AUGUST

2010

NEXT

MEETING:

• Thursday 8-12.

• Dawn Patrol Rpt

• Glider Activity

• Officer Reports

• Calendar and

Classified ads

Individual

Highlights:

Activities 2

Liaison Rept 3

Field Supv. 6

VP Report 6

Treasury Rpt. 6

Mtg Minutes 7

General News 8

WWW.NCRCC.ORG

I

want to first

congratulate Irv on his

recent accomplish-

ment, I hope he

thoroughly enjoys his

retirement. It's well

deserved. I had the

pleasure to attend his

retirement party which

was held at the field a

couple of weeks ago.

Congratulations to

Jessica, Whitney, Jake

and Nancy; you pulled

Prez Sez…

This month the meeting will be held at the field RAIN OR SHINE!

PIZZA party begins around 5:45 PM – meeting starts 7:00 PM.

If you have a side dish, salad or dessert – bring it to share!

off a HUGE surprise

and I certainly enjoyed

myself. The funfly was

great!

One side note for

those of you who did

not attend, I did bring

an airplane, yes I did

fly it and yes it's still

in one piece. Wasn't

pretty but I managed

to get up and down,

thanks for being my

spotter, Irv.

A few things have

been going on in the

way of Club Business;

we're winding down

the fiscal year and this

is the first call for

officers for 2010-2011.

Elections are coming

up and we're looking

for candidates. We're

also looking at a few

other things related to

meeting venues and

the Christmas party. At this

point we're poised to switch

meeting places to the

Somers Library, located

next to the High School.

They have a great facility, a

nice large room with a

stage and a kitchen, not at

all like the Ellington Town

Hall. It will serve for the

meetings, and the price is

right. We just need a place

for the Christmas party and

we're open to suggestions.

If anyone is a member of

the Knights of Columbus,

especially Somers, we

could get a decent rate on

that facility.

That's all for now, hope to

see you at the field for the

next meeting.

Bob

(I just realized that it's August,

I get the feeling that time is

passing faster than ever!)

AUGUST 12 CLUB MEETING AND PICNIC

TO BE HELD AT FLYING FIELD

AUGUST 12 CLUB MEETING AND PICNIC

TO BE HELD AT FLYING FIELD

NCRCC Flyer

NCRCC Flyer

NCRCC Flyer

Page 2 of 8

In the first round, one of our

younger members, Steven

D’Onofrio put up a very nice 8.17

second flight and Roy Meyer was

not far behind with 7.51 seconds.

John Klawin recorded a 6.2

second flight and, because all the

rest of the contestants were in

the 3-5 second range, it

appeared the favorites had been

established.

Round two saw Mike Masnicki

put up a 7.26 and John K. and

Roy M. continued good flights

with times of 8.52 and 8.87. The

rest of the field turned in flights

ranging from 2.79 to 4.58.

The final round began with a

really exquisite flight by Steven

D. - 12.08 seconds. All knew

that this was the flight to beat

and that it was a quantum leap

above all that had preceded it.

Everyone tried their best, but for

the rest of the third round no one

else reached 6 seconds, leaving

Steven as the overall winner of

the Glider Contest. Roy M’s 8.87

put him in second place and John

K’s 8.52 was third. The top three

finishers received building tools

as prizes.

Congratulations to our winners,

and thanks to all who participated

and/or cheered from the

sidelines.

Event for the next meeting -

Spot Landing (specifics to be

announced at the meeting).

Activities Director, Irv T.

“…An un-named

flier managed to

impale our Vice

President in the

buttocks...”

Glider Contest, 6/9/2010,

NCRCC Club Meeting

Event

T

en intrepid flyers tested

their trimming skills and

perseverance at the July

NCRCC Club Meeting by

participating in the “rubber-

band-launched” Glider

Contest.

Small balsa gliders (un-

sanded) were provided.

Each had a wing, stab,

rudder, and fuselage as

well as a small amount of

clay for nose weight. Also

provided were ¼” wide

rubber bands and popsicle

sticks which were used to

shoot the gliders into the

air. A small hook at the

nose of the gliders

Activity Director’s Report…

engaged the rubber band, and

rudder offset initiated an upward

spiral as well as a circular glide path

back to earth.

A period of experimentation was

followed by three “official” flights

which were timed, with the best time

for each contestant being used to

determine the final placement.

