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September 2001 Edition
August Meeting:
The August meeting of the Monroe County R/C Club was held at the club’s flying site on Wylie Road. There were around 18 people in attendance. The meeting was called to order at 7:05. Final plans for club air show on August 12 were discussed. There was also some discussion of the great time we had at the club fun fly in July. We had one guest in attendance who was voted into the club. Please welcome Dennis Friesel of Bloomington. He’s a long time airplane guy & has some nice giant scale war birds. The meeting business was taken care of in record time, while Tom flew his new electric Sopwith Pup slow flyer, because the weather was so hot & humid. We closed at 7:28 with a decision to have the September meeting at the flying site again. This may be the last meeting at the field for a while. As Autumn approaches, the days are growing shorter. In the event of rain, we will move indoors to the Cook building.
The next meeting of the Monroe County R/C Club will be held on September 12, 2001, at the club field on Wylie Road, not in the Cook Bldg.
Air Show 2001The annual air show is history for 2001. It was an aircraft extravaganza. There was a huge crowd and there was something there for everybody. Scale planes, sail planes, trainer planes, helicopters, and custom flying devices, thrilled the crowd. The concession area kept the people refueled with hot dogs & pop while the prize patrol sold raffle tickets for the fine prizes that were donated by area businesses. Bruce Hoffman took care of the announcing duties again this year & did a fine job as usual. There was some confusion over the parking because of a gap in communications, but there didn’t seem to be any major problems. It has been suggested that an air show committee be formed next year, to work everything out in advance and take some of the load off of the few who usually end up doing most of the work. If you would be interested in serving on the committee for air show 2002, contact Mark Sexton. He will be recruiting committee members for next year’s show. There are a lot of jobs & many details to work out. It’s a lot of work to put on event for the public like this, so let’s spread out the load a little. A big “thank you” goes out to all who helped out with this year’s show. The participants should be first. Without the pilots, there would be no show. Next, we need to thank the people who volunteered to work during the show. The people who take care of the food & drinks, sell raffle tickets, park cars, line up acts, announcing, etc. Then, there are the “behind the scenes” people who arrange for advertising, equipment delivery & set up, prize donations, road signs, VIP invitations, etc. There are also people who help in many ways that aren’t always recognized. The people who don’t want to fly, but bring out models for static display, the people who just show up & volunteer to help out anywhere they can, and the people who give us general good PR by answering questions from the public giving explanations to interested bystanders. We also need to thank the Hoosier Hills Air Show Team for participating in our show. They bring some unique acts that the people really enjoy. We tend to think of them as just part of our group, since most of them are members of our club and this is their home field, but they are a separate group and have to go out of their way to work our show into their schedule. With everybody’s help, we can put on another show in 2002 that will be just as good & maybe even bigger & better. Let the planning begin!
Interesting Bits…
People are beginning to think that Snoopy’s dog house is supposed to crash as part of the air show. The Red Baron wins the dog fight again...
Who would have thought Mark’s P39 would be grounded by a flat tire?
Julian’s powered glider just has a thing for the area West of the field. At last report, it was still lost in the corn. The search party was beaten back by the extreme humidity. Dave’s helicopter may be called in for an aerial camera search. In the mean time, Julian has assembled a nice slow flyer electric, to keep his thumbs busy.
Jimmy lost his trainer at Nebo field on a windy Thursday evening. When the search party came back they had parts of two or three different aircraft. Seems that Jimmy hasn’t been the only one having some bad luck out there. Rather than try to figure out which parts went with which plane, he just bought a new one.
Charlie is back in the number one position for tree encounters. His Eagle isn’t lost, it’s in plain sight. It’s just too high to reach. In a very familiar tree...
Tim has several landings & a couple of take offs under his belt. Look for him to solo real soon with his Thunder Tiger trainer!
Andrew Shireman may have given up those voluntary “dead stick” landings after having to head out into the beans to retrieve his trainer. That big wind was kinda tough to guestimate…
One of Murphy’s laws came into effect after the air show. RG was giving intro flights with his brother Phil’s borrowed silver eagle trainer. You know what happened next. The student got the aircraft into a power dive and the instructor advised him to EASE back on the elevator. As the student applied FULL up elevator, the wing came to a separation agreement with the fuselage, probably due to some weak, sun baked rubber bands. It always happens with a borrowed airplane!
