Hear Ye!

The Official Newsletter of the :
Valley Forge Signal Seekers
Radio Controlled Model Airplane Club

An AMA Gold Leader Club

September, 2003
No. 436

The following article was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Montgomery County edition, on Sunday, August 10, 2003.

The article features VFSS member Ron Strobel.

AWARD-WINNING PA FILMMAKER
KEEPS SHOOTING FOR NEW PEAKS

By Mary Anne Janco,
Iinquirer Suburban Staff

MALVERN - At first, video producer Ron Strobel begged off a trekking
adventure halfway across the world in Nepal, but the lure of Mount Everest -
the world's highest peak - grew too strong.

As an amateur mountain climber, Strobel wasn't aiming to climb the
formidable mountain, "just to look at it, up close and personal."

Strobel came home from the "two most adventurous weeks of my life" with the
makings of an award-winning documentary that captures the charm of this
ancient world, its people and "jaw-dropping mountain views," all woven
through the tale of his personal journey.

Mount Everest: Up Close and Personal, a 17-minute film, begins with a phone
call from Strobel's childhood friend, inviting him to make the trip. Then
Strobel, who had climbed some "14ers" - mountains that exceed 14,000 feet -
in Colorado, begins training, stuffing cat litter in a backpack for weight
as he works to trim his 5-foot-7 frame down to 160 pounds for his big trek
in Nepal.

"I wanted to go there as Indiana Jones," Strobel joked, "Take the camera but
not be a cameraman."

Still, Strobel, who has produced footage for ESPN, Disney and ABC News as
well as videos for scores of corporate clients, captures on film everything
from the colorful marketplace and rickshaws in Kathmandu to Sherpas dancing
at night.

From a tiny airstrip carved into the hillside, Strobel was "transported to
another world," he said. His group of six was joined last fall by three
Sherpa guides and 13 porters for the trek in the high country of Mount
Everest's Sagarinatha National Park.
The "scariest" experience, Strobel said, involved rappelling - with one
rope - thousands of feet down a waterfall, with slippery moss and water
beating down on him so he could hardly breathe at times.

The trip was not without its mishaps. Strobel's friend Russ Gwynne broke
his foot early in the adventure when he fell from a boat while white-water
rafting. Gwynne opted to continue the journey, and his companions found a
pony to carry him - for a while. Then the pony ran off. So one of the
porters hoisted a basket with Gwynne in it on his back, and they continued
on the rugged trail.

The people in Nepal could figure out a way to do anything, Strobel said. At
night, the Sherpas danced for the group. The Sherpa children "got such joy
out of dancing," Strobel said.

Young and old were amazed at Strobel's video camera, and a crowd would
quickly surround him as he played back the tape.
"I've always had a camera," said Strobel, who has been named among the "Top
100 Video Producers in America" in AV Video Multimedia Producer magazine
twice. "I started shooting with a film camera and was the first on the block
to have a video camera.

"Essentially, I'm a storyteller," he said.

Strobel, who graduated from Upper Merion High School, received an art degree
from California State University at Northridge and worked as an art director
in Burbank, California. He returned East and founded VideoNet Inc. in 1995.
Before Mount Everest, which was named best documentary at the First-Glance 6
Philadelphia film festival in June, Strobel made four other independent
films. They include Black & White Pizza, which looks at prejudice in
Philadelphia; Barber Shop Talk, which profiles a poetry-reciting barber; and
Mark's First Movie, which goes behind the scenes of the first film project
of Strobel's 11-year-old nephew.

"I want to bring attention to something people aren't paying attention to,
be it prejudice in Philadelphia or Robert Woodard," the barber.

With Mount Everest: Up Close and Personal, Strobel said, "I wanted to show
this foreign land where you literally step back in time. It's an
extraordinary country that people should see firsthand."

After trekking through villages where "everywhere you look the mountain
ranges are spectacular," the group arrived at 12,700 feet for a "glorious
view of Mount Everest."

"You look up at another 17,000 feet and think, 'How could a human being ever
get up there and down again?' You really have a sense of scale and the
awesome task. There are just so many unknowns."