An un-named flier managed to

impale our Vice President in the

buttocks, although all things

considered this was more akin to

hitting the field rather than a target.

Needless to say, the glider was

destroyed in (at least for the glider)

that harrowing experience.

Getting the perfect combination of

launch, transition, and glide proved

to very difficult due to the short

experimentation time and the fairly

high wind. Many instances of tight

spirals into the ground were

observed, yielding flight times of 3-4

seconds. The high acceleration of

the launch and a tight left turn

resulted in exciting, but not

aesthetically pleasing, flights.

Everyone had to keep an open eye,

perhaps more in self defense than

in competitive analysis.

However, 3 of the contestants clearly

rose above the crowd and drew the

eewws and aaahhs of the assembled

spectators and other contestants.

This situation typically started with a

nice transition from climb to glide -

setting the stage for an actual “glide”

back to earth.

Irv Thurrott

Activities Director

NCRCC Flyer

Page 3 of 8

A

ugust already!!?

By the 15

th

of August,

summer will be over.

That’s what a friend’s

father used to say to

me. Mark his words.

When the 15

th

rolls

around the weather will

likely trend toward

cooler days and lighter

winds (I hope).

A friendly reminder,

mark your calendar

while you’re reading

your newsletter. I’ve mentioned it

before. The New England Jet Rally will

take place on August 21 and 22 at

Gardner Airport in Gardner Ma. Make

plans to attend and enjoy the day

watching turbine powered models burn

up the sky. It’s an easy drive up

through central Mass. Check Map

Quest or dial in your GPS for Airport

Road in Gardner.

Here are a couple more Safety Rules

from the club rule book:

Rule 15

. No breaking in of engines

in the pit area and do not leave

them unattended.

There is a designated area for

breaking in engines. Those areas are

at the far ends of the pit area. Be

considerate of the members sitting

around the pavilion. They don’t want to

listen to your engine. I’ll have to admit

that I have been guilty of violating this

Notes from the Liaison Officer…

rule with, of all things, one of my turbine

engines that I was testing. It’s easy to get

focused on the engine and forget where you

are. Move away to the far extremes of the pit

area and everyone will thank you.

Rule 2.

Only Club Members and guests

are permitted to use the field. Guests are

permitted to use the field only twice, at

that point to continue using the field

guests must become members.

It’s not a common problem but on occasion

someone will show up at the field and ask to

fly. Typically you would invite him in but be

sure you alert him to the field rules. We had an

incident a few months back where a guest just

walked out onto the middle of the runway and

stood there and flew while other powered

planes were in the air. If the guest becomes a

frequent visitor wanting to fly, let him know

about this club requirement. After all it’s your

club, you pay dues and work events to raise

money to maintain the field. Why let someone

come in and use it for free. There should be a

current members list in the impound shed, so if

there is a question, there is a ready reference.

I hope to See You at Gardner.

John

John Palica

Liaison Officer

A recent

visitor at

the field…

NCRCC Flyer

Page 4 of 8

Bob Spooner masterfully laid

out a “taxiing obstacle course”

which was about one wingspan

away from impossible, but we

had a lot of fun watching the

various approaches trying to

get through it quickly.

Electric planes seemed to

have the advantage in the next

event - number of landings

completed in two minutes.

Kevin C. dominated this event

seemingly by doing “flop-

overs”. Style points were not

considered.

The last event involved a flyer

and a partner - a flyer rolling

the dice - taking off and doing

the number of loops rolled on

the dice - landing - then rolling

the same number on the dice.

Meanwhile, a selected partner

solved math problems during

the same period. Each correct

answer counted for a 2 second

deduction. This approach

involved many non-flyers and

proved to be an excellent fun

fly event.

Huge amounts of food were

provided (still have some in the

freezer) for lunch including

hamburgs, hot dogs, sausage

and peppers, beans,

watermelon, drinks, and cake.

Happily, everyone seemed to

have an enjoyable time.

Activities Director, Irv

I

’d like to sincerely thank

all the members and their

families who kindly

attended my “retirement

party” at the field on

Saturday morning. It was

a total surprise and much

appreciated.

A lot of things happened

in the “background” prior

to the event which had

completely different

meanings for me and

clearly gave no indication

of what was to transpire.

My middle daughter,

Whitney, was planning a

party for her room-mate, so

she needed all the pop-up

tents and tables, which I

helped load in the truck

Friday evening.

