News

Another FIRST FLIGHT in the books. We had eight fellows show up, Morgan Klussman drew the first flight. Pretty cold and windy, but always worth it!

Morgan's flight: https://www.facebook.com/slrcfa/videos/1947585505549555/

We just placed our first Point-of-Sale display at Schaefer's Hobbies counter for our wildly-successful QuickSTART first-year RC membership, "LEARN TO FLY RC."

If you have or know of a business where you think the clientele might benefit from this offer (and like a boost to the bottom line with a little extra margin), reach out to us. Contact info here.

Stan King, our long-time SLRCFA president, passed away this week. Stan was a ground-breaking RC pilot who flew even though he was a quadriplegic. Click below for a great autobiography on Stan kept by the AMA.

https://www.modelaircraft.org/files/KingStantonStan.pdf

Stan's memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 17, at 11am CST at:

Webster Groves Baptist Church
308 Summit Avenue
Webster Groves, MO 63119
(314) 962-6868

If you wish to make a donation on Stan's behalf, the two charities specified by the King family are:

Webster Groves Baptist Church, the King family church
https://wgbaptist.com/

St. Vincent De Paul, the charity that purchased Stan's wheelchair lift.
https://svdpstlouis.org/donate

SLRCFA is making a donation to both charities.

Actually, it would take a whole lotta chicken dinners to pay for this sharp jet!

John Reed won the EARLY BIRD raffle by renewing (or setting his account up for auto-payment) by December 31st. This year, every FULL member who didn't let their membership expire got a ticket. PRIME members got two tickets. Only ticket holder were allowed to purchase additional tickets.

John attended the January 2018 Club Meeting where he won the fantastic Freewing Avanti S 80mm EDF Ultimate Sport Jet - PNP.

John has now maidened the plane with three spectacular flights on Sunday, January 28, 2018, and is shown above shortly afterwards.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the EARLY BIRD renewals/new memberships. It's make a big difference... we had a record amount of cash to start the year, which mean's we're not scratching our head on what the budget will be this year. We also paid our big field bills (lease and property taxes) in mid-December due to the EARLY BIRD program from both December 2017 and December 2018 pulling our cash forward. Basically, we need our money on Jan 1, so we ask you to renew by December 31, and it's a big deal!

SIncerely,

Marshall L. Henley, SLRCFA President

Well, the show lived up to the hype! Denny Spark's did a fantastic job welcoming us to his shop, demonstrating his approach, and showing us his many, many, many planes.

CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE VIDEO OF THE NIGHT

Don't miss our next meeting! We'll have Paul Appelbaum doing a builder's clinic. Click here for more information.

Click here for article

Mr. Know-It-All

If you fly at SLRCFA, you'll know Jonathon Hendrickson. He's the (relatively young) guy who flies just about everything and knows a lot about all types of aircraft. Jonathon is a go-to guy for electric flight, FPV, drone photography, racing planes, battery maintenance, charging equipment, engine tuning, full-scale pilot licensing and even riding mower repair. He even created our Pilot Instruction program.

He's "Mr. Know-It-All" in the best way possible. On top of all that, for the last two years, he was the ultimate go-to guy: the SLRCFA President.

Jonathon stepped down as President in 2017 after serving on the board since... well, I think since 2007 (I'm not the best record-keeper that far back). The last two years would have been a challenge for any leader, with two floods and a sea-change in our cost structure (and subsequently, dues) due to a large property tax increase. Beyond that, changes in leadership are always potentially difficult, and Jonathon took over from Stan King, who had been President for well-past a decade (Stan was honored with a plaque for service and a lifetime SLRCFA membership in 2016, along with long-time Treasurer, Ron Lawson).

Clearly, Jonathon stepped up during 2015/2016 to a multi-year stint that required a great deal of change. During his tenure, Jonathon led the following successful changes:

• The field never looks better, despite two 500-year floods requiring thoughtful repair with an eye to "it could happen again" - and it did! We now have a modular approach to our electrical de-installation/re-installation that saves us literally thousands of in the event of a flood
• Implementation of the QuickSTART program with his Pilot Instruction methodology adapted from a successful RC training regime. We brought on 21 people under this program in 2017.
• Growth of the club back to 102 members - 36 of them were new in 2017!
• The introduction of the premium PRIME Membership, with 24 electing PRIME in 2016 and 28 electing PRIME in 2017
• 2017 ended with an increase in cash in the bank of about $3k, despite the 2017 flood which topped the 2016 flood.
  
• ...any many other successful changes too numerous to mention.

The Old and the New

December 2017 rolled around and only 12 nominees for the Board of Directors were nominated. All 12 accepted nomination, and all 12 are qualified to serve on the board. The 12 were the 11 already serving, plus a new Director nominee, Kurt Seiter, the owner of HolySmokes smoke pumps, a long-time member and frequent sponsor of SLRCFA events and activities over the past three years (picture at right).

Because only 12 Directors and Officers were serving / nominated, there was no membereship vote needed or held to determine which 12 would serve. Let's change that in 2018!

Following the Christmas Party, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to elect Officers, as follows, for 2018. Because the SLRCFA Constitution is in the process of being re-written to allow direct-vote for officers (assuming it passes a vote by the Board and the Members), this is likely the President / Vice President vote that will be made directly by the Board:

• Incoming President: Marshall L. Henley (also serving as webmaster, formerly the Vice President)
• Incoming Vice President: Shane Eisenbach, formerly serving as Secretary
• Incoming Secretary: John DeLuca, formerly serving as a Director
• No change - Treasurer: Dennis Chivetta

Our December 21st Christmas party was one of the best ever. 45 members were in attendance. We had a celebration of the year, with all its good news, to include:

• 102 members - 103 as of the party (one more joined)!
• 36 new members - 37 as of the party (one more joined)
• Of those 20 new QuickSTART and JUNIOR members that were more-or-less new to the hobby - 21 as of the Party with a new QuickSTART added.
• Ended the year with more cash than we began
• Three major, successful events: Big Bird & Jet Fly-In, Warbirds Over St. Louis, SuperFly 2017

Activity

We had lots of food on-hand as people brought goodies to share.

A Good Night

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