Hello everyone.

Club Meeting: Our next club meeting is Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 3:00PM. Let's get together to discuss business and have a great afternoon of flying.

Membership cards (2011): On April 3^rd at the meeting, I will have membership cards available for members that recently joined, renewed lately and the cards of those that have not picked them up. Remember that the cards are made based on the member having submitted the 2011 renewal / application form, is a member in good standing, has paid the proper fees and has the AMA reported to us up to date.

Website: Take a look at the website for information about the club. Larry has added a few things so go and take a look.

Ailerons Y cable connector: The other day at the field we were working on the airplane of one of our new members and I was asked if it matters that the aileron servos are connected to the Y extension cable always to the same side of the connector. In other words; is there a right and a left connection that always has to be made the same way each time? The answer is no, it does not matter if you connect the right or left aileron servo to either terminal of the Y. Both terminals send the same information to both servos. It is different if you connect the ailerons servos to a different channel to have independent control and trims for each aileron. Usually the right aileron servo is connected to aileron output from the receiver and the left aileron is connected to a slave channel like AUX 1. Then, every time you put your wing on the airplane you must connect the right and left aileron servos to the correct receiver output.

Lithium battery experiment at the field: A few weeks ago we did an experiment, under the direction of our mad scientist J.T. I think it was interesting and here goes a little report. A four cell battery, 5000 mah that was involved in a crash was used. We placed the battery on the ground away from everybody. A 12 volt battery was connected directly to one cell of the pack. After burning a couple of cables, including good car jumper cables, we could not make the cell to puff but just a little. Then we rigged a nail to a pole and punctured one cell from the pack. After a couple of attempts, the puncture cell smoked and caught fire producing a large, intense and aggressive flame. The rest of the cells caught fire then. Lesson to remember is that overcharging a lipo could cause a fire but our intelligent chargers do a relatively good job of avoiding overcharging our batteries. But mistakes can be made. The next lesson is that a punctured / damaged lipo battery can catch fire and it is a serious threat to the airplane, or your car or your home. I know lipo batteries are somewhat expensive. The right thing to do is getting rid off a damaged lipo. Don't take the risk. It is just not worth it. These fires are quite aggressive. If you don't know how to discard a lipo battery safely, ask any of us (J.T., Dr. Joey, Steve) and we will tell you how.

A 12 volt battery explosion can happen: I want to share with our club members a story related to a mishap one of our fellow club members had while charging his 12 volt battery in preparation to go to the field. Fortunately he is doing well and had no major injuries but a few doctor's office visits were required. Many of us use 12 volt batteries to charge our receiver batteries, lipo batteries and other electrical needs. In this case, our friend connected his battery charger to the 12 volt battery. He noticed that it was taking long time and the charger seemed to not achieve the full charge. He reconnected the charger and retried a few times. Apparently the charger was malfunctioning and was not cutting off at full charge so kept applying charge to the battery. The battery was contained in a plastic case and was being charged inside the garage. On the last attempt our friend made to connect the charger again to the battery there was a spark and ignited the hydrogen vapors that have accumulated in the vicinity causing the battery to explode. Acid and shrapnel were all over. Some acid got to his arm. Fortunately he did not suffer injuries to his face. The plastic container provided some containment or the potential injuries could have been worse. The fire department came to help clean the acid spill in the proper manner and dispose of it. Make sure that when charging a 12 volt battery, your charger is of good quality, asses the proper function of your charger, you charge in a ventilated area, avoid connections close to the battery that may spark and is not a bad idea to wear some eye protection. CAUTION!!!

It is scheduled for this year from Saturday, May 7^th to Saturday, May 14^th at the Triple Tree Aerodrome in South Carolina. Some members of our club attended this event on previous years and told me how much it was worth to go and so I did, together with J.T, on 2010. It was spectacular!!!. You will see every kind of airplane, from electric to gassers, 3-D, jets to warbirds. There are noon time demonstrations of new products by very skilled pilots. The main flight line offered 6 pilot positions all under strict regulations to keep safety. In order to fly in the mainline you have to have an up to date AMA and IMAA registration and a "spotter" to have extra eyes around the action which gets quite busy.

