Ray Hayes call or fax......1-(810) 781-7018
Sky Bench Aerotech email..... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
P.O. Box 316 website.. http://www.skybench.com
Washington, Michigan 48094 Model Aviation Headquarters
Tord,
I was told a long time ago by a person who had been a past President of two
different R/C Clubs and various other model related involvements that model
clubs for the most part are the worst thing that ever happened to model
aviation. I don't agree with this fully, but most clubs are self serving
to a limited few. I just received a short video of Jim Simpson's activities
in New Mexico. Seems he is the spark plug to a 140 member youth club and
is hell bent on spreading the model aviation word in his area. Jim's
program teaches building, flying with the LSF Achievement program and
grooms r/c instructors. Those kids are mighty lucky and it is "Hats Off"
to Jim.
Maybe email lists can be part of a solution to encourage newcomers, but
that is providing the participants exercise their intellectual self control
and refrain from posting emotional and offensive attacks on individuals
such as Mike L. referring to Chuck Anderson as a grumpy old man. I view
mike's attack as total disrespect for a man that was part of the ship that
got r/c soaring to where it is today.
It is far wiser to hit the delete key than to post something stupid and
hurt someone's feelings.
Ray
----------
> From: Tord <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: RCSE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [RCSE] RE:RE: New Modellers recruitment ...
> Date: Friday, August 27, 1999 8:44 AM
>
> Brian speaks very wisely that it is all well to entice
> someone go to the local field, you also have to get someone take notice
> of the new arrivals and show them the ropes, so to speak.
>
> I myself built a Ugly Stick, without an inkling where to fly it!
> Eventually I managed to find the local field thanks to a friend
> who had a car - I didn't then, and the only one taking
> notice of me and my model was a guy who - I later learned -
> then ran a hobbyshop in town.
>
> He flew it and then, after landing it was found out that I had
> accidently connected the rudder the wrong way and the club members
> leered at the stupid git, that's me!
>
> Now I would say that it is pretty stupid of the pilot not to check
> an unflown model better ... But he landed it well anyway! But those
> laughs were no fun, and that I used Cannon R/C equipment and so
> small servos on an Ugly Stick was another reason for ridicule ...
>
> Took me over ten years until I dared it again - and that aircraft
> never flew again!
>
> This is a quite typical club where nobody cared if I was a member
> or not - just like the one Brian told us about. Nobody present,
> except the shop owner (who had not sold any of the equipment, or
> knew me before), did anything to make me feel at home. The flying
> I saw that day didn't impress me either - one guy stalling over and
> over again after his powerepod cut on his glider.
>
> One day I met the shopwner in his shop - a chance meeting actually -
> and bought a Graupner Mosquito (one of the first electric kits) that
> hung under the shop's cieling. I did try to fly that on my own - no luck
at
> all - smashed the fuselage as it stalled on launch. Had I had a highstart
> the story would have been different, I think ...
>
> After I was run over I decided to make a new try, bought a Spirit (I
think
> it was) and a high-start - from the above mentioned shop owner - and
happened
> to come to the field where two guys took pity on me, even though I
brought
> a glider to a field almost exclusively being used by power-flyers.
>
> It helped that I was older, wiser and more determind to succed, the
Spirit,
> with the 100" Mosquito wing and an electric motor grafted onto it, and
this
> worked! Then I bought a used ElectriCub, fitted the smallest fourstroke
> I could find and flew it till the leaked fuel dissolved the fuselage,
more
> or less.
>
> But the leering crowd is still there, guys who gossip more than they fly,
and
> pretty annoying in the long run. Nasty, is the word that comes to mind
..
>
> So when a flying friend told me about this other field, and I discovered
Zagis,
> my flying really took off, as I now can show others how to do things,
even if
> many at the other club still are better pilots than me, those few times
they fly.
>
> One reason why they seldom do is that they have been at it for 20 years,
or more,
> so they still like their buddies, but the flying isn't that important any
more
> for them, so like small brats they make fun of everybody and wait for the
next
> upset or accident ...
>
> They surely are a hindrance for new members to join, these old men (the
youngest
> roughly my age, and I am soon 50!), most of them excellent technicians
and builds
> beautiful models, but are very happy to be as few as possible ...
>
> I do visit occasionally, but only when the wise guys are elsewhere!
>
> Tord,
> Sweden
>
> --
> If reply difficulties - use [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Tord S. Eriksson, Ovralidsg.25:5, S-422 47 Hisings Backa, Sweden
>
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