RAMAC RC NEWS Newsletter of the Redding Area Miniature Aircraft Club http://home.comcast.net/~ramac-rc/ http://www.reddingrc.com MARCH, 2012 Issue No. 3 RAMAC to hold Spring Fun Fly April 21st at Warren Field Volunteers still needed! Ok, so you may not be Irish. The luck was still with you if you attended the Annual RAMAC Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner March 13th at the Quonset Hut. More story and photos on page 7 RAMAC will hold its annual Spring Fun Fly on Saturday, April 21st at Warren Field. The fun fly, which is one of the clubs most anticipated events of the season, will feature contests to test piloting skills and a potluck barbeque lunch with lots of homemade goodies. Contest events include favorites such as the Limbo, Oh Crap!, and Drag Races. (Continued on page 5) Continuing rains delay Anderson club fun fly until May See page 6 for details INSIDE YOUR NEWSLETTER Subject Page Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner, RAMAC Spring Fun Fly, Anderson Fun Fly Delayed, Index Monthly Meeting Minutes for February, 2012 As the Prop Turns RAMAC 2012 Calendar of Activities Meet Your Member, RAMAC Spring Fun Fly (continued) RAMAC Pilot Briefings (News Briefs), Broken Prop Award, Thank You, Club Fuel 4 Sale More Corned Beef Dinner Photos, Classifieds, Other Ads Schedule, Officers, Membership Information, Fun Fly Reminder 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
RAMAC RC News MARCH, 2012 Page 2 MINUTES OF THE MARCH 13th, 2012 MEETING The Club held its annual St. Patrick s Day Dinner at the EAA Quonset Hut at Benton Field, Redding at 6:00 PM. The dinner was well attended including many wives, essentially every seat taken. The principle workers preparing, serving and cleaning up were Mike Brown, Carol Bershers, Bruce Taylor, Iris and Dennis Pratt, Karen and Norm Van Dyke, Shirley and Ed Martin and Audry Schutte (and probably others). The business part of the meeting was begun at 7:15 PM. New member, Rich Cary and his wife Kelly were introduced. Jeff Brown, the guest of Ed Martin, and Frank Auten, a prospective member were also introduced. Treasurer Jerry Nystrom reported that we have $5759 in our checking account and CD. Sunshine Lady Shirley Martin reported that Ralph Schroeder, a founding member, has died due to a heart condition. He will be buried in Southern California and there will be no services here. Long time member Stan Banner has been having problems due to the loss of his wife. Ron Guthrie has had a recurrence of his cancer, but is in good spirits and will be starting a new type of chemo. Ed Heinzel and Jim Dunn are nearly recovered and should be back among us soon. Please remember all of these chaps and their families. There will be a work party at the field on Saturday April 14 th, weather permitting. Details will be worked out at the next general meeting Tuesday, April 10 th. Our joint Fun Fly with Anderson River Park Flyers was scheduled for next Saturday, March 17th. This week s weather forecast is not good and the alternate date of March 31 st will probably be used. We still need 5 volunteers to each host one contest at the event, call Jerry Nystrom if you can help. Two new club banners were ordered. The cost will be $72. They will employ a club logo digitally cleaned up by Sandy Brown. Thanks Sandy. A few months ago we held a not so successful swap meet. Members are asked to suggest to Otis ideas to increase the success of the next (e.g. they ll come if you feed them ). Safety Officer Norm Van Dyke awarded the Broken Prop Award for March to Dave Kirkman. Much laughter, but no details. So many March Birthdays were announced that the Minutes Taker could not keep up. Sorry Audrey. Fortunately there were many desserts for the dinner and all b day sweets needs could be accommodated. A 42 Ultimate Biplane ARF was the raffle prize. It was won by first time attendee Kelly Cary. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM. Minutes prepared by RAMAC RC News Columnist, Phil Harvey
RAMAC RC News MARCH, 2012 Page 3 By RAMAC RC News Editor Dave Kirkman My neighbor, Pat, knocked on the door and handed me a large paper shopping bag containing bits and pieces of wood and some papers. He informed me that it was a scale flying model of a real aircraft. He said he had bought it recently but didn t have the time or patience to complete it. He had seen my room full of hanging plastic models and figured I was the right person to tackle the project little did he know that he would awaken a sleeping giant. It was the mid-60 s and that was my first introduction to flying model aircraft. The airplane turned out to be a very small-scale rubberpowered version of the famous v-tailed Beechcraft. I remember it being painstakingly tedious to build. The other thing I remember is that my dad took a genuine interest in helping me build it. When the time came to cover it there were no such thing as iron-on coverings in those days I chose a bright shade of green modeling tissue. I do think dad might have decided on something entirely different but he never tried to influence me on my choice. That plane never really flew well and eventually met its demise, but dad and I worked together on many other ones that did fly well, including numerous free flight, single channel RC and u-control planes. We even designed a couple of single channel slope soaring ships as well. Dad mostly worked nights so I felt pretty fortunate to have him around helping with my building projects most of my friends weren t that lucky. Throughout the years, I have drifted in and out of this crazy hobby, but I could always count on dad taking an interest in what I was building or flying at the time. Whenever I d travel to visit he and mom, I would often pack a plane or two and we would go flying if there was time. Dad passed away a few weeks ago at age eighty nine and so I ve been spending quite a bit of time recently reminiscing on the past with family and friends. I really do feel fortunate to have had all that quality time to spend with him. It was the Vietnam era and both of my older brothers enlisted in the military so they were away and I really had dad all to myself. It will certainly be different now when I travel back to my home town, especially if I take a plane with me to fly at the old field. Dad may not be with me physically, but he will always be there in spirit. And each time I see a father with his son or daughter out at our flying field, don t be surprised if my smile seems just a little bit wider.
