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New Features...
The annual Stetson Classic and Warbird Fun Fly... was held on Saturday June 27th with great success.
The weather threatened to ground over 35 pilots but failed to dampen the crowd that turned out to see this fun event.
Many aircraft types were represented, a multitude of WWI biplanes to WWII heavy metal and even a couple of L39 jets.
There were many prizes generously donated by club members and the following sponsors:
Enjoy the pictures... Goose.
Pictures : Goose. More here...
Video : Barry Hanna put together some video of the event here... Thanks Barry!
How did you spend the 65th anniversary of D-Day?...
You could have spent it at the Stetson field participating in our annual Ed Rae Memorial Fun Fly event.
The warm weather, albeit fairly windy, brought a great turn-out to fill the field with members, pilots, planes and spectators.
Club members did a fantastic job with all the tasks that make for a successful event including the impound, flight safety and of course the kitchen!
Enjoy the pictures... Goose.
Pictures : Goose. More here...
Field Cleanup Day...
John Jackson supplied the following pictures of the Stetson field clean up day...
IMAC NATS Volunteers...
Good day to all. As you all know we will be hosting the IMAC NATS at our field on the long weekend of August this year. The organizers for the IMAC NATS will need some volunteers. If you would like to participate please contact Isabel Deslaurier at isabel.deslauriers@mail.mcgill.ca
The club would also need help to run the canteen, parking and any related duties to make this event a success. If you would like to help the club and to leave a good impression to the rest of the R/C community, would you please contact me.
Your President
Don Glandon:
Stetson field pre-cleanup...
As you all know Dan Marcotte took the initiative to start the field clean-up early. He sent out an e-mail requesting help from anyone that was available for Friday May-15-2009. The task that he took was to install the 4x4 posts and stone dust around the tables and walkway. He completed his task and it took him 11 hrs of hard labour with the help from the following people:
Richard Williamson
Dave Martin
Maurice Edkins
Ford Sommerville
Dave Percy
Hal MacDonald
Sue MacDonald
Steve Tessier
Don Glandon.
On the behalf of the executives, I would like to thank all that participated for a job well done.
Your President
Don Glandon:
Pictures : Unknown.
Mall Show at Place d'Orleans...
The Stetsons Flyers Mall Show took place on May 2nd and was a huge success thanks to the efforts of our members!
The work began months ago when Dan Marcotte made arrangements with the mall to get the space for one day. Proof of insurance was required so Dan was able to arrange this through MAAC. Insurance in place the date was set. Dan was also on hand the night before and convinced the staff there to move our booth to a more favourable location with power, and to provide a security fence to keep the younger crowd from climbing aboard. Gerry Nadon was able to lend a beautiful large screen TV to go with the RealFlight Simulator loaded by Richard Robichaud of Discount Hobbies.
The simulator set-up with Stetson Field on the big screen was a real draw. Younger kids, used to console games only had one problem which was realizing the sticks have intermediate positions - more than full up, full down, etc. People of all ages stopped to talk and were given information by members in attendance. Information about how the club works, MAAC insurance, our meetings and the schedule of events. Dan printed some colour brochures which were passed out and the interested were directed to our web site for more information.
The models on display were top-notch and included Dan's Beaver, Don's Mustang and several others that were real show stoppers.
Thanks to those that helped during the day doing booth duty, loaning equipment, transporting items, set-up and take down, and especially to Dan for making at happen. The list of helpers includes:
Dan Marcotte
Norm Bélair
Stuart Brink
Maurice Edkins
Don Glandon
Barry Hanna
Isabelle Hébert
John Jackson
Hal Macdonald
Gerry Nadon
Jim Savage
Wayne Smith
Richard Robichaud (Discount Hobbies)
If I forgot anyone please let me know so we can update the list.
John Jackson
Pictures : John Jackson.
I went out to the field today to get some shots of Scotts smoke pump test and was pleased to see and catch-up with quite a few people...
The field is drying out nicely and is quite usable. A few more good days of weather and things will be looking great.
Here's a few pictures... enjoy!
Goose
Barry Hanna did a great job of catching some video here... thanks Barry!
Pictures : Goose. There are a few more here...
The Stetson club first aid course... by Scott Clarke.
Saturday March 21st, 2009 was an absolutely beautiful day for flying. The sun was shining, the winds were light and for mid March the air was warm. A great day for flying models indeed but on this day 11 of your fellow Stetson Flyers chose to leave the transmitters at home and meet up at the offices of the St. John's Ambulance. We were there to take a class in emergency first aid and CPR.
