RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Have any of you jet guys been kind enough to offer non jet flyers at your field a chance to fly your sport jet on a buddy box? Just curious. I would consider it even if I knew they may never get into jets.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Well, just to keep this on-topic: my browned resin still seems to work just fine. If need be, we can mix it with some filler and use it to patch up the runway!

PS. Sean, thanks again for the quick response! :D

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Yes I have. Any my buddy loved it!!!!!!!!!!! He could not beleive how well the boomer handled in the air. On his second pass, he was doing 4 point rolls with it. Its a great way to promote our aspect of the hobby. My friend was smiling for at least a week after that.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Well said.

How often do you see the jet guys helping the newbies get their Tower Trainer airborne ? Not often enough IMO.

How often do you see the jet guys turning up to be pylon judges at the local race meets ? Not often enough IMO.

How often do you see the jet guys manning the BBQ at the local giant-scale meets ? Not often enough IMO.

etc., etc.


I'm not excusing any runway vandalism in any way - just pointing out that we can get a lot of non-jet guys on our sides of any such confrontation if we take the time to show them we are supportive of their segment of the hobby too.

Even just something as simple as asking a non jet guy to man your extinguisher during your start-up, and then spot for you, provides a great way of including others. I've always found that the safety explanations I give anyone while getting them to help me like this, get repeated by your helper to many other members ; very shortly a substantial number of the club members look at us as regular guys who go out of their way to be responsible members, rather than having the traditional fear and distrust of the ticking timebombs that the uninitiated often consider our models to be.

Gordon

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Gary,

Your awesome, that's the kind of sprit I was referring to. There’s a handful of guys at my field I'd let get some time on my jet in the future. I also let some of the regular members stand by me and spot or take part in the ground operations. It's not as big a mystery as they think just because there’s a ton of wires and components everywhere.

P.S. What video camera system did you use to take that video from your Hotspot at Rabbit Dry Lake?

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Agree with David and Buck. I did some formation flying with my Facet and a 1/4 scale Cub. Wish I had a pic of it and I'm sure the Cub driver does to.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

WOW! I can't believe they actually dug up the stripes. Weren't they just paint? Black paint would have been a lot easier. After all jet guys can't land without a stripe to aim for:)
How wide is the runway?
I wish I had a buddy box for my Evo. There are a bunch of guys I would let fly my R54. Then of course there are some I wouldn't... Like this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXPjJmMdtd0

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

The wonderful smell of burning K-1, the beautiful sound of a spooling turbine . . . . how could ANYONE in his right mind not like jets!!!

This statement made by a converted OF.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Hi David,

This is a very good post. The same strategy you have described has worked very well at my club. We operate from a very large (one of the largest?) public fields in the country. Our current president flies jets as do several others on the board...best to keep it that way.

Any whiff of jet "elitism" will be met back 100 fold. We will be lucky enough (and/or stupid enough!!) to fly these planes as long as we "get along". We do not have anywhere near the numbers to take any other position.

If you check you attitude at the door, I do not think you will have significant problems with many in this hobby, no matter their age.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Pictures please juggman.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

A police report should be filed if you can't get an explanation.

Some non-jet flyers feel left out, inadequate, etc. It's not unusual for some to seek ways to limit or minimize their perceived oppression (I can't think of any other way to put it, sorry). One way is to take advantage of the majority rules excuse, and ban or restrict jets. But these same folks don't mind hovering a 150CC aerobat at show center 10 feet from the pits.
So obviously it is never really about safety.

As for how we should act...generally jet guys are the most experienced, so a bit of extra scrutiny of our actions is likely, whether we fly jets or not that day. Some folks lurk just waiting for us to have an incident or crash. Have an issue with any plane, be it a jet or not, and it becomes phone tree talk.

What that means is, jet dudes have to be more cautious, prepare better, fly more safely, be more friendly, and help more than the average. Comes with the territory. Luckily, most jet guys I know also exhibit leadership skills, so there's hope.

Having said all this, what do you do if you get a jet guy that tends to crash a lot, have fires, build or assemble less than well, scare people etc, etc?

Chris

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

I used the CVS with a remote lens. They are available on e bay pre hacked. Works great.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Evening All


There is two sides or more to each story and so far we are hearing one side.

take care
don dow

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

It's a d**n shame about that field for sure. I'd file a police report as well, just to bring it all to the surface. $26k worth of vandalism in most places could qualify to bring felony charges.

BTW, How do you know when you have reached OF status?

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Pray!

