Lake County Modelers and Flyers Asn.

www.LCMFA.com https://www.facebook.com/LakeCountyModelersFlyersAssociation/

The next LCMFA Monthly Meeting

is November 10th at 7:00 P.M. at the

Baldwin Village Hall. This meeting is

open to the full membership. If you

are in the area, please feel free to at-

tend.

PO Box 398, Baldwin, Mi 49304

Propwash Nov 2021

LCMFA 2022 Event Schedule

Midwest Jet Pilot’s “Spring Fling” - June 8 - 12, 2022

West Michigan “RC Expo” - July 7 - 9, 2022

Midwest Jet Pilot’s “Boondoggle”- August 17 - 21, 2022

West Michigan Member & Guest Fun-fly – September 10-11, 2022

Page 1

Topics In This Issue: Regulatory Impact ………….. Pg 1

Why Can’t We Get Rxers? ….. Pg 2

And the Race Begins …………. Pg 2

On a More Positive Note …… Pg 3

How Do We Do That? …….… Pg 3

Anatomy of a Season ………… Pg 4

Sponsors …………………….. Pg 5

Regulatory Impact While there has been little going

on in the regulatory world that impacts us

directly, there are several government

interventions going on that are having an

indirect impact on us.

First off, if you have not completed

the TRUST knowledge Exam now is a

great time to do it. Get it done before you

get back into flying in the Spring. Eventu-

ally, it will be required!

Second the government’s inability

to control inflation may have so far

caused about an overall 30% increase in

the cost of our planes and building com-

ponents. However, if you are really lucky

you may be able to find a few compo-

nents that are still on the shelf with last

month’s prices on it!

Third is the log jam of shipping

delays caused by our past decades of turn-

ing over our manufacturing base to China.

Our government has made this even

worse by paying people NOT to work.

Now we have truck driver, container and

longshoreman shortages. Overseas ship-

ping costs have gone up ten-fold!

While not passing any new laws or

policies this past several months that di-

rectly impacts us, the Government is hav-

ing a huge impact not only on our hobby,

but also our daily lives! (cont.>)

Regulatory Impact (Cont.)

For example food and fuel have

gone up 30+%! Yet the Government’s

Inflation Rate is only 5.9% This makes

fixed income folks poorer every year!

We can’t even blame this on one

administration. The inflation rate is a

perfect example. This B.S. has been go-

ing on for decades. Also, administra-

tions from both parties impose restric-

tive TFRs on us every time they get

within 30 nautical miles of us. They all

tell us lies. If you believe everything the

government tells us, I have a dozen

bridges to sell you!

So, … what does this all mean to

us as model enthusiasts? If you want to

build something this winter, you should

consider ordering what you may need

now. Or even maybe consider not build-

ing something new this winter. Or,

maybe you may want to consider get-

ting a third job to even afford what you

might be able to get your hands on.

Anyway, most of my fleet is still

working! I may have to resort to some

piston powered aircraft as the turbine

fleet seems to be self-destructing these

days. But at least I’ll have something to

fly, even if it is an old crate! Of course,

this assumes we can still afford the fuel!

Page 2

Why Can’t We Get Receivers?

When the Remote ID policy was

put into place, one of the requirements is

for manufacturers to incorporate Remote

ID capability into their fully manufactured

aircraft. The implementation date was set

before we are required to comply with the

rule. Consequently manufacturers are

scrambling to meet the new requirement

of having Remote ID capability built into

bind and fly type aircraft. For example:

Spektrum has already incorporated te-

lemetry in their receivers and transmitters.

Logically, the next step would be incorpo-

rating Remote ID information into the te-

lemetry data stream so that the average

Joe Blue can read it from the patrol car.

Apparently this may take a bit more effort

than just a bit of software programming.

I believe this is why we have not

been able to get a >10 channel receiver for

almost a year. It appears that Spektrum

has really been hit hard by this. They have

a $1600 20 channel transmitter and no re-

ceivers capable of handling 20 channels

for over a year. If you are lucky, you may

find 10 channel receivers, but no 12 or 20

channel receivers.

There is a way around this by using

Spektrum’s Serial Receivers and a third

party main unit (e.g. Powerbox, etc.) But

to get a Powersafe 20 channel receiver is

next to impossible.

Also, if you backorder one, the

prices have gone up 30% in the past few

months. It is hard to tell if this increase is

Remote ID change cost or just the ship-

ping log jam cost or both costs contribut-

ing to this drastic cost increase. Last

month I bought a $2.98 part that was criti-

cal to my landing gear. It cost $28.98 to

get it shipped here from China!

Also, container cost, if you can

even find one available, have gone up

from $5000 to $25000! Talk about the

CCP ripping us off! And even if you do

get a container, it may be months before it

leaves China, more months before it gets

offloaded in the USA and then more

months before it clears US Customs.

