................................
Matt Kirsch

I’ve been interested in R/C aircraft for as long as I can remember, but never really had the resources to do it the right way until the summer of 1998. That’s when Great Planes Real Flight came out. I bought a copy, and proceeded to destroy approximately $2,000,000,000 worth of R/C aircraft before I got the hang of it. A couple of visits to the Batavia club’s flying site at GCC to watch the real thing, and I could stand no more. Two weeks later, I had a brand-spanking-new Easy Sport ARF ready to fly. I got one lesson from KeVelez in Batavia, then discovered Northampton Park and Tuesday training night. A friendly fellow by the name of Joe Somers stood by for my first two flights there. On that second flight at Northampton, flight #3 total, I took off, did a rough touch-n-go, and landed.

Since then, the whole thing has mushroomed nearly out of control… I now have 20-odd planes in various states of repair, I fly R/C combat, I train new pilots on Tuesday nights, and now I’m President of the RCCR in my third year as a member. I’ll fly anything with wings, as evidenced by my eclectic collection of aircraft ranging from a 5 oz indoor flier to a 13-pound, ¼-scale CAP232. There are R/C airplanes in nearly every room of my apartment.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to working with all of you in 2004 and beyond. The RCCR is a great club full of great people that work hard to make this hobby fun !

MEETINGS are at the Our Lady of Sorrows church,
5000 Mt. Read Blvd., 7:30 PM on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month.  Guests are cordially invited.

Meetings consist of a business agenda, committee reports, and task assignments. This is followed by show- and-tell and an informational program featuring, videos, live demos, and invited speakers; on subjects relating to the hobby. The show-and-tell gives the members a chance to show off and discuss their latest projects, and stimulates a lively exchange of facts and tips. Participation in the show-and-tell enters the member in a cash prize drawing at the December annual business meeting.

Explanation of Dues:
New - $35 plus one-time initiation fee of $20 ($55 total for first year)
Renewal - $75 reduced by work credits of $2 per hour, with a maximum reduction of $40
Junior - FREE if under 19 before March 1
(Additional Family Members - FREE for spouse - 
           and dependent children under the age of 21       residing at the same address )
Student - $10 Full-time students 19 and over.
Social  - $35 for members without flying privileges
Guest Pass - $15 for AMA members, who are not RCCR members, and desire to fly at RCCR fields.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP You must have a current Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) license to join and maintain RCCR membership. AMA license application blanks are available at club meetings and most hobby shops. The license provides secondary liability insurance coverage and contest participation privileges throughout the USA. License fees and options are listed on the application form.

ACTIVITIES The RCCR sponsors several AMA sanctioned events each year for both power planes and electrics or sailplanes. The club also sponsors displays of models at shopping malls to stimulate interest and maintain public relations. Social activities also include the annual Banquet and Roast, and several picnics during the year.

FLYING FIELDS The club operates three separate fields, two which the RCCR developed and maintain in conjunction with the Monroe County Parks Department.

The field in Northampton Park is to be used by other clubs and the public. An AMA license is all that's required for use. Rules are posted at all fields and must be observed at all times. New pilots are encouraged to take advantage of several instructor pilots we have available to teach flying. Anyone can learn to fly if trained properly. Contact can be made at the field, especially Tuesdays after 4 PM, and also at the semi-monthly meetings.

The field in Black Creek Park, on the west side of Union Street (Rt.259), south of Chili Avenue, is reserved for sailplanes and electric power (No Noise).

The  Hasman Field is located on the West Ridge Road Airport,  on the north side of Ridge Road (Rt.104), approximately 1 mile west of Union St. (Rt.259), across from the Quickfill gasoline station. This field is private and for members only. Visitors are welcome when the gate is open.

