The Fly Paper

June 1999 If you have access to this on the WEB and are still getting it by U.S. MAIL we need to know, send an email to Eschlumber@aol.com. It saves a bunch of time and money.

Hey, the shed is up! Now you have some where to get out of the sun and rain if needed. It was a long time coming, but I think you’ll agree that the wait was worth the results. Special thanks go to Steve Digioia for doing the design work, coming up with a material list, getting us a good deal on the roofing material, and helping with the construction. All of this and he isn’t a club member yet, (Randy and I are working on him)! If you need some post holes dug, Ernie Schumberger is your man! He dug all of the post holes by hand for the fence in just over an hour according to Randy. The field is looking great.

Great weather lately, and Bill and I have been making the most of it. Many new faces, many new members, don’t forget to offer your help if needed. We all had help from someone in the beginning.

z

Randy, Tommy, Steve, Ernie

Meeting Minutes: May 27, 1999 by Ernie Schlumberger

The meeting began at 7:45 with 25 members and 6 guests, including a special guest who was introduced by Tom Huckaby. Tom introduced Bubba Cathy (son of field’s owner, Truett Cathy) and three of his sons. Bubba said he was interested in getting back into R/C; and, his sons showed a lot of interest in the planes. Tommy then introduced Steve Digioia, who volunteered his time and labor to help design and build the shade area for our club. All the posts and trusses were installed waiting on the tin to complete the roof. The rolling of the runway was brought up again, but a big enough roller cannot be found. Tommy then talked about the possibility of paving the runway, but we still need an ok by the owner.

Roy Collins went over the finances for May. Total expenses were $983.38 and the receipts were $225 from membership dues and fun flys. The total of all accounts was $8987.87. Roy also mentioned that Bulldog Johnny was replaced by BFI for our porta-potty maintenance.[Clare has never been inside]

Dave Zeigler talked about the three schools he’s been working with for the Science Olympiad - Booth, Rising Star and Macintosh. His kids had a great showing at the Nationals in Chicago in mid-May taking 1^st and 3^rd and setting the new National record with a 2 min 44 sec flight. Dave also talked about the Kids Spring Fling contest on June 5^th with real cash prizes in all categories plus additional prizes for Best Flight of the day, Prettiest Plane and Best Craftsmanship. Mike McGowan asked all members to sponsor a kid and bring them out for the contest.

Mike also talked about the successful May Sailplane events and thanked all that competed or helped to make it a great event. Earl Robinson said it was the best-run contest he’s ever been to. Mike introduced Rick Vaughn who came to the Sailplane contest and took a 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place trophy in 3 events. Rick also brought an airplane for the Night Fly after the meeting.

Randy Hawkins showed off 2 new electric kits put out by Pica. The ME109 and PT19 are speed 400 size motor airplanes and are available in either gas or electric versions. Randy also talked about the upcoming FUN FLY on May 30^th. The club will provide hamburgers/hotdogs and drinks. Members are asked to bring a covered dish and serving utensil.

Ernie asked all members to update the club with address changes, phone number changes and email address changes. Also, if you have web access (at home or work) let us know so we can cut down the number of paper mailings per month. [ down to under 40 YEAHHH thanks]

Mike McGowan won a S.A.D. (Society of Aircraft Demolishes) patch for telling on himself about a wing bolt that caused a crash. The wing bolt was too long which allowed the wing to move in flight changing the angle of incidence faster than he could make adjustments with the elevator. Mike edged out Earl Robinson for the broken Prop Award. Earl had a mid air collision with one of the out-of-town competitors of the Sailplane event.[Took out Bill Jenkins gave me a chance didn't help any.] His Mini Challenger survived but took out the full size Challenger. [Bill still took the gold home to Memphis]

The meeting was adjourned to let the Night Flying begin. A total of 5 airplanes flew with 3 different pilots. The last flight ended at 10:50 with the Driving Range lights out under a full moon. It was absolutely beautiful and calm. This year the fog and bugs gave us a break. [UFO reports over Tyrone]

Club member Bill Gowen is also the newsletter editor for the Atlanta R/C club and wanted to extend an invitation to all Fayette Flyers to their field for an open house and family day on Sunday July 11^th. They will be serving free burgers, chili, etc. and possibly some fun fly events if there is enough interest. They have a 300’ paved runway and a covered lounge area. Directions to the field: Take I 285 east to Bouldercrest Rd. (exit 37). Turn left on Bouldercrest. Bear left at the fork in the road, [geez reminds me of an old Johnny Carson skit] which will put you on Constitution Rd. Go past the firehouse and look for an orange gate on the right. That’s it-your there!

