Ribcrackers Model Airplane Club We re on the web! http:/www.ribcrackers.org Club 2067 F July, 2014 Ray Field Thunderbolt LAT: 42.5062 N LON: 83.5987 W Ribcracker August Meeting Minutes Aug. 4, 2014 The meeting started promptly at 7:02 PM at Ray Field. Initial comments were related to the Warbird Meet and the support of PMAC RC club. Everyone felt the event was positive and had a great time. The treasury looks good with all bills paid and enough in funds to support our group for the remainder of the year. July meeting minutes were accepted as published in the Aug. newsletter. In the month of July, the field was cut twice/week, but now that the growing season is slowing down, the grass cutting should go back to once/week. The attendees at the meeting agreed to hold a Fun-Fly on Sept. 18 th starting at 10AM (with the 19 th as a rain date). More discussion and plans will be set regarding the Fun-Fly at the Sept. meeting. Our club will hold a field clean-up in late October, so be aware that you will be requested to help in the fall months. Great prizes were available with the club raffle our thanks to Marshall for his efforts with that event. The meeting ended at 7:25 PM allowing a few souls to go airborne before it got dark. Respectively submitted Dennis Robbins Club Meeting Monday, Sept 8, 7:00 pm Ray Field New Hudson, Mi
Safety Issues Dear Members, As we approach the fall flying season, and after quite a safe and successful summer, I would like to point a out couple of important things to all of us. 1. ACTIVE SPOTTING Please fly only after you know that one or more persons are actively spotting for you. Please make others aware that you re about to fly and ask if someone will devote the time to spot for you. Some of us assume that just because people are around we could fly and rely on them to warn us of an oncoming full size aircraft. Usually, people who are under the canopy or inside their car, or working on a airplane cannot actively spot for the pilot on the flight line. Please lets address this issue at the next meeting and let s start doing some REAL ACTIVE SPOTTING! 2. GRANDRIVER This is an ongoing issue, and all though it is getting better, we have to make sure that NO ONE EVER, NOT FOR A SECOND, allow his model to fly over the road. Let s help each other by mentioning it politely to the pilot every time we see them flying over the road. 3. DRONES As in any other AMA chartered club, we welcome the pilots that wish to fly drone type aircraft, with or without monitoring devices such as cameras and such. If you own this type of an aircraft please make sure to check that it is in compliance with the latest AMA-FFA regulations and provisions/limitations and please be advised that the The Club s rules and regulations apply to these aircraft as to any other flying models. Please join us in the next meeting to discuss the recent developments of the negotiations between AMA officials and FFA decision makers in regards to safety of model flying and general safety practices of the hobby. Thank you, Alex
Student Night Student night seems to be moving right along with five regular students, and one elderly gentleman who just likes to fly club trainers. Fortunately we now have two club trainers, so there s no waiting. What we need now, is more instructors. These folks are keeping Matt a busy man. Oh, I almost forgot, we also have one female student, Adriana, who is putting some of these guys to shame. If you haven t met any of these new members yet, stop by on Wednesday and say howdy! They re a great bunch of Guys and Gals!
LESSONS LEARNED: SPARTY GOES MISSING This August, I lost an airplane, Sparty. (See Picture) He just flew over the trees, and landed somewhere in the soy field, or maybe just beyond. In spite of all of our best efforts at finding him, he s still out there. While I hate to lose an airplane as much as anybody, there s no doubt, a learning opportunity here. There may have been a balance issue involved, though I don t think so. I will be addressing balancing technique in future issues of the Thunderbolt. The plane definitely did have too much control throws on both the ailerons and elevators, and with the oversized control surfaces, and short fuselage of the Cap 232, too much control throw is a sure recipe for trouble. I ll try to address this in upcoming issues of the Bolt as well. In spite of the balance and control throw issues, or perhaps because of them, I believe that if I had had some Exponential rates programmed into my radio, I would have had a better chance of regaining control of the aircraft, and of bringing it in safely The following link, http:// www.modelaircraft.org/insider/09_01/expo%20rates.htm is from a past issue of Model Aviation and is an article on Exponential. I will be using it on all my planes, though I will start small with 20 or 25% and will increase as I get more and more used to it. Like I said, I hate to lose an airplane, but if