As many of you know Brad has been under the care of the VA for heart related surgery. According to sources (Randy) he has been home since Monday. He was able to walk around his block with his daughter and is doing really well! Brad thanks all the well-wishers from the club!!
Merry Christmas Brad and Lisa!
Merry Christmas SEFSD Members and family! I can just remember when it was summer time, flying our airplanes all day long and it was great, then as quick as flipping a switch, here we are in December. We have had an interesting year with the pandemic and I was happy how we all took the right steps to keep all safe! Thank You Members!
“It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the AIR”
My Wish, For You
Is that this life becomes
All that you want it to,
Your Dreams Stay Big,
And your worriers stay small,
You Never Need To Carry More Than You Can Hold,
And while you’re out there
Getting Where You’re Getting To,
I HOPE YOU KNOW SOMEBODY LOVES YOU,
And wants the same thing too
Yeah, this is my wish.
Club membership is now open alone with our banquet tickets which are going fast. We also have a great line-up of prizes that will be given away at the January 15, 2022, Banquet. I look forward to seeing as many of you on the upcoming event.
From MotionRC we have the following aircraft:
From Tower Hobbies, (Horizon Hobby) we have the following aircraft:
We are also going to have a bunch of smaller items:
And not to forget our spouses, I hear Lisa, Brad’s wife for those who don’t know, has fantastic prizes (lotions, etc.) from Victor’s Secret. This will be a fun event with great food and beverages. So 2021 members get your tickets SOON!
We have had a situation in which a past member was flying out at the field without AMA or SEFSD membership. His last membership date was 2018…. The way this was found out and he has been flying at our field this year and all thought he was a member. The way I found this out was, unlike the rest of us, calling out our intentions in “Taking-off, Low fly by and Landings”, he failed to do so, and he was asked many times to call out his intentions. I approached the pilot and I noticed he was not wearing a badge. We are all required to wear our badges at the field, and I would like to invite any member to approach a pilot who may not be wearing a badge and ask to see the SEFSD badge or AMA. You as a club member have every right to ask if the pilot is a member. It is most important that everyone who flies in our field, must have AMA and be a member of SEFSD. If you come across a situation with a pilot, I ask that you bring this to the attention of any BOD member so we can act accordingly. We cannot have pilots flying at the field who are not members. This can and will cause us to lose the field. Even at the Rotorplex everyone must be a member to fly at the South Shores Park on Mission Bay.
This past year was a blast being your club president. It was fun holding meetings, planning the events, giving out the prizes, talking with a lot of you and getting to know you even more. This of course will not stop as being the Chairman of the Board, replacing Brad Bender who we all can say did one hell of a fantastic job in keeping our club safety and interest first and foremost. Thank You Brad! Steve Manganelli will be our President for the coming year. Filling his position as Vice- Pres, will be our former Treasure, Quan Nguyen. Taking Quan’s position for Treasurer is Dave Youssefi. Replacing Eric Shapiro as Secretary is Ken Dresser. Remaining as Safety Officer is Steve Neu. Also remaining as Editor is Steve Belknap.
Special thanks to the Member at Large, Carl Cox (Chef Carl), Jeff Struthers (holding our Glider events, including marking the circle and the center line) and now joining the Member at large is Larry Kosta. Also deserving Thanks are the following members: Dennis LaBerge with all his efforts in taking care of the field and helping out a lot of new comers to the hobby. Mark Davis and Fritz Logan with they help in providing the lunches we have at our meetings. Jim Bonnardel will be our Contest Director for our Fun-Fly for 2022. And we have Frank Sutton to thank for all the great pictures he has and will be taking!
“It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the AIR”
Maybe that’s why it’s Christmas every day in this hobby!
Merry Christmas to all our members and to their family’s!
By Steve Manganelli
The term OOS or “Out Of Sight” is a Free Flight Model Aviation term referring to a model catching a thermal that carries it up and out of sight, generally never to be seen again. I can’t imagine the melancholy feeling of watching the product of your hard work disappear before your eyes. On one hand, you have validation of your model building skills; on the other, sadness at the loss of your creation. I’ve heard stories of models turning up in a cornfield some miles downwind of the field years later or what not, but that is nothing like my OOS experience!
For my story, turn the clock back to about 1971/2, before I could afford the luxury of Radio Control. As a geeky 11/12 year old, with friends of similar ilk, if it flew, floated or ran, we had to play with it…or destroy it. My friend Jeff and I had a motto : “cure it or kill it”. All of our experimental unguided air vehicles either had to fly successfully or be demolished in some spectacular fashion.
One day, a foam wind-up rubber band powered airplane with a span of maybe a foot and a half had reached that point of no return. It was doggy as a rubber powered model and by then I was experienced with balsa, dope and tissue and knew how to do better. This foamy was called “Major Roscoe Hawks Amazing Flying Machine” (MRHAFM). Actually I remembered the name a little differently but with the miracle of Google I actually found one under vintage toys, circa 1971 and no, I didn’t buy it so I could relive the soon to be described stupidity!
