Annual elections were held at the July 25th meeting in Marysville. The newly elected officers for the upcoming year are:
But for the president's position, we first reviewed what the duties are before we voted. The president's responsibilities include publishing the newsletter, preparing meeting agendas, running the monthly meetings, and planning the annual airfare and picnic. The vice president is to help out in these areas and the president can delegate responsibilities as needed.
Wait, did they say publish the newsletter? Do you know how impossible it is to take time away from a brand new gyro and work on the newsletter? Now I understand the problem Joe faced this past year! But Joe has done a great job in all these areas, and we thank him for his continued hard work and dedication to the club.
Thanks (I think) to you guys for your support in electing me as your president. I will give it my best shot and we'll see how it goes. My first act as president will be to find someone to write this letter! Seriously, I will try to assemble it and make sure it gets published and sent out. But I think it could be more interesting for several different club members to write articles throughout the year to get some different perspectives. Let's give it a try and see how it goes. Be thinking of an article you could write, and I'll ask for volunteers.
At July's meeting, we reviewed Air Expo '99. All agree it was a huge success. The airport management already wants us to provide a gyro show again next year. We discussed the possibility of having Jim Vanek do the air show performance next year. Also several have expressed interest in doing a club fly by during the show. This may require a minimum of a private pilot license plus formation flying training. Let's all get serious about our flying and get our ratings so that we can do more exciting and interesting things like this to promote our gyros! I'll look further into the technicalities of a simple air-show fly-by in the next few months unless someone already has the information on what it would require.
On to meeting business. At least 10 members owe their $45 annual membership dues. Paying your dues will automatically extend your national membership by a year as well as your Chapter 5 dues. Please pay up! Doug Glass, you can ignore the preceding sentences. The guys decided to make you a life member! Doug continues to support and promote gyroplanes and has been a valuable club member for years. Thanks Doug!
Before the July meeting, the bomb drop and timed pylon picnic events that we missed last month were held at 8am. Joe won the bomb drop at 13'8" from the target, followed by Mark second and Troy third. Troy then flew a second pattern within 3 seconds of his first, winning the timed pylon event. Mark was oh so close at just 4 seconds followed by George and Joe at 8 and 9 seconds. Like last year, the winners received beautiful pilot trophies made by Donna Lewis. Good job guys. I hope to be up there with you next year!
I have reviewed the time-lapsed video that Gyro-Cam has collected during my RAF 2000 project and I'm very happy with the results. This has been a unique way to capture the project.
For those not on-line, Gyro-Cam is a camera in a fixed position in my garage. It automatically saves pictures every minute, but only if something has changed. Then the frames are played back as a video, compressing hours of work to seconds. Portions of it are also uploaded to my web page on the Internet. Here's a sample as I install my propeller while my cat watches:
Sorry this letter is so late, I'll try to fix that next month. Blasted gyro just takes all my time these days! :-) See you at the meeting! Be ready to volunteer to write a newsletter!
The next meeting of PRA Chapter 5 will be August 22, 1999 at 1 pm, Nut Tree Airport, Vacaville.