it provides an opportunity to learn something, well, so much the better. And as they say, Even a melon grown in the shade will ripen sooner or later At this point, I would really, really like to thank Both Scotts, Ray, Dave, Ron Odom, and Alex and Adriana, who all spent so much time and effort combing the fields looking for Sparty. And I owe a special debt of gratitude to Joe Allesandrini for repeatedly using his quad-copter to cover and photograph the fields. Thank you Gentlemen, and Lady, one and all. Who knows, maybe he ll turn up yet, or maybe he made it all the way to Spartan Stadium! John Jushkewich PLEASE NOTE I have included two pages in this issue, pages 5 and 6, that are to be used as flyers for the club. The idea is this: You print page 5, and then turn it over, and print page 6 on the other side. Make several copies of the flyer, fold each in half, and insert one in each of several copies of your old Model Aviation Mag or Model airplane News, and leave them at your barber shop, Doctor s office or Auto Repair shop waiting room. Hopefully somebody will pick it up and give us a call. Increased membership comes from increased exposure. John
RIBCRACKERS MODEL AIRPLANE CLUB Ribcrackers was organized over 50 years ago as a non-profit model airplane club under the auspices of the Livonia Department of Parks and Recreation. At the time, the primary emphasis was on control line flying with considerable effort given to public demonstrations of model aircraft flying to promote the hobby. Today, we are almost exclusively a radio control club and do not enjoy the support of any municipal recreation department. Members fly nitro, gas & electric powered planes, gliders and helicopters. We are approximately 80 in number with our primary emphasis on sports flying. Our goals are the promotion of the safe flying of radio control models and the general advancement of radio controlled model flight. Ribcrackers runs an active, free R/C pilot training program and we continue to devote our efforts to providing public service demonstrations and displays as part of our responsibility to the community and our public whenever possible. The club currently flies out of Ray Field. Ray Field is on the south side of Grand River, one mile east of New Hudson. It is on the Walbridge property on the east side of their access road. It has a large, mown grass runway (400'x 400') which is suitable for most modelers. As the field is near the New Hudson Airport, a spotter is mandatory - no solo flying without a spotter to watch for full-scale airplane traffic is allowed at Ray Field. While Ribcrackers has been flying at Ray Field for nearly 20 years, we do not own the flying field but we are constantly searching for a suitable, permanent site. Monthly club Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month (except September and when New Years Day or the 4th of July falls on a Monday - then it's the second Monday) at either Ray Field or the Livonia Senior Center. The meeting usually includes some type of demonstration, discussion or presentation, a show-and-tell, Model-of-the-Month period, and general socializing and tall tale swapping (the general, good natured banter found in most modeling clubs). Visitors are always welcome. http://www.ribcrackers.org/
UPCOMINGLOCAL LOCAL EVENTS UPCOMING EVENTS 9/6,7/14 - MIDWEST REGIONAL FLOAT FLY - Br ighton, Mi - Info: Skymasters.org 9/13/14 - BRETT MEMORIAL PATTERN CONTEST - Radio Contr ol Club of Detr oit - Info: wwwrccd.org 9/18/14 - RIBCRACKER S FUN FLY - At Ray Field - See Ribcrackers.org for directions 9/20/14 - PMAC SCALE FLY IN - info: http://www.geodza.com/pmac_web_2012_live/welcome.html Late October - FALL FIELD CLEAN-UP - Date to be deter mined at September meeting! Check your Model Aviation Magazine for additional events and information!
CLUB RAFFLE The following items available for the July meeting raffle. 1. A New In Box Seagull Models Turbo Raven. Made to handle in 2 stroke engines.46 o.61. The ARF comes with the conversion material for the appropriate electric motor. A minimum of $150.00 in raffle tickets must be sold for this prize to be won. 2. A New In Box HiTec 645MG High Torque Metal Gear servo. 3. A New In Box a 249 Piece Dremel Accessory Kit made by Chicago Electric. 4. A Nankin Hobby $25.00 Gift Card Raffle Coordinator, Marshall Stern Ribcrackers 2013 Board of Directors Club Positions President Scott Cruzen 248-275-3416 scruzen@me.com Vice President / Field Marshall Dennis Carpenter 248-881-3243 Dennis.carpenter@bcarp.com Secretary Matt Jerue 248-348-5948 mdjerue@mi.rr.com Treasurer Dennis Robbins 248-661-3562 drobbins421@yahoo.com Librarian Ken Hilton 248-877-1670 Thunderbolt Editor John Jushkewich 248-349-5267 jjushkewich@yahoo.com Safety Officer Alex Alexopoulos 248-909-6869 Alexopoulos24@yahoo.com Chief Instructor Matt Jerue 248-348-5948 Minute Recorder Gerald Klose 248-582-1803 Raffle Coordinator Marshall Stern 248-661-8286