Our meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Eugene  Water and Electric Board building at 7:00 p.m.  We welcome you to our club, have fun and fly safe.

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July 24, 2007
ERCA Meeting Minutes

Treasurer’s Report:
Al reported that ERCA now has 100 members. Club treasury has $5,155.37


Old Business:
John Bowhan reported to the club that he researched the AMA style tables. Material cost for each table is $50.00  Club approved construction of six tables at a cost of $320.00 frank Blain offered the use of his garage workshop for construction of said AMA style tables.
 
New Business:
Club approved designating a play area for children at the field. An ad-hoc committee was formed consisting of Frank Blain, Mike Burgess and John Bowhan. The committee will report back at the August meeting with their findings.

Club approved the laying down of wood chips in the pit area to ameliorate the mud problems in the pits during the rainy season.

Doug McWha was approved by the club to be a life member for recognition of his selfless dedication to the field.

New Members:
Jim Sherlock

Show and Tell:
No show and tell

50/50 Raffle: No raffle

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June 26th, 2007

ERCA Meeting Minutes

Treasurer’s Report:
Al reported that we have 96 members. Al said that all members need to update their email and snail mail addresses in order to receive the newsletter. Al stated that the Club’s bank account balance is $5,215.32.

Old Business:
 Minutes and Treasurer’s Report approved. An air fair will be held at Eugene Airport August 25th and 26th.  John Bowhan and Mel Thompson volunteered to set up and staff the booth. Phil Groshong is the volunteer contact for the event.
Pat said that the club seems to think that a membership cap was not a good idea. Doug made a motion to revisit the issue when the club reaches 120 members.
John Bowhan reported on the flight benches. Cost of materials was $461 for six benches. Club asked John to estimate the cost of AMA-style tables and report back at the July meeting.

New Business:
Frank made a motion, and club approved, to put two loads of gravel on our part of the road.
Mike Burgess requested that if planes go down in grass seed field, the members step over the rows of grass seed. Mike also reminded the club of the severe fire danger and that the grass seed can become tinder dry.
After much spirited discussion about flying boundaries, the club agreed that the boundaries are: the south edge of the runway to an easterly direction of infinity. The westerly boundaries are as follows: the south edge of the runway, which then makes a southerly L shape to infinity. The heli pad area and toward the direction of the west end of the runway is forbidden for fly over by glow-powered, fixed-wing aircraft.
Bill announced that Solvang Retirement Center will be bringing out ten residents ranging in age from 80 to 100 years old at 10 a.m., Thursday, July 19th. Bill spoke with Mike Stafford who will video the event for the AMA grant. Bill also said that Marcus McCabe of Boy Scout Troup #479 contacted him about bringing out a scout troop to fly. Bill told McCabe to give him 1 day’s notice so he could contact the club’s intro pilots.
A motion was made and approved to reimburse Doug McWha to and from field for sprinkler duty. The club approved $26.
There will be a Boy Scout Jamboree at Ems Stadium from 10 to 4 on Saturday, Sept. 22nd. Bill and Doug will staff the booth but volunteers are needed to set up the booth.

New Members:
No new members present.

Show and Tell:
No Show and Tell.

50/50 Raffle:
No 50/50 Raffle due to Bill’s ineptitude.

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May 22, 2007

ERCA Meeting Minutes

Treasurer’s Report:
Al reported we had $5,304 in the club treasury and that we now have 91 members.

Old Business:
Minutes for April meeting were approved as read.
Pat and Bill thanked all who made the May 12th Sportsman Primer a successful and fun event; esp. Rex Lesher and Gary McClellan.

