June Meeting recap

We now have 400 members even

Chuck Pozonac, the PVMAC President, started the meeting off by talking about the Main Gate.   Chuck wants to make sure that everyone is locking the main gate if you’re the last to leave the Prado field. Even if you think there might be duck hunters still there, lock the gate to be safe.  All the Bells are all there now, so the gate is fully functional and should be locked.

The PVMAC was awarded a Commemorative AMA Brick at the cost of $1000 at the AMA site in Muncie Indiana  to be places in the AMA Walk of fame.  It will read  We are  PVMAC Charter 00142,    Gold Leader Club.   We are 1 of 2 clubs that have been awarded this brick. The other is from Weak signals club that puts on the Toledo show.

Tom Marcure talked about the newsletter, and clarified the rules for the drawing and submissions which have been posted on the website.     There will be 5 $100 prizes drawn at the end of the year.   See the newsletter and Website post for more details.

There was a complaint about loud music being played at the field and this is the first complaint of this kind.  There are no rules against it, but it is common courtesy to keep the volume low as not everyone has the same taste in music.

There was a fire extinguisher left at the field and it was brought up that putting your name on it might be a good idea.

Chuck has some regrettable news.  The Norton Field, which is home base for many of our PVMAC members, will no longer be available to fly at after July 31^st.   the PVMAC  has been notified that we must vacate the field after that date.     We are working on ways to save it but it seems unlikely that we will be able to.  It has nothing to do with the FAA or the PVMAC Conduct at the field and everything to do with San Bernardino’s plans to increase operations at SBIA.  We are lucky to have been able to fly there for this long.  

Click below to read the rest of the Meeting Summary

Chuck talked about the cracks in the runway at Prado, and said that we most likely cannot slurry it anymore probably need more severe fix and it would be expensive so we should hold on to our wallets. 

Tim Johnson ,who is the  AMA  associate Vice President of District X, talked about the “big bad” Drones and multi-rotors.   He talked about the “Know before you Fly” campaign (more info at  Know before youfly.com).  Local hobby shops can get on board and the AMA provides materials to the people who buy Multi-Rotor products from their store.   He pointed out the both the AMA and FAA have rules regarding drones, and passed out some rules and regulations regarding the operating of drones. He also answered questions about the Drones.   Tim asked us to engage drone pilots flying in a public place, and find out if he is aware of the rules that regulate the drones.

Tim introduced Greg Stone, who is an OCMA treasurer and Orange Coast  RC Club President, introduced himself and was appointed the newest AMA District X Associate VP.   He talked about how we as a club can get money for improvements to the field from the AMA.    Greg also talked about his son who attends AZ state aeronautics engineering and how his son is competing in RC Heavy Lift Competitions with other universities.  They design a scratch built airplane that is 28 lbs  All up weight but powered by only  with .46 total displacement.   Has  5lbs static,  3lb droppable payload.  It also includes some autonomy and ability to set waypoints.

Chuck talked “very briefly” about an incident at the field. Richard Burman,  accidentally nearly hit LAry with an EDF when the throttle was accidentally bumped.  All Electric airplanes should have an arming switch, which will help in preventing an accident.   You can set your throttle Cut off  feature or Use Throttle Curve programmed to a dual rate switch on your computer radio to facilitate this at no additional cost.

Roy Barringer, talked about how he has met with the City of Chino, to provide Documentation about our meetings, and how he has secured the Chino meeting facility for another 6 months through December.

Larry brought his new Horizon Habu 32x EDF.  It goes together fast, and sells for 38, but at the end of it was about $1300 all up.   Flies ell, takes off well, he has 9 flights on it.  He says the length of the runway is not long enough, and wants the runway to be extended another 200 feet.  He realizes now it does fly slow.    He says its very quick.  He said the retracts are a bit of a problem as they don’t always go in all the way.   He is running the eflight 6s5000mah 30c  and recently purchased an admiral 50c  battery of the same size for much less.   It Has an 80mm 5 blade fan.  

Steve Gamble Brought in his SPAD 13 Maxford ARF wich is nearly ready for a maiden flight.  He took it to Richard Burman,  who helped him change the covering to Solartex  covering and  home depot latex paint. He had to go over it with steel wool to take the sheen out of it, as even with semi gloss,  it was too glossy.   He hand made the cockpit. Has a Saito 100.  He said to throw away the directions, as they are not worth a damn.  The plane weighs in at 13lbs.  It has not flown yet.    The CG is right on.  He said it was very well made.  He wants to change the tail wheel out before he flies it.  The kit included the scale exhaust and guns, and he is going to order Williams brothers Gun kits which will look more realistic.   

John Maxwell brought in his new Dynam Hellcat which he bought at the AMA show.   He said he got a deal on it at $120.   It went together in about 3 minutes but was disappointed that the guns weren’t functional.   The biggest challenge was programming the esc.   He said that he accidentally  launched the propeller across the shop, when he finally figured out how to program it.  He said that the prop needed to be really wrenched down, The  landing gear are flimsy, and he doesn’t have a high degree of confidence in them.    It comes with LED’s in the wingtips.   But apparently you cannot just plug it in.   So you need some power source to get them going.

Steve Gamble brought up a good safety Tip.   When he starts up an electric airplane for the first time, and especially when programming an esc, he removes the prop.  This is a great tip and can prevent you from loosing the tip of your fingers or launching a propeller across the room.   You just never know what its going to do the first time.

Joe won the 50/50 raffle of 60 bucks.
Tom Marcure Won 75
Paul Smith won 25
George pollard won  25.
Roy Barringer won 50
Larry Paul won  25
Ted Kranouski won 
Darren Wolf won 
Joni Witsitt won
Greg Novak won a shirt
Tom Callahan won a shirt
Wally won a hat.