Tonight's meeting was held at the Bill Martin Flying Field in Medfield. It was a perfect evening for flying prior to the meeting. Jim McCoy brought the meeting to order at 7:30. A motion to accept the May secretary's report as stated in the June 2007 Yankee Flyer was made and seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The current membership count was reported to be 57. The treasurer's report was given by Bill Costello for Dave Seale. A summary follows: Ending Balance: $4,067.40 Income: $362.47 Expense: $0.62 A motion to accept the treasurer's report was made and seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
... The field will not be rolled this year. It is too late in the year to do so. Bill O'Donnell inquired into the cost of delivery for the roller, $68. The roller rental is $150. The access road work that CRRC is organizing and executing has not happened yet and no firm schedule exists. Jim speculated that it might happen sometime during the next 2 weeks. Jim again asked for volunteers to trim the grass that the mower can't get to. Thanks go to both Jim McCoy and Jack Squier for trimming in June.
... The fun fly tentatively scheduled for July has been canceled. Unfortunately, Dave Eaton will not be available to run the event. Bill Costello read his report for the fun fly held June 23. A big thanks goes to Bill for running this event and to Bill O'Donnell and Tyler Gilman for helping. Due to the wind it was a challenging day for all of the pilots who participated. The winner of the event was Bill Lloyd, 2nd place to yours truly, and 3rd place to John Holcomb.
... Jim reminded members that September is the month for club officer nominations. All nominees must give acceptance to the current President prior to the September meeting. Due to club by-laws, both the president and vice president will not be able to run for the same office again next year. Their terms are limited to two years by the club constitution. If you know of someone who is interested in a club officer position please submit a nomination to any board member.
... The meeting was adjourned and followed by the raffle.

Regards,
Roger Gilman
MMAC Secretary

Leaf them Alone...

It has come to our attention that one of the trees bordering our property has been cut down...perhaps in an attempt to retrieve a stranded model aircraft. While we all understand how tempting this can be (especially when one of our prized models is stranded at the top) it is important to remember that cutting down any tree on the Charles River Reservation site is a big no-no and puts us at risk of being reprimanded by our site supervisor.
... Any model snared by a plane-eating tree that's beyond your reach should be retrieved by Paul Harrington. If Paul cannot manage to get it for you, then unfortunately you'll have to wait for Mother Nature and / or gravity to work their magic.

Announcing the MMAC
Late Summer Fun Fly!

Bill Martin Airfield
Saturday, August 25
Warm Up at 9:00AM / Contest Start 10:00AM
$10 Entry Fee

Open to both clubs, and both glow and electric can compete! This event consists of a series of maneuvers drawn at random from a deck of prepared cards. Upon drawing a card, pilots will estimate the time it will take from takeoff, perform the maneuvers noted on the card, and then land. Scores will be determined from the difference between the pilot's estimate and his actual time. Prizes will be awarded. Bill Lloyd / Contest Director.

Bill Costello reviews the event rules during the morning pilot's meeting.

Fun Fly participants included (Back row) John Markinac, Tyler Gilman, Roger Gilman, Bill Lloyd and Bill O'Donnell. (Front row) Bill Costello, event CD, Dave Seale and John Holcomb.

First place winner, Bill Lloyd, gladly accepts his prize from event CD, Bill Costello.

Tom Howland enjoys a Saturday at the field with his son.

Instructor and club secretary, Roger Gilman, gets in some buddy box time with son Tyler.

Spring Fun Fly Report

By Bill Costello

In 2006, our spring fun fly was washed out by rain and flooding. Our fall fun fly that year had John Holcomb and Ted Zaborski in a wild fly off while dodging rain drops.
... For our spring event this year, the sky was blue the sun was shining. Unfortunately for us, the wind was blowing at 10 to 20 mph in gusts. On most days this would have grounded us...but this was a Fun Fly and we did fly.
... I was ready for the usual squawks from pilots, but we had very few. John Holcomb expressed concern that the pylons were too close to the trees and that we would lose planes. During warm up flights, John and I were both in the air when he declared a practice touch and go. Minutes later I heard a short 'Damn' as John had just flown into a tree. He must have been clairvoyant with his earlier prediction.
... The contest began with John Holcomb making four touch-and-goes followed by Roger Gilman with five. I began to think that I had made the contest too easy. Dave Seale was next and was caught by the tall grass at the end of the runway, forcing him to withdraw from the contest. Bill Lloyd was also a victim of the tall grass and lost his blue Sig Four Star. He continued the contest with his back-up aircraft.
... The pylon contest proved to be very interesting and challenging. It had a potential of 24 points, which we collectively missed by over fifty percent. I guess our depth perception is not as good as we would like.
... At the end, Bill Lloyd won the event by one point over second place Roger Gilman. John Holcomb came in a close third.
... I wish to thank Roger's son, Tyler, for his assistance scoring the pylon portion. Thanks also to Dave Seale, Bill O'Donnell and Bill Lloyd for their help throughout the day. Additionally, I would like to thank those members and guests that came to the field to show their support for the club... especially Bob Rice at Hobby USA in Ashland for donating the Edge 540 ARF model as the event prize.

Other Field News...

Tom Howland joined us at Bill Martin Airfield on July 14 courtesy of his son. A MMAC Lifetime Member, Tom has kept himself busy with several projects over the past few months including his entry in this spring's Winter Project event.
...Another father and son team that's been seen at the field lately is Roger and Tyler Gilman. Tyler recently graduated from high school and is preparing to attend UMass Dartmouth this fall where he will study civil engineering. Like most young men, he's busy with lots of different activities, but he does carve out some time to train on the buddy-box with his dad..