Please see   Events   page for 2009 events

Club Newsletter 3/2009,        June 22^nd

Club Splash-in Event

On Saturday 2^nd and Sunday 3^rd of May, we put up a pegboard, hired a boat and outboard, and at £2 for one day, £3 for two, we made a small profit for the club. The weather was adequate though the offshore wind made take-off and landing difficult for some. A fair bit of flying was done, there were no disasters, and the event can be considered a success.

Club Renewals

We are up to 36 paid up members now, as of 22nd June. Since the last newsletter McKENNA, OLDHAM, ELLIOTT, SMITH, and GALT have rejoined and we welcome to the club Alan ROBERTSON and his sons Robert and Andrew, plus Davie FISHER and John FERGUSON of the Warrix club who are keen to join us for some extra waterplane flying. I look forward to an upsurge in waterplane flying.

Club Cards

I have sent out a membership card for all members, to replace the a simple paper one printed on an inkjet. I didn’t feel they were adequate, and then someone pointed out that I had written 2008 instead of 2009, so I have made a new set and laminated them. I know it is late in the year, but now we have the technology we are ready for next year.

Club Field

I have not been to the field for a while but was told that the Rugby Club have put in new drainage right across all the rugby pitches, and also across our runways. Drainage is good, but they should have consulted us before messing up the runways in the midst of the best flying season (You’ll have noticed the amazing flying weather?)

Flying had to be suspended because the work had torn up the surface, unless you could hand launch or use enormous wheels.

                        Since then Jim Campbell has been down and found a bit that is usable, near where the road turns to pass between the pitches. It is near where we used to fly, but a bit nearer the bushes. He says it is OK to use and has cut the grass, so it will do until the proper runway has been rolled flat again.

Club Visits

            Various clubs around the country host themed Fly-ins during the summer. I have been to Kinross recently.

The CVF club runs a 2 day event each year, but still has not announced this year’s dates. End of July or early August is usual.

One that has been well publicised is the Scale/Sports Fly-in and BBQ organised on July 12^th  by the Alloa Club at their site at Summer Lane, only 5 minutes from Blairdrummond Safari Park. It runs from 10 am onwards and food & drink are available.

Club Newsletter 2/2009,        April 22^nd

Club Renewals

We are up to 26 paid up members now, as of 22nd April: AIRD, BAIRD, BOCKER, BOULCOTT, BURNETT, CAMPBELL, DAWSON, DEANS, DUNLOP, HALLAM, HERRON, IRVINE, KENNEDY (Balfour), KENNEDY (David), LAW, MASSEY, McALLISTER, McCALL, McDONALD, McINTYRE, McMASTER, SHAW, STURROCK, SUTHERLAND, WELLS, WYLIE.

SAA Cards

You get a fancy printed plastic membership card from the SAA, and this year a special tie-pin too, to celebrate the SAA’s 65 anniversary. You probably have yours already, but the last few, for the members I haven’t seen, are enclosed. Country members get theirs direct, some of you get yours through another club. If in doubt, ask.

There have been a few anomalies, bugs in the computer system which insists on printing old information even after being updated. Please check your card for errors (certificate status, that sort of thing).

Club Field

I was down at the field today (Wed 22^nd April) and I took a mower as I heard the grass was a bit long. It so happened that the Council workers (2 of them) were busily cutting the grass over the whole area with a big tractor and a bigger one. They made a good job but, just so that my journey was not wasted, I cut a strip even shorter in the place where the club AGM agreed that we should be flying in the current circumstances (i.e. now that rugby posts have been erected.)

The whole of the field is usable, but we should be using a runway between the edge of the rugby pitch and the far bank as discussed at the AGM. Take a walk over to the runway area cut beside the rugby pitch. That’s where we used to fly before the small goals went up, and it was good. That’s where we flew for the Surf & Turf.

I will email this tonight. Email back if you DON’T want a paper copy with membership card & lease.

History Lesson

For the benefit of the more recent members, a history lesson. In 1990 I was looking for a site where I could fly seaplanes from fresh water, and Kilbirnie Loch was suggested. It transpired that there was a small group who already flew from the adjacent field, but on an unofficial basis without permission. Bob McGill and I suggested to them that we all form a club and get official permission to fly from the field and the water.

I approached the local authority, Cunninghame District Council in those days, and Mr. Bannatyne put me in touch with someone who dealt with the field and also the Loch Management Committee for the water. We also approached Archie Blair for access through his field to the water at the other end.

 The upshot was that the Water Management Committee accepted us and offered us shared use of the loch and two seats on their Committee and, after a little negotiation with a Mr McGhee, Cunninghame Council’s solicitor sent us an official lease for use of the field. The first document occupied 3 pages, we requested alterations, and that brought forth a further two.

In legal language we were offered the use of land, as outlined in an attached plan, commencing “upon the conclusion of missives” and continuing “at the pleasure of the District Council” with 3 months written notice before termination and no rent to be paid. It also says we may use the ground only when there are no games being played on the pitch.

Some time ago I produced a version of the lease condensed onto a single sheet and handed them out. I have done that again and enclose a copy that you might want to carry. Once, two golfers called the Police because our planes scared them. I showed the Police our lease and they chased off the golfers.

