is too much trouble, and there’s too many of them anyway.

“Hey, I don’t want any hassles, I just want to fly my drone!”  A couple of Sundays ago, we “counseled” (2) drone pilots who pitted out of a corner of the boat launch parking lot.  One of the two of them had previously tried to launch at our field but was dissuaded by Brad due lack of AMA, club Membership, etc.  I guarantee Brad did not suggest the boat launch parking lot was the alternate flying field for outlaw drones! The second drone was observed from our field; his flight path suggested origination from that same parking lot and he clearly wasn’t respecting our flight boundaries nor our altitude limit.

Remember, we are the only R/C Model institution associated with Mission Bay park. Anything bad or good that happens in the vicinity either indirectly or directly comes back on us.  These outlaws have nothing to lose, but we do! I’m suggesting that we should all be vigilant. Each scenario is a chance to bring a new member into our R/C community or make a disenfranchised outlaw.  Politely challenge what doesn’t look right.  Help the newbies that want to be helped and seem willing to understand and abide by our rules and strongly suggest to the outlaws to find another place far from here. If nothing else, point out the altitude limit, field boundaries and the obvious proximity to Lindberg field to which many of our rules originate.

T28 Racing Results – Dec 2020

General Interest T28 Contest Results
We held our last T28 race for 2020 on November 28th. We had a good showing with 9 hard core pilots who all came ready to do battle in the sky. The first round kicked off at a little after 10am. The first heat went off smoothly with Brad taking first followed by Frank and George. With heat two things started to get cut throat with Mark, Otto and Steve Manganelli all trying to capture the lead—some just tried too hard  and managing to set new records for the number of cuts in a single race heat. After the fur ball fight Mark got the win simply because he flew cleanly avoiding making any cuts. Steve M and Otto ended up with 4 and 8 cuts respectively. The third heat of round one was clean with Alex first SteveN second and Quan third. Rounds 2 and 3 of the preliminary rounds all saw some great flying with very close finishes. The scores were totaled from the preliminary rounds to determine the matches for the finals. 
The bronze cup final had George taking an easy first place due to the abundant cuts of SteveM and Otto who managed to get rewarded with 4 and 11 cuts —a new record! George managed to avoid their fate and got the first place finish.
The silver cup featured Quan, Frank and Brad. Frank jumped the start putting him a lap down and handing first to Brad and second place to Quan. 
The gold cup had Mark, Alex and SteveN battling it out—for much of the race the lead went back and forth between Alex  and SteveN—on the last lap Alex’s plane went down resulting in a DNF. That left Mark and  SteveN in the race with Mark getting the first place in the end. We were all done flying in less than an hour—a lot of action packed into a short period.
We hope to restart the T28 racing series in January but we will be looking at the virus situation and making adjustments to the schedule as needed. I would like to ask members what they like and don’t like about the current format and what improvements they would like to see. Please feel free to send me your thoughts to: sneu@mac.com
I would like to thank all the members who have helped me with equipment setup, turn judging and “master of ceremonies” duty which without we could not have our T28 races.
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and stay safe in the New Year!
Steve Neu

Analyzing Video Footage Of Collapse of Massive Arecibo Telescope

General Interest
Incredible drone inspection footage of Arecibo telescope inadvertently capturing cable failure and resulting total collapse of the array during an aerial structural inspection. As some of you know I work with a group in the Navy in Point Loma that set up a drone inspection proof of concept program in 2017 to inspect Navy radio communication tower structures for structural integrity and maintenance so this really hit home for me watching this amazing footage.
Mike McGinnis
Click the pic.

Chairman’s Corner for Nov. – Dec. 2020

President's Corner

Hey Guys!

We are nearly to the end of 2020, and I’m glad it’s almost over! Hopefully we will return to something closer to normalcy in the next few months.

I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy Thanksgiving with their closest loved ones. Normally I attend a large event put on by a co-worker, but kept it (very) small this year in ongoing efforts to keep everyone safe.