RAMAC RC News MARCH, 2012 Page 4 RAMAC ~ 2012 ~ Calendar of Activities January 10 ~ Monthly meeting @ 7 pm ~ Quonset Hut February 14 ~ Monthly meeting @ 7 pm ~ Quonset Hut March 13 ~ Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner Meeting & Airplane Raffle @ 6 pm ~ Quonset Hut March 17 ~ w/arpf?? April 10 ~ Monthly meeting @ 7 pm ~ Quonset Hut April 21 ~ Spring Fun Fly @ 9am @ Warren Field?? May 5 ~ Shasta Lake Damboree Parade @ Shasta Lake May 8 ~ Monthly meeting @ 7 pm ~ Quonset Hut June 12 ~ Spathetti Dinner meeting & Airplane Raffle @ 6 pm ~ Quonset Hut June 17 ~ Father s Day Breakfast @ Benton Field June 24 ~ War Birds w/ash Creek?? July 10 ~ Come early and fly @ meeting @ 7pm @ Warren Field July 21 ~ w/arpf?? August 14 ~ Monthly meeting @ 7 pm ~ Warren Field September 11 ~ Monthly meeting @ 7 pm ~ Quonset Hut September 22 ~ Fall Fun Fly @ 9 am ~ Warren Field (week after opening Of deer season) October 9 ~ Monthly meeting @ 7 pm ~ Quonset Hut November 13 ~ Monthly meeting @ 7 pm ~ Quonset Hut December 11 ~ Christmas Dinner Ideas for other activities: Swap meet, Pancake Breakfast
RAMAC RC News MARCH, 2012 Page 5 Meet Your Member By Phil Harvey Ed Cavanaugh is a very new member of RAMAC, I happened to be at the field today as he signed up, we chatted right then and there! Ed has been flying since the 80 s; he had a brand new 52 Aero Works Extra 260 Free Style to maiden with him today, and put on a very nice test flight for us. His CV includes slope soaring (F3F), helicopters, war birds, scratch building (he is designing a biplane in his head right now). Ed is new to the Redding Area and last belonged to the Camarillo Flying Circus Club. New RAMAC member Ed Cavanaugh displays his Aero Works Extra 260 Float flying was not a practical pastime for that area and so we need to work on his enjoying Whiskeytown. Ed was raised in West Covina and worked as a dental technician. He was in an accident and injured his back; this ended his motor cycling habit (has owned over 50 bikes). He and his wife Nancy are living on Lake Boulevard right on the Redding/Shasta Lake City border, thus he is not only close to our field, but close to trails for his mountain bike hobby and close to sites for his resuming the study of bass fishing (he says he has moved to vacation land). I don t know about that bad back story, but if you see him at the field you can follow up on that and lots of other interesting things he knows about our hobby. RAMAC Spring Fun Fly (Continued from page 1) There will also be plenty of time left over for open flying so bring your favorite models to show off and join us. Pilots should plan on signing up for the contests around 8 a.m. Pilot briefing is at 8:30 a.m. and the contests start at 9 a.m. The barbeque will be held immediately following the contests. The meat and beverages will be provided by the club. For more information about the contests or to arrange to bring a dish or desert, please call (530) 275-2103. RAMAC member Charlie Hoisington shows off his flying attire during the Drag Race contest at the 2011 Fall Fun Fly Do you know someone who has been flying fullscale airplanes for a long time? Do they have some interesting stories that they would love to share with others? I d like to ask them a few questions about their flying experiences for a project I m working on. Please contact me at rcpilotdave@gmail.com or call (530)356-2239 (evenings) if you have someone in mind.