MRHAFM has roughly the proportions of a high wing Cessna. Clearly if a rubber motor was enough to fly it, a Cox .049 should be oh so much better! At least we had enough sense to chop off most of the nose and epoxy on a scrap of 1/8 plywood for a firewall; surely it would need some up thrust so we did that too! Next, we bolted on a cantankerous Cox “Golden Bee” 049, the kind with the larger gas tank for a 6 or 7 minute run. In control line models, this particular engine never did more than couple laps before it quit, but for MRHAFM, we figured 10 or 15 seconds would be more than long enough to pile drive this wannabe ice chest into the ground in some spectacular fashion! In retrospect, the fuel pickup of the engine was probably on the bottom instead of the outside as needed for control line, but no matter. A final check out of the flying machine suggested it might still be a little nose heavy (ya think?) so a couple of cox glow plug wrenches were taped to the tail. Perfect, off to the nearest vacant lot we went. No need to ride our bikes to one of our control line fields (aka the nearest school field), no landing was expected on this flight!
The tank was fully fueled, the engine started and the needle valve was peaked to screaming pitch. MRHAFM was released gingerly into the wind. A steep climb ensued as the unreinforced foam wing bowed to foretell anticipated disaster, but instead she arched over on her back, we figured heading for a glorious “figure 9”. Our anticipation of a full power, straight in crash was quickly dashed. Instead, the 100 foot loop was completed missing the bushes by mere inches and another giant loop was begun, still tracking straight into the wind! This time, the bottom of the loop was maybe 20 feet off the ground and another loop started. By the third loop, Jeff and I looked at each other in unstated disbelief : “why is this thing still running?” . But run she did. Successive loops gaining more and more altitude and for some reason, continuing to track straight into the wind. She climbed higher and higher until after about 3 minutes or so, we lost both sight and sound of her; MRHAFM was gone, out of sight!
Our ecstasy quickly turned into consternation as the thought of what will happen when she ran out of gas began to go through our heads. Unlike a lightweight well-trimmed free flight model which will lazily glide down to a soft landing when it’s OOS thermal lost it’s hold on it, we knew MRHAFM would come down like a rock when our now best-engine-ever ran out of fuel. A car windshield or hood? Someone’s roof? Our chosen event venue was a vacant lot in the middle of a populated area. When last seen it was more or less over a cemetery, but we decided not to chase after it to find out where it came down, instead left the scene smartly with mischievous grins on our faces and in at least my case, a grand model airplane story to remember and recount nearly 50 years later.
Yes, we are accepting membership renewals for 2022. Simply click on the “Membership Renewal link at the upper left corner of the front page. Or click below:
11/9/2021
Quorum at 7:10 PM, meeting convened.
In person participants: Brad, Jovi, Steve N., Steve M., Quan, Eric
Online participants: Steve B., Carl, Jeff, Kenny
Visiting member online: Dave Yousefi
Not present: N/A
Meeting held at Brad’s home.
Brad: Discussion about banquet prizes.
Spent time preparing future board members with details about club operations.
Steve M.: Steve will be our 2022 Club President.
Steve N.: Steve will remain in the Safety Officer position.
Steve B.: Steve will continue as Editor for the next year.
Carl: Carl will return as Member at Large.
Jovi: Jovi will replace Brad as Club Chairman.
The January banquet still on schedule, but we continue to monitor Covid-19.
Jovi is helping acquire prizes for the banquet.
Quan: Quan will become Vice President for 2022.
341 members as of 11/9/2021.
Bank balance sufficient and financials available to club members.
Banquet reservations made.
Membership and banquet ticket will be automated.
Membership and banquet ticket applications will be online and live at the first part of December.
Eric: Eric will be stepping down as Club Secretary.
Has new referrals for the DG project.
The project will be revisited during weather related work slowdown.
Kenny: Kenny will replace Eric as Club Secretary.
Upcoming events:
T-28 racing demo on Saturday, 10:00 AM on 11/13/2021 @ Weedwackers.
Motion made and seconded to retain current trailer storage agreement at $600/year.
Motion made and seconded to maintain membership dues at $50/year.
Motion made and seconded to spend up to $300 for donated blankets to the elderly.
Next BOD meeting date 1/12/2022.
Meeting adjourned at 8:17 PM.
Eric Shapiro
SEFSD Secretary 2021
P.S. – I’d like to thank the club for letting me be a member of the board for the last 3 years. It has been a privilege.
Check out our very own Ace, Alex.
Advanced AI Solutions has a prototype drone intended for fire fighting. Randy W. got to fly it and is now their new Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC). Their website is: https://xfireusa.com/
Nice video from Linkedin:
Pics from a test:
Click the pic for the story:
Head Tracking FPV Enable Realistic Dogfight!
FCC issues a $2.8 million fine against HobbyKing for marketing noncompliant transmitters used to relay video from drones to amateur drone operators that could apparently operate on unauthorized radio frequencies and power levels.
