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

- Bob Hoover

November, 2005

October Meeting Notes

The October meeting of the Monroe County R/C Club was called to order at 7:04 P.M. (Eastern Standard Time), on October 12, 2005 with twenty-four people in attendance.

We had one visitor who was Chris Chandler. He was interested in joining the club & was voted in. Chris owns a Nexstar trainer & plans to take the MCRCC pilot training course.

The 2006 swap meet is set for February 26, 2006. Mr. Brent Hoover will get the information into Model Aviation magazine. The flyers are finished & will be posted on the club’s web site by Vargha Manshadi. The flyer on the web will be in .PDF format. If you need hard copies, contact Brian at 765-342-7236. A stack will be printed for distribution at other area swap meets.

The Christmas dinner/meeting will be at Hoosier Bar & Grill in Ellettsville. Mark Sexton will bring details about a possible buffet style meal to the November meeting. You may be required to pay in advance if we do the buffet thing. Make your plans now. The date has been listed on the event calendar all year!

Mark reported that our not-for-profit status is back on track. He has contacted the IRS & found that our account has been inactive for several years but he has taken steps to get everything back up to par. Thanks for your efforts Mark!

We discussed the Nebo Memorial Fall Festival Fly-In. We had a great crowd & raised some money for the Martinsville Fall Foliage Festival. Mrs. Tina Rogers was in charge of publicity for the event & did a wonderful job. She got us newspaper & radio coverage before the event & got us back in the newspaper after the event. Thanks for your hard work Tina!

Lane Jorgensen reported that Batteries Plus in Bloomington has changed hands & some of their work is less than stellar. If you plan to purchase batteries from them, check everything over very closely.

The nomination committee reported that they have a slate of candidates ready for the November club elections. Mr. Mark Sexton has agreed to run for president again for 2006. Mr. Bruce Hoffman will run again for VP against Mr. Matt Fornefeld, who has been our airshow chairman for the last two years. Mr. Brent Hoover has decided to take a break after many years of service as secretary/ treasurer but Mr. Delbert Davis has agreed to run for the position. Any additional nominations will be accepted at the November meeting before the vote is taken.

The newsletter thing & the webmaster’s position are not elected posts & usually go to the person who is foolish enough to take them. If you are interested, please step forward! It’s amazing what some people will do for fifty bucks...

Mark reported that the hats with the defective straps have been replaced. The new hats are a darker blue & very nice. The logo was changed to contrast the dark background & the little airplane now has white smoke coming from the back. Excellent...

A ten year old Mr. Deven Mellott was called to the front of the room to receive his solo certificate as his proud parents watched. Roger Newhart was also awarded his solo certificate that he earned in August but was unable to attend the meeting.

Congratulations gentlemen!

Figure 1:

Here’s Deven, pictured with his Dad Tim (right) & instructor Lane Jorgensen (left).

Jay Strosnider offered for sale a new Saito .91, owned by Jeff McGlocklin. Jeff is going through cancer treatments & we wish him our best.

Bill Black reported that there would be model flying at Pam’s Place Airport in Eminence on October 16.

Tim Mellott brought his foamie hydroplane flying boat kit for show & tell. It was reported that several companies are now offering it on the internet for around fifty bucks. We will have to wait & see if it flies as good as the scratch built model of Michael Friesel.

The meeting was closed at 7:42...

Interesting Bits

Larry Cain completed the requirements for his solo certificate on October 9th. Congratulations Larry!

Figure 2:

Larry is pictured here with his instructor Lane Jorgensen.

[Photo by Haley Ferguson]

We had a wonderful time at the Nebo Memorial Fall Festival Fly-IN on October 8. The day started out a little cool & windy but conditions improved all afternoon & it turned out to be a nice Fall day for flying. Tina Rogers brought us a good crowd of spectators with all her pre-event publicity & Mason Tirey kept us fat & happy with her refreshment stand, selling cookies, lemonade, & apple cider. We also had a fine crop of pilots who provided some quality entertainment all afternoon. Thanks to all who participated & if you didn’t make it this year, plan now to attend next Fall.

Figure 3:

Here's a great view of the Nebo Memorial Fall Festival Fly-In.

[October 8, 2005]

Figure 4:

Here's Mason, pictured with her refreshment stand.

[October 8, 2005]

Mr. Dave Poland had been getting some valuable practice at landing his P-51 with the gear up. Seems that one wheel & part of the landing strut assembly have developed a habit of separating from the aircraft during flight. He believes the problem has now been solved by his machinist Jimmy Vanvleet. Now Dave is worried that Jimmy might retire & he may have to buy him a $30,000.00 milling machine. Jimmy just turned 65 years old on October 12. He doesn’t really look that bad for an old fart, as long as he has his comb handy to keep all that hair in place.

We took a large group from South Central Indiana to Fairborn, Ohio for the 2005 Dawn Patrol Rendezvous at Wright Patterson Air Force Base on September 30-October 2. There was one incident involving a full scale Neuport 28 that shut down the flying for a few hours on Friday and a couple of the WW1 models had radio problems but it was a wonderful trip & the weather was golden. If you are interested in WW1 era models, automobiles, full scale aircraft, or re-enactors, you should plan now to attend this bi-annual event in 2007. For more information contact Bob Shireman at 765-342-0480. There are some pictures floating around on a couple of CDs, if you want to borrow one & check out the full scale flying action.

Figure 5:

Here's a Fokker DR-1 being positioned.

There was plenty of flying at Pam’s Place Airport in Eminence on October 16. The West end of the complex was devoted to model airplanes & the East end was all rotorcraft. Full scale aircraft always had the right of way at all times. A couple of our latest solo flyers (Haley Ferguson & Deven Mellott) learned quickly about the tall thick grass on a full scale runway & facing South & trying to avoid the sun while flying. All seemed to have a great time. Thanks to Mika Woodward & Bill Black for inviting us & to Pam for letting us use her runway.

Our condolences to the family of Jimmy Vanvleet. His mother passed away on October 20.

Event Calendar

Let’s get some more swap meets on this calendar!!!