Daily Archives: February 23, 2023

15 posts

Chairman’s Corner for Feb – Mar 2023

President's Corner

Hello Folks, here we are at the end of February and I have seen some members still have not renewed their membership and are flying.  Just to let you know, last year’s badge is expired. Please go online and renew your membership. If you are seen flying and not wearing your badge, you will be asked to always show and wear it. If you did not renew when asked to and this is the 2nd notice to you, you will be asked to land and not fly until you renew. Pull your phone out and renew, then go fly. Thank you. As far as our membership goes, we are well ahead of last year numbers, Thank you to you all. Two factors go out to why our field is looking so good, one was the “Dust Down” that is working out good for us! Thanks to Quan in managing the field. 2nd Factor, Dennis! Notice no weeds in the runway and have you seen both ends of the runway, it’s all nice and clean and maintained. A Big thank you goes out to Dennis! We are expecting rain for the next week, so it appears. Once again, after it rains, PLEASE let the field dry out before flying any airplane and if you do, DON’T walk on the muddy field, and leave footprints, if your airplane is on the other side of the runway, (north side), Please walk around the field to retrieve and walk around again. Last time I checked my airplane does not do well with large potholes. And speaking of rain, if it is coming down on Saturday (expecting Heavy Rain) we will be canceling our monthly event for February and perhaps our Contest Director may put a make-up together for next month….of course this is only my suggestion….And if there is no rain, then we will be out at the field having our Monthly meeting and fun fly. Look for a late notice on Friday in your email.
Our President, Brad, been working on the 50/50 and I’d like to say Thank You all for participating in our fund raiser for next year’s banquet. So, far the turnout has been tremendous, let’s keep great momentum going! I’m not sure how much we have raised but it’s looking good for us all. Thanks, Brad, for managing the 50/50 game! Also, I want you all to be on the lookout for coming engagements this year (4th of July and Labor Day, tentative) and, in these engagements, we will be planning some real nice prizes that we will be offering in a raffle. I will have more on this by next month when we start the raffle! Yes, it’s going to be fun! So, keep an eye out for future flyers that will be coming your way! My apology, but this is all that I have for now. Look below for I have an article on the build up of the DC-3. Got the wing in progress! Thank you all

Happy Flying!
Jovi

President’s Corner for Feb – Mar 2023

President's Corner
Merry February Fliers!

The last few weeks have been pretty amazing flying weather, but it looks like winter is about to catch up with us. We will be keeping a real close eye on the rain totals for the next 2 weeks, but it doesn’t seem promising with 4 major storms being forecasted in the next 10 days.

I hate to be that guy that needs to point out the obvious – but sometimes it falls to me.

Again, I need to mention that our flying surface is mostly comprised of clay, which absorbs moisture and slowly releases it over several days when it’s cool out, potentially leaving mud for a few days.

I Know some don’t care, but will ask again to stay off of the runway when it’s muddy. If there are standing puddles on the field or in the parking area, its too wet to effectively use the runway. People always say their plan won’t leave marks, then stomp their feet across the runway. We are near the end of the rainy season – and footsteps now could still affect the flying surface in August. Clay, remember?

Some people will tell me I’m wrong – and their cheap “Spektrum compatible” receiver is the greatest invention since Ice Cream. More power to them. For those with common sense – I will say again that Spektrum has NEVER given out the primary coding used to set the protocols used in their transmitters and receivers. While the Orange, Lemon, and Admiral receivers claim compatibility – they may be close, but they ARE NOT Spektrum. I’m sure that there are places where the knock off fakes are fine. Small variations in transmission protocols may not make a difference if you are in the middle of nowhere, like a desert, or central Texas…

However, our field is within 20 miles of 4 major military air installations, 2 major commercial airports, and 2 civilian airports. Mix all of those RF signals with all of the 5G towers transmitting on 2.4 and there is quite a soupy frequency mess between your transmitter and airborne receiver system. Is good enough really good enough? In the past year I have helped retrieve over a dozen destroyed aircraft that were using copycat receivers that someone’s “friend” said worked great, and the pilot couldn’t understand what happened… By all means – if you have an orange transmitter- then use an orange receiver – they ARE compatible! But if you use a quality transmitter, please use the same manufacturers receiver. They may be a few bucks more – but not as much as the plane you lost.