We were welcomed by Alex a young and enthusiastic instructor who was going to lead us through a day of learning. Throughout the day he covered various topics about first aid and tailored the curriculum to the kinds of injuries and problems we may encounter at our field. We learnt techniques for dealing with shock, treating cuts and lacerations as well as techniques for dealing with choking, heart failure and respiratory issues. Having taken St. John's First Aid in the past I found it quite interesting to see how the techniques for CPR have changed and I found it very informative.
Alex used a mix of lectures, videos and role playing to teach us the lessons of the day. It was very interesting to see how people reacted to the role playing. The situations were stressful enough to test the composure of some students and we all took away some valuable lessons.
Everyone who attended the course passed it and I think we all feel more confident about our abilities to help when someone is in distress.
Thanks go to Daniel Marcotte for taking the time to organize this course. Your effort is greatly appreciated.
Your new Stetson Flyers First Aiders are:
Stuart Brink
Scott Clarke
Mike Amodeo
Marc Huot
Barry Hanna
Dave Evans
Eric Gutknecht
John Mathewson
Daniel Marcotte
Maurice Edkins
Richard Robichaud
Pictures : Scott Clarke
The March club meeting... last night saw an excellent turn-out along with three aircraft for the bring 'n brag.
A good number of items were discussed during the meeting portion and the general feeling was good. Everyone seems to be very much looking forward to spring and the good flying weather.
Looking more like a float fly rather than the Stetson Flyers Winter Fun Fly... the 2009 event was a great success due in part to the warm (?) temperature of +5 degrees and because there was a huge turnout!
A light breeze from the west helped the many pilots get airborne and sped up the melting of the ice and snow to create the Stetson lake. Much fun was had and as always, Dave's famous chili helped keep out the cold and it was great to catch up with friends and get some flying done... come on spring!
Pictures : Goose. There are a few more here...
Bring all your unwanted, unused and dust collecting items to the Zone G auction on Sunday March 8, 2009.
It is being held in the Brockville Spring Valley Hall, 4103 Hwy 29 (7Km north of 401).
Doors open at 9:30 a.m. Swap meet starts at 10:00 a.m. and auction starts at 1 p.m.
Vendors fee - $5 charge for 1st table and $3 for additional tables. It’s a great time to have some fun, get some great deals and help out your zone.
Fees will benefit the 2009 Summer Zone G Fun Fly
Thanks for your support.
For questions or more information, contact:
Claude Melbourne
613 802-5000
Download the flyer here...
The Stetson Silver Dart Project... is an ambitious project in which a small team of members have taken on the task of producing a semi-scale flying model of the Dart to coincide with the anniversary of Canada's first powered flight which occurs in February of 2009.
The Silver Dart team consists of:-
Goose
Michel Carriere
Rick Williamson
Nigel Chippendale
Marc Shaw
Brad Hullin
Chris Miles
Latest news...Dan Marcotte organized the use of the RCMP Air Services Hangar this past weekend for ground testing the Silver Dart.
The Dart team accompanied by Gerry Nadon, successfully taxied the dart around the hangar with Nigel on the sticks, tweaking the trims until all were happy with the performance. Ground handling is very good, as is the acceleration and fortunately nothing broke or fell off the airframe.
Part two of the testing was to tether the dart and bring it to flight speed in a circle thereby allowing us to observe how the dart responds to power settings. It was very light in the front and the nosewheel left the ground quickly with no inputs from Nigel. This indicates the C of G is too far aft and we have corrected this issue in time for first hops, due to take place this weekend at the museum, weather dependant.
Scott and Dan shot video of these tests and posted them on Youtube:
Huge thanks go to Dave Brown and Bill Braun who came during their day's off on Saturday to take the planes outside and let us use the hangar, thanks guys!
Thanks to all of you for your postive comments at the unveiling of the Silver Dart at the January meeting. This date was a key milestone in the project and the more important upcoming flight depends on achieving these goals. 600+ man hours in the making.
Thanks to Gerry for letting us take it out onto the main floor for pictures with the replica, see below. From here we are investigating some options regarding the ground handling tests and the first hops that will establish handling, C of G and trimming etc. Until then, we will be setting up the radio, the throws of all control surfaces and generally preparing it for flight.
I will keep you all up-to-date here should you be interested in following this project into the air.
The production schedule can be seen here... if you are interested.
Pictures : Goose
Some winter flying fun... in this article and pictures sent in by Jacques Leroux & Marc Huot. Thanks guys!