Did we bring this on ourselves? Or

did the manufacturer’s drive for more

profit force this on us? Did the govern-

ment’s policies force this on us? Whatever

the case, it is here now and we are stuck

with the short end of the stick, … again!

And the Race Begins

Normally, I start the search for

sponsors in September before all the side-

walks rollup in Baldwin. About Decem-

ber, I start working on all the marketing

materials so that I can send out a package

to about 30 - 40 potential industry spon-

sors that include out brochures, event

schedules, contact information and de-

scription of events. They need this stuff

by the end of the year to help them make

decisions about who to spend their mar-

keting $s with.

Of course we have built up a really

great relationship with several of our local

and industry sponsors. But we still have a

bit of turnover to fill every year.

The $ we get from our local spon-

sors typically helps pay for our marketing

materials. The products and $s we get

from our industry sponsors typically go

directly to our pilots as prizes. Sometimes

we get a really good product, and we hold

on to it for a separate raffle.

All this marketing take months of

work and a lot of time. Fortunately I have

come to enjoy the relationships I have

nurtured during these efforts. I look for-

ward to going to distant events to nurture

the relations we have. I like to visit thier

shops and ensure they know we too are

interested in their welfare, etc., etc. Some

of these folks, although fairly distantly

located to me, have become friends.

As I get less young, I can’t help

wondering who is going to carry on the

marketing program for LCMFA. It has

taken years to figure out what works and

what does not work. And, ... I am positive

that I have not yet figured it all out.

I would like to have someone that

is a bit more less young than I to start

working with to pass on the marketing

process and knowledge. Also, I have

found in the past, that when doing this the

new person also brings new ideas that

makes things more effective and maybe

even a bit easier.

So it is time for searching for that

new younger person. If you are interested

in marketing, please let me know. I think

it is time for someone else to start making

the transition to eventually taking it over.

I am willing to teach someone the tricks I

know and learn the new tricks that the

new person would bring to the table!

Page 3

On a More Positive Note

First off, I apologize for page one

being so negative. It has been a long hard

2021 season. It has taken a huge toll on us.

In the past year we put in a well, a

sprinkling system and a power distribution

system in the main event area. We also es-

tablished a two control line circle area with

water distribution headers, improved the car

track and reworked the road a bit.

For next year, we need to complete

the electrical service project. This is our pri-

ority project! So far we have collected

$8500 in donations for this ~$14,000 pro-

ject. We still need about $5500 to complete

this project in the spring.

The electrical project will bring grid

power to the main event area. Then we can

stop running the generator and put the

sprinkling system on automatic mode ver-

sus having someone out there several times

to operate the system for a day. Also, we

will be able to turn on the electrical distri-

bution system along pit row. Eventually we

may even be able to add some drops for

RVs, etc.

The Control Line (CL) Circle Area

will need a lot of care. It took us 7 years for

the turf runways to develop a great grass

field. It will take a few years, lots of fertil-

izer and water to make the CL circles fly-

able. It will also take a lot more effort to cut

the CL area’s grass!

Speaking of grass, Ray has perma-

nently moved to Georgia! While Rob has

stepped up to provide oversight of the RC

Park maintenance, this does NOT mean he

is always cutting and trimming the grass!

Our current plan is to put up a schedule and

let volunteers cut the grass. If the members

are not willing to step up and help, they had

better be planning on getting bigger wheels,

etc. Of course, I always take care of the

main event area. This leaves the pavilion

area, the turf runways, the car track area and

also along the road including the gate area.

Ray used to spend about 8 hours a week

taking care of front areas. This left the CL

circle area, which Mac and I did a couple

times his past year. I do NOT plan to cut

that next year.

So when the maintenance schedule

goes out, it is time for members to sign up

and help maintain our field. If this does not

work, we may have to hire a service pro-

vider to do the work. At the very least, be

ready for some areas to not be in good

shape, all the time. Ray had us spoiled. If

we want to stay spoiled, we all are going to

have to contribute more effort.

How Do We Do That?

The LCMFA Board is currently

involved with elections for 2022. We also

will have a couple new appointments to

fill Director’s positions. If you would like

to get involved as a Director, please let me

know ASAP.

The Board is also looking at meth-

ods to improve member involvement. We

have always lived with the disparity of

having local folks doing most of the main-

tenance work and the more distant folks

contributing with additional donations.

However, the donations have dropped off

a bit. We have a couple members that still

donate a lot, every year. But we still have

about 90+ members who donate nothing

other than $20 dues. So the question is:

How do we resolve this disparity?

One of the other local clubs here

with the same issue, developed a policy

that has increased the number of workers

annually from <10 to ~40 in the past year.

