President’s Corner

Hey Guys, only a couple of quick things from me this month.

One of the best things about our club is the lack of DRAMA on site. For the most part everyone respects each other, and treats each other with the dignity and respect they would like to have for themselves. Periodically, we get a pilot come to us from another club that is used to drama and blatantly disrespecting others. It has become a habit for them to continuously fly in an aggressive manner that is flat out dangerous to other members and their aircraft, to the point where it begins to degrade the experience for everyone.

Sadly, since this has been their main flying experience to date – they don’t feel they are doing anything wrong, and get upset if anyone says anything to them or about them. There are a few new members that have come from the Chollas and Chula Vista clubs recently that are in this category. I have personally spoken to them on numerous occasions, but need some help from members. If it’s only me doing the talking, they tend to blow me off with the idea that “ Brad just doesn’t like me”. Couldn’t be further from the truth – I want EVERYONE to have a great experience at our site! A little peer pressure can go a long way if you are trying to get someone to be a better citizen at our field.  You don’t have to be mean, or angry – just mention ( often if necessary ) to them that they are being unsafe and it affects you in a negative manner. Hopefully the aggressive attitudes will relax and stop shortly. I have brought this issue to the Board of Directors. We are in agreement that since I have given verbal warning to the aggressors, My next step will be a written warning – followed by expulsion from our club.  Having a dozen members tell me “ I HATE THAT GUY!”, or “ I stopped flying because of him” is not the way to move forward.

We are at the point in the year where we start to solicit new blood for the BOD for next year. I have heard some amazing ideas from many of you. You should consider joining the Board next year and show us what you have. If you would like to sit in at the September meeting on the 6^th, let a BOD member know – you are invited!

I am still collecting monies through the 50/50 fundraiser conducted on every event day. So far club members have won over $2,500 dollars – CASH MONEY! That means I have also collected over $2,500 towards reducing the ticket costs per guest at the banquet – and an additional raffle prize or two.  You can’t win if you don’t play!

The tropical storm did a great job in smoothing out some of the rougher spots of the runway, no excuses – Let’s Fly!

Brad

Addendum to Brad’s article

Team,

There was an incident at the field this week that needs a quick discussion.

An out of control plane went into the field area at the west end of the runway on Thursday, and the batteries let the flames out in a manner we haven’t seen in the last few years. Club members rushed to the site with an extinguisher and when the pin was pulled, and handle squeezed, it failed to light off. Members started stamping the flames down with their feet while another ran to his truck for a couple gallons of drinking water he had, and they were able to extinguish the flames.

A couple of notes:

While battery technology has been getting better over the last few years, it is still something we have to respect at all times- while using, and while charging.

Years ago the BOD gave out approximately 250 Fire extinguisher to members with the words to bring them when you fly – and if you use it, replace it so you still have one for the field. Where are they now?

If you have one of these, when was the last time you looked at the charge indicator and verified the needle was in the green area?

If you are fairly new to the hobby – I highly recommend purchasing a small extinguisher and mounting it in your vehicle for onsite use ( does no good in your shed at home).

If you have one of the small extinguishers manufactured by KIDDE with a plastic nozzle, they have been known to fail because the handle can break when squeezed too hard.  There is a 800 number on the label that you can call for a free replacement.

 Finally, We are the first line of defense for a fire at our site. Do everything possible to extinguish the flames without putting your personal safety at risk. If a fire does get out of control in our area, members need to evacuate the immediate danger area and call 911. Report the area as South Shores PKWY .

Be Safe!

Brad

Hey Fliers!

I guess this heat is what we get for complaining that it was still cold and cloudy in June!! Remember, during the heatwave, bring a portable shade device, Sunscreen, and plenty of liquids to the field with you. As stated before, it’s not fair to others to arrive without and then ask others for water. They may give you theirs – then have to pack their stuff and go home.

             As Jovi mentioned, we ended a successful fundraising raffle on July First. Dennis won the Grand prize -the iX14 radio, and Jovi procured additional funds to put towards more raffle prizes at the end of year Banquet which will be held on Jan 12^th. A Win for Dennis, and a Win for the club!!

             I am continuing raising money with the 50/50 being held in conjunction with the 3 monthly events. I have reached my initial cash goal which will allow me to offset ticket prices for every member as they purchase their Banquet ticket, and now I am raising funds for a “special” raffle prize. Each 50/50 day there is a member walking away with CASH and a grin! You have to play to win!

             Our plans to wet and roll the field are contingent on the schedule of the water truck operator. She is doing a lot of work around the county and cannot get to our tiny slice of heaven for a few weeks. Quan is investigating other sources, but the heat wave is making it difficult.

              We are keeping our ears open for notification that our FRIA request has been processed by the FAA. There are already online sites selling transponders for 40-90 bucks depending on your planned usage, but they will not be required at a site recognized as a FRIA. I would recommend not buying anything until we hear of the official ruling which is due on September 15^th.

              There are quite a few new members in the last few months, and we find ourselves repeating some of the safety requirements – so I’m  going to state some of them here for all.  Please LOUDLY announce your take offs, intention to land, and any time you are going to step on or cross the field. LOUDLY folks means that people 2-3 gates away should hear you. If your plane is on the field and unable to taxi back, please walk in the pits to the gate closest to your plane, then call “On The Field!” and step out to retrieve it – immediately walking back to the closest gate. Lately I have seen people step out at gate one and walk down the centerline to gate 4 to retrieve their plane – then take a slow stroll all the way back while others are crashing in the weeds with dead batteries. Please respect the common sense pattern we promote at the field. Take off and land into the wind. Upwind passes should be between the centerline of the runway to approximately 30 feet into the weed area. Downwind passes should be 50-100 feet out over the weeds. Back and forth continuous passes over the weed line at full throttle is hazardous to everyone and increase the chance of a mid-air. Figure eights over the runway are extremely discouraged as downright dangerous. Don’t fly within 50 feet of people or animals in the field. At no time should you fly over the fence, pit area, or parking lot. If you have lost control of your plane and it is in an unsafe orientation YOU must call out to let others know of the danger.

We close out July with our meeting and Fun Fly event on the 22^nd. The event is another club favorite – Spot Landing. Straight down counts – but you get 3 chances to earn points so don’t do the lawn dart thing on the first try…There may be some interesting changes this month so come prepared for a great time, to be followed by a hot dog lunch.

Have a GREAT August!

Brad

Hello members, can you believe it we are halfway thru the year and what does that mean, little over 6 months away for our Banquet.  With the efforts that Brad is making, our 50/50 is going to save our members a good amount of money for their tickets, which go on sale in December.  Our fourth of July Raffle is soon upon us!  Only one more week to go and we get to see who will win the Grand Prize, a Spektrum iX14 radio.  This is all happening on July 1, 2023, which is a Saturday.  Better show up for we are going to have Tri-Tip for lunch alone with fixnes.  This will be a great event for everyone.  It will be a fun day of flying and a great opportunity to meet other members who we haven’t met.  The raffle is going on, all the way up to the event.  You can still get your tickets from the blast which we were sending out for the last week.  And you can get them on Saturday during our lunch.  Must be present to have some Tri-Tip for lunch, this is coming from Smokin Joe’s BBQ.  We will have enough food to cover 100 members, so come on out and enjoy the Tri-Tip sandwiches.  Club will provide drinks for everyone.  If you miss out and you have purchased tickets, do not worry, if your name is called as a Winner, you will be notified by me of your winnings.

This weekend is our club meeting and fun fly with Jim holding “Bomb Drop”, and this is another fun event that Jim has created for us so be sure to come out and enjoy the laughter and fun.  We’ll have news for our members from our Pres, Brad, and of course we have our fantastic Hot Dogs, being cooked by you know who, that right I be you chef for the day!  Mark has to attend to family matters.  We’ll see him cooking up the dogs in July!  Also want to remind you that this coming Sunday, June25, is the clean up of the Heli and the Roto Plex.  As I had asked before I would like to have a few volunteers’ help in getting the Roto Plex back up again.  Also, I would like some help with the Heli area in getting it cleaned up as well and make sure that the polls are up for the borders in which they are to fly in.  What we will be doing is restoring the course for the Roto Plex. In doing this we will clean up the brush around each gate. Flat shovels will be needed to clear the brush. We are also going to reset the boundaries around the Heli and Roto Plex by removing old stakes and replacing them in new areas around the field. Here are the tasks that I would like to have volunteer’s for:

• There are 10 gates that will be relocated around the field. Attached is a map of the area and where the gates will go. Those areas will need the clean-up around each gate.
• Redo the outside border lines with the stakes that are at the field. We will also paint the tops, at least 1 ½ feet with red paint to make the boundaries.
• Clean the Heli section.
• Tools needed are Flat shovels, carbon steel digging bar, (to help remove old stakes), slag hammer (I have a large one, smaller one would be better).
• Dennis, do you have the city approved weed killer? To remove weeds growing on the carpets.

I have to mention this again about some of our rules once again.  Many of you are calling out your intentions, Take Off, Low fly by and Landing, some call out for touch and goes, greatly appreciate it very much.  But we still have a few that are not calling out intentions and not using their Manly Voice.  Please guys yell it out, if you’re at the East end and the guys at the West end can’t hear you and vice versa.  We do have a few people calling out for you when you’re not yelling.  So please use your Manly Voice.  Also, when doing low fly-by’s, please stay on the north side of the white center line on the runway, please do not fly close to the gates, you might and could hit someone.  Thank You all for complying with the rules and don’t forget to always wear your badges when you’re flying, or you will get me asking you where your badge is.    Thank You for hearing me out!  See you all at the field and if any of you have questions to ask, please do not hesitate to ask me or any of the BOD members.  As a last to note for our Raffle I would like to thank Hitec for their contribution to our Raffle by donating  a RDX2 Pro High Power Dual Port AC/DC Charger.

I look forward to seeing a lot of you out on July 1, 2023, for our Fun Fly day and who gets to walk away with Brand new iX14 radio, I’m excited, hope you are too!

