Pomona Valley Model Airplane Club

At the August PVMAC club meeting, President Chuck Pozanac announced that the PVMAC has officially entered into a written agreement with the Chino Airport Traffic Control Tower, and it goes into effect on September 3rd, 2019. The written LOA (letter of authorization) replaces our long standing verbal agreement with the Chino airport tower,  which now officially permits us to fly at the Prado Air Field, which is an approved recreational flyer fixed site in a controlled airspace. The LOA is good for 2 years.

Please downaload and read the agreement in its entirety as the agreement requires that all member and guest are familiar with the agreement and the outlined procedures it contains.  

With this agreement, very little has changed from our club rules.  The most important thing is that we are still mandated by the FAA to stay below 400 feet.  Its now more important than ever to ensure that everyone obeys this law, and ensure that everyone looks out for others that may be flying above 400 ft.  If you see someone who flying above 400 ft, please be a good citizen and ask them politely to please stay below the ceiling.  We do not want to put any full size aircraft in danger nor do we want to risk loosing the privelege of flying at our prized field.    

One change from the agreement that is worth mentioning is that our designated flying area is only active during daylight hours. This means we will not be permitting any night flying from this point forward.  We do not beleive this will impact any pilots.

Please take a 2 minutes to download and read the LOA in its entirety to familiarize yourself with the procedures outlined in the document.  

I also encourage you to check-out the FAA's UAS/Recreational Flyers and modelers website for the latest information on piloting model airplanes and drones in the united states. 

Three years ago, the FAA started requiring model aircraft users to register with the FAA and attach the assigned registration number to their aircraft in a manner that made it visible without dis-assembly. We were also required to have the registration card on our person when flying. Up until now, it has not been the club’s responsibility to enforce this. If a person got caught operating a model aircraft without the proper registration then that was their problem, not the clubs.

That has now changed. While the club is still not responsible for enforcing this rule, the FAA has shut down at least two model airfields because the flyers there were not registered. The Board of Directors is going to do everything they can to not allow this to happen to your field. Therefore, beginning August 1, 2019 anyone flying at Prado Airpark is required to be registered with the FAA, be able to show their registration card when flying at the Prado Air Park and have their model aircraft correctly marked with their registration number. Anyone (member or nonmember) who does not abide by this rule, will not be allowed to fly at Prado Air Park.

In addition, beginning September 15, 2019 when club renewals begin, you must provide a paper copy of your FAA registration card just as you do with your AMA card. New or renewal applications will not be accepted with out proof of FAA registration. You can apply for registration and read the associated rules at the following FAA website:

https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/register_drone/

Many people associate the word drone with quadcopters. The FAA does not make this distinction. They refer to any radio-controlled model aircraft as a drone and all aircraft must be registered and marked appropriately. You can also find rules for flying your model aircraft and requirements for labeling your model aircraft at this site.

Thank you for cooperation to help keep Prado Airpark open.

PVMAC Board of Directors

In the next few weeks, PVMAC will be entering into a LOA (letter of agreement) with the Chino Airport Control Tower.  This written agreement will replace the long standing verbal agreement we have operated with in the past. Flying at Prado Airfield remain unchanged for the most part. The major difference being that once the LOA is in effect, Chino Tower has the authority to shut down operations at the field almost instantly. The shut down would be based on violations in their airspace. It is imperative to keep in mind, we are guests in their Controled Airspace. Let's all due our part to continue flying at a very special model field at a time when it's so easy to lose a field.

Chuck Pozanac
President

6/19/2019

San Bernardino County has big Supersized plans for the Prado Regional Park, which consists of about 2300 acres of land that currently owned by the Army corps of Engineers. This is the very land in which the PVMAC is located; 20 acres leased to the PMVAC by the Army Corps of Engineers. A project was started in June of 2018 to develop a master plan on how to best utilize this land to become a premier park for Southern California and include amenities and activities that will make a favorite recreation destination. All ideas are being considered including the usual park favorites such as a Pool, dog park, skate park, Tennis courts, Soccer fields, Basketball softball, walking and biking trails. But there are more grandiose ideas as well. Ideas such as a water park, rock climbing, a festival area for Music and other festivals, an amphitheater, NFL practice area, community Farm and petting zoo, zip lines, BMX track and the list goes on. 

