NARCA Eagle
Volume 2012-02
February, 2012
NEXT MEETING
Place: Star Market, Madison
Date: Thursday February 9, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM
Program: None Scheduled
Eagle Droppings From the President:
Well, it's the quiet time of year for us as far as flying
goes, and just when I think I have nothing to write about
someone comes to my rescue by burning down his flight
field. It seems a flyer in south Florida smeared his jet
and touched off a brush fire that spread to 3 acres
before the Fire Department could stop it. The city pulled
its approval for the club to use the property until
procedures addressing the issue were
implemented. This has been done and the club is back
in the air. Many thanks to Rich for stepping up and
getting all of the info for us.
Exec feels we should be proactive and set up
procedures before events occur that make us wish we
had. Gasoline flyers are already REQUIRED to have an
extinguisher handy, and for electric and nitro pilots the
club has purchased 2 fire extinguishers. One will be
stored in the bathroom and the first flyer of the day
should remove it and put it on the hanger on the shed
upright close to the hose pipe. Last guy out return it to
the bathroom and lock up. The second extinguisher will
be in the storage area of the shed in case of a lawn
mower fire. Harvest VFD's phone number will be
permanently posted and in the event of a fire CALL
THEM. Use the extinguishers to slow the fire down until
they get there. If you can put it out, great, the FD won't
be mad when they get there. And don't forget we can
actually use the hose and put water on a fire.
Don't forget the swap meet is about 6 weeks out. Tables
are going FAST and as of the first of the month only
about 3 dozen were left. We are much further ahead
with sales than we have ever been this far out, so we
can expect Ernie is going to put on a great event.
The weather guessers say that winter is going get here
sometime. I don't know if I believe them, but I hope to
get out and enjoy some warm while it's here. This has
been a fantastic winter for flying up to now, and I hope to
take advantage of it while I can. See you at the field! North Alabama
Radio Control Association
P.O. Box 173
Harvest, AL 35749
http://narca.net
UPCOMING CLUB EVENTS
Swap Meet – March 24, 8:30AM – Noon
at Pineview Baptist Church
Rick Nelson, President
March Event Status /
Additional Swap
Meet Being Considered
This Year
March Event: Currently, there are 60 tables reserved
for March swap meet out of about 100 available. This is
a lot for this stage of the game. The main reason is that
we have 5 vendors this year. At least three are selling
new items. I have noticed that I have only two tables
reserved for NARCA members. They are Rick Nelson
and Tim Batt (one each). I want to be sure that I have
not missed any NARCA members in the table
reservation process. Please send a request to me at
[email protected] so I can get you a good spot.
Also, I could use workers for registration, concessions
and the NARCA booth (raffle, PR and Membership). At
this point I can still put club members close to those
activities so that you can easily split time between your
table and the work location. As time goes on this may
be more difficult. Please let me know if you want tables
and where you would like to work for the event. As in
the past, I hope to have more than needed workers so
that people can take turns working, selling and buying.
Additional Swap Meet in June: At the General
th
Meeting on the 12 of January, discussion arose about
having an additional swap meet sometime in June.
Ernie has coined this event the “Get Out of the Heat
Meet”. The primary reasons for this swap meet are to
continue to grow the event (we are maxed out at
Pinewood Baptist Church) and to allow a transition to a
new facility (Monrovia Community Center) without a
large time-span in-between swap meets (15 months).
We welcome any comments about having this meet and
moving the event to June; swap meets are a significant
part of our income and help us to meet our budget goals
while keeping our membership fees reasonable. Rick and Ernie
Crash and Subsequent Fire
Causes Temporary Closure of
Flying Field in Florida
The Cape Coral R/Sea Hawks recently had their flying
site shut down due to a fire that spread to nearly three
acres. An investigation by the Fire Marshal revealed
they did not have satisfactory procedures and equipment
in place to combat a fire. After meeting with the Fire
Marshal and presenting their procedures flying was
allowed to resume.
Rich Lawrie contacted the club and they indicated that
the aircraft causing the fire was in fact a jet. Even
though NARCA does not allow jets, it is still a "wake-up
call" for us; fires can be started by glow/gas and electric
aircraft. We must be ready to fight a fire if a lipo battery
vents or glow fuel catches fire.
NARCA execs discussed this as new business at the
th
meeting on the 30 of January and have implemented
the following:
• Fire extinguishers at the front and storage areas
of the shed.
• Procedures posted in the shed to follow if there
is a fire.
Contact Rick if you have any questions. Kevin
12 January General Meeting Minutes:
•
$800 to the membership approved budget
(primarily due to the sale of one of the sheds)
President – Rick Nelson – No Report
Committee Reports are now addressed only in the
NARCA executive committee meetings. Members are
always welcome to attend the NARCA Executive
Committee Meetings.
Old Business:
• No Second Votes this month.
• There is no new word on the possibility of
manned sailplanes operating at Epps Field.
New Business:
• The NARCA 2012 budget was approved at the
previous Executive Committee Meeting and
presented to the general membership. After
discussion the NARCA 2012 budget was
approved by vote.
• The NARCA 2012 calendar of events as
published in the newsletter was discussed and
approved by vote.
• There was a discussion on having a second
NARCA Swap Meet in in the June timeframe
at the Monrovia Community Center. The
Monrovia Community Center is available in that
time frame and would provide additional space
need due to overcrowding at the present
site. Several ideas were presented for
consideration. Consensus was this needs
further discussion and support by the NARCA
membership before committing to the event.
Meeting Adjourned at 7:30 PM
After the meeting Jeff Unger presented a show & tell on
a plane under construction. He is using some
components inherited from his father. Also there was a
discussion on modeling tools including the advantages
and disadvantages of bandsaws and jigsaws.
Meeting called to order by President Rick Nelson at 640
PM at the Star Market Meeting Room.
Respectfully Submitted,
Introduction of visitors / prospective members – None.
Archie Phillips
Minutes of previous NARCA General Meeting were
approved as written by Kevin Reynolds and published in
the newsletter.
Officers’ Reports:
• Secretary – Archie Phillips – No Report
• Vice President – Rich Lawrie – No Report
• Treasurer – Bob Stewart – Income for the
previous month was primarily Membership
renewals. NARCA finished the year a positive
Membership
February 2012 Meeting
• Steve and Charlie Cook
Orion III Space Plane
From Wikipedia
was released. Airfix and other plastic model
manufacturers produced a kit for this plane.
The Orion III is a fictional passenger space plane seen in
the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a two-stage
space shuttle launched on a reusable winged booster. It
is equipped with aerospike rocket engines and jet
engines for atmospheric flight.
Take a simulated flight here and dream!
There is also a thread for this plane on RC Groups;
DemonDriver is building a flying model (he is still
thinking out how to place a fin on this bird). This guy
builds some amazing scratch-built airplanes. Flight Battery
B. J. West
This model, while purely fictional, has captivated aviation
and space enthusiasts for the 40+ years since the movie
During site maintenance a flight battery was found in one
of the sheds. Battery was checked and it seems to be
good. If the battery is yours contact Archie Phillips to
identify and claim.