Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you.  We had dinner together last night and only twenty total showed.  The company was good and the evening was enjoyed by all.  Paul LaRue made a generous donation to the club and got Larry White's airplanes plus a nice Exacto set.New Years day at 10 am John Pratt has scheduled the "First Fly" of the year.

Your Board has scheduled a meeting for next week and we hope to see all of you at the January meeting.

Have a safe and enjoyable Holiday season.

See you next year.

Lynn

SECRETARY NOTES:

Minutes of General Membership Meeting held on 2 December 2009

1. Meeting was called to order by President Kelch at 1830hrs

2. REPORTS:

a. Secretary's Report:  No corrections.  Report accepted.
b. Treasurer's Report: No corrections. Report accepted. 

a.   George Jones Mentioned, that the broken wheels on the flight stands, might be the cause from vandalism. It was agreed, that the cause is, that they are of plastic design and metal wheels would solve the problem.

3.   UNFINISHED BUSUNESS

a   The President invited Lawrence from the Hobby Center to the clubs Christmas party.
b   Hubert Dirr reminded everybody of the Christmas party on Dec 11, at 6:30 PM at the Golden Corral Restaurant. He will have the tickets available at the entry door.
c   The President announced the election for President and Treasurer.
There were no other nominations from the floor.
     The Nominees were:
     For President -  Lynn Kelch and was voted in unanimously 
     For Treasurer - Jim  Rolleston and was voted in unanimously.

The President also reminded everyone of the AMA renewal

4.. NEW BUSINESS

a   The President asked Charles Culver if he would make up a event calendar for 2010.
b   Terrance Williams suggested, having a "First Flight" of the year on Jan 1^st, 2010 at 10AM.. 
The membership was in favor.
c   Charles Culver nominated Jim Rolleston for Life Membership. Butch Spradling 2^nd the motion. The vote was unanimously in favor.
d   Jim Rolleston asked about the Inverter for the charging system at the field, since it was approved by the membership to be installed.  John Pratt said, no one was in need so far or asked for it. Ed Norcross has one and will donate it if it meets the requirements. John  Pratt  will check it out in January.
e   Butch Spradling mentioned that Duane Kirkman has moved to Arizona due to his wife's illness. She wanted to be closer to her family. Duane told Butch, to let the club know, that he enjoyed his time here.
f   The President mentioned that the Board took out Larry White for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and presented him with a plaque with a certificate of appreciation for what he has done for the club during his time here. He will be moving to Arizona on 10 Dec 2009.

John Pratt made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:30 PM

    ---   Robert Haas won the gift certificate  --

(Photos courtesy of Lee Mitchell)

Editor's Notebook

Landing

by Walt Gerfen

"Flying is the second most thrilling thing known to man--landing is the first!"
"Takeoffs are optional--landings are mandatory."
"Flying is hours of boredom punctuated by moments of pure terror."

  These old cliches all have a basis in truth, but landings need not be that intimidating. I have noticed that some pilots land by forcing the airplane down to the runway with down-elevator stick, while the airplane still has too much airspeed. The airplane then bounces one or more times while it continues to fly, before finally slowing down enough to stay on the runway.

  The optimum landing is achieved by running out of flying airspeed and touching the runway at the same time. To achieve good landings, the pilot must know his airplane. Each different airplane will have different flight characteristics that relate to the size of the airplane, the airfoil of the wing, the wing loading (i.e. the ounces of weight per square foot of wing area), the geometry of the flying surfaces, location of the center of gravity (CG), etc.

  Most airplanes are power-trim sensitive--as power is increased, airspeed increase produces more lift. So in order to maintain level flight, elevator trim must be adjusted for each power setting. Higher power settings require down-trim, and conversely lower power settings require up-trim. Aerobatic airplanes with symmetrical airfoils and zero incidence settings are less sensitive to speed changes.

  When you are done boring holes in the sky and it is time for landing, use a low power setting and enough up-trim to maintain level flight as you enter the landing pattern. The altitude of your downwind leg should be determined by the low speed glide ratio of your aircraft. The flatter the glide, the lower the downwind leg altitude should be.
Reduce power again as you make your base leg turn to start your descent. Be sure that the nose doesn't drop in the turns, as this will cause the speed to increase and your final approach will be too fast and too low at the threshold.

  As you turn to final, reduce power to idle, keep the airplane level with just enough up-elevator to maintain a slow glide to the runway. When you are several feet above the runway, add a little more up-elevator to keep it off the ground as long as you can. It will then run out of flying speed and touch down at the same time.

  To summarize--know your aircraft, learn how slow it will fly without stalling. Practice low speed stalls at altitude to learn what the stall speed is. When it stalls does it fall off on one wing (tip stall), or does it just mush straight ahead and drop the nose until flying speed is regained? Practice gliding with the engine at idle to learn the low speed characteristics and trim required to glide hands off. Set the engine to the lowest maintainable rpm.

  Fly a consistent landing pattern. This pattern altitude may vary for each different airplane you fly, but try to keep the rest of the pattern the same.
Practice touch-and-goes holding the airplane off the runway as long as you can. If it won't settle, then you are going too fast. Remember, airspeed is controlled with the elevator trim. You will probably be surprised how slowly your airplane will continue to fly without stalling.

  This all sounds simple, but takes a lot of practice to do it right every time. Flying the landing pattern consistently the same way will result in good approaches and good landings. I like to burn a tank full at each flying session doing dozens of touch-and-goes to keep current on my landings.

from the newsletter of the Skagit R/C Club
Jerry Odell, editor
Burlington WA

THANK YOU: 

4104 Stan Schlueter Loop Suit #3 Killeen, TX 76542 Phone: (254) 690-7311)    kllnhobby@embarqmail.com

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