Soft Field Take-Off and Landing
Marc Huot and I planned a weekend of ice fishing and flying at my home on Aylen Lake on 10 and 11 January 2009, or as Marc put it, we would be fly-fishing. As we are both relatively inexperienced and Marc had never flown his recently converted Hangar 9 Arrow tail-dragger or an aircraft with skis, the conversation on Friday night was about both flying tail draggers and flying on skis. As I had flown my converted Arrow tail-dragger on wheels at the field and on skis over the Christmas holidays, I was deemed the expert. I was able to convey some of my experience to Marc and was able to convince him that the transition would be effortless. All he had to do was line up, put all flight controls in a neutral position, apply power, watch the tail come up, maintain directional stability, ease back on the elevator and away he would go. To easy!
We woke to one of the coldest mornings this winter; it was -28 degrees Celsius. We decided to fish in the morning and fly in the afternoon. Turns out we should have passed on the fishing and stuck to flying. The weather was beautiful, the sky was clear and there was no wind at all and although we only reached a high of -17C it was a perfect day. As Marc had not carried out a test flight on his airplane and as I was to trim it out I thought it would be prudent to warm up with my plane and demonstrate to Marc how effortless it was to take off from the lake. We started the plane, conducted a run-up and were ready for take-off. Marc set the plane down on top of the four inches of fresh snow, I relaxed the controls and moved the throttle forward while observing the aircraft move a few metres before the skis dug in and the plane nosed over. So much for the effortless take-off, what do I do now? The last time I flew the lake was solid ice and this didn't happen.
My mind quickly turned to my private pilot days and flying from mucky grass strips in the Spring. During a Soft Field Take-Off in a Cessna 150 the pilot would line up for take-off, select 10 degrees of flap, pull back to the stop on the elevator and apply full power. As the nose came up to about 15 degrees he would ease off of the elevator to maintain the 15 degrees nose up until the aircraft broke free from the ground. The pilot would then keep the aircraft in ground effect to build up speed before climbing out and eventually raise the flaps. When landing the pilot would fly a normal approach but just as he flared and the main gear touched the ground, the pilot would apply a little power and pull back on the elevator to keep the nose wheel out of the mud.
We were not flying a Cessna 150, we didn't have flaps or a nose wheel but I thought the same basic principles should work. As we got the engine running once again and Marc set the Arrow down on the snow I pulled back to full up elevator and gently increased the throttle. As the plane built up speed I eased off of the elevator and maintained directional control until the Arrow was airborne. Due to the excessive power our RC engines produce there is no need to stay in ground effect for very long as the plane wants to climb into the cold crisp air. When landing the same principle applied, as the skis contacted the soft snow the aircraft slowed quickly and if I did not pull back on the elevator and apply a little power the aircraft would nose over.
Marc's Arrow flew flawlessly and he had no difficulty making the transition to the tail-dragger. We were extremely fortunate as we had perfect weather and the entire lake to ourselves and were able to log approximately ninety minutes of airtime each. The only difficulty we encountered was tuning our engines. With the cold dense air and changes to the atmospheric pressure the idle jet required adjusting. Also, I wonder if by moving the aircraft from warm to cold environments if condensation is forming in our plastic tanks, and finally perhaps there is a requirement to use a hotter plug in the winter? As for fuel Marc was using 15% nitro while I was using 10% but that did not appear to make a difference either way. I know that many of us newbies to the RC world would benefit from the experience of others with regard to optimizing engine performance in cold weather.
Article: Jacques Leroux. Pictures: Marc Huot
The first fly... of the year has gone to Rene Lepage!
Due to this years reasonable weather, a good sized congregation decended on the field on January 1 to be the first to fly.
Congratulations Rene!
Group shot (L to R): Rene's son, Rene Lepage, Rene's other son, John Jackson, Don Glandon, Daniel Marcotte, Mike Amodeo & Bob Burns.
Pictures : John Jackson.
Welcome!... to the new & returning members of the Stetson Flyers... , including Andrew Hemlin, Bill MacDonald, Carl Champagne, Corey Groves, Doug Tufts, Emmanuel Brière, Garth Knight, Gary Robertson, Isabelle Hébert, James Lynch, Jason Richards, Jessica Dawson, Joseph Smith, Len Gaultois, Liam Rozon, Mark Cuhaci, Michael Petik, Richard Dalpe, Roy Wallingford, Steven Tessier, Susan MacDonald & Yves Rivet...
We wish you a long and happy relationship with the club...
Past Features...
Here are some features you may have missed.
September Meeting
Tuesday September 29th is the next scheduled meeting at the Aviation Museum. Catch up with club members and let everyone know what you have been upto this summer.
Meeting starts at 7:30, come around to the back door.
May 2009 Newsletter Available!
STETSON BROCHURE
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Color Brochure
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