Volume 5 Issue 7 Pages 10 AMA #530 District 11 www.eugenerc.com July 2009 Club Mailing Address: Eugene R/C Aeronauts, PO Box 26344, Eugene, OR. 97402 ERCA News and Information Next CLUB Meeting - July 28, 7:00 pm at the flying field. If you have a building project, bring it with you for "Show and Tell". At the June Meeting - There were 30 members and guests at the meeting. We all enjoyed the first Field Meeting BBQ of the year. Thanks to those that brought the "extra" goodies. The July meeting will be dedicated to a discussion of our budget, where we are and where we want to go. We now have a clear picture of membership commitments and projected cash reserves. All members are encouraged to give some thought to their wish list of upgrades/service improvements. We hope to compile a list of projects or services that are supported by the membership that will allow us to plan for the future. The list should help us make well reasoned expenditure decisions. Several members expressed concern over the condition of the material used to cover the pit area. The edges have curled creating a trip hazard. Further discussion expected in July. A slew of new members were accepted into the club this month. A big welcome to Dustin Miller, Bob Funk, Terry Kise, Tim Roome-Trant, John Byrne, Tom Kopriva and Robert Butler. Don't forget the Fun Fly is set for August 15th, 2009 and a Labor Day Fly on September 7th, 2009. Flying field - The field was fertilized this month, a lot of weed killer has been used, and the result is a very nice runway. Jeff Engel is in the process of finishing the Mower Shed, it is being used now. Summer events - Many other clubs events this summer will keep RC modelers busy. Keep an eye on the Events listed in the newsletter and on the web site. Web site stats - Since the first of the year. Last months numbers; ERC Home page 3515 Pictures 1425 Newsletters 258 This month numbers; ERC Home page 4756 Pictures 1701 Newsletters 630 Meeting minutes are ONLINE at: http://eugenerc.com/meetings.html Presidents Corner Oakridge Big Bird Fly-In was a success. The event was well organized, and many members pitched in to help out on that day. The only disappointment was the squirrely weather that came up by 11am and stayed on. Even my propjet did things I've never seen before in that wind up there. Other than that, it was a warm and sunny day. I'd like to give individual thanks to those that helped prepare for the event. These guys really went out of their way. Brad and Frank for bringing their canopies, pilot stations, and running the administrative part of the event. Doug and Chuck for shopping and preparing the food and drinks. Al for cooking all day long even on his anniversary day. Jeff Engel for bringing a whole trailer full of supplies for the event. Jim for loaning his stuff even though he was not even there. Mark for loaning his aviation radio so we could communicate with these full scale planes that kept trying to land on top of us that morning. I apologize if I'm missing anyone else that helped out. Anyway, I counted 25 cars present at the event and about 30+ people. We did have a few visitors from out of town. Calvin Keleo even flew in on his Cessna to hang out with us. I got several compliments from guest flyers about how well we organized this event. It was fun. Let's switch subject and talk about Dexter Lake float flying. I was at the lake on Sunday morning and flew my Seawind. Weather was perfect with sunny sky, slightly cool air and water was calm. Bill, Joe and I had a blast. I got to fly Bill's Balsa USA Northstar. Man, that plane can move. It's super easy to take off and land. Yet when I poured the coals, it was hitting 90-95 mph on a stock set up with OS46 motor. I just could not convince Bill to let me slap a Jettstream tuned muffler and an APC pylon prop on that demon to pick up another 15-20mph. I guess he was nervous enough seeing me fly that Northstar 90mph just above the water and heading straight for our dock on several passes. Anyway, I liked it so much that I commissioned John to build 2 for me ASAP. Should have them ready in 2 weekends for Red Bull style flying. I encourage you guys to come out