Working with kids to inspire an interest in aviation can be an incredibly rewarding experience! One of the better venues available now and backed by our public school systems is the Science Olympiad program. These competitions are run similar to the Olympics where there are numerous science based events that award Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals to the winners, and then accumulate team points to come up with the overall winners. Propeller Propulsion is the aviation event where the goal is to build and fly a rubber band powered airplane in a gymnasium for the longest time aloft. The rules are rather restrictive, allowing a maximum of a 24" wingspan, minimum weight of 10gr (about 1/3 oz), maximum of 6 ½" dia. Propeller using a 12" loop of rubber. The airplane must be made of wood and paper and have a commercially molded plastic propeller. There are 2 different divisions that compete at a national level. In the high school division the airplanes must ROG (rise of ground) and therefore have landing gear, while the middle school division hand launch theirs, eliminating the extra weight, drag, and complexity of having wheels. Each school has a team made up of 2 kids. However, many schools (each of the middle schools in PTC) have both "A" and "B" teams in order to allow a greater level of participation. [I got a rubber band caught in my nose once]

I have been involved with all of the schools competing in Science Olympiad from Fayette County for the past 2 years. Some of these teams start before Christmas and tackle their events with as much enthusiasm as any sports team would in their athletic events! To say that my house has been a busy place is a bit of an understatement. Since I have a large finished basement with a dream collection of tools and materials to build their creations, science teachers and parents from all over the county could now probably find my place blindfolded. Most days of the week would book up about a week in advance with between 2 – 6 kids surrounding my Ping-Pong table. Toward the end they would reserve a gym for test flying. I’m sure proud of these kids (and their parents) to put the energy and time necessary to achieve some spectacular results! Inter team rivalry between the schools that I assisted was almost non existent (very important when arranging gyms for test flying).

We swept the State Championships in Propeller Propulsion, setting new records in both high school and middle school divisions. Our own Fayette Flyers members Justin Lapp and Mike Brennison teamed up to win the High School division for Sandy Creek with a winning time of 2 min 15 sec! Their local competition from McIntosh High didn’t do so well in propeller propulsion in the state, but their school won 2^nd place in their overall team score. The qualification to go to the nationals is for your overall team to finish 1^st or 2^nd in the state. During the Nationals at the University of Chicago, seniors Jeff Condon and Jeff Butler of McIntosh proved their mastery of indoor aviation. Winning the Gold Medal and setting a new National Record ROG flight of 2 min 25 sec with a bonus of 20 sec for a perfect wheel landing at the end! [Hard part was explaining it to my wife]

The Middle School division of state competition was held at Georgia State University was pretty much dominated by Fayette County teams. Finishing 1^st overall was Booth Middle School and 2^nd was Rising Star, qualifying them both to go to the nationals! In Propeller Propulsion, Michael Condon and Reah Rogers of Booth won 1^st, Nate Overall and Danny O’shaughnessy of Rising Star took 2^nd, and Peter Davenport and Kelly Ivey of Flat Rock took 3^rd. Fayette Flyers members John Gowan and his dad Bill came out with what I am sure were the most impressive and high tech Science Olympiad airplanes in the nation flying for the Chamblee Middle School team! The ventilation system in the room that was provided for this competition was very undesirable for indoor model airplanes. Unless the flight stayed centered in a small section in the middle of the room, the ducts around the perimeter would knock these lightly wing-loaded airplanes out of the sky. Each of John’s flights got hammered by the air ducts and were cut severely short. In practice flights, his times were up with the very best. With about 6 weeks between this state championship and the nationals, the kids going to the nationals kept refining their designs, most building new broad chord wings and perfecting their flying techniques. [not funny, you try it sometime]

