Monthly meeting are generally held the first Tuesday of each month with exceptions caused by holidays, etc. During the summer months, June through September, the meetings are held at the club's flying site. All other meetings are held at an indoor facility. Check the notice for the current month to find the location and time.
The monthly meeting notices are maintained on this page. Past meeting notices can be found by clicking here.
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Opening the Meeting |
Making a Point |
NEWSLETTERS OF THE STATE COLLEGE RADIO CONTROL CLUB
Next Meeting - Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 7:00 PM
It will be at the SCRC Flying Field
In case of inclement weather
the meeting will move indoors to the airport office
The July Meeting
Chuck Paulson called the meeting to order
at 7:00 PM. Mr. Eric Keller attended as a new member. Welcome, Eric.
1. The minutes from the June 3rd meeting were
approved.
2.
3. Old
business –
Chuck
reminded us of SCRC’s Fun Fly Picnic on Sunday, July 20th. Members should bring
their own food and drinks. The barbeque grill will be available and some
members will bring ice chests containing ice. The rental of one porta-john has
been arranged for this event. Please see “coming events” on the SCRC web site
for details.
For
the field search committee, Al Jones checked into a site owned by Skip Stewart
near the Nittany Mall. He advised that the site is not suitable for our needs.
It’s only about 5 acres and has power lines on two sides. Al was also able to
get a good view of the
Chuck
Paulson reported on the progress of the air show committee. Roy Long and the
Civil Air Patrol will direct parking traffic and perform their flag ceremony.
Mark and Chris Wharton will bring Chris’s PA system. Members should contact Todd Cook to sign up for Air Show flying. We
need more pilots, please! We have no raffle prizes yet as Nittany Line
Hobbies has not yet made a commitment to become involved. Instead of paying for
newspaper ads and other publicity, we may end up taking advantage of free
announcements such as the CDT’s “Weekender”. The air show committee will meet
again soon to finalize publicity plans and address other issues.
4. New Business –
Chuck
booked the American Legion for SCRC’s winter banquet on January 24th. He
advised that reservations go fast and time slots are quickly filled. A motion
to hold the banquet there on that date was passed by membership.
Al
Jones printed new copies of the membership roster, with complete phone numbers
which he handed out to the attendees.
There
will be some “no fly” (“spotter required”) dates for models this month at
Center Air Park to accommodate an EAA event taking place on July 11th, and 12th.
5. Show and Tell –
Henry
Margusity showed his new CMP Giles 202 that he ordered from Nitro Planes. It’s
a great flying model with heavy-duty linkage parts, digital servos, a Saito 120
four-stroke glow engine and a color scheme that features attacking space
aliens.
Brad Fisher won the 50-50 drawing, splitting
$19.00 with the club.
Relay For Life Demo – 6/28
Several of our members had a static display
of aircraft and a flying demo at the Relay for Life at the Grange Fairgrounds
in Centre Hall on June 28. We set our planes in an exhibit building, which was
not in a high traffic area, so we didn’t get a lot of folks to see us. Those
who did were favorably impressed by our hobby. Josh Crews, the grandson of one
of
SCRC Club Fun Fly 7/20
It
was another hot, sticky July day with a stiff breeze that was, luckily,
straight down the runway. We had a good crowd of pilots and models, and many
flights were enjoyed.
Woody’s ¼ scale P-51 flew beautifully! He’s
got it dialed in just right for very realistic flight, and his landings were
great, although one of the barrels along
the runway seems to have a magnet in it!
A very BIG Extra (not sure whose) flew some
nice flights with very scale-like aerobatics. Those biggies didn’t care about
the wind blowing at all!
On the other hand, several small electrics
bounced around a bit, and mine even went backwards a little with the motor at
idle and the nose up, into the wind! Paul Bittengle got some exercise
retrieving his Soarstar from the weeds when he got downwind and couldn’t quite
get back. But we all survived and had a great time! Thanks to all who came out!
Note: Click here for attached photos
for all who receive this newsletter by email, but my printer can’t handle them
for the snail mail recipients. Sorry about that!
That’s all. Let’s fly!
Sam Stitzer 814‑364‑9530
Last Meeting - Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 7:00 PM
It will be at the SCRC Flying Field
In case of inclement weather
the meeting will move indoors to the airport office
The June Meeting
Chuck
Paulson called the meeting to order at
1. The minutes from the May 6th meeting were
approved.