As for the current State and County COVID restrictions, our site is tied to the fate of the beach areas. As such, we are still considered a safe outdoor activity – as long as we continue to use smart practices on-site. As we reopened in June, there were some fears of overcrowding at the flight line on weekends. I am there most weekends, and I’m glad to report it just hasn’t been an issue. Try to space yourselves to one person per table, and if you must share a larger (10 foot) table – just use opposite ends. From what I have seen, people are doing very good maintaining their distancing, with some people being proactive and staying masked at all times. For your continued safety, please mask up if you cannot avoid closer interactions with others.

November is traditionally the month we vote for club Officers to manage operations for the next year. I put out a call for nominations in September and October, and the responses were slimmer than expected. We were in need of a President, and our current Secretary has some obligations out of the country that would interfere with his prescribed duties. We had one person volunteer for the President position, and one of our Members At Large agreed to swap positions with the Secretary for 2021, and maybe longer. Since there were no challengers for either position, After a lengthy discussion, I proposed to the BOD that we ratify the  positions without a general vote. The Board of Directors voted on my motion and your BOD members for 2021 will be:

Chairman – Brad Bender
President – Jovi Murek
Vice President – Steve Manganelli
Treasurer – Quan Nguyen
Safety Officer – Steve Neu
Secretary – Eric Shapiro
Member at Large – Carl Cox
Member at Large – Jeff Struthers
Member at Large – Ken Dresser

Please thank them for their service to the club when you see them. I Understand these are challenging times and appreciate that each and every one of them has stepped forward instead of stepping back. If any member has thoughts of wanting to get involved in the future and would like to sit in on a Board meeting, or four, over the next year, let me know and I will invite you!

Also needing your thanks are:
Our Club Editor, Steve Belknap – who tracks down noteworthy tidbits to bring this monthly newsletter to fruition, and works tirelessly to maintain our web site, and keep hackers/spammers off of it.

Our Membership Coordinator, George “ MAVERICK” Sullivan – for keeping it straight and spelling everyone’s name correctly.

Our weekend Photographer, Frank Sutton – for some amazing shots!

Our Table repairmen, Jim Bonnardel and Mark Davis – only a few more to go – Thanks guys!!

And the guys that always help with the ongoing maintenance tasks that is generally boring and sweaty- Dennis LaBerge, Jeff Struthers, Nico Goosens, Bob Stinson, Vince Gonsowski, Frank Gagliardi, and Scott Vance. There are quite a few others that routinely assist,( Thank you all!)  I mentioned these guys specifically because they ALWAYS show when there is a need.

We are finishing 2020 with 303 members. Not terrible since a lot more people stayed home this year. The club has officially closed its books on 2020. For the remainder of the year we are going to allow non-members of SEFSD to enjoy using our site as long as they have current AMA membership and understand our safety procedures. Quan and Steve have disabled the “Join Now” tab on the web site are working on modifying the required pages to allow memberships for 2021. The tab should be active again on December first for next year.  Dues will remain unchanged at $50.00 for the primary member, and $10.00 for family members sharing your address. Remember, it takes up to 2 weeks for your AMA membership renewal to update on their online database, and our application process will not let you complete if the AMA database says you are not current – or are shortly due to expire.

My understanding is there will be 4 ways to renew which can be selected from the web site:
Online application with payment via PayPal.
Online application with payment via credit card.
Online application with payment via check in the mail.
Download and printed application with check in the mail. (board members will also have paper copies for issue if needed.)

For our snowbird members that come in from out of town addresses – please remember to note a local address you would like to have your card shipped to, or ask to have it held by George until he can give it to you. An e-mail to George, Quan, or myself can get a hold started.

We had many great submissions this year for the badge picture for 2021. Thanks to all that sent images! Some of them will end up in our smugmug gallery linked to via our web site. The Photo we picked for next year was submitted by Carl Cox, and it is a nice colorful shot. As people renew, George will print the cards and hold them until Badge Day at the field on Jan 02. If you absolutely need yours mailed before then, let him know. The new badge will have the updated lock codes to the gate and the porta potty printed on the back. I will grant a bit of a grace period for renewals and won’t change the locks themselves until the weekend of Jan 23rd. As I have said before, your membership doesn’t pro-rate, so if you plan to fly in 2021, please renew early and get your new badge!