Happy Flying,

Jovi

Hey team, this past week saw the first official day of summer. Hopefully June gloom will soon be in the rearview mirror and we can get on with some blue sky flying.

 The first day of July will also be the anticipated raffle day for our summer fundraiser to collect funds for more yearly banquet prizes. As Jovi mentioned above , we have some great prizes being raffled off, and some great Catered food for members and their immediate families on a first come, first served basis. Food should be available around 11:00AM. We paid for quite a bit of food, but if you come late – you should bring your lunch with you. 😊.  You really don’t want to miss out on tri-tip sandwiches, and your chance to win the iX14 Radio! Raffle tickets will be sold all morning on June 24^th and the 1^st of July, and the raffle will be held around noon on the 1st. Funds donated to this raffle will go towards additional raffle prizes at the end of year banquet in January.  While talking about fundraising, I also want to thank all the participants in the 50-50 raffle over the last couple months. Club members have won $1970 to date, meaning the club has too! I am near my goal of $2000 to reduce ticket prices ( by $20 for each ticket) for the hundred members attending the banquet in the Air & Space Museum. Any further funds raised before the end of the year will also go towards a variety of raffle prizes.

 As we approach Independence Day, I would like to remind members of the front row seat available from our site for the holiday fireworks. SEAWORLD has one of the best shows in the State and you are only a couple hundred yards away from the launch site when watching from our club pit area. Traditionally, we do a closed gate day where members will pass through the gate and close and lock it immediately behind them, their family, and their guests. We attempt to keep the random public out of our site as they tend to leave their trash, shoot firearms, and start things on fire. I am not able to attend myself this year, so I am looking for a volunteer to take custody of the “Members Only” sign to be placed on the gate during daytime hours, and then removed after the fireworks as members depart. Please let me know if you would like this task.

In my last newsletter, I talked a little bit about safety, and we had a few words about flying safely at the last members meeting at the field.  One thing I realized during that discussion is that some people are having so much fun that they can be flying in an unsafe manner without realizing it. They may not actually know they are over the pits, parking lot, and drone area unless someone verbally tells them. I would ask every member on site to remember that they are ALWAYS part of the safety strategy in our club. We cannot let ” I didn’t know!” be a recipe for stitches or an ambulance ride out of our field! You don’t have to be a board member, or the safety officer to say something when someone else is unsafe or reckless. That being said, I don’t expect you to yell at anybody – just make a statement about what they are doing, and that you’re feeling unsafe. A little bit of peer pressure goes a long in stopping people from flying over the table area, or doing high-speed passes over the fence. Recently we haven’t been saying too much if you do a high speed pass between the center line and the weed line – but you should NEVER be between the center line and the fence unless taking off or landing.

Along the same lines, some members apparently don’t understand that, in their excitement, they are doing 20-30 MPH in the parking lot and are dusting people out. If you see it, PLEASE say something. They are not actively trying to be jerks, they are just excited…

One of the main things I love about this club is that we mostly have a group of well mannered, courteous members who are mostly drama – free, all trying to enjoy a hobby together. Recently, it has come to my attention that a few members are being discourteous to others with the weird thought that they have permanently reserved tables at our site. This is NOT the case! If you arrive early, select a table, and would like to put a chair at the table next to you to save a table for your friend, or flying partner that are on the way, Feel free to do that. If your friend is late, and the other tables are full – move the chair to give someone else a slot. BE COURTEOUS! If you want a specific table, get there early and park at that table. If you arrive late, and someone else is at the table you normally use, use another table. DO NOT CURSE at people and tell them to get the F** off of “your” table and go somewhere else. This will not be tolerated, and can result in your expulsion from this club. I currently have the names of the persons that believe they OWN property at Mission Bay, and the next offense will result in official action from the Board of Directors.

This months monthly fun fly event will be on 24 June. This one will be a club favorite, the bomb drop. Like most events, any pilot that can safely fly their airplane can participate. You don’t need to practice 30 hours a day to place!! There will be prizes for the top winners, followed by the monthly club meeting at the field, and a hot dog lunch.

Please join us and have a great time, but remember to watch your airplane!

I hope everyone has a great July!

Brad.

Hello Folks, I hope all are doing well and I hope all enjoyed this past Easter.  The weather lately has been in our favor, and it looks like it is going to continue, so just maybe we are out of the raining season.  Thanks to Dennis LaBerge and Scott Vance for helping Dennis with maintain the field, it sure looks great!  Please say Thanks to Dennis and Scott for doing a great job next time you see them!   I have notice that our Roto Plex field needs some TLC and I plan on going over there to clean it up and reset the course and make the field look a little better than it does.  I am looking for volunteers to help our in cleaning the Roto Plex field on May 7, 2023, that is a Sunday, it would be greatly appreciated if any of you could help. I would very much like to bring the Roto Plex field back to descent looking field.  I have notice that some people are flying at the Roto Plex, and they don’t have AMA or have joined our club.  I ask that if any of you see someone flying, PLEASE go over and confirm that they are members.  Just this past weekend, this one gentleman was flying his Helicopter no more than 20 feet for SeaWorld Drive.  That we all know is not acceptable.  If this guy were to crash his helicopter on the road, we can all say “Good-bye” to our field!  It is in your best interest to go over, make conversation in a polite way and asked if they are members, as well of telling them where too and not to fly!  If they have AMA, and show it to you, they may fly for the day, but tell them to join our club, which will give them full access to our field. It’s also not a bad idea to ask if they have TRUST and having FAA number on the quad or the helicopter, just inform them that the FAA could make a surprise visit. Speaking of TRUST and FAA numbers, I hope all members are up to date and have their FAA number on their aircraft.

It appears that some members (names will not be mentioned) who believe that they can fly above the 200 feet.  I guess I need to tell you that you cannot fly above 200 feet.  We clearly have that spelled out along the fence line at each gate.  This one individual told me that it was ok to Spike above the 200-foot mark.  Not sure where he is getting his information.  As of 2018 the rules changed on us and in those rules, they is no Spiking allowed.  His father kept insisting that it was league.  He of course did not want to argue with me and for good reason, he knows that I am correct and this induvial was not.  They only come out during the week and occasionally on a Saturday.  This gentleman has been told many times not to do this and he keeps insisting on doing it when he feels like doing it.    This could very much loose our field.  We can’t afford to have one bad apple sour our fun of flying airplanes.   I ask you, here as well if you see anyone going above the 200-foot, let them know that they are in violation of our rules and must descend. 

UCSD is coming back to our field for the second year now to preform “UCSD aircraft design fly-off”.  This is going to happen on June 16, 2023, with Professor John Hwang who will be a member of our club when this event is held, and they will be using the field from 8 am to 12 noon.  The field will be closed during those hours.  It will reopen to all members just as they conclude their event.  You are all welcome to watch the event and give a little advise to the 7 to 8 groups that will be there.  Steve Manganelli and Dennis Laberge will be the two main Pilots from our club that will provide the majority of the support, so Please coordinate with them on this event.  It was pretty cool last year, from what I had heard.  I also request if any of you can bring your camera with you to take some pictures of this event so we can post them in our Newsletter, I think that too would be cool.  If any of you have questions about this event, please reach out to me and I’d be happy to answer them.

Starting this coming Saturday, our Monthly Meeting, we are going start off the Raffle in which we will be Raffling off a New iX 14 Spektrum Radio along with other items included in this raffle. The reason for the Raffle is to generate more money for our Banquet on January 12, 2024.  Yes, we will back at the Air and Space Museum for our 3^rd consecutive time.  Being underneath the PBY is one very cool experience.   We are working very hard to reduce the cost to our members for the Banquet and hoping this will bring more of our members to enjoy the festivities.  This Raffle will be a tremendous boost for the banquet, alone with Brad’s, 50/50 which we play at every T-28, Electrogilde and our monthly meetings.  And in each time, we play 50/50, I have seen many happy members walking away, thrumming thru the cash!  Last Saturday, Allen was the winner with just one ticket.  Way to go Allen.  The Raffle will begin on April 22, 2023, and goes all the way up to July 1, 2023.  4^th of July is on a Tuesday this year and we will celebrate the 4^th on Saturday July 1^st.    Every Club Member may purchase a raffle ticket, each ticket will cost a Buck.  Yes, that is $1.00 to win an iX 14 radio.  Each member may purchase as many tickets as they choose too.  I know I’m going to get a bunch of tickets for iX 14 radio…. OMG.  You will be able to go to our web site www.SEFSD.org to purchase your tickets.   I will be selling tickets every Saturday down at the field, so make sure you get them!   As it now stands, we are generating a good chuck of cash for our banquet in which we will be able to reduce the cost to our members.  I do want to thank all of you for making this happen!

Up-date on the DC-3.  My new job has been amazing, and I truly enjoy building the real full-scale aircrafts, which has not given me the time to work on the DC-3.  I have started to build up the nacelles.  Once I get them completed, I would say that I about 75% done building.  Still, I have not decided on what the DC-3 will be, maybe PSA, or an earlier version of Hawaiian Airlines… 

Happy Flying!

Jovi

Hey Flyers!

I for one, am glad that it seems to be drying out. The Red Lock, and Dennis has done a great job of damage control by keeping club members from using the field when it’s just too wet to use.  Dennis diligently repaired the footprints left by the homeless people and dog walkers…

On the mention of the red lock, there are currently 3 locks assigned to our site. The city’s KEYED lock, our primary combination lock ( silver ), and our restricted access combination lock ( Red).  Currently, the City has their lock out for repair. It’s quite old and needs to be able to allow access to city vehicles during emergencies. That leaves 2 locks attached at the moment. The red lock closes the chain around the gate, and the red lock closes the other end of the chain around the fence post.  There has been some confusion when people saw the red lock and assumed they were locked in without looking closer.

The field is in full bloom of wild flowers with some areas above head height. There are quite a few people parking in our lot, and walking across the runway and roto plex to take pictures with the pretty “weeds”.  Contrary to some beliefs, we share the outer field areas with the general population using Mission Bay Park. PLEASE don’t holler at them or threaten them in any way with your aircraft. If they are in the way when you are trying to take off, hold your flight for a few minutes until they clear out. If they are actually on the runway when someone is trying to land, ask them to clear the runway ( No Cursing). Any time there are people in the field, we must stay at least 50 feet above them, and the Multi-rotors must give them a minimum of 100 feet horizontal space. Dive bombing or racing your drone near any person or animal equals an immediate suspension of membership for the remainder of the year – or longer if the BOD determines it is warranted.