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

We have a simular problem at the main field I fly at due to the head OF . The head OF is finally resigning his post on the BOD as Field Maintaince Director since we got permission to extend our paved runway to double it's length and are getting the local county to pay for it along with them just cutting down $10K worth of trees to the north end of our field to clear the landing path . His final quote was "We are ruining the field by removing the SWEET SPOT to land his plane on by extending the paved runway". Well the other 109 members had enough of the do it my way or I quit attitude and we responded at the last BOD Meeting 2 weeks ago with "So go ahead quit you are just 1 member and in the vast minority"; And by the way he didn't want the existing runway to start with but was the first person to use it. Go figure.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Aren't there any Old Fart jet flyers? Or are all jet pilots young studs?

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

OF is a state of mind, not just a chronological state-We have some very young OF's around here. Scott

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Jet Flying keeps you young at heart so it may be very difficult to be an OF and a Jet Pilot.:D

Hmmm - now if I built a Turboprop Cub or Taylorcraft - would that be a conflict of interest? - on OF plane (according to the original post) with a young gun powerplant:D

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Hey Guys, thanks for all your comments. I did call the Rosemount Police today, they will have nothing to do with it. I also spoke with AMA Headquartes, they also want no involvement. I am attaching their responce to me.


What if anything may be done? In mine and others opinions we believe that they willfully destroyed club property - AMA answer; This issue would be an internal club matter. The club board and members should make any decisions on how the club would like to handle the situation.

I trust this information answers your questions. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.

I will be happy to post pics of the runway, but due to work ,my day to fly is on Sundays, so I hope you all can wait till then to see them.
Some are asking what was the excuse to do this. They used the excuse of improving the runway. It was 2 years old, the center line stripes were fine. Although I will be the first to admit that the threshold stripes had cracked badly and needed work. But don't you know, the area that actually needed the work was not touched by any of them.
As far as the Jet guys helping out, I hate to say it but there is just a handful of people that do the majority of the work at the field. The Jet guys are always present, I cannot count how many days during the summer it is the just the jet guys there. Whether it is for work, an event, or just a day of flying.
Today I also had heard that our new president called one of the board members to complain about me. He told the board member that he had Goggled my name and had found my website, and that I built model airplanes for a living. First of all I thought the whole club knew that, second of all, the new president said that " He can't do that ". What business is it of his how I make my money? He also stated that I was no longer allowed to have guest jet flyers come in from out of town to fly with us. Not just guests, but he made it a point to rule out " jet flyers". Now if that does not say something, I don't know what does.
As far as safety goes, as you all know we need to be on our toes about safety. We do our very best to fly safe, start up in a safe area, never do we taxi in the pits, but those cubs sure do a lot! If one of us are going out to start up and another flyer taxis out, we are always more than willing to wait as we know sometimes they do not like to fly when we are in the sky. There is always more than enough daylight to use.
We are always trying to get others involved. In fact, I have signed off 4 new flyers in the past year with 3 more to go this season. The only way our sport will stay alive is to get others involved, not just jets, but all aspects.
I can only hope the outcome of all this will be on a positive note for the entire club.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

How do they justify digging holes in the runway as improving it? I am serious, how do they explain that?

You need to pursue this more aggressively with the local police.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Even if the police feel that no crime has been committed I don't think they are in a position to refuse to take a police report, especially if you tell them the club is consudering civil action against the responsible individuals.

Demand an explanation at the next meeting. Propose a resolution and vote on the club persuing civil action for damages. You may not get a majority vote but at least they'd get the message.

Joe

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

Who owns the land that the field is on ?

While I am all for smacking anyone who does anything like is alleged here, I'd caution you all to be a bit wary of the law of unintended consequences...

If you badger the police to do something about it, and the club is not the landowner, the police may go to the landowners and tell them to sort the problem out. In turn, the landowners (individual / county / whatever) may decide that having a bunch of squabling people on their land is not worth it, and cancel or refuse to renew the lease so that rather than having a field with a damaged runway, you have nothing.

Just a thought,
Gordon

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

We have the same problem too. We call them the "Geezer Squadron" it's a real mess, some of the old turds think they're God. Had one how it the Safety officer, cuss me out over flying a proper pattern over our field. Go figure, and don't you eventhink about showing up on a Tuesday or Thursday without an invite, you will get told to leave.

RE: Beware of OF's!!!!!
 

GOOD POINT!!
And you should know that the AMA will never get involved in a squabble like this. They charter clubs, sanction events and provide insurance. The property has nothing to do with them.