NEXT G.V.A.M. MEETING. Dues Are Due. Write Your Congressman

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1 NEXT G.V.A.M. MEETING Thursday 10/11/18 6:30pm at the Honeoye Public Library (8708 Main St. Honeoye) Dues Are Due The 2018 flying season has arrived and that means annual GVAM club dues are due once again. Many members have already paid this years dues but for any holdouts you re past due! Adult membership remains at $75.00, junior membership (19 and younger) $1.00 and social membership (non flying) $ Dues can be mailed to: Glenn Crocker, GVAM Treasurer 21 Highview Trail Pittsford, NY Write Your Congressman Once again it looks like we'll have to raise our voices to defend our hobby from the onslaught of bureaucratic absurdity. There is life being breathed into the movement to eliminate the Special Rule for Model Aircraft (AKA section 336) which has allowed AMA to manage its membership and fly safely and responsibly for over 82 years. Without Section 336 members would be required to take an FAA in person 60 question aeronautical test, pay for an FAA remote pilot license and face many other unnecessary restrictions. Losing the Special Rule would be a devastating blow to our hobby. Please take a few minutes and click the link below to send a letter to your elected representatives in support of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft... Page 1 of 7

2 April Meeting Recap The last scheduled formal business meeting for Spring happened on Thursday, April 12 th. There was fair attendance and it was immediately obvious that everyone is ready for Winter weather to be gone and Summer weather to arrive. Final plans/arrangements were made for the upcoming GVAM open house at the library on Saturday the 28 th from 10:00 noon. Dave made sure his new laptop will interface with the library s AV gear for the video presentation and volunteers were enlisted to bring various kinds of aircraft to display. Hopefully there ll be a good turnout. Regardless, fun will be had by all. Doug passed around some brochures for various interesting events coming up in the not too distant future and final prep of the club machinery and flying field were discussed. All in all it sounds like things are far more ready to go than Mother Nature will currently allow. The April meeting is always show and tell time to share any new/different projects from the Winter building season. Several folks brought in some of their fine work and Ned had a collection of planes he was trying to sell to thin out his squadron a bit (I think Nick walked away with a nice Cub). With a little luck the weather will break and we ll see everything up at the field very soon. The motley crew just after adjournment John Ward s new control line plane Jim s rebuild of a crashed plane acquired from Bill Kegel Ned s flea market smorgasbord Page 2 of 7

3 My overhaul of a Super Sportster acquired from John Miller Computer God hard at work Horizon Hobby acquires Hobbico In the biggest RC industry buyout in recent history, Horizon Hobby bought all of Hobbico s RC related brands and assets for $18.8 million in a bankruptcy court approved transaction. Below is an excerpt from an blast sent by Tower Hobbies after the transaction was approved on Monday, April 2 nd. Being a long time customer of Tower Hobbies I hope they leave that company intact to continue doing business as they have been for a long time to come. I guess time will tell. Dear Valued Customer: As you may be aware, Tower Hobbies' parent company, Hobbico, declared bankruptcy in January 2018 and has initiated a sale process. We are excited to share with you that the RC brands and Tower Hobbies website that you have come to rely on over the years will continue. The Bankruptcy Court has approved the sale of Hobbico's RC business to Horizon Hobby, LLC. Horizon Hobby has been in business since 1985 and serves customers in the United States and around the World. Horizon Hobby also maintains a strong online presence and warmly welcomes Hobbico customers to its growing family. With this acquisition, Horizon Hobby looks to build upon Hobbico's great reputation for providing quality RC products to customers across the country. More information about Horizon Hobby can be found at Who s Who and What s New By Nick Trezza Alright gang, it s time for Who's Who and What s New This month we'll take a look at our new Editor in Chief, Peter Donk... Pete grew up in Macedon, NY and went to school in Walworth. He spent about a year in Greenville, SC but wanted to return to good old New York. He eventually put down roots in Wayland. Page 3 of 7

