Minutes of the 651st Meeting of the Keystone Clippers Model Aircraft Club
AMA Charter 553
Monday September 30, 2019
The 651st meeting of the Keystone Clippers was held at the Circleville United Methodist church at 7:00 pm and called to order by President Mike Shepherd with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. There were 7 regular members and 4 Officers present. There was no quorum, so voting on Club issues did not take place.
Readings
None
Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer’s report was given by Jerry Thomas and approved by the membership. A motion to pay the bills was made and seconded.
Communications
Reminder that the MARCS flea market and auction will be held at the Delmont Event Center on Saturday November 2nd at 8am, auction starts at 9am. Please see the MARCS.org website for more details. Contact Jim Kealey for table reservations if interested.
Jerry mentioned recent FAA flight restriction imposed on the LHRC Club due to their proximity to Arnold Palmer (Latrobe) airport. From the AMA meeting with the FAA, the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act changed the operating requirements for recreational UAS users. One of the new provisions requires that fixed flying sites in controlled airspace have a letter of agreement (LOA) with the local air traffic control facility. To date, AMA clubs have submitted information for 238 fixed flying site locations in controlled airspace. Of the aforementioned 238 sites, only eight clubs have finalized their LOAs. We expect all of our clubs to be contacted soon to begin to finalize an LOA for their club’s flying site Location. AMA and the FAA are still discussing options regarding a permanent blanket waiver to operate above 400 feet in Class G airspace. Until this waiver is finalized, continue to operate within AMA safety programming. AMA HQ will update our members when more information is available. AMA and the FAA have been in discussions regarding exempting Control Line operations. Although the two organizations haven’t come to an agreement yet, we have agreed that letters of agreement are not needed for clubs/sites that only flying Control Line aircraft. AMA will be hosting 30 representatives from the FAA on August 6 for a flight demonstration. This demo will highlight the various disciplines of our hobby and the low risk of safety-related issues associated with each discipline. Class G is completely uncontrolled. VFR visibility requirements in Class G airspace are 1 mile (1.6 km) by day, and 3 miles (5 km) by night, for altitudes below 10,000 feet (3,050 m) MSL but above 1,200 ft AGL.
I contacted Mark Yothers, LHCR secretary, to provide an explanation of how this ruling affects flying at the LHRC site.
“the LOA that we have with the FAA states we are limited 400 feet in altitude, and a 500 foot radius from the center of the field. This is from what I can gather was the standard deal for all fields under controlled airspace. So this ONLY applies to fields under controlled airspace. The other problematic aspects of the LOA is we agree to report to the FAA any loss of control, fly aways, even crashes. I’m not sure who needs to do that. The LOA is very ambiguous.
From what I’ve heard from the AMA District III VP Mark Radcliff, fields in uncontrolled airspace will get the OK to fly up to 700 or 1200 feet AGL, 700 for fields closer to controlled airspace, and 1200 for fields further away from controlled airspace….but for now we are supposedly limited to 400 feet AGL everywhere”.
Field Report
The field and equipment are in good condition. Be aware that tractor #2 is 2 holes lower on deck height settings than tractor #1, so the new settings for tractor #2 will be 2” for the runway and 3 ½” for all the balance of the field. This year the mowers to be serviced by Labuda to identify and fix the height problem, install new batteries, replace all old fluids, and any general maintenance issues.
An e-mail was sent to the membership that snakes have been found is both containers – they might be copperheads which are venomous or milk snakes which are non venomous. Jerry added moth balls to both containers as a repellant which seems to be working as no snakes have been recently reported. The bottom line is being aware that they can be in and around the containers. We will repair the container floor vents as required.
We discussed ways to either repair or replace the driveway. Since emulsion sealer is no longer available we may have to reconsider paving or tar and chip.
Andy has ordered a bat box and will add a method to mount it to a 2” pipe, or to the spare telescoping pole in the clean container.
The last cutting and work party to close the field for the season will be Saturday October 26th. All members are asked to volunteer for this effort at the field starting at 11am.
Jerry offered to purchase a new windsock.
Old Business
The Club has not decided on purchasing an additional clean sea-land container to store the Cyclone Rake. The second, or clean container has been reorganized to allow more space for the Rake.
New Business
The new website is not working as expected. A suggestion was made to purchase new software, get a new domain, and a dedicated webmaster. In the meantime the monthly meeting minutes will be e-mailed to the membership.
Mike reminded the membership about the up coming Christmas party at the Norwin ELKS on Sunday December 1st. The menu and reservations form will be available at the October meeting. The membership agreed that we should do a Chinese auction again this year and Jim Kealey will purchase the airplane kits and accessories. The Club members present recommended that spending for gifts should be limited to $1000.
The membership requested a revision to Article II Section 1 of the Constitution and By-Laws by changing the Quorum requirements to 9 members in good standing which includes two (2) Club officers. The membership also suggested an addition to Article X that would allow voting by proxy for all Club business via membership e-mail.
The Application for Constitution/By-Law change form will be presented at the October meeting.
Show and Tell
None
A motion to adjourn concluded the meeting at 7:55 pm.
Eric R Haberman, Secretary KCRC
Keystone Clippers RC Club 