I KNOW Jovi talked about it, but I’m going to make this bold and in larger text as some people are not getting it.  We have no waiver for people practicing the I/EMAC pattern to punch way over 200 feet!!!  Our hard ceiling is 200 feet. SEFSD is currently in an area that is designated with a 50 foot flight ceiling, and we have a specific agreement with the FAA and ATC US Western Division that allows us to reach 200 feet.

Jovi also mentioned that he is going to pull together a group of plane flyers to clean up the roto plex areas on the 7^th of May. Thank you to those who volunteer. I appreciate your help. I will say that if the roto plex guys are not interested in helping – the next time the city says it looks trashy will be the end of the race gates and it will only be maintained as a helicopter area moving forward.

Recently there has been a lot of discussions about a couple of the hobby distributers have quietly raised their prices by 2-400 dollars and are shouting “FREE Shipping!!” Don’t be fooled, understand where your dollars are going. Often your best bet is to order from our local hobby shop.

So Far we have reached over $1100.00 in the 50/50 donation pot for next years banquet. The goal is $2500.00 which will offset the dinner prices for every attendee by $25.00. Any additional collections will go towards additional raffle prizes. I will say that one member has already donated a very popular plane to the 50/50 raffle to support the club and our Banquet!!

The Monthly Meeting is this Saturday, 22 April. There will also be a Fun Fly event and a hot dog lunch. HOPE to see you all there!!

Brad

Hey Guys,

I hope none of you were flooded or washed away this year! The great thing is that we are officially out of the drought, at the cost of missing out on quite a few flying days. Nearly a month ago I initiated a “Red Lock “ initiative at the field. The intent is to keep members from using our field during times that usage is counterproductive to maintaining a smooth surface. I will claim that it has been a success. The amount of member induced damage to the runway has reduced to zero. While we cannot control the periodic non-member from walking across the muddy runway for some reason – at least it’s not us being the problem. As we near the end of the rainy season, any problems we cause on the clay surface will still be an issue in July. The red lock has also assisted us in enforcing the recent NOTAM flight restrictions that were in place for 2 days while the President was traveling throughout our county by air…

For now the field is in great shape, and with the rain stopping Thursday, I hope it will be dried out to support our club meeting and fun fly event this Saturday. If not, Life will go on, and we will fly when we can.  Thanks to Dennis Laberge and Scott Vance who made liberal use of the approved weed abatement spray in the few days that were dry. They spent numerous hours around the field, in the main pit area, and Rotor-plex pit area. Without their efforts the vegetation would be well on its way of conducting a hostile takeover of our site.

With all of the rain, vegetation growth at the field will be out of control for the next 5 or 6 weeks. The weeds ( AKA pretty flowers… ) will likely be head height by mid-April. This generally will attract a lot of people to the field area for pictures. I understand that having people randomly walk on the runway and into the flight area can be difficult to deal with. Please be patient and remember that they are attempting to enjoy Mission Bay Park in their own aspect. Please don’t scream at them, or get close to them with your aircraft. If you feel it is unsafe, I expect you to hold your flight until they have departed and you can fly safely.

Around this time of year I like to ask people to double check the safety equipment they use at the field. Fire extinguishers should be checked for charge. First aid kits should be checked for expiration dates and validation that they are still effective. Recently a member gave another member a large Band-Aid that was almost 4 years old and it was about as sticky as a sheet of paper. It’s also the time to ensure you have some good sun screen in your kit. I keep seeing members with interesting bandages where melanomas are removed – PREVENTION is key here. It is also time to remember planning to bring plenty of drinking water for yourself and guests. Now that the days are longer and potentially getting warmer, I don’t want to risk anyone getting dehydrated and sick. Along that note, please don’t “count” on the charity of others in this regard. Some of us have medical conditions that are severely aggravated by dehydration and always have water with them. If you know they bring water and ask them for a bottle, you may get it – but at the cost of them having to pack up their stuff and leave… I had one member actually tell me a few years back that I had ruined his day because I did not bring enough water for his children. Most of us are fully grown, please don’t put this onus on others.

We had a slow month for the 50/50 raffles as we were mostly washed out. I had one chance last weekend and with the logistics of completing and doing the maiden flights on 2 large planes, the raffle slipped my mind.

I will continue this weekend and attempt to keep it on track. Again, the idea is to have one lucky club member win on each event day – and have the rest of the donations go towards next years banquet. I intend to reduce banquet ticket prices for attendees, and add valuable raffle prizes.  Tickets are $10 each and the Members benefit from each dollar collected.

This months Fun Fly event will be Altitude quest, Another club favorite. Expect the fun to begin on the 25^th at 10:00 AM. This is a club favorite that can be enjoyed by all and usually lasts about an hour and a half. It will be followed by the monthly club meeting and hot dog lunch. There will be gift certificates to Discount Hobby Warehouse for the winners. John Weaver, owner of Discount Hobbies, Gives us certificates at a discounted rate – allowing us to offer more. He is appreciative of a “thank You” from club members when the chance presents itself.

As the weather levels out I hope to see all of you at the field more! The ( only ) nice thing about all of this rain was a chance to get a couple of plane projects in the air. I hope to see you with a new plane or two!

Have a great month,

Brad

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

Happy New Year to all Club members, I hope you all had a great Holiday Season and I hope you also got that new airplane you’ve been wanting.  My Christmas was great and peaceful. As we all know, this past January we had some good rain which we needed. Not sure if we needed all that rain at the field, however it has helped the field and it looks rather good. Thanks to Dennis LaBerge for maintaining the field during our raining season. I will have more on Dennis in just a bit!

Since this is the new year, I just want to go over some rules at the field, this is just a friendly reminder to all members. We have received more chairs that Jim got for us from an auction, and we have also identified these belonging to SEFSD. These are better chairs to sit in. Now that we got these, let us make sure we take care of them and not abuse them. Remember to call out your intentions when getting ready to “Take-off,” “Low Fly-by,” “Landings,” using your manly voice so if you’re in the middle, both ends hear and if you’re at one of the ends you’re really need to project your voice so everyone can hear you, NO whispers.  Remember to check the windsock to see the direction of the wind and then flying in that corresponding direction. And remember there are other pilots flying so do not go the opposite direction and cause a mid-air. 

Everyone must lock the bathroom when you are done using it. Please do not leave it unlocked and just hanging because the field may be filled with flyers and you think this is a clever idea, well it is not and we have the chance of losing our lock and having a homeless person invade our Clean Bathroom, we need to still LOCK the Bathroom. Driving in the parking lot is five miles an hour, not 10 or 15, it is 5 miles.  We need to keep safety in mind when driving, too many people hang around our field so let us watch out for them as well. And my last note is when you’re the last, or close to being last, and you see people by their cars who are visitors, Please go to them and inform them that since your last or the last person is getting his last flight in, Please tell those visitors that they could get locked in since the last person who is flying must lock the gate, but don’t leave some visitor locked in.  In the meantime, have fun flying and being with other members!

The Banquet, now that was a fun time being with everyone who came. It was a genuinely delightful atmosphere at the Air and Space Museum. I do have to apologize for the members who were kept out of the Museum. The guard did not get the message that all members who showed their badge were allowed in the museum. The area not available was the banquet, which was to start at 6pm which it did. I am sorry for the mix-up, even though it was small stuff.

Thank You Lisa and your staff for putting on a great catering festive. The food was outstanding, and your helpers were all so friendly with all our members and guests, Thank You Lisa and staff!  I hope you all enjoyed the food, and yes Brad made the appetizers, yummy, those were good, Thank You Sir!   The night was filled with a lot of laughter and joy. Jim Bonnardel and Brad Bender both spoke, and Jim was telling us about the events he has planned for this year. We have our monthly meeting, (This month it is Spill the Beans $175.00 in cash prizes).  Brad was giving thanks to everyone on how he got support when he had heart surgery, and we are all glad to see that Brad is doing very well and having a wonderful time flying! After a while everyone got food and were feeling great, all enjoyed the hospitality. I want to thank Frank and Alex for taking pictures of those who wanted a picture by the Spirit of St. Louis and Thanks for making the memory’s video which was running in the background during our event. Then it was my turn, I talked a bit my last job and job I currently have now, in building nacelles for Falcon 6X, G400 and Boeing’s 787. Yep, I love it!

I want to Thank all the members who participated in my video that I created. It looks to me that everyone enjoyed the short flick. For those of you who missed seeing it, click below: 

This year we had an award go to one of our members. This award is known as the “Founders Award.” Who are the Founders of the SEFSD, that would be Steve Manganelli, Steve Neu, and Steven Belknap. Steve Manganelli present, first ever award and that award went to Dennis LaBerge. Dennis has spent countless hours cleaning up around the field, making sure the field stays in great shape. When it is time to roll the field, Dennis is the one who commands the Roller and rolls the field for us.  Dennis is giving us a great field to fly off. Thank You Dennis and congratulations!

Now it was time to have some fun and give away our raffle. I want to thank Michelle Manganelli in getting the women’s gifts (our better half’s) and I hear they were surprisingly good gifts too. For us guys boy did we have a bunch of batteries to give away and I know how much fun we had with the batteries, those all came from Steve Neu, Thanks Steve. I was happy to see that Alan Isaacs showed up and he won a T-28, Congratulations Alan! Oh, I guess I cannot forget about Larry Kosta, I should! Well, he helped me with all the planes in getting them out of my car, cannot forget about the other guys who helped too.  But the problem with Larry was he said I am going to win this Glider, we had two of them and one person won, and I forgot who that was. Towards the end I had the glider left, I think a T-28 and our grand prize. Of all the people who came, Larry Kosta won the glider, I was like are you kidding me, and I had two of those instances, Frank Sutton won the King Twin, but wait who really got the King Twin, you should have seen Alex carry out the King Twin.  He had the biggest smile I have ever seen!

