Volume 6 Issue 6 Pages 8 AMA #530 District 11 www.eugenerc.com June 2010 Club Mailing Address: Eugene R/C Aeronauts, PO Box 26344, Eugene, OR. 97402 ERCA News and Information Next CLUB Meeting – June 22, 2010, 7:00 pm at THE FIELD. If you have a building project, bring it with you for "Show and Tell". Show up early and get some flying in before the meeting. If you do not have a name tag yet and want one, let Al know how you want your name spelled on it (such as Bill instead of William). At the May Meeting – There were ?? members and guests in attendance. Field improvements were discussed and the pit cover were discussed. Flying field - The cover structure project has been in use for awhile now, so far all has gone well. It takes two people to roll it either up or down. Ask Doug, Wayne, Dwayne, Marty or Jim how to do it the easy way. Please do not roll it down if the wind sock is tight (10 mph plus). The runway has had some loam and seed added to the low areas and seeded. Please try to avoid those areas until the grass gets a good start. ERCA Forum - The following link will take you to the ERCA club's forum thread on RCGroups.com. Here, you can have an open discussion with other club members, share building tips, talk about your latest project, club politics, or whatever! If you don't have an RCGroups account, it's free, or you can just browse the thread as a guest: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthrea d.php?t=915689 Pylon Racing – A DEMO session was held May 22nd. Good turnout and a fair amount to flying. The. Benton County Club members did a great job of entertaining us with their flying. Check the web page for Pylon practice and contest scheduling. Two of our members attended the first race of the season in Bend, see pylon section. Meeting minutes are ONLINE at: http://eugenerc.com/meetings.html 2010 Meeting Dates At the flying field: June 22nd, 7:00 pm. July 27th, 7:00 pm. August 24th, 7:00 pm. EWEB downtown Eugene: September 28th 7:00 pm. October 26th 7:00 pm. November 23rd 7:00 pm (No December meeting) Vice Presidents Corner Hello guys, we have lots to take about. As most of you know by now there has been some talk about the future of our flying field. We need to respond to all this talk with what we know and only what we know and not what we may think. What we know is that Mike Burgess is talking to the Government about turning most of his property in to a wetlands area. We also know that this could take a long time to complete and that it is not a done deal. Mike may chose not to go though with this project, which would leave all as is. We also know that this may not have any effect on our flying field, the wetland could go in and we could just fly over the top of it. Right now we have a wonderful flying field and that will not change, at lest for the near future. We do need to talk about what we would and/or could do in the event that we had to more in a few years, this would just be good planning. For now I will enjoy the field we have for the summer, if it ever gets here. I’m starting some research in to what it would take to organize the club in to a incorporated non-profit organization so we could have the possibility of owning our own flying field in the future. This is just research at this point and if we wanted to make any changes it would be voted on. The Sun/Rain Shelter is up and fully operational, if your not sure on how to operate the top check with Doug or Jim. The runway grading and seeding is also done. Try not to walk on the newly seeded areas, at the pits you will need to walk to the ends or jump over the seeded area along the pilot stations. As most of you know I’ve been primarily a helicopter guy but have started to fly my old PT-40 trainer to change thing up a little. Thanks to Allen my Great Planes ESCAPADE with a OS 55AX is up and flying. It is fast and a ton of fun. I will be flying fixed wing aircraft with my rotorywing aircraft from now on. Also thanks to Pat for helping we with some cross wind landings. Hope to see you all at the field if we can have more than a few day of sunshine in a row. Regards, Brad S. Werneth ERCA Vice President 2010 Field Talk Friends, It is not a time to panic, but it is a time to plan. Before the rumors start to spread and get our of control, here is what happened: I spoke with Mike Burgess today and he has been offered a great sum of money for 70 of his 80 acres of property. The Federal Government would like to convert those 70 acres to wetlands and pay Mike $250,000 to do so. Mike would still own the property and could hunt on it. The affected area would not be able to be improved on or farmed. Mike said he does not plan to use our leased 2 acres as part of that plan; however, it is possible that if he goes through with it, the Feds will close down our field to avoid having our hobby activities disturb the wildlife. Field Talk continue One of Mike's neighbors apparently does not like the noise of the airplanes, even though he is quite a ways away, but he may try and influence the Feds in that direction. If they decide to leave us be, the wetland area will receive a lot of new trees, possibly some rather large ones. As you can imagine, after a few years, our flying site would become much less desirable. So, our worst case scenario is that Mike sells the land and we get shut down. This could happen within two years. Mike would then buy us out of the contract we have with him. If we were allowed to stay, we would have only a few more years before the trees would start to create problems for us. We don't know how close they would end up being to our runway, but I imagine they could plant them wherever they want and we could have trees near our borders. The best case scenario, of course, is that the deal won't happen and we can continue flying through the end of our lease, (five more years) and then hopefully renew it. I see this as unlikely given that it is a pretty large sum of money that is being offered to Mike. This is not a time to be upset with Mike. He has to look out for his livelihood and his family's future, which is, and should be, a higher priority to him than our flying field. If we can make it sweeter to keep us and keep us untouched in our current location, that would be ideal. Now, my friends, is the time to start taking some action. I have some recommendations: 1 - We freeze all spending on field improvements and unnecessary expenses, effective immediately. 