A word from our President

The results are in, and Orange and White will be the official club colors. Our new shirts will be light gray with a green cactus and orange plane, as well as a collar and pocket. All previous versions are encouraged and acceptable, however all new versions will fit the official color standard. I’m working on two versions of an official hat, one that is white with orange and one that is orange with white. We discussed the possibility of the club buying and stocking shirts (and probably hats) at the July meeting so that we can get a better price break on them than the small orders that we have needed in the past. We can also offer them for sale at out club contests, as a supplemental income type thing. Some clubs actually manage to cover the costs of their hats and shirts with supplemental sales. We should see a couple of new proposed designs at our August (Italian Food at Rick Baker’s Home) Club meeting.

The Club Points System is in effect. To view a copy, check out the PDF on our website. The points gathering starts from the first December 2006, and runs through the end of November 2007. Awards will be given at the December (Christmas) meeting. If you check closely, there is not an advantage for competitors over sport flyers, or builders over competitors, or sport flyers over builders etc. You do, however, need to contact George Brown (our Pointsmaster) and turn in your points. His phone Number is (480) 491-0902, or you can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to turn in your points. We will be looking for any suggestions and changes to the points system at the January 08 meeting.

The August meeting will be held on the 14th at The Baker residence 5513 W. Beryl (55th Ave and Peoria). You can view and print a map off the website. This Quarterly Potluck Dinner will be Italian food, with the meeting promptly at 6:00 PM and food soon to follow. Bring what you want to, don’t forget the deserts. If it is anything like the past few that we have done, bring a healthy appetite as well. We will have our last “Dinner Meeting” in December, and it is supposed to be at the Baker’s as well. We need to be on our best behavior so that Santa will visit and give out presents like last year.

We put on some of the very best contests in the Southwest, and we need club contest support in the form of helpers, tabulators, judges, runners, pit bosses, pull testers, registration, scorekeeping, lap-counters, and general cleaner-uppers. If you want to help please let one of the club officers know. If you would like to be trained to judge Scale or Stunt, contact me. If you would like to time and lap-count Racing or Carrier, see Ted Kraver, Mark Smith, or me. If you would like to time or judge Combat, see Jeff Hanauer or Lance Matassa. It is better to have trained timers, lap-counters, and judges, than needing to find them on the day of the contest, so if you have any interest at all, let us know.

This year at the Cabin Fever Race (March / April) some of the stunt guys helped out with the timing and lap-counting duties. They loved it, and said they would be back next year. The B-Team racing event is a likely target, and went from four entries in 06 to ten entries in 07. With a 50-year-old Veco “Redskin” actually finishing in the top three, the nostalgia planes are not out of the running either! We drafted and trained a well-known Stunt guy for Scale judging at the Marchienke Event in Tucson this year, and he built a scale plane right after that (we should see it at the October 1/2A Multi-Engine contest in Tucson). One warning though, be careful, this competition stuff gets into your blood.

Bye for now!