2. Al Jones read the Treasurer’s report.
Expenses since last month included field maintenance. We received some
membership dues. Al advised the balance of the SCRC account and the report was
approved. Al had copies of the updated membership roster which he passed out to
the meeting attendees.
3. Old business –
· Chuck Paulson reported on the progress
of the air show committee. Al Jones motioned to set the date of the show for
10th of August. Motion carried. Chuck advised that Roy Long and the Civil Air
Patrol will be available to park cars and perform their flag ceremony. A motion
was made to appropriate $100 for the skydivers and $140 for the rental of two
porta-johns. Motion passed.
· Chuck reminded us of SCRC’s open Fun
Fly on Sunday June 22nd. Members and guests should bring their own food and
drink. The club’s barbeque grill will available and we will provide ice. Woody
suggested that we rent one porta-john for this event and Chuck motioned to
spend $70 for the rental. Motion passed. Setup will start around
· Sam Stitzer mentioned SCRC’s
participation in the Relay for Life event at the
Grange Fairgrounds on June 28th. We should be there by
· Al Jones had nothing new to report
from the field search committee. He did receive some input from Mr. David
Kelly, a competition IMAC flyer from the
4. New Business –
· Woody Struble made a motion to paint a
line to designate the pit area behind the flight line. This was done last year
with the help of Curt Buergin. Motion
carried.
5. Show and Tell –
· George Gurney brought a miniature
helicopter and Alex did an admirable job of flying it amongst the members in
attendance.
The
meeting was adjourned at
Paul
Bittengle won the 50-50 drawing, splitting $6.00 with the club.
SCRC Fun Fly
The forecast called for clouds and heavy
thunderstorms, but June 22 dawned bright and clear! I went to the field in the
early afternoon and found a small crowd of folks enjoying a good day of flying.
A moderate breeze blew straight down the runway, and the thermals were there
for the gliders. I flew my Circuit Rider electric glider for a twenty minute
flight and landed only because my neck was tired from looking up! I still had
power left in the Li-Po battery.
Al
Niessner used his buddy cord to help some youngsters fly his beautiful 4-stroke
powered Sig Kadet Senior, and his electric Miss 2. Both planes are good
trainers, and the Miss 2 was thermalling along with my glider.
Al and the kids
Karl
Stashak flew his overpowered trainer through some crazy aerobatics including
his now famous inverted tail touch on the runway grass! (This is a trainer?!!) Karl
also showed me the “World’s Highest Dead Stick” where he climbed to
speck-in-the-sky altitude, then killed the engine, and looped, rolled, and spun
during the descent, then landed nearly at his feet! It’s a fun plane to watch!
Woody Struble flew an autogiro with a wing,
which took off fine but had trouble turning and ended up in the wheat field.
The belly scoop of his P-51 fell off earlier in the wheat, so Woody got a lot
of exercise retrieving things!
Daryl Allen’s Quickie 500 flew great, but a
radio glitch put him down with a broken off nose. Ouch!
Nathaniel Rice and John Ream made many nice
helicopter flights, including some wild aerobatics! Today’s choppers still
amaze me with their capabilities! So do their pilots!
Everyone there had a good time, but
attendance was low. Perhaps the dismal weather forecast and high gas prices
kept some folks away. Who wants to burn $30 worth of gas only to get rained
out? Still, it was a nice event, and we all enjoyed it!
Sentimental Journey 2008
I rode my motorcycle to
Lock Haven on Friday, June 20 to see the Piper Cub Fly-In. They wanted $10 to
get in to the field to look at planes, and of course, I didn’t have that much
on me, so I parked at the west end of the runway next to the Piper Museum and
left the planes come to me! There was a steady stream of Cubs and other vintage
planes taking off and landing all afternoon. It looked like our model field
with sometimes six or seven planes up at once!
Besides a bunch of Cubs and their variants, I
saw a Stearman PT-17 biplane, a Fleet biplane, a Fairchild 24, and big,
beautiful DC-3 twin! They were selling rides in the DC-3, and seemed to be
doing a brisk business. It was fun to
watch these historic planes actually flying, rather than sitting somewhere in a
museum!
