New President's October News

Hello flyers and builders,

Zach has left the club with a lot of positive momentum, so there are still new activities to report.  Because I was Vice President, it fell to me to take on President, and oddly enough, the rest of the board approved.  Mike McGee stepped up to be VP, and Mark Weber accepted our invitation to be Secretary, joining the board to fill the vacancy left by Doug Hurley.  There is one more vacancy left by Zach’s departure – more on that later. 

The club is in good condition at the moment with a lot of potential for further improvements to the field and our activities.  Here’s what’s happening:

The board has decided that since the Covid crisis is obviously going to be with us for a while, we will be more aggressive in finding ways to safely open up some activities that we cancelled this summer.  For example, we think we can do the Tuesday evening summer training program next year with correct procedures for spacing, masks, hand cleaning, etc.  As we figure out how, we may be able to re-start other outdoor activities like swap meets, fun flys, or even contests. 

Indoor club meetings are not in the cards yet.  To compensate for that, maybe we can all share more about our projects on the club Facebook page.  My latest “project” is not a new plane.  It is fixing a badly wrecked ARF, which had its second first flight a few days ago.

In the meantime, Brian Burk, our Training Manager has made himself a single point of contact for anyone needing training year-round.  His contact info will appear on the website in the Training tab.  Please let Brian know if you are interesting in helping others to learn to fly. 

We have rough plans for a more permanent and better looking shelter for the charging station.  After that is built, the idea is to move the existing shelters closer to the tables for use to get out of the sun or rain.  We’ve asked the park to tell us the approval process.  What we really need is for someone in the club to step up and become the “foreman” to see this project through because all of the board members have their hands full with other jobs (and day jobs).  If you would like to help the club by taking this on, please let any of the board members know.

There are several positive developments for our youth members.  The board has agreed to appoint a “Youth Board Member” annually, as a tenth member of the board.  Voting rights and qualifications are in the latest change to the by-laws which can be seen on our website if you log in.  The Youth member is there not only to to inform us about the interests of the younger flying community, but also to carry information from the old folks to the younger crowd.

Ian Morrow has been selected to this position for this year, and he’s already doing a great job.  He has decided on two important tasks, (1) to make a system for our busy Sundays that has windows of time when the youth members will stand down and let others fly in relative peace, and (2) to develop a system that will assign a “mentor” to any new youth member to help get them introduced to the club and how things work.

And, Hailin Truman, Ian, and Brian Connelly continue to get public recognition for the spectacular, massive Mudgy M-133 light weight cargo plane.  Most recently they are stars in the Model Airplane News regular email with video clips.  If you haven’t seen this thing fly, you’re missing a treat.  Well done, guys!

https://www.modelairplanenews.com/future-engineers-scratch-built-m-133/

And there’s more!  As you’ve probably noticed, Evan Payauys’ Eagle Scout project is organizing and overseeing rebuilding and refurbishing a dozen of our tables.  Thanks so much Evan!  This will be finished up soon.

Last but not least, it is time for the annual election of board members.  A separate email with details went out yesterday along with a notice on our website.  You don’t need to be a board member to be a leader at the club, but if you want to, this is your chance and I encourage you to submit yourself.  What the board needs the most right now is a member who can be our web master.  The web master need not be a board member, but must be willing to attend board meetings.

Happy Flying, and Happy Building as the weather creeps in.  Remember to share cool stuff on our Facebook page.

 

See you at the field!

Brian D. Kelly (BK1)