Next Meeting is this Saturday, November 12th, Bookland Cafe at 9:30

October 8 2005 Meeting Minutes

Members Present:

Mark Higgins, Mike Farnsworth, Dick Rosenburg, Michael Moore, John LeClair, Ken MacDonald

Secretary's Report:

None as Larry Smith was not present.

Treasurer's Report:

Ken MacDonald reported that the club had a beginning balance of 737.46 dollars. 3 membership dues were paid for $36 and Michael Moore paid $25 for the winch chute. Ending balance was $798.46

Old Business:

Chute Order: Michael Moore paid the club for the winch chute that was ordered. Jim should make arrangements with Michael for delivery of the chute.

Club trainer status: Mike Farnsworth reported that the club trainer status has not changed. Waiting to get extra club gear from Glen Collins to get it in working order. The radio started glitching after the gears were replaced in one of the servos. Could be that the receiver is bad or a servo is bad.

Wing Launcher: John LeClair has the “semi-useless” wing launcher. He reported that most of the energy from the zip start was used up in ripping the Velcro harness off of the wing. Launches were not very high.

Club Trailer Auction: Jim Armstrong won the bid for the club trailer. The winning bid is $100. Jim should make arrangements to pay the club treasurer for the trailer. Mike Farnsworth let the club borrow his trailer plate for use with the trailer. Mike would like the plate and registration back or be compensated for it if Jim wishes to keep it – what ever is cheapest. Jim (recently?) registered the trailer and paid for it out of his own pocket in leau of using the trailer. What is the cost of a trailer plate these days anyway?

New Business:

Hand Launch Contest: The Handlaunch contest is coming up on October 22nd. We have 5 people signed up. Scott Lister has signed up but has not specified a frequency. The contest will be held at the DSC Thermal Duration field in Minot, Maine.

Nominations for Office: Nominations for Office: The following people have been nominated or volunteered for club officer positions:

We have the following positions that need to be filled:

As you can see, the club is clearly in need of members to fill the leadership positions. Please help us keep the club organized.

Next Meeting: The next meeting is on Saturday, November 12th 2005 at the Bookland Cafe in Brunswick. The club will hold officer elections. Members will go flying afterwards. For those new to the club, be prepared for any style of flying. Windy conditions provide nice sloping in the fall. In the event that there is not any wind, members may fly HLG's, Thermal Duration, or electric.

Show and Tell: John LeClair showed us pictures of his Slow Tabria. It is powered with a Himax brushless geared motor and 2200mah lipos. All up weight with all camera and video gear it weighs 40 oz. Flight times are around 12 minutes which yield around 95 to 100 pictures of which about 10% are useable to show.

Reportedly John has good footage of the airplane making a wet landing in the lake. Camera and electronics survived due to some quick fishing action. If you look closely at the lake picture, you will see John standing on the boat ramp and some people in a paddle boat just off the ramp. On landing, John dumped the airplane in the lake to avoid hitting the people in the paddle boat. His only (dry) landing spot was to come straight in at the ramp with no chance at a go around. Thanks to John for providing the show and tell info with pictures.

John's Slow-Tabria with onboard video camera/downlink and digital camera:

Slow Tabria

Lake - look for the boat ramp and paddle boat!

Designated landing zone

John's House:

John's house

School Photo:

School

The Flap Zone

October HLG Contest Results:

The Club held it's annual Hand Launch Contest on October 22nd. The yearly HLG contest(s) results are used to determine which club member wins the right to hold the DSC Perpetual HLG trophy. This trophy is given to the overall winner of all of the DSC Handlauch events for the year. The yearly winner gets their name engraved on the trophy. Past winners include Jim Armstrong, Jeff Carr, and Mike Farnsworth.

The date was a little later than usual, but worked out very well weather wise. The weather was absolutely perfect for an HLG contest. Almost no wind, sunny, and very nice air. Where was the usual 30 knot gale? Not here at this contest - no wind at all during the morning rounds!  The morning rounds were flown in very still air with no wind or thermals. These rounds turned into a launch contest. The contestants flew 15 all up last down rounds. Other formats were not possible due to the lack of people to time for them. Once the pecking order had been firmly established, the formal contest was ended and the contestants flew enjoying the great conditions. The early afternoon presented us with many small thermals being generated close to the ground. These thermals balooned as you increased in altitude and made it easy to spec out. Half hour thermal flights were common. I was wishing that I had brought my TD ship for the noontime flying. Mark Higgins, Dan Flynn, and Mike Farnsworth were the only contestants. Too bad for the no shows. This contest turned into one of those you should have been there days!

HLG Contest Score Sheet:  
Contestant Round Place Final Score
Mike F 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.07
Mark H 3 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 3 2 2 3 2.02
Dan F 2 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 2.67

Mike Farnsworth 1st, Mark Higgins 2nd, Dan Flynn 3rd.