Club Update – May 2011

In last months blog I mentioned starting a new feature, “Moan of the month” so here is the first instalment. A few weeks ago a new member made the point that when starting and running engines other members would often stand directly in front of his model, the concern, was, that if the model should throw a prop or spinner, it could result in injury to anyone who happened to be in the way. during our discussion we noticed that, the current practice of having two lines of aircraft could also lead to an accident, because, some of the models had the props facing the other line. I think both points are very valid, and as it is in all our interests to avoid any sort of incident I would like to make a couple of recommendations.

1. When making two lines always have the models tail to tail.
2. If someone stands in front of your model when you are running the motor, politely ask them to move to one side. The club doesn’t have a dedicated safety officer, you should be your own safety officer, and everyone else should be your safety officer as well. We all get a bit forgetful at times so none of us should be offended if we get a gentle reminder from time to time.
I am sure we will all agree that ARTF has revolutionised our hobby, not all will agree that its for the better. I personally think it is the reason that our membership has grown so quickly in recent months, as new guys can get up and running very quickly. Unfortunately the fragility of these models can lead to problems. I am sure George won’t mind me using his example to explain my point. On Saturday a fairly soft, but poor landing led to his model breaking in half, this is the latest in a run of misfortune which has resulted in George questioning his ability to continue with the hobby. We have all been through a stage which has resulted in many broken models, the difference is that those of us who have been at it for more than ten years normally had to build them first!!! The positive side of this, is that the models tended to be more robust and generally stayed together after a similar bump, I really hope the models that allowed George to advance so quickly don’t lead to him jacking the hobby in, as, even with the ups and downs of the early years, its still the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
I try to write these blogs as the month goes by, so I am pleased to say that George has recovered from the incident above and has purchased another model, and thanks to Mick the renegade is also fully repaired, so its back to keeping his clothes on, until the next crash anyway.
Maths is not a strong point of mine, but even I know that if you hold a large number of quizzes between two teams, each quiz containing about thirty question, the odds against always ending in a draw are astronomic, but surprise, surprise, that’s exactly what happened, again, I am sure there is a bit of skulduggery going on here!!!! Well done John.
It was nice to see our chairman showing he is a new man, demonstrating skilful use of an oven and a hoover, and going by the quality of his covering he is pretty nifty with an iron as well, nice demo Mick.
The second half of the month has been a little disappointing, very windy on both sundays, this has kept the numbers down, apart from the real men, and super heroes, and to add to our problems the bullocks have turned into stroppy teenagers who took no notice when I tried to move them away from the pilots, but, fear not ,we had a real man on hand, known, as Wrangler Ron Vears, who moved the beasts away while still flying, and we still had Peter Parker to come to the rescue, if needed !!! as for the others present, I do eat quiche and Nick is the Master of the world wide web!!
Bring on June
All the best Gordon Godalming.