Sidebar:
The lot where I parked was the same lot I used when I worked for Piper in 1972
and 1973. The
Sam
Stitzer 814‑364‑9530
Past Meeting - Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 7:00 PM
It will be at the SCRC Flying Field
In case of inclement weather
the meeting will move indoors to the airport office
The May Meeting
Chuck Paulson
called the meeting to order at
1. The minutes from the April 1st meeting were
approved.
2. Al Jones read the Treasurer’s report.
Expenditures included $500 to Jack Garbrick for field use, $200 to Woody for
field maintenance and $25 for the repair of the frequency board. AMA club
charter dues and rent for the flying field. Al advised the balance of the SCRC
account and his report was approved by membership.
3. Old business –
Woody Struble
reinforced a wooden post for the frequency board with steel. He also did a
great job of adding the missing frequency numbers. Al Jones added 11 card slots
for 2.4 GHz transmitters.
Al Jones had
nothing new to report from the field committee but in response to a question,
he did advise that SCRC has submitted a letter of interest to the park planning
board for the
The 2008 SCRC
Air Show will be held either on August 10th or on August 17th. Chuck will chair
the committee and other volunteers include Henry, Nathaniel, Todd and Daryl.
Henry Margusity advised that the food vendor plans to participate again this
year and we should discuss the extra electricity usage with Jack Garbrick.
A motion to hold
our Open Fun Fly on June 22nd passed. Another motion was made to have the
closed Fun Fly (club picnic) on July 20th. Motion carried.
4. New Business –
Hugh Zinsmeister
reminded us of some safety rules and field courtesy points. Your AMA card should be removed from the frequency board after each flight
and we should stand behind the flight line when flying. Cigarette butts and
other trash should be picked up and thrown out. Larger items such as wrecked
models should be taken home with you instead of disposing of them at the field.
High speed passes should be made at mid-field and farther from the flight line.
If a full-scale plane approaches, don’t panic and mess up the landing – it’s
better to fly over the corn field in a holding pattern if necessary. Don’t take
off if a full-scale aircraft is on the field with its engine running.
AL Jones
informed us that he and Woody recently rolled the field to smooth out the
runway. Henry Margusity asked that we turn on the Radio in the office and make
sure the outdoor speakers are working so we can hear the transmissions of
approaching and departing full-scale aircraft. Henry advised us of a new R/C
supplier that he’s had good luck with. They have good prices and can be found
on internet: http://www.rcslot.com/
Chuck announced
that Peter Caddick has been relocated by his employer to
If you don’t
have an SCRC name tag but would like to get one, please contact Al Jones.
6. Show and Tell –
Gil Halbleib
showed his Great Planes 1/3 Scale Pitts Biplane. It’s powered by a
The
meeting was adjourned at
Daryl
Allen won the 50-50 drawing, splitting $16.00 with the club.
Another Way to
Launch a Glider
My son came up from
Here is a
photo of the cradle setup with Mike’s EZ Glider on board:
Here is a link to a video of it flying at Mike’s
club field. The Telemaster might look
familiar. It was Will Coder’s. Mike swapped Will’s old K&B 40 for a Super
Tigre 51 for a little extra grunt and it works well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRUAF2kG28k
That’s all for now.
Please remember those who sacrificed their lives in battle so we can live in a
free land.
Sam Stitzer 814‑364‑9530
Past Meeting - Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 7:00 PM
It will be at the Old Fort American Legion, Centre Hall, PA.
From the traffic light at the intersection of Rts. 144 and 45 at Centre Hall, go 130 yards East (toward Millheim) on Rt. 45. The American Legion will be on your right (south side of 45). Drive around the back of the building and park. Looking at the building from the rear, enter via the back door on the right and go down the steps. Meeting will be in the large banquet room.
Minutes from the April Meeting
The April Meeting
Filling
in for Chuck and Curt, Al Jones called
the meeting to order at
1.
The minutes from the March 4th meeting were approved.
2.
The Treasurer’s report was read and approved. Expenditures included AMA club charter
dues and rent for the flying field. Al
Jones read a list of names, people who have been removed from the
membership roster because of unpaid club dues for 2008. Al Niessner suggested that we do an e-mailing to these people to
encourage them to re-join. Al Jones
agreed to handle this.
3.