and see what float flying is like. Call me to find out when we go out there. You can putt putt around with a Tower trainer modified with velcro-on floats when it's too hot to be at our field. Or you can build a Northstar in a week and zip around at triple digit speed!! Reminder to everyone that next meeting is at our field at 7pm on Tuesday July 28th. We will have club BBQ there as usual. Show up early and hang out with the guys or put in some flying. Regards, Khoi Tran ERCA President 2009 2009 Meeting dates At the flying field: July 28, Aug 25 7:00 pm. Big Bird Fly-In at the Oakridge Airport Saturday, July 18, 2009 Photo Credits - Chuck Jenkins, Gary Brewer, Jeff Engel, Al Barrington Link to the event photos: http://www.eugenerc.com/BigBird09Pics.html Big Bird Fly-In at the Oakridge Airport Saturday, July 18, 2009 Photo Credits - Chuck Jenkins, Gary Brewer, Jeff Engel, Al Barrington Link to the event photos: http://www.eugenerc.com/BigBird09Pics.html KUDOS To Khoi, Frank, Brad and all the other club members that pitched in to made the Big Bird Fly-In event happen. Some of the "other" were Doug, Chuck, Al, Wayne and Jeff. Club History project My request for copies of OLD NEWSLETTERS has paid off in SPADES! Chuck O'Donnell has gathered up his collection and given me access to them. I am scanning them and posting them on the web page. The dates start with the AERONAUT'S CHATTER March 1968 and end March 1984. This is not a complete collection, most years and most months are in the 4" tall stack. It will take me some time to get them all scanned in. To start I am going to scan the first and last month of each year in the collection, then when that is finished I will start filling in the each year with what I have. The quality will NOT be all that great, many of the newsletters are copies made on a "WET" copy machine. Some of the later years are on colored paper, hard to reproduce. This project will be a challenge, one I thank Chuck for the opportunity to undertake. --- A sample From AERONAUT'S CHATTER newsletter September 1, 1968 We have 27 paid up memberships as of September 1 with two applications in process at this time. Our paid up membership as of December 1, 1967 was the sum of 18 so we have expanded some in size. Many Thanks to Terry Harmer, Chuck O'Donnell, and Don Bowey as three who have worked hard on membership at various times -- at least they taken time out to answer questions......... NEW OFFICERS - As of September 1 your new elected officers are as follows: President Mike Bailor, Vice President Don Kalen, Treasurer Ellen Harmer Secretary Karen Olsen --- From the collection I will be compiling Officer and Member lists. There are GAPS in the collection. 1990's I have only one from 1999. And nothing before 1968. If you run across any Newsletters or Meeting minutes from the 1900s I would appreciate the opportunity to scan them. If someone has a copy of our Club charter with the DATE on it, a copy of that would be great for the Archives! WITH THE WEEKDAY WARRIORS July 2009 I hope you noticed that Your Editor's optical scanner is on the sauce again - swacked to the gills on rot-gut Oregon wine, no doubt. "Bit' became "hit" and all the "but's were transformed into "hut"s . Fiesler will be amazed to find that their Fi 156 is now an Fi 136 and Dreguet's Type XIV was demoted to a lowercase xiv. What will happen this month? And you will have noticed that Doug McWha's F-22 became an F-23 in last month's column. The truth be told, that was me , not Jim's optical scanner. You know how it is with me and jets; it's surprising that I was only one off. Anyhow, Doug found himself up to his hips in servos and used two of them to put working flaps in the F-22. He's delighted with the results, especially, he says, on takeoff. Gerald Johnson had a small, molded-foam Bearcat that looked a bit like Daryl Greenamayer's racer. but the ship was giving him trouble, so he pulled out a truly ancient Goldberg Falcon 56 and had no further problems that day. Speaking of old models, Les Levitt has taken the Kadet he used to fly down at Short Mountain and converted it to electric. The motor was running erratically and Les suspec- ted a