The September Meeting

The Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. Tony Lang and Brendon Surrusco were attendance as new members.

   1. The meeting minutes from the August 7th meeting were approved. Curt advised us of a correction: Someone will give a presentation on the medical requirements for the Sport Pilots license at the next EAA meeting, to be held at 7 PM on Thursday, 9/6/07 at the General Aviation Terminal at University Park Airport (GAT-UPA). Also, if you should like to meet/mingle with area full scale pilots, they generally have an informal get-together on Saturday mornings at 9 AM at the GAT-UPA.  It's not guaranteed they will be there - just a general phenomenon.

   2. Al Jones read the Treasurer’s report and it was approved by membership. Recent expenditures included rebar for fence posts, rental of porta-potties, covering the expenses of the air show skydivers and field maintenance. The 2007 SCRC Air Show lost money but this is thought to be a direct result of the poor weather conditions. Higher attendance would have generated sufficient donations. Henry Margusity stated that Bernie Herbst of Nittany Line Hobbies paid the expense of publishing our air show advertisement and also donated our giveaway door prizes. Curt advised that a thank-you letter was sent to Bernie.

   3. Old business –

         Curt commented on the success of the air show. A good show in spite of the bad weather. Curt thanked Mark and Chris Wharton for the sound system. He thanked Henry for chairing the committee and Mark Stitzer for the video. Henry Margusity advised us that Packer’s is already booked as the food vendor for next year’s show. Henry compiled a folder of air show information to make planning the event easier in the future. Diana Coder has expressed her appreciation of the AMA Certificate that was presented to her at the event.

         Henry Margusity made a motion to develop a flight training program. He has a draft of the proposed course and has offered to chair the committee. Motion passed.

         Al Jones reported on the progress of the field search committee. An ad will appear in the CDT on Mondays and Wednesdays for the next two weeks. Look for it in the Homes section. Interested parties will reply Al Jones or Al Niessner. The committee will post ads on the bulletin boards of Agway and Tractor Supply and other such businesses.

         Curt reminded us of the EAA Fly-in at Center Air Park scheduled for October 6th and 7th. The field will be closed to general model aircraft activity for those two days but there may be opportunities to fly pre-approved model demonstrations during this event.

   4. New Business –

         George Gurney received 10 free issues of Quiet Flyer magazine and distributed them to SCRC members.

         Curt Buergin referred to his e-mail message outlining a recent incident involving a model and a full-scale aircraft. A botched landing by a club member caused a full-scale plane to stop short upon landing. Curt made a motion to require an observer for each RC flight. Motion failed. Although the idea was well received, it seems membership is not ready to willingly forfeit the possibility of flying alone. After some discussion, Curt agreed to prepare a document that defines the role of the observer by next meeting. Sam Stitzer will write an advisory in this month’s newsletter strongly suggesting that an observer be employed for every flight.

         Daryl expressed the wishes of a club member to have a safety warning letter from last season revoked on the grounds that such documents should have an expiration date and for this particular incident, the accuser was the only witness. After some discussion, further discussion of this matter was tabled for next meeting.

5.   Program – No program

6.   Show and Tell – None

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.

 

Flying with observers

 Although at this writing, there is no club rule requiring an observer (aka spotter) to accompany each pilot’s flight at our field, it is strongly recommended that everyone who flies a model there should have an observer present to monitor the activity of full scale aircraft! We have had several incidents of model pilots not being aware of an approaching full scale plane, and having to make a very quick landing when seeing the plane on final approach. This is a dangerous situation and must be avoided!

Please get someone at the field to watch for full scale traffic when you fly. We have an aircraft band radio in operation at the airport office, but we cannot rely on it. This was proven last month when the radio had a blown fuse during the incident mentioned in the September meeting minutes above. Murphy’s Law is real!

  If you must fly alone, I suggest that you walk the flight line before flying, and check for open hangar doors or tracks in the grass which would indicate a recent takeoff of a full scale plane which might soon return to land. Please be as vigilant as possible! The safety of full scale aircraft occupants must be our top priority!

Aerotowing

I got this email from my son, Mike in Lancaster:

   Alex and I successfully did an aerotow with my Easy Glider last evening. It was awesome!  He towed it up with his Multiplex Magister trainer.  It's a high wing electric trainer about 55" span.  He's got a decent size brushless in it.  Plus it even comes with a tow release made just for towing up an EZ.

   The first attempt didn't work, the grass was too tall and his plane is a trike gear so there was a lot of drag.  Second time the EZ was flying about mid-field then his plane was airborne.  It was a challenge keeping the EZ on track and not climbing too fast which just drags his plane.  The "release" on the EZ was a piece of velcro.  Had a piece on the nose underneath, then a piece tied to the line, which was fishing line.  At altitude I would dive then pull up and it would rip the Velcro apart.  First flight we didn't go too high.  Second time he took me up probably 700 or 800 feet high.  Once in the air his plane has plenty of power.  We would stand close so we could agree on which way to turn.  I'm hooked.  I'm thinking of installing a release in the Telemaster.  That's a perfect plane for towing and I think the .40 engine would still tow up a light EZ glider.  I didn't know that tow planes had releases, but they do, just in case the glider one fails.  I think a micro servo would work.  The release is basically a pin that slides down and releases the loop of line.

Mike

   This sounds like a lot of fun! I like the simple Velcro release method – no servo required. Mike’s Telemaster was one of Will Coder’s planes and is powered by a vintage K&B 40. He has full-span flaperons on it, so he could dial in a bit of flap for more lift if needed.

Mike said he got a five

minute glide down with a 1 ½ minute tow without any thermals. Not too bad!

Anyone here want to try this?

Here is Mike’s Easy Glider

with a hand painted shark nose.

That's it for now.  Let’s fly!

Sam Stitzer  814‑364‑9530

samstitz@yahoo.com