Additional membership benefits include a monthly newsletter and helpful assistance to novices in building and flying model aircraft.
For further information talk to any RCCR member,
or contact VP Membership :

JIM CAPUANO
18 COTILLION COURT
ROCHESTER NY 14606
cappaj1@yahoo.com

State of the R.C.C.R. 2008
Matt Kirsch,  RCCR President

The Radio Control Club of Rochester had to say goodbye to an old friend in 2008. For 20 years, Bolling field served the club as primary flying site, as home to every club event at one time or another and as the source of more than a little controversy. Owner and long time friend of the club Pat Bolling decided the time was right to sell the land to another local farmer. The new owner, Kludt Farms, decided that more money could be made growing corn on the land than leasing it to our club, and decided not to continue with the lease agreement we had with Pat. We thank Pat Bolling for the generous use of her land all these years.

Bolling field did not go down with a fight, however. When the day finally arrived to remove the last of our items from the field, spring rains had turned the area into a sticky muddy mess. Most of the vehicles that drove into the field ended up getting stuck, even the four wheel drive.

Unfortunately, Bolling was not the only friend we lost in 2008. Long time honorary, and ever enthusiastic club member Len Cataldi passed away in February. Another long time club member and father of RCCR staple Greg Kesel, Bob Kesel passed away in January. Club friends Chris Snelling, Tony Mangus, and Jim Messer also passed during 2008.

Losing a flying field is never pleasant, but as the old cliché goes, every cloud has a silver lining. The summer of 2008 also saw gas exceed $4.00 a gallon, and Bolling easily used between 1/3 and half of the club’s gas budget each year. Moving the container to Northampton allowed us to relocate the former RAFC shed and tear down the old metal shed, opening up the parking and spectator area tremendously.

While we were in the mode of making improvements at Northampton, the grounds crew planned and executed Phase II of the Northampton drainage project, installing several hundred additional feet of drainage tile and crushed stone in the pit and spectator areas. It took about an hour.

Hasman field received its share of improvements. There were a few hours left on the trencher, so Hasman got a stretch of drainage tile of its own. Later in the fall, a large stretch of the hedge row along the north-south runway was cleared to allow for better visibility of full-scale traffic. That took about an hour, too.

There was no shortage of club-sponsored events during the year. As always, the year kicked off with the Chilly Chili Fun Fly. February brought our annual Winter Banquet and Roast where Ed Wingate took home the honor of Man of the Year. Our second annual Swap Meet & Auction was a lot more swap meet than auction, but it proved to be a great fundraiser for the club.

Educating the community, especially kids, is one of the primary functions of the RCCR. Each March we put on a program at Brighton High School for their Festival of Ideas, and in May a crew participates in the St. John Fisher Science Fair. Interest in our free Tuesday night training program at Northampton Park was up this year, with several new pilots graduating from our program by completing their first solo flights, and dozens taking their first flights courtesy the club’s two trainers.

Trainer night almost came to an abrupt end early in the season, when the club’s trainer equipment was stolen. A concerned citizen recognized the missing equipment as belonging to the club and secured its return. Unfortunately, the thief or thieves were never positively identified.

Both our big flying events were held at Northampton Park this year. We thought we’d get a chance to try an alternate layout on the North side of the field for the Electric event, but a month of particularly rainy weather forced they layout to be completely alternate. Monroe County Parks, concerned about damage to the North side of the field, asked that we not hold our event there. Our only choice was to host the event from our normal flying facilities, and what we discovered was that the South side of the field makes a great place to host an event. The natural downhill slope of the area between the parking lot and the spectator fence turned into prime festival seating. Setup and teardown were a snap, because all the facilities were already in place. About the only shortcoming of the South side was the lack of parking, though a proposal has been sent to the Monroe County Parks Department to expand the Northampton parking lot.

Wrapping up the flying season was the shortest club picnic on record. In Rochester NY, being able to spend more than forty seconds outside in short sleeves in early October is a true miracle. The weather was so nice on the day of the picnic that people were cleaning up to head to Northampton field a mere 90 minutes after the official start of the picnic.

