If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible.

- Bob Hoover

May, 2005

April Meeting Notes

The April meeting of the Monroe County R/C Club got an early start in the parking lot of the Eye Center when President Mark Sexton pulled in driving a truck loaded to the gills with model aircraft fuel. Orders were filled, payment was taken, & all the extra fuel that was ordered went very fast. Thanks again to Dan Winship for assisting with this year’s order & to Mark for taking care of the paperwork.

The meeting was moved indoors & was "officially" called to order at 7:28 PM with thirty-three people in attendance. The big old fuel truck really brought out the members for this meeting! Alan Mac was a visitor to the meeting. Jerry Bitz & Larry Cain (both of Bloomington) were voted into the club. Jerry is a long time R/C pilot & Larry is currently training with Lane Jorgensen. Please welcome them both when you see them at the field.

Mark thanked everyone who participated in the field work day on March 26. We had a great turnout & got everything cleaned up in record time.

The rented port-a-pot is here but needs a lock on the door. Jim Scott volunteered to install one while he is at the field repairing the old stand-by outhouse. Thanks Jim!

A new wind sock will be ordered & installed in the next few weeks. The club voted to spend the big bucks & get a real "airport quality" sock with a frame. Thanks to Matt Fornefeld for researching the subject on the Internet to provide price comparisons. The total price will be over one hundred dollars but most of that is the frame. The sock itself is replaceable at less that half the cost of an AMA sock like we had before it rotted away.

Mowing season is upon us & Mark announced that his son Michael has agreed to mow the runway, pit area, & the center islands, once a week, for the same price as last year. Thanks Michael! He usually mows on Thursday evenings (weather permitting) so leave him alone & stay out of his way by just coming up to Nebo Memorial Field in Martinsville to fly on Thursday evenings.

Jim Scott has volunteered to run two events at the Monroe County R/C Club field this year. Nothin-But-Cubs (& things) will be June 4 and the club fun-fly will be held on June 18. He will have a little help from Bruce Hoffman, Randy Byers & Dave Poland but I think we should still get him a patch that says “Joe Contest Director” for his shirt. Mark Sexton also volunteered to sell his famous ten dollar hotdogs at both events at the request of Mr. Joe Rogers. Outhouse admission will be free.

Our condolences to the Friesel family. Dennis’s father (Michael’s grandfather) passed away in early April. They asked that instead of sending flowers, we just continue to donate to "Jill’s House" as we have done the last couple of years.

It was suggested that we add a bee sting kit to our first aid kit at the field. Bob Shireman will check with Kleindorfer’s first to see if they have one.

The subject has come up again about non-model use of the field. From time to time someone wants to launch or land a hot-air balloon, a powered parachute, or an ultra-light aircraft on our runway. The official answer is No! Our AMA insurance offers no coverage for such activities. Only model aviation...

Steve Shoop gave details & passed out flyers about his Butterfly Hills R/C Challenge fly-in on April 29 to May 1 in Brown County.

Bob Watson did the show & tell thing this month with a show & sell of his Fun 51 airplane. I heard that he sold the plane to Mike Habig who turned around & gave it to Damon Ferguson for hovering practice.

The meeting was closed at about 8:05 PM.

Interesting Bits

Tim Sparks & Dennis Friesel were packing their airplanes & heading to Florida to compete in "Top Gun" the week of April 27. Look for a full report in next month’s newsletter.

Bart Johnson is working on a Goldberg Tiger 60. It should be ready to test after he figures out how to bolt the kitchen sink to the nose to balance it.

Bill Black is cutting Monroe County R/C Club Logo stickers in his spare time. Tell him what color you want & try to get him to set a price. Thanks Bill.

Dave Poland’s long lost Cub came home after nearly a year out in the woods on its own. A mushroom hunter found it & carried it up to his trash can. A neighbor saw it in the trash & called to inquire about it. The neighbor called Jay Strosnider because he knew Jay fooled around with those things. Jay had him bring it over to the field & it finally found it’s way back to Dave’s house. It looks a little worse for the trip but Dave was glad to have it back home.

Figure 1:

Dave Poland's long lost Piper J3 Cub was found in the woods.

Attention: Don’t forget to put your name & AMA number in all your model aircraft!

Quite a few locals made the trek to Toledo this year. Check out the group photo that Vargha has posted on the club’s web site.

The Manshadi family has been visiting in & around Indiana all month. They made it to the Toledo show & to the April club meeting. They even got to come out to the field & fly on a nice Summer-like weekend in April. Vargha’s new trailer has been getting a real workout. What he hadn’t planned was the workout that the new trailer was giving his truck. On their way to visit us at Nebo last Thursday, the transmission in the truck decided that the reverse clutch wasn’t really necessary any more & laid down. They made it back to Jeffersonville that night but I haven’t heard the prognosis on the ailing tranny yet. Good Luck Vargha!

That same evening at Nebo, there were several pilots all bundled up complaining about the overcast sky & cold wind when Jim Scott showed up & jumped out of his truck dressed in shorts & a T-shirt.

Figure 2:

Jim Scott is wondering why others are dressed like it's cold outside.

Thanks to everyone who donated to the Nebo Roller Fund. Several people stepped forward to help out but Mike Habig & Dave Poland outdid themselves in the donation department. The new roller has been working a lot & spends its time off locked in a shed at Nebo. Hopefully this one won’t sprout legs & run off.

Web Site Update

By Varqá Sharífu'l-Atibbá' Manshádí

Dear friends,

The new MCRCC Web site is now accessible, and may be visited at: http://monroecountyrc.org. Although the Web site is still under construction, the more essential contents have been completed. Gradually, although not too gradual, we will bring to completion the archive of newsletters and photographs. Also, the Web will eventually include articles for all aero-modelers, novice and expert alike; the articles will be technical and/or instructional in nature, serving to educate the reader about specific subject matters related to aero-modeling.

The technologies incorporated in the new Web design have been carefully considered, and necessarily, comply with all current standards in Web development (e.g., xhtml, css, etc.). Also, all elements comprising the Web site have been thoroughly tested and scrutinized with numerous Web browsers on various platforms.

Eventually, I would like to see the Web site embrace added functionality, such as: 1) an online registration for membership and/or events, 2) a “members only” restricted access area for particular and/or sensitive content, 3) discussion forums, 4) a FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) section, and 4) a "For Sale" or classifieds section.

If you have photographs that you would like to share with other MCRCC members, please send a copy to me via e-mail. Submit your photographs with details, including: date picture was taken, name of event (if applicable), and a description of the content. Please send the highest resolution of the image you posses; if the photographs are difficult to see, they will not be posted on the Web.

In regards to the FAQs section of the Web site, I would be very interested to hear from the newer members of the club, especially those in training, for they may be able to recall the questions they had about model aviation better than the seasoned members. Of course, if anyone has questions that need to be addressed, pertaining to the sport, please submit them via e-mail, in order that they may be posted on the Web.

If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions about the new Web site, please feel free to share them with Steve Bryant and me. We will do our best to provide a Web site that is well-designed, resourceful, and functional.

Warmest regards,

Varqá

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