I was lucky enough this to go to the Toledo R/C Expo in April where the quarterly AMA Executive Council meeting was held. The Toledo Show is always a good time to see new products and prototypes (see RedWing R/C’s Facebook page to see what I preordered), as well as great deals on the second floor at the swap meet.
I had opportunity to talk with some District VI members. I also attended Mark Radcliff’s well-attended District III membership meeting. Also while I was there, I met and worked with Robert “Rocky” Rachau who is the chairman of the Flying Site Grant Committee.
I was recently told about a quadcopter that got lost in the Kansas City area. I understand there is a $200 reward offered for it. Part of the story I was told included someone suggesting turning off the transmitter so they quad would go into failsafe mode and return to home. In this case that did not happen, and unfortunately it sounds as though it made things worse.
That got me thinking and I realized that my quad has the return-to-home failsafe feature. I didn’t have the switch in the failsafe position when I bound my Spektrum transmitter to the receiver, so in the event of a lost radio signal, mine may take off in any direction, never to return. I need to fix that before flying it again.
Along those same lines, make sure to label your aircraft. I recently discussed this issue with a club member who had an airplane returned, which had been lost for several weeks. A farmer that found it, took the wing off the label with the members name, address, and telephone number inside of it.
Having the plane labeled probably got his it returned to him. Just a note, per our safety code, in the General section, rule 2(f) states: Ensure the aircraft is identified with the name and address or AMA number of the owner on the inside or affixed to the outside of the model aircraft. (This does not apply to model aircraft flown indoors.)
Tim Barrett submitted these information and photos from the Crown Point Aero Modelers in Crown Point, Indiana, taken on April 9 and 19 during a couple of breaks in the weather. Tim wrote, “The next week looks like rain all week, so it’s time to tweak my winter project just a bit more.”
Happy flying!