We keep losing locks because people are failing to close them and lock them. People cant take them if they are closed. I don’t know if you are leaving them open for a friend, or just too lazy to close them. Please turn this trend around! There were some grumbles about the membership increase – which is a direct response to rising costs. Treat the gear like you own it and YOU need to replace it because in the end – you do.

Please, Please, Please LOUDLY announce your intentions to take off, Land, cross the runway, or caution others to any intended flight patterns it would be in their interest to know about. If the person at the next gate cant hear it, either you are not calling out at all or you are whispering it to yourself. This is extremely unsafe to all parties involved. The flip side is – even if you call out “ on the runway!” loudly, it is still YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to look and ensure the pattern is clear. This month I saw two members not pay attention when others loudly called landing, and step directly in front of planes on final approach less than 10 feet from their heads. Then one of them got mad!!!! Sometimes you just can’t fix it.

Thanks to members for supporting the 50/50 raffle we have been having at field events These donations will help reduce the member cost to our 2023 Banquet and possibly put more money towards the main raffle itself. AND we have had 5 very happy 50/50 winners so far.

I would like to start a “member in the spotlight” section for the newsletter in which 2 or 3 members submit a paragraph about themselves with a short background talking about how they got into the hobby and any special interests they enjoy. Sadly, the three members I asked for initial input hadn’t returned one as I write this note. Maybe next month. If you would like to share, please drop me a line.

I still have a couple of the club T-shirts left. 3XL, XL, L, M, and S are available for $25.00 each.

If the weather clears this week, Jim will again be the Funmaster for this months Fun Fly event on Saturday the 25th. The ever popular LIMBO is scheduled to start at 10:00 AM followed by the monthly meeting at the field, and lunch for members.

I hope it is nice and dry – and I see you there, (Cancelled)
Brad

Jovi’s DC-3 Build Project: Chapter 3, Building the Wing

Builds & Reviews

By Jovi Murek

Hello again, well I’m back at it and building up the DC-3 Wing for this chapter. In this step, we will build up the center section of the wing. This aircraft was designed for nitro engines and, as you know, I am going to convert to electric.

Building the center section required a few modifications needed to be done first. W3 rips required cut out for the retracts, Firewalls got completed with the blind nuts installed. Other changes were needed, but just not now. So, I laid out the Center Spar and glued on the Ply Center Spar together once it cured. Next was to test fit the four plywood ribs and fit it to the building plans. From here I fitted the remaining ribs and fitted the wing mount block and the blocks for the retracts. Next was to fit the TE, (Trailing Edge). In the next few photos, you can see how it was all done.

 

Now that it all fit correctly and was flat on the building board, I was ready to glue, however, now that I see how it fits, I took it all apart and was ready to modify the main spar to except the retracts. Close to the outer ends of the main spar, I had to remove a section of the spar on both sides. This allowed the mechanics of the retracts to fit. The Top and Bottom spruce spar would be the strength to hold the cut-out section of the main spar. Alone with two strips of 1/16 plywood attached to the spar over the area of the modification to the spar.

DC-3 Fact:
The DC-3 was not only larger than the DC-2, but also much easier and safer to fly. An automatic pilot was installed as standard equipment. The overall design of the DC-3 was so successful that its basic specifications were never changed. Once the first DC-3’s entered service, the speed at which the entire industry converted over was limited only by the rate at which Douglas could produce them.

It was time to put it all back together and test fit all the pieces to make up the center section of the wing. Once I looked it over, and everything was just perfect, I started to glue the parts together with CA glue. Let it sit for a while, (just to make sure) I then added the TE and added some rails to the wing. I also added the dowel pins in place, motor mounts for the retracts. Ok, center section was coming together, as shown:

Continue reading →

Don’t Spill the Beans Event Report

Events
By Jim Bonnardel
Our first event for the year was met with very grey skies, and chilly weather. Weather was likely a factor in the average turnout of 18 sign-ups and 17 competitors.

At 09:45 the sign up sheet was put out. Our chairman, Jovi, had been wanting to be the first to sign up and had actually gotten ahold of the sign up sheet and was told he could not sign up until 10:00. Jovi knew the reason why you want to sign in early for 2023’s events, and thats because all tiebreakers will be decided by sign up order! Well Jovi got to sharing his 2022 video with AMA District 10 President and friend to SEFSD Greg Stone an forgot to watch his watch! 10:00am ticked by and our Treasurer, Steve Manganelli beat him to the punch with being contestant #1. Jovi realized his mistake and got in at #2.