2 - We all need to start looking for possible new flying sites in preparation for the worst case scenario. 3 - We need to contact the AMA to see what their ideas are in this area since they have a whole division devoted to saving existing flying sites from this type of issue. 4 - We all need to put our heads together and start coming up with solutions. We like this hobby way too much to abandon it altogether. 5 - Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. If you want to discuss this with me, please give me a call or email me. I'm as upset about this as you are, but I'm sure we can all put our heads together and keep this club going. We always have, and we always will. Patrick Willis p-willis@msn.com --- 5-31-10 Please refrain from talking to Mike individually and get him upset. The club officers will discuss with him the details of his offering and communicate the information to the membership at the next meeting. Khoi --- MARK GIESSEN wrote: For what it's worth, the short mountain flying site was considered a wet land as well. There were a few Environmentalists trying to cause the club a little grief and there also was a distant neighbor who complained about the noise. As I recall none of these caused the loss of the short mountain flying site. We angered the county when they expanded there land fill cells and endangered their employees with poor flying practices (mainly by flying toward operating machinery). We can be a good steward near a wet land, we have done it before. A little out reach to government and neighbors may go along way. WITH THE WEEKDAY WARRIORS And still the pylon racers proliferate! Robert Buttlar is flying one now, the stock “Skyraider”, but with a little fancier paint job than most. (I guess I should say “Mono- kote job”) It’s white with some swirling decoration in green and orange, I think. That’s a good Irish color scheme if I’m remembering the hues correctly. The Buttlar Unltimate Pipe is in the air again, too. You may remember it meeting with a mishap last Fall. Chuck Jenkins did the test flying and impressed with his long smooth takeoffs and steady climb-outs. None of this “Wrack it around in an 85° bank as soon as there’s air under the wheels”. Chuck took off and climbed out the way an aero- plane should take off and climb out. It helps the overall aesthetic scheme of things, especially when you are flying something as confounded ugly as an Ultimate. There are a lot of beautiful biplanes and a fair number of plain and even homely biplanes. There are a few - well, slightly bizarre biplanes, but when the designer started putting pen to paper on the Ultimate, he pushed uglification to the extreme. Another new “Skyraider” is in the hands of Mickey Cohen who test-flew his today (6/14) in a fair breeze. Mickey continues to fly his big 60-powered Ugly Stik as well and Wayne Wahrmund had a go at it last week. Yes, Wayne flew Mickey’s model. If you’d told Wayne last Spring that he’d be trying out other people’s planes, he’d have fainted dead away. Mr. Cohen, by the way, seems to have actually retired this time. It’s been about three weeks and not once has he jumped up and gone back to work. That we know of. Wayne, as you know, has two of the stock pylon racers and he has, I think, finally decided which is his primary mount. He also had the idea of getting someone else to fly the other one so that the racing circuit would he confronted with a Wahrmund Racing Team. This column does not know whether he has been able to shanghai - er, convince - another guy to join the team. Roger Winz and Dwayne Graville are two more “Skyraider” fliers. The latter labeled his a “low-wing trainer” last month and Dwayne has, indeed, discovered that he is able to handle it in a fairly stout breeze. His monster sailplane is on the road to an airworthy state and should he flying by August. Your columnist has put away his Aquila until the grass out front is mown, tedded, and combined. It is just too hard plowing one’s way through that tall, tangled mess to lay out the high-start and retrieve the line for the next launch. Pat and Oliver Willis (now there’s a racing team!) have been joined by a buddy-box cord lately. (Pat on the instructor’s box, Ollie on the student’s, just so you’re sure.) If it’s calm- ish, the plane is an electric Slow Stik, but breezy days call for an ex-combat Twist which has been converted to electric power. Firmly shunning the Pylon Mania is our Doug McWha. Alas, his Super Stik is ready; his Dual Ace is set; so are several others, but he insists on flying that .... no, I can’t bring myself to describe it. Ken Springate has stuck to his Excelleron/Magnum 120XL combination - no pylon job there - and Al Barrington’s Eagle II was getting a workout on the day of the dirt-shifting party. Yes, those big, black patches on the runway are the result of about ten of us hauling all of the dirt in both of those piles (You did notice they were gone, didn’t you?) and dumping it into the low spots. Raking, scraping, and rolling ensued, followed a few days later by seeding. By the time the meeting comes along - at the field, remember -there might well be a bit of greenery showing through. Late rumor has it that your editor, The Corhett Himself, is seriously contemplating Pylon. Well, Jim flies a lot of