 At the time we approached the Council the pitch was a football pitch, but by the time we obtained permission it was an American Football pitch, though on the lease it is called “Athletics Area” and the ground we are allowed to use (marked in red on their plan) was on either side of the pitch. Our club decided to use the far side, between the edge of the pitch and the grassy bank, for our runway because

·           it kept us away from the access road

·           we could avoid overflying the car park

·           we could avoid overflying the boathouse

·           the goals were behind us and out of the flight line

·           the public (dog walkers etc) kept behind us, across the middle of the pitch

When the seven-a-side goals were put up along our runway we were told (by Paul Wilson, N Ayrshire) that we could use the middle of the pitch, although the plan was not re-issued accordingly. Unlike rugby goals, those small goals caused great problems as they attracted youths of all sorts to kick footballs around on our runway

 You will see in the lease that the site is a Sports Complex, not a public park, and is now administered by North Ayrshire Council. So where we stand legally is that we can use the area on either side of the rugby pitch (but not the pitch itself) when fixtures are not being played. We have been asked officially (but not yet in writing) not to cut the grass on the pitch as they like it long to minimise injuries. That doesn’t matter in the immediate future as the rugby season finishes soon for the summer. The Council cuts all the grass reasonably short from today on, but in late summer they let the Rugby pitches grow longer.

The water skiers’ clubhouse/hut is in line with the goals so we should avoid that area for both reasons.

Club AGM

The AGM was held in the Eglinton Inn, Beith, on Sunday 23^rd Nov. Nine members attended.

You will see from the  minutes that the fees remain the same, £1 per year for all. We will revert back to our original prepared strip (when the weather is good enough to prepare it) at the far side of the Rugby pitch. The committee now consists of Phil Hallam as Chairman, Jim Campbell as Treasurer, Alasdair Sutherland as secretary, Bobby McMaster as Safety Officer, and Bob Irvine as a further committee member.

A couple of issues arose at the AGM that we will have to bring up at the SAA AGM next month as they require clarification from the SAA Council or Safety Committee.

Club Rules

The SAA has advised that all clubs should incorporate into their Rules/Constitution some guidelines on dealing with junior members (under 18) and what they call “vulnerable adults”. The SAA is under pressure from the insurance company to cover ourselves against legal action that might arise out of “abuse” of juniors. The SAA has a 30+ page document (almost identical to that of the BMFA) on the subject that you might want to read when you get bored with aerodynamics articles. It’s on the SAA website. Our new rules, 17 to 23, have been added to our Club Rules/Constitution to try to cover the situation and should be ratified and adopted I hope at the AGM. We need to get something on paper. Otherwise the Rules are as before with 2.4 GHz added and some pruning to make them fit 2 pages. 

The SAA’s suggested rules stipulate that a junior is supervised at all times by a responsible adult. In the version I have produced for your consideration I have made the parent that responsible adult. That avoids the club taking responsibility for having juniors looked after by members who have to be individually vetted by the authorities (the disclosure process). It also means that the parent can decide on the spot what constitutes ‘appropriate contact’ between an instructor and a junior learner, and what tasks the junior is capable of performing without undue risk.

We also need to have a separate application/joining form for Juniors with information for Parent/Guardians and a space for their signature. On the back of the from we can spell out, in the SAA’s words, what the club expects of the Parent/Guardian and what they may expect of the club.

In case you haven’t been there recently, there have been obvious changes. A set of rugby goal posts has replaced the two sets of football goals, so we are back to the situation we had for the first few years when the club first started. Or are we?

In those early years we were authorised to fly from either side of the rugby pitch, and we chose the far away side as it kept us away from the access road and we didn’t have to overfly the car park. We flew with our backs to a line joining the two goals, and incidences of models hitting the goals were very rare.

 At the club recently Ian Massey told me that in four visits he had witnessed four collisions between models and goal posts. The posts won every time. We must be doing something wrong.

We should maybe go back to our old runway  on which I, for one, felt very comfortable. The goal posts were behind the flight line (where we don’t fly), we never had to fly over the road or the car park, and it was even easy to avoid overflying the boathouse if we had to. The grass at the side of the pitch was not chewed up by the players’ boots so we had quite a nice runway, and it wasn’t boggy. The only difference now is that trees have grown up on the grassy bank, and we might hit them. And the bushes along the fence at the far left end which used to be 3 ft high, are now much bigger.

 Our other option is to make a runway on the side of the pitch near the road. It would have to be placed well away from the “bushes” on the drawing as they have grown into quite tall trees. Using this runway we would be near the access road, nearer to the outside road and that factory, and we would be passing over the car park, albeit quite high (unless you stall and spin in). At the south west end the approach is less crowded though.

 A third option that we may consider  is to cut a runway into the grass of the playing field, running diagonally. This would have the merit of lining up with the lowest parts of the bushes at each end, giving the clearest climb out and approach path. However one of the goals will still be very easy to hit as it will be out in front of you as at present. Another drawback is that the pitch is very badly damaged by boot marks which will cause damage to all but the most robust undercarriage. We already know that rugby players like long grass, and so they may object to us cutting a runway diagonally across the playing surface.

 Whatever we choose,  be very careful, and stop flying if anyone strays onto the runway.

The access road (for those who have not been for a while) is lovely smooth tarmac, but watch out for the speed bumps!