If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible.

- Bob Hoover

June, 2005

May Meeting Notes

The May meeting of the Monroe County R/C Club was called to order at 7:05 PM, Eastern standard time, by club vice president Bruce Hoffman, because club president Mark Sexton was AWOL. That’s one of the presidential benefits. You get one month off per year for family travel. Ask Mark about other benefits you can receive as president but be prepared to hear about some of the presidential drawbacks as well. Twenty-four people were in attendance with two of those people as visitors, wishing to join the club. Both were voted in, along with another couple of people who were unable to attend the meeting. Please welcome John Hall, Mark Richardson, Nathan Cross, & Haley Ferguson. Give them a hand & show them around when you meet them at the field. Nathan Cross has already completed his basic training & has earned his solo certificate. Congratulations Nathan!

Figure 1:

Nathan Cross is holding his solo certificate, along side his trainer.

[May 29, 2005]

You may already know Haley as the sister of Damon (Microhenry) Ferguson & granddaughter of Delbert Davis. She is progressing rapidly in her basic pilot training. John Hall traveled to the Toledo R/C Expo with the fat boys group & has caught that airplane bug.

Bill Black is doing some pilot instruction with Alan Mac & trying to recruit him for club membership.

The new wind sock has arrived & has been installed. Please notice the Monroe County R/C Club logos on the new sock courtesy of Mr. Bill Black. Thanks to Delbert Davis for bringing the ladder & to Randy Byers for assisting. Thanks also to Judy Byers for donating part of her carport to hang the new sock on.

Figure 2:

Our new wind sock displays the MCRCC logo.

[May 6, 2005]

It was suggested that a bottle of waterless hand sanitizer be purchased & kept in the rented outhouse. I believe a Mr. Tim Mellott is working on that project.

The fun-fly will be a lottery again this year, as it has been in past years. You need not be a hot shot pilot to win & don’t even have to fly. Tickets for the lottery will be awarded to the winners of each event but you can also purchase tickets from the contest director Mr. Jim Scott. You can fly one event, all the events, or just show up & buy some tickets.

Steve Shoop gave a report on his Butterfly Hills fly-in. Seems it was a little windy but all who attended had a fine time. Thanks Steve.

It was decided that the club meetings in June through September would be held at the club field, as we have done the past several years. Come early & fly before the meeting!

Tim Sparks discussed several upcoming events at the Indy Aero Club where anyone can participate. They will be flying a group to Oshkosh for a day & also to Old Reinbeck Aerodrome in New York. Contact Tim if you need more information at elmshoot@aol.com.

Matt Fornefeld gave a report on the Top Gun competition in Florida by Tim Sparks & Dennis Friesel. Tim won fourth place in his class, flying his Northrop Gamma. Dennis generated a lot of interest with his big electric Martin Mariner but was unable to compete after an electrical problem. Congratulations Tim & Dennis! Tim & Dennis are also working the pylon racing circuit. Stay tuned for more details.

The club voted to have the field sprayed for weeds, pending the approval of our landlord John Naylor & if the price is less than $150.00. Seems that the dandelions pop up within hours after Michael Sexton mows them down.

Bob Watson reported that a new business in Bloomington can take care of your battery needs. Batteries Plus on 3rd Street has good service & fair prices.

Tim Sparks has been burdened with the Dork Award for several months but finally found a victim to pass it on to. Tim Mellott is the new recipient of the Dork Award following an incident at the field involving a profile style biplane. Mr. Mellott said he never liked that plane anyway but didn’t really want the Dork Award either. Beware when you mess up because Tim will be watching.

The meeting was closed at 7:57 PM.

Interesting Bits

After severe thunderstorms on Thursday 5/19, the club field was flooded for four days. The dirty water was about an inch higher than the seat on the picnic table & tried to float the rented outhouse away. The water is gone now but some debris remains. A little rain should wash the filth off the grass. The outhouse has been up-righted & serviced. Mark Sexton has installed some tie-downs to keep it from floating away again.

Skaggs Lawn Care has sprayed the field for weeds (after the flood). The price was a little more than the $150.00 allotted at the meeting but an executive officer session cleared the extra $26.38. The company recommends spraying again next Spring.

Someone has installed a hasp on the rented outhouse door. Please lock it when you leave the field & thanks to whoever installed the hasp.

Check out the old club outhouse! It has new sides & a coat of paint & is really looking sharp. Look for a full report next month.

Don’t forget that Tuesday evenings are trainer nights. Come out to the field for flight instruction or to offer your services to others looking for some help.

Here are some photos of Joe Rogers & his new Sukoi, Michael Anderson & his new Pitts, Randy Byers with his new Monocoupe, & Jim Scott with his Cub & his Spitfire.

Figure 3:

Joe Rogers, along side his new Sukoi.

[March 24, 2005]

Figure 4:

Michael Anderson, along side his new Pitts.

[May 6, 2005]

Figure 5:

Randy Byers, along side his new Monocoupe.

[May 6, 2005]

Figure 6:

Jim Scott, along side his Cub and Spitfire.

Batteries Plus

By Bob Watson

At the may club meeting I mentioned that that 800 mah RX & TX battery packs, can be purchased at the Batteries Plus store here in Bloomington. I had two rx packs made up last summer and they are still going strong. The point of this is that Batteries Plus will make up the packs as you wait. They do a professional job and they will install your plug and pig tails to the pack that they assemble for you.

The cost of an 800 mah receiver pack was $8.67 and an eight cell transmitter pack was $17.31. They can also make higher capacity packs but they will cost more than the lower capacity packs. Their prices are a lot cheaper than buying at some discount hobby sources, you won’t have to wait for a mail order to arrive, and there won’t be any shipping & handling charges.

The club is filling out paper work that will allow any MCRCC member to get a discount on anything that is sold at this store. They carry everything from car batteries to cell phone batteries. Discounts will vary, depending on the products purchased.

Batteries Plus is located in a strip mall behind Arby’s and the Marathon gas station on West Third Street.

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