1997 Membership Applications Included
New Mail-In Procedure For Renewals
In This Issue:
* From The President
* Note From The Treasurer
* Training Update
* Flying 1996, A Soar Heads
Perspective
* Editorial Note
* From The Web
From the President
Our apologies for the lateness of the November "Hear Ye".
Inquiries have shown that the problem/delay was due to the
printer. We have been assured that there will be no such
delays in the future. If there is we will not hesitate to
seek another printer.
November Meeting
November's meeting was very enjoyable. We did not have our
scheduled speaker, who took ill, but we did have Joe Weizer
give us some tips about rigging landing gear and Rom Boutin
reported on the training program.
George Dukes showed us his scratch-built L-19, Russ O'Brien revealed his ingenious method of cowling his Sr. Kadet and Bob Flick gave a flying demonstration of his rubber-powered helicopter. Thanks to all.
Nominations were accepted for our annual awards: Doug
Davidson and Technical Achievement.
Sam Andreas and Charley Swope were nominated for the Davidson
Award.
Six members were nominated for the Technical Achievement
Award. Those named were: Tony Szczur, George Dukes, Alex
Patson, Harold Harrison, Mike Estock and Joe Weizer.
December Meeting
The general membership will hear presentations about the
various nominees. These talks will be given by the persons
who made the nominations. Afterwards members will vote by
secret ballot for each award. Results will be revealed at
our February/Banquet meeting. Come out and listen to the
presentations and vote.
December BOG Meeting
Officers will be elected for 1997. New BOG members who will
attend their first meeting in December are: Russ O'Brien,
Dan Cooper, George Dukes, Rom Boutin, Mike Estock, Joe
Weizer, Ed Snead, Jim Campana and Jim Meidinger.
Leaving the BOG in December are Sam Andreas, Rudy Forst, John
Moore, Tony Szczur and Alan Stokker. Thanks fellas for your
contributions.
Warren Barrick
A Note From The Treasurer
You'll find a 1997 club renewal form included in this issue
of Hear-Ye. There is a change in the renewal procedure
beginning this year, that being that renewal applications
will now be accepted by mail. Please follow the instructions
on the form and send a photo-copy of your 1997 AMA card to me
at the address shown.
Thank You,
Walt Pierzchala
TRAINING UPDATE
By Rom Boutin
Well we are still on schedule and we have a few more
students which have been SOLOED since the last issue
of Hear-Ye. MITCH TREIGER found out that R/C flying is
a little different than full scale. Yes Mitch built a
KIT FOX 4 in his garage and has been flying it since
1992. It is hangered in Northeast Airport and is flown
regularly. Mitch is currently working toward his CFI
(Certified Flight Instructor) ticket.. Mitch soloed
R/C in
9 hrs 30 min in 42 sessions with JOE WEIZER as
his instructor. Congratulations MITCH and nice, great,
wonderful job JOE...
SAM ANDREAS is at it again so scratch up one more student SOLO, that makes 4 for the season, and makes JOHANN VAN TONDER one happy R/C Pilot. On 9 Nov. member JOHANN was SOLOED. His first flight was made on October 19 and logged only 5 1/2 hours to SOLO. A casual observer noted that Johann (who stands an easy foot taller than Sam) closely resembled an "I"with a "." after it standing side by side on the flightline. A Hobbico 40 ARF was utilized throughout the training period and is still in flying condition. Johann wasted no time in getting into another aircraft as he built and is currently flying the BIG LAZY BEE powered by a 55 four stroke SAITO. Congratulations JOHANN and thanks from the club for a great job SAM..
Flying 1996, A Soar Heads Perspective
By John Powell
Dear VFSS, actually this is NOT a report, just some personal comments about our 1996 soaring season.To sum up: No one is "in charge"of soaring...it just happens!
Generally, soar-heads are anarchists who want to do things their way or not at all, quit a bit like the free-flight guys . This is a nice feature of quiet flight, but also sometimes leads to problems. For instance, it's tricky to get everyone to launch their planes from a designated area, or to stand out of the way of landing aircraft, or even to land clear of other pilots! However, on the whole, there are very few mishaps, and the severest result of a mistake is no worse than a bruise, so there does not seem to be the high pressure to regiment the troops that there is for gas engine flying.
