Aero Mail
Correction
The July 2007 article “A New Look at Vintage Aerobatics” by Duane Wilson contained sidebars titled “Is SPA Aerobatics Right for You?” and “AMA’s Take: Researching Your Design.” They were mistakenly credited to Bob Noll and should have been credited to Duane Wilson. Our apologies for the error. —MA staff
Matchmaking
The article by A.G. “Andy” Lennon, “Matchmaking” (in the June issue), “Have you ever considered the pilot’s needs when selecting a propeller for an engine?” is a great reference article. Please make this article and other beginner articles or reference articles available on your web site. Harold Brown Radcliff, Kentucky
Club Workload Options
I saw the article “Share The Load” on page 7 of the June issue of MA. I’m referring to the letter from Ralph Woods regarding the age old problem of getting members to help with club chores.
Like almost all clubs of any type field maintenance, specifically grass cutting, is a notorious hot issue that always brings forth at least 30 excuses why an individual can’t find the time to help.
After many heated discussions at club meetings we hammered out a policy that seems to have separated the serious club members from the not serious club members. It’s quite simple, direct and above all fair.
Each member is paired with another and assigned a date to cut. With two mowers it takes about three hours to maintain the entire area each week. With the number of members we have, each member would “donate about six hours a year” to grass cutting, and their name will only come up twice.
Realizing that 90% of the membership agreed to this plan we still offered four options. They are as follows:
- Cut the grass as scheduled
- If you can’t make it, it’s your responsibility to find a replacement or trade with another member
- If you do not want to participate your dues will increase by $60.00 per year.
- If you can’t choose items 1, 2 or 3 above you are no longer welcome in the club.
Every member who applies for membership is told of this policy and so far we are fast becoming a club of “Team Players.” The ones who are set against helping are thankfully policing themselves and not returning. In our situation this amounted to 3 members.
After much discussion the majority of the members admitted they felt a degree of animosity to those who made statements like “I didn’t join to work,” “I joined to fly” or “I’m allergic to cut grass.” The answers to those types of statements are obvious but until a club makes a stand, nothing will change.
Workdays seem to go fine since we usually get 70% of the members to show up. We have about three workdays a year.
It may sound harsh but folks have to realize that the majority of flying clubs do not have the budgets to hire grass cutters and six hours a year is a small price to pay for being part of this fantastic hobby.
Please take a look at our website: www.carolinafunflyers.net. I hope you can get this info to Ralph Woods of the Wayne County Radio Control Club. Ken Becker President, Carolina Fun Flyers
Aero Mail
Instant Gratification
Thanks for the cool article on the Foamy [in the July issue]. After a long 1/5-scale Cub build I was itching for some instant gratification and your little plane was perfect. Had all the gear on hand so I built mine yesterday and flew it this morning in 15 mph winds. This is my first flying wing and will not be my last, nothing but fun.
Ryan via E-mail
A Parakeet Fleet
Our Grand Island Modelers Parakeet fleet is well and alive. Plans were purchased from AMA’s Plans Service in December of 2006. Since that time, six Parakeets (plan #541C) have been built and flown with great success.
Two of the Parakeets have rudder, elevator only, two have been modified with lower wing ailerons, and two have ailerons cut out of each wing. They are powered with .32 engines rather than the recommended .25 size engine.
Frank Weber Grand Island, Nebraska
The Current Flow
Well if the people complain of electrical content they should look at the ads and count the percentage that are electric oriented. Clearly the electric vendors are now a major source of income for the magazines. How many ads are there for glow engines or for fuel?
So Willie Sutton’s rule prevails, when asked why he robbed banks, he said “That’s where the money is.” Or as Walt Kelly’s Pogo said, the “Golden rule is he who has the gold makes the rules.”
On the other hand what I miss in the current (no pun intended) magazines that has made me drop subscriptions from all but MA and Flying Models is too many product reviews that are virtual advertisements at the expense of construction articles. I learned a lot from construction articles, I read them all, even for types of models I didn’t care to build. MA
Bill Baker Norman, Oklahoma
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