Old business –
·
Woody Struble will reinforce our
broken frequency board with channel iron. If this works, there will be no need
to organize a work detail, thanks to Woody. He will advise the club president
if the fix works.
·
Al Jones, Al Niessner and George Gurney
reported on field search efforts. The
·
Al Jones still has the iron-on SCRC
shirt patches available for $6.00 each.
4.
New Business –
·
The Wings of
·
The U.S. Scale Team is holding a fund-raising raffle. There are 50 prizes still
available. If you are interested in taking a chance and supporting the team,
please contact Al.
·
We received a brochure from Horizon Hobbies. They are promoting a special offer
on Spektrum and JR DSM radios. Buyers can get up to
two free receivers. For details and a listing of eligible products, here is the
link:
·
We discussed volunteering for the air show committee but due to low attendance,
we decided to wait until the May meeting.
·
Daryl Allen motioned to discontinue
collecting and saving the signed ticket stubs from the monthly 50/50 drawings.
He believes that the stubs would be useful only if members were not required to
be present to win banquet door prizes. Motion carried. As discussed, by the
next winter banquet, we should devise a different way to distribute the door
prizes, perhaps a method that includes only the names of banquet attendees.
Other than that, the post-meeting monthly 50/50 drawings will remain the same.
The
meeting was adjourned at
5.
Programs –
· Al Niessner showed pictures of a Russian air show, mostly action
shots of full-scale jet aircraft. There were some great shots of hair-raising
maneuvers. Compared to the
·
Al Jones gave a presentation, which
included a PowerPoint slide show, on the Basics of Aerodynamics. Al dispelled
some myths and explained theories and equations. A very informative program,
expertly done and well-appreciated by everyone in attendance.
6.
Show and Tell –
·
George Gurney showed his new
Parkzone Cessna, an electric-powered model that is very light (18 grams!) and small enough to be flown
indoors. It features rudder, elevator and throttle control.
·
Al Niessner brought along his
electric ducted fan jet model and revved it up to demonstrate its impressive
amount of thrust. He also showed his Hobby Lobby Miss 2, an electric-powered
trainer type model.
·
Here is Daryl’s Kadet with
faux military markings. Nice!
John Werner won the 50-50 drawing,
splitting $12.00 with the club.
Aerotowing Video
Here’s a link to a neat video shot by some
of my son Mike’s fellow club members in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH0eX_49lPI
That’s all for now. Let’s fly!
Sam
Stitzer 814‑364‑9530
Past Meeting - Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 7:00 PM
It will be at the Old Fort American Legion, Centre Hall, PA.
From the traffic light at the intersection of Rts. 144 and 45 at Centre Hall, go 130 yards East (toward Millheim) on Rt. 45. The American Legion will be on your right (south side of 45). Drive around the back of the building and park. Looking at the building from the rear, enter via the back door on the right and go down the steps. Meeting will be in the large banquet room.
Minutes from the March Meeting
The March Meeting
Chuck
Paulson called the meeting to order at
1. The minutes from the February 5th meeting
were approved.
2. Al Jones read the Treasurer’s report which
was approved by membership. Payment of club dues accounted for all recent
receipts. $90 was paid to the AMA for club charter fee. The renewal of
insurance coverage for the Garbrick property was taken care of. Currently, there
are 30 paid SCRC members.
3. Old business –
· Al Niessner updated us on field search
progress as discussions took place among the members in attendance. Al showed
aerial views and ground-level photos of the sites proposed by Paul Bittengle.
The committee spoke with John King and viewed the land in Hublersburg. There
are several areas on the King property that have potential. Mr. King is
receptive to our interests and flying on Sundays would not be problem. Chasing
down more leads, Paul spoke with John King’s brother, Joe, who may also have
land to rent. The committee took snapshots of the Walizer property behind
Nittany Valley Hardware on Route 64. The land is now owned by Barry Gensimore
and leased by Jim Walizer. SCRC must now contact Mr. Gensimore to verify that
this site is still a possibility.
· Chuck reminded us of the importance of
paying club dues as the deadline is here.
· Woody Struble advised that the
frequency board is in need of repair. One of the posts is cracked and both
posts are loose in the ground causing the structure to twist and lean. Woody
recently did a temporary repair to help prevent the board from falling. He
advised that we should wait for better weather in April before organizing a
work detail to fix the problem.