Pomona Valley Model Airplane Club

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.

Did you know the PVMAC has had a Facebook group  since 2009?  We encourage you to join the group, share what your working on in the hanger, what your flying at the field, and anything else that is related to our hobby.  Its just another way to bring our members together when we're away from the field, to be more involved and more informed on what is going on with our club. Its not just about the Club sharing news or info about the, its about you sharing new ideas, new projects, getting advice or sharing a great photo of your favorite plane.   The group was Just taken from a private group to a public group, so you no longer need to be a member of the group to see the posts. But if you want to share and comment, you will need to click the join button on the page.. It may take a day for you to be added, but I have been checking it more often lately.  We hope to see you there....

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PVMAC/

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.

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