Esher & District Model Flying Club

President: Dave Ward Esq
Vice Presidents:. J.S. Barker Esq. Terry Kitson

COMMITTEE

January 2006

Editor’s Notes

Just a quick newsletter this time to remind people of the little matter of subs being due. I hope Tony will not mind me pinching his usual spot.

There is one issue I feel I must mention:

At the AGM it was agreed that we would drop the £1 /week at the flying field. This will result in a loss to the club that, it was considered, could be absorbed by our reserves – currently around £15,000. I believe that a number of members are having second thoughts about this as, should we in the future not have Chris’ generous use of Downside, subs might have to rise significantly to pay for a winter field – that could be the time to dip into reserves. If you have a view on this please let the committee know.

Subs

These have not changed from last year although BMFA membership has gone up by £2 with the result that subs are as follows:

Please remember you are not insured if you haven't yet renewed your subs You may bring a cheque with you to the flying field as insurance starts as soon as a committee member has received this.

Subs must be in by the end of January.                       Keith

Christmas Meal

Saturday 3^rd December saw a large number of members and their partners descend upon Surbiton Golf Club for the EDMFC Christmas meal. As they say, “A good time was had by all”. I think the pictures say it better so I’ll leave you with those!

Downside Flying Field

A few issues to note:

q         Gates have been added at either end of the barn as Chris has been having his hay stolen. If you are first to arrive, be careful of the gate that is immediately ahead (beside the barn) as it can camouflage itself against the gate into the field. One driver has managed to drive straight into it – didn't do ANY harm to the gate!

q         Don’t park or turn around on the triangle of grass next to the barn. It is very boggy and you will get stuck as well as churning up the grass.

q         For the same reason please don’t drive on to the field. There is plenty of parking around the barn.

q       The flying strip and pits are in good shape.

The Christmas Slope Soaring

The weather forecast for December 27th was fresh North Easterlies, it was obvious that Devil's Dyke would be the slope this year; it was also -3° with heavy snow showers expected, it was even more obvious that any sane person would stay in bed.

Still by 8:30a.m eleven of us had arrived at Alan's or rung for directions and a convoy set off for the South Downs. On arrival we were met by almost perfect wind conditions, clear skies and a thick frost, so huddling behind the few bushes that gave any shelter we committed aviation. Warm clothes and the fun soon stopped us noticing the cold.

Wildthings, Pythons & Zagii were soon whirling around in combat and, as ever, nobody could hit anyone else. Eventually a resounding whack showed Mark minus one fin spinning out of control but he recovered and rejoined the fight.

First laugh of the day was at my expense, with my eyes watering due to the wind, I started flying the wrong model and mine remained stuck in a bush for some time before I noticed!

Shortly after this, I dived down behind the bushes with my twin jet (engines removed) and its speed doubled whooshing past everybody at speed like I was showing off and frightening Mark - it was a while later before I realised that I'd just experienced dynamic soaring (DS). Later a local flyer turned up and started whizzing down behind the bushes and back out over the slope getting faster and faster. DS is an amazing idea that sounds like perpetual motion but some fast high performance soarers are now hitting speeds of over 230MPH - perhaps I'll discuss it further in the next newsletter or look up "Dynamic Soaring" in Google if you are interested.

Around midday a wall of solid white could be seen approaching the hill and several people quickly chucked out to have a last fly before what looked like a full-blown blizzard hit us. As it got closer I started to worry that I'd lose sight of the 'plane and flew closer in. All of a sudden it hit us! There was a sudden flurry of snowflakes and it was past - hardly even noticed it.

Now seemed a good time to break for lunch and an excellent meal was had in the Devil's Dyke pub and suitably washed down afterwards.

A couple of hours later we hit the slopes again - well almost!

I unloaded my car of 'planes and then found that the warmth of the pub and heavy meal had sapped the enthusiasm of the others they’d all decided that they’d had enough and were heading for home. Reluctantly I reloaded the car and joined them.

Arriving home a couple of hours later I found I didn't have my transmitter –I’d left a bag containing my Futaba FF9 and about 20 sets of spare Xtals in the car park – I felt more than a bit sick and a ‘phone call to the pub confirmed that no one had handed it in. Alan of Soar Ahead Sailplanes had been there so I looked him up on the Internet and rung him for advice. "What channel you on?" he asked, "82" I replied. "I have it right in front of me, I thought the owner might ring here"

Next day when I drove back down to get it he had even put it on charge for me so I could fly again that day - what a great guy and his ‘planes are excellent as well.

Ian Won the Silly Hat Competition by Miles!