Newsletter of the Shuswap Lake
Aero
Modelers
February 2004
President – Jim Mudry Past President – Mark Dawkins
Vice-President – Dennis Miller Director – Terry Lough
Secretary/Treasurer – Ernie McNaughton Director – Greg Thiessen
Newsletter Publisher – Sandy Miller Field Superintendent – Dennis Miller
A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Happy New Year
and welcome to a new flying season!
Just a short note to let everyone know what is going on in the club and
the upcoming events planned for 2004. I
hope that everyone will be able to help out when possible so we can all enjoy
some flying. There is a club list for
everyone in the club and a schedule of our club events this year. For those who don't have internet, you have
this schedule, so put it somewhere visible.
Everything else is on our website.
That is all for now; see you at the field! Jim Mudry.
SHUSWAP LAKE AERO MODELERS DUES FOR 2004
Membership for S.L.A.M. is
due on January 1st of each year. If you have not already renewed,
please do so as soon as possible so that we can prepare our 2004 roster.
You should also have renewed
you membership with M.A.A.C. For
insurance purposes, only those paid-up members of M.A.A.C. are allowed to use
the flying field or participate in other club functions.
Please forward your M.A.A.C. dues directly to
M.A.A.C. A renewal membership form was
included in your December issue of Model Aviation (page 93) or a copy is
available from your Sec/Treas. Ernie McNaughton.
S.L.A.M. membership dues are
$30 per year ($20 if you are 60 or older).
An associate membership is available to those from out of the area that
belong to another club sanctioned by M.A.A.C. or A.M.A. at ½ of the normal
rate. S.L.A.M. dues should be sent to:
Ernie
McNaughton
S.
15B, C. 27, RR 1
Sorrento, BC V0E 2W0
(250)
835-8290 e-mail mcnaughton@jetstream.net
FALL CLASSIC 2004
Once again it is time to give some
thought to the fall Classic. Having
been "elected" Director of the Fall Classic I would like to get a few
things in order. Yes, I know September
is a long way off. Once flying begins
it will creep up on us fast.
As most members are aware, this is
our major money raising function of the year. The success of the event is directly proportional to the effort we
as members put into it. For this reason
I ask that each contribute in whatever way they can to making it the success it
has been in years past. I will be
making every effort to contact each member on an individual basis to get your
ideas and to determine how you would like to help.
The general consensus is that we
have a pretty good thing going here and no major changes are required. Perhaps a little "fine tuning"
here and there and nothing more.
The staff from by gone years have
agreed to carry on in 2004. Ernie will
once again do registration, Doug has agreed to do promo work and advertising,
Ted will do the transmitter impound with the usual help of Garth and Mark. Terry has consented to doing prizes, which
will give a new slant on this aspect of the affair. A few of the vacant positions will be filled as time goes
on. There are bound to be a couple spots
for Howie and Dennis as well. All these
people are going to need additional help.
Please help if asked.
In addition Sharon has agreed to
do the Ladies events. Eileen and
Madeline will do the 50/50 draws. These
two events add a lot to our fly in and for this we are very grateful for the
contributions of all the ladies who make these activities the success that they
are.
A more detailed itemization will
follow at a later date. In the meantime
if you have any ideas, or if you can offer any specialized service please get
in touch. 675-3338
Lorne Barber
FIELD
MAINTENANCE
When you arrive at the field you’ll notice a
new lock on the gate. It’s a
combination lock and the combination is available to all who pay their 2004
membership. When opening, it needs to
be pushed down and it will spring open.
When closing, the combination has to be scrambled or it won’t lock.
The road was kept passable for a while but as
I write this it is piled high with snow.
If anyone wants to go flying in the snow and wants it opened up, please
let me know and together we might be able to organize a team.
In the spring, should the gate be double
locked, this will mean we would like to keep vehicles off the field due to
moisture levels. This would mean all
areas, but wouldn’t preclude anyone from walking in and making light use of the
runway. If this should happen and you
feel it is no longer necessary, please let me (675-3851) or another member of
the executive know.
We have had a motion to add gravel to the
road this year. This will be
investigated and carried out if possible.
I would appreciate any suggestions/comments regarding field
improvements. All comments are welcome.
Dennis Miller
WEB SITE
Most are now aware that the club has a web
site. http://www.slams.ca
We are attempting to keep the activities
list up to date, along with any other news related to SLAM and flying in
general in the area. There are some
interesting photos posted on the site.
When you select “about SLAM” to view the
page, you get: “The History or Story
Behind SLAM Coming Soon”. Perhaps someone could fill it in and pass it on to me
for loading on the site.
There is also a discussion area, where items
could be for sale or there could be online discussion of SLAM related
topics. (This would be an alternate way
of suggesting changes/improvements to our field).
There are also links to many interesting
sites on the favourite links page.
I intend to have the newsletter also posted
on the site in some form or other.
Suggestions for improvement to the site are
very welcome.
The space for this site is generously donated
by RCGROUPS.COM, who have a long list of sponsors including AMA. In fact, any individual can use their offer
to host an RC related site. So if you
wanted to set up your own site with photos of your latest master pieces or just
to document your latest encounter with a tree, you are welcome to sign up for
the service. There is no catch. They are just good RC people.
