PVMAC News

The PVMAC is bringing back Pro Rated New membership dues for new members joining the PVMAC after July 1. Pilots can now become a new PVMAC member at the Pro-rated fee of $50 (a %50 discount) plus the normal 1x new member initiation fee of $100, for a total of $150.  This totals a %25 savings for new members and also makes you eligible for the renewal rate when you renew your membership for 2024. This membership is good for the remainder of 2023, and will expire on Dec 31, 2023.    

As usual,  all membership forms must be signed, completed, Proof of AMA and FAA, and a signed check in the amount of $150 enclosed. 

Click here to go to the 2023 Membership page for more information and to download the Pro-Rated new member application Form. 

The Big Jolt II EDF Fun Fly took place at the Pomona Valley Model Airplane Club (PVMAC) in Chino, California June 2 and 3, 2023. Flying field is within the Prado Regional Park Area near Chino California boasting a huge 800 foot asphalt runway with plenty of width for those questionable approaches with enough pit area to support 30 canopies. Event hosted 31 registered pilots primarily from the Southern California, and as far as Sacramento, California

Big Jolt is a Southern California event that started way back in 2010 and has been a pretty popular electric model airplane fly-in since. Big Jolt experienced a hiatus due to economics and then of course the COVID era. Back in the day prop planes dominated the sky. As the industry evolved a mix of prop and EDF aircraft ruled the air. Fast forward to 2023 EDF’s will have their own day in the sun.

PVMAC Field was a buzz with one hundred people in attendance to include overnight campers, pilots, vendors, spectators, family and those just having a great time. Saturday was the primary day for flying, socializing and vendor exhibitions. Pilots took to the air showcasing what modern day EDF’s are capable of. From generic 6S systems to modified 8S and 12S systems the sky was buzzing with excitement. Foam is the go-to material for most electric model airplanes today. There are some really cool foam birds out there these days that have recently become available. Most manufacturers airframes were present from the basic foam BNF to 100% composites that would dent your savings account. What struck me this year was the variety of aircraft that were there that included some really unique stuff aircraft.

Several vendors were onsite with generous industry support such as Horizon Hobby, FrSky, RCBattery, Pegasus Hobbies, Progressive RC, Ted Novack, House of Balsa, RC Plane Stands and RTL Fasteners for the now infamous end of day Pilot’s Raffle.

In addition to the non-stop flying of EDF’s Gary G from EffluxRC conducting an exciting high speed demonstration.This was followed by the Speed Contest that drew some fierce competition. At the end Danny Serrato with his BVM Electra claimed the Title as Fastest EDF in Southern California clocking and average speed of 182.5 mph with a top speed of 201 mph.. EffluxRC manned their vendor space providing technical and physical hardware for those with the desire to upgrade their power systems.

Our local Horizon Hobby group of Fliers under the command of Doug Anderson took off in formation piloting F-16’s in coordinated formation and tactical flying demonstration. With EDF’s flight time and landing sequence is paramount. The Horizon Team were definitely a crowd pleaser with fellow pilots and spectators.

At the close of the meet most of the birds went home with their owners wearing a big smile waiting for Big Jolt III in 2024.

Written By:Erv Myers 
PVMAC Board Member and Event Coordinator

The PVMAC is supporting Greg Stone for our AMA District X Vice President. Greg has been a member of the PVMAC for a number of years and has been serving on our Board of Directors for over 2 years, and we recognize all the positive contributions he has made not just to our club but to other clubs and the hobby. As long as we have known Greg, he has been a constant champion for our hobby and worked tirelessly to promote and introduce our hobby and its’ many benefits to younger generations. As the voting ballots start arriving in your mailbox this week, we encourage you to cast your VOTE FOR Greg Stone for AMA District X Vice President. 



PVMAC BOD

Click here to see More Information about Greg Stone and why we are supporting Him.

Great News Everyone! The field is now open for flying. The below sign will be posted at numerous locations at the field.

Starting Today-5/11, the San Bernanrino parks department is no longer requiring pilots to wear a mask at the field. The PVMAC B.O.D. is recommending pilots continue to wear masks as a courtesy to others and safety precaution, but it's not required. Also, please continue to maintain 6' of social distancing; were not out of the woods yet. Be safe, be courteous to others, and have fun flying.

