District III Report - 2004/06

June 2004 167
SOMETIMES I OBTAIN interesting
articles from various District III clubs. This
month, one of these articles highlights a
very creative club activity. Greg Girard
provided the following information.
The Charity Flyer is more than just a
pretty airplane. It has all the usual stuff, an
engine, a propeller, a wing, and some
wheels. That’s what the Charity Flyer has.
That’s what the Charity Flyer needs to fly,
but the aircraft is much more than that.
The Charity Flyer is an answer to a
question the Hamilton Wireless Kontrol
Society (HAWKS) and other RC flying
clubs have been asking for years, “What
can we do as a club to promote aviation
and goodwill in our community?”
In April, 2003, HAWKS members were
discussing the declining number of fliers at
their RC flying events. They noted the
dwindling participation at club meetings
and the lack of interest among youth in the
hobby. They had been seeing the decline
for years and realized something needed to
be done.
After that April meeting, a HAWKS
member read about The Super Flyin’ King
aircraft that had just been kitted by Bruce
Tharpe Engineering. It is an unusually
large trainer-style aircraft. It is eight feet
long and has an 11-foot wingspan. The
model can be used for a number of
purposes such as towing gliders, towing
banners, dropping an RC parachutist, or
just having a lot of fun sport flying.
A HAWKS member came up with an
idea of building a Charity Flyer. The plan
was to encourage camaraderie within the
club by having club members work as a
team to build the incredibly large Super
Flyin’ King.
The HAWKS would take this airplane
to public events and other RC clubs flying
events and let the spectators and the event
pilots fly the aircraft. An instructor would
always have the master controls in case the
student or other pilot would get into
trouble.
A small donation would be asked for to
fly the model with the money going to a
charity. It would promote aviation by
giving folks with and without flying
experience a chance to safely operate a
unique and exciting aircraft on a trainer
box. The project would
promote good will by
supporting charitable
organizations.
Because of
the high cost involved
with the project, many
of the club members
were hesitant about the
plan. After a couple
months of searching,
John Hart from
Selection.com stepped
up to help and was the
club’s first major
sponsor. The designer
of the airplane, Bruce
Tharpe, and a worldclass
graphics
designer, Dennis Kirby, also quickly
agreed to donate their talents to the project.
Within three months, the club obtained
the funding and support to start the project.
October 8, 2003, the first builders’ meeting
was held and four months later on
Wednesday, February 4, 2004, the first of
two Charity Flyers was complete.
The Charity Flyer has not been flowin
as of this writing, but the first public
display of the model will be at the largest
RC show in North America, the Weak
Signals’ Toledo Show April 2-4, 2004
(www.toledoshow.com).
For more information about the Charity
Flyer or to have the airplane at an event,
call Shawn Kappner at (513) 677-5555.
Ohio / Pennsylvania /
West Virginia
Bob Brown
Vice President
35 Sanford Street
Bradford PA 16701
(814) 368-7655
E-mail: [email protected]
Associate Vice Presidents
Mike Barbee, 6561 Calgary Court, Columbus OH
43229-2008 (614) 891-1643
David H. Ellis, 5261 DeWitt Road, Cross Lanes
WV 25313-1209 (304) 776-1408
Nelson Gould, 1340 Oak Drive, Macungie PA
18062 (610) 395-9159
Donald Klopp, 30 Rosemont Dr., Myerstown PA
17067 (717) 866-6469
Dan Luchaco, 605 Stevenson Street, Sayre PA
18840 (570) 888-1856 [email protected]
Frank Noll, 5492 Waterloo Road, Dayton OH
45459 (937) 435-9232
Matthew Turowski, 5 Dogwood Road, Drums, PA
18222 (717) 788-0661
Joseph S. Vislay, 1381 Cranbrook Drive, PO Box
851, Maumee OH 43537-3062 (419) 893-9537
E-mail: [email protected]
Frequency Coordinator
John Cottle, 1012 Wyoming Avenue, Forty Fort
PA 18704 (717) 287-8970
District III Report AS OF THIS WRITING, the following
clubs have received the Gold Leader status
in the 2004 Leader Club program:
Beltzville Flying Machine Society
(Pennsylvania), Blennerhassett Area Radio
Control Club (Ohio), State College Radio
Control Club (Pennsylvania), and the
Tuscarora RC Club (Pennsylvania).
Congratulations to these clubs for their
fine efforts! Why isn’t your club listed?
Associate Vice President (AVP) Joe
Vislay provided the following pictures of
area modelers enjoying their weekly flying
in a local school gym. Tom Krogel of TNT
Hobby is one of the people who put the
events together.
These are some of the interesting freestyle
models.
Ok! Let’s fly!
Tom Krogel of the TNT Hobby Shop
helped put the event together.
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