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* The President's November Letter
Bill Roy, CMAC President

Elections For Officers 2009
Election of nominated club officers will take place during the November meeting.

President: Bill Roy
Vice President: Elmer Crouthers
Treasurer: Ken Johnson
Secretary: Mike Brunetto
Membership Chairman: Stan Wysocki

Thanks to everybody for volunteering again.

Sticking with tradition, we will have pizza and soda at the November elections meeting, so save room for a slice or 2.

Meeting Area Search

With renovations started at the airport, we need to come up with some possible meeting locations and select one before we are out of our current spot. Two possibilities are going back to Booth Memorial in Stratford or looking into the Margaret Egan Center in the Devon section of Milford.

Holiday Party

While thinking about having a club dinner this year we realized that many of our members are also members of other local clubs.

Therefore we plan to have a holiday dinner in December where members of CMAC, WHERCC and ILRCC can all get together and share in having a good time.

So the plans are in the works and with enough members up for it, the dinner will be held on December 9th. Everybody will be notified in plenty of time with the current plans. If you are interested in attending, contact me.

Auction Fund Raiser

The White Hills Eagles RCC is planning an auction to raise some money. Since having more participation makes for a better event - CMAC and ILRCC have been invited to join in. (See item below).


Plymouth Field

If you saw the local news, you know they caught the person setting fires in the Plymouth area. When I talked to the Plymouth Police, they wouldn’t confirm that he also set the fire in our trailer.


Plymouth Field Work

We have two goals before winter really sets in.
One - level up an extension area at the South end to gain about 20 of runway.
Two - the trees we cut to six feet need to be cut back again. When the leaves are gone it will make the job a littler easier.


October Scale Fly In Results

Smallest plane Ken Johnson Saber Jet
Largest plane Mike Brunetto Extra
Most Realistic flight Bill Jennings F4U Corsair
Pilots Choice Bill Roy SE5a


Winter Gate Rules

After Columbus Day the first gate is kept locked at all times. With the first gate locked, cars can’t get locked in so when we are at the field we can leave the second gate open while making sure to lock it shut when the last member leaves.

Make sure that our lock, the rangers lock and small pin is locked to the large pipe. If not secured it has the chance of getting taken by the guys on the bikes and quads.

If you come to the field and the First gate is open, then you have to lock the second gate closed just to be safe.

Monroe Field

The field as usual is in good shape. The road up to the field shouldn’t be a problem to anyone.
The extension has been mowed also. Remember,, Saturdays are for electrics only from 10:00 to 1:00.

Remember to fly safely, don’t fly alone, follow the rules and have a good time.

Bill

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From the Mintues of the CMAC October meeting

Gerry Jarvis gave a discussion on the rising cost of fuel due to the limited availability of nitromethane with one of the two suppliers shut down and the recent closure of the other due to the Olympics. Some of the fuel manufacturers have stopped making higher percentage nitro fuel so they can supply more at the 10 - 20 % levels. The other big usage for nitromethane is drag racing.

Elmer Crouthers, Secretary

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If you are a CMAC member and have not already signed up, I would like to encourage you to join. Only CMAC members that join the group will be able to use the features of the group. Not only will you know when others a planning to fly, the group makes it easy to tap into the knowledge and experience of the other folks in the club when you have a question about a model your working on. Items of interest are also passed along which may not be timely to get in the newsletter.

I hope to see you at the field. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Ken Johnson  Phone (530) 689-6805 fly@rc-aircraft.info

On Wednesday July 11th Ken Johnson and Ron Faanes volunteered to so some flying. The camp provided a field of about 80 x 150. Both flew electric helicopters and after a couple of flights they gave the kids a closer look at the models and answered their questions. It was a great opportunity to showcase RC flying.

Events such as this can spur interest in our hobby. If anyone hears of another opportunity to bring the sport of RC flying to any interested groups please let Bill Roy know.

In the photo below, left to right is Robbie Smarz, a Junior Counselor; Andy Sinish, the camp's Unit Director; CMAC President Bill Roy, CMAC VP Ron Faanes, and CMAC Treasurer Ken Johnson.

Safety is mostly about crashes and avoiding them or ensuring they occur in safe places. There is a lot more about safety but for this safety note, I want to talk about crashes.

When it comes to safety, it is always you first and your airplane is a long way back in second. Try your best to save the airplane and keep it in a safe area but put it in the ground, trees, or water before you endanger someone—including yourself—or someone's property.

As I have said before, there are roughly 1,000 things that can kill an airplane and I have 750 covered, but that doesn't mean that I am rolling over and letting it happen to me. Every time I crash or am present when a crash occurs, I try to do a thorough accident investigation (post mortem if you will) to find out what happened so I (we) can avoid recurrence.

I would say in my experience and observation, well more than 70% of all RC aircraft crashes are caused by the pilot, not the airplane or the radio failing. On the other hand, less than 50% of the crashes are acknowledged to be dumb thumbs (careful investigation shows that 43.2% of all statistics are made up ... LOL).

