The December Meeting

 

 The meeting was held on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 at 7:00pm with 17 members present.

  Minutes from the November meeting were approved.

  Treasurer’s report – George Gurney presented the treasures report (his final one!). The report was approved.

 

Old Business –

 

Winter Banquet – January 20, 2007 at the American Legion in Centre Hall. The cost per person for a Chicken Dinner will be $17.00 per person. Checks need to go to George Mock or Al Jones, made out to SCRC. Please pay by January 10th.

  Indoor Fun Fly – Ron Angle gave us a report on the indoor flying area near Williamsport. Ron showed pictures of the dome which is large enough to fly electric airplanes. The proposal is to use only small electric airplanes. The dates we have are between Christmas and New Year’s. The cost will be $700 for 3 hours. We will have further discussions on the prospects of an indoor fun fly at the next meeting.

 

New Business –

 

Election of New Officers for 2007- We are changing Al Jones to Treasurer. The officers will be:

Curt Buergin – President

Ron Angle – Vice President

Daryl Allen - Secretary

Al Jones – Treasurer

Sam Stitzer – Flite Lines Editor.

 Office of Historian – We will be talking about that position at the next meeting. Outgoing president George Mock thanked everyone for supporting him in the past year. Thank you, George!

 

Show and Tell –

 

 Ron Angle showed us a tiny helicopter from Radio Shack. It uses infrared control. Cool toy!

 

Daryl Allen won the 50/50.

The Meeting was adjourned at 8pm.

No more “Let George do it”

  After more years than anyone can remember, our treasurer, George Gurney has passed the baton (or is it the checkbook?) to a new treasurer, Al Jones. George has faithfully attended to the endless details of managing the club’s finances. This includes collecting dues, paying out for mowing, postage, field rent, banquets, AMA chartering, and many more items. I joined SCRC in 1981, and I can’t remember anyone else being treasurer. His dedication has been phenomenal! 

   Besides being our treasurer, George is an excellent model builder and pilot.  He has built many planes from scratch, and they are always beautiful and fly well.  To me, he represents what the R/C hobby is all about – building nice planes and having fun with them, year after year! We sincerely thank you, George, for so many years of service to SCRC.

Good Battery Source

   I found a source for all types of custom made battery packs for electric aircraft, as well as radios on the internet. It’s called cheapbatterypacks.com. I ordered a receiver pack for my son for a Christmas gift. It’s a four cell NiMH 1650mah pack, and comes complete with wires and connector attached for just $12.00 plus about $4.00 shipping. It arrived in just three days and it looks like a quality product! They also have nicads and Li-Po packs, in a bunch of different configurations for very reasonable prices. I’m going to get a new pack or two to replace my aging nicads. Check them out!

 

Slopin’ in Lancaster County

   I went to my son Mike’s home in Lancaster County for an early Christmas Dinner on Saturday, December 23.  Since Mike has a good slope soaring site down there, I took along the slope glider I had built back in March. Until now, I had only flown a few test glides on the glider, so we went to the slope to try its first real slope flight. The wind was from the northwest, about 15mph. Sunny weather, temperature in the mid 50’s – just about as good as it gets in December!

   Mike heaved the glider over the edge of the hill. It went straight out, then began going up, but with its nose pointed straight ahead! That’s how it works on a slope. The air you are flying in is rising, so the plane goes along for the ride. I flew along the hill for a few seconds, then turned away from it, into the wind, still climbing. I continued to fly back and forth along the hill, always making turns away from the hill. Once I got up about 200 feet, I did some loops, a few hammerheads, and a slow roll (it needs a lot more aileron throw!). Hey, this is fun, and all with no power! Time slipped by – 10 minutes, 20, 30. Ow, my neck hurts from looking up! I finally set up my landing. Too high, go around! Huh, go around with a glider? Sure, just shoot back out over the hill, and you’re climbing again – cool!

I came around on approach again, lined up ok, but in much turbulence. I was almost down when a wind rotor got under the right wing and flipped the glider over into a cartwheel landing. The rubber bands on the wing popped off, preventing much damage. The aileron servo came loose and the fuselage cracked when the tail hit, but no major damage was done. I’ll have it back up soon!

  Later, While Mike and his friends were flying Zagi-type flying wings, he let me fly his Multiplex Easy Glider, an all foam sailplane for another 30 or so minute flight (till my neck hurt again!). I got it above the slope lift and was actually thermalling it to about 500 feet altitude. It was great! The Easy Glider is a good all purpose glider for slope or thermal gliding. It’s all foam to take a beating on rough landings. It uses ailerons, rudder, and elevator for full control. Span is 70” with a two piece wing for easy transport. Price is $69.95. An electric powered version is available, too. Check it out on the web at

http://www.nesail.com/csc/index.php?target=products&product_id=547.

 

  If you get a chance to try slope soaring, do it!  Its great fun and challenging. Like flatland glider flying, you must read the wind and lift conditions, which are always changing, and you can go fast and do aerobatics too – and all with no engine or motor! I had a great time, and I’ll go back again with an improved plane!

My glider in flight.

Wing is recycled from an old electric plane with a scratch built fuselage and tail. 54” span, weighs 24 oz.

 

That’s all for now.  I hope you all had a great Christmas. I got a new radio!

Happy New Year!!

Sam Stitzer 814‑364‑9530

samstitz@yahoo.com