The August Meeting

The Meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM and Mr. James Ross was in attendance as a visitor.

   1. The meeting minutes from the July 3rd, 2007 meeting were approved.

   2. In the absence of Al Jones, the Treasurer’s report was read by George Gurney and approved by the members.

   3. Old business –

·         Al Niessner updated us on the efforts of the field search committee. Al showed drafts of the want ad and the SCRC club presentation. George Mock motioned to approve the documents and the motion carried. Al Niessner made a motion to spend up to $100.00 for the placement of the want ads. Motion passed. George Gurney will keep a list of who was contacted as potential landlords and record the outcome. George Mock will gather the names of local government officials to talk to about using public lands. Sam Stitzer is looking into the clean and green program. Al is working on a slide show presentation with text.

·         Henry Margusity provided updates from the Air Show committee meetings. Packer’s food service will provide two trailers–one for drinks and one for food. We will have the skydivers performing. There will be either one jump, opening the show or two separate jumps, with three jumpers on each drop. The field set-up for the show will begin at 8:00 am on Saturday, August 18th. We also need people to stay and help clean up after the show on Sunday. The pilot’s safety briefing will be at 11:45 on Sunday. We will be using the frequency board during the show but not impounding transmitters. Al Niessner will help Sam with the M.C. duties in case Al Jones does not make it to the show. The Civil Air Patrol will help with the parking then perform their flag ceremony at the beginning of the show. Curt motioned to pay $120 for the rental of the porta-potties. Motion passed.  We still need pilots! Please note the following and sign-up!

If you would like to demonstrate your flying skills to a large crowd of adoring fans, please e-mail Daryl Allen (darylcallen@msn.com) with your name, model name and a bit of information about the model you intend to fly.

4.   New Business –

·         Curt Buergin made motions to add four new safety rules:

1.       No low passes are to be flown while the field is being mowed.

2.       Low passes are only to be flown mid-field or farther out from the flight line.

3.       No airplane takeoffs are to be made directly from the flight stations. Check for other aircraft, taxi out, check again for aircraft, and take off when safe to do so.

4.       Be careful where you fly, being mindful that there is a home over the hill on the right, and a home over to the left of the hill.

All motions carried and Curt will post the amended list of rules on the frequency board at the field.

·         Mark and Chris Wharton will take care of our sound system requirements for the air show. Thanks guys, this helps.

·         Paul Bittengle raised a question concerning the helicopter flight area. The rules conflicted with the original field diagram. Curt referenced the July, 2006 meeting minutes and the field rules. It was determined that if the latest diagram is used, if the rules are followed and if common courtesy is given, then there really is no conflict between fixed-wing and rotary-wing model aircraft. Paul also had a question about model rockets being allowed to launch at the field. Membership agreed that rockets should be launched in an area of the field far away from buildings and other property.

·         Curt advised us of the upcoming EAA Fly-in at Center Air Park on October 6th and 7th. The field will be closed to model aircraft for those two days. However, if invited, there may be some opportunity to fly model demonstrations during the event. Curt also advised that Ray Masters (EAA president) will talk about the physical requirements for sport pilots Saturday morning at 9:00 am at the University Park Airport general aviation building if anyone is interested.

5.   Program – No program

6.   Show and Tell – None

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.

 

The SCRC Air Show

   After nearly a whole summer of nice weather, it rained on our show!  Ironically, Henry Margusity, our Air Show Committee Chairman works for Accu-Weather, but could not stop the front from sliding in to Centre Air Park! However, we did manage to get in two hours of air show before the rain got too severe. Many aircraft were flown and enjoyed by a crowd that I thought was pretty good for a rainy day! Henry’s committee did a bang-up job of organizing the show. A million details were attended to in a very competent manner. Thanks, guys!

   Thanks go out to Mark and Chris Wharton for lending us a professional quality P.A. system! Chris does disk jockey work and even brought a couple roadies to help set it up.  There was so much equipment it had to be brought in on a trailer! It worked great, too!  

    Thanks to Al Jones who served well as my co-announcer, and Nathaniel Rice who set up the list of pilots and acted as a “gofer”, prompting each pilot to be ready on time.   

    Thanks to Roy Long and the Civil Air Patrol guys who parked cars and performed a very nice flag ceremony for our opening.

   Thanks also to Mike Songer and the Penn State Skydivers for an impressive parachuting performance even while it was raining!

   The biggest thanks go to the pilots who flew a great show in bad weather! Their skill made it look easy! We had a few mishaps – balky engines, a radio glitch or two, the usual stuff, but we survived and gave a very good show!

    Diana Coder was there and was presented with a plaque in appreciation of her service to SCRC over the years. She was very touched, and was pleased by our dedication of the show to her late husband, Will Coder. She brought photo albums with pictures of Will and others at R/C events going back to the 1970’s. Man, we all had so much hair back then!

   I apologize if I missed thanking anyone who helped make the show possible. It was a remarkable group effort, and I was proud to be a part of it. As for the weather, well, there’s always next year!

 

That’s all for now.  Let’s fly!

 

Sam Stitzer  814‑364‑9530

samstitz@yahoo.com