There are some ‘rules’ we will operate under 2023, and that is the sign up sheet will always be the tiebreaker. Granted our games are pretty hard to have exact ties, but it does happen with Limbo which is our next event in Feb.

Beans started flying right after the pilot briefing, and Steve doing his first bean event EVER, did his first out of the gate, with no one showing their strategy, did a very respectable 1:14 flight but he only had 3 beans. The bar was set with room for improvement!

More entertainment ensued with George Sullivan almost donating his plane to Mission Bay, and carrying a RUNCAM onboard! That video is found at: https://youtu.be/NWafwJky45g Thanks to Frank Sutton, Georges near loss was captured for your entertainment! I cant believe how long the beans were there, but you gotta watch!

We had several pilots come home with the full load of 20 beans:

NAME Time Place
Bob Anson 0:22 1st
Brad Bender 0:27 2nd
Bruce Driver 0:31 3rd
Jim Richardson 0:34 4th
Ty T 0:54 5th
Phong Tran 0:57 6th

The rest of the pack with beans came in as follows:

Bob Stinson 18 Beans :25
Alex Sutton 14 Beans :38
Steve Manganelli 3 Beans 1:14
Jim Bonnardel 3 Beans and a CRAZY FAST 16 seconds!

Jim lost his beans when his airplane had a hiccup in the middle of the loop, otherwise it could have been a record breaker!

Kudos to:
Phil Barlow
George Sullivan (Loops & Rolls)
George Harper
Quan Nguyen
& Mark Davis

Those gents did their duty to populate the field with bean sprouts. We thank you putting all of your cargo out in the field and adding to diversifying our vegetation index.
Next month,  is the LIMBO event.  Come down and have a great time flying or just watching!

We were visited by the AMA District X VP, Greg Stone, Saturday and he very much enjoyed watching our “Don’t Spill The Beans!” competition.

Safety & Security

General Interest

One of the most important rules the city makes us enforce is controlling access to our area by means of the gate with a pad lock. The general gate protocol is as follows:

1) The first member entering the area will open (the combo is on the back of your membership badge) the lock and push the gate open and then spin the numbers on the lock  and latch it closed so it can’t be removed easily by a passerby.

2) If you are the last member leaving the field first check and inform any people with cars that they need to leave because the gate will be locked shortly. Once the area is clear,  exit and close the gate behind you and then lock and secure gate closed with the chain and lock—make sure it is locked! Spin the numbers!

Steve Neu

Electroglide Report for Feb 2023

Electroglide Contest Results

 We had a pretty fun Electroglide last Saturday. I didn’t think the weather would give us much lift but there were some longer than expected flight times.

 We had nine pilots competing, eight flying Radians and one flying in the open class.

 The sky was mostly cloudy, 60 degrees and a light 3 mph breeze.

 First launch went smoothly and had us all looking for the lift. Jeff Struthers (Radian) and a few others headed to the west and found a little bit of lift coming off of the boat launching area.  Dennis LaBerge (Radian) and some others found the lift to the east of our runway. That was a good choice for Dennis as he was able to stay in a narrow column of rising air for the longest flight of 9 minutes, plus picking up a 30-point landing. Jeff was second at 6:30 minutes with 20-point landing. Jon Graber (Radian), was third at 3:13 minutes. Alex Sutton, Stephen Treger and Fritz Logan (all Radians), had 30-point landings.

For the second launch, the lift pretty much disappeared. Dennis again had the long flight at 3:33 minutes with a 20-point landing. Bob Anson (Radian) had the second longest flight at 3:20 minutes and Stephen was third at 2:45 with a 20-point landing. Alex had a 30-point landing and Jeff and Fritz both had 20-point landings. It was a pile up in the target circles with a lot of aircraft landing at the same time. Have a look at the event pictures.

 Third launch again had short flights. Dennis was first at 3:20 and a 30-point landing. Bob was second at 3:15 minutes and Stephen was third at 3:00 minutes with a 10-point landing. Alex again scored a 30-point landing. Jeff and Bob both scored 20-point landings and Stephen and Jon both scored 10-point landings.