Dennis Miller
ACTIVITIES
February 22, 2004
– Grindrod Winter Fun Fly
March 6, 2004 –
2004 Symposium – Kamloops
April 3, 2004 –
SLAM Club Work Bee – 10:00 A.M. at the field
May 16, 2004 –
TOLKO Spring Fun Fly at TOLKO Field.
June 5 & 6,
2004 – Shuswap Float Fly – Sandy Point Resort
June 27, 2004
(Sunday) – President’s Day
July 3 & 4,
2004 – Big Bird – High Country Flyers
August 8, 2004
(Sunday) – All Club Invitational
September ?, 2004
– BC Annual Zone Meeting
September 4–6,
2004 – Labour Day Fun Fly - Vernon
September 10, 11,
12, 2004 – Fall Classic Float Fly 2004 – Sandy Point
October 3, 2004 –
SLAM Oktoberfleugen
November ?, 2004 –
Kamloops Swap Meet
November 4, 2004 –
SLAM Annual General Meeting – Shuswap Lake Estates Lodge at 7:00 P.M.
December 12, 2004
– SLAM Christmas Party – Log ‘n’ Hearth
January 1, 2005 –
SLAM New Years Fun Fly – 10:00 A.M.
INTERIOR
R/C SYMPOSIUM MARCH 6th, 2004
As
you may know, the Interior R/C Symposium is being offered in Kamloops this year
by a consortium of the High Country Flyers, Kamloops Model Aircraft
Society, and the Sky Rangers.
We are just putting the finishing touches on the program and we have
tried to build upon the successes of the past four offerings, with improvements
where we felt we could facilitate the changes suggested in the critiques you
submitted in past years. I would ask
that you provide wide circulation of this notice in your club.
In
order to provide the best instructional day for the participants we are
offering four themes this year, Beginners, Building, Flying and Special
Interest. Hopefully we won’t split your
loyalties between topics this way with the concurrent sessions. The sessions are timed as in the past so you
can split themes if you wish. This year
we have increased the program to 5 sessions and we’re offering a total of 15
topics.
With
a Beginners’ session we are really pushing to introduce new members to the
hobby, and we are trying to lassoo the market being promoted as “Park
Flyers”. I think within the hobby we
are more aware of the dangers posed by a beginner in a crowded park or school
ground with a potentially lethal spinning propeller than the “anybody can do
it” scene portrayed by the manufacturers.
It’s therefore incumbent upon us to protect the hobby from the possible
damage. We encourage each club to
advertise locally to bring newcomers along to the Symposium to learn what the
hobby has to offer – we feel it’s a great venue for that. We’re offering “ground school in half a day”
to introduce them to the hobby and to MAAC with two of our key flight
instructors, Roly Worsfold and Ron Elliott, then we’ll let them float between
themes for the afternoon or go straight to electrics.
The
Builders’ theme covers the finer points of aircraft construction for the
serious hobbyist, such as floats and boats with Ted Russell, fiberglass cowls
demonstrated by Daryl Buddecke, and Nigel Tarvin is back by popular demand to
bring you Monokote covering and some building tips. The day is rounded out with Norm Bryson addressing SPAD’s, those
lightweight models built with corrugated plastic - used election campaign or
real estate sign
The
Flying theme will cover performance from glow engines with Kevin Forsyth;
computer radios and aerobatics with Mike Allman; flight battery performance
with Kevin; then a session on flight instruction with Mike Allman and John
Edwards. This will be more of a
roundtable discussion addressing how we can improve the standards of the
“Wings” program, and finally we want to include a session on flight safety.
The
Special Interest theme is for the afternoon only, with Mark Dawkins giving us
two sessions on Electric Flight (hopefully we’ll also stream the “park flyers”
into this following the beginners session), and a session on helicopters with
Kevin Forsyth.
In
terms of administration, we encourage you to car pool. We have a 9 o’clock start time and we want to
get you back on the road by 4 pm. In
order to do this we’re offering a catered lunch on site, which we’ve cut back
to 45 minutes. There’s a 30 minute
coffee break in the morning to meet and greet old friends, take in the static
display and discuss the winter’s repairs, and a short break in the
afternoon. The program is about 90%
complete now so it will be available as a “PDF” download on our website
shortly. Check it frequently for
updates. www.highcountryflyers.homestead.com
This
all takes place at the Calvary Temple in Kamloops on March 6th,
2004. The cost for the day,
including lunch, soup and sandwich, and all the coffee, is $10. For those who don’t know it, the church is near
the junction of the old Merritt Highway (5A) and the Trans-Canada (1), across
from Aberdeen Mall at 1205 Rogers Way. Please use the front door
entrance to the church. It’s the place
where we hold our Annual Swap Meet so there’s a map on the Swap Meet poster on
our web site. www.highcountryflyers.homestead.com
If you have any questions concerning:
Instruction
(the program) they can be
addressed to John Edwards (KMAS)
issumavik@yahoo.com
Logistics (training aids, displays) concerns go to Bill
Cousins (Sky Rangers) billcousins@telus.net
Administration (advertising, publicity, anything else) to me, Tony
Walters (HCF) provincialgps@shaw.ca
Unfortunately
it’s on a Saturday and the Blazers game is Sunday night (against Everett) so we
can’t combine it for the hockey fans.
On
behalf of the Kamloops clubs, we are all looking forward to your attendance and
participation at this year’s Interior R/C Symposium.
Thank
you
Anthony
Walters, President, HCF