R/C Flyers
By Ray Ihlenburg
Glad to be back in the News after several months. There were just too many moving targets to report on, and too many changes to contend with.
This month the front-page news is the new field. Turns out that promises made could not be passed on to the contractor responsible for the new field and demolishing the “old” field. As we have been saying throughout this process, “it is what it is”. The last day for flying was July 5, so while we wait for the new facilities to be completed a lottery has been suggested to guess the opening date. While we wait, try to stay cool in the workshop (hanger), check the equipment and airworthiness of our airplanes and watch for the lottery results next month.
A number of our members took on the responsibility to dismantle our PA system, camera, weather station, any anything else we didn’t want the contractor to handle. They worked in really hot weather to protect our equipment investments. Thankfully, the last structure standing was the Porta-potty.
During the July business meeting, Don Wright presented a very informative slide show using aerial views of the roughly 35-acres set aside for the RC cars, helicopters, and airplanes. There will definitely be a learning curve for our pilots because of the trees, the sun, and orientation of the runway. The most troublesome may be when the wind has a northerly component that may require flying a right-hand pattern.
One wonderful addition will be the ability to water the grass runway adjacent to the paved runway. This will be a big improvement for the larger models that are more at home on grass. Few clubs have both paved and smooth grass runways.
The Board will be reviewing our operating rules, but there should be very few changes to the present field rules. As with any move, there will be bugs to work out or things to just get used to. We all did it when we moved into On Top of the World but this will be much less work on our part thanks to our leadership who has invested many hours planning and working with our developer.
In other news…We have 203 members and the Christmas party is scheduled for December 13. Last year was a blast, so please save the date.
Anyone interested in joining the OTOW RC FLYERS, is invited to check us out at otowrcflyers.com, or attend our monthly business meeting on the first Monday of the month at 9:00AM in the Hobby Building meeting room, or stop by the field (eventually) and talk with us.
We’re grounded for a while, but not for long.