SKYWRITER ONLINE

April, 2001
APRIL MEETING EVENT
Local RCCA rep Bob Wallace will talk about Combat competition and display typical Combat models

Next Meeting Time: Meeting Program: President's Corner:
The dreaded whump.
That refers to one of the least favorite aspects of our hobby: the crash. That's what it usually sounds like to me except when it's one of those strain-it-through-the-trees crashes, which makes more of a cracking sound. I thought that this month I might look back on some of the more memorable crashes that either I've had or that I've had the dubious honor of being present at.

The scariest: I was at a fun-fly at our field a couple of years ago, and was participating in the bomb drop event. I was standing at the flying station just to the left of the transmitter board getting ready to take off. I looked above my head and saw an LT40 about fifty feet up flying upside down. Since I knew the pilot, I just assumed that he had gotten a little out of shape after dropping his bomb and would recover shortly. The next thing I saw out of the corner of my eye was the plane screaming into the ground about two feet from where I was standing. Seems the pilot was watching the bomb instead of the plane!

The most expensive: Saw a guy take-off a Byrons Sukhoi and immediately go into a left roll. The guy tried for about thirty seconds to save it, but it eventually nosed over and smashed into some hard ground, effectively demolishing the plane and bending the crankshaft of his expensive gas engine. All this was caused by the failure of one of the aileron servos.

The Dumbest: My vote would go to the guy (I've seen this a few times) who's gonna show everybody how fast he can make an inverted pass over the field. All of a sudden, the plane noses into the ground, usually going full bore, and you just know that the guy instinctively pulled back on the stick instead of pushing forward. This has to be the most embarrassing type of crash because there's no way that you're going to get away with blaming it on radio failure.

The most heartbreaking: I decided that it was time to test-fly my built-from-plans Stephens Akro. I started my takeoff run, and was surprised to see the tail come up so fast, so I pulled back on the stick and took off, with way too much up and way too little power. The plane wallowed around slowly gaining altitude while trying to keep it from stalling. My depth perception must have been a little off because that tall tree was in a little closer than I thought and I flew right into it. This might not have been too bad if the plane didn't immediately fall out of the tree straight down into a clearing. That really hurt.

Everybody crashes. I just think that if we become more like FAA inspectors and really analyze why the crash happened, we can increase our chances of avoiding crashes in the future. That said, we're going to try again to have the combat presentation at April's meeting. Hope to see you there.
by Steve Kelley


Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting March 20, 2001
Meeting called to order at 7:00 PM.

Steve Kelley informed the board that Rene Rusche and Ray Mierzejewski are interested in directing a Gremlin type combat event in July.

The field will probably have to be rolled again this year. Mike Doucette will check the records to see from whom we rented the roller last year.

Steve Kelly informed the board that Russ Miller is looking into a new site for the auction for this November, as the site we have used for the past two years is no longer available.

Kevin Schleicher and Jim Dibb reported to the board that the newsletter is now available on the club web site and that members may sign up to receive notification of the posting of each newsletter.

Meeting adjourned at 7:45 PM.

Treasurer's Report for March, 2001
Fleet account:
Balance as of 2/28/2001 1447.02
 
Deposits:
  None 0.00
 
Withdrawals:
  Printing: March newsletter 107.06
  New account seed money 500.00
  Account maintenance fee 9.00
Total withdrawals 616.06
 
Balance as of 3/31/2001 830.96


The Fleet account is no longer being deposited into or withdrawn from. Three checks remain out-standing (one to the state written in November, one to the AMA written last month, and one to Sir Speedy written three weeks ago). These checks must be received back before the account can be closed.

Middlesex Savings account:
Deposits:
  Seed money to open account (Mike D.) 20.00
  Seed money to open account (Mike D.) 20.00
  Seed money to allow check writing 500.00
  2001 dues 285.00
Total deposits 805.00
 
Withdrawals:
  None 0.00
 
Balance as of 3/31/2001 805.00


I have received the checks for the Middlesex account. They came with only one signature line; our by-laws require two signatures. The bank has been notified; replacements are in-process and should be received by the date of the meeting.

Total cash assets 1636.95

Building / Flying Tip
If you have two or more aileron servos, do you spend a lot of time trying to figure out which lead goes to which servo when you put on the wing, or put on the wing and find that it's hooked up wrong and has to be re-done? Or even worse, find out the connections are wrong after you are in the air?
If you color code your servo connections, all the above problems should go away. After all the connections are made and checked out, leave the first servo unmarked, but on the second servo lead (and extension), put a white dot on the front and back of the male and female connectors. A toothpick and Testors enamel works great.
If you have a third or fourth aileron or wing servo, do the same thing but use a different color like yellow, orange, red, or light blue. Fast, accurate hookups are now a snap!
from The Windsock
Don Johnson, editor
49 Nottingham Road
Kimberling City MO 65686