AMA Chapter #755 March 2018 pekinrc.com PRESIDENT Paul Bessler VICE PRESIDENT Chris Leibel SECRETARY TREASURER Jim Roach Newsletter of the Pekin RC Club Here s a photo with an obvious safety lesson Regardless of size or scale a whirling airplane propeller will pretty much eat anything it is fed. Don t make it you. WEBMASTER Dennis McMichael EVENTS Donna Smith SAFETY Denny Baker MAINTENANCE/GROUNDS Chris Leibel PUBLIC RELATIONS Dennis McMichael EDITOR Dennis Shoemaker The next meeting of the Pekin RC Club will be in Morton at the Otto Baum / CORE training room at 876 N Main St. Meeting is at 6:30 on March 17
Sounds like some members are getting out and flying with this fair weather, that is great! Just remember the new house owners that moved in on the other side of the trees. I will not be at the March meeting this time. Chris will be holding the meeting for me as I will not be able to make it. Thanks Chris.. President Paul Bessler With good weather we all can start to have more flying time. Have fun. Be Happy. Smile once in a while. Paul. Vice President Chris Leibel Hello fellow members, Spring is just around the corner! The field will be coming together as the weather permits. The wind sock is up. The mower s have been serviced and the field will be rolled while the field is soft. Dennis McMichael has been working on a Face Book page and the website. Should be up and running by the time this appears in the newsletter. Thanks Dennis. Good turn out at the last meeting despite the snow blizzard. Please support our club this Saturday with your input on what we want to do this season. Donna Smith has researched prices for shirts, hats, and jackets with our club logo on them. Maybe think about if the club wants to make a purchase and sell them at cost at the meetings. Still time to get on the mower schedule. It has not been written yet but there is room for more participation. Respectfully, Chris. 2
A monthly meeting of the Pekin RC Club was held on February 17, 2018 in Morton. There were 16 members and three guests present. The meeting was also the Club s annual swap meet with several members participating. Thanks to Chris Leibel for providing hot dogs and for other members participating in the pot luck. Wayne Hood moved to accept the January minutes as published in the February newsletter. Seconded by Bill Swearinger, the motion passed. Denny Baker moved to accept the January Treasurer s Report. Seconded by John Kramer, the motion passed. President Paul Bessler thanked those that participated in the Frozen Foot Fun Fly on February 3 in spite of the cold temperatures and wind. Paul reminded everyone of the planned Open House on May 19 and Big Bird on September 16. Vice President Chris Leibel mentioned the recent communication from the AMA regarding FBI visits to local RC clubs to evaluate terrorist potentials. We are encouraged to cooperate with their investigations and even invite them to participate. It s also important all aircraft have the required FAA identifier. Secretary/Treasurer Jim Roach added that we should be sure to emphasize that our rules keep us below 400 AGL, keep us well clear of full scale aircraft, and we operate only with a clear line of sight to our aircraft. Autonomous operations are limited to only return to home and attitude recovery programs which are still subject to the line of sight rules. Under New Business, several subjects were discussed: The flags at the entry drive need attention weather permitting. Everyone should be considering options for a winter meeting location for next year. The Groveland Library has requested a demo program. Logo wear opportunities will be investigated by Donna Smith. New event promotion ideas are needed. The Events Coordinator, Donna Smith indicated everything was coming together for a Big Bird Raffle. The Safety Coordinator, Denny Baker affirmed the plan to welcome FBI visitors and communicate any contacts to Club officers. The Grounds and Maintenance Coordinator, Chris Leibel indicated the mowing schedule would be confirmed in March. The Editor, Dennis Shoemaker encouraged continued submission of photos and articles by members. Dennis Shoemaker moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Donna Smith, the motion passed. 3
