MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm at the SKP clubhouse. In attendance were: Greene, Fitch, Anliker, 2 Cooks, Takata, Austin, Calkins, Marken and Maupin.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The Treasurer’s report showed total assets of $5071.55.  The breakdown was as follows: $501.55 in the checking account, $570 in fuel inventory, and $4000 in a CD. The Treasurer did a 2005 recap of finances.

Old Business-

      Gary Austin – April

      Greg Marken – May

      George Maupin – June

      John Fitch – August

New Business-

Harry Takata brought us a delicious dessert. There was no program and the meeting was adjourned.

-Submitted by Cindy Cook, Secretary

AROUND THE CLUB

>THE SURVEY

I have included some survey analysis information in the Editorial section. The following are the results:

|>>>>>>>>weighted number—see explanation in the editorial section

|

15 MEET THE MEMBERS

13 BUSINESS ADS

Would you like more pictures? 5 yes and 7 no

If so, what of? Local models, construction, crashes, planes, and field activities

Do you think the newsletter is too long? 2 yes and 12 no

Do you like having the officers listed? 12 yes and 2 no

Would you like to have a monthly message from the president? 6 yes and 6 no

If called upon would you be willing to write something for the newsletter? 7 yes and 3 no

Lou Creedon—some

Jim Cook—yes

Bill Berson—technical subject

Bob Kampman—club event

Bill Smith—yes to all

Jack Becker—yes to all

Jim Webster—club event

Should we drop the newsletter? 1 yes and 14 nos

Should we close down the web site? 1 yes and 10 nos

Do you have any other suggestions?

Compress pictures to shorten download

Keep field maintenance list

Want more activity in FOR SALE OR TRADE

Schedule of area events

Technical advice "go to" people

Web site list *

Local hobby shop list *

Inputs from officers

Regular input from safety officer

*included in the web site. A schedule of area events is usually carried in the web site under "activities", but has been a little neglected lately

>AHEM!!!!! I notice that the minutes do not mention the presentation of our most prestigious award. Can it be that the weather has been so bad no one has put in a flight, or is it that we have gotten so good that we no longer crash??????

HINTS, KINKS, AND STUFF

>I attended a local model swap meet January 14^th and spotted a good looking Saito 56. On closer examination I found that the muffler was wired on! The engine was oozing oil, but when I turned it over there was a clear metallic squeak. I did not make an offer. Make sure during this swap meet season that you don’t pay good money for junk.

JUST PLANE FUN

My main flying buddy while here in South Texas Is Ron Jans who flies with a 220+ member club in Wisconsin the rest of the year. Within this large group is a small group of fun loving combat pilots who call themselves THE CHICKEN SQUADRON. They limit themselves to 15 size engines, but they run them on 30% nitro! In the beginning they were all using planes based on plastic rain gutter material for the body; all but 2 of those are history as we take up the story—it reads a lot like our Crash of the Month discussions! The following has been extracted from a series of e-mails that these people recently exchanged. Also note that everyone has a special name mostly based on the chicken theme.

"With a little prodding the Bearcat came to life. Now, we all know that Cluck is not known for his "chucking" ability, but he managed to "chuck it off" just fine, only to have the Bearcat’s engine quit right at the worst time. CRASH, down came the Cat, shattering its cowl.

When Sparkman and Lt. Cluck went out to inspect the damage, they found something very curious. There were small (dime and quarter sized) bits of gutter on the field where the Bearcat came to rest.

Well Cluck, not being hatched yesterday (and not ready for the soup pot either) deduced that there are only certified nut cases flying gutter planes, Cluck being one and the other being CHICKEN HAWK! An invitation was issued to the Chicken Hawk to come to the Field of Honor today. The Hawk declined, faining work responsibilities. It couldn’t be that the Hawk didn’t have an airplane, could it?

Lt. Cluck, not to let sleeping dogs or busted up gutter planes lay, decided to rattle the coop of the Chicken Hawk. After the "how do you dos," Lt. Cluck asked the Hawk if he knew anything about the pieces. Chicken Hawk, being the cagy fellow he is (I think he gets it from the guy that rides a Hardly A Davidson) didn’t admit to anything at first, but when confronted with overwhelming evidence fessed up."

Now just to thicken the…er….chicken soup a bit, you should know that Chicken Hawk is actually my friend Ron’s son, and the plane in question belonged to Jans the elder, not Jans the younger. We pick up in the middle of Hawk’s impassioned report (read cover-up).

"I decided to try a few new maneuvers to see how she would respond. The "pitch-back" and the "head fake"—no problem. The "rolling scissors’ and then the "nose low slice turn." Man, is there anything this plane won’t do? My brother was standing next to me in awe just trying to keep his eyes on the plane! Now I was mixing them up in combinations not for the faint of heart. The "immelmann attack" into the "rolling scissors," the "nose low slice turn" into the Kamikaze…….WHAT!!!!!!

