-The March Meeting-

The meeting was held on March 7, 2006.

1. Meeting minutes from the February meeting were approved.

2. Treasures report – George presented the treasurer’s report. The report was approved by the club members.

3. Old Business –

 Update on the new flying field; The Pleasant Gap site is closed and the frequency board has been taken down. All equipment needs to be removed by 3/31/06. Cost estimate for moving the shed was $250. The committee recommended that we sell the shed and use the trailer at the new site upon approval by the club members. The sale price of the shed is $800. The motion to sell the shed was approved.

4. New Business –

 Will Coder presented information on his trip to the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport. He enjoyed it very much and recommended it to everyone to visit.

 George Mock presented ideas for the air show this summer. Possible ideas are to bring in static display of private aircraft and a Black Hawk Helicopter. Another idea was to bring in sponsors like JR, Hangar-9 or Nittany Line Hobbies. Al Jones recommended doing a smaller version of a show and seeing how it goes this year. Motion was approved to hold a show in August and invite a Black Hawk and a TOC flyer to the show. In addition, keep the show on a manageable size this year.

  The new Flying Field Design was presented by Al Jones. The field will be positioned in front of the office. Flight stations will be located in that area. The frequency board will be placed by the office building and in back of the flight stations.  It was proposed that the helicopter hover area be in the field to the left of the flying area. A motion was presented to keep the diagram as is with the hover area for helicopters. Motion was approved.

  The frequency board will be moved Sunday morning. Group will meet at Pleasant Gap at 9am to move the board.

Insurance – We have site insurance and AMA insurance. Henry Garbrick flies his own RC planes, so check the frequency if he is flying.

Our lease is year to year. We need to help keep the bathroom cleans. Motion to accept the lease agreement was approved.

5.  Program –

  George Gurney and Al Niessner presented a program on batteries. Notes can be found on the web site or you can e-mail Al for copies.

6. Announcements –

   Lebanon Swap is this Saturday.

  A float fly event is planned for April 9th at Moon Lake in a county park. Wyoming Valley RC is holding the event. The Wyoming Valley RC Club web site http://www.wyomingvalleyrcflyers.com/.

 The Altoona RC club is having a fun fly June 11th with a rain date of June 18th.

7. Show and Tell –

  I presented a glider that I built using another recycled wing from a plane I built 14 years ago. It has 486 sq. in. of wing and weighs a pound and a half. It was designed to be a slope soarer. It uses aileron, elevator, and rudder control.

 The Meeting was adjourned at 9pm.

 

 Flying Field Memories

  It seems hard to believe we left our old field. That was our home since 1988. I would like you guys to share some of your memories of flying there all those years. Write them up and send them to me, and I’ll put them in this newsletter in the coming months.

  I’ll kick it off with a few of my own: I remember when all the snow from the blizzard of 1993 melted and “Mystery Lake” appeared in the fields beside the runway. This often happened, but in 1993 it was very close to our runway, and it stayed for six weeks! Several of our members flew float planes off the water. Hugh Zinsmeister put his Sig Kadet into a loop over the water when the rubber bands holding the wings on snapped! The fuselage became a dart and dove into the water, making a loud SPLOOSH sound, and raised a six foot high plume of water! We all laughed hard, but I don’t remember Hugh laughing at the time!

  I taught my son, Mike to fly at our field when he was a teenager. I was a proud father when he soloed there after just six flights on his PT-20.

  I remember Charlie Bricker flying a four-stroke powered Kadet one evening, and remarking about its great fuel mileage. Just as he spoke, the engine quit – out of fuel! He tried to get back to the runway by heading straight toward himself. At the last second, he flew it up and over himself, and crashed it into the bed of his own pickup truck! Laughter again! I could go on and on, but I want to hear your stories!

  That’s all for now. See you at the NEW field!

 

Sam Stitzer  814‑364‑9530  samstitz@yahoo.com