Look for some new faces at the meeting. Michael, from the Greenwood area, was steered our way by a Mr. Poland after having some problems finding help with his Tower trainer 40, at a field near Nineveh. A.J. is from the Paragon area & has been in doing some training since the air show with his Tower trainer 60. Damon is a very young man from Martinsville & with the help of his grandfather, & sister, has been working with a Thunder Tiger trainer for a couple of weeks at Nebo Memorial Field. He was at the air show also & plans to get involved with our club. Another Martinsville man has expressed interest in our Monroe County R/C club. Dennis Taylor has been under the supervision of Jon Travers (of Coverall custom upholstery 765-342-7333) for some time at Nebo & is ready to try the wide open spaces of our Bloomington field. Dennis is unable to attend our regular club meeting, but since there was such a large number of MCRCC members at Nebo last Thursday evening, he was voted in during a special executive session, headed up by our president, Mark Sexton...
We had a welcome visitor at Nebo last Thursday. The builder of the Nebo frequency control board, Mark’s dad, Bud Sexton, came to check out our operation & had dinner with us at the North Side Inn (or whatever they call that place now)...
Wanted: Nebo Pilots & Aircraft Displays
On Saturday, October 13, the Hoosier Hills Air Show Team will be in Martinsville for a demonstration, as part of the annual Martinsville Fall Foliage Festival. The plan is to have the event at Nebo Memorial Field this year. The show team has asked for help from the local R/C pilots. If you have something to fly at Nebo, or something to display, or want to come out & help answer questions, and just generally promote the hobby, Please contact myself or Robert G. Shireman, and we’ll pass the information along to Bob Watson & the show team, so they will have an idea of what to expect. The show has been held at McDaniel field in the past, but this involves a lot of preparation, since the full scale aircraft don’t mind the grass being a lot thicker & taller than our model aircraft can tolerate. It’s also not the best place to fly, since the natural pilot position faces South & the area is not as rural as it once was. The Nebo field already gets mowed close once a week, and since we’ve added some length to the runway, it’s not so tough to land there. This will be more like a Nebo air show with the Hoosier Hills Air Show Team as our special guests. Your assistance is requested and will be appreciated. If you can be there on Saturday, October 13 at 2:00 p.m. (the show starts at 3:00), please contact Brian Elliott at 765-342-7236 or e-mail belliott@surf-ici.com or Bob (RG) Shireman at 765-342-0480 or e-mail rgshireman@yahoo.com. AMA membership will be required to fly. A very big “Thank You” to Costin Funeral Chapel (765-342-5775) & Nebo Memorial Park (765-342-9154) for continuing to allow us to fly from their property at Nebo Memorial Field.
For Sale:
Flightcraft Cessna 152, very well used, OS 46 LA engine, Futaba 3003 servos, ready to fly with your receiver, $150.00
Sig J3 Cub, 20 size needs engine & radio gear, never flown, $100.00
Ace Wiz 40, OS 46 SF engine, Futaba 148 servos, Hangar 9 removable “drop box”, $200.00
Simprop electric Sukhoi SU 31, 280 motor, gear reduction box, speed control, 2 batteries, mini servos, has front end damage, $150.00
Contact Brian Elliott at 765-342-7236 or e-mail belliott@surf-ici.com.
Event Calendar
September 8 Atterbury Big Bird Fly-in
September 8 Marty’s Float Fly (after 4:00 p.m.)
September 8 & 9 Mt. Comfort Air show (full scale)
September 8 & 9 IMAC at Harrison, Ohio
September 8 & 9 Midwest Combat Championship at Columbia City
September 12 Monthly Club Meeting (at the field)
September 15 & 16 Fly-in for Diabetes (Greenwood)
September 22 & 23 IMAA at Harrison, Ohio
October 6&7 Tournament of Champions Combat at Muncie
October 13 Nebo Memorial Air Show with the Hoosier Hills Air Show Team in Martinsville
