VP Tom Huckaby

Mike DeBoer ,Bill Divins, Tom Huckaby, Pee Wee Maddox Ernie Schlumberger, and Tommy Vinci represented The Fayette Flyers at The 48th. Annual Toledo Weak Signals R/C Club Show held April 5,6,7, 2002 . We drove up on Thursday,  WE went to the show on Friday and we drove home on
Saturday. We all had an enjoyable, uneventful, experience. As you may remember we had enough
excitement last year to last for the next 30 years of trips. There was a world of stuff displayed at the show for us modelers to buy. It seems to me that the trend toward buying an ARF instead or building a kit,  is accelerating.
 

This practice does allow  many people to take to the flying field flying field with a much straighter, more attractive , better flying aircraft than perhaps they could build for themselves at this point in their modeling experience. This is the plus side.

Unfortunately this makes it really easy for an inexperienced or uninformed pilot to select a plane that is far more advanced than his present flying skills. Another down side is ,as I see it, if the trend continues , and I feel it will,  another group of skills will be lost when the present bunch of skilled modelers is gone.   Modelers become assemblers not BUILDERS. What a shame! While I personally do not really enjoy building all that much, the discipline of doing it myself and "doing it right" is amply rewarded when the result of my effort is favorably acknowledged by one of my peers.

 I was fortunate to speak to Mr. Dave Brown (AMA Pres.) briefly while at the Toledo Show.

 I told him that The Fayette Flyers had spent a lot of club meeting time on revising our By-Laws, Field Rules and Safety Rules and we still had some work to do. He expressed his appreciation for our efforts so far and said "don't quit until you are finished, Every club must have good, clear rules for everyone to go by." He also said" We ( AMA) want to do every thing possible to stay out of the individual club's business but based on the experience of this last year we (AMA) must insist that all clubs have a set of working by-laws which protect the individual club as well as The AMA."

Tom H.

President, Tommy Vinci, brought the meeting to order at 7:35p.m. with 29 members and 3 member applicants in attendance. Tommy then asked the officers to give their reports.

Vice President, Tom Huckaby, said that there are 3 new proposals to the By-Laws on the website in the membership area. He explained that the AMA is requiring all clubs to add these items to their By-Laws prior to the 2003 AMA Club charter renewal time (March 31^st, 2003). The 3 New amendments pertain to Club Dissolution, Grievance Policy and Member Expulsion. Tom urged all members to view the proposals prior to the next meeting when they will be presented.

Secretary, Ernie Schlumberger, reported that there are currently 163 Club members with 197 total flying family members. Last year, the club topped out at 175 members of which 28 members did not renew and will be dropped from the roster on March 31^st.

Treasurer, Dave Zeigler, went over the club’s finances for March 2002. The club had $1235.00 in receipts from membership, $2099.58 in expenses from AMA club renewal, Porta Potty, Field Maintenance, gravel, and miscellaneous expenses, which leaves a total of $10, 852.93 in all accounts.

New Member/Training Officer, David Keller said that with Daylight Saving Time just around the corner, we will set up to have Tuesday evenings as training sessions for members needing training.

President, Tommy Vinci, told everyone that the two Sailplane/Helicopter/ Park Flyer areas have to be roto tilled and leveled and need some grass seed put down to finish the job.

Tommy then talked about the upcoming events for April. He mentioned the Toledo Expo Show is the first weekend of April and how it’s always a good time. Also, the club’s next meeting is at the field with a Night Fly following the meeting. Then, Saturday, April 27^th, the club will hold an Electric Fun fly.

Earl Robinson gave a handout to everyone with the proposed Safety Rules to go over. He read them through, item by item and the group revised/reworded several items so that everyone could agree. After all items were discussed/revised, it was motioned to bring them to a vote. The motion was seconded and then President, Tommy Vinci, brought them to a vote and they passed overwhelmingly.

Josh Thorner proposed adding wording to the By-Laws for approval of club expenditures. It was pointed out that each year at the January meeting is when large expenditures are discussed and approved. It was agreed that the By-Laws do not have any written procedure for such. Tommy Vinci asked Josh Thorner to write up a proposal and present it at the next meeting. (Secretary note: the same proposal was discussed in the January 2001 meeting and was agreed that a written proposal would be presented at a later meeting but that issue was never formerly presented).

Tommy Vinci announced that the Club needs someone to step up and take over the planning of the Christmas Party on Saturday, Dec. 7^th. He said it was time to get some fresh blood into organizing events.

Tommy then moved onto a serious note. There have been some heated confrontations at the field lately dealing with Flying areas and one incident got out of hand when some language was used with several members, spectators and prospective new members close by. Tommy emphatically stated that this is a Family Club and that this has no place at our field. He said that once the New By-Law proposal dealing with expulsion is in effect, this behavior will not be tolerated and will be dealt with accordingly.

This month the club had 3 new members join our ranks. Please welcome Dave Burnell, Dan LoTempio and Rob Sink to our club.

The hands down winner this month was Bill Lechner for his Brand New Tiger Moth that almost made it back to the runway with the engine hanging by the fuel line…that is, until it dropped off about 3 feet from landing and the CG shifted quickly and the airplane bounced in. Bill was awarded a Crasher Patch. Bill was able to repair and fly the Tiger Moth again.