News

Please submit your 2016 SLRCFA board of directors nominations by E-MAIL to SLRCFA.Rotate@gmail.com  Please title the email “SLRCFA Board” and include your nominees and your name.

Requirements: Nominees must be a SLRCFA club member for over one year.

All nominations must be received by November 30^th, before midnight.

This year’s annual Chili Fly was combined with our Toys for Tots toy drive. It was held on Sunday, October 18^th and was a great success.  SLRCFA members and guests were able to donate over $750 in cash and two large boxes of toys. Those in attendance enjoyed superb flying weather, excellent food, and great deals at the charity auction.

SLRCFA would like to thank all who attended and made this charitable event a success.

Author: Jonathan Hendrickson

Ken Merrill has been in Australia for work for the past few months.  Since then he has found a RC club nearby to fly at and has started taking flying lessons.  The other day he reached a milestone and had his first solo flight.  He shared this moment with us by sending this picture.

Ken is flying a Bristell LSA.  For more information about this aircraft visit their website. http://www.bristellaircraft.com/slsa/

Ken is expected to return home sometime in January with his Australian pilots license.

Ken Merrill, SLRCFA Vice-President, will be in Australia for 6 months for work.  Since he left, he has found a local club, the Bendigo Radio Controlled Aircraft Club to fly at while away. Les Davis from the Bendigo Radio Controlled Aircraft Club stated, ” Ken wasn't any more than 1 hour on the field before he was having a flight, he was very lucky as most Aussie flyers are mode 1, but this day there was a mode 2 flyer with his Phoenix Low wing Scanner, and they offered Ken a flight he couldn't refuse, so Ken has now been flying down under, sounds funny I know...”

If you would like to check out the club that Ken is flying at down under, visit their website.

http://www.brcac.asn.au/

Author: Stan Burak

In the mid 1940's, Ted Smith and some guys designed the Aero Commander.  It was done in a small hanger, part time as Ted was the project engineer of the Douglas A-20 bomber.  Twenty years later in 1963, Ted left Rockwell Commander with a new idea, similar to the Jet Commander except piston power.  The Ted Smith Aircraft Company was started in the San Fernando Valley in Northridge in 1965 to design the structure and build the proto type.  In March of 1965, I was employee number 7.  I designed structure until July of 1966, when I left for TWA.  I had to build a model.  The Aero Commander is well known, but the Aerostar is not.  Four companies built it, with Piper the last one ending in 1984 after 1010 built.

My model is 1/4 scale, 110 inch span, 37 pounds and powered by DLE35RA's.  It has not flown, but hope to fly it this year.  It should be available in kits.  Laser Design Services is now looking at the drawings for possible selling of the drawings and laser wood kits.  I am starting the fuselage plug for giantscaletwins.com to make the production molds for his fiberglass and foam kits.  I have flown the Aerostar and if my model flies as well, that will be fabulous! 

If anybody in the club is interested in building one, please contact me. (Stan can be located in the Members Directory - you must be a member to see his contact info).

Stan Burak

A field work day is scheduled for Saturday, May 23^rd at 9am until finished. The field will be closed while work is being performed. Several cracks have developed and need to be repaired. Other items include: general grounds cleanup, trim bushes, repair flight stands, roll high traffic areas and grass runway/runway ends and so on.  If you can help and/or have tools to get the job done faster, we will be glad to see you there.

5/23/15 at 9:00am

Click here for a link to some fun pics and video from 2015 Joe Nall. What a blast! We were on the 3D Flight line.

Author: Jonathan Hendrickson

On February 23, 2015, the FAA published its proposed regulations for small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) as a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). This began a 60-day period during which the public can comment on the proposed regulations. When finalized, the proposed rules would become the safety regulations for operating small, non-recreational, unmanned aircraft.

In accordance with the Special Rule for Model Aircraft (the AMA amendment) established by Congress in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-95), the new regulations would not apply to model aircraft operated within the safety programming of a nationwide community-based organization. This is good news for AMA members; however, the FAA has said that to be exempt from regulations, model aircraft operators must operate within the parameters of the Special Rule set out by Congress in 2012.

The NPRM references FAA's June 2014 interpretation of the Special Rule. As indicated in detail in updates to our members last summer, the AMA has taken exception to several aspects of FAA's interpretation. The main areas of concern are that the FAA's interpretation:

• Asserts model aircraft to be "aircraft" and effectively makes model airplanes subject to all regulations applicable to full-scale aircraft.
• Makes model aircraft subject to airspace requirements that have never been applicable in the past and with which it is impossible or impractical to comply.
• Effectively changes the criteria for operating within 5 miles of an airport from the requirement of providing prior "notification" to a requirement of obtaining prior permission.
• Narrowly defines "hobby and recreation" and puts in question the activities of the supporting aeromodeling industry and AMA's educational programs.
• Rigidly defines the requirement to operate within visual line of sight and targets the use of a specific aeromodeling technology/equipment, namely first-person view (FPV) goggles.

Overall, the AMA views the proposed sUAS regulations as a positive step. With one exception that may impact model aircraft manufacturers, it essentially takes the language in the 2012 Special Rule for Model Aircraft (the AMA amendment) and places it in the federal aviation regulations.