A couple of things were brought to my attention this month that I would like to touch on. There have been reports of flyers diving across the runway at the pit area at full speed, then yanking up and away just before crossing the fence line. This is outright dangerous and needs to stop. We see servo’s fail every day, it’s just not worth the risk.

Also, there were quite a few flyovers of the pit and parking areas without the pilot calling out to notify others that there is a problem. ( Hopefully ) YOU know where your aircraft is. You should be the one to warn others.  On a positive note, People have been doing a very good job of calling their take- offs, landings, and any time they step onto the runway!

I hope you all have a great, safe month!

Brad

Rob’s COVID Project – 88″ Wilga

Builds & Reviews

My PZL_104 Wilga aircraft ARF from Black Horse Models.  This aircraft is a STOL civilian plane from Poland.  I really liked the uniqueness of this model. I wanted to maintain the appearance of the cowl, so I used a motor designed for sailplanes.  It’s specs are 40-30-390k 8S 2200W.  The electronics are Spektrum SMART receiver, ESC, batteries and a DX9 transmitter. The pilots are removable and are secured by magnets.  Here is a link for more information on the Wilga. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL-104_Wilga

Wingspan    88.19″
Length        63.98″
Weight        14 lbs

Thanks,

Rob Stein

T28 Race Results – October 24th 2020

T28 Contest Results
By Steve Neu
We had a second T28 race date on the schedule in October—some people missed hearing about it resulting in a light turn out. We might have had light attendance but the racing was anything but light! The preliminary races were very tight with pilots doing everything possible to gain advantage—including making lots of cuts. The cuts made for some amusing moments for the pilots who thought they had won a race only to see Carl the upwind cut judge walking towards the center to deliver the bad news—taking pilots from “hero to zero” —or in this case from  first to third place! No one got upset and everyone was having a good time. 
After some hard fought races the preliminary round numbers were totaled and the Silver and Gold races were set. It was interesting to note that Randy did not win a single preliminary race—he was second each time——but his consistency  put him into the Gold  race. The finals races were well matched and tight the whole way with in many cases only 10 feet between planes at the finish. The Gold race was notable for the number of cuts by the the Otto and Alex—they had a fierce battle for the lead—with Otto crossing the line first followed by Alex and then Randy—their celebrations did not last long when the two leaders were awarded with 3 cuts each—a new record for the T28 racing series. Maybe we should rename it the “Gold Cut”?  Randy  who keep out of trouble while the battle raged up front got the win. 
Results:
Silver:
1) Steve N
2) Jeff K
3) Steve M
Gold:
1) Randy W
2) Otto
3) Alex
Our next race date for T28 racing is this coming November 28th. Get your planes trimmed and ready to “go fast and turn left”.

Replacement Nuts for Spektrum TX

General Interest

Has this happened to your Spektrum transmitter?

It happened to mine and I couldn’t find the missing nut. After sending an e-mail to Horizon Hobbies I got a response listing the web page for eight replacement nuts and a tightening tool.

They even have orange colored nuts if you want to jazz up your Tx….

Cheers,

Jeff Struthers

https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/radio-silver-switch-nuts-8-and-wrench/SPMA1304.html

https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/radio-orange-switch-nuts-8-and-wrench/SPMA1303.html

The Glue Guy, or Misadventures with an AcroMaster

Builds & Reviews

By Wayne Walker, SEFSD

It all started when I was given an old Multiplex AcroMaster pattern plane. I won it because I bought the late John Forester’s two model sailboats. They say never look a gift horse in the mouth, yeah right.

After I got the sailboats sorted out and ready to go sailing, I turned my attention to the AcroMaster as I wanted a rough & ready plane to practice my maneuvers & landings.

I went through it and everything seemed all right, so I found a 3S – 3000 battery for it, and put it in place, it didn’t balance at all, nose too heavy. Then I noticed it had a pretty big motor for that size plane, all the better I thought but it was obviously too heavy & why the plane didn’t balance with the battery in the location designed for it. Moved things around & added 4 ounces of lead to the battery and it now balanced.

Took it out to the field to test fly it. Roll out was good, but as soon as it was airborne it didn’t seem to have good control. I was able to make a 180 from the takeoff, but then it was all over the place! It ended up crashing over by the RotorPlex area. When I was gathering up the pieces, I noticed the right aileron was pulled out of the wing, hmmm probably what caused it to go out of control.