I want to thank all who came to the banquet, you all made it an exciting time! Next year our plan is to go back to the Air and Space Museum. This year we are going to try to reduce the cost of ticket for the Banquet, yes, this past banquet was up in price. Brad Bender has a great idea to lower our cost on a ticket.  Brad is playing a game called 50/50. This game will be played every T-28, Electro Glide and Club meetings. Each ticket cost $10.00, at the end of the event, we will draw one ticket and that winner will half the money and the other half will go to the next year banquet. This will work out to about $2250.00 to $2500.00, that is a substantial chunk of change for next year. I know I am going to play!!!   This will be a fun year for the club, we have other ideas as well on how much fun will be for all, so look out for more exciting news as the year goes on!

All right members, this coming Saturday is our club meeting and our engagement for Don’t Spill the Beans, so I hope to see many of you out at the field!

Thank You all again and Happy Flying!

Jovi

Chairman of the Board

Hey Fliers!

Welcome to the new year, I hope Santa brought you a new Plane, Helicopter, or Quadcopter! I have seen quite a few new toys over the last month and a lot of Smiling faces.

I saw a lot of you at the club banquet on the 13^th. I wish more were able to attend. It was a great time at an amazing venue, and a chance to see the spouses that put up with our craziness. I hope to see more at next years event.

One answer I heard quite a bit when I asked members why there were not attending was the cost of the banquet this year. All I can say is that it should be a surprise to no one that EVERYTHING is way more expensive this year. Costs are out of control. The club still covered over half of the total costs for the venue, dinner, and raffle prizes for the pilots and guests – that goes to show what the overall cost was.

To remove some of that burden from next years event I have initiated some fundraising efforts. At each organized club event this year I will hold a 50/50 raffle. For those that have never played 50/50, I will sell tickets for $10 each. When the event ends, generally before noon, we will draw one ticket and the ticket holder will win 50% of the funds collected, with the other 50% going into the fund for the next banquet. There will always be a winner, and always money towards the banquet to reduce individual cost. Winners so far are Fritz Logan, and Scott Vance.  Additionally, Jovi is procuring a tidy sum of money from the BOD which he will use to get some higher end prizes for at least two fundraising raffles this year. For these events, you know the reasoning and You will benefit at the end, so please participate as able and let’s have a grand event next year!

  One thing I mentioned personally at the Banquet was to say “ THANK YOU!!” to everyone. Some of you know that I had open heart surgery just before Christmas in 2021. A few of you have shared similar experiences. I will say that the friendship and camaraderie of club members was crucial in getting me out of the recovery bed and back in action. Randy brought me to the field a week after surgery, and I had a radio in my hands less than 2 weeks out. Each day since has presented different challenges, but I always look forward to weekend flying with the greatest group I have ever been a part of.

As we move into 2023 we have seen a large amount of rainfall and the field is in amazing shape right now. Moving forward we can expect the rainfall to taper off drastically. We may have one or two more showers before we hit the dry season. Our runway is made of clay and footprints/gullies will stay for months if we don’t stay off of the wet runway. I have been AMAZED at the amount of pushback we received this month when asking members to let the field dry for a few days before use.  Sadly, Alligator tears kept the surface damp longer than required… Please, as I mentioned in a note late December – Exercise common sense. If there is standing water in the parking lot or on the runway – save your flight for a day or two. If there are noticeable dark spots on the runway, avoid them as if they are quicksand, and finally- if you know your landing skill is not at a capability level to avoid the dark spots, please save your flights for a day or two.  I don’t have enough fingers to count the number of times a member has stated “ My tiny plane won’t leave marks!”, only to see him get his “tiny plane” stuck in the mud and walk his not so tiny 200 pounds out to retrieve the plane.  Again, Common Sense Please!

  I want to promote knowing each other better as a club. In that effort I am going to ask 3 or 4 of you each month to participate in a volunteer only member in the spotlight. I will ask each to prepare a paragraph or two with a quick background on yourself, how long you have been in the hobby, what aspects you enjoy the most, and anything else you would like to share. I will tag a few members at this months meeting and see what we get.

Talking about this months meeting at the field:

It will be on the 28^th, and the fun fly event is one of the clubs favorites, and the only one where you can win cash money as a prize. DON’T SPILL THE BEANS!  Don’t miss it! The fun fly will kick off around 10:00 AM and will be followed by the first club meeting of the year, then lunch.

I hope everyone has a GREAT year!!

Brad

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all SEFSD members.  “Christmas is the season of joy, of gift-giving, and of families united.” “Peace on earth will come to stay when we live Christmas every day.”  “He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.” “Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance—each beautiful, unique, and gone too soon. “

This has been a great year for our club.  We did a lot this year in all the fun we have had.  I am looking forward to the T-28 races and our Electric Glide which follows the T-28 races the following weekend in our upcoming year.  Our monthly meetings have had a great turnout with members coming down to the field this past year.  I do look forward to the upcoming year and the fun will continue.  Thanks to Jim B, we will have a calendar with all the events happening in year 2023.

I would also like to remind everyone to renew your membership and most of all, don’t forget to get your tickets for the Banquet on Jan 13, 2023.

This will be a fun event that we have planned for our members, so be sure to get your tickets for they will sell out fast!  As it stands now, we have 55 tickets sold, so only 45 tickets remain, so better get them quick!  Remember our event at the Air and Space Museum starts at 6:00pm.  With your purchase of the ticket, you can enter the Museum anytime during the day and stay inside when the museum closes.  You just won’t be able to enter where we will have our party.  That opens at 6pm.   Also, when you sign in, make sure you get your photo taken by Frank at the Spirit of Saint Louis.   Our Catering will be done by Lisa Bender, and I think we all know how that is going to taste.  If you missed last year’s banquet, well all I can say is, don’t miss out on this years, you won’t be disappointed.

We have a lot to give away this year for both our wonderful better halves and for us pilots.  We have some really nice aircraft to give away.  Your ticket puts you in the running for a gift.  Our wives will have their own set of tickets and, thanks to Steve Manganelli’s wonderful wife, she has put together a great selection of goodies!   I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our banquet on January 13, 2023.  Event starts at 6pm.

As a note to just remind everyone about a few items at the field.  We need to remember to lock the bathroom after every use.  I know some like to leave it unlock but let’s not do that.  Our last lock was lost including the hasp bar as well.  We also need to lock the gate when we are the last to leave the field.  This past year someone was locked in at the field and they literally cut the bar by the lock and were able to open and leave.  If you are the last one to leave, and you see someone else, please just go over to them and let them know that if they choose to stay, they will be locked in.  So just a friendly reminder to be courteous and advise them of the situation when you leave.  

I also have another item to talk about and that is calling out your intentions.  Taking off, Low flyby and Landings.  If you’re in the middle of the pits you just might hear someone at the west end calling, “take off”.  However, if you’re at the east end and someone is at the west end saying take off, it is very difficult to hear.  So please, gasp extra air and yell it out in a loud voice call out your intentions.   Thank You members

And last, I have a few Inspiring Christmas quotes for you all:

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?”

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

“I love the excitement, the childlike spirit of innocence, and just about everything that goes along with Christmas.”

“It’s true, Christmas can feel like a lot of work, particularly for mothers. But when you look back on all the Christmases in your life, you’ll find you’ve created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories, good and bad, are really what help to keep a family together over the long haul.” 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Jovi

By Steve Manganelli

Well, never mind my November column reminiscing about the past year as your President: we have one more Newsletter to go! Short and sweet says Mr. Editor, the kind Mr. Belknap. Let me start off by thanking Larry Kosta for taking the action to divest the Club trailer. It is one thing to advise on how it should be done, but there are some complicated logistics tasks involved and Larry stepped up to the plate to do so. We should have the anticipated funds to offset some of the costs of the Winter Banquet which brings up my next topic.

Have you renewed your Club membership and purchased your tickets to the Grand Event, yet? Quan Nguyen did a great job enabling the Club Renewal along with the opportunity to purchase tickets to the banquet.  We’ve prepaid the Aerospace Museum and capped attendance at 100 guests. Since we have just over 300 members eligible and assuming every member could bring one guest, that’s 600 people eligible, so buy your tickets early (if you haven’t already) to ensure you don’t miss out! Jovi has already spilled the beans on the fabulous raffle aircraft and I can say the non-modeler guest prize array is shaping up nicely, thanks to Michelle Manganelli. The join/renew link was activated on December 1.  If you’re currently a member through December 31, your new badge with the new Gate/Potty combination will be printed and first available early in the year when we have “Badge Day”, likely the weekend of the 7^th and 8^th of January. Badge Day saves the club some $ on mailing; those not picked up on Badge Day will be mailed shortly thereafter.  The combination will be changed to the number on the new badges on January 14^th . New members will be mailed a 2023 badge when they join up.

Our really last flying event of the year was a T-28 race that took place last weekend, the 10^th of December.  Ten of us braved 65 degree temps, clear skies and virtually 0 wind to conquer the pylons, tough duty! The impetus for this event was a set of medals identified as “December” and “2022”, ergo we had to have another race to use them up. However, race master Mr. Neu forgot to bring them, but he did remember his airplane which he expertly piloted to 1^st place in Gold class. Silver winner was Alex Sutton and Bronze to relative newcomer Artie Means, well done Artie! Steve did remember the prizes for the goodie raffle and the medals will be awarded next time he sees the awardees.

Glen Merrit of the Weedwackers announced he was taking over race master duties at their field next year and we are all invited to join in their races. He will follow our format exactly and his races will be scheduled on a Saturday other than the 2^nd of the month so us racers can double up!  Watch for E-mail blasts announcing the dates.