problem with the speed-control unit. With a glow engine, you'd think there was a hole in the fuel line somewhere, but with electrics it's all very mysteriously hidden. Marty Witman's huge Cessna Agwagon is very modestly powered by a Brison 50 which seems more than enough oomph for it. The plane has a working hopper and Marty tried a mixture of Rice Krispies!) and cornstarch to dust the strip. The mechanism worked just fine and the dust poured out of the hopper, but was so dispersed as to be invisible once it was only a foot or so from the nozzle. Bright-red Rice Krispies are, apparently, not to be found in local markets, but research continues. Marty looms large in this month's column. He has managed to take the gear off that Extra twice more and both times it was a perfectly normal-looking landing. And he's shearing four 1/4-20 nylon bolts each time. Not to be outdone by some guy from Junction City, Springfield's Wayne Wahrmnd broke three sets of 10-32 l.g. bolts on his U-Can-Do in one flying session. He had put a ¬" balsa block between the gear and the fuselage belly to get more prop clearance, then replaced it with plywood of the same thickness when the balsa got a bit mushy. The ply seems to have been just slightly too unyielding. Now don't run out and invest your stimulus check in companies making 10-32 nylon bolts. Wayne's gone back to balsa and the trouble seems to have stopped. Wayne has continued to take some of the load off Chuck Jenkins's shoulders by handling the buddy box for guys who fly well enough to need only occasional help in the air and with landings. He's had John Byrne up this way, among others. When he does this, Wayne likes to use his own model so as to have a plane that he's entirely used to, if something should go awry. Usually, it is the faithfull LT-40, but he was flying Tim Roome the other day on the big Pulse. Wayne is getting closer and closer to instructing right from scratch, because Tim is pretty new to it all. That said, I must report that he must have been handling the 90-powered Pulse pretty smoothly because Wayne did not have the ashen-faced look you'd expect on a guy who has a raw beginner at the sticks of his pride and joy. (N.B. I may be close to having Tim's last name right. It came off Chuck Jenkins's computer phone and you know how I mistrust info from computers.) If cruel fate forces you to look for a model in the fields southwest of ours and over the trees, keep an eye out for Tom Kopriva's electric. Jim Corbett reports that Tom found a nice thermal one afternoon, shut off the WITH THE WEEKDAY WARRIORS continued motor, let the prop fold, and settled down to ride the thermal. Right into the sun. Of course, if you have been in Oregon too long, the mere fact that the sun has put in an appearance is enough to dazzle you, but flying right into it .. Jim and Tom searched on the day and Tom says he's been back a couple of times more with no luck. By the way, If you are over there, looking, be advised that the wing is natural balsa, a well- nigh perfect camouflage color on these fields. Tom vows that from now on, they're RED. Mike Farr has been flying an 0.S. 46- powered Aerostar and had an odd accident. He'd run off the strip and on taxiing back, the tall grass caught his gear and hooked him into that bench down at the far west end. He also has an electric picked up at the South Lane auction. There's an incongruous note in the presence of WW1 U.S. roundels on the wings of this sleek bird. They are, however, strictly in aid of telling top from bottom, no Scale stuff implied. Mike has a low-winger as well, called a "Pacific Knockout" It reminds me of a smaller VK Cherokee converted to tail-wheel landing gear. Chuck Jenkins was the test pilot and carefully checked balance and control action before advancing the throttle for takeoff. That part was smooth enough, but once in the air, Chuck found he had neither aileron nor rudder control. Throttle and elevator worked though that didn't prevent some damage, notably broken motor mounts. The investigation waits on new mounts to see if vibration caused the problem. C. O'D. Editors Note: The oldest column of Chucks that I have in the