Prez Sez
by Al Campana
Finally, our rainy season seems to have left, at least for a while, and good flying weather has arrived. The flight line and the pits at the field were very busy on Memorial Day Weekend. A lot of Club members took advantage of the exceptionally fine weather to fly, tell "war stories", kid each other and just observe other flyers. As Chuck Karr has often said... "what a hobby". My feelings too!
We have our first Fun-Fly of the season coming up on June 13th. Mike Estock and Joe Weizer have planned a slightly different format which prove interesting. I just hope the weather is as good as the last couple of Fun-Flys. We'll have to get our weather "guru" Warren Barrick to wave his magic wand to provide a sunny day, a light breeze and 72 degrees.
There are also a couple of full-size Air Shows coming up in June. The first one will be at the Mid Atlantic Air Museum, Reading Airport on June 6-7. Over 40 aircraft are expected including several Warbirds.
The next Airshow will be held at New Garden Airport which is off the Toughkenomon exit of US Rt. 1 The date is Sunday, June 14th.
As I mentioned at our last meeting, our June meeting will be held at the field. Bring a folding chair and an airplane if you wish to fly and we'll make a night of it. The meeting will start at 6:30 PM and we will have a speaker from the Park. Let's hope Mother Nature cooperates with good weather.
On Friday, the day before the Memorial Day Weekend, I decided to get up early and mow the field. Warren had given me a 5 minute lesson on running our tractor the week before. Bob Engman had performed this chore for a couple of years but he is recovering from rotator cuff surgery so Warren has been cutting the field this year.
Keeping the grass cut is very important, especially for the smaller aircraft. This is another example of a job that needs doing but is never noticed until the grass needs cutting.
Our Membership Chairman, Rudy Forst, advises that our membership now totals 245 paid-up members as of May 12th. By now it's probably over 250. I sometimes wonder what would happen if they all decided to come to the field one day to fly. Sure would make an interesting day for everyone!
Pilot Safety Alert
By Ron Gallo
There's a simple test every pilot over 50 should have. It's a PSA blood test and it's for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer strikes almost 200,000 men annually. If detected early it's one of the most curable cancers. That's why having an annual PSA and digital exam is so important. The whole process takes about 15 minutes and could save your life. It did mine. Don't fly blind, fly smart. Schedule a PSA test with a good Urologist today.
Club Notes
Tuesday, June 9th - Membership Meeting at the Field, 6:30 PM. Bring a folding chair.
Saturday, June 13th - Charles "Buz" Klein Memorial Spring Fun-Fly. Candy drops for little kids. Special flying time segments for Scale, Sig 4 Stars, Piper Cubs, helicopters, etc. Rain Date - Sunday, June 14th
NOTICE - To those members who have changed their address. Please notify Rudy Forst, the Club Membership Chairman, of your new address. Rudy can be reached by phone.
E-MAIL Directory - Rom Boutin has been compiling an e-mail directory for Club Members. At last count there were 51 e-mail addresses in the directory. If you have recently gone on-line and wish to be included in the directory, e-mail Rom at: rboutin@erols.com.
FLYING HINT - Too many pilots use only a small portion of the runway when taking off. You should always use the whole runway when taking off. That way, if your engine stumbles or quits, you still have a portion of runway left to land on and damage should be minimal.
Training Update
By Jim Campana
The Instructor Team had a busy month in May. After the rains ended, we got around to some actual flying, and to solo a few trainees. Paul Davis was the first to go this year. He started with Charlie Swope in the Spring of '96 then moved over to Joe Pasquini late last year. Bud Klopp took Paul up for his solo flight on May 10th.
Joe Rose may have set a record for the fastest solo. He started training April 1st and soloed on May 14th. Between Joe Pasquini and Charlie Swope he was able to log over 9 sesseions with 12 hours of flying time in April. I believe he would have soloed sooner if early May had not been so wet.
Charlie also advanced Bob Diamond on the 14th. Bob began flying last year and credits his success to the Great Planes Flight Simulator which he purchased last winter. He began flying an Ultimate on the simulator, so flying his Eagle 2 at the field became a snap.
I was able to unleash 2 of my students on May 23rd.
John Miceli started flying with me at the end of last summer and finished after about 15 sessions. Steve Lach began this year with a head start ...he used to fly a Gentle Lady glider. I hope you get a chance to meet both of these guys. They are both entering the US Air Force (John in a few weeks and Steve in August) now that they have completeed graduate school. Hey guys, don't forget to visit us once in a while.
I wish to thank these new pilots as well as their instructors. You can imagine the time they put in for their students as well as the accomplishment of finally being able to fly by themselves.
I would like to announce that Joe Rose Sr. has joined our Instructor Team. This brings the number of active instructors to 15. Hopefully, we instructors will have time to fly our own creations now and then.
I would also like to welcome back Bob Hutchinson. Bob has been out of the hobby for 10 years. It only took a little flight time on his Sig King Kobra to get his touch back as he was landing by this third flight.
Lastly, I would like to remind all students and instructors to complete the Sign-Off sheet and get it back to me as soon as possible. That's the only way I can put the names in our Newsletter.
Pilot Profile
Dave West
Dave became interested in models as a boy and began building Comet rubber band models. Later, he also built all types of plastic models. In 1982 he began his interest in R/C when visiting the Allied Hobby Shop that was located in the King of Prussia Mall. He purchased his first R/C model which was the Goldberg Eagle. After mastering this model he moved up to a larger airplane, powered by a .60 size engine.
On Saturday, May 30, a Club member was flying his airplane and someone tapped him on the shoulder and said "you are flying over my house". The flyer landed his plane and walked over to the gentleman and apologized for his mistake. Of course, the gentleman was the Superintendent of Valley Forge National Historic Park, Mr. Arthur Stewart. I am certain there are many of us who would enjoy meeting and talking to Mr. Stewart, but obviously not under these circumstances. I cannot over-emphasize how important it is to fly within the "box" and not over-fly the Superintendents house or Rt. 252. Not only is it an unsafe practice, it is very annoying to anyone in or around the house.
Mr. Stewart has been very patient with us in the past, but when he appears on our flight-line to advise someone that he was flying over his house, then I view it as a serious compaint. We must do everything possible to avoid this from happening again. If a flyer is unsure of the boundries, he should have an experienced "spotter" with him to point out when he exceeds the limits of the "box".
As a Club that respects the Park, we check our engines for noise and keep our area clean and neat. But it still is up to each person flying to stay within the limits specified by the Park.
The Valley Forge Signal Seekers have been flying at the Park since 1959. We have a nice level grass field in a beautiful area.
It would be a shame to lose our flying privilege because of carelessness on our part. So fellows, let's stay on top of it. If you see someone straying over the boundary, tell him. It may save our field.
Al Campana, President
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