Later back at my shop I glued everything back together with my trusty 30 minute epoxy and paid extra attention to getting the aileron flex hinges glued in with plenty of epoxy to make sure they held in the future. I also had fun gluing the nose pieces back together and wrapping a fiberglass bandage around it all to keep it in place and hopefully straight and sound.

Back to the field to try again. Takeoff was normal & turnaround normal then as I got it about even with me where I was standing all heck broke loose and it was uncontrollable again! And it crashed.

When I was gluing things back together again, I noticed that most of the glue joints had turned brown, I just figured the builder used low grade epoxy or rubber cement. I was also mystified as to why the recently epoxied aileron joins had pulled out again. I asked around and everyone I asked said they thought the epoxy was the best way to glue Multiplex’s Elapor foam together.

Well, it turns out that epoxy & carpenters glue only proved a half-baked bond to Elapor & similar shiny skinned plastics! After getting what I term “Old Wives” tales of which glue to use I found the following on several Multiplex model airplane construction manuals:

From: MULTIPLEX Modellsport GmbH & Co. KG

Important note

“This model is not made of Styrofoam™, and it is not possible to glue the material using white glue, polyurethane glues or epoxy; these adhesives only produce a superficial bond which gives way when stressed. Use medium-viscosity cyano-acrylate glue for all joints, preferably our Zacki-ELAPOR®, # 59 2727 – the cyano glue optimized specifically for ELAPOR® particle foam. If you use Zacki-ELAPOR® you will find that you do not need cyano ‘kicker’ or activator for most joints.

However, if you wish to use a different adhesive, and are therefore obliged to use kicker / activator spray, we recommend that you apply the material in the open air as it can be injurious to health. Please be careful when working with any cyano-acrylate adhesive: these glues can harden in seconds, so do not allow them to contact your fingers or other body parts. Wear goggles to protect your eyes!”

In another Adhesives note I found the following advice on technique.

“On one surface spray on Kicker and let dry for several minutes.

On the other surface apply Medium CA as needed.

As the join will set in a very short time align the pieces carefully before letting them touch as there will only be several seconds before the CA hardens making a permanent bond.”

I found that using this procedure results in a 2-3 second flexible time, not really enough to align large pieces of work like an AcroMaster wing panel.

So with all this new information, what did I do? Of course I ran my own tests to see how well these adhesives bond Elapor. I also did a test of Formula 560 Canopy Glue.

Here’s the picture of the test samples I glued together and then 24 hours later tested for strength. All samples were on virgin Elapor foam.

I tested both “Plain”, no preparation, and Prepped with alcohol and then sanding to remove the gloss on the surface of the foam.

Results:

The Canopy Glue 560 was the weakest with only a small pressure to part the two pieces.

Using Odorless CA was almost as weak as the Canopy glue.

The high quality Epoxy joined pieces were next in strength, 1-3 pounds of pressure to break the bond.

I didn’t test White, Carpenter’s or Ambroid glues as these are seldom used in modern model construction.

The Medium CA plain & prepped samples I was not able to break apart, but my arthritic hands were only able to apply about 5-10 pounds of force to the joins, this is probably equivalent to a hard crash to the joined pieces.

Conclusions:

When gluing Multiplex Elapor and similar shinny skinned foam use Med CA with or without Kicker, it will be the strongest join available, and no prep is needed to make a strong joint.

When gluing Styrofoam pieces use Odorless or Foam Safe CA glue, or epoxy.

As far as Hot Gun Glue goes, I’ve bought several Chinese models that have them, but don’t recommend the technique.

As an aside, I found that Du-Bro & other hardware suppliers have discontinued the line of hard plastic hinges and instead recommend the Fiberglass mat type of hinge material. I’ve now substituted this for all my flex hinges.