Let’s go back to the subject of the Club Trailer. Paying to store things we’re probably never going to use again is waste of resources, but storing a few things we are likely to use is a different story. I have custody of a Gas powered back pack blower and a cordless back pack weed sprayer that belong to the Club. If field maintenance requires these things, let me know and I’ll arrange to get them out for you.  One final thing retrieved before the trailer goes to it’s new owner is a dry erase board having (to me anyway) a touching message pictured below. A little sleuthing suggested that “Sunday 5/16” must have been 2010, our last Mid-Winter Electrics, or “MWE Spring Fling” as I believed we called it toward the end. It’s a bit bittersweet that MWE didn’t go on, but at least I will “See you next year!” as your Treasurer.

Happy Thanksgiving SEFSD members.  I would like to say Thank You to the BOD for this past year.  Steve Manganelli was a great President for our Club.  He kept us all informed with all events and how the club was running and what we have planned as a club for the city of San Diego.  Thank You Steve!  Here’s the good news, Steve is going to be our Treasure for 2023.  Stepping in for President is going to be Brad Bender.  I want to welcome Brad back to the BOD and we all look forward as you guide us through 2023!   Thank you, Quan, being our VP for 2022 and he is going to continue as VP for 2023.   Allen, for his contribution in being our treasure (I hope Allen returns and comes to our banquet.) and Quan for stepping in, to take over the treasure for the last few months.  Ken Dresser for being our secretary when he was able to contribute.  Coming in for next year for secretary with be Eric Shapiro, thank you Eric to returning to the BOD!  Our Safety officer, Steve Neu, who kept us safe and for the T-28 races each month, and those races are fun, I do believe we’ll have a couple T-28’s at the banquet to give away….

Yes, I will be back as Chairman to guide us though the 2023, and I look forward to the fun we will have next year.

 Our members at Large for 2022 were Carl Cox with his contributions at the BOD meetings, Carl will be returning for 2023, Jeff Struthers, wow what I can I say about Jeff.  Jeff contributions this year and the many years before are greatly appreciated and we are sorry to say that Jeff is stepping down for the upcoming year.  However, Jeff will continue to host the Electroglide for 2023 which is a great event if you have not yet participated in.  Jeff Thank You and we hope to see you soon on the BOD once again!  Larry Kosta for our logo and shirts, hats, stickers, magnetic logo.  Thank You Larry, and we look forward to your continuing contribution to the club.   Hello Nick for joining as a member at large for the upcoming year.  Thank you for joining us!

We have many non-BOD members who have contributed in more ways than one can really Thank.   Jim Bonnardel, who took the task of being our Contest Director for the past year, great news is that, Jim will continue to do our monthly events for 2023.  Next year you will see all events on the calendar on our website, this way you can schedule your life around flying…. lol   Dennis Laberge, keeping our field in great shape, helping newcomers in flying. Always stepping up no matter what the task is, Dennis will be there, Thank You Dennis!  Mark Davis, bringing all that food and drinks, for our Monthly meetings, I tell you is not easy task to do, I have done it.  Thank You Mark. 

The last Thank You, goes out to each club member who are the ones who make our club, in coming out during the week or the weekends.  Joining our events, everyone contributes in many ways.  We have two moms who come out and have contribute to the club, Laura Thompson with her son Ty and Spring with her son Neil, matter of fact, both Ty and Neil are in the same class at Bishop…..

It is that time for renew of membership and starting Dec 1 or 2^nd, when Quan gets the renew button setup, you can renew for 2022 and most importantly, get your banquet tickets.  Event will be held at the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park.  Cost:  Yes, we upped our dues for next year to $60.00.  Within this past year the cost of supporting our field has gone up.  Banquet tickets also increased in priced to $55.00 per person.   With the purchase of the banquet ticket, you can enter the Air and Space Museum anytime during the day and stay inside the building once it closes.  Our Banquet starts at, we’ll check in at about 5:45 and then get your picture taken by Frank Sutton, (Thank You Frank for your contribution with all the photos and videos you have created).  The event starts at 6:00pm, dinner is around 6:30 – 7:00 pm, and then it’s, give away prizes! Here is a list of prizes……

• Skynectic SXtarling 1230mm PNP
• Freewing Vulcan 4S
• Flightline P-51D Mustang 850mm
• Flightline Spitfire Mk.IX 1200mm
• Freewing Rebel V2 70mm
• FMS 800mm T-28 Trojan V2
• FMS 64mm EDF F-16 PNP
• FMS 64mm EDF F-18 PNP
• Gliders, work in process

And our Grand Prize:

AVIOS (PNF) King Twin 1700 Sports/Scale Executive Turboprop Airplane!!!

I cannot forget our better half’s that allow us to go fly our airplanes, that we will have some real nice items for our wives in which Steve Manganelli wife, who greatly is taking on this task.  Thank You so much for your contribution!  I have also created a video this past year (Who Started the Fire) and I look forward to sharing it all with you at the banquet.  100 tickets will be sold, so get yours as soon as you renew and don’t wait too long, for they will sell out!

As a last item to discuss is Thanksgiving:  It’s so easy to get caught up in our busy lives. These Thanksgiving quotes will help you feel appreciative anytime you need them.

• Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings after each flight. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are to bring our planes home in one piece.
• I love Thanksgiving because it is a holiday centered around food, family, and airplanes, three things that are of utmost importance to me.
• Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for those perfect landings.
• Give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current airplane.

Happy Thanksgiving and be safe this coming Holiday Season!

Happy Flying!

Jovi

By Steve Manganelli

As the Newsletter year and my tenure as your President comes to a close, this needs be my “Thank You” edition. I’ve enjoyed R/C modeling virtually my whole adult life, but at the end of the day, the people I’ve shared it with and the places it has taken me, become more memorable than any particular model. I like to think the popularity of our Club is not just because we have the most central City location, least expensive dues and certainly the best Summer weather in San Diego, but that we all like hanging out with each other, sharing each other’s triumphs and commiserating with each other’s follies. We like learning things from each other between flights and getting first hand advice for our next model by searching the flightline for attractive models. In this context, I thank my fellow BOD members whose energy and enthusiasm sets the tone for the Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego, and makes the Club what it is.

The glue that keeps us together is this newsletter, the Club Calendar and a series of E-mail blasts that reminds us of events. All of those tools are the purview of our editor, Mr. Steve Belknap. Thank you for your service, kind Steve! Thanks to Jovi Murek for chairing the BOD to keep us on the straight and narrow, for procuring great raffle prizes for the banquet (hint : we have some awesome raffle prizes for the Winter Banquet, you won’t want to miss it!) and scoring/officiating T-28 Racing and the Monthly Fun Contests. Jovi also pitched in as Hot Dog lead when Mark Davis was unavailable. Thanks to Quan Nguyen for paying our bills, keeping our books straight as replacement treasurer and being in charge of club events as Vice President. Beyond simply paying our bills, he arranged and negotiated our expenses such as the outhouse rental, water truck and Dust Down procurement.  I’m going to try to fill Quan’s shoes next year, but it’s going to be tough!

Thanks go out to Steve Neu for keeping us safe, hosting BOD meetings at his home and running the T-28 Racing Series. I have it on good authority that the prizes from the post-race raffle come from his Neumotors business and the club may or may not get a bill;  it’s wholesale if we do! I Next want to thank Jeff Struthers whom provided valuable input to the Board of Directors and along with his Misses, conducted Electroglide throughout the year. Even better, Jeff is standing up to do it again next year; thank you kindly, Jeff! I want to recognize Larry Kosta whom along with BOD issue insights, used his business to provide a variety of graphic arts items to the Club at no cost. These include the Lindberg Field warning addendum to the main sign board, the “SEFSD Property” sign and stencil for the new chairs, numerous paper stickers with our new logo and the and Electroglide medal inserts. Larry’s professional graphic artist “Felix” is the one responsible for our new logo. Next, thanks to Carl Cox for reasoned input to BOD decisions and pylon judging for T-28 Racing. Lastly, thanks to Alan Issacs and Ken Dresser for doing what they could when available. Non-BOD members whom made great contributions to SEFSD include Dennis Laberge, Frank Sutton, Mark Davis, Randy Wyant and Jim Bonnardel. Dennis for his selfless field maintenance activities, Mark for his incredible home-made salsa and the rest of the hot dog roasts, Randy for surveilling our field for nefarious homeless encampments and lost airplanes, Frank for his expert photography and graphic arts and Jim for running the Club Fun Contests all year and maintaining the tables. Yes, it’s all those efforts that make us what we are and I appreciate it!

Military scale at the last Club Members Meeting in October  was a hoot! It took all year, but master of ceremonies Jim Bonnardel finally found a scoring rubric that us rocket scientists could handle using only half our brains : every other method tried seemed to need all our brains which apparently could not be mustered for these contests…”Ever watch a dog show on TV” says Jim? You just walk up and down the flightline, put the medal on your favorite airplane and declare it the winner! Quan and I had a lot of fun watching the show and coming to agreement on the winner, er “Best In Show” which I recall was a twin bomb dropper guided by Bob Simpson. The lack of paperwork to be second guessed was a bonus!

In closing please support our new President, Mr. Brad Bender, new Member at Large Nick Anton and new Secretary Eric Shapiro and the rest of the 2023 BOD (details contained in the November BOD Meeting Minutes elsewhere in this issue)  and of course, see  you at the Winter Banquet on January 13^th where there is at least one surprise awaiting one well deserving somebody, just saying.

Hello members and do we have a few things going on right now.  First, it is time for our change of guards, referring to our Board of Directors.   We invite any club members who would like to join our BOD.   We are accepting names for our upcoming election this November 12^th, I believe, this should be following Veterans Day which is on Friday.   We have the following positions if you would like to run for, they are President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasure, and Safety.   We also invite you as a “Member at Large” which you too would be joining our BOD meetings.   Food for thought, remember, this is YOUR club and if you would like to have a say in what it does, then join our BOD.   Thanks, you all!

