Team,
I like to state, on several occasions, how grateful I am that we have a relatively low amount of drama in our club – based on the number of active members. This is usually the case, but not always.
In the last 3 weeks , board members have been drawn into silly, petty squabbles. Some of them will be discussed today.
Every month I am reminding Members to use their “ Man Voice” to announce take offs, Landings, Crossing the field, or any unusual activity the deserves heightened awareness. Most people chuckle and move on smartly. Some people take it as a chance to purposely yank my chain, and use their “lost little girl” voice, whisper their intentions to themselves, or purposefully say nothing at all. These actions go directly against safety and good order at the field. Situational awareness is one key safety item that we cannot afford to ignore. This last month we had 2 members in their 60’s nearly come to blows when one was calling continuous touch and goes ( to himself ) from Gate two while the other was landing ( no confirmation that the landing was announced) at Gate 5. When their craft nearly hit each other, there were loud angry voices, and fist balling. Do you really want to jo to jail for being a knucklehead? As our youngest BOD member mentioned at the field that morning “ if two people are flying – and know they can’t hear each other – why not fly from the same gate?
In December, I had a member make me blush with the severity of vulgar words he was directing at me ( 23year Navy veteran here ) after he failed to announce that he was crossing the field while I was on a high speed pass over the weed line. He kept screaming “ How Dare you fly over my head!! ”. If you don’t announce your intentions – You are more at fault than the other guy.
Another thing that gets to me is the number of times people will step onto the fields – Announced or not – without one single look to see if anyones aircraft is approaching. Several people avoided propeller/motor shots to the head this quarter when a pilot aborted and yanked the plane away. Again you HAVE to call out and LOOK before stepping on the field, from any direction – situational awareness is the key.
I recently had a discussion with John Weaver, Owner of Discount hobby Warehouse. He continues to support out club every month by discounting the gift certificates we use for prizes at our fun fly events, allowing to put more value into our winning members hands. He also discounted the raffle prizes we dispensed at our banquet in January. If you have a chance, please thank him with a handshake when you can. He stated one thing that reduces his happiness, is when members purchase planes and supplies for a few dollars less on discount websites, then people expect him to provide warranty service for items purchased elsewhere, or expects his paid employees to provide hours of their time troubleshooting their wonky “ discount” setups. Johns Discount Hobby Warehouse is pretty much the only game in town with live persons supporting the plane/heli hobby market. If you want him to keep his doors open to your immediate needs, you have to bring business through his door. It doesn’t take much. Most items you need can be ordered through his shop – possibly saving you a separate shipping charge if it comes from I stop by on a weekly basis to purchase supplies/repair tools/or the latest thing to get a bad look out of Lisa…
As we close out February out monthly meeting at the field and fun fly event.
This months event will be the “Spot Landing Challenge”, beginning around 10:00 AM – to be followed by our hot dog lunch.
Fly Safe- and Loudly!
Brad