The Short Nose, Reinforced, Multiplex Fun Cub Propulsion Experience

Builds & Reviews

By Carl Murphy

One Airplane, Two Batteries, an Hour of Carefree Flying

(0) to (750) Feet At a Count Of Ten (5S) or Thirteen (4S) or Fifteen (3S)

This is an instruction by examples of electric propulsion choices for a four foot wingspan, molded from impact resisting foam, reinforced, light wing loading, semi-scale RC Piper Cub.  Chronicled are testing, things gone right and wrong, and, RC flying as a whole experience.  From light weight one and an eighth inch diameter outrunners, light to medium (37) mm diameter outrunners through geared competition inrunners, four combinations were selected as optimal.  From relaxed to outrageous, flight times start at twenty-five minutes on just the motor and battery.  Altitude gain at maximum climb for count of ten ranges from three hundred to seven hundred and fifty feet, glide back down from a seven to one ratio to fifteen to one.

Tuning Is Worth It

Where I started RC flying in Orange County, CA, back in the mid 1990s it was next to the current F5B world champion and six other current or former thermal, slope soaring and pylon RC pilots.  At San Diego’s Mission Bay my company includes a former F5B world champion who manufactures the worlds best RC racing motors plus several more national and international ranking F5B, F5D and F3A precision aerobatics RC pilots.  As a friend in low places (I gave up my Piper Pacer at the start of the second great depression, for ten years I was almost, but not quite, broke) though the experience with getting a RC airplane set up right was not lost on me.  Significance; Nobody has ever seen a Fun Cub fly this well, when I loan my RC airplanes to other pilots they don’t get as much performance or duration.  Part of that is having flown enough to be “one” with this airframe.

This article is paired with articles about The Mentor Propulsion, a larger and heavier airframe and an article about The Cost of Flight, Outrunners verses Inrunners.  Continue reading →

Treasurer’s Report for Nov. 2020

General Interest

We’re closing out the year with 302 members. Thank you everyone for your support, even during a difficult year where we had to cancel most events. We certainly will miss having the annual holiday party at the Harbor House in January, and sadly, the venue is going to close next September to make way for a new restaurant. However, the board and I are closely watching CDC, state, and local health orders so that we can host the annual party as soon as feasible. For next year, I’ll be your humble Treasurer again. Our finances are sound, and we have sufficient reserves. This winter, the club purchased 40 blankets that will be donated to low income older adults across the county. Thank you Lisa (Brad’s wife)  for connecting us with an incredible deal to buy the blankets at cost! I’ll be delivering the blankets to St. Paul’s PACE in Chula Vista on December 3rd. Look out for an email announcing membership renewals for 2021!

-Quan

AMA Air Mentions San Diego

General Interest
About half-way through the live AMA Air Show, SEFSD, Alex, and Otto were mentioned when show host Matt featured our Happy Halloween 2020 Flying Witch video!  WOW!  SEFSD made it on today’s IFLYAMA segment! WOW!
Also, Torrey Pines Gliderport was selected as NOV’s R/C Club of the Month!
V/R,
Frank “Hobie Cat” Sutton

Desert Warbirds

General Interest

“Thank you for helping to spread the word about our upcoming 2021 Desert Warbirds event.  I hope we will see some of your members out for our event.  This event and our Coachella Jet Jam are our two main events for the year, helping us raise money to not only support the club’s needs, but also to help the Wounded Warriors Project and Rebuilding America’s Warriors (RAW).  With the great support of our RC community we have been able to donate a minimum of $1000 each year from the proceeds of these events to those two organizations to help our great wounded veterans.  I hope your members can come out, have a great time, and support a wonderful cause.  Thanks!

Alan”

Chairman’s Corner for Oct – Nov 2020

President's Corner

Well guys, it looks like the heat wave is finally broken – and we can get back to enjoying our hobby in relative comfort! Hopefully we will get rain in the next few weeks to reduce the fire danger at our site, please stay vigilant as the area is still very dry!

Over the last few weeks I have been seeing more of you returning to the field after taking a “Corona” break. While studies indicate the virus does not transmit well in outdoor environments, please continue to practice social distancing while on site to keep club members, and your family members, safe. If you recently completed an interesting Corona project, please share a few pictures and a write up with our editor Steve, at editor@sedfd.org and he will include it in the next newsletter.

