- Club Meeting!
- Fall Fun - Design/Build/Fly
- Board Election
Read on:
Dear Flyers, Builders, and Supporters
After a spectacular summer, it’s starting to cool down and the Big Dark is coming up. We’ll keep on flying but it’s time to get your shop in order for winter fun.
We think the summer club activities were a success in spite of Covid. We accomplished over 350 instruction flights and graduated 10 new soloed pilots in our training program, and all age groups and skill levels had ton of fun at the Fun-fly. The scale meet was lightly attended so we have some ideas to improve and re-imagine that.
Club Meeting!
The wait is over. We will have club meetings! First THIS THURSDAY, outdoors at the field. A terrific presentation by Supa Tim from Northwest Hobbies, then world class flying demonstrations by him and 3D Ken.
After that, we will be holding monthly virtual meetings on Zoom, so you'll be able to join in and participate from home, even showing us your latest project, a favorite video, or a presentation.
Off-Season Club Fun - Design/Build/Fly
We’ve been thinking about how club design/build/fly kinds of activities could pick up where the summer ends and show us all how to “roll our own”. How about a ‘how to design’ presentation and design contest that leads into kits for a club build, very much in the mold of the easy DIY planes on https://www.flitetest.com (look them up if you haven’t!). Pre-cut foam board kits are easy to make by anyone and everyone. You won’t have to design to have fun building – there could be a few options, maybe even using some designs from Flitetest.com.
And what if the club builds were followed by flight testing together in the Spring, a Pilots’ Choice contest during the July Scale meet and and events for our DIY creations at the August Fun-Fly? As a special category, imagine what airplanes specifically designed for the limbo or balloon pop events might look like!!
What do YOU think would be fun this winter and next summer? Please send your ideas to the board at
bod@mar-c.org
ELECTIONS: YOU Are Needed, to Steer Our Ship!
Annual board elections will be in October. There will be 5 positions open rather than the usual 3 (*explained below), so we really want you to participate. The top 5 vote getters will be on the board, so the chances are good that you’ll succeed.
Instructions will come out soon to everyone. You may consider running, or urge someone else to step up.
Grateful Thanks to Departing Board Members
We will greatly miss these dedicated members in next year’s board:
Mike McGee has been your Vice President for the last year and was your faithful club secretary for a few years before that. Mike was responsible for our highly successful Fun-Fly and was a dedicated and hard-working member of the training team. Where there was a need, Mike pitched in. A lot of the fun you had this summer was because of Mike.
Eric Benjamin has been instrumental for many years in the smooth running of our flagship training program. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s been your webmaster and Membership Chair at the same time for the past few years, smoothly managing two of the most critical club functions. We cannot thank him enough and hope to see him at the field enjoying his hobby more often.
Ian Morrow, your Youth Board Member, is off to college!! We thank him so much for his unique insights and very capable representation of the youth community to the board. The Youth Board Member position has been a great success, and Ian is a big reason. Each year the newly elected board appoints a new Youth Board Member at their first meeting in January.
So that the loss doesn’t hurt so much, we hope Mike, Eric, and Ian will attend board meetings when they can to advise us, and we hope to see them out flying!
From all your board members, Happy Landings,
Brian D. Kelly (BK1), President
P.S.
* Explanation why we have 5 positions open:
There are 9 elected board positions and one appointed Youth board position. Positions have a term of 3 years. Normally, 3 positions are open each year. At the first meeting after the election in December, the board votes for who should hold which jobs, e.g. Pres., VP, Secretary, Treasurer, etc., so people only run to have a position on the board, not for a specific job or title. In December or January, the board votes to appoint a Youth Board Member.
This year the 3 positions normally open for election are held by Mike McGee, Martin Rohde, and Mark Weber. So they must all decide whether to run or not. Mike McGee has decided not to run.
Two more positions that are not normally elected this cycle have opened because:
(1) Micah Truman stepped down earlier this year. (Shai Hinitz was appointed by the board to serve temporarily in that position.)
(2) Eric Benjamin has decided to step down before the end of this year. We will wait for the results of the election to find out who fills the position held by Eric.