There have already been 2 community workshops held to present and get feedback from the public. Some of our PVMAC board and members had an opportunity to attend and setup a booth at the second workshop on April 6th, to help promote our club and the positive impact we have had on the surrounding communities. In addition to being Southern California’s premier RC flying club and a Gold Leader AMA club, we also allow the Chino PD use of the field for training purposes, are the go to field for local universities' future aeronautical engineers where they test their new designs and ideas, teach youth and adults alike how to flying, host numerous dog and kennel club weekend gatherings, and host 3-4 flying events every year, including the Toys for tots even which brings in hundreds of toys for the children of the U.S. Marines.

As a PVMAC club member and frequent user of the Prado Regional Park where our field is located, We encourage each of our members to take the survey and submit feedback on how you would like the Prado Regional Park to be used. Below are links to 2 surveys, one of which is still open, and the other looks like it may open soon. I have also included the links to download the slides that were presented at each workshop, as well as a couple newspaper articles that have appeared in local newspapers, where you can and should read more about the Prado Regional Park Master Plan.

• Survey 1 -https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PradoParkMasterPlan
• Survey 2 - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PradoParkMasterPlanAlternatives
• Chino Champion 8/4/18- http://www.championnewspapers.com/news/article_a81bf58e-9759-11e8-8aa2-afbd72d82187.html
• Chino Champion 2/2/19- http://www.championnewspapers.com/news/article_ccdc443c-2660-11e9-9b6e-4f009fee56c5.html
• Daily Bulletin 1/23/19 - https://www.dailybulletin.com/2019/01/23/music-sports-a-farm-residents-can-say-what-they-want-at-prado-regional-park-in-chino/amp/
• SB County Master Plan Web Page https://cms.sbcounty.gov/parks/Parks/PradoRegionalPark/MasterPlanProjectUpdate.aspx
• Workshop Presentation 1 (1/30/2019) -36MB
• Workshop Presentation 2 (4/6/2019) -50mb

The PVMAC's 2018 Scale Fun Fly has come and gone, and by all measures this event was a huge success. The photo to the left of the pilots meeting says it all. We had 62 registered pilots turn out, and although I don't have official historical stats, this has to be in the top 2 or 3 in terms of record turnouts for the PVMAC. We also had at least as many spectators.  

The weather was perfect, and although Friday was a mostly a bust because of the nasty wind, Saturday's weather could not be better, and the wind stayed away most of the day.  

Our new way of giving out raffle tickets each time you flew was a new pilots favorite and ensured there was always 5 planes in the air.  We handed out 144 raffle tickets for flights that day and gave away numerous prizes.  There were also 14 awards given out, and below are the results for those awards. The competition was freindly, though there was no shortage of great looking aircraft in the air. 

It has been a couple years or more since the PVMAC has hosted our own Scale Event, and this years turn out proves that the time was right to bring it back and folks were missing it.  I dont know about everyone else, but Im already looking forward to next years event.  

It takes a huge effort to put on an event like this, and it couldnt have been done without the effort and dedication from our Board members. A special thanks goes out to the folks that put this event together and helped, including Lonni Morrison (His idea to have this event), Cal Orr (CD) Chuck Pozanic (Club President), Steve Parola, Tom Marcure, Larry Marsh, Scott Swirles, Mike Keys, Mark Hibbert, Ted Novak and John Maxwell. Also a huge thanks to all of  the board Members' wives, who helped hand out raffle tickets, run the snack bar, Prepare food, collect landing fees, prep Pilot packs, setup chairs, tables, tents, print flyers, and  the countless other things that go into preparing for an event.  

Chuck started the meeting off by cautioning everyone about Wild Boar, and showed Pictures that board member Larry marsh took. The boar looked to be over 250 plus lbs, and it was reported that they hide out in the river bed, and between the field and SC village. Chuck shared a story about a guy that encountered one and decided to take a shot with an AR-15 rifle he had on him.    It only made the boar mad and chased him up a tree.  They guy had a 9mm pistol with him and unloaded it in the boar from up the tree. The boar eventially died, but not right away, even though he was shot many times.   So be warned, these animals are not to be messed with.    

And Speaking of Pigs, Chuck Spoke breifly about the overturn of the FAA rules for Model aircraft.  Here is a link to the court breifing of John A Talor vs. the FAA here. https://www.modelaircraft.org/files/RegistrationOpinion-May2017.pdf.    You can request a refund your $5 if you request it. there is a link you can use on the AMA website, and I have included it here. https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/registration_deletion/media/FAA_Registration_Deletion_and_Refund_Form_Instructions.pdf

Good and bad news from the Chino tower. The tower had a report of a drone; Pilot reported it the drone was flying at 1800 feet southbound, good news is it was not us, and the Tower knows it.  

