Dispatches From The Aerodrome…May 2008Page 1

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Dispatches From The Aerodrome…May 2008Page 1

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I would like to begin by apologizing for not having the newsletter prepared for you sooner. Unfortunately, my personal life has been very hectic as of late and the computer on which I save the newsletters ceased to function approximately three weeks ago. The combination of these events has made it very difficult for me to complete the May newsletter. At this point, I have been able to retrieve the files I needed and finally have the time to devote to completing a satisfactory newsletter. Without further adieu, here is your newsletter…

May Meeting

The next club meeting will be held on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 7:00 p.m., in the banquet room of Soulman's Bar-B-Que, 691 E. Interstate 30, Rockwall, TX 75087.

Minutes of the April Meeting

The April meeting of the club’s general membership was held on April 10th, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. at Soulman's Bar-B-Que, 691 E. Interstate 30, Rockwall, TX75087. President Larry Wells called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. There were 15 regular members and 4 probationary members in attendance.

Notes of the March 2008 meeting: The minutes of the March 2008 meeting were dispensed by unanimous approval.

Treasurer’s Report: John Barnett presented the April 2008 Treasurer’s Report for the general membership’s approval. Any member not present at the meeting that wishes to receive a copy of the report may feel free to e-mail or contact me by phone. My e-mail address and phone number are listed in the 2008 Club Officers and Administrators section on the last page of the newsletter.

Income for the month of April totaled $341.67, which consisted of 2008 initiation fees and membership dues ($291.67) and a $50.00 donation to the Bill Presley Memorial Youth Fund. The expenses for the month were for the March Port-O-Pot rental ($76.80), reimbursing Larry Wells for a field lock and one gallon of fuel ($31.65), reimbursing Neal Higinbotham for materials needed to repair the gazebo ($29.63) and $15.00 petty cash for Larry Wells. Total expenses for the month of April 2008 were $153.08.

The account balance as of the meeting was $5,256.81. There were no objections to the April 2008 report. The April 2008 report has been accepted by the members present at the meeting.

Congratulations to Jenn Helge for her induction into our club! She will be easy to recognize at the field as she is our only female member. She is the wife of Nick Helge, who is one of our newest members. Please take a moment to welcome Jenn into our club!

FYI: Jenn’s acceptance into the club filled the final opening we had available. Should anyone ask, we have reached our limit (cap).

Safety Committee Report:The only issue discussed was covered in last month’s newsletter. Just to reiterate, USE CAUTION WHEN WORKING AROUND A MOVING PROPELLER!!!!!

As always: These gentlemen have one of the hardest jobs in our club. If they approach you to discuss a safety issue, please show them the utmost respect. They only do so with the best intentions. Put yourself in their shoes and treat them as you would like to be treated!

Field Marshal Report: Clint Brunson reported on the condition of the field. He recently made repairs to the safety fencing. There is on-going discussion pertaining to the runway repairs/renovation. It will be covered in further detail in the Old Business section.

Flying Proficiency Committee:I need to step up and apologize to Berl Driskill. I was unaware that he had been appointed and had accepted the position of the Flying Proficiency Committee Chairperson. I am certain that Berl’s experience and his outstanding attitude will make him a huge asset to our club in this position. Berl, please accept my apology for not giving you the recognition you deserve! More importantly, thank you for taking over this post.

Please congratulate Mark Zabolotny on his recent advancement to “Pilot” status! He is one of our newer members and started with helicopters. His proficiency with helicopters made his transition to fixed wing craft very easy. It took him two days of flying a TWIST to accomplish his goal! (I am a little biased on his achievement. He is my first official student as a club instructor. Are they all going to be this easy?!)

I haven’t seen any e-mails on other students advancing to “Pilot” status. If I have overlooked anyone, please let me know so we can recognize your achievement also!

Old Business: Nothing new presented on the following topics:

  • Direction of the Bill Presley Memorial Youth Fund,
  • Gazebo repairs/renovation, and
  • Repair/renovation of the pilot stations.

There was further discussion regarding the runway repairs/renovation. The consensus was to do away with one complete strip of the existing runway and repair the area beneath the remainder of the runway. This will also allow for a more defined partition between the pits, pilot stations and the runway. There would also be an extension to the taxiways, a chain-link style metal safety fence between the runway and the pits and new pilot stations constructed closer to the runway and outside of the pit area. Please refer to the attached document for clarification.

New Business: Larry Wells presented a proposal to amend the club’s by-laws. There were three items, in particular, that were discussed. Those were:

  1. To clarify the requirements for the various membership options so as to conform more to the AMA guidelines,
  2. Absentee voting, and
  3. Methods to allow for absentee voting as specifically pertaining to by-law changes.