The first thing you have to do in your investigation is determine if it was you or not. You don't have to tell me or anyone else the truth but if you want to stop the next crash, be honest with yourself about this one. You can tell me you don't know what happened when you know you pulled when you should have pushed.

I may know the truth but I am not the one who has to stop your next crash—you are! So if you are the culprit, relive the incident and determine what exactly was going on and what you did to get into trouble or to make trouble worse.

Once you figure out what you did, get on a simulator and try to recreate the same scenario and do it until you survive repeatedly. If you don't have a simulator, find a friend with one or go to the field and get to a safe altitude then go higher before you try to recreate.

Now if you have been honest and it really wasn't you, then gather all of the pieces you can and see what or who the real culprit is. You will want to inspect glue joints, wires, and connectors, switches, batteries, receivers etc.

If you can put it all together at the field and try it, other people will help you troubleshoot and think through it and it will be fresh on your mind. Careful, it might be too fresh (that is why I don't wear a neck strap with my radio. When I get mad I can't throw it as far ... LOL).

The last crash I helped investigate was a result of a previous crash that had not been completely repaired. In flight, the wing suffered a failure at an old fracture that had not been noticed or repaired.

If anything was observed departing the aircraft before the crash, try to figure out what it was and locate it if you can. It may well be the cause and it would be good to inspect it to discover the reason for its failure.

Stay on the case until you know what happened or you just can't explain it. If you figure out what caused it, your number of covered items may go above my 750. If you share the information, everyone's number of covered items will improve.

Fly safely and have fun!

Directions: Take Route 8 to exit 39. If you are coming from the South turn right at the end of exit. If you are coming from the North, turn left at end of exit. This is Route 6 going towards Plymouth.
Turn right at the first traffic light (about 7/10 mile up winding hill from exit) if coming from Route 8. (Second traffic light if coming from the North.) This is route 262. Take your second left off of Rt. 262 (about 6/10 mile). This is Keegan road. Follow Keegan Rd. to the end (about 1.1 miles) and then sharp right to the first gate.
The Rules:
Gate 1: The first gate is open all Spring and Summer and is locked up on President's day. If you find the first gate open, leave it open. If you find the first gate locked, open with your key. Close the gate behind you and put the bar in and lock it.
When you lock the gate, CMAC's lock is on one side of the pin and the Army Corp' s lock is on the other side of the pin. This allows the police department, rangers and fire department to enter. Please do not put CMAC's lock thru the bar restricting their access.
If you are the last person out, put the pin in and lock the gate behind you. Again, only if you found the first gate locked. Proceed to the second gate (about 2/10 mile). Unlock this gate or pull the pin, go through and close the gate behind you and put the pin in.
Gate 2: Proceed to the second gate. Unlock this gate, go through and close the gate behind you and LOCK IT. The second gate is ALWAYS KEPT LOCKED.
When you lock the gate, CMAC's lock is on one side of the pin and the Army Corp' s lock is on the other side of the pin. Please do not put CMAC's lock thru the bar restricting access to the rangers,  police and fire departments.
Never fly alone. Plymouth is in the woods. If you got in trouble, people may not find you for days.
The Frequency Board: The frequency board is first come, first served except that if there are more than four flyers present you can only fly once an hour or once a rotation.
Maximum flying time is 15 minutes, timed from the moment you commit to your frequency and when you land.
If you are using a frequency for engine test, you may do so for no more than 15 minutes at a time.
There will be five flight stations. Four aircraft and one helicopter. Four aircraft and one helicopter can be in the air at the same time.
The frequency board will have the usual 44 frequencies and 9 HAM frequencies. The 72M are numbered. The HAM frequencies are the letters A-I.

In most clubs, virtually all the work necessary to keep the organization going is done by a small percentage of the membership. The CMAC are no different. Whether it's cutting grass, being field chairperson, activities chairperson, a contest director, a board of directors member, maintaining a club Web site, or being president, treasurer, secretary, or newsletter editor, we are all volunteers. The pay scale is the same — zip.

Most members who have never been involved in any of these jobs have no appreciation of the effort that goes into doing them. Many club members have no idea who does what for the club. Some seem to think it all happens automatically and, since they've paid their dues, they're entitled to a free ride in all other aspects.

The people who recognize and assume the responsibilities do so for a variety of reasons. Most want to do something to feel like they're doing their share to support the club. Some have unique skills that enable them to make special contributions. As long as the volunteers do their jobs, the people who recognize what they're doing appreciate and occasionally thank them.

Whatever the reason, eventually the workers feel it is time to move on and let someone else carry the ball for a while. Maybe they're burned out, tired, have developed physical problems, or have family or business responsibilities that precludes donating the time necessary to do a club job. Maybe they feel they've done enough. Eventually, all will quit doing whatever they do. If you don't think that being a club officer takes its toll on time and patience, think about how many past presidents are still active members of the club. Of those who are, how many are willing to be president or hold another office?

Appreciate the people who spend their time making your club work. Pat them on the back occasionally. Don't resent them when they quit doing it. Ask yourself if you would have done that job. from Walt Wilson, editor, St. Charles MO