The field house at the University of Chicago was the best facility that any of these kids had ever had a chance to fly their planes in. They took advantage of it and made some last minute adjustments (but practice time was severely limited – just the morning of the event, beginning at 7:00). There were some problems during test flights (including the worst, Nate accidentally breaking off his carefully adjusted tail boom), but I forced myself to stay totally away from the competition floor and let the kids come up with their own solutions. AND THEY DID IT! I could not have been more proud of them. They proved that all of those hours of preparation paid off. And there was some REAL competition. Last year we really dominated the competition, but I think that we influenced a lot of folks and helped to raise the bar from here on! Nate and Danny (Rising Star) flew early in the competition and got a 2 min 26 sec time, which was enough to keep them in first place for most of the day. There were several flights over 2 min but none could match theirs. Not until a very well prepared team from the Los Angeles area came in quite late in the competition with a whole flock of kids and one of the smoothest flying planes I’ve ever seen. They flew a beautiful 2 min 43 sec flight (now putting them in the lead). Michael and Reah (Booth) were tied up with other events all day long and had to hustle back to the field house to get their competition flights in just before they closed the event. The word was out that last year’s champions (Booth) were due to arrive so there were local reporters and film crews were waiting for them. They swarmed around the two kids with lights, cameras, and microphones. Talk about some SERIOUS distractions! These reporters were relentless, the whole time that the kids were trying to count their winds and prepare for their flight they kept asking them interview questions. Then to top it off, after their plane was fully wound, the reporter continued asking questions (rubber power diminishes every second that it is held in a wound condition). More than 2 minutes interviewing, they moved out to the center of the floor to launch their plane. They were followed every step of the way by the reporters and camera crew, only to have an old timer who was flying some demonstration flights launch another of his planes just as they got there. This meant that they would have to wait about another 2 min before they could launch! Finally their turn arrived and Michael made a perfect launch, however their plane didn’t have near the power or the climb that they had planned for because of the extended wait before flying. But it was beautiful. It was smooth, perfectly centered, and a flawless flight. Had they immediately launched as planned, they probably would have broken the magic 3-min mark, but with only flying to about half of the altitude available, they ended up with 2 min 44 sec. That was 1 second longer than the California team! So Booth Middle School won the Gold Medal with a new record time! El Rancho Middle School of California took the Silver and Rising Star took the Bronze with 2 min 26 sec. Georgia is definitely known through the Science Olympiad organization as being the hot bed of aviation! And to top that off, Booth Middle School won the overall team NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP for an unprecedented 4^th time in a row!

by Dave Zeigler[thought he'd run out of ink by now]

Rainy windy days preceded our annual Kid’s Event. Thank goodness it cleared up on Saturday, even though a fair breeze still made free flight a challenge. There was a lot of energy out on the field that day, flying and chasing down their own airplanes. A few kids spent hours and hours building their beautiful planes, and others actually built theirs at the field (all building materials and supplies were available). It allowed everyone that showed up to participate and have a good time. Since this event was the day after many schools got out for the summer, there was a lot of competition for the kids schedule, from soccer and baseball to vacations and who knows what all. However we still had a good turn out, thanks to all of the good parents and club members support. The results are as follows:

1. Ty Burnette 176 1. Alan McDowell 45

2. B.J.Nash172 2. Mike Brennison 9

3. Stacy Fleming134

1. Ty Burnette 203 1. Justin Fuller 24

2. Greg Hill 169 2. Ethan Boyd 19

3. Mike Brennison161 3. Joshua Fuller 16

1. Tyler Selmer 87 1. Ty Burnette 39

2. Elizabeth Nash 46

3. Samantha Hollister 26

BEST FLIGHT – Ty Burnette 1 min 8sec (also a 1 min 7 sec)

BEST CRAFTSMANSHIP – B.J.Nash Yellow "Explorer"

PRETTIEST PLANE – Kelsie Flower adorned "Feather"

The constant breeze did take its toll on some of the best flying models of the competition. Ty Burnette and his dad watched their beautiful yellow and black "One Nite 28" (the bat plane) as well as Ty’s excellent Hugulet B HLG fly away into never never land. And B.J. Nash’s "Explorer" that he did such a perfect job of building and adjusting flew a bit too well (even with a long chase and plenty of help). Hopefully their prize winnings will help to soften their losses. Also a special thanks to Ron and Cheryl Nash for their strong support and for the hot dog lunch! Congratulations to all of the kids.

What a Wonderful World

Congrat' To Clare on her Solo