For the purpose of this newsletter, we will be focusing on the Absentee voting section as there was a motion made to change our by-laws to accommodate absentee voting. It is as follows:

Procedures for addressing motions:

  1. A motion is made from the floor.
  2. A second to the motion is made from the floor.
  3. Discussion ensues.
  4. During discussion, a member may be recognized to either call the question or to call for an all member vote (Either of which ends the discussion.):
  5. The question is voted on, and if passed by a majority vote, the motion is voted on. If either is not passed by a majority vote, discussion continues.
  6. The all member vote is voted on, and if passed by a majority, the motion is tabled until the next meeting. The minutes reflecting this action will be published in the newsletter and all members may vote by e-mail or a phone call to the club President PRIOR to the day of the next month’s meeting. At the meeting, a vote on the motion will be taken and the e-mail and phone votes will be added to the total and the motion will either be adopted or defeated by the majority of the combined totals. The all member voting provision must be invoked prior to the vote. Should the motion be of such nature as to require action before the next meeting, the attending members may vote for a time limit on the acceptance of absentee votes. A vote will be taken and recorded and the count will be added to the e-mail/call-in votes and the results will be distributed via e-mail.
  7. In addition to the above, the following items REQUIRE an all member vote:
  8. Election of club officers,
  9. Expenditures exceeding $500.00,
  10. By-law and resolution changes, and
  11. Issues deemed by the governing body as needing the approval of an all member vote.
  12. After sufficient discussion, a vote is taken. If there is a call for an all member vote or an all member vote is required, the motion will follow the procedure set forth in #4, sub-section b.

I am hoping I have correctly relayed what I understood to be the motion on which the club voted. The motion was passed by a unanimous vote of the membership present at the meeting. This is a change to our club by-laws therefore it requires a second vote to ratify the change. Please come to the meeting to either show your support, or bring up any concerns you may have with this proposed amendment.

Program: Bob Leserve presented the members in attendance with his Model Aircraft Performance Calculator and showed us how to use it. Bob also showed us the different types of wing designs (airfoil section or profile) and how and where the lift is generate by each. His presentation also included general guidelines for the location of the center of gravity on most aircraft as well as a brief explanation on brake horsepower, torque and propeller selection. I’m quite certain I’ve missed some of the content as Bob covered a lot of territory in his very informative presentation. THANKS BOB!!

The meeting was adjourned at 8:11 p.m.

Notable Items/Events

On a Personal Note: Recently, I caught myself using rather colorful language around my 10 year old while we were at the airfield. If I am to be truthful, my 10 year old pointed out my profanity and asked me to select better words to define my level of frustration.

My point is this: Although we are in a relaxed environment when we are enjoying our hobby at the field, I ask that we help each other in trying to use expressions that we would be proud to hear coming out of our children’s mouths. You never know when one of our kids, or even worse a spectator and his/her child/children might be right behind you when you least expect it and you let one of those words fly.

Fun Fly: Our Spring 2008 Fun Fly turned out to be a HUGE success! The weather was phenomenal, the turn out was great, the contests were exciting and EVERYONE WAS HAVING FUN!! There were many people involved in making this a success. We need to offer many thanks to Berl for taking it upon himself to coordinate the contests, Bill Vassallo for lining up the food, drinks and grill, Gerald and Tammy for cooking the fantastic lunch, Clint for the prep work on the field and for running the transmitter impound, Nick & Jenn for the work on the t-shirts, Hobbytown USA of Rockwall for their generous donation of $500.00 toward the t-shirts, Soulman’s Bar-B-Que for their generous $100.00 donation toward prizes (Did we even keep score on any of the events?) and anyone I didn’t mention that stepped up to help out with anything that needed to be done to make this a success.

Nick and Jenn Helge are the contact persons for the t-shirts if you missed your opportunity to purchase one at the Fun Fly. The t-shirts were being sold for $10.00 each and all proceeds are going toward the Bill Presley Memorial Youth Project.

Here are a few Fun Fly pictures I received:

Trader’s Talk:This is a new section I’ve chosen to add to the newsletter. If you would like me to post something for you, please feel free to e-mail the pertinent information and pictures to me. If you would also give me the courtesy of telling me if the items you are selling are no longer for sale/trade, I would greatly appreciate it. I would like to point out that I will do my best to present accurate information. However, as I am not perfect (Although some days I’d beg to differ.), you must speak directly to the sellers for specific details regarding their offers. As much as I would like to include pictures, it may not always be possible due to restrictions on the size of the newsletter file. We need to keep the file size manageable for those who are still using dial up connections. Without further adieu, here are the items currently up for bid:

I will not have any listings this month due to the length of the newsletter. If you would like me to include what you have for sale/trade in next month’s issue please e-mail me with the details and pictures. THANKS!

Upcoming Events: Nothing to add as I have not received information for any upcoming events. Now is the time to get started on our field improvements so we can hold our own events. I keep thinking of the Bill Presley Memorial Youth Project. If we can get our field in shape, wouldn’t it be a great place to take a group of kids during their off time for an introduction to model aviation?

Dispatches From The Aerodrome…May 2008Page 1

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