Jessica, my oldest daughter

seemed to really want to go

flying on Saturday morning

so I spent a few days

Irv’s Retirement Report…

getting a plane ready for her,

complete with buddy box setup

for my grand daughter, Clara.

My wife Nancy was actively

helping Whitney set up for the

“room-mate party”, and son Jake

was doing his things and gave

nothing away whatsoever.

Very early Saturday morning I

was awakened by a “panic call”

from Whitney, crying that her dog

“ate the cake” for the room-mate

party, so my wife left for her house

to help with the recovery.

Jess called when she and Clara

were on the way to South

Windsor, so I packed up the plane

thinking we were going to have a

few hours of flying fun at the field.

Approaching the field, when I

saw all the pop up tents, I thought

that we must have given one of

the members permission to use

the field to hold some kind of fund

raising event, but all suddenly

became apparent when members

faces began to show up and a

“balloon storm” occurred.

Thanks to Roy for helping an “old

man” make it over to the pits to

start the festivities.

Turned out that my family had

done a lot of pre-work - contacting

everyone, getting the food

together, setting up the field,

and planning flying events.

Irv Thurrott

Activities Director

NCRCC Flyer

Page 5 of 8

Bob Boulais, DP CD

W

ell, I have to say that I’m

glad it’s over with! It is

planning that starts in July

of the previous year and

ends around supper time

on the day of the event.

In spite of a forecast which

included showers, the day

dawned hazy but

comfortable with a slight

breeze down the runway.

We had a good turnout of

pilots with 22 registered

participants. A handful of

trusty NCRCC members

were on hand bright and

early to help set up tents,

the food area and arrange

for parking of cars. The field

was in Tip-Top shape as

usual and my thanks to

everyone who helped with

the event, field preparation

and to those who supported

the event by coming out

and enjoying the day. In the

end, we made just short of

$1,000 for the club (I just

need to sell about 7 more

shirts to hit that mark!)

We had a film production

crew on hand and Bob

Spooner coordinated a nice

memorial for founding

member Les George. So

thanks again to everybody

who helped out on the

event. The Sanction papers

have already been filed for the

2011 event. I have a Powerpoint

presentation that I’m trying to get

placed on the website, so keep

checking NCRCC.org to see if it is

there yet!

Bob Boulais, Dawn Patrol Director

Dawn Patrol Report…

NCRCC Flyer

Page 6 of 8

had has been good.

We had a successful

Dawn Patrol, thanks

to Mr. Boulais. A

good time was had

by all by my

observation.

The "Missing Man"

formation flight for

Les George was a

success and I wish to

thank everyone who

participated. The

stone for Les and

replacement stone for

Art S. are in place

and were done very

well. Thanks to Rob

Binkowski.

-Bob

From the desk of the Field Supervisor

impossible job ahead of them to

get through the 3/8" steel that

now covers the lock. I'd like to

thank Art for all of his time and

effort for an excellent job

however, if that doesn't work I

still like the idea of a venus fly

trap :) The gate is still in need

of repair and hopefully that

should be completed before

the end of the season.

Our friendly little tunneling

critters are once again

encroaching on the center taxi-

way, so we'll have to put down

more chemicals shortly.

The race is coming up this

weekend and the field is in great

shape. Thanks again to every-

one pitching in to keep the grass

cut. As for the rest of you, come

on out and bring something to

fly!

Jim Haney

Field Supervisor

Bob Spooner

Vice President

T

he summer has

been very warm

as we all know

and very windy.

We haven't gotten

as much flying as

we had plannned.

The flying we've

From the VIP…

W

ell, here it is the month

of August, and the flying

season is slowly, slowly,

coming to a grinding halt.

From the Treasurer

Len Marchese, Treasurer

Yet there will be plenty

going on with the club, such

as the annual NCRCC

auction, February 12 and

13, 2011. Mark your

calendar!

As many of you know, we

will start the annual

membership renewal.

Renewal notices will be

mailed to all current and

new members, during the

month of September. If you

have changed your mailing

address, email id, or unsure

on the accuracy of your

mailing address, please

send a correct address to:

NCRCC

P.O. Box 443

Ellington, CT. 06029.

All renewals must be

submitted no later than

Thursday October 14th 2010,

to avoid a late membership

fee. All late renewals are

subject to the current

initiation fee of $50.00, plus

full membership. Watch for

the renewals!

As for the treasurers report...

we are paying our bills.

