Presidents Corner
Eugene R/C
Aeronauts
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PRESIDENT'S
CORNER, November 2009
By the time you guys read this printing, there are 2 benches joined
together near the ground level pilot boxes. These 2 benches serve
as temporary Elevated Pilot Box (EPB) for you to try out. Frank,
Wayne, and I have stood on the benches and completed flights from that
higher elevation. You get a full view of both sides and ends of
the runway. You also get better tracking of your plane as it
comes in from the west side over the hill/trees. Wayne made
several landings smack down the middle of the runway and is loving
it. Frank made some great landings too. As for me, the
usual perfect warbird landings :)
Frank will install 2x4 wood railings for safety and put in some
steps. We can put up more EPB from unused benches as more pilots
use them. Try it out. I'm confident you'll like the bird's
eye view.
At the last meeting, we discussed the pit area
cover concepts. It appears Wayne can get a kit of high quality
materials to put up 18'x40' sections that withstood snow and rain up in
Washington for 8 yrs. Brad and Wayne will work out the details of
ground prepping costs and present it at the next meeting for a
vote. I will contact Mike to get his blessing for our canopy
cover. Winter is fast approaching. We can make quick use of
the canopy to shelter our planes/electrical support equipment from the
rain. We can also put up clear plastic siding once the canopy is
up so we can put in our personal propane heater to warm up the pit
area. Wayne has seen this all done in Washington. It's a
great field improvement concept.
See you at the next meeting.
Regards, Khoi Tran
ERCA President 2009
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PRESIDENT'S
CORNER, October 2009
The painted shed
and trailer look better with the new coat of paint. Many thanks
to the painting party for that improvement. At the last meeting,
we also discussed other field improvement ideas like elevated pilot
stations, pit area cover, grass runway treatments. Please show up
at the meeting to voice your support or lend your expertise on how to
proceed with these projects.
At the next
meeting, we also will take nominations for next year's officers.
Please show up to put in your nominations. I will be interested
in running for the same seat again next year if you guys think I've
done a good job of serving the club this year. The voting will be
at November meeting, which is actually 2 weeks after October meeting.
Regarding the
fundraising raffle, it appears that we're not moving well with the sale
of remaining tickets. We can decide as a group if it makes sense
to raffle off the radio at November meeting regardless of how many
tickets remain. Again, this decision will rest on the vote of the
membership next week Oct 20th.
Regards, Khoi Tran
ERCA President 2009
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PRESIDENT'S
CORNER, September 2009
We
had a wonderful day for Labor Day Fun Fly. Light wind and mostly
sunny at 74 degrees. Had a good showing with about 20+
flyers/visitors. Al did a good job with the burgers and dogs as
usual. We had a few laughs watching Doug trying to end the life
of that miserable Old Yeller plane. But I think the damn thing is
still flying, so don't get your hopes up.
Raffle Update: I've sold my lot of tickets and Jeff's share of 40
need to be sold. Frank, Marty, and Brad may have a dozen each so
we may be only half way through the tickets. Need more members to
buy tickets to support the club and get a chance to win the Futaba 10C
spectrum radio.
Many thanks to Brad, Marty, and Doug for helping to complete the shed
construction while Jeff is held up with personal issues. We now
have the siding and door in place and everything looks great. I
hear that Frank is going to help with getting paint for the shed to
give it a nice finish.
I
encourage you guys to get out there and fly while the sun is hanging
around. The rain last weekend is nice reminder of what's coming
soon...
Regards, Khoi Tran
ERCA President 2009
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PRESIDENT'S
CORNER, August 2009
At
the last meeting, we discussed the idea of a Raffle
Fundraiser to
help balance our 2009 budget. We approved for the fine
gravel put down
in the pits area to reduce risk of injury from tripping over the
matting. This cost would be about $600-700. We did not
budget for
this line item. The idea for the Raffle Fundraiser will be to buy
an
item that will be on most people's wish list to ensure enough
participation. The goal in return will be $500 revenue to
help balance
the budget. We settled on the purchase of Futaba 10C FASST
spectrum
radio/receiver. This retails for $650 at Tower. We
plan to get the
radio for $500 and sell tickets at $5 each until 200 tickets are
sold.