Controline, so WITH THE WEEKDAY WARRIORS continue going round and round in a counterclockwise circle would be nothing new. The weather is turning nice, so get out and celebrate. There’s the first flight of the Supermarine Walrus (1933) on the 21st, Russ Maughan’s Dawn-to-Dusk flight (1924) on the 23rd, the Berlin Airlift started (1948) on the 24th, Willie Messerschmitt was horn (1898) on the 26th, and the 28th and 29th mark the flight in 1927 of the Bird of Paradise - the first flight from the mainland to Hawaii. The 29th is also the birthday (1900) of Antoine de St-Exup6ry, who is known throughout the world as an author, particularly of the children’s book ‘The Little Prince, but whose day job was flying the mail for French airlines in Africa and South America. A Reserve officer, he flew Bloch 174s in the Battle of France and was lost in 1944, flying out of Algeria in F-5s. (Photo- recon P-38s.) C ‘OD FOR SALE - Visit EugeneRC.com for listings with full descriptions and pictures ===================================== Terry Allen redcbx78@gmail.com --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Fellow ERCA Members: Due to some medical issues, I have decided to get out of the hobby, and as a result of that I'm selling most of my items. Thanks for the great response on the electrics that I had offered for sale. They are all gone. I'm putting up my last two electrics. They are a little different and they are a little costlier the the run of the mill electrics. The first one is a Ritewing TL50. It is complete - all the building materials - motor, esc, bes - 2 sets of batteries. I have joined the two halfs together with the carbon rod stiffener. This wing is a screamer. I have owned one in the past and it will easily hit level speeds of 140mph plus. A real screamer. The complete package with batteries sells for a little over $600 - I will sell it for $300. Please refer to http://www.ritewingrc.com/ for the website and http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread. php?t=684818 for the build thread. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Yk- awYJgI&feature=player_embedded#! http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=olTzpVIQBss&feature=rela ted Finally I have a powered sail plane... F5B hotliner- Lynx-E. It truley is a work of art. All glass and Carbon - carbon wing stiffiners. This is complete - motor, esc, bes, battery, servo's, servo wiring (extensions). The quality and finish on this plane is the best. Refer to http://www.nesail.com/detail.php?productID=52 31 for more info. Great as a sailplane - but also as being a "full house" sailplane it is extremely aerobatic and extremely fast! Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO8v2YX WTBw The price of the plane (frame only) is $599 - Total package is right at $900 - I will sell it for less than the cost of the plane itself - $500. ===================================== Doug Devereaux - Florence OR 541-999-1844 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Hanger 9 Pulse XT Eveloution .46. Spare Cowl W/Servos NO RX $175 No Servos No RX $150 (need space in hanger - several planes have to go) ===================================== Pylon May 22 - Demo Benton County RC Club - Good turnout of Pylon flyers and watchers Photos provided by Gary Brewer June 5 - Racing in Bend - BAM: Racing Update / Club 40 Racing We held our first Club 40 contest race last Saturday. Attached is a summary of the contest, including pictures and racing details. It was a lot of fun and we had a very good turnout, including visiting pilots from La Pine, Eugene, and the Seattle area (Flaming Geyser). Also, a big THANK YOU to everybody who was able to come and participate! We hope to see you again. And if you haven’t had a chance yet, please join us at the next race on June 26th! Regards, Waldemar Frank, VP Bend Aero Modelers Roger Winz photo EVENTS - Visit EugeneRC.com for this years listings June 26 Bend Aero Modeler’s Pylon Race Contests (4 total) – June 5, Jun 26, Aug 21, and Sep 11 July 10 Big Bird Fun Fly ERCA field Contact Khoi for more info. Field repair The Lawn base is down, seed and water have been added. Now we water some more and wait! Thanks to Rod (Rod's Landscape & Irrigation donated the Lawn base, seed, slit aerate, and delivery) and the work party there will be less standing water on the field next winter and spring. PLEASE avoid these areas until the grass has grown a month or so. If you should see birds picking up any of the seeds, please let them know that we did not put them there for them to eat. EVENTS at our Field - Visit EugeneRC.com for this years listings Big Bird Fun Fly – ERCA – July 10th Fun Fly – ERCA – Aug 14th Labor Day Fun Fly – ERCA – Sep 6th Plane found Wed, 16 Jun 2010 - An RC plane was picked out of the Willamette River on Wednesday, June 16. No name or telephone number appeared on the plane. I checked with Eugene Toy & Hobby. A salesperson said he may know the owner but doesn't know that person's name. Meanwhile, I wondered whether anyone in your organization has reported a missing plane? If so, have that person get in touch with me. Dean Rea (a former ERCA member) Email: deanrea@comcast.net --- That's All Folks - Eugene R/C Aeronauts Newsletter Editor 1618 Gilham Rd. Eugene, OR. 97401 June 2010 Name Street CitySTZip ERCA CLUB CONTACTS President: Khoi Tran - 541-685-0086 - kmtranmd@hotmail.com Vice President: Brad Werneth - 541-285-5935 - brad@werneth.com Sec/Treasurer: Al Barrington - 541-935-4960 - albarrington@msn.com Safety coordinator: Frank Blain - 541-345-7449 - jaibee22@yahoo.com Safety coordinator: Marry Wittman - 541-968-2094 - wittmanm@msn.com Groundskeeper: Doug McWha - 541-741-3326 - flyduke@comcast.net Newsletter Editor: Jim Corbett - 541-344-5022 - james.corbett@comcast.net Next CLUB Meeting – June 22 – 7:00 pm at THE FIELD. December 2009 2 June 2010 7