They provide credit towards the dues for

hours worked on the site or doing some-

thing that takes time spent on club activi-

ties, etc.. For us, that would be field main-

tenance, event staffing and occasional

other jobs, etc.

The problem we have is; Our dues

are too low to make this effective. The

other club recently doubled their dues

from $50 to $100 and then provides a

50% credit for 10 hours worked in a pre-

vious year. The problem we would have

with this approach is; the AMA dues basi-

cally makes our dues cost about $95 an-

nually. We can not apply work hour cred-

its to the AMA dues. However, we do

have a world class site. Also, in the not to

distant future the FAA will be forcing

folks to travel to approved sites. We al-

ready have folks that travel hundreds of

miles to get here to fly.

The question here is: How do we

get more folks involved in field mainte-

nance and field improvement projects w/o

losing the local members who are already

doing the work? Or put another way; How

do we solve the disparity between the

worker and non-worker members? It is a

tough issue to solve. For all non-profits, it

has been around for ages. But only the in-

dividual members can solve it w/o impos-

ing some sort of draconian rules. Some

clubs charge hundreds of dollars for dues

and contract out the labor. Some clubs just

die! What should we do? How do we get

more members involved?

Anatomy of Season

Well, for us, it is that time of year again. It is time to unload the trailers and

get the tools down on the bench. For me it has been an unusual year. I had two jets

crash. One may have gone down to unrecognized turbine failure and the second one

came apart midair from poor hinge design combined with age and extreme speed.

So, … with three turbines w/o airframes it is time for me to put something

new on the bench. However, the current problems with a new project include ship-

ping cost. If I don’t want to wait for a container delivered airframe, it is over $1300

to get a model plane here from China. A container will probably take several months.

But, no one really knows how long it will be for a container to arrive from China!

But I’ll cross that bridge once the air frame is ready to ship in 8-12 weeks.

I also plan to go through my piston powered fleet this winter. None of those

planes flew this past season. Time to inspect fuel systems, clean out carbs and re-oil

the cylinders, etc. Also, after what happened to the Ultra Flash this year, I’ll proba-

bly take a real close look at all hinges! If you are close by, you may hear a few giant

plane engines running this winter! I am planning to do more piston powered flying

next year.

The jets are relatively more complex, and I may have missed a distant flame-

out that caused the L-39 to crash. After I sent the turbine back twice to get inspected,

it was discovered that the fuel pump was allowing the turbine RPM to drop below

minimum RPM resulting in the ECU shutting off the turbine. This effect was repeat-

able! I was so focused on correcting the somehow miss-positioned aileron trim after

take-off that I never noticed the turbine may have quit while I was still trying to take

the plane up quickly to iron out the trim issue. Maybe with the turbine flamed out the

speed bled off to the point when I tried to turn the L-39, it stalled. Clearly it was in a

stall. But we were NOT sure how it got in that condition. With the trim issue going

on, we were not focused much on speed. The failed turbine may be the explanation

for that. But, I will never know for sure what happened other than it was an expen-

sive crash!

The Ultra Flash’s (UF) elevator hinge failed while flying. I did 6 flights w/o

incident. On the seventh flight, the left elevator hinge failed. I noticed the momen-

tary flight disturbance when it failed. I am not sure I heard any flutter. I tried to turn

the plane back in to land. When I pulled the elevator for the turn the plane rolled out

and over. The plane was traveling well over 100 mph. So I know it was not one of its

usual 15 snaps. The plane was high, so when it rolled out of the turn, I let it nose

down for a bit. When I pulled the elevator to stop the dive, it snapped into a spiral

and that was all she wrote! It nosed in. Everything after the turbine was still intact,

except for the left elevator. The left elevator’s Live Hinge was separating from the

stab (3/4”) to the point that the servo could not effectively move it!

I was practicing tight turns to keep the UF in closer than I normally do. This

probably put more stress on the elevator than I normally put on it. Also, the plane

was in its sixth year of flight. But, … I had replaced the Stab/Elevator once before

when I caught the first time its elevator hinge failed! CARF live hinges on UFs have

a problem!

This experience with the UF reinforces the reason we clamped down on one of

pilots who had a plane that was vastly exceeding the 200 MPH speed limit! These

planes can fail. We frequently push them to extreme conditions. They can also fail

due to age. There is a reason for the 200 mph speed limit and the rule to never allow

the energy of the plane to be directed at the flight line and/or people.

When we did coach the speeding pilot, initially felt a little bad about it. How-

ever, this event with my UF (the same type plane that he was speeding with) has

confirmed to me that coaching the pilot and imposing some restrictions was the right

thing to do! Anyway, time for me to figure out what I need for a new bench project!

Page 4

LCMFA’s 2021 Sponsors