Needless to say the Kamikaze was not one of my brighter ideas.

Crashing was painful enough, and the only solace I had was that the sole witness was my dear brother {who could be trusted to keep his mouth shut}. So there in the middle of the field, with our hats removed and heads bowed in respect for the now dispersed (editors note: an interesting term there) Chicken Plucker, we made a pact never to let be known this tragic event.

Just think what Papa Chicken would say. After all, it was his servos with all the shredded gears, and his engine that was buried deep in the earth from the near vertical entry at full throttle. It was his battery pack that was jettisoned with such force that each individual cell went in a different direction. Not to mention the ribbing from all the other combat comrades and screaming chickens.

But there was a scenario we did not think of…one condition we did not anticipate…one person we grossly underestimated…Lt. Cluck!!!!"

SPECIAL REQUEST

>Bill Anliker is putting together a nametag order. If you want a nametag, please contact Bill right away. The cost is $5.00 payable on delivery. Go ahead, increase your "cool factor" at club events by having and wearing a nametag.

>A roster update is in work. If you have changed your e-mail address or radio frequencies from those listed in the roster, please contact Cindy Cook and Bill Anliker.

>Their phone numbers are listed up in the officer’s table. E-mail addresses are:

Cindy rver43@yahoo.com

Bill banliker@waypt.com

MEET THE MEMBERS—I. M. "CRUDDY" MESS

I was born on a dark and stormy night. My mother took one look at me and ran away forever. The maiden aunt that raised me hated all males, so my life was very hard while growing up. Eventually I accumulated enough years to join the army. The army trained me for several careers. My first position was as the base condom tester. I was required to blow up each condom and hold it under water while checking for bubbles. They fired me when the base commander’s 60-year-old wife became pregnant. Then they made me the base garbage collector, a job that I felt I excelled at. Eventually someone decided that I was much better suited for maintaining the base sewer system, a position that had its ups and downs. I saw my first balsa wood down there among the floaties, and was hooked for life. Some jerk had left a pin in the balsa, which caused me to get an incurable infection. After several essential body parts rotted and fell off, a process that continues to this day, the army gave me a medical discharge. I moved to Port Townsend where I got into serious trouble with the law for not disposing of one of my rotten appendages in a hazardous waste area. After I told my story to the judge I was sentenced to use balsa wood as my sole form of recreation. I immediately joined the Triarcs and have been serving my sentence ever since.

Your bud Crud

EDITORIAL

I actually have some experience formulating and analyzing surveys. (I am amazed at the variety of work experiences I had over a 30 year career!) One of the things I learned was how to weight the results. For this reason, the 1 through 5 rankings (with 1 being most desirable) were assigned values of 2, 1, 0, -1, and -2 respectively. The sum of all these is the weighted number assigned to each category. Member business advertisements, Maneuver of the Month, and Aeronautical Humor scored the lowest, and they have been dropped. Far Flung Flying was also at the bottom, but I will continue to occasionally include this as I discover things on my travels, but will not write about day-to-day flying.

A 20% return is considered very good in survey land and we have a whopping 33% return with no hype or advance warning. My thanks to all of you that responded, and most especially for all those kind words.

I will try to develop some new features based on what I learned from you. One of them might be an Officers Forum. Others will depend on the support I am able to get from the membership. One thing is for sure, you like the newsletter and want to continue it, so that is just what we are going to do!

I have all of the returned surveys in my computer. If there is enough interest I am willing to share the raw data after removing the sender’s name.

FOR SALE OR TRADE

If you want to list an item, just send me the details including your name, phone number, and asking price or trade-for item. Low pixel count digital pictures are also acceptable.

>I need a 4 stroke 52-56 in good condition for my next building project, an ACE 4-40 biplane designed by D. B. Mathews. Russ Petersen had this long out of production kit stashed in his garage, but I was able to "liberate" it for just the price of a family dinner out.

Pete

MONTHLY MEETING—Tuesday February 14 at the SKP Clubhouse

Yes, I know its Valentines Day, but we always meet on the second Tuesday of the month and this is the luck of the draw. Take your sweetie out over the weekend and come on down for the important stuff. What stuff you ask? The camaraderie, the brotherhood, the bull shit and lies—what more could you ask for? I don’t have any information on a program, but I have been stirring the pot so to speak and hope to be able to start reporting on upcoming programs soon. Remember, 7:00 pm Tuesday February 14 at the SKP Clubhouse!

Pete Granger

granger@olypen.com