I have been asked quite often whether there will be any local swap meets before the year ends, and sadly, I don’t believe so. Gatherings of any real size are still prohibited in the county. Please take a look at the for sale by members area of the website and see if there is something that tickles your fancy. If you are trying to sell items, an E-mail to Steve at editor@sedfd.orgwith a good description and a picture of your item will get it posted. You can still take a chance and bring items down on weekends, set them against the fence with a note stating the price, and who to contact. Sometimes the right person is there and both of you will come away happy!

Along the same line of things lost in 2020, we are still holding off on the monthly meetings at the field, the fun-fly events, and Electroglide. Once the health risks become less, we will attempt to get back to normal operations. It will likely be next year sometime. At this time, we cannot book venues for any indoor gatherings of more than 10 people, which also puts our yearly banquet on hold indefinitely. The only “event” that we have been holding is the FMS 800MM T-28 racing  on the second Saturday monthly. Competition had been becoming stronger as people figure out these small, quick aircraft. If you missed out on ordering one (or two) last February when we announced the race series, they are available for order this month at Horizon. Again, let’s hope a viable vaccine is developed and available as soon as it is determined safe.

I know everyone is extremely sick of all of voting ads right now, so I feel bad to say the words… As I mentioned last month, we vote for club officers in November.

Jovi  Murek has self-nominated to fill an existing empty Board of Directors position, THANKS Jovi! Our current secretary, Ken Dresser, will also not be available for most of 2021 and that means we still have need of one more person who would like to get involved with guiding the club next year. We meet in person or via ZOOM once per month for 2 to 3 hours, but handle most club business via E-mail – so your time commitment is negligible. I feel everybody’s input is valuable, and really want some new blood on the Board. Please get involved! Let myself, or another board member know if you would like to join us!

I appreciate the help we have received from numerous members in maintaining the field this year. To name a few who were there EVERY time we asked for help:  Dennis Laberge, Jim Bonnardel, Frank Gagliardi, Mark Davis, Eric Shapiro, Scott Vance, Jim Richardson, George Sullivan, and Larry Kosta. There were many more that participated at various times – THANK YOU to everyone!  Quan, our Treasurer, will be closing the books on FY20 shortly. Some of you spent personal funds in your support of the club and have not yet submitted receipts for reimbursement. Please send them to Quan or myself so we can square up and close our books.

It has been nearly a month since we backed off on the stance of passing through and closing the gate behind us each time we enter and exit. A lot of people appreciate not having to jump out of their vehicle on the way in and out of the site. In this month, I have been notified by the city 9 times that they have found the site unlocked and unattended…

Please remember that our agreement with the city includes that we will keep the site locked when members are not present to prevent unauthorized access, vehicular use, and illegal dumping. It also keeps theft down, and friendly people from doing donuts in our parking area or on the runway. The porta-potty has also been found unlocked on numerous occasions, all of the paper has been lifted a couple of times, as has our disinfectant sprayer. We are the masters of our own destiny here, so I will say again – if you are the last member leaving the site, Please close and lock the gate!  If someone has left a vehicle there, lock them in. If someone is there and you are not sure, ask them if they are a member – tell them you are locking the gate. If you don’t want to talk with them, lock the gate and let them figure it out.

Bottom line, we need to keep the site as secure as possible. I would rather not go back to the closed gate posture, but if we cannot follow the guidelines properly it is still an option.

One final note. We are all members and pay for the same rights as any other member of SEFSD. If you arrive on site and park near an available table, and you would like to have a specific member park next to you to enjoy each others company, feel free to put a chair next to your vehicle and “save” an already open spot for them to park beside to you. Please don’t park, then ask another member to move so your buddy can park next to you. There are NO “ permanently assigned ” spots at SEFSD. If you arrive and someone is where you ( usually ) park, please find another open spot. DO NOT tell another member to get out of YOUR SPOT. The parties involved are all grown up and simply need to share…

Thanks for another great month and please keep safe.

