Fresno Jets, September 21-24, 2017 ****CANCELLED****
05-12-2017, 12:16 PM
#1
Fresno Jets, September 21-24, 2017 ****CANCELLED****
The Fresno Radio Modelers club has had a rough year with issues with our field. Started out with a dispute with the family of the owner of our property that resulted in us being locked out for about a month earlier this year. With that mostly resolved through legal channels, we thought the worst was behind us. Well, with all the rain we had this year, the surrounding property owner was able to plant a couple of new orchards. That presented us with the challenge of workers being under the flight path of our models if we flew with them out there. The simple solution is to not fly when they are out there... well, with the more mature orchards we are unable to see if they are there, and communication has not been what we had hoped. The club has instituted a ban on over flying the mature orchard to the east, regardless of whether the workers are out there. There have been instances where the orchards were empty, and we were clear to fly, and suddenly workers would show up with no notice and ground us. This particular orchard is on the approach end to the prevailing runway. There is no way to fly a turbine at our field now unless you take off one direction, and land the opposite. Flight patterns would have to be offset, and it would just be a mess. Adding to that the orchard in question (almonds) will be harvested at some point in the month of September, and we have no choice but to cancel this event.
We did have designs on an alternate site, but that turned out to be a dead end, at least for this year.
This is the first time since 1996 that we will not have a jet event at Fresno, and it appears at least for now, 2016 might have been the last ever. This would have been my second year running the event and to say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. While never intending to be the end-all-be-all jet event on the west coast (Best in the West has that locked up for sure!), we aimed to be a small event that promoted the hobby locally and provided an event for jet guys to fly their butts off and have a good time.
I had some special plans for this year, including a guest speaker at the dinner. Frank Murray, a close friend of my late father, was going to speak about his experiences flying the A-12 Oxcart for the CIA. Frank flew multiple missions over Vietnam and Korea and was the last person to fly an A-12. He delivered the last one to storage in Palmdale from Area 51 when the program was cancelled in favor of the slower, lower flying SR-71
. During his speeches, Frank doesn't pull any punches on giving his opinion of the successor to the airplane he flew, often referring to the slower plane as the "family model". Frank is also a lifetime modeler, and is probably the only man on earth that can lay claim to flying an RC float plane at Area 51, which he did in the '60s using the cooling ponds at the site. Ultimate Jets was going to try to have one of their stunning new A-12 models there built by Shaun Evans. That would have been something pretty special for all who attended I think.
Thanks to everybody who has supported us over the years, and especially those to made it out last year and made my first time running it such a blast! Hope to see you all around at the other events.
Regards,
Tom Messer
We did have designs on an alternate site, but that turned out to be a dead end, at least for this year.
This is the first time since 1996 that we will not have a jet event at Fresno, and it appears at least for now, 2016 might have been the last ever. This would have been my second year running the event and to say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. While never intending to be the end-all-be-all jet event on the west coast (Best in the West has that locked up for sure!), we aimed to be a small event that promoted the hobby locally and provided an event for jet guys to fly their butts off and have a good time.
I had some special plans for this year, including a guest speaker at the dinner. Frank Murray, a close friend of my late father, was going to speak about his experiences flying the A-12 Oxcart for the CIA. Frank flew multiple missions over Vietnam and Korea and was the last person to fly an A-12. He delivered the last one to storage in Palmdale from Area 51 when the program was cancelled in favor of the slower, lower flying SR-71
. During his speeches, Frank doesn't pull any punches on giving his opinion of the successor to the airplane he flew, often referring to the slower plane as the "family model". Frank is also a lifetime modeler, and is probably the only man on earth that can lay claim to flying an RC float plane at Area 51, which he did in the '60s using the cooling ponds at the site. Ultimate Jets was going to try to have one of their stunning new A-12 models there built by Shaun Evans. That would have been something pretty special for all who attended I think.Thanks to everybody who has supported us over the years, and especially those to made it out last year and made my first time running it such a blast! Hope to see you all around at the other events.
Regards,
Tom Messer
05-12-2017, 01:26 PM
#2
My Feedback: (52)
Tom:
Sorry to hear about all of the issues and double sorry that you had to cancel the event. Hopefully another location might show up for the future. You and the club always ran a class act and one that we enjoyed attending as well as sponsoring. House of Balsa and ZAP will be available for the future if an alternate location becomes available.
Hope to see you at another event in the future. Will you be at Castle over Memorial Day? That is our next stop.
Paul Stenberg
House of Balsa
Sorry to hear about all of the issues and double sorry that you had to cancel the event. Hopefully another location might show up for the future. You and the club always ran a class act and one that we enjoyed attending as well as sponsoring. House of Balsa and ZAP will be available for the future if an alternate location becomes available.
