THE TRANSMITTER e AMA CHARTER 1458 2015 EDITION DAVENPORT RADIO CONTROL SOCIETY President's Report Hi all, According to the calendar, another flying season is in full swing. For those of us still toiling away, however, the conditions have sucked!! I have been out to the flying field exactly twice so far, both times with less than ideal conditions to say the least. There have been a few beautiful days here of late, and I hope all you retirees out there have been enjoying them. Seems like on the weekends, it has either been raining or been blowing 20 plus mph-usually a crosswind I might add! Someday, I am sure the weekend weather will come around, and the rest of us can get some stick time. As of this moment, anyway, the long range forecast looks favorable for an outdoor meeting on Monday--stay tuned. Please recall that unless you hear differently, assume the meeting is outside and the time will stay at 6:30 pm. As for the field conditions, the field has been sprayed for weeds and fertilized by our gracious land owners. Please take the chance to thank them whenever you can because, once again they did it at no cost to us despite our offer. Another giant THANK YOU!! to Cal Schwartz who (also at his own expense) rolled the entire field 2 directions with a large, selfpropelled roller. I am sure that this will help immensely in smoothing out our flying surface. Thank you Cal!! These 2 items along with the completed sealing of the entire road by Scott County should make for ideal conditions as soon as the weather cooperates. Our tuned up field is just in time for our biggest event of the season. The Scale Meet is sneaking right up on us and will be held on e th, just a week from this Saturday! We will require a work party still on the Friday evening before the event to set up fence posts. Thankfully, the 400 lb coffins are gone, and we now have 2 10 ft x 10 ft easy ups that can quickly be set up the morning of the event. Stay tuned for details on the work party. Registration starts at 8am and is $10 for as many scale birds as you want to enter. Please remember that this is an AMA sanctioned event and, as such, proof of AMA membership is required. Open flying starts at 10am, and lunch will be available on site by Hy-Vee. As always, Hy-Vee does not require a minimum to attend our event which is unusual in the catering world so please support them so they will keep coming. Awards and prizes awarded at 3pm. Get your scale birds ready and get them in the air this week. Remind friends and neighbors to come out and watch for free! Not much else going on in the immediate future past the Scale Meet. Please remember to put your cards in the pin board and pick up after yourselves at the field. We remain very lucky to have such a great site. Hope to see you all out at the field soon and get those scale birds dialed in. Meeting Monday e 8th, at the field at 6:30, unless it is raining or blowing more than 30, I am sick of not flying!!!
Page 2 See ya, Steve P.S. I was not informed who had the "honor" of being the last to pick up fuel from Phil, but I am sure we will find out at the meeting! We need to come up with some kind of "prize" for the best procrastinator every year. LIPO BATTERY NOTES: There was an incident at the field this week that highlights that Lipo batteries can be dangerous. An electric aircraft went down, the battery ruptured, and caught fire within seconds. Thanks to Dean Bryant having a fire extinguisher readily available to put the fire out. However, the battery continued to smolder for at least another hour. Some lessons as take-aways: 1.) It is a good idea to carry a fire extinguisher especially if you are going to fly with any lithium batteries. Since lithium does not need oxygen to burn, a Class D (for combustible metals) dry powder is suggested. 2.) Again, if you have a number of LiPo's, carry a fire resistant container to either store them in, or to dispose of any puffed or debris from a battery fire. There are a number of articles in magazines and on the Internet about proper care and storage. I suggest that you search for and read several of these articles. One thing that I will highlight as I misunderstood is that you do not want to carry LiPo's in an airtight container. If a battery would rupture in that container, it could become a bomb instead of just a fire. BITS & PIECES: The Scott County Highway Department is to be commended for making 120 th Ave practically dustless. A lot more pleasurable at the field. As Steve noted, Frye Field is looking great. Continue to use those catch bottles when fueling aircraft and picking up after yourselves every day. We will be tidying the field up next Friday for the Scale Meet. We now stand at 103 members for 2015, about the same as last year. Between Tuesday evening and Thursday afternoon, our traffic cones that we use to keep vehicles from driving thru the mud puddles disappeared. I will pick up a couple more but will only put out after the next big rain. At the last meeting, it was decided to go back to the Weinie Roast. It is scheduled for ust 1. I received a letter and flyer from the Ottumwa Radio Control Flyers about an event that they are hosting in celebration of National Model Aviation Day on ust 15 and 16. They are trying to host the 20th Anniversary of the Byron Models Striking Back Team. The proceeds will be going towards the Wounded Warrior Project. You should receive the info in a separate e-mail, and it will be on our Facebook Page. Lastly, the Scale Meet is next Saturday. It is supposedly the last event that Phil Vernon will be Contest Director. Let's all get our planes as well as family, friends, neighbors, etc., out to make this one the best yet for Phil. Happy flying! Dave Colgan Cell phone - 563-940-9385 dcolgan51@gmail.com
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Page 4 2015 Events: 6 7 8 12-14 20 25 28 6 6 11 11-12 18 20 26 QC Skyraiders You Can Fly Morrison Flyers Scale Meet www.mmafrc.org SIG Fly-In DRCS Scale Meet SSC Combat in Iowa Windy City Warbirds & Classics Memorial Fun Fly Skyraiders Field, Moline, IL Montezuma, IA New Hartford, IA St Charles, IL National Aeromodeling Championships Warbird Fly In Warbirds Central Illinois Warbirds over Iowa EAA AirVenture Muncie, IN New Hartford, IA Bloomington, IL Skyhawks Field, Marion, IA Oshkosh, WI 1 8 9 10 15-16 16 Weinie Fly Quad City Skyraiders Float Fly MMAF RC Flight for Cancer National Day of Flying Streator RC Fly-In Breakfast Campbell's Island Ottumwa, IA TBD 14 19-20 20 26-27 DRCS Fun Fly MMAFRC Fly N Swap Duel at Davenport Deuce 35th Annual Big Bird Fly-In Streator RC Flyers Fall Scramble Frye Memorial Field Pekin, IL Oct 12 Oct TBD DRCS Night Fly Nov 9 Dec 14 * Check the AMA Calendar of Events for more info on those out of area events. www.knowbeforeyoufly.org
Next Meeting President: DAVENPORT R/C SOCIETY Monday, e 8th OFFICERS 6:30 p.m. Steve Thompson 563-332-1885 Vice President: Rodd Schick 563-449-8172 Secretary: Harley McClure 563-359-4167 Treasurer: 563-449-9615 Frye Field Davenport, IA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Phil Vernon Chuck Balser Dave Jensen Dirk Oosting Visit us on the web www.davenportrc.org NEWSLETTER EDITOR WEBMASTER Phil Vernon Davenport Radio Control Society 2961 Greenview Drive Bettendorf, IA 52722 or