On the political front, AMA District II interim VP Gary Fitch, who took over for Dave Mathewson when he was elected AMA president, made a bid to become our elected district VP. It’s now official; Gary has become our district VP. Closer to home, long time membership director Bob White has retired from the position after close to 6 years in the office. Our new membership director Jim Caupano has hit the ground running, and it looks like he’ll continue in the tradition of dogged determination that Bob established during his tenure. Between Jim and Bob, 117 members were wrangled for 2008. Many thanks to Bob for his years of service to the club; Jim will be looking for your membership check on January 2^nd.

Without the dedication and efforts of the many volunteers in this club, this club simply would not exist. Literally thousands of man-hours are worked, hundreds of miles are driven, and dozens of bad Greek lunches are consumed to the benefit of the club. Those of us who benefit from their efforts owe these individuals a huge debt of gratitude. Somehow the measly work credit we offer doesn’t seem like enough, but then again, if we let them all get off scott-free, the club treasury would be broke!

2006 Radio Control Club of Rochester Annual Report
 By Matt Kirsch, RCCR President

The 49th year of operation for the Radio Control Club of Rochester started off with a figurative bang as members and guests alike gathered to sample various culinary creations at the January 1st Chilly Chili Fuhn Fly. This was the first time in recent years that there was actual snow to fly off of, and the opportunity wasn’t wasted.

Our annual February Roast, known officially as the RCCR Winter Banquet, was held at a new venue in 2006. Reviews of our first dinner at the Lodge on the Green in Greece were very favorable, and guaranteed that the dinner will be held there again in 2007. Bob White was presented with Man of the Year, while John Floyd took home the Trainer Cord Award, Andre Blanchard the Golden Screw, and Bob Gears the Broken Prop.

After a short break to get caught up on building, several members of the RCCR participated in a plane building and flying program at the Brighton High School Festival of Ideas as has become tradition in recent years. Young children are introduced to the R/C airplane hobby at the Festival of Ideas through demonstrations and hands-on activities. This year, the kids were able to try out R/C flying for “real” with a computer simulator, and took home their own freshly-built AMA Cubs.

Due to an unusually mild winter, several members became regulars at Hasman field, nearly as regular as during the summer months. A collection had been taken up for snow removal at Hasman, but it was never touched, and had to be carried over until the next winter. This is not to say that no indoor flying was going on, because there was still plenty of cold weather, and plenty of reason to stay inside. Thanks the generous efforts of Bill Stauber, local modelers were able to take advantage of the old Main Street Armory, which was in the later stages of renovation. Once a month through the winter, $10 bought 5 hours of flying in a venue easily four times the size of the Clarkson Community Center, where indoor fly-ins had been held in previous years. The centralized Armory location proved to be far more popular as well, bringing in pilots from as far away as Syracuse and Buffalo.

After Rochester Wings and the St John Fisher Science festival in early May, planning and discussion for the 19th Ray Edmunds Air Show got serious. Months earlier, Greg Kesel came to a meeting with a proposal from Tom McCoy. Working through his connections at Great Planes and Horizon, Tom was able to procure the services of Dan Landis, a member of Team Futaba, Great Planes’ factory show and competition group. Some concern was expressed over the inclusion of a special guest pilot at our meet, but a workable compromise came out of those discussions. The only thing left to do was see how things panned out at the actual event.

Monroe County Parks Department generously mowed the North side of the field at Northampton, but the great early spring grass-growing weather left us with a huge mess of long hay to clean up. Modern haying machines had nothing on the crew that arrived that Friday to set up, though. At least a dozen members manned rakes and loaded hay out by the wagon full. Playing the part of an old Massey Ferguson, or team of mules, was a mini-van piloted by event CD Ed Britton.

Saturday morning arrived, and the field was ready for show time. Dan Landis opened and closed the show both days with flights on his 46% Ultimate Biplane, and put on impressive displays during the noon-time shows. It was standing room only for both days. The Fosters and the Petersons sold out the hots stand both days, while White & Evans Ice Cream sold out a whopping three times during the show. Thanks to the efforts of everyone, including the flight line crew of Paul Weigand, Greg Kesel, Mike Rotherforth, and Ed Britton, the show couldn’t have gone much better, and set the bar high for future shows, especially our 20th annual coming up in 2007.