Brad

T28 Race Results – Oct 2020

T28 Contest Results
The October 12 2020 foamy T28 races  went off smoothly  with 12 pilots signing up to fly. We followed the same format as the previous race with 3 preliminary heats which set the grouping for the final races. 
The preliminary rounds saw some wing tip to wing tip flying along with some creative shorting of the course to try and catch up to the lead planes—more often than not the offenders were awarded with a cut penalty knocking them down a place for their efforts. Most of the cuts occurred in the first round with fliers getting a little more conservative in the second and third rounds to avoid costly mistakes. A couple unlucky pilots had some problems that kept them from getting to the finals—better luck next time guys!
After the preliminary rounds the numbers were totaled up and fliers were grouped for the finals into 3 groups.  The final series of races had some of the tightest contests with the Gold cup race having three very closely matched planes and pilots trading places for the lead for nearly the whole 10 laps. On the last turn of the last lap Alex decided to risk it all with an early turn trying to gain the lead—-it didn’t work as he was rewarded with a cut taking him to a third place. Even so he was smiling after such a close race.
Some suggestions to help some of the racing new comers—getting your plane setup for racing is usually quite different than for the settings for fun flying. A plane that is setup correctly will be easy to guide around the course allowing you to concentrate on racing than just maintaining control. For some hints and tips follow this link to a previous article on setting up your T28 for racing: https://www.sefsd.org/builds-reviews/fms-t28-expert-setup-for-pylon-racing/
The current schedule has a second race date on the October calendar for this Saturday the 24. We will follow the same format as last time with a pilots meeting at 10 and the first race at 10:10. Charge up your batteries!
Bronze Cup
1)Steve#14
2)Tim#23
3)Vince #88
4)David#7
Silver Cup
1)Brad#6
2)Quan#51
3)Jeff#77
Gold Cup
1)Steve#77
2)Otto#33
3)Alex#27
 

IFLYAMA, do you? And if not, why not?

General Interest

By Frank Sutton

      Unlike my Sweetheart, Joan, I have never been a fan of Facebook and do not have my own Facebook profile. I am, however, now a huge fan of the IFLYAMA Group that piggybacks on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/groups/IFLYAMA), and I think you may also become an IFLYAMA fan too if you check it out!

     As an AMA Member, I receive E-mails from the AMA all the time, and some of them refer to the IFLYAMA Website and the AMA AIR Live Internet Show normally held on every 1st and 15th of the month, hosted by Matt and Claire. If you’re unable to watch the AMA Air show live (usually about 30 minutes or so), it is recorded and posted on the IFLYAMA Website.  In early AUG2020, I watched one of the recorded episodes using the link attached to the E-mail and it was very informative. I watched and enjoyed the next one two weeks later, and noticed that Claire always asks at the end of the show, “If you’re not an IFLYAMA member, why aren’t you?” I’ve been watching every episode, sometimes when it was live, ever since.

     Each episode features a dedicated segment to the IFLYAMA group.  Matt and Claire say it is their favorite part of the show and for good reason, it is also our favorite part of the show seeing the photos and videos submitted by Pilots featured on the show!  So I was very curious about the IFLYAMA group. Years ago, Joan created a Facebook profile for Alex which Joan sometimes updates because like me, Alex also doesn’t do Facebook. With their permission, I accessed the IFLYAMA/Facebook Page via Alex’s Facebook profile and requested membership almost three months ago.  Of course, I had to give IFLYAMA my name and AMA Membership number, but I was getting there via Alex’s Facebook profile.  My membership request was quickly approved and then I was able to log on the IFLYAMA Website to see what was going on and happily discovered there really is a lot going on!

     There are over 3,000 IFLYAMA members currently, and new members are joining daily. To more easily explain what the IFLYAMA is all about, here’s a quote from the IFLYAMA homepage describing what it is all about……

 QUOTE

“Model aviation is fun! And it’s even more fun when shared! I Fly AMA is a community created to bring AMA members together to share projects, building tips and tricks, and modeling stories with likeminded modelers.

Whether you fly airplanes, helicopters, drones, prefer Free Flight, Control Line, or Radio Control, this place is for you. Because at the heart of each discipline, we all share one thing in common: a passion for flight!

Please be kind, respectful, and don’t spam. We’re all in this together!”

