Jetkopter

My Feedback: (1)

I am grateful for have had having the privilege to have flown all these past years at Hamburg, but the reality of the situation is that even by some slim hope that model flying is allowed to continue at Farview I doubt that this will ever be a jet friendly club again. The club that started from a handful of guys looking to rent a field to play with there toys and grew to over a 100 plus members. The club had very few rules, mainly be safe and don't do anything stupid. I have been a member of a lot of clubs over the years and you know that all clubs have politics and such. This club had very little of that, the most relaxed I have ever seen. That as great as it sounds is part of the demise of the farview flyers and the problems we face now. The club never had meetings, only a select few who are board members had closed door discussions on the operation of the club. The members have zero knowledge of what is going on with the club. The only times you would here anything is when some one did something stupid or there was problem. Then we got out the eraser and wiped a clean spot on the chalk board and added by the way please don't do this to the short list of rules and regulations. The club over the last two years became reactive instead of proactive. The problems with the famers and the trailer park didn't just happen over night, its been on going and escalating for several years. This was kept from the members, the president thought he had it handled. At least that's what we where told us later on. When the first letters came from the town it was never shared with the club members because the board wanted to present the picture that all is well with the club. The president of the club has had several health problems and over the last several years has not flown much. He as done a lot of fishing and other things outside of the club. The president was our liaison to the farmers and all concerns and problems where dealt with directly by him. Do you think that when your fishing and you got one on the line you want to hear some farmer blowing up your phone complaining that some one just put one in on his property? The farmers where getting upset with us, be we the members didn't know it. The trailer park at the south end of our runway never was much of an issue until the owner became elected to the town board. Its also a fact that he is related to all the farmers.
Individual's in the farview club decided to build a hanger on the property that the club rents from the landowner. That hanger required a permit from the town. A residential use permit was issued by the town and later revoked by the town and the towns position was that this hanger needed a commercial permit. The president of the club went to a town zoning meeting with the attitude that he had the upper hand and told me how he made a fool out of this town official at the meeting. Again reinforcing his position that he has any club problems under control. That all happened this spring and summer. We already have a no fly zone at the end of our runway over the trailer park prior to this but now the complaint letters start coming from the town about over flights above the trailer park. That's what happens when you don't try to diffuse a bad situation early on because you think your smarter than them! The over flights continue and the culprit is a member of the board, and he is ejected from the club and told to resign. A decision I at first didn't agree with because I didn't have all the facts. I did not have all the facts because the board kept all the internal problems a secret. So now we are on thin ice with the town and we have our giant scale event coming up followed by our end of season world famous October jet rally. The giant scale event rolls around and its always a big turnout, The Pres, VP and the individual who invested in the new construction cost of the new hanger get the great idea to have a night flying demo with lights and commercial fire works display at the giant scale event. None of this is done with a permit, or vote. The police arrive and its another black eye for the club. This combined with the jet overflight by the board member is the straw that breaks the camels back. The board blames it all on the member who made the over flights. They take zero responsibility for the fire works or the night flying. To make a long story short its now time for the October event and the club is faced with a possible injunction to stop the event . No one on the board can make a decision because there like a deer in the headlights. They all thought they where in tight with the farmers, wrong. The club has to make major compromises to even have the event as far as flight restrictions and hours of operations and these facts are not disclosed until shortly before the event. The town was present and we had to be on our best behavior. A lot of pilots where upset that they travelled great distance to get there and its not like it use to be. The end result of all of this arrogance is that now the club is told it needs a permit to operate a model airplane club at 375 farview road and that's where we are at now with the zoning board. The town and the farmers position was stop flying jets and the problems with us will go away. We the club members know that we need to compromise with the surrounding land owners and we know that in the zoning hearing we are going to loose. The club board preached to members that we will band together and pool our funds and outspend the town in a legal court of law. No concessions now is what we all said! A lot of us live two to three hours away from the club and when the emails went out we where there at the zoning board meetings on a Monday night to support the club because we all are going in the same direction, wrong we are not going in the same direction. With the club now facing possible injunction on all model flying the board does a 180 just like the wind changes direction and bans jet flying to save there own skin and self serving agenda. We where supposed to be in this together as one, but the President and the VP now realize there not All That with the town or famers, the third board member who is the one who funded the hanger had a change of heart to because its expensive to move your personal hanger once you built it. I know its easy to say I am finger pointing or Monday morning quarterbacking and why didn't I do something about it sooner. I was never asked to be on the board and because they kept it all in I had no idea as to the depth of the problems. A group of us pledged to fund the legal defense of the club, but after seeing how this is not a club but a monarchy and we the peasant's don't matter I would advise everyone to keep there pennies in there pockets unless the club where to restructure and the membership is able to vote as a whole. I brought all of this up in private to the VP and got told I was out of line and didn't know what I was talking about here. A fellow member asked me today if all the jet pilots leave how will the club pay the rent if there allowed to continue? Answer is the guy with the hanger will write a check and this place will go back to being a few guys at most. So the whole point of all this is don't take for granted your flying sight and your neighbor's who may not share your love for model airplanes. Be more proactive in your club and promote the hobby in a positive light that makes the community respect you not despise you. I know on the next go around this course I will try to follow.
Regards,
Don