Then, the raffle will occur. I hope that we can sell enough
tickets
to trigger the raffle by August meeting at the field. I
encourage all
active members to participate. It's an opportunity to win an
awesome radio and help out the club. A rare win-win situation
. We also discussed
at
the meeting the need for name tags. We have at
least 10 new members a year. Sometimes, it's a bit awkward to
have to
ask for people's names repeatedly at the field. Jim Corbett has
graciously agreed to make name tags for active flyers out there.
New
members and club officers will automatically receive name tags. I
encourage active flyers to approach Jim individually to request for his
name tag.
Reminder to everyone that August 15th is the annual club Fun Fly
event. There will be a BBQ for everyone as usual. Come
out and hang
with your fellow club members. Summer is almost over so get off
that
couch.
Regards,
Khoi Tran
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER,
July 2009
Oakridge Big Bird Fly-In was a success. The event was well
organized, and many members pitched in to help out on that day.
The only disappointment was the squirrely weather that came up by 11am
and stayed on. Even my propjet did things I've never seen before
in that wind up there. Other than that, it was a warm and sunny
day. I'd like to give individual thanks to those that helped
prepare for the event. These guys really went out of their
way. Brad and Frank for bringing their canopies, pilot stations,
and running the administrative part of the event. Doug and Chuck
for shopping and preparing the food and drinks. Al for cooking
all day long even on his anniversary day. Jeff Engel for bringing
a whole trailer full of supplies for the event. Jim for loaning
his stuff even though he was not even there. Mark for loaning his
aviation radio so we could communicate with these full scale planes
that kept trying to land on top of us that morning. I apologize
if I'm missing anyone else that helped out. Anyway, I counted 25
cars present at the event and about 30+ people. We did have a few
visitors from out of town. Calvin Keleo even flew in on his
Cessna to hang out with us. I got several compliments from guest
flyers about how well we organized this event. It was fun.
Let's switch subject and talk about Dexter Lake float flying. I
was at the lake on Sunday morning and flew my Seawind. Weather
was perfect with sunny sky, slightly cool air and water was calm.
Bill, Joe and I had a blast. I got to fly Bill's Balsa USA
Northstar. Man, that plane can move. It's super easy to
take off and land. Yet when I poured the coals, it was hitting
90-95 mph on a stock set up with OS46 motor. I just could not
convince Bill to let me slap a Jettstream tuned muffler and an APC
pylon prop on that demon to pick up another 15-20mph. I guess he
was nervous enough seeing me fly that Northstar 90mph just above the
water and heading straight for our dock on several passes.
Anyway, I liked it so much that I commissioned John to build 2 for me
ASAP. Should have them ready in 2 weekends for Red Bull style
flying. I encourage you guys to come out and see what float
flying is like. Call me to find out when we go out there.
You can putt putt around with a Tower trainer modified with velcro-on
floats when it's too hot to be at our field. Or you can build a
Northstar in a week and zip around at triple digit speed!!
Reminder to everyone that next meeting is at our field at 7pm on
Tuesday July 28th. We will have club BBQ there as usual.
Show up early and hang out with the guys or put in some flying.
Regards,
Khoi Tran
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER, June 2009
Well guys, summer has finally arrived. Hope you guys have
completed your winter projects in time for great flying weather.
The field is in great shape and that dreaded cross wind has been fairly
mild. The only annoying problem is the allergy season in full
bloom. So don't forget to load up with Claritin, Nasonex, Optivar
before heading to the field to fight off the pollens.
Oakridge Big Bird Fly-In update: I received the permit from the
airport manager so we're good to go. Brad Werneth and Frank Blain
volunteered to be CD's for the event. Please contact them to help
out with our following needs:
--Portable
aviation-band VHF radio, tuned to the Airport CTAF, 122.90 MHz
--10'x10' folding canopies, need 2 more
--8 foot long folding tables, need 3
--extra large coolers, need 2
--Direction signs for the event
Tip of the month: I recently
learned how to do silver soldering with a mapp gas blow torch. I
needed to make a long extension for my socket head allen wrench to get
through that long cowl and reach the socket head screws. I used a
brass coupling and cut off a section from allen wrench to attach to a
long screwdriver with its tip cut off. The next step is to use
silver soldering to weld the coupling to the 2 ends. Key here is
to use high temperature solder, having 56% silver that you can buy from
Jerry's in tools section for 10 bucks. It comes in a small coil
of solder and tube of flux. Prepare the 2 ends to be soldered
with dremel sanding wheel to remove any coating and coat them with
generous amount of flux. Use mapp gas torch, butane/propane not
hot enough, to heat up the metal ends to red hot color, then touch
silver solder to the metal and it should flow nicely into the joint and
fill up any gaps. Voila, a strong soldered joint within
seconds. Try it on landing gear struts, etc.