Thank you,

Len Marchese, Treasurer.

J

ust a few things

of interest at the

field: -Art Usher

has finished

installing a guard

over the center

lock of the

container. Last

years' vandals will

have a nearly

NCRCC Flyer

Page 7 of 8

T

he July, 2010 regularly

scheduled meeting of the

NCRCC was called to order

by President Bob Laflamme at

the flying field at 7:37 PM. The

President was in the chair and

the Secretary was present.

There were approximately 37

attendees.

President’s Report – Bob

Laflamme said he hasn’t done

any flying and the field looked to

be in good shape and thanked

everyone who was responsible.

He also acknowledged the good

cookout.

Vice Pres. Report – Bob

Spooner said he had been

contacted by someone from the

New England Air Museum. They

wanted to have someone from

the club do some indoor flying

on 7-14 from 11:00 to 3:00.

Treasurer’s Report – Len

reported that we have money

and the taxes have been paid.

Activity Director’s Report –

Irv Thurrott said he had a trainer

with a buddy box so people who

have not flown for some time

could fly. He also thanked

everyone who participated in the

glider contest. Irv also asked for

ideas for meeting events. Some-

one asked for a Pizza night.

Field Supervisor’s Report –

Jim Haney said he put together a

mowing schedule.

Secretary’s Report – Bob

Boulais said the Dawn Patrol

WWI fly in is the next event and

NCRCC Meeting Minutes – June 10, 2010

asked members to support the

event as it is a fund raiser for the

club. Bob asked club members to

come out and buy a burger and

bring a friend as it’s a great

spectator event.

Liaison Officer’s Report John

Palica had raffles. Robert Rosini

won a prop balancer and Don

Nadeau won a gallon of fuel.

John said the next jet event was

Capitol Jets the following

weekend.

OLD BUSINESS – none.

NEW BUSINESS – John Palica

brought up a possible safety

issue. He said most flying fields

have some sort of protection for

the pilot like a chain link fence

section. He asked for thoughts

on this.

Irv Thurrott suggested we retire

our old grill since it was not

working properly. He suggested

we get a new grill at Sam’s Club

which was priced under $500. A

motion was made to purchase it,

voted on and approved.

New Members: Stephen

Palumbo of Tolland introduced

himself. In addition, Richard

Parker introduced himself and

his son Phil.

Raffles: Don Nadeau and

Robert Rossini won.

Project Presentations

none

The meeting was adjourned at @

8:01 PM. The minutes were taken

by Bob Boulais, Secretary

Bob Boulais, Secretary

Peter Tani – with NEPRO Trophy

At the field…

Irv’s Retirement Party…

If you have a project – bring it to share! The meetings are

so much more interesting

so much more interesting

so much more interesting

so much more interesting

when we talk about airplanes and projects!!!

NCRCC NEWS

The Newsletter was edited by

Bob Boulais

41 Danny Trail

Vernon, CT 06066

PHONE:

(860) 872-7900

E-MAIL:

dawnpatrol536@juno.com

Copying and Distribution

of the Newsletter is done by

Gene Allard

GENOALL@YAHOO.COM

Photos by Wayne Galbraith

waynegal@cox.net

We’re on the Web!

See us at:

www.ncrcc.org

Jet Rallies

August 20, 21 and 22, New England Jets at Gardner Airport, Gardner Ma.

Sept 10, 11 and 12, Maine Jets at Sanford Airport, Sanford Maine

Float fly at Mansfield Hollow, September 19.

FLOAT FLY Aug 29 and Oct 10

: Thompson Dam

WANTED: Bob Spooner is looking for 2.40 engines. Have Enya 60

4-CLY new in box for trade. Please contact Bob Spooner at 644-8281.

Westfield Air Show Aug. 21 & 22. - Airshow at Barnes Airport in Westfield,

MA. There's going to be a lot of flying including the U.S. Air Force

Thunderbirds. It's scheduled for August 21 and 22. There might be a

few of our members who would like to attend.

Other News and such. . .

FREE food…

PIZZA this month!

You asked for it – you got it!! We’ll have a pizza picnic

prior to the meeting. I’ll pick them up around 5:30 and expect to get to the field

around 5:45. We’ll have cold soft drinks available. If you can bring a side dish

to share or some desserts, it would greatly enhance the variety of the cookout

and make for a MOST EXCELLENT PIZZA PARTY! – Thanks!

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