There was a rumor FedEx was trying to move into Chino airport, which would be bad news for our field because it would reclassify the airspace. But it sound like this rumor is not true and they are trying to move into a building near by as a ground transportation facility only.

There has been a couple conspicuous visitors taking measurements and doing som survey work, Ted Novak confronted one of them. It was a guy from the county doing a survey. The Duck people apperently want to expand their operation, going west towards the 71, though it should not affect us. Chuck had a conversation with our contact at the county, but she didn’t know anything about it.

Reminder, there is Pattern event and swap meet Oct 7th, We will be publicizing in AMA mag.

Chuck also wanted to bring up a point, because of an issue that we had a couple weeks ago. There is only 1 group who can have a Sanctioned event and that is the PVMAC leadership. Just because you are a member, you cannot host an event at the field. You must be sanctioned not only by the AMA, but you it must be a PVMAC Sanctioned event.  
In addition, Chino Parks and Rec will only let us camp at our field when there is a PVMAC sanctioned event. And again, the only people that can Sanction an event is the PVMAC Board.

Joe Velasquez brought in his 80mm Freewing A10 that he bought at Motion RC. He put on all the decals on first, then assembled it to make it easier. Joe flew it 2 times, says its an unbelievable flier, no flaps needed.  He gets about 3.5 minutes of mixed throttle flying and it lands like a trainer.  He cuts the throttle, and it just floats in. They have a 90mm engine if oyu want to add more power. Runs on 2x 6s5000 , he has 4 sets of batteries, you can do the math on that. He could not say enough about the flight characteristics. He didn’t have to modify anything, and it went together perfectly. The gear ihas been fixed. Has blinking lights. Has 1 plug that handles all the wing connections. The cost was $549, and the cost has gone up to $599.

Lonnie brought in a gigantic 30% World models Steermen ARF with a 116" wingspan. It took 3 people to get it out of his 8x12’ shop. He was worried that it wouldn’t fit in his trailer, but it did…barely.
He wants to fly it in scale this year or next. All the hardware has been changed. Steel cables were switched out to stainless. Fasteners were changeg. Lonnie says, You have to have the flying wires to fly, and you cannot disassemble it, as the wires are the only thing holding the wings on. It weights 47 LBs dry. He put a DA120 with smoke pump and fuel pump, it calls for a 90-100. He has not flown it yet. It wet together well and says its not real acrobatic airplane. Lonnie flew one at castle, and fell in love.
There are 4 sets of batteries, and an added 2.5 lbs of lead to balance. A 12 channel receiver is being used, and every channel is used with all the control surfaces.  

Mark Hibbert brought in an old starter and built a lipo battery and glow plug ignighter carrier that is fully self contained. He plugged in a 14v 4s battery .Took 2 days to build.

And Finally, How many rc pilots does it take to fit Lonnies plane through a door? The Photos are the punchline here....

Its been a while since an update has been made here on the website, but each month the club is updated at our Monthly club meeting which takes place on the second Tuesday of every month. So we thought it best to inform everyone on our website of what transpired at the latest club meeting  

Here is a breif recap of the June 2017 meeting.  

Club Membership is at 315 as of June with 23 members in attendance for June.   

• Chuck talked about the field inspection that competed by the County of San Bernardino and overall it  went well. and breifly touched on the Property tax bill.   
• Chuck reminded all members that they should be careful and watch for snakes.  A couple have been spotted in the area so be on alert. 
• Chuck spoke about people shooting guns near the field and about vandalism at the field.  Everyone should be on the lookout and report anything suspiscious. 
• Chuck reported that a new contract has been signed with the City of Chino for the Club meetings building.
• We gave away 9 cash prizes totalling $250 , and Greg Stockdale won the big $75 prize and Joni won the $36 50/50 Prize. 
• John Maxwell brought in his new ME 262 from Motion RC, and talked about how great it flies...(update...John Crashed this ME262 at the field a couple weeks ago, insisst it was not pilot error.)
• Randy Wilbur Brought in some Plastic models he bought from the Hobby People Close out and talked about how great they are for  researchning scale details for RC planes.