Presidents Report April 2018

I have just returned from a short trip to West Baden, USA where I was involved in the World Championships for free flight indoor duration model aircraft.

A unique experience on two counts. Firstly, the venue was the atrium of a gorgeous 100 year old hotel consisting of a dome, 60 meters in diameter and 30 meters high, around which the hotel rooms we stayed in were built. Secondly, the models being flown are absolute works of art. To achieve the absolute highest duration they are extremely light at just 1.4 grams powered by a wound up rubber motor weighing just 0.4 gram. Yet they are fitted with variable pitch propellers, are reinforced with boron and titanium .001 inch thick and fly for close to 30 minutes!

Watching the mylar covered models, up to 20 simultaneously, float around the atrium in a slow motion ballet was mesmerising. See recent news items here and here for some photos and video.

On the way home I had a stopover in Dallas, Texas were I was able to visit the Cavanaugh Flight Museum at Addison Airport. There were about 40 aircraft spread over 5 hangars many of which are still airworthy. These include a P51 Mustang, P40 Kittyhawk, F4U Corsair, A1 Skyraider, B25 Mitchell, F86 Sabre and a C7 Caribou which is one of the types I flew in my Air Force Service.

For the April club meeting the committee was unable to find a guest speaker in time so I plan to show a documentary of the Caribou in RAAF service and then answer any questions from the floor.

If you have any ideas for speakers or know someone who has an interesting story to share then the committee would like to hear from you.

Currently there are RAAUS Personal Development days going on at Gawler and then Aldinga on Saturday. I plan to go to the Aldinga event. I can recommend these as the presenters will bring you up to date with current industry topics as well as refresher training, all free of charge. If interested, you may still be able to register for the Aldinga event through the RAAUS website.

Good news from CASA regarding Class 2 medicals. From April 4th it will be possible for DAMEs to issue on the spot Medical Certificates, subject to certain conditions. For the type of flying most of us do this will certainly cut through a lot of the red tape and reduce costs.

I hear from Ted King that the Lightning Bug project has made it’s move to Murray Bridge so the first flight is certainly moving closer.

There is a Workshop Visit to see John Heather’s Zenith Cruzer on Sunday 6 May, see calendar here.

Don’t forget to order your meals for the club meeting online. After several years in the job Steve Biele has stepped aside from organising meals so please do not contact him. The new meals officer is Bob Scrymgour.

Blue Skies,

Steve

Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground, and miss.

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