New Business:
The club thanked Scott Fellman for donating a low-hours weed-eater for field maintenance.
Motion was made by John Bowhan to have more events at the field. Perhaps a “mini-IMAC” event. Bill said if John planned the event, Bill would help run the event. A date of July 7th was discussed.
Roger Dahl announced that he could not be the CD for the August 11-12th  Fun-Fly as he would be out of town. Rodger said he had not gotten the AMA sanction for the event. Mark Stafford said he would contact AMA for sanction.
Pat announced that the next three (June, July, August) ERCA meetings will be held at the field.
Mark said there was an event for the Recreational Aircraft Assn at the Eugene Airport to be held in June. Mark suggested that ERCA have a booth/exhibit set up at the event.
Pat suggested that ERCA may have to think about imposing a cap on the number of club members because of lack of room for parking and flying and club resources in general. Pat also mentioned the that the club may want to think about opening up a second field.
John Bowhan made a motion to build six more field flight-tables. $350 was approved for the material cost. Pat said he would help John build the tables. John Bowhan suggested that we need to smooth out the heli-pad area with some topsoil, grass seed and then rolled to improve the heli-pad. Doug and Pat said they would inform the club about a proposal for heli-pad improvement at the June meeting.
Bill said that fire season starts June 1st. All smoking will be inside vehicles until the end of fire season. Bill informed the club that if cigarette butts continue to be thrown on the ground at the field, that a motion will be made that all smoking will be inside vehicles.
Al Peacock suggested that a sign should be made informing smokers of the smoking rules. Al also suggested that a smokers area should be designated. Pat said he would check AMA rules and club by-laws for smoking rules and report back to the club..

New Members:
The club welcomed five new members:

Mike and Reina Kelly
John Byrne
Tyler Jones
Al Peacock

Show and Tell:

No show and tell items



50/50 Raffle:

The pot was $27.00 Doug McWha won $13.50




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ERCA Meeting Minutes – April 24th, 2007
Treasurer’s Report: 
Al reported a balance of $4,368.98 

Old Business:
March meeting minutes were approved as read.

Frank Blain could not attend the April meeting so status of “spread spectrum” pins he is making is unknown.

Bill said Dale Williams and Larry Nielson have been added to the intro pilot roster. This reaches the club‘s goal of having ten intro pilots since Pat designated Frank Blain and Khoi Tran as intro pilots at the March 27th meeting.

Prizes for August 11th-12th Fun-Fly-In still need to be purchased by Doug.

Club discussed AMA sanction for event. It was determined that it is too late for an ad in the AMA magazine.
 
New Business:
A banner was purchased for $62.50 from Signs Now that says Eugene R/C Aeronauts which was used at the Boy Scout Carnival R/C intro flight booth. The banner will be used at many future events. A canopy was also purchased from Bi-Mart for $79.95 to keep Doug and Bill out of the rain at the Boy Scout event. The canopy will also be used at the club BBQs and  many other future club events.

Bill discussed the Boy Scout Intro Flight Program. He said that all intro pilots must complete a Scouting Council-supplied background check. The club will also purchase a “participating organization” insurance policy from the Scout council for $20.00 which will protect Scouts in case of injury.

Pat’s safety letter was discussed extensively. Bill requested that while the field is being mowed all aircraft shall be grounded.

Khoi said he would like to see a box designated to be used for “spare parts” for anyone to use as needed. Khoi said that he has left boxes of balsa wood/ply, spinners, and props in the clubhouse for members who break a prop, etc. to use on an “honors“ basis; they are not there for someone to take the entire lot as a “freebee.” Rochelle said she would supply a box with a label on it for said purpose and put it on the workbench in the clubhouse. A new box has been
placed under the radio rack by Jim Corbett to be used for “lost and found” items at the field.

A gift certificate from the Village Inn for $75.00 was presented to Doug McWha for recognition and appreciation of his outstanding work keeping the flying field maintained.

Pat asked for a volunteer to be a Contest Director at the August 11th-12th Fun Fly-In; Roger Dahl said he would be the CD.

Pat made a motion and the club approved to designate the North-South runway at the West end of the pits to be used as a designated helicopter pad so brown spots wont get burned on the grass runway and for safety from cross traffic with fixed-wing aircraft.

New Members:
Four new members were present and voted into the club:
Patrick “Paco” Bryant
Jacob “Pedro’ Blewett
Jeff Roth
Scott Fellman

Show and Tell:
No-one brought anything for show and tell

50/50 Raffle:
The pot was $59.00
Bill Hollingsworth won the pot of $29.50


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March 27, 2007
ERCA Meeting Minutes

Treasurer’s Report:
Al reported that we had $5,223.08.  Cost of gravel and mat for parking project was $1602.90  Adjusted balance was $3,620.18 

Old Business:

Parking project is complete. A round of applause was given by members present in appreciation to the members who “got it done.”