RAMAC RC News MARCH, 2012 Page 6 RAMAC Pilot Briefings News of activities and coming events RAMAC RC News editor awarded the Broken Prop Award It was a clear choice this month as RAMAC Safety Officer Norm Van Dyke awarded the Broken Prop Award for March to Dave Kirkman for his crash that nearly ended the life of a nice flying little clipped-wind cub. Last month s issue of the RC News featured the specifics of the crash. The award will be kept for a month by Kirkman and then returned in order to be presented to the next deserving pilot. 2012 RAMAC Calendar of Events included in March RC News The 2012 RAMAC calendar of events has been included in this newsletter. It is the latest version submitted for member approval at the February monthly meeting. Ongoing storms postpone Anderson/ RAMAC Fun Fly The first Anderson River Park Flyers/RAMAC joint fun fly, which has twice been postponed by rain, has been postponed indefinitely. According to club sources, a new date for the fun fly will likely be sometime in May. Thank You! Otis and Carol wish to thank all of you for your prayers and get well wishes during Carol s recent surgery and recovery. A special word of thanks goes out to Bruce Taylor for taking over the Morning Weather Report for a few days. Did you know that RAMAC sells 15% glow fuel for less than the local hobby stores!! We purchased this glow fuel at a discount and club members pay only $18.00 per gallon including taxes. Contact Bruce Taylor at 275-6456 and pick yours up today. RAMAC Safety Officer Norm Van Dyke presents RC News Editor and member Dave Kirkman with the Broken Prop Award following his recent crash of a clipped-wing Piper Cub. Photo by Phyllis Clark-Kirkman
RAMAC RC News MARCH, 2012 Page 7 Here s the beef! It was standing room only as the room filled to capacity with members, family and friends. In addition to the main course, the dinner featured potatoes, carrots, several salads and host of homemade deserts. An abbreviated monthly meeting followed the dinner. Kelly Cary, wife of new member Rich Cary, won the 42 Ultimate biplane ARF in the raffle. Kelly says she is looking forward to learning how to fly the new plane. A big thanks to the cooks, servers and help! RAMAC Classifieds Wanted If you went away hungry with food dishes like these, you certainly weren t trying hard enough!.60 size J3 Cub dummy engine or cowling with dummy engine attached. Contact Dave at rcpilotdave@gmail.com Or call 356-2239 (eve.) We ll publish your hobbyrelated items for sale or trade here if there s time and space available. Listings should be in MS Word and are due by the 10th of the month to be included in the current month s newsletter. Send information to: rcpilotdave@gmail.com
RAMAC RC News MARCH, 2012 Page 8 FLIGHT SCHEDULE AND EVENTS Open Flying Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Warren Field. Glow starts at 8:30 a.m. and electrics may start earlier. Otis posts the weather forecast by 6:30 a.m. on Mon. Wed. & Fri. Call 275-2103 to see if flying is a go. RAMAC Business meeting is normally held on the second Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. in the Quonset Hut at Benton Airpark. Watch the newsletter for any changes to meeting time and place. NCR/CUF Business meeting on the first Thursday of every month at 7PM Round Table Pizza in the Mt. Shasta Mall Call a buddy and fly any time. Send comments, questions, photos or brief how-to articles to RAMAC RC NEWS Editor at rcpilotdave@gmail.com RAMAC CLUB OFFICERS AND APPOINTEES PRESIDENT: VICE PRESIDENT: SECRETARY: TREASURER: NEWSLETTER EDITOR: CHIEF SAFETY OFFICER: FIELD MARSHALL: OTIS BERSHERS BRUCE TAYLOR CAROL BERSHERS JERRY NYSTROM DAVE KIRKMAN NORM VAN DYKE MICHAEL POUND 275-2103 275-6456 275-2103 241-6599 244-7590 221-1215 275-0848 RAMAC Redding Area Miniature Aircraft Club P. O. Box 943 Shasta Lake City, CA 96019 RAMAC membership, including keyed access to Warren Field, is open to all miniature aircraft pilots and supporters of pilots. Those wishing to apply for membership should submit $60.00 (including annual dues of $40 and a lifetime membership processing fee of $20) to: RAMAC, P.O. Box 943, Shasta Lake City, CA 96019. RAMAC members also receive the club newsletter RAMAC RC News. The newsletter is distributed via e-mail. AMA membership is required in order to fly at Warren Field and at any club-sanctioned event. Pilots must follow AMA safety rules when flying or preparing aircraft for flight. Mark your calendar for the next RAMAC meeting Tuesday, April 10th at 7 p.m. in the Quonset Hut. And don t forget the Spring Fun Fly at Warren Field on April 21st.