Hear Ye!

July, 2001
No. 410

From the President,
Warren Barrick

There are fun flies and then there are Bob Dolan organized "fun flies."
Never the twain shall meet!

We all enjoyed ourselves at our June meeting in the park as summer descended
upon us with 90 degree heat, storm clouds threatened to the west and north,
and the first of Bob Dolan's organized extravaganzas was unveiled with
"fabulous prizes" as bait. Thank goodness this only included two of his
deviously contrived "fun fly events": loops per minute and spot landings. We
wouldn't have lasted for another event.

Ed Moore was the winner in both events and walked away with the Monokote
Award and the biggest prize of the evening, a complete fuselage repair kit.
We were all filled with joy for Ed's accomplishments and can't help but
wonder why he was muttering expletives which were laced with frequent
mentions of the word "Dolan."

Other "fabulous prizes" were won by also-rans: Joe Pasquini, Pat Taggart,
John Bragitikos, Warren Barrick and Carl Sutton. Many of the prizes were
contributed to Mr. Dolan by the Chernok Manufacturing Company.

Next month's meeting should be a real doozie.

On the serious side, I noticed that several members, old and new, appeared
with the latest fad , Park Fliers. These fantastic electric lightweights are
spreading like wildfire nationally. That's all well and good, but they
establish a real threat to our hobby by being flown in any small space and
using R/C designated frequencies.

The real place to fly them is at flying fields such as ours here in the
Park. Flying them on streets and parking lots near to us can cause serious
radio problems.

If you have purchased one of them or know of anyone who has, encourage them
to bring them to the field and to abide with our proven frequency control
system. That way all of us can continue to enjoy our sport without
disastrous results.

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VFSS MEMBERS INSTRUCT SCHOOL GROUPS

The third grade from Friends' Select School in Philadelphia visited the
field on June 1st. In appreciation for their flying experience provided by
members of the Signal Seekers, they sent the club a large poster with photos
of the day and individual messages of appreciation. The poster will be on
the bulletin board at the field for the fun fly on June 30th. A sampling of
their messages follow:

Dear Bud,
I learned how to fly a glider,
Thank You.
Sara

Thank you for letting us fly your model airplane and glider. My favorite
part was watching you fly the planes. Thank you for taking off work for us.
>From Claire C.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Jada

Thank you for teaching us how to fly model airplanes.
Thanks, Shanel

Thank you for taking off work so we could learn how to fly model airplanes
with you. It was lots of fun. I would like to learn more about model
airplanes. My favorite part was when I flew the airplanes. It was thrilling!
Best. Lori

Thank you for letting me fly a plane it was fun. I learned that you don't
pull the control too much.
Honora

I learned that up is down and down is up.
Cammy

Many thanks go to Karl Fehrenbach for inviting the Friends' Select students.
Karl demonstrated gliding, and Bud Klopp, Joe Pasquini, Dennis DiBonaventura
and Gerry Keenan gave each child and some teachers a chance with the "buddy
box."

* * *

Continuing with the Signal Seekers' outstanding efforts to educate young
people about aviation, Joe Weizer, Walt Pierzchala and Nathan Marks traveled
to the Moore School in Philadelphia, where they helped three fourth grade
classes in the construction of Delta Darts and explained the basic theories
of aviation. The children flew their planes in the schoolyard, wrote
thank-you notes to Joe, Walt and Nate, and are eagerly looking forward to
their fall excursion to the field for flying on "buddy boxes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CRASHING A SCIENCE CLASS
By Joe Pasquini

My granddaughter's class was participating in a one-day Science Fair at the
Ward Grammar School in Downingtown. My son-in-law informed me that a
retired Marine Corps helicopter pilot was going to explain the theory of
flight to the class. Patrick Good was his name, and his wife Mary Ann was
the classroom teacher.

When I heard this I put away all "Honey Do's" for the day, grabbed a model
and a radio, and crashed the class.
Mr. and Mrs. Good were happy that I showed up, and I listened as Pat Good
talked about aviation theory and the Wright brothers.

When Pat was finished and the class was asked for questions, one boy asked,
"When do we have lunch?"
Mrs. Good held off lunch time and allowed me time to show my Cessna Skylane.
I demonstrated the radio, control surfaces and their purpose. I also gave
the dates of our fun flies and location of the field.

Pat promised to visit our field and I promised him that I would let him try
his hand at flying the Cessna. Mrs. Good also asked me to return to her
classroom for aviation discussions in the future.

I thoroughly enjoyed my classroom experience, met the nicest couple, and am
glad I "crashed the science class."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VSSS BOG MINUTES

Tuesday, June 20, 2001
Submitted by Dee Messina, Secretary

The meeting was held at the field. Twelve members and guests attended.
The meeting was opened at 6:20 PM by President Barrick.

1. BOG was informed of the passing of the wife of Mel Jones. He requests
any gestures or donations be directed to MS Foundation.

2. Membership chairman Rudy Forst has upgraded our club roster. He has also
listed our active paying membership, and we are still above our average for
this year.

3. We are exploring the possibility of a club-supported flea market.
Location and rental costs right now are the two big items. Anyone in the
club can funnel information concerning this back to Mike Estock or Dee
Messina.

4. We have new mini-club logo decals for sale. They should cost about one
dollar per sheet. Look for them at the fun fly.

5. More fun fly information - Saturday, June 30th:
We will have a memorial moment of silence at 12 noon. Club members and
participants are asked to park on the paddock area (Porta-Potti side), tail
end out. This will leave the opposite side for spectator parking, full
length.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 PM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CLUB CALENDAR

Saturday, June 30th -
Memorial Fun Fly, 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Food, drinks, and fun!!!

Tuesday, July 10th -
General membership meeting at the field. More flying fun, sound checks,
instruction and light refreshments.

Feedback or comments to: Marilyn Ayres , HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster

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