 Fourth and final launch had a bit longer flight times. Stephen had the long flight at 4:36 and a 20-point landing. Bob was second at 4:25 minutes and Dennis came in third at 4:20 with a 20-point landing. Fritz and George Sullivan both had 20-point landings. Alex and Jeff had 10-point landings.

Winners for the day:

Radian Class

Dennis LaBerge   222 total points

Alex Sutton         174 total points

Stephen Treger   158 total points

Open Class

Lewis Dotson       28 total points

Congrats to all the pilots for scoring so many extra points by landing in the target circles. You’re getting better and this is still the start of the season.

A thank you goes out to Frank Sutton for the event pictures.

Next Electroglide will be on March 18th. , usual start time of 10:00.

See you there,

Jeff

T28 Racing Report for Feb 2023

T28 Contest Results

On February 11th we held our second monthly T28 race. Initially we had 7 pilots but when “usually late” Quan arrived 15 minutes after the official starting time we had a total of 8 ready to do battle in the sky.

This month the final results were heavily influenced by the number of cuts committed. The honors for the most cuts in the preliminary rounds went to Quan with 5 cuts. There were also a couple cases of CFIT. (Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) occurs when an airworthy aircraft under the complete control of the pilot is inadvertently flown into terrain, water, or an obstacle. The pilots are generally unaware of the danger until it is too late.) After the dust settled from the preliminary rounds the and the placings and cuts added up the groupings for the 10 lap finals was set as follows:

Bronze:

1) George
2) Quan
3) Brian

Silver:

1) Brad
2) Fredrick

Gold:

1) SteveN
2) SteveM
3) Artie

For those that need a racing number I have done some housecleaning of the list. #2 and #5 are available. Let me know by email to “sneu@mac.com” if you need a new number or want to change an existing.

Our next race will be March 11th starting at 10am. Here is a link to the rules as well as tips for setting up your T28 for racing——hint it is quite different than the setup for fun flying! https://www.sefsd.org/club-contests/t28-racing/t28-rules-information/

Thank You
Steve Neu

BOD Meeting Minutes for Feb 2023

Meeting Minutes

2/8/2023

SEFSD Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Quorum at 6:40 PM, meeting convened.

In-person participants: Steve N., Brad, Jovi, Steve M., Quan, Eric, Carl
Online participants: Steve B., Nick
Not present: N/A

Meeting held Steve N.’s home.

Brad: Membership grace period has expired. Please renew ASAP.
Jim Bonardel asked to be voice of SEFSD.
Have till 2024 to ask AMA for field improvement funds.
Want to start getting members to write short bios about themselves. (Let’s introduce ourselves!)

Jovi: Club is moving in the right direction now that the pandemic has subsided.

Steve N.: Nothing new.

Steve M.: Bank account remains adequately funded.
Following up with FAA about restoring higher altitude limit.
Membership at 231 currently.

Steve B.: Will provide notice about T-28 race on website as dictated by weather.
The website is operating smoothly.

Larry K.: Following up on condition about barbecue serviceability.

Nick: Nothing new.

Eric: Consider providing higher grade receivers as prizes to encourage greater field safety and prevent plane crashes.

Carl: Nothing new.

Quan: Renewing liability insurance to remain in compliance.

Items requiring a vote:

Club is prepared to donate some blankets to Syrian/Turkish earthquake victims. Vote was taken and the “ayes” prevailed.

Club event prize values raised $100/year to make accounting easier. Vote taken and the “ayes” prevailed.

Items of continuing interest:

Field condition remains good.
Park Master Plan to continue being addressed. We are discussing how best to preserve this site into the future.
Droneplex maintenance to spruce up area remains forefront of mind.

Weekend field events:

T28 racing at 10:00 AM Saturday 2/11/23 as dictated by weather.
Electroglide at 10:oo AM Saturday 2/18/2023 as dictated by weather.

Organized field events will now include 50/50 raffles to help fund club banquets and other events. The organized events include Electroglide, T-28 racing, Bomb Drop, Don’t Spill the Beans, etc.

Next BOD meeting 3/8/2023 @ 6:30 PM.

Meeting adjourned at 8:37 PM.

Eric Shapiro
SEFSD Secretary 2023