Mock resentment flowed in from other area clubs, as the fourth weekend of June also happened to be the best weekend of the summer. The wet, windy weather limited flying activity for most of the summer, including our annual Great Electric Fun Fly in August. A surprising number of pilots attended the event on Saturday, flying between showers until a steady rain finally set in mid-afternoon. Sunday turned into a complete wash-out.

Tuesday training nights at Northampton were generally a little busier this year than last year, possibly indicating a new upswing in interest due to, or perhaps in spite of, the vast array of small, inexpensive, electric park flyers on the market. The club acquired a new trainer plane in the form of a Sig Kadet Senior courtesy Tom Forsyth, and a 12 Volt electrical system with chargers was installed in the shed out at Northampton to keep the planes charged and ready on a moment’s notice. From its humble beginnings with only a well-beaten Sig Kadet and an old JR 4-channel radio, the club’s try before you buy program has really sprouted into a professional operation. A Kadet LT40, modern radio equipment, buddy boxes, and other sundry field equipment join the Kadet Senior. At least 100 people gave R/C flying a try last summer, and many came back, as a result of this program.

The weather didn’t make for good flying this summer, so some members returned to the “show circuit” in early September. RCCR participated in the 2006 Penfield Community Festival which was held on September 9 with a large display of airplanes, helicopters, and information.

Three combat meets were spaced throughout the summer and early fall this year. While turnout was relatively small, the quality of the competition remained high. Many thanks to Jim Warner, George Hartman, and Pete Durante for hosting the events, and to the regular crew for being there to judge and take care of facilities.

RCCR was the host of the annual inter-club fun fly. As had been typical of most of the summer, the weather was miserable. Our guest list consisted of a solitary flyer from the Batavia club, Bud McDermott, and most of the day was spent under the cover of a dining canopy.

Perhaps the most momentous occasion of the year was the acquisition and installation of a new shed at Bolling. The two old sheds had deteriorated to the point where repair was no longer practical. Our new shed is a reconditioned shipping container purchased from Averdi, which was installed on a bed of crushed stone on the same spot as the old sheds in late September. Made of heavy 14 gauge corrugated steel, it will provide the club with reliable, secure, mobile storage for many years to come.

Other improvements at club fields include a complete cleanup of old junk, a new pin board at Hasman, new crushed stone floors in the sheds at Northampton, and repairs to the driveway at Bolling. The infamous Juilius Tree at Northampton was taken down. Black Creek Park remains under construction as part of Monroe County’s project to recreate the wetlands displaced by the expansion of Rochester International Airport, but the proposed plans promise to provide county residents with a new, and hopefully improved, runway for electrics and gliders. Many thanks go out to the field crews, including George Steger, John Floyd, Bud Kelly, Ed Wingate, Joe Somers, and even one or two non-members who use Northampton and volunteered to help mow.

With all the wet weather during the summer of 2006, surely the annual end-of-season picnic at the Northampton Ski Lodge would be a typical cold, wet affair. Quite the contrary was true. It was probably the best flying day of the entire year, warm, but not too warm, with a slight breeze. For the first time in years, the cooking wasn’t done under the cover of umbrellas, and everyone retired to the Northampton flying field for some late-season flying. What was most surprising was the turnout at the flying field. It was standing room only in the parking lot, and only slightly better than that on the flight line.

Unfortunately, the year did not go by without its losses. Past RCCR president and founding member Art Terenzi died suddenly in late July. Art had a style all his own, and certainly one of the most unique members in RCCR.

2006 was certainly a banner year for the RCCR, with new friends joining old, old friends returning, and lots of flying despite the marginal weather. Thanks to everyone’s membership, along with donated time and equipment, we were able to make some much-needed improvements to the club infrastructure.