Greetings members!
We had an excellent turnout at the last club meeting and nearly ran out of chairs! It was great to see ya’ll along with the nice models that were brought for show and tell. Keep them coming, we all love seeing your new creations! A big welcome to our newest member, Philip Shea. If you see him around, say hello and introduce yourself.
A field maintenance day is scheduled for TOMORROW, the 12th at 10am. The main goal is fence repair. We also need to check the PA setup and make sure everything else is ready for the flying season. If you’re available, please come out and lend a hand. The sooner we get done, the sooner we can enjoy the nice weather in the sky. In the event of rain, we’ll do it Sunday morning instead.
Our first yearly event is very close, TAG day on May 19th. Setup should be easy-peasy with a couple simulators, generator and a grill. If you have a trainer you don’t mind lending, we may need it depending on turnout. Also remember to bring some other models to show and fly for the public during demo-time. Please keep in mind that open flying should be suspended during this event, unless there is a low turnout, or during lunch/demo times. Bring a stack of your old magazines to pass out to the public. I regretfully won’t be there as I’ll be getting my feet wet in precision flight at an IMAC seminar & practice session near Detroit. So any questions or issues during the event should be directed to an officer at the field.
Please do NOT forget about our fundraiser on the 20th! Come to Buffalo Wild Wings on 28th near Riders with the attached coupon and get 20% back to your club. Take out or dine in, alcohol is included. I’m hoping for a REALLY good turnout, so bring your family out for a bigger and wings and help the club raise some easy money. Tigers are on at 1pm…just sayin!
Just this last Tuesday, we had an accident at the field that could’ve ended much worse. Upon taxiing in on the taxiway from his completed flight, the pilot reached for the engine cut-off switch and mistakenly bumped the throttle stick, sending the speeding plane into a poor little electric trainer plane. Luckily, no one was in the way and the only damage was a chopped-up horizontal stab and fuselage. I only bring this up to put that little safety bug in your ear when you’re taxiing in and out from the pits. When your running engine is pointing towards anyone/anything other than the runway, always plan for the inevitable. For example, when walking to/from a station with my engine running, I hold the throttle down with the outside of my thumb…preventing it from being bumped up if I stumble. In Tuesdays case, using this method and using the other hand to flip the kill switch could have prevented the accident. I also encourage you to cut the engine as soon as it crosses the forward fence on the taxiway and carry your plane back to the pit. This was also brought up in Mays Model Aviation where a pilot had recently reinstalled a throttle servo but flipped it around and forgot to update his fail-safe programming. He accidentally switched off the transmitter with the plane running and sent the plane full boar into the safety fence. So, always double check everything after any radio or equipment change and be double safe when your engine is running!
Keep your wings level and altitude positive,
Nik