FAA Regulations: Many of you are aware of the oncoming regulations from the FAA to the model airplane hobby. On the previous newsletter I gave you a chronological explanation of the events. The AMA website has up to date information on what is happening including government contacts being made and responses from senators and representatives regarding this issue. By June 2011, the proposed rules will be made public for discussion. It is expected that there will be some regulations to our hobby but it is not known yet the extent of these regulations. I have heard at the field all sorts of speculations of what the regulations may be. Officially we really do not know. So, for now, speculations make for good conversation but by June we will know more and those of us that have not voiced concern to our lawmakers, we need to let our opinions heard. The AMA website has a sample letter you can use to contact your representative. I know that the FAA rules have passed the Senate with little restrictions to our hobby. The rules are still on the House of representative for vote and does not have the amendments that the Senate bill contains so the attention is now on what is going up at the House. Let us keep informed.

RAMS Spring Fun Fly coming soon: In our February meeting was proposed to have a get together of our club and invite members of the Tri County RC club through Bill Wynne who is their secretary and member of our club. The date has been set for Sunday, May 1st. All members please attend the April meeting since we will be asking for volunteers to organize this activity. So far, we think we will go for "bring your own food and drinks" and a dish to share with our guests. As a club we need to make sure that we take great care of our guests. We will provide facilities for BB-Q and other needs. Times for the activity and plans for the day are to be decided in the April meeting so bring your thinking cap and enthusiasm. On that day, both clubs are going to have separate "very short" club meetings to deal with any ongoing business but safe fun is the goal for that day. Maybe we can have some sort of contest.

ROTC "Airbase Mock Attack": We had a great time with the cadets from the ROTC. This is the second year we have been part of these training exercises providing some realism with flying airplanes, the noise and the candy bomb drops. Many thanks to J.T., Dr. Joey, Gary Elliott, and Larry Harris. Also to Geoff who almost made it. We arrived by 8:00 AM and started getting our airplanes ready. It was very windy and turbulent added to the fact that the ground is uneven and there is a very confined space where to land. Everything combined for a very exciting exercise in model airplane flying. Captain J.T. was the first one to take to the air in a practice run. His Super Senior was battered all over by the increasing winds. After one candy drop fly-by test, he started the landing approach. The airplane was coming every which way but straight. The path to follow was a couple of feet to the right of a tall tree, five feet above the camp building, loose 15 feet altitude quickly, make a sharp turn to the left 4 feet from the ground to get into the right direction to land on the field, bleed speed off on the turn, level off quickly, flare the airplane and land as soon as possible before hitting the trees in the opposite side of the field and hope for the best. WOW!!!. After all this the landing gear broke on the first try. Quick recovery of the crashed plane and after inspection, CA glue got the landing gear back in place. Then I went for it with my Senior. I got lucky and landed fine. Then the ROTC exercise started. JT flew again and broke his previous weakened landing gear and fuselage and that was it. I was able to fly eight more missions until I broke my landing gear and fuselage. Boy!!! That is what I call expensive fun!!! We had smaller back up airplanes and completed the mission. What early in the morning started with a row of beautiful model airplanes, ended by lunch time with a demolition show of model airplanes. If I wouldn't know better I believe the cadets were firing ground to air missiles. The bomb drop boxes were attached on the Seniors on top of the wing and doing a roll or loop would release the candy. Larry put together a servo activated unit that he used on his airplanes. I had one of these installed in my smaller second plane and worked great. I asked Larry to write a HOW TO directions on how to build one. By the way, if you have found lots of candy scattered at the RAMS field, it was Larry doing several bombing practices before the ROTC event. You are welcomed to pick up the candy and eat it (they are wrapped candy). I am including some pictures of the event.

Dr. Joey with the Super Seniors.

Gary is saying "You fools" Is too rough to fly.

　

J.T. stop smiling!!!. It is not funny!!!

Captain J.Taylor from the RAMS Air Base USA

　

　

Are we the reason for the FAA regulations????

Larry's Bomb Drop Box on Dr. Joey's Eratix.

Bomb Drop Box activated by the Gear channel.

NEWS FLASH!!! Combat casualties at RAMS: A week ago I told JT and Gary to get our handmade combat planes ready and this time go for full contact, no streamers. Well!!! They took it literally and massacred each other. Mine is still in one piece. I guess I won.

Winston saying "What the heck". Have any food?

J.T. found his propeller in Gary's wing. Ouch!!!

Invitation from Tri County RC club: Pete Duty, president of Tri County RC club confirmed to J.T. that members from his club are looking forward to spend time with us on the May 1^st Fun-Fly at RAMS. He also extended an invitation to the RAMS club members to join them on September 11. Looking forward to this!!!

Other events to know about:

May 21-22, Glory Days Vintage Model Airplane Flyin, Old Julian Airport, 8807 Old 421 Road (Liberty Road), Julian, NC, 27283.

OK guys, I am done. Sorry for the long newsletter. This is what happens when you can't sleep.