Next on the list,

Renewal and Banquet……December marks that it’s our time to renew (membership had to go up $10.00 to $60.00 due to cost of living which has gone up on us too) your membership for 2023, and it might be time to renew AMA, before (unless you have a two year, four year or life time) you can renew your membership with SEFSD for 2023 and at the same time, get your banquet tickets!!!!!  This will be an exciting banquet at the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park.  Your $55.00 gets you the following:  Entrance into the Air and Space Museum any time during the day and when it closes, you get to stay inside and continue to look all around.  At around 5:30 to 6:00pm we will start checking folks in and get your picture taken right at the “Spirit of St. Louis.”  Photos will be taken by Frank.  We will have drinks, just like last year, you buy your own drinks.   Food will once again be taken care of by Lisa, Brad’s wonderful wife.   We will have more of a menu later next month.   And yes, the club will have prizes, consisting of airplanes, chargers, and a few other goodies too.  Oh, how can I forget about Hats!!!!!  Ok, do not worry, I will not want to do that again……This year, Steve’s wife will gather the gifts for our better halves, giving Lisa a break on women’s prizes   Oh just one special note, The banquet is only for members of 2022.  If you happen to join as a new member before December, meaning remaining October and November, you get to come.  Join as a new member in December of 22 or 2023, you will not be eligible for 2022.

This will be our last Club meeting of the year, so make sure you come this weekend, we got Warbirds this weekend.  And I am sure Jim has something up his sleeve……We will want to thank Mark for handing our Hot Dogs and in preparing and getting them cooked up for us!  Thanks Mark!   Thank You Steve, for keeping our members up to date about the club and being our President for 2022, A Job well Done! 

How about our runway!!!!  Thanks to Quan (current VP, Steve M (current President) for placing down the “Dust Down” and Dennis for rolling the runway.  What a job that all three have done and Dennis, as always spending his time of over 7 hours rolling!  Thank you, Gentlemen!

Thank You Larry, I see the club’s Swag being worn by a lot of members and it is exciting to see.  I heard of some Tee shirts that will have our logo, so stay tuned for more news on that!

I am sorry that I have had no time to work on the DC-3 and my wife is telling me to get it done.  Guess I better get it off the kitchen table………It does look like I will have a week off from Christmas to the New Year, perfect for me to build and perhaps get the wings close to sheeting.  What can I say, but really, Work is fun!   But in the meantime, I look forward to seeing you all out this weekend at the field for we will have a fun filled day!

Thank You,

Jovi

We are down with Dustdown, finally!  The much anticipated process of solidifying the topmost later of our dirt to a respectable runway surface was finally completed last Friday. The real selfless sacrifice goes to Dennis Laberge who spent 7 hours on the roller getting the field just right after Quan and myself orchestrated the water truck disgorging! Thanks so much Dennis, your work is exemplary! For the record, Quan and I hucked (5) 5 gallons of Dustdown to the top of the water truck and poured it into the first 2,000 gallons of water and the 2^nd 2,000 gallons completes the mix. Proper spreading is an art perfected by Quan and duly instructed to <Ms. Water Truck Driver, neighbor of George Sullivan>. One pass only, so you have to go slow, else you would make ruts on a subsequent pass; the remaining water with the dust down shared between the parking lot and edge of the runway/pit area applied with a “water cannon”. 

Other than a lot of mosquitos and moving around a few chairs, Quan and I had it pretty easy compared with what Dennis endured. If you see Dennis on the field, you might want to thank him!

Any thoughts or differences of opinion as to how the Club should be run? You still have time to self nominate. Nominations and the nominal composition of the 2023 BOD  will be announced following November’s T-28 race which will be the last Club event of the year. Those continuing on the BOD are willing to shuffle around a bit to accommodate newbies. The “Member at Large” is a good place to get one’s feet wet. All you have to do is attend the BOD meetings on the nominally 2^nd Wednesday of the month participate in discussion and vote on the outcomes. The secretary position requires attending BOD meetings and taking minutes, not too hard either. Please think about it. Any questions about roles and responsibilities, please shoot me an E-mail.

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Hello Club members, three more months and we have Christmas….maybe now is the time to start shopping….We are also coming up on our last two monthly meetings and events.  Oh that includes the Hot Dogs….So come on out this Saturday and enjoy a good time with our members and have a Hot Dog or two.

A few weeks ago, we noticed we had RC Trucks and cars running round our runway.  May I need to remind everyone that this is a runway and not made for RC Trucks or cars.  Somehow this happened, maybe due to the gate be left open and we all know to lock the gate as you are the last one out of the field.  And if someone else is parked and does not appear to be flying airplanes, I would recommend you drive over to them and inform that you are locking the gate.  Let us not presume that this person is a member of the club.   Now I know we have a few members who have RC cars and all I ask that you do not do what these people have done and think that its ok, well it is not!   Just remember to LOCK the gate as you are the last person to leave.   Thank You!

Folks, it is that time of year for new officers to step forward and be a club leader.   This is your club so come on up and run for President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasure.   For I will be ending my term as Chairman of the Board and will be leaving that role to Steve Manganelli.  However, it is possible that Steve will run for Treasure and if that is the case, then I am happy to remain Chairman of the Board.

I must apologize for my short article.  It happens to be that I am in Foley Alabama working on 787 Cowl Inlets.  This facility is the assembly factory, and it is very cool in how the engine cowls are built.

I look forward to seeing you all at the field on Saturday…..

Chairman of the Board

Shall we put the bad news at the top to get it over with? Sixty dollars; that’s what it’s going to cost to remain a member of SEFSD in 2023. With increases in Paypal fees, the port-a-potty, field rolling equipment and the Winter banquet, an extra $10 is what we need to break even over the current dues of $50. Thanks to Quan for putting together a budget forecast for us. I also received my AMA dues bill the other day which also went up $10 so the price to fly went up a total of $20. Compared with what most of us spend on models and batteries every year, an extra $20 is trivial. Included in that price increase was the Dust Down that would have been applied by now if not for lack of availability of a water truck! The “Hurricane rain” we had the other week helped a lot; just too bad we couldn’t get mother nature to add the dust down material to our rain.

Next up, I am sad to report the resignation of our Treasurer, Alan Issacs. Apparently too many lost models and inability to control them led to Alan’s conclusion that he might not be suited for this hobby. Thank you for your service to date Alan, you were an excellent Treasurer and are welcome to serve out the year in that capacity if you wish to. Our Vice President and previous Treasurer Quan Nguyen has stepped in to fill that void until next year, whereas I’m taking over as Treasurer! This leads into the next subject: succession!

Any thoughts or differences of opinion as to how the Club should be run? Do we want more events or less? Do we like the hot dogs that go with our Monthly Fun Contest and meeting? Do we like the Banquet at the Aerospace Museum (for $55 per person) or would we like it somewhere else at a lower cost? To have a say in these decisions, volunteer or run for a BOD position! Aside from Alan, we have (2) other BOD members whom will not be going forward into next year. I am pleased to announce that our previous President, Brad Bender will be returning to lead us: Thanks for that Brad, you are a great leader, definitely better than myself! This still leaves (2) open positions. Those continuing on the BOD are willing to shuffle around a bit to accommodate newbies. The “Member at Large” is a good place to get one’s feet wet. All you have to do is attend the BOD meetings on the nominally 2^nd Wednesday of the month participate in discussion and vote on the outcomes. The secretary position requires attending BOD meetings and taking minutes, not too hard either. Please think about it. Any questions about roles and responsibilities, please shoot me an E-mail. I also wish to recognize our expert Badge Maker, Mr. Peter Kalenak whom took over for George Sullivan this past Spring. Peter is doing an outstandingly competent, no complaints job of it, which is all we can ask for; thanks for your service, Peter.

Have you taken your “TRUST” test yet? This is what I thought to be a silly FAA requirement to allow us to continue flying “recreational drones”. The FAA considers “Quad Copters” and fixed wing R/C models the same. I presumed with my 45 years of R/C modeling experience, the test should be a breeze, but in fact that experience had nothing to do with it! The test is all about how to follow the new FAA rules for recreational drones.  The bottom line is as long as you’re flying at our field, you don’t have to do anything different than you do now. The test does reinforce the requirement to maintain Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) to control your R/C model (or drone), have a spotter for FPV google flying and a few other things that have been determined specifically for our site vs generically. Our altitude limit set by local FAA Air Traffic Controllers is 200 ft for our Class B airspace (in case you didn’t know our proximity to San Diego International Airport puts us in Class B airspace). For those that dabble in quad copters at places other than our field, there are more things you need to know and comply with. Since I also renewed my FAA credentials at the same time, I was required to identify at least one R/C model in order to do so. Let’s see: no transponder, manufacturer is myself and I named it “Generic R/C Model”.  Don’t forget to have your FAA Identification number on the outside of all your models.  At this time, the club is not planning on enforcing compliance with FAA identification requirements, but if someone from the FAA chose to do so, an established R/C field would be a logical choice vs trying to hunt down one drone flying in some park or field. Take the TRUST Test here : The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) | THE RECREATIONAL UAS SAFETY TEST (TRUST) TEST by AMA (modelaircraft.org) if you haven’t already.

We were finally able to attend our first Mission Bay Park Planning Meeting. Larry Kosta, Myself  and professional Planner Denise Larson attended the September, 2022 meeting of the Mission Bay Park committee at the Santa Clara Pt. REC center.  The first part of the meeting was briefed by SDPD representatives and centered on illegal parking, homeless/vagrants and enforcement of Beach Ordinances. They had plenty of funding, just not enough manpower, the overflow requirements staffed by over-time. Next, individuals representing various organizations pitched their plans for running races that involved road/parking lot closures and paths in and around the park.  They then ended that meeting and opened a “Park Improvements” meeting where the sole agenda item was a $56,000 repaving of a parking lot at “Sunset Point”. This was pitched by a City Staffer and approved with 1 NO vote. Our goal for the meeting was to understand the planning process and ascertain how we can be included in the Mission Bay Park “Master Plan” which by the way, doesn’t include us. At present we are considering presentation of a “Story Board” style introductory/history pitch of our activities highlighting our community service and charitable activities. At least the committee would have a face to our name and be aware of our history.

Do you have your club swag with custom SEFSD LOGO from LNN Custom Apparel? (via our Weblink: http://companycasuals.com/SEFSD)! We discussed the possibility of having a larger version of our logo silk screened on the back of a Tee Shirt. This is possible, but involves bulk fabrication with setup charges and the club would have to pick sizes and colors and then be at risk for any unsold merchandise. We’re still looking into it. At the last fun-fly contest I say Quan Nguyen’s logo embroidered polo shirt with his name on it: way cool!

