Secretary

Secretary’s Scratchings

The General Membership meeting of the Delaware R/C Club was held on Tuesday, August 5, 2003. President Mark Weiss called the meeting to order at 7:35

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer’s Report was accepted as presented.

Membership – 2002 233

2003 171

Events

- The Hirobo Cup went very well this year and featured 70 pilots. All but 6 t-shirts were sold, and during the event there were four heli’s given away, and two were won in the club. The club made $1,220 from this event. The event would like to be held at the same time next year.

-The Warbirds over Delaware event was another success this year. There were no complaints at all that were heard from the whole event. The club is open for suggestions for next year’s event to make it even better. The Delta Darts program went well, there were 50 of them built by 6 volunteers and there were a lot of positive comments from the parents. Special thanks to all the helpers that made this event a big success.

Warbirds will be featured in the November issue of Model Airplane News.

- The Club Picnic will be held on Sunday, September 21^st.

- Volunteer day will be held on October 5^th. Invitations will be sent out to those who volunteered or contributed this year. There will be plenty of food and fun.

Safety Minute

Not available for this month.

New members/Guests

James Spangler

50/50

The 50/50 was $20 won by Mrs. Diane Hudak

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:32PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Ryan Jamison, Secretary

Hirobo Cup Wrap-Up

By Karl Beers

The Third Annual Hirobo Cup East Coast event was again a tremendous success this year with great weather enjoyed by all to compliment a safe fun filled day. The event CD Bob Chapman has expressed his thanks to the many volunteers who created another successful Hirobo Cup Event. As with the Warbirds event, we plan to have a fairly comprehensive listing of the volunteers in a forthcoming newsletter. In addition we would like to thank Jeff Green from MRC/Altech and his staff for helping us to pull off the event.

As always, Boy Scout Troop 30 served up great burgers and dogs at Hirobo Cup. We received numerous compliments on the food and service provided by the scouts and our thanks goes out to them for a tough job again well done.

The Club’s Shuttle Challenge, a thirty-size helicopter on a “buddy box”, was in full swing all day with a long list of new pilots, young and old alike, trying their hand at Helicopter flying. For some of the individuals who flew the Shuttle Challenge this was their first flight with an R/C helicopter. Thanks to Dan Weick and Mark Scott for their tireless efforts and expertise in showing these new and upcoming pilots the ropes.

The highlight and “Main Event” for East Coast Hirobo Cup on Saturday was a contest called The Enduro. As the name implies, the idea was to keep as many pilots flying as much as they could throughout the day. For all of the registered pilots at the event, whoever was able to get the most flights in during a six hour period would win some terrific high-end helicopter kits offered by MRC/Altech. A flight consisted of fueling the heli, getting the pin, starting the engine, and checking in with the enduro event moderators. The pilots then flew until the fuel was down to less than a quarter of a tank, checked in with the enduro event moderators, and returned the pin to complete the flight. To say the least, the transmitter impound was a busy place during the event. The winner of the event was able to get in EIGHTEEN flights in a six hour period and everyone who participated in the event had a lot of fun.

The winners of the events are as follows:

1st Place & Grand Prize – William Fannin
2nd Place – Ross Grinberg (Delaware R/C Club Member)
3rd Place – Rich McPeak

A demonstration flight occurred midday on Saturday of a Turbine engine driven helicopter. The helicopter flown was a “boom and pod” configuration and flew very well. The pilot really put the machine through its paces doing several loops and rolls as well as engine-out landings much to the joy of the spectators and fellow pilots alike.

Another exciting part of the event was the night flying demonstrations that took place on Friday and Saturday Night. Several of the pilots flew.

As in all national R/C events vendors are a crucial component of any successful event, providing the opportunity for participants to replace lost or damaged items and to stock up on the latest and greatest the hobby has to offer. The vendors also provide the venue for spectators to turn what they are enjoying in the air and on the ground into tangible objects that can be taken home and used over and over. We thank Sky Blue Hobbies as well as Hobbies and Hellis for being with us this year.

Delaware R/C has been most gratified to receive important media coverage for Hirobo Cup this year, in a national publication. Mike Mas, a pioneer in radio control helicopters and an accomplished pilot in his own right will be providing an article in an upcoming issue of Rotary Magazine. An article is also expected in the British publication Model Helicopter World.

Event Statistics: 70 pilots were registered and in excess of 150 aircraft were present on the flight line. Only a few of the pre-registered pilots were unable to attend. We will try to include additional statistics in our next newsletter. A special thanks to all of the non-helicopter pilot club members who helped out during the Hirobo Cup tear-down. This made the tear-down go quick and smooth as can be and at the end of a three-day national event the tired Delaware R/C heli pilots really needed the additional help.