The October Meeting

 The meeting was held on October 3, 2006 at the Old Fort American Legion Building. There were 19 members present. President George Mock called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

Old Business:

1. The EAA Fly-In breakfast will be held at the airport on October 7 and 8. Some of our members will help serve food on October 8. George Mock and Al Jones, who had volunteered earlier, reported that they are both unable to be there on October 8. They will be replaced by the other George and Al (Gurney and Niessner, respectively). R/C model flying will be shut down at the field on both days of this event to avoid possible conflicts with full scale aircraft. Our members will only be allowed to fly some demo flights during lulls in full scale traffic.

New Business:

1. A nominating committee for 2007 SCRC officers will be formed. It will consist of George Mock, Al Niessner, and a third draft pick to be named later. (Actually, I didn’t write down who the third guy was and forgot! We can correct it at the meeting.)

2. SCRC Winter Banquet – A motion was made and passed to have the banquet at the Old Fort American Legion Hall on January 20, 2007. The change of location is due mainly to numerous complaints regarding the Elks Club facility used in recent years. The cost is not known yet, but will probably be less than last year.

3. Club Meeting Location – Since the Central Pa. Institute of Science & Technology has imposed a $20.00 per meeting charge on our club; a motion was made and passed to have our meetings at the Old Fort American Legion Hall. It’s free and they have a bar!

Announcements:

1. There is an article about SCRC in the October issue of State College Magazine. It features quotes from several members and some excellent photos.

George Mock had a list of various model plane coverings and their weights per square foot. Very informative!

2. Sam Stitzer mentioned that the Wings of Williamsport R/C Club was having their Fall Fun Fly on October 7 and 8 at their field across from the Harvest Moon Restaurant near Williamsport.

Program:

 Al Niessner showed photos and video from a giant scale meet that he attended recently near Pittsburgh. It featured many excellent large scale models and a turbine powered jet flying.

There was no 50-50 raffle, since Henry Margusity had the tickets!

The meeting was adjourned at 7:38 PM.

EAA Fly-In Breakfast

  I didn’t go to this event, but I heard that there were many full scale planes and pilots in attendance. The weather was excellent, and a ton of food was served up by the EAA guys and our own members.

Wings of Williamsport Fun Fly

  My wife and I attended the Wings of Williamsport Fun Fly at their field near Williamsport on October 7 & 8. We camped there overnight in our little teardrop camping trailer which I built this summer. It was a perfect night for camping; cool and calm, with absolutely clear sky and a full moon! Several of us sat around a campfire swapping stories of R/C flying back in the day. I’ve known some of those folks since the early 1970’s when we were all members of the old Lock Haven Model Airplane Club. It was fun to reminisce, but I was saddened to hear of the passing of some of the old gang. Ah, yes, time marches on!        We spent a cold night in the unheated teardrop, but survived thanks to a pile of blankets!

  Sunday dawned bright and beautiful. Many pilots showed up with some gorgeous planes! One guy had a large scale Christen Eagle biplane with the best smoke system I’ve ever seen. It looked like a full scale airshow! (OK, who wants to build a smoker for our show next year?) The same flier had a scale P-38 of about seven foot span that was equally beautiful in flight. There was a nice 1/3 scale Sopwith Pup biplane, complete with a machine gun, and the pilot’s white scarf was fluttering realistically in the breeze! His engine quit in flight, though, and he had to belly flop it into some high weeds. Luckily, the damage was minimal. I flew my electrics and got many compliments. They don’t have many electric models in their club.

  The W.O.W. club also has a track for R/C trucks and dune buggies at their field. Two gas powered trucks were running on it, climbing huge dirt mounds and making impressive jumps! I am amazed at how fast they can go!

   We had a great time there, and I hope to go back next year. Maybe some SCRC members will join us.

 

PV High School demo

   On Thursday, October 26, George Gurney, Al Niessner, Nathaniel Rice, and I presented a flying demo at Penn’s Valley High School for an eighth grade class. It was windy, and the flying area is a small space between the football field and the baseball field. There are plenty of obstacles like light poles, fences and trees, but we all managed to fly and land without incident. The kids loved it, and were especially impressed by Nathaniel’s helicopter aerobatics! I was too! It was fun, and it’s good to show some youngsters what our hobby is all about. They are the future!

 

Smokin’ Eagle at Williamsport

 

That’s all for now.  

Sam Stitzer  814‑364‑9530

samstitz@yahoo.com