Happy New year !!!!! I hope Santa brought you lots of nice presents
For my sins I have been asked again to do the newsletters so you are stuck with me !!!
Santa brought me a field charger for taking advantage of Anthony’s charging system at the field however when I spoke to Anthony about it he pointed out the potential current draw of the charger is high and if a couple of people are charging at the same time it might blow the main fuse, thankfully I can set the maximum current draw on it so I can dial it down.
The specification of the charger is amazing for such a small unit and touch screen as well although with it being a small screen I think fat fingers might be an issue, time will tell.
Flying Club membership Renewals
To renew your membership go on the clubs website, on the drop down menu you will see membership, click on that and select renewal and follow the instructions. The renewal procedure has a degree of automation built into it but still requires some manual work by the treasury and membership secretary, please give these people a chance to process your renewal.
https://bfrcms.bmfa.club/membership/
Its also worth checking that the club has got the correct email for you.
Please do not deviate from the renewal process because that cause problems and can result in you not receiving your membership card/letter.
Remember to take advantage of the early renewal discount you have to renew before the end of January.
No reminders are issued its up to you to renew your membership.
Indoor Meetings
We held our first indoor meeting of the year on 7th Jan and this was the annual construct a chuck glider competition.
Now mention the word competition and it brings out the devil/demon in everybody who attends. Everybody arrives laughing and joking yet within thirty minutes the fighting talk begins over glider design, the rules of the competition, what constitutes a chuck glider and finally using the glider as a weapon, yes that did happen (again) with direct hits on peoples head and torso.
Jake very kindly brought along a stack of balsa wood, foam board, knifes and cyno glue. There was an added bonus that you could keep the bottles of cyno so if you were not there you missed out on some free glue !!!.
The designs of the gliders were varied with some people trying to be to smart for their own good and ending up with designs that looked the part but lacked the flying element !!!
Highlight for me was Duncan Melvin’s design that actually flew backwards, well I say flew perhaps flutter is a better word.
Anthony Ollerton made a great glider and trimmed it to fly in a big circle.
The result was as follows :
1st Place Anthony Ollerton
2nd Place Chris Vernon
3rd Place Mike Watters
Thanks Jake for providing the building equipment and thanks to everybody who came to the meeting
Some photos of the event :
Upcoming Meeting
The next meeting we have a guest speak who is a friend of Mark Conlin, the speaker is called Allan and before his retirement he was aerodynamicist on the Typhoon fighter jet. Allan has purchased a model Typhoon but has modified it in line with some of career findings, the model has yet to fly, what could possibly go wrong as they say !!!!!
Allan is going to give us a forty five minute talk about his model and maybe some things from his past life at BAe.
Now before you all start panicking about about it being to technical Allan has been briefed about the subject matter in terms we will hopefully understand.
Please make every effort to attend as it promises to be an interesting talk .
Trainers/Trainees
The list of club trainers has been refreshed and their names are below.
A couple of the trainers are of an age where work does not get in the way and if contacted may be able to accommodate mid week sessions.
As a trainee get to know these trainers if needed ask for their phone numbers or use the Clubs messenger group to make contact with them.
Don’t rely on the same trainer all the time, all the trainers will offer the same amount of training and to the same standard/goal.
Training sessions are Wednesday evening and Sunday mornings weather dependant of course
Trainers :
Chris Vernon, Jason Reid, Jake Reid, Mark Conlin, Andy Harrison, Anthony Ollerton, Dave Hindley, Kev Watson
Regards Chris V