archives was published in our March 19, 1974 newsletter. If anyone has an earlier one I would appreciate a copy of it. NOTAM Lipoly bat packs - Fire Danger Reminder Williams resident Ron Dilday said he had put a lithium polymer battery and charger on the passenger seat of his handicapped-accessible van. Then Dilday, who has been a paraplegic since 1972,rolled over to talk to other members of the Rogue Eagles Radio- Controlled Airplane Club. In just a few minutes someone yelled 'Ron there's fire coming out the window of your van.' See Rouge Eagles June 2009 Newsletter Link : http://www.rogue-eagles.org/June2009PDF.pdf or See Page 6 of the Dusters newsletter.Link: http://www.dustersrcclub.com/jun09.pdf Events July 2009 Helicopter Event Snohomish Club Snohomish, Washington July 24, 25, 26 Swap and Fly July 25th, Myrtle Creek Modelers - On July 25th our club will have our annual Swap and Fly, there will be space for overnight RV parking from Friday to Saturday for the Swap and Fly. Myrtle Creek Modelers AMA Club West Coast Spad event July 25 and 26 A reminder about the first Spad Over The West Coast event in Mcminnville Oregon July 25 and 26. If you are a spadder or know a spadder, please pass this information on to them. Also if you could please print a brochure and take it to your next club meeting to inform other possible interested pilots. Link to the event details http://www.teamrc.org/sotwc.html August 2009 Northwest Model Aircraft Expo and Swap Meet August 1st and 2nd on August 1st and 2nd, 2009 at Yard Birds Event Center in Chehalis, Washington. Cost for vendors is only $25.00 for the weekend - or $15.00 for One Day Only. Call or e-mail if you have any questions. Check us out at: www.yardbirdsmall.com Click this link for driving directions: www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Chehalis&state=WA Jonny Day - Event Coordinator, Yard Birds, Chehalis,WA. 98532 360-748-1489 jonny@newyardbirdsmall.com ERCA Fun Fly August 15th is tentatively set for August 15th, 2009. Albany Thundervolts Swap-Meet / Fly-in August 15th Just a reminder that the Albany Thundervolts Swap-Meet/ Fly-in is coming up next month. We would love to see you all then. Rick Bergeron See Flyer Events continued Electric Goose fly-in August 22nd The TEAM RC flying club is putting together the second annual Electric Goose fly-in August 22nd. It is being held at the beautiful and comfortable RC field behind the Aviation Building on the Evergreen Museum complex. All day has been set aside to fly as much as they want for electric flight enthusiasts. Call me if you have any questions: CD Roger Weeks at (503) 554-8187. View FLYER! Helicopter Event RAMS Club Sumner, Washington August 21, 22, 23 September 2009 ERCA Labor Day Fly on September 7th, 2009. Helicopter Event September Brooks Brooks, Oregon September 18, 19, 20 Know of any upcoming RC events? Please pass that info to your newsletter editor. Treasurers Corner Treasurer Al Barrington reports - As of the June meeting we have reached 92 members, in good standing. A big welcome to Dustin Miller, Bob Funk, Terry Kise, Tim Roome-Trant, John Byrne, Tom Kopriva and Robert Butler. Tom Kopriva's electric glider returns! After a couple weeks of sunning itself in the south east field, the only damage was the rubber band that held the wing on deteriorated in the sun and the battery ran down. We are going to have to call him Lucky Tom from now on. The sharp eye of a combine driver spotted the glider before it got processed. We thank them for it's return. --- That's All Folks --- Eugene R/C Aeronauts Newsletter Editor 1618 Gilham Rd. Eugene, OR. 97401 July 2009 Name Street CitySTZip ERCA CLUB CONTACTS President: Khoi Tran - 685-0086 - kmtranmd@hotmail.com Vice President: Mel Thompson - 746-5699 - met324@comcast.net Sec/Treasurer: Al Barrington - 935-4960 - albarrington@msn.com Groundskeeper: Doug McWha - 741-3326 - flyduke@comcast.net Field Marshals: Marry Wittman - 968-2094 - wittmanm@msn.com Newsletter Editor: Jim Corbett - 344-5022 - james.corbett@comcast.net Next CLUB Meeting - July 28, 7:00 pm at the flying field. Newsletter ONLINE at: http://eugenerc.com/NL/CURRENTNEWSLETTER.pdf July 2009 9