Aero Mail
Share the Load
I just finished reading AMA Executive Director Jim Cherry’s April column; so true! I really identified with the last part, as I had just filled a day with repair work at our club flying field.
Ed, the club president, and I shoveled gravel to fix two big washouts. The two of us have been doing this sort of thing since we started the Wayne County Radio Control Club in 1969. Ed is 70; I’m 73. Another member was applying weed killer on 3 acres with a push spreader; he is 70.
The club has 50 members, and the average age is 55. The younger ones can find time to play golf, not for field work. Saturday is a club work day, and I’m willing to bet a turnout of 10 with an average age of 65+.
I’m thinking of a new club rule: you have to put in so many hours of club work or pay extra dues.
Keep up the good work!
Ralph Woods via e-mail
Tuskegee Inspiration
I want you to know how much I enjoyed the article “A Tuskegee Airman Flies Again” in the April issue; I think it is the most inspiring article I’ve read in a long time and I have always had the most admiration for these men. They stood out above all else then and still do today.
I look forward to every month’s magazine. Here in the Northwest flying has not been the best for me this year, but I’ll be out there this spring and summer for sure.
Robert Pouriea via e-mail
YouTube Coupe
I enjoyed working with associate editor Michael Ramsey on my article, “Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Ercoupe on Floats,” in the April issue of MA, and I have gotten lots of positive feedback from readers.
One thing that I omitted from the article was that readers can see the airplane flying off the water in a short film online on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir8QXESmOZY.
The film was made at the big annual float-fly put on by the SLAM club at Lake Shuswap in British Columbia in September 2006. This was the second flight off water, with Dave Collis as test pilot, and before we replaced the Zenoah G-45 with the G-62, so some porpoising on takeoff is seen. Later takeoffs, with the larger engine and rerigged floats, were much smoother.
Oscar Weingart Riverside, California
Who Knows What You’ll Find?
I am writing this in response to the letter in the April 2007 issue of MA by Don Martin. I would like to challenge Mr. Martin to do a couple things before he bemoans the lack of coverage.
The first would be to read the whole of MA cover to cover. I will almost guarantee that you would find other information in there that he could apply to helicopters. I regularly find tidbits such as finishing techniques in CL Aerobatics, new applications for composites in RC Soaring, and lightweight construction methods in FF columns that can be applied to small field/indoor RC.
If you fly electric helicopters I think you would find some interest in the review of motors, batteries, and ESCs. Don’t forget the special event coverage of things like the IRCHA Jamboree and the Futaba XFC (which, may I remind you, is much more than a lot of the fixed-wing disciplines get, including my own). Add to that the regular how-to and product-review coverage in the magazine, and you’ll find plenty of relevant content.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