Hope to see you at another event in the future. Will you be at Castle over Memorial Day? That is our next stop.
Paul Stenberg
House of Balsa
05-12-2017, 01:38 PM
#3
Thanks Paul, your support was always much appreciated. Not sure about Castle yet. I won't be participating for sure, but I had thought about driving up one of the days and drag the kids around the flight line. If I do, I'll look you up for a visit.
For us turbine guys in the club, this it probably the last nail in coffin for flying turbines at the club. At least until we figure something out with either the layout or the surrounding property owner. It's just too tight of an area now.
If I don't see you at Castle, hope you have a good time and take care! With any luck I might make it to Best in the West or definitely Lodi.
Tom M
For us turbine guys in the club, this it probably the last nail in coffin for flying turbines at the club. At least until we figure something out with either the layout or the surrounding property owner. It's just too tight of an area now.
If I don't see you at Castle, hope you have a good time and take care! With any luck I might make it to Best in the West or definitely Lodi.
Tom M
Last edited by ExFokkerFlyer; 05-12-2017 at 05:34 PM.
05-13-2017, 04:35 AM
#5
Sorry about your reservations, that's one of the reasons we are announcing this in May, rather than closer to the date. It was just about getting to the time that I had to start putting money down for tshirts and other things, and was also early enough where I could cancel the advertising with AMA and get the money back. But probably more importantly, I wanted to get the word out so people could cancel reservations, or otherwise change their plans.
Like I said we had another site in mind (think Buttonwillow with a smooth runway), but we weren't getting anywhere on that front so there was not much point in drawing out the inevitable. Really is disappointing to all of us here, we were looking forward to it.
Thanks for the invitation to your event, we'll see what happens. I love the area as you know, just going to depend on work.
Tom M
Like I said we had another site in mind (think Buttonwillow with a smooth runway), but we weren't getting anywhere on that front so there was not much point in drawing out the inevitable. Really is disappointing to all of us here, we were looking forward to it.
Thanks for the invitation to your event, we'll see what happens. I love the area as you know, just going to depend on work.
Tom M
05-14-2017, 09:02 AM
#8
My Feedback: (28)
Sorry about your reservations, that's one of the reasons we are announcing this in May, rather than closer to the date. It was just about getting to the time that I had to start putting money down for tshirts and other things, and was also early enough where I could cancel the advertising with AMA and get the money back. But probably more importantly, I wanted to get the word out so people could cancel reservations, or otherwise change their plans.
Like I said we had another site in mind (think Buttonwillow with a smooth runway), but we weren't getting anywhere on that front so there was not much point in drawing out the inevitable. Really is disappointing to all of us here, we were looking forward to it.
Thanks for the invitation to your event, we'll see what happens. I love the area as you know, just going to depend on work.
Tom M
Like I said we had another site in mind (think Buttonwillow with a smooth runway), but we weren't getting anywhere on that front so there was not much point in drawing out the inevitable. Really is disappointing to all of us here, we were looking forward to it.
Thanks for the invitation to your event, we'll see what happens. I love the area as you know, just going to depend on work.
Tom M
05-15-2017, 06:59 AM
#9
My Feedback: (60)
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Mooresville, NC
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Horrible news. When I lived in Cali, this was the event we looked forward to all year. Just a blast every time. This is truly sad news. I remember with great fondness being at the event right after 9/11. Shaun Evans sang the National Anthem that year. I believe David Searles sang with him. Hopefully you guys will figure something out to continue the event moving forward.
S
S
05-15-2017, 04:40 PM
#11
Fresno
Tom,
Sorry to hear about the cancelation.
If you decide to have a impromptu meet let us know and we'll try to attend.
Also, don't forget AMOS is having their jet meet starting Sept 29th, so try and come if you can.
Kevin
Sorry to hear about the cancelation.
If you decide to have a impromptu meet let us know and we'll try to attend.
Also, don't forget AMOS is having their jet meet starting Sept 29th, so try and come if you can.
Kevin
Last edited by flyrcjets; 05-15-2017 at 10:57 PM.
05-19-2017, 07:54 AM
#12
Thanks for the kind words fellas. As things are set now at our field, future jet events are doubtful, the ban of overflying the orchards imposed by the club kills it. However, it is meant to be a temporary deal, how long I don't know, but they want to demonstrate to the owner that it can be done. If it is ever lifted, a change in date would also help quite a bit, but finding a month where we can expect little to no work for our neighbors, that's the tricky part. It's hard to invite people to our club from hours away only to shut down (on a... Saturday ?) for six hours while they fiddle with an irrigation pipe (that happened). So, we'll see.
If anything changes, you'll probably see it here first. Until then you'll see us at some of the events here and there!
Tom M
If anything changes, you'll probably see it here first. Until then you'll see us at some of the events here and there!
Tom M