We encourage members to submit comments commending the FAA for appropriately separating model aviation from the new regulations. However, AMA would also encourage members to include in their comments the need to resolve the discrepancies stemming from the Interpretive Rule before finalizing the sUAS rule. In any case, it's important that our members provide their comments in support of the proposed rule. It's possible that there will be members of the public or aviation industry who will be opposed to a rule that protects the model aviation hobby, and we need to make sure that our voices are heard in support of continued community-based self-governance.

Comments on the proposed sUAS rule can be made by clicking here. Read the proposed rule carefully, particularly the sections concerning "model aircraft," and submit comments on areas where you have a concern as well as thoughtful and productive comments in areas where you feel there could be improvement. AMA has created a suggested template for comments, which we strongly encourage you to edit and personalize. Unless extended, the deadline for submitting comments is 11:59 p.m., Friday, April 24, 2015.

Template Comment for AMA Members

I am writing in response to the FAA's proposal to regulate small unmanned aircraft systems, including model aircraft. [Insert personal introduction details such as: I am a [job/profession], a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, and have been safely and responsibly flying model aircraft for ___ years. I am also a model aircraft club officer/educator/designer, etc.]

I support the exemption of recreational model aircraft from the regulation of unmanned aircraft systems. As Congress recognized, self-governance under community-based safety guidelines has worked exceptionally well for decades, and should remain in place. However, I have the following concerns about the FAA's proposal: [choose all that you feel apply, and feel free to add other comments]

The FAA has repeated its June 2014 statement that model aircraft are "aircraft" subject to all existing aviation regulations. The FAA must revise this interpretation so that it is in agreement with what Congress directed in 2012, which is that recreational model aircraft are subject to community-based safety guidelines, not aviation regulations. Similarly, the regulatory proposal excludes ultralight vehicles, moored balloons, kites, amateur rockets, and unmanned free balloons from the FAA's aircraft operating regulations but neglects to expressly exclude model aircraft. The proposed regulation should make it clear that model aircraft meeting the criteria established by Congress are not subject to aviation regulations.

Also, the proposal leaves out the part of the statute that excludes "an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft" from aviation regulations. This exclusion must be added to the regulations. Companies in the model aircraft industry should not be regulated as if they are aircraft manufacturers.

The FAA bases its proposal on its June 2014 interpretation of the law concerning model aircraft. There were 33,000 comments submitted last summer concerning that interpretation [including mine]. The future regulations for model aircraft should not be based on incorrect interpretations of what Congress wrote. Some of the interpretations that should be changed to the extent they form the basis for any current or future regulation include:

• Making model aircraft subject to airspace requirements such as air traffic control clearance, that have never been applicable in the past and with which it is impossible or impractical to comply. Congress indicated the maximum obligation, which is actually stricter than what the FAA's guidance has been for the past 34 years: notifying the airport when operating within five miles. That is the most that model aircraft hobbyists should have to do.
• Rigidly defining a requirement to operate within visual line of sight and that calls into question the use of a specific technology or equipment, namely first-person view (FPV) goggles. The language of the 2012 statute concerning "within visual line of sight" indicates how far away a person should fly the model aircraft, not what method of control may be used for the recreational experience. The proposal for commercial unmanned aircraft acknowledges that an observer (spotter) can be used to ensure airspace safety, just as the AMA's community-based safety guidelines do.
• Narrowly interpreting the words "hobby or recreational use." You should not regulate people who are flying model aircraft in connection with the hobby just because they receive payments. For decades, enthusiasts have participated in contests and competitions that have cash prizes, have been paid to instruct others on how to safely fly models, and have received compensation for aerobatic displays. These payments incidental to the hobby do not change the underlying recreational purpose of the activity or make the hobby any less safe, and regulating these activities would be highly disruptive to the hobby without any benefit.

Respectfully,
[Name]
[Optional] AMA Member Number: _________

Author: Jonathan Hendrickson

As the weather continues to warm, the ground is thawing, trees are budding, and our friends, neighbors and guests are watching us from the spectator fence line.  Please make every effort to take a minute to greet these people, they are watching us fly and have an interest in our hobby.  All of these spectators share the same common interest as all of us and are potential new members to SLRCFA.  Talk to them, ask them if they fly (R/C, full scale,…),  or have a relative interested in R/C flying.  Inform our guest that we have instructors available and give them a brochure. (Brochures are located in the pavilion in a plastic flyer holder on a support post near the electrical power panel.)  The brochures have all of the required information to guide these individuals to our website and to get in touch with an instructor.  This quick talk could get you a SLRCFA membership discount for the following year.  If a NEW (to SLRCFA) paying member joins SLRCFA and list you as their personal reference, you will receive a $50 credit towards the following year’s dues.

Take a minute and talk to guests, it pays.

A few SLRCFA members arrived at the club field on the morning of January 1^st.  Most brought aircraft to fly and entered the raffle to have a chance to have the first flight of the year at SLRCFA. Unlike New Year’s Day last year, most members had to jump from their car grab a quick flight and leave.  It was a cold one. 

The raffle for the first flight was held and Allen Main’s name was drawn.  He had the honor of the first of the year flight last year with the same Parkzone T-28