Hear Ye!

September, 2002
No. 424

From the President,
Warren Barrick

September promises to be a very busy month for the Valley Forge Signal
Seekers. We have lots of activities scheduled. It should be great fun.

As I write this I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that the
severe heat wave we've experienced during late July and early August has
limited our enjoyable flying time. Many of us have braved the morning heat
to get in a few hours here and there during this time. It is not easy on
the flight line with the thermometer hovering around 90 degrees. Make the
most of it and be sure to carry plenty of water in your coolers.

The BOG is concerned, as well it should be, over some infractions: an
overflight of the Superintendent's house and pilot errors on the flight
line. We have to be constantly alert and abide by club rules as set forth
in our VFSS Safety and Management Guide, as revised in January 2000. To
that end we distributed additional copies to the members at our August
meeting. If you don't have one, please get one from the barrel at the field
and read it! We are fortunate to have many new members coming to our club
during this flying season, and each has been given a guide as well a lecture
on our flight boundaries. However, it is up to all of us as members to
police one another and to give constructive advice where needed.

The BOG has mandated the ordering of hats for the use of the field marshals
as a visible sign of the authority vested in them by the BOG. Respect those
who wear these hats, as well as your fellow members and all visitors to the
field. Every person on that flight line is "in charge." It is the
responsibility of each and every one of us to be absolutely in control of
our unique situation as model aviators.

Nominations to the BOG as well as volunteers for it will be accepted at our
September meeting at the church. Get on the BOG and help to organize and
run the many activities of VFSS! The BOG needs you!

September's activities are listed elsewhere in the Calendar. I want to
emphasize our Fun-Fly on September 21st, which has been designated as "Park
Appreciation Day." Last year we attempted to do the same on September 15th
and most park personnel who we hoped would attend were unable to do so
because of work burdens imposed on them by the tragedy of September 11th.
Many were sent elsewhere on TDY. This year we are going to renew our offer
to park personnel to come to the field to have a bite to eat and to take a
turn or two on the "buddy" boxes. We will publicize this event as we have
in the past. Handibond has agreed to be our corporate sponsor again.

Dee Messina and Carl Sutton are going to handle the September membership
meeting. Attend - you'll have a great time. I'm taking a brief vacation.
Dee is also coordinating the Wing's Field and Pottstown-Limerick activities
on September 7th and 8th respectively. Call Dee and sign up to participate
in both. Fly safely, have fun.

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DEATH TO TURBINES!
by Dave Harding of the Propstoppers Newsletter

We gotta get rid of these turbines; they are ruining aviation. We need to
go back to big round engines.
Anybody can start a turbine, you just need to move a switch from "OFF" to
"START", and then remember to move it back to "ON" after a while. My PC is
harder to start.

Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse and style. On some planes,
the pilots aren't even allowed to do it.

Turbines start by whining for a while, then give a small ladylike poot and
start whining louder.

Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, BANG, more
rattles, another BANG, a big macho fart or two, more clicks, a lot of smoke
and finally a serious low pitched roar. We like that. It's a guy thing.

When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate
on the flight ahead. Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan:
useful, but hardly exciting.

Turbines don't break often enough, leading to aircrew boredom, complacency
and inattention. A round engine at speed looks and sounds like it's going
to blow at any minute. This helps concentrate the mind.

Turbines don't have enough control levers to keep a pilot's attention.
There's nothing to fiddle with during long flights.
Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman lanterns. Round
engines planes smell like God intended flying machines to smell.

I think I hear the nurse coming down the hall. I gotta go.

Oh, and Electrics - that's another whole thing!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VFSS BOG MEETING
by Dee Messina

August 6, 2002
20 members at the field
Meeting opened at 6:32 PM by President Barrick .

OLD BUSINESS

1. Field safety and flight violations discussions were held. The club has
found some flyers in violation of boundaries and noise regulations. We will
bring these items to the next club meeting for clarification. The offending
members have been notified.

2. Field marshals will be recognizable in the future by ball caps with
"Field Marshal" printed on them. They will have the authority to halt any
actions not in line with field safety rules or noise.

3. The fun fly was well attended and was deemed a huge success. We
exhausted all our food and drinks.

4. The Handibond Adhesives Company people like us and may supply more C.A.
to our club.

NEW BUSINESS

1. The September 10th club meeting will be presided over by the secretary
and treasurer. The president and vice-president will not be in attendance.

2. We will need to meet with the Park Service to request a renewal of our
club field permit. Warren Barrick will contact the Park as soon as
possible.

3. BOG nominations for 2003 and 2004 will begin at the September club
meeting.

4. The flea market is a possibility for this year. A committee is forming
now to look for other locations. Jim Myers, Mario Chiarolanza, and Ed Snead
are checking.

5. A motion to purchase two new tables was made and passed. Mike Estock
will handle this. We may also buy some red safety cones.

6. There was a discussion of Sunday morning quiet time restrictions
regarding electric power. This should be addressed and made clear.

7. We will once again examine our noise evaluation procedures and our
equipment. Al Primas led the discussion. We will invite more input on this
subject for later use.

All business concluded, meeting adjourned at 7:20 PM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SEPTEMBER RAFFLE
by Joe Yalove

The following prizes will be raffled at the September membership meeting:

1. Top Flite Nobler - This is an updated version of an old c-line plane.
Very acrobatic and should be a great deal of fun.

2. Epoxy - Who doesn't need epoxy? A set of 6 min and a set of 30 min
epoxy.

3. A set of standard ball end handled drivers and a holder, which will
attach to your field box or bench.

4. A voltage-ohm meter, which can be used for checking batteries or line
breakage.

5. An adjustable vise, which moves into many positions, has padded jaws,
and attaches to the bench by vacuum.

6. Bench Topper - This is a prebuilt unit, which will sit on the bench, has
several drawers, and is loaded with epoxy, CA, knife, and a hinge marker.

7. This last item is for the old guys - a light magnifier, which attaches to
the bench and can aid in soldering those fine wires.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CLUB CALENDAR

Saturday, September 7th -
Static Display of scale aircraft at Wings Field, Norristown, PA.

Sunday, September 8th -
Full scale Fly-in, Pancake Breakfast at Pottstown-Limerick Airport. VFSS
will have a static display, as in past. "Dee" Messina is contact person for
both events.

Tuesday September 10th -
General membership meeting at the church at 8:00 P.M. Raffle, Show-N-Tell,
and a speaker.

Saturday September 21st -
Fun-Fly Park Appreciation Day. Rain date Sunday, September 22nd.

Tuesday, October 1st -
BOG Meeting at the church at 7:00 P.M.

Tuesday October 8th -
General Membership Meeting at the church at 8:00 P.M. Raffle, Show-N-Tell a
nd a speaker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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