Presidents Message

Hello Members,

I have to inform you of a mistake. At the September 8, 2005 meeting, the membership voted on the proposed by-law amendment that would limit the flying of electric powered aircraft on Mondays. In my effort to cover all bases in the proposal, I over-looked a by-law on voting on amendments.

Article VIII-By-Law amendments

The Bylaws may be altered, or amended at any regular meeting of the organization, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present, written notice containing the subject matter having been given to the membership at least 30 days in advance.

The vote on the by-law proposal did not achieve the necessary two-thirds in favor. Therefore the by-law proposal should have been declared defeated. I take full responsibility for this over site. It was brought to my attention and I stand corrected.

THE PROPOSED BY-LAW CHANGE LIMITING ELECTRIC POWERED AIRCRAFT IS DEFEATED AND THERE IS NO CHANGE.

The board of directors would like to remind all members to exercise due considerations for our neighbors and voluntarily limit loud electric powered aircraft on Mondays. The board also requests that members take greater precautions so they do not fly over the creek boundary or over anyone’s house or property.

I would like to congratulate the new officers for 2006. Jim Skolmowski was elected President, Dale Ruppert was elected Vice-President, and Bill Sommers continues as our Treasurer. Brian Reash will still be Membership Secretary and Steve Guerrero will serve as Recording Secretary. The Trustees are Dave Leach and Dave Myers. I thank all of these gentlemen for there willingness to serve our club.

The next meeting on October 13, 2005 will be back at the American Legion Post on Lewis Avenue. Don’t forget. Somebody call and remind Ken Hulik so he doesn’t get lost again.

The Banquet is just around the corner. It is November 5, 2005 at the Raddison. Make sure you get your reservations returned to Brian Harris as soon as possible. New this year, the parking will be free to the members. The menu sounds great and the activities will be fun. Make sure you come to the Banquet.

OK bear with me while I tell you an important story. This is for the members who were not at the last meeting. On Saturday night September 17, I put my sailplanes in the back of my full size conversion van with an extended roof. Everybody knows the big white van. I cycled a couple of batteries and then put the batteries on charge with my Sirius chargers. I think these are the best chargers made. They are goof proof. They are reverse polarity protected and when a full charge is reached, they go to trickle mode. I have used these systems for 8 years or more. I have charged in the back or my vehicles for years and years. In the morning, I got ready to go to the Sailplane contest. I went to my van and tried to open the back doors to put in chairs and equipment. I couldn’t get the door open. So I gave it a good yank and it popped open. I was totally shocked. The whole inside of the converted van was BLACK. Yes, over night for some unknown reason, a battery failed and caught fire. I had 4 sailplanes in the van along with a Vision transmitter and a RD8000 transmitter. 2 sailplane bags. The fire apparently started with the transmitter battery. It was obvious from the burn pattern. The battery was removed from the transmitter for charging. This is normal because the transmitters have diodes in them and peak chargers can not read the peak through the diode. I have done this for years. I have been flying R/C for 38 years and this is the first battery fire I have ever had. The fire became rather intense. All of the plastic door framing and interior material melted, INCLUDING THE TV. The two transmitters were puddles of plastic, almost non-recognizable. One of the saddest parts was that one of the sailplanes that were destroyed was my Blackhawk. This plane was designed back in 1991 and was unique in that it was completely hollow molded from carbon fiber. I was told that there were only 3 of these in the US and now there are only 2. The van was of course completely totaled and I have spent 2 week trying to find a suitable replacement vehicle. It is rather fortunate that the fire actually snuffed itself out. I feel that if a window had broken or the fire had burned through the fiberglass roof, and had gotten a supply of oxygen the van may have very well burned to the ground and possibly caught the house on fire. The really, really, really, really scary thing about all of this is, THIS IS ALL THE SAME EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURE THAT I HAVE ALWAYS USED IN MY BASEMENT. Needless to say, I don’t think I will leave batteries being charged unattended or I will have them in a fire safe area. I would have never thought that a simple Ni-Cad battery would catch fire. It was a great loss. But a fire in the basement would have been a disaster.

That’s all for now

Dave Whitaker

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