I want to clarify something in Jovi’s Chairman’s corner. Though operating R/C cars on the runway is not allowed, if a club member wishes to occasionally operate an R/C dune buggy on the East end of the parking lot late in the day on a non-interference basis (at the present time at least) is okay. These things do kick up some dust so operators need to be conscious of their surroundings.  Non-club members should definitely not be operating R/C cars on the site and if it becomes an attractive nuisance the policy may have to change.  I’m told there is a site somewhere on Fiesta Island for R/C buggys.

Finally, the last fun-contest/hot dog cookout was a fun as ever. Master of ceremonies Jim Bonnardel began with an explanation of the simplest event yet as he described it : “Spot Landing Challenge” . You get (3) touch and go passes on the circles, the inner most one being 30 points, the middle one 20 and the outer one 10. Miss the circles but touch on the runway gets 5 points. In case of ties, fastest time wins. Anyone whom can add up 3 numbers (in multiples of 5) in their heads should be able to score this, right? Jim cleverly tagged Jovi with the 3 number adding exercise and Jovi in turn passed on the task of picking the winners and breaking the ties to me while he fired up the BBQ. Uhhh…well? How many very competent journeyman engineers does it take to screw in a lightbulb and/or add up (3) numbers in their heads and adjudicate ties from the lowest time? More than (2) apparently as like last month we failed to get it right, arrghh!  I suggested the way forward is to award the prizes and then immediately use the scoresheet to light the BBQ, thus erasing any evidence of mistakes! Thanks to Jovi again for the hot dog cooking; Mark Davis is scheduled to reprise his role as master hot dog cooker this month and next month.  Welcome back Mark!   We’ll see you at this month’s Fun Event.

Steve Manganelli

By Steve Manganelli

Probably not the best leading story, but I’m compelled to announce that we will be having a dues increase for 2023. Inflation is generally rearing its ugly head (been to the grocery story lately?) and as austere as our expenses generally are, they are going up. The cost of the port-a-potty is increasing, the cost of renting the roller for the field has gone up substantially and the collaterally required water truck is just plain not available! Yes, the BOD recognizes the field has dried up to the point that an application of the dust down is needed but until we can secure a water truck, this can’t happen. Inflationary pressures are going to affect all R/C model clubs in town; we do expect to continue to be your best value club next year as well.

Inflation is also effecting our annual Holiday banquet. We are attempting to close that gap via divesting the Club Trailer, but even with that additional expected funding source, the ticket price is going to be higher. You wanted the Aerospace Museum again, we listened and now we have to pay for it. Oh yeah, the Museum raised their prices too! Let’s face it: a couple is not going to go into any decent restaurant, have hors d’oeuvres a couple of drinks, dessert and walk out of there for anything close to $110. Think of that comparatively when the banquet is formally announced and tickets are available. That $110 won’t give you a chance to win any airplanes either! If someone wants to visit a restaurant where a couple won’t get out of for under $300, let me know, I have a few suggestions for you!

Does your model have a story? I was recently treated to a fascinating tale of a warbird where the member started with an off-the-shelf foam ARF, then customized it to represent a particular aircraft in history. I believe there was some supplemental painting, custom graphics and specific serial numbers applied to make his model like no other out-of-the-box ARF. The full scale aircraft had a really neat story of it’s exploits in WWII. I never really thought about customizing an ARF to yield something historically significant, but it does sound like a really nice enrichment of our hobby where ARFs now prevail and something that needs to be written up in PEAKCHARGE! So if this sounds like something you did or would like to do, please share it with us! The article should state what R/C model you started with, where and how you obtained the enhancement graphics, paint, and any other customizing hardware and then a description of its full scale exploits including its pilot if known. I’d say we’d need at least one picture of the model with you in it as well!

I love my new SEFSD LOGO sunshield hat from LNN Custom Apparel! The beauty of this custom process is the large variety of items you can obtain with our logo on it. Clearly as a small business owner and given the size of “our market” we obviously can’t expect to have everything shown on the website in stock and in every color and size possible for immediate delivery. Rather, LNN must have a relationship with her suppliers to obtain the basic garment on demand and then she customizes it for us to our custom order!  This is so cool! I admired Alex Sutton’s hoodie sweatshirt with graphics the other day. I’m probably going to need one of those for when the weather cools. I also heard that you can have your name embroidered as well for a small additional fee; how doubly cool is that?

Finally, the last fun-contest/hot dog cookout was a fun as ever. Master of ceremonies, Jim Bonnardel, began with an “explanation” of Altitude Quest. You spin the dial, needle lands on a graphic showing 50 to 175 in 25 increments, fly to that altitude (without going over) Jim reads out your peak height from a small recording altimeter, closest to proscribed altitude wins! Easy, right? What if there’s a tie, Jim? Signup order prevails! Earliest sign up breaks the tie! Oh crud, everybody get out of my way while I sign up! What if you go over, Jim? “Under beats over in a tie!” OK, so 1 foot under beats 1 foot over, correct? “Yeah”. So does 1 foot over beat 2 feet under? “Uhhh…Yep”. So what if 2 people are one foot over and 2 are one foot under, does sign up order prevail? “Yep”. Hmm…now we need a super computer to sort out the scores! I was a mere foot over and anticipated being in the money. As the prizes were being handed out and my name wasn’t called, I chalked that up to not understanding the scoring formula. I recall hooting and hollering to not one, but (2) pilots whom hit it to the exact altitude, a pretty good feat. I figured there must have been 3 other pilots whom were just a foot under. In general, you’re higher than you think; most pilots shooting for 150+ erred on the high side. Found out later that I should have been in the money but there was an error in scoring, did I want a supplemental prize? No need, already won: smiles, chuckles and camaraderie with a great group of friends. Thanks to Jovi for the hot dog cooking. We’ll see you at this month’s Fun Event.

Vice President’s Message:

You can now order SEFSD shirts with your name (or whatever you want) embroidered on them for only $10 extra! Mine came in this week and it looks great. Check out sefsd.org for the link to the online store to purchase your club swag and show your club spirit. The shop also carries a plethora of other accessories like hats, sweaters, and jackets.  Click a pic below:

Quan

Hello Folks, this month we had our event on July 2^nd and I had to miss it, due to having Covid.  I will tell you this, it is not fun to experience. So, I won’t go into details.  And it took the whole month to get over it.  As of today, I tested Negative and have for over a couple of weeks now.   I still stayed home, just to be safe. But I did hear the 4^th of July event went very well and the Tri-Tips Sandwiches were really good.  Thanks Jim, for putting together another successful contest together, glad all had a great time. 

I will see you all this coming Saturday for our July meeting and Jim has another great event planned for us.  “Altitude Quest”.  Closest to the target altitude wins.  Jim, of course, will have a lot more information to provide to us all on Saturday.     Our President, Steve Manganelli, will have some good information for us about our club in our monthly meeting.

Just a little reminder that I want to make sure everyone is up to date with TRUST and that you have your FAA # on your aircraft, Thank You all very much!

Since I was under the bug, and my new job, which has been cool so far.  I get to build engine cowls for Airbus, Boeing, and now, Gulfstream, though I was not able to get any construction on the DC-3.  I did however come across this:

Douglas DC-3 Flies Again After 13-Year Hiatus

The Air North C-47A conversion ‘Yukon Sourdough’ returned to service in its first step toward the airshow circuit.

With a bit of a crosswind at play, pilot Jim Sells and co-pilot Mike Macario climbed aboard Yukon Sourdough—a 1942 Douglas C-47A converted to a DC-3C. What lay ahead? The return to service flight of the airplane painted with a bold yellow-and-green livery—the colors of Air North in Canada—at the Hagerstown Regional Airport (KHGR) in Maryland.

The Douglas Gooney Bird hadn’t flown since 2009.

The Flight

The plan was to take the DC-3, N983DC, up for a short flight to test basic systems and the operation of its Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 Twin Wasp engines. Everything went smoothly, according to Sells, and they stayed up a little bit longer than expected—about 40 minutes.

“We looked around for problems and we didn’t find any,” said Sells, save for an intermittent intercom. Macario, the group’s maintenance technician with inspection authority, wants to adjust the fuel pressures on the engines so they match, but that’s about it as far as squawks from the first flight after 13 years.

The aircraft is currently shepherded by owners Kent Casady, Malcolm Van Kirk, and Derek White—though White puts it well: “You never really own anything. You also can’t take anything materialistic with you when you die. We are just good stewards for Yukon Sourdough.”

Though Macario’s typed in the airplane—and the team has worked on it consistently for the past four years—the group brought in Sells for the test flight and to help Macario and other pilots return to currency as well.

The History

The airplane was built at one of the Douglas Aircraft Company’s wartime production plants in Oklahoma City in 1942 for the U.S. Air Force, originally carrying U.S. Air Force No. 42-92464. The registration transferred over to the Canadian Air Force, where it flew as Dakota IIIU FZ675, then No. 960. Air North, a Canadian airline founded in 1977, operated scheduled service between the Yukon and Alaska, and the company purchased the airplane in 1982, registering it as CF-OVW, a Douglas DC3C-S1C3G. 

The airline painted on the DC-3’s distinctive tail art, for which it was christened Yukon Sourdough. It was sold in 1998, and its restoration was picked up by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in 2001. It was purchased from EAA by Stephen Van Kirk, Malcolm’s brother, before going to its current owners.

Once the airplane has been through its paces—and the pilots complete recurrent training—they intend to hit the airshow circuit with Yukon Sourdough as part of the D-Day Squadron’s participating aircraft.

In the meantime make sure you get all your equipment before heading down to the field, so you don’t have to go back home and grab the batteries!!!