After completing the Aircamper, I got into building a Nesmith Cougar for the grandson. This is a 13" span record holder in the peanut scale rubber band category. It holds the flying record of 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Everything in the framework is 1/16 inch balsa. The frame weighs in at 4.6 grams. Believe it or not some modelers are making this model into a radio controlled wonder flyer. I about went blind putting this thing together. There are a lot of videos on You Tube showing this little monster in flight. It's a beautiful little flyer. I hope this one flies as well as all the others I've seen fly. Hopefully the grandson may want to try his hand at building and flying model airplanes I have logged some time in a real Cougar which is a takeoff of the Wittman Tailwind. With an 0-200 they will cruise at 180 mph if conditions are just right! Moe 4
Started building my Fokker D-VII. It is a 1/4 scale Balsa USA kit with a 88 inch wing span and it will be powered by a DLE30 I also sent what I plan for the color of the finished plane. John Kramer 5
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Here s the Hangar 9 Beaver with a 120 inch wingspan. This was the result from having leftover parts from my other Beaver that had some defective parts. I've installed a Moki 180 - this should be more than enough power. This plane was designed for a specific engine, so I've had to do some major reengineering. The R/C car was an idea for my birthday to keep me busy on those days when it is too windy to fly. It is an 1/8 scale Losi stadium truck with a brushless motor, cooling fan, and a Spektrum radio. I've got a good sized backyard to run it in, just got to be careful of trees. Switching from planes and Heli's to a fast truck is not easy. On Safety - Hopefully spring is just around the corner. It s time to check your equipment and make sure no gremlins have snuck in. I just read a study on Li-Po storage and now I'm not sure what to believe. This engineer did a study and found that it really doesn't make any difference how you store them. He stored them in all kind of charge rates and then did extensive testing on them. The results showed no difference on them. I think I'm going to keep storing at 3.8v, and just not trust that. Better safe than sorry. Denny Baker 7
FBI Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Outreach As you know, we have been enjoying our great hobby safely and responsibly for over 80 years. Unfortunately, there is now some concern that extremist groups could use drones to inflict harm and cause serious damage. The FBI has contacted AMA as part of their routine community outreach to ask for our help in staying ahead of this threat. We are honored to assist in the FBI efforts and, in fact, our hobby has a strong history of helping them in the past. To learn more about our hobby and help identify the good guys from the bad guys, FBI agents may visit some local AMA clubs soon. As all members and clubs are ambassadors for AMA, we encourage you to welcome any FBI agents that you may encounter and answer their questions. We also want to help the FBI learn more about our hobby and AMA s commitment to safety. [As such, if you are approached by the FBI, be welcoming and if appropriate consider offering flight time with a model trainer and AMA instructor.] This is a good opportunity to show someone new to the hobby the basics of RC flying. We highly encourage you to give the FBI an overview of our safety guidelines. In addition, the FBI has asked for AMA members to be vigilant and help identify any unusual behavior. If you feel someone or something is in immediate danger, call 911; if the threat is not imminent, call 855-TELL-FBI. Lastly, we ask that you please contact AMA government affairs at 800-435-9262 and let us know if you are visited by the FBI or arrange a flight time with them. We d be glad to assist with whatever you need. Thank you in advance for your help with this matter. AMA Government Affairs February 2, 2018 8
March 17 April 21 May 19 June 16 July 21 August 18 September 15 September 16 October 20 November 17 Meeting at 6:30 in Morton Meeting at 6:30 in Morton Open House during the day and meeting at 6:30 at the field Meeting at 6:30 at the field Meeting at 6:30 at the field Meeting at 6:30 at the field Set up for Big Bird and meeting at 6:30 at the field Big Bird Meeting at 6:30 at the field Meeting at 6:30 at a Winter meeting location to be determined THE SERVO is the monthly newsletter of the Pekin RC Club, AMA Chapter#755 29511 Allentown Rd., Mackinaw, IL 61755 http:\\www.pekinrc.com 9
PEKIN RC CLUB MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL 2018 NAME ADDRESS CITY ST ZIP PH. (309) AMA # EMAIL ADDRESS IS @ STANDARD DUES : $60.00 RETIRED DUES : $36.00 JR. DUES: $36.00 SUPPORTING DUES: $25.00 AFTER MAR 31 ADD: $20.00 MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO PEKIN R.C. CLUB. SEND TO : Jim Roach 29511 Allentown Rd PO Box 342 Mackinaw, IL 61755-0342 Dues are due the first of each year. Please send to Jim if you haven t already. 10