4 He got started in this hobby when he was about 12 or 13. His older brother bought a Cox P 40 Warhawk with the world famous.049 engine. Pete and his brother flew the P 40 until there was nothing left to fly, but that's when he was bitten by the bug. The next couple of years he built and flew a control line profile Ringmaster that got him deeper into the hobby. At about that time, he discovered girls and heavy metal music, which he found out is a different kind of fun, other than flying model planes. In his early 20s he figured RC was the way to go and bought a used 2 channel.049 which lasted a full several minutes. At that point he decided to get serious and build a modern trainer so he bought a Great Planes PT 40 with an O.S..40 engine. He said this plane didn't last too long either but gave him enough stick time to see the magic of ailerons and what they can do. After the PT 40, he moved on to a Hobbico Sturdy Birdy, which was a very repairable plane that he had a lot of fun with, gave him more flying time, (and to quote him) he flew the crap out of it" (as everyone knows, that's a technical term, when you fly the crap out of something). He went on to a Great Planes Super Decathlon kit, where he got a little deeper into the hobby and put that plane through its paces. As like a lot of folks about this time, life had a way of taking over and changing priorities so he stayed away from the hobby for many years until joining GVAM in At that time Pete started with small glow planes, then got into the larger gas planes and eventually, partly blaming the influence of Glenn Crocker, graduated to Giant Scale gas. As we've all seen at the field with his Iron Butterfly, he really enjoys ultralights and may get into full scale ultralights one day. Pete is the kind of guy who really enjoys the building and flying, the sights and smells of this hobby and says he'll be doing it for a very long time. As most of you know, in the summertime he is always up at the field flying day in and day out (I'm not sure if he goes home or sleeps in the woods up at the field). He's also had an article or two published in model magazines about his planes and what he's built. Some of Pete's other interests are: Amateur drag racing (he did that for over 10 years starting 2000), music, going to concerts, singing and playing in a band. In 2009 he received his Private Pilot Ticket (you can't tell me this boy don't love aviation). What will we see up at the field this season? He says he's overhauled a Giant Super Sportster he bought from John Miller, he's made an engine swap on a Stearman (which I sold him) to make it almost 2 pounds lighter, and he just finished a Phoenix Westland Lysander (I'm dying to see that fly). He is also modifying his Super Senior 80 with several upgrades and says it should be a better flyer now. After seeing some of his planes, you know Pete builds well and flies great!!! Pete brings a lot to GVAM. I'd also like to add a little note here... We keep trying to improve our club and this newsletter, but we need your help. We have a lot of interesting members that we would like to know more about, so please, if you get some time me at nick.trezza52@gmail.com with your story and we'll put it in the newsletter. I understand several of us may be in the witness protection program, but we don't have to use your correct name. Until next time, FLY ON!!! V.P. Nick T. Page 4 of 7

5 Tips and Tricks As soon as Mother Nature decides to give up on Winter it ll be time to fly again. As we dust off old planes and get ready to fly new ones for the first time a bit of caution, vigilance and attention to detail will go a long way to assure that lots of hardware will live to fly another day and more importantly, no one will get hurt due to minor oversights or little bits of absent minded carelessness. A simple checklist like this could help avoid that simple oversight or missed detail that most of us are capable of from time to time. If printed and used at the flying field it could be a wonderful aide to both newbies and seasoned fliers alike. Full scale pilots are required by law to make sure an aircraft is airworthy. For RC pilots it s simple common sense and prudence. Page 5 of 7

6 On the Calendar Saturday, April 28 th GVAM Annual Open House Honeoye Public Library, 8708 Main St., Honeoye, NY 10:00AM Noon Free Admission, All Ages Welcome Thursday Sunday, May 31 st June 3 rd Windy Ridge RC Flyers Scale Soaring Aerotow, Camp & Fly Loucks Airport, 8989 Alderman Rd., Hammondsport, NY Saturday & Sunday, June 9 th & 10 th Jolamtra Fun Fly Jolamtra Landing Area, 5752 Windfall Rd., Bath, NY Saturday & Sunday, July 7 th & 8 th S.T.A.R.S. Annual Fun Fly Cattaraugus County/Olean Airport Saturday & Sunday, July 21 st & 22 nd Sky Rovers Air Show Ford Field, 2269 McBurney Rd., Phelps, NY Saturday & Sunday, August 4 th & 5 th Screaming Eagles Model Aviators Club (SEMAC) 4 th Annual Fun Fly Perry/Warsaw Airport, 6522 Perry Ave., Perry, NY Friday Sunday, September 14 th 16 th Windy Ridge RC Flyers/RC Gypsies Camp & Fly Loucks Airport, 8989 Alderman Rd., Hammondsport, NY Likable Links Genesee Valley Aero Modelers website Genesee Valley Aero Modelers on Facebook GVAM YouTube channel HTFPGO 6NRtHYM5C6Q Academy of Model Aeronautics AMA District II AMA YouTube Channel uda Rochester Aero Modeling Society Windy Ridge RC Flyers (Hammondsport) Canandaigua Sky Chiefs Southern Tier Aero Radio Society ( STARS Cuba) Sky Rovers RC Flying Club (Phelps) Finger Lakes Air Pirates (Seneca Falls) Radio Control Club of Rochester AeroFred (free model airplane plans) Page 6 of 7

7 For anyone who may be doing some long distance FPV flying and needs to line up on a particular runway on arrival Used by Permission http: // Page 7 of 7