"I remember walking out on the last day, thinking, 'You'll never be back
here.' When the plane landed in Philadelphia, I thought, 'You've got to go
back.'"

Ric Edevane, a freelance cameraman who has worked with Strobel, said Strobel
took what could have been "just vacation footage and turned that info a
really cool film."

Strobel, who had initially turned down the request to go to Nepal -
something he had always dreamed of doing - just got up off the couch and did
it, Edevane said. How he wove Nepal's culture into his film was "just
amazing," Edevane said.
Strobel's interest in mountain climbing was sparked when a corporate client,
IHS, hired him to develop a video for an international sales meeting in
Aspen. The head of sales was an avid mountain climber and that became the
theme of the video The Competitive Edge.

Strobel eventually tackled his first "14er" - Colorado's Quandary Peak. "It
was the hardest mountain I ever climbed. I was taking three breaths for
every one step."

Ray Hollinger of IHS, who made that climb with Strobel, said Strobel was
"just incredibly motivated."

Hollinger said he himself was "climatized" from living in Colorado, but for
Strobel, it was a "very arduous and exhausting climb.... Ron really could
have stopped many times.... He was so completely committed to making it."

And Strobel plans to tackle Longs Peak, a "14er" in Colorado, later this
month.

"You only have yourself out there," he said. "If you've taken on too much,
things can get bad.... Through education and willpower, stamina and
tolerance of the elements, you're going to get yourself back out. When you
get back, you've bagged that mountain. Once you've bagged a mountain, you've
got that forever. That's a great feeling."

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

VFSS BOG MEETING

By Steve Kolet, Secretary

August 5, 2003
Members present: 11
Meeting opened at 6:30 PM by President Bob Sudermann.

OLD BUSINESS: None

NEW BUSINESS:

Item 1: The club acquired an additional grill and replaced the burner.

Item 2: The upcoming events calendar looks full:

a. August 12 has a VFSS meeting at the park starting at 6:60 PM.
b. August 30 has the rescheduled Aerobatics Clinic with Eric Henderson.
c. September 2 has a BOG meeting at the field starting at 630 PM.
d. September 6 has a display event at Wings Field and a pattern contest in
NJ.
e. September 7 has a Fly-In Breakfast at Limerick Airport.
f. September 9 has a VFSS meeting at the field starting at 6:30 PM.

Item 3: We will use a phone alerting system for the BOG to remind members
of the meetings. The president will call three board members who will each
call a list of 5 additional BOG members. Hopefully, this will get a quorum
at meetings.

Item 4: Treasurer Carl Sutton reviewed the club financial statement. At
this point he estimates that we will be on target at year-end.

Item 5: Jack Carrigan has agreed to take on the raffle for the next year.
The raffle cash box will be transferred.

Item 6: The estimate for repairing the Gravely lawn tractor is outrageous
and the recommendation is to scrap it. BOG will vote at next meeting with a
quorum.

Item 7: The president hopes to get a firm estimate for Fun-Fly T-shirts so
the BOG can vote on it ASAP. We may still have time to get it done for the
September event.

Item 8: A long discussion about recent incidents, crashes and safety at the
field was held. We all need to be sure our radios and aircraft are flight
worthy. Field marshals and instructors have the final word.

a. We are recommending a voluntary two-man policy for flying to see if it
helps cut down on out of the box, over flight incidents, etc.

b. Remember, if disoriented or out of control, etc., cut the power first..

All business was concluded. Meeting was adjourned at 7:05 PM.

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

CLUB CALENDAR

Tuesday, September 2nd -
BOG meeting at the field, 6:30 PM.

Tuesday, September 9th -
General Membership meeting at the field, 6:30 PM.

Saturday, September 13th -
Fall Fun Fly

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

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

After every flight, pilots fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which
conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the
flight that need repair or correction. The mechanics read and correct the
problem, and then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what
remedial action was taken, and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the
next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a
sense of humor.

P = The problem logged by the pilot.
S = The solution and action taken by the mechanics.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Target radar hums.
Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

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