Remember,
next
meeting is at the field on Tuesday June 23 at 7pm.
Arrive early to put in some flying time before the meeting. It's
our first meeting/BBQ at the field so show up and hang out with the
guys.
Regards,
Khoi Tran
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER, May 2009
At
the time of this printing, our wood storage shed has been assembled at
the field. We ended up with a 10'x12' shed to accommodate the
bigger lawnmower we got from John Bowhan's father. The shed looks
great, just needs a fresh coat of paint. I want to give Jeff
Engel many thanks for putting it together for the club, and also to
John Bowhan for getting the big mower up and going. I saw
firsthand how the big mower can cut the grass down to golf course
level. Doug now has the better resources and storage solution for
long term field maintenance. We're grateful to have those 3
dedicated club members.
Finally,
I received the Certificate of Insurance from AMA to provide coverage
for our Oakridge Big Bird Fly-In event on July 18th. We now can
move to logistics planning. At the next meeting, I will present
the wishlist of items to have available at the event and appoint a
Contest Director. We hopefully will get membership input to help
make this a well presented, fun event. Please roll up your
sleeves and participate at the next meeting.
At
the last meeting, we had a guest speaker from the Cottage Grove hobby
shop. His name is Drew. He asked for membership input for
the items he may stock on hand if we will buy in bulk for good
discounts. I advised him that giant scale may be the niche for
his consideration in this competitive RC market. Otherwise, he
has to compete with the direct from China distributors and Tower
Hobbies for the standard size planes which would make it very
difficult. For instance, I'm willing to drive down to Cottage
Grove to pick up an airplane if he does not charge me the $100-150
shipping fee that I otherwise would pay to another distributor like
TBM, Chief Aircraft for a giant scale bird. Several club members
also indicated interest in buying glow fuel in bulk. He will
investigate the bulk prices for YS 20/20, standard 15% nitro, and heli
blend fuels. I will get his response and present the info at the
next club meeting.
At
the last meeting, we assigned field marshall Marty to make the reminder
calls to members that have not paid their club dues. This will be
the last reminder. Our flying season is fast approaching, and
club events are coming right around the corner. We have club
BBQ's at the June, July, and August meetings, Big Bird Fly-In July
18th, Club Fun Fly August 15th, Labor Day Fun Fly in September.
There will be fees charged to nonmembers at these events so please
remember to pay club dues.
Regards,
Khoi Tran
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER, April 2009
March meeting at EWEB again had a good turnout. Thanks again,
Gus, for the nice introduction to KMP line of planes that he now is the
US rep. Since he is local, we can get planes directly from KMP
without shipping costs. KMP offers more scale appearing warbirds
in the form of ARF. At the April meeting, we might have another
guest speaker, Drew who works at hobby shop in Cottage Grove, present
information about the shop and get input from members what types of RC
supplies we want to see in his shop. It's a great way for him to
stock what we need and for us to have access to stuff we need right
away.
Speaking of scale warbirds, I ran into a Ziroli P-40 warhawk hanging up
in the ceiling of Tammie's Hobbies last month. I was shopping
with wife and kids at the time in Portland. Had to run back up
there the next day to bring home the beast. It's 96" ws, weighing
in at 36 lbs and has the usual G62 to power it. It was built by
well-known master Bill Ensley in Beaverton. He spent 8mos,
working on it full time, to put it together. It had won first or
second place in all 3 Scale Masters qualifier entries. I will
bring it to the April meeting at EWEB for close up look to see what a
Scale Master level warbird looks like. Even our local master
builder Frank was blown away at the scale detail. Get ready to
stand back and be amazed...
On Good Friday, I got a pleasant surprise from a local RC guy.
Rick Pepperkorn has quit the hobby due to health issues. He has a
couple boxes of field equipment and misc stuff for small planes that he
wanted to donate to our club, even though he's not a club member.
I picked up the stuff from his house and will bring it to the
clubhouse. I plan to retain the Enya 45 motor and the field
support equipment for our club planes. The rest of the stuff will
be stored in the shed, to be used for helping out newbies or grounded
planes at the field that needed misc parts to get back into the
air. If you guys get in a bind at the field, just ask any of the
intro pilots who have keys to the shed to find stuff you can use.