President, Chuck Pozanac started the meeting by talking about club membership numbers. We have 257 members as of March 10. For reference, in 2019 at this time we were at 267 members, and in 2018 we were at 284, there is a definitely slight a downhill slope, but we are hopeful that we will gain more members by the end of the year, and are putting some into action…More to come on this.

Chuck said the comment period has closed for the Remote ID NPRM, and currently sits at 53207 comments, we hope everyone had a chance to comment, even if it was just one sentence. Chuck said th FAA will now go quite for 18 to 24 months, while they review the comments and hopefully revise the rules, before they will say anything.

Chuck said they relocated all the tumbleweeds for now to clear them from the field, and placed them against the fence. We have received bids of around $9000 to remove them, which is too expensive. We have been informed by the County, that this is a potential fire hazard. So if anyone wants to take them home to build tumbleweed snowmen, be our guest.

Chuck wanted the members to be aware of how much was spent last year on services to maintain our field. There seems to be the perception that the club only collects money and that it just maintains itself...But it is getting more expensive to maintain the field every year.
In 2019, here was the break down.
$2900 to spray the weeds
$1885 to fix the cracks in the asphalt.
$1500 for discing and mowing the field in front of us. (Discing a field chops and incorporates crop residue into the soil, promoting rapid decay of the plant material, making the soil easier to manage.)
$475 to fix the fence
Totaling $6760 for field maintenance in 2019.

A Web survey asking about how members felt about our events was sent out to all PVMAC members this past month. Chuck commented that there were some interesting comments that the board will continue to review. We received 63 survey responses, and they were generally positive, mixed with some constructive criticism. One result we will share is that of the first question, “What is Your overall opinion of flying events at the PVMAC?” We receive an average of 4 out of 5 on that question with 5 being Excellent. So we will be taking this survey into consideration as we move forward.

An email went out by the board requesting a Newsletter editor or editors. They are looking for someone who is willing to help put together a monthly newsletter to help disseminate information to the rest of the club.

There was as small group of people in 2 cars, a white truck and a jeep, they were flying a multi rotor outside the gates, from the road. They took off flew south then headed toward Prado Park. If you see anyone doing this, please approach them and talk to them and see if they will bring the multi-rotors back in as they are flying in areas they are not supposed to fly and not part of our group. They were reported to the parks, as we don’t want to get blamed for their flying. If you see these people or others like them, try to snap a photo so we might get a license plate to report.

Vice President Larry Marsh said that the weeds were sprayed on February 25th. They will come out and touch it up as the need arises. They need the right rain conditions for weds to be sprayed.

PVMAC Members have only written 8 Day passes to date, which by the way is now at $20 for each day pass. Some discussions arose as to why this might be the case. It was stated by one of the members, that there just has not been that many people flying without a membership so far, so perhaps most who want to fly have joined or are staying away as they have received word that the cost is now $20.

Chuck reminded everyone that the chino Airshow is May 1st- 3rd. May 3rd is also the day of the Northrop Grumman Collaboration Day, held at our Prado Field. Chuck didn’t feel there would be any issues with both events being held on the same day, since the airshow gets a late start, and the collaboration day is over at noon.

Finally, PVMAC Treasurer Roy Lamphear gave a speech about how passionate he feels about the club and about how he felt about the decline in events. He spoke about how we need to do better, to bring members together to hold more events to promote our hobby and Club. A week Prior, he had attended the board meeting to state his case and present a plan for holding an event and then volunteered to be the event coordinator. So, thanks to Roy and all the members who filled out the survey, Roy was able to announce that we would be holding a Fun Fly Scale event on Saturday, October 17, 2020. We will be looking for volunteers to help with Planning and prepping and working the event. Roy is planning to get enough people so that the burden does not fall on a small number of people and volunteers will be able to enjoy the event also. If you want to help make this even a success, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In addition, Roy and Chuck spoke about wanting to also put more effort and emphasis in Our PVMAC Facebook Group. It has been up since approximately 10 years, but there has not been much effort to bring members to the page, by adding post there by members or promote it. They talked about bringing some excitement and communication back to the club and using the free tools at our disposal to do so and want to use Facebook to grow our community and encourage more comradery. (more to Come soon)

Check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/PVMAC and join in today.