In another area, our culture of disorganization has been our downfall this year. Despite purchasing a new winch & retriever a couple of years ago, we very seldom saw this equipment at the field on Sundays.The regular Winch Master / Winch Keeper was involved in changing jobs and then weekend duty shifts, so he could not make it to the field. Luckily, Milt Zeisloft or Mike Popescu would often let the rest of us use their winches, but for most Sundays in 1996 we had to depend on high-start launching. I think the absence of winch equipment on the field discouraged many flyers from bothering to come out, so our numbers were well down this year (or so it seemed to me).
In principle, anyone else could take over this task...but no one has been keen to volunteer! The gear is heavy and bulky to transport, so the Winch guy needs to have a large vehicle, a strong back, a garage to store the stuff in and a place to keep the batteries charging. Plus he has to lug it all out to the field on Sundays and set it up, usually with minimal help; see to it that it all works during the flying session, then collect it up and take it home again. He may find little time or energy left to do any flying after the winch is taken care of. No wonder we haven't found another taker!
Rom Boutin & I once discussed keeping the winch gear in the shed where the mower is stored, so that someone could drive around and bring it up to the field after they had unloaded the planes from their car. One drawback was that we couldn't charge batteries in the shed, so 2 or 3 big car batteries would have to go to somebody's home during the week.
Another idea was to mount the winch & retriever on a cart or small trailer, which would keep it all together, ready to use, except for the batteries again. But then the Winch Keeper would need a tow hitch on his car.
Obviously we'll need to get this sorted out before the 1997 flying season starts. If anyone has any ideas on this - besides flying electric or internal combustion - we'd be glad to hear them!
On a positive note, news of 2 sometimes VFSS members and serious soar-heads Marty Albion and Mike Popescu: these two made a concerted attack on the contest scene this year, flying Mike's production design ESTEEM gliders. I don't have the complete list of contests they went to, but Florida, Virginia, Indiana and California were some of the sites! When the dust settled, Marty had taken 5th position overall in the ESL Expert class rankings -in his first full season of competition. This is some kind of all-weather, all-terrain flying...and him so young! (I taught him everything he knows, of course.) The ESTEEM seems to be well established as one of the top 2 or 3 contest airplanes in the country.
Congratulations M & M.
John Powell
Greg Walter Solos on 10-26-96
By Carey and Janice Walters
Walter #2 soloed after 38 flights of Saturday only
instruction, under flight instructor Chuck Karr and Associate
instructor Ed Moore. Yep! Chuck karr graduates another
V.F.S.S. flyer.
Greg became a member this past summer and was full of enthusiasm and excitement. he turned 12 years old this past July and wanted to follow his older brother , Jeff's footsteps. Greg has wanted to fly RC airplanes since he saw Jeff's involvement. A year after Jeff it was Gregs chance to learn to fly. He did well in his instructions and enjoyed all his time at the airfield. He was a bit nervous when the cord was cut, but soon learned to handle the pressure. Chuck now has two of the Walter family members soloed. It looks like Dad is next on the list! Mom says she just wants to try flying but only with a cord. She would like to see what this flying hobby is all about.
Greg would like to thank Chuck Karr, Ed Moore and Simon Bush
for their time and Patience in helping him earn his wings.
Congratulations Greg on a job well done! Good Luck and Happy
Flying...
Mom and Dad
Thumbs up Greg! Congratulations on earning your wings. Great
job... We'll have lots of fun flying together.
Jeff
Editorial Note
We have received several letters such as the one below. Some requesting
information on How To Start A Club Web Page, others applauding the
effort that has gone into creating such an intricate piece of work.
I would be remiss if I allowed the year to end without thanking Michael
Myers for the time and effort he has put into this project. The V.F.S.S.
web page has been enjoyed by RC modelers from one end of the globe to
the other..... Well Done Mike
From The Web
Courtesy of Mike Myers
From: Dan Gellner <dgellner@cdsnet.net>
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 15:23:52 -0800
To: mhmyers@netaxs.com
Subject: How do you do?
Hi there my name is Dan Gellner and I am in an R/C club in Klamath Falls OR. We recently have started to build a web page and I was wondering how you work it to put your newsletter online. I am the editor of our newsletter, and am creating the newsletter in MS Publisher, and will apparently need to send a copy of all text to the young whippersnapper that is running our page. Is this how it is done for you too?
I really enjoyed browsing through some of the articles you have posted. Seems like your club is having many of the same situations. It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it.
Dan Gellner
Klamath Falls
Oregon
USA
Feedback or comments to:
Sam Andreas, HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster
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