END QUOTE

     In the “Media” section I immediately saw photos and videos submitted by other Pilots showing what they’re flying, where they’re flying, what they’re building, and comments back and forth between the Pilot that posted the photo or video and those that saw the photo or video.  Sometimes a Pilot would ask a question or seek advice, and always other Pilots would respond and come to their assistance.  Everyone I could see was as excited about aviation as myself and Alex, and we were able to learn a few things and make some new “virtual” friends along the way and located all across the USA!  There are technical articles and information as well, and news about the FAA and how their rules and regulations are affecting our wonderful sport.

     IFLYAMA does so many things to promote model aviation too, one of them being to promote a different R/C Club each month in their Live AMA Air Internet Show. They also change the aviation photo on their main page every month by having members submit their own photos and then the one with the most “Likes” by the viewers is the photo that headlines the IFLYAMA’s homepage for the following month.  Pilots have to specifically submit a photo in the main page contest to be considered for the monthly IFLYAMA mainpage photo when the contest starts on the 15th of each month, any photos that may have already been submitted simply for sharing with other Pilots are not considered.  Once a Pilot’s contest photo is chosen, that Pilot is disqualified from submitting another contest photo for the honor of it being used as the IFLYAMA Main Page photo, but of course, the Pilot may always submit additional photos for sharing.  The homepage photo competition is fierce with many absolutely spectacular photos submitted each month; I don’t know if one of my contest photo submissions will ever be a monthly winner but I’m not giving up!  So long as the SEFSD Pilots keep flying, I’ll keep taking photos!

     You may have already guessed it; I saw an opportunity to promote Silent Electric Flyers San Diego to the more than 3,000 IFLYAMA members and have been doing so for nearly three months now.  I have submitted photos and a few videos for the IFLYAMA members to view and have received dozens of “Likes” and comments in the process.  Similarly, I “Like” and comment on other Pilots’ submissions as well, and often receive a thankful reply.  There is no doubt by now many Pilots across the USA understand how great it is to be a member of Silent Electric Flyers San Diego and know of all the fun we have flying at our beautiful Mission Bay location.  Many members respond to some of the photos by stating it just can’t get any better flying R/C with the roller coasters in the background (of some photos)!

     If you enjoy reviewing the SEFSD Website, the SEFSD photo gallery, and reading the SEFSD Peak Charge Newsletter every month, then Alex and I believe you will also enjoy the IFLYAMA community where there is always something new happening.  To join, you’ll need a Facebook profile (www.facebook.com) and if you don’t already have one (like me!), you may easily create one and provide the minimal information to protect your privacy.  Then, log on Facebook with your new profile and search for the “IFLYAMA” group and submit a membership request. It can’t get any easier than this, and we hope you will enjoy it too!  And if anyone asks, Alex and I STILL don’t do Facebook – but we definitely do IFLYAMA!

     I’ve enclosed a photo of Matt and Claire on the IFLYAMA Air Show, the IFLYAMA logo, and a screenshot photo just after posting a few 10OCT2020 T-28 Racing and Open Flying photos.  As Matt and Claire say at the conclusion of each AMA Air Live show, “See You Later, Aviators!”

V/R,

Frank “Hobie” Sutton

“Aviator” Alex Sutton

Bob’s F-16 Upgrade

Builds & Reviews

By Bob Stinson

64th Aggressor Squadron, Callie Graphics and an Eflite F-16

Those of us inclined towards scale military planes are always on the lookout for a good looking color scheme on a favorite airframe. I’m no exception. I’ve been flying Eflite’s 70mm Thunderbirds F-16 for a while now. I’d always wondered what it would look like in operational garb. Scott C. recently painted his as a 64th Aggressor Squadron adversary. When I checked the unit online, it was like Richthoven’s Flying Circus brought to the present day!
I selected a color scheme and repainted my F-16. It needed those identifying marks the real ones sported to give it that aura of authenticity. Enter Callie Graphics! if you haven’t yet discovered her company, you’re in for a treat! She is a magician in supplying dry transfers for your airplane. If she doesn’t have them in stock, she’ll make some up, but she’s hard to stump. I once asked for some “Fuerza Aerea Mexicana” markings for a 1960’s era De Haviland Vampire. Amazingly, she already had some on file.
Rattle can spray paints, some online photos for reference, Callie’s decals, and the Thunderbird is now a “Mig-23 Flogger” based at Nellis Air Force Base.