Jovi Murek

Chairman

First things first : We were inspected by our Landlord (San Diego City Parks Management) on the 19^th of July and we passed! This annual requirement is part of our Right of Entry Permit so we had a visit from Mr. Mike Rodrigues and his boss, Ms. Karolynn Estrada whom took the time to come out and not only conduct the inspection, but share their thoughts about relevant issues that are important to Parks organization.  Our great WEBSITE provided the ongoing answers to their advance questions about membership costs/procedures/requirements, Board of Directors composition and Bylaws.  Current documents about our non-profit status and site specific insurance were provided by Quan and forwarded on to Parks Management in advance of the meeting, thanks Quan! We received high marks for the field condition; it was tidy, neat and 100% trash free thanks to Dennis LaBerge. Most of their inspection criteria are generic and not easy to apply to us; we received some fast check marks for items that were sort of applicable (i.e. preservation of drainage for one).  Next, our discussion went on to my main issue namely how to respond to Commercial inquiries to rent/borrow/sub-lease the field to demonstrate some commercial product. The answer was curt and unambiguous : NO! We are limited to recreational use only and any/all inquiries to “borrow” the field for a commercial purpose should be rejected. <Note to Editor. Plz spell check Dennis’ name>.

The issues on the minds of Parks Folks were drones and homeless. The latter easier to explain. The Parks Department was recently directed to use the City’s “Get-It-Done” organization, (known more commonly as a downtown cleanup kind of thing) to remove homeless encampments in the Park. That takes coordination with SDPD, Parks folks and needs to have some kind of planned outcome for the person to be displaced (i.e. jail, drug rehab, etc.). Fortunately, Randy Wynant was with me to describe his efforts to both identify homeless encampments and close the loop on his past efforts to seek a solution via this Get-It-Done organization and the outcome therein. The Parks folks pride themselves on being responsive and were apologetic about their inability to do more. One thing completely within their jurisdiction is landscape maintenance. If lowering the bushes surrounding an encampment will encourage the persons to leave, they’re for it! We thanked them for them efforts.

Finally drones. The word “drones” is not in our bylaws, our runway sign or anywhere else on our documentation. To us it is synonymous with “quad copter” or “multi-rotor” the latter term is in our documentation and is sanctioned by our signs, fences, FPV race course and “Rotorplex” area. We explained the operational use difference between fixed wing, helicopters and multicopters. Randy helped explain the difference between a professional FAA Part 107 licensed operator flying with FAA sanctioned LAANC permissions and someone strapping a camera on a CraigsList acquired quad copter and flying around over a crowd to get some “cool footage” for their YouTube channel (and complaints to the Parks Dept. about privacy and/or safety hazards). The parks folks do know to send uninformed quad copter operators to us where we can get them set up with AMA, FAA, Club Membership, Field boundaries, etc. but from their standpoint, why would they want to do that if they just want to take pictures of some event happening miles from our field? The matter gets a bit muddier when you add FAA requirements and classes of airspace which do not differentiate between types of R/C flying vehicles  only that they are all kept away from man-carrying aircraft. Apparently, there is a small corner of the Park the FAA recognizes as having a higher ceiling than Class B airspace and thus uninitiated quad copter operators are often directed there. They also provided me some FAA documents they use to council drone operators which I believe are obsolete. The Parks folks asked for and received a copy of our Lindberg Field Letter of Agreement for their files.   

Do you have your new Logo fashion items on order yet? I do! The link is now very clear on the left side of our home page (not that it wasn’t previously as I never tried it before). I hope I’ll have my new sun-shield hat with our new logo before next week’s Altitude Quest Funfly. I also want to mention that the funds to replace the “disappeared chairs” have been received and turned into action which you’ll see on the field next time you’re there.

Our Independence Day celebration on July 2^nd was a smash hit. The BBQ catered by Larry Kosta’s friend and club member Joe Zaitz (Smokin Joes BBQ) was delicious. The assemblage ate every bite of Tri-tip plus grilled onions and peppers plus potato salad and topped it off with Brownies made by Michelle Manganelli. We began the day with “Don’t Spill the Beans” (DSB) orchestrated by the Fun Contest Master, Jim Bonnardel. I need to apologize for suggesting that someone other than Jim was to conduct this contest per my last month’s column.  Turns out, this was Jim’s Birthday weekend and otherwise had us scheduled for the previous weekend. Jim very graciously changed his plans to be with us instead, Thanks for your commitment, Jim!

Steve Neu and I decided to “go to school” on DSB a week before the July 2^nd event.  Without knowing what size cup or what size beans to use, we stuck a 2 oz (way bigger than the official DSB cup) on the top of the canopy of Steve’s Passport (10S, 11 lb, F-3A Pattern Airplane) and some random dry beans from Steve’s pantry and went for it. We were surprised and then amused to watch the beans appear to levitate right out of the cup (low pressure due to fuselage shape, probably) at the beginning of the takeoff roll. The beans were scattered to winds before the plane even left the ground!  This is going to be harder than we thought. I first tried putting the cup on the CG of my low wing Tucan necessarily off the center of the fuselage. This didn’t fair any better as the beans were certainly gone by the time I returned to the deck, never mind the loop which I intended to try only when the takeoff and landing retained the beans.  Steve only brought a sandwich baggie half full of trial beans which we were quickly running out of along with good ideas. Next I tried the Splendor which is a bigger airplane with a softer landing gear. Much easier to get a smooth takeoff and low but positive G climbout.  Still mixed results. Capitalizing on the low pressure theory, the cup was moved to the trailing edge of the wing (where the pressure should be higher…ish?) and as inboard as possible without interfering with the aileron : we have success! We were able to retain the beans without too much trouble. A good landing would save all the beans and goodish landing at least 2/3rds of them :  dollar bill bonanza here we come!

But wait, a new wrinkle arises : Jovi is unable to make it, someone else needs to bring the drinks in the club ginormous cooler. I realize that if I have to put that thing in my car I can’t fit the Splendor and well, poop! Steve N. thinks exactly the same thing, the Passport taking up most of his car as well, now what? So, we strike up a deal : how about if we each bring ½ the drinks in our own smaller coolers and we’ll still have room in the cars  for the smooth planes destined to capture the cash. Well…So, you know what happens to “innovations” as applicable to a supposedly fun contest? They get smacked down by the Man! It wasn’t considered cheating as the current rules don’t specify where to put the bean cup, but next year’s rules definitely will, dag nab it!  Next year we’ll be constrained to have the cup on the center of the fuselage. Well boss, you can lose the beans, divvy out the small but bulky fortune in $1 to others, but I’m keeping the smiles and the laughs to myself, OK? That’s the best part of it, really. I had one more big idea and announced to the crowd : “since you all have pockets stuffed with $1 bills, how about lightening up your load into Smokin Joe’s tip jar to show our appreciation for the fabulous BBQ?” He and his crew appreciated it I think enough to come back next year for some more great chow. In the meantime, we’ll  see you next month for altitude quest.

Summertime is here so let enjoy the warm weather, Flying……and our upcoming event for the 4^th of July.   Just to remind you all, that we will not have our club meeting this Saturday.  We are moving it to the July 2^nd and combine our 4^th of July with our Club meeting.   Our event will remain the same, Spill the Beans and I do believe Jim B will be our contest director for this event.  This is still a cash prize give away.   We are also going to have a Catering Truck (Smoken Joe’s) come out and cook up some Tri-tip sandwiches for us.  The club will provide water and sodas.

I wanted to mention that I forgot to say thanks to Jon for cooking up the hot dogs at last month meeting.  Thanks, Jon, for your help, Hot Dogs came out great!  I hope the club likes our new logo, I think it’s pretty cool and it was time to change.  Thanks to Larry K., he has been coordinating and I understand the web site is now open on where we can buy, shirts, hats, Polo shirts and many other items to choose from. Look for the website further in the Newsletter.

Thanks, Alan, for staying on top of KOZ for getting a reimbursement for our missing chairs and Thank You Jim for getting it resolved

I must apologize for this month I did not have a chance to build on my DC-3 this past month.  I was lucky and got a job with Collins Aerospace in Configuration Management.   This has been fun so far, get build to parts for airplanes, like thrust reversers, engine cowlings, etc.… I am hoping to get some work in the next month in which I hope to share with you all.    But here is something you might like is:

Electric Aircraft Flies Eight Legs Across Six States

Beta Technologies’ Alia test demonstrator completes a milestone mission from New York to Arkansas.

In a remarkable milestone for an electric aircraft, Beta Technologies has flown its Alia test demonstrator on an eight-leg cross-country mission across six states totaling 1,219 nm on June 3, 2022.

“It’s not something that I know has been done previously, and it will be the first time that our aircraft has done it,” said Beta flight test engineer Emma Davis in a company video. “So it’s a huge step forward showing that it is a viable future to have an electric aircraft that can travel long ranges, not just short hops.”

A single pilot flew each leg of the mission, Beta said, rotating between two flight-test pilots—Lochie Ferrier and Camron (Arlo) Guthrie. “We’ve done a lot of rehearsal, a lot of preparation, a lot of flying, a lot of simulating, and so we were really confident that we’re ready to go,” Guthrie said in Beta’s video.

The weeklong mission departed from Plattsburgh, New York’s Plattsburgh International Airport (KPBG) on May 23, making eight stops to recharge the aircraft’s batteries before landing in Arkansas, at Bentonville Municipal Airport (KVBT) last Monday. Total time in the air: 11 hours, 44 minutes.

“In three years, we’ve come from testing inverters in the corner of a hangar to actually flying across the country,” said test flight team member Manon Belzile in the video. “It’s like a dream come true.”

As a last note: 4th which is a Monday, we’re going to hold it on Saturday the 2nd.  This way we won’t have to deal with traffic and people parking in our lot, which if we did, the gate would be locked and our field would not be open to the public.  Now our members are more than welcome to come to the field on Monday July 4th to watch the fireworks, just remember to lock the gate as you come in.  The field is only going to open for Club members and families only.  If you do plan on having a cookout, just remember that charcoal BBQ are not permitted at the field as well as NO Alcohol or drugs which the city and the club does not permit. You’re welcome to bring a small propane grill, kind of like the one we use for our monthly meeting when cooking Hot Dogs!  And please be safe if you plan on coming to watch the fireworks.

Jovl