On a different note, it was brought to my attention that we have some
nonpaying members flying at our field. I don't need to remind
people that there is a significant cost to maintain our nice
field. We presented the budget information for transparency at
the Jan meeting. Field maintenance cost is supported mainly by
club dues. Members have been asked for 4 mos now to pay the
dues. As of last meeting, we still had almost 30 members that
have not paid dues. If that continues, we will have a budget
deficit this year. So again, please pay your club dues so you can
avoid awkward encounters with members who may feel strongly against
nonpaying flyers. We're all out there to have fun and fly with
good karma.
Regards,
Khoi Tran
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER, March 2009
At our March 31st meeting, we will have Gus Phillips come as a guest to
present information about KMP line of airplanes. He will show a
DVD of KMP manufacturing process and give us a peek at the new electric
retracts on an ME 109. In case you don't know, Gus is the USA
support agent for KMP. I think his presentation will be quite
informative for those warbird addicts in the club. Please come to
show our support of this segment of the hobby.
Regarding the Oakridge Airport location for
our Big Bird Fly-In, I've gotten mixed feedback from club
members. Steve Harris brought up the concern for surrounding
trees at that airport. But I know guys that have flown there for
many years without issues. And to settle any nerves, I plan to go
up there on a good weekend day to fly and see for myself. Frank
and a couple members plan to join me for that day. Let me know if
anybody else wants to join us for that test fly day. We will
present information based on our experience at the March 31st meeting
at EWEB.
It appears that about 1/3 of club members
still have not paid their 2009 dues. Please show up at the March
31st meeting to pay dues and show your support.
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER,
Februarty 2009
Good
news, members. I've gotten verbal approval from the Oakridge Airport
manager to use that airport for our July 18th Big Bird Fly In. I'm just
waiting for word from Joanne, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, to
meet next Tuesday with the Board to discuss our request and give formal
blessing. I will then get written approval from airport manager and
we're in.
It's
been quite a process to get access to that airport but I think it's
worth the effort. They have a 3600 feet long asphalt runway that is
laid down east/west direction but because of the surrounding ridge
lines, the wind is always blowing right down the runway one direction
or the other. I hope that gets you guys as excited as I am. Please put
this winter to good use and build/fix/dress up that big bird you've
been hiding in the garage and get her ready for July. This big runway
will allow you all to fly your prized bird with confidence. i.e. not
have to worry about fighting cross winds like at our field. I plan to
advertise this event in the AMA magazine so we can get the word out to
folks all over, making it a well attended show. We will discuss details
on setting up as the event host at the next few meetings. Please attend
and roll up your sleeves to help out.
At
the Feb 24th meeting (Papa's Pizza on Coburg just south of Beltline), I
will invite Bill Schneider to talk about float flying at Dexter Lake.
He introduced me to this alternative style of flying last summer and
let me tell you, it's a blast if you have not done it. It is a great
way to do a picnic at the lake complemented by flying RC. Bill has
access to the U of O rowing dock so you can stand on the dock to fly
and not have to worry about getting dirt/sand on your plane. You will
learn how easy it is to outfit even a trainer with floats and be ready
for water take off. Or if you're willing to dive right in, get a Great
Planes Seawind like me and get ready for Red Bull Air Race style flying
right above the water at full speed!!!
See
you at the meeting.
Khoi Tran
ERCA President 2009
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER, January
2009
I'd like to take
this opportunity to offer a few words of appreciation for Patrick
Willis. He has done a fantastic job as club president for the
last 2 years. We struggled financially 2 years ago with start up
costs for the new field. I remember being "hit on" by Frank every
few months for cash calls to help put the field together. I
believe we had only 65 members at the time. Pat promised to bring
the membership to 100 by the end of the year. Goal was for the
club to gain strength by number, and to have a fresh infusion of
capital to recoup the field startup costs. He has succeeded
handsomely. We now have a solid membership and a decent cash
reserve for unexpected expenses. Thank you Pat.
In
the coming year, the goals I've set are to protect the
cash reserve and improve club services. As everyone knows, cash
is king in a sputtering economy. It is important that the club
protects its reserves to allow it to maintain its functions. It
will be tricky to balance this with ability to maintain quality club
services/activities. But I have some ideas that I will present at
January meeting with the budget proposal for membership approval.
Khoi
Tran
ERCA President 2009
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