Associate membership was discussed. The question was what to charge for members who don’t fly but would still like to have the newsletter sent to them. Club decided that any non-flying member can receive the newsletter by e-mail for free.

Khoi brought up that if members of other r/c clubs fly at our field on a semi-regular basis, should a landing fee be charged. Club decided that we would “monitor” the situation and decide according to frequency of use by outside members.

Gary and Rex will work on getting AMA sanction for the August  Fly-In event.

Bill Hastings notified the club that custom exhaust manufacturer Kelvin (owner) will come to the June meeting at the field to showcase his products and construction techniques.

New Business:

Frequency pins for 2.4 ghz radio transmitters. “Spread spectrum” will eventually replace the 72 Mhz radios. Club needs to make about a dozen new pins. Frank volunteered to make the pins.

Pat said we need four more intro pilots. Pat nominated Frank Blain and  Khoi Tran. We still need two more intro pilots to bring the total number of intro pilots to ten.

Club needs to purchase prizes for August Fly-In. Doug McWha said he would get them at Trump’s.

Sportsman Primer will be on May 12th and consist of a “morning workshop ” to familiarize pilots with flying patterns and then a casual three round contest.

Expired memberships were discussed. Members present decided to drop non-paid members. A new list of “members in good standing” will be posted in the clubhouse. If your name is not on the list you cannot fly.

Members present discussed and decided that landowner Mike Burgess should not be charged for club dues, but he must keep his AMA card current.

New Members:

Five new members were present and voted into the club: Larry Hanna, Mike Farr, Ivan Walker, Joe Owens, and Gary Parent.

Show and Tell:

Scott Feldman brought items for sale to clear space for new projects. Pat brought a trainer type plane on floats and a pattern-type plane for sale.

50/50 Raffle:

The pot was $38.00
Al Barrington won the pot and donated his winnings to the club!

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January 23, 2007

ERCA Meeting Minutes

Treasurer’s Report:

Approximately $1661 in the bank.  A $75.00 gift certificate to the Olive Garden was given to the Burgess family (landowner).

Old Business:

New club officers were introduced. Former club officers were thanked for their service.
Winter hours are still in effect until end of February. No flying until twelve noon on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays.
Don’t park on grass or muddy areas or you’ll get stuck.
Status of AMA field-improvement grant application was discussed. Club decided to postpone application until youth outreach requirement was achieved. Bill and Doug will plan a weekend event for this summer involving some local Scout troops. 
Discussion on graveling a larger parking area.

New Business:

Bill asked the club to please police their own trash at the field. Pat said to try and leave the field cleaner than when you arrived.
Steve Harris would look into the AMA Intro Pilot Program that offers a free trainer setup for clubs with intro pilot programs.
John and Darrin volunteered to move the trailer to a different location to gain more parking area. The idea was postponed until things dry out a bit at the field.
An auction to be held at the field in June was approved after the members present decided more people are at the summer meetings/barbecue.
Gary and Rex said they would like to put on a Pattern Flyer “Sportsman Primer.” The club decided to conduct the event on Saturday, May 12th because the first date picked would have been on Memorial Day.


Show and Tell:

Frank Blain showed his Acceleron that had been crashed, splintering the fuselage. He explained how he used a string-line for a reference and painstakingly rebuilt the fuselage by pulling away the broken wood a piece at a time and basically jig-sawing the fuse together, then strengthening it using fiberglass cloth and clear, water-based urethane. It was hard to tell the plane was ever crashed.
Kevin Kelm brought his new Funtana .40 which has a Magnum .90 4-stroke for power.
Nick Speer brought a .40 size trainer he wanted to sell for $25 to $30 range.

50/50 Raffle:

The pot was $54 
Pat Willis won $27
Pat bought the trainer plane from Nick Speer with $20 of his raffle winnings. The trainer will be used as a club trainer.