Welcome to the wettest year in Georgia history. I hope that most of you have been able to do a little flying this summer. It's been a struggle flying between rain days as I'm sure you are well aware. Let’s hope that August will be a bit kinder to us........ I won't hold my breath.
I recently returned from a two week vacation, which included one week of a record breaking heat wave in New Jersey. The last three days were 97, 98, and 103 with a heat index of 120, same as Death Valley that day. Amazing. I wasn't sure what I was going to write about this month. I didn't have to wait long before something came up.
An incident occurred on the final weekend of July involving one of our aircraft that lost control and flew into the ball fields. Games were being played at the time. According to the report from the field, the airplane nearly hit one child standing near a base, before climbing and then getting lodged into the high netting behind home plate. Thankfully no one was hurt.
After heated discussions that day and a more gentle meeting the following Monday with Henry County officials we are fortunate that our field is still in operation.
At the request of the County our officers have agreed to make the following changes to our Game Day - flight pattern.
On days when there are baseball games being played at the Red Hawk Baseball Complex, the entrance gate fence line will now be the south border of our flight operations. Not the tree line, but the fence line. There are long bamboo poles with streamers attached to the fence to help with visibility. We realize that this will add a bit more challenge to your flying, but please do the best you can. We have tested it and although it is more difficult, it can be done safely by most of our airplanes. We kindly ask that you do your best to follow this guideline. Check your e-mails for any further updates.
In the August edition of AMA's Model Aviation Magazine, there is a nice article on page 35. It is titled, "Airplane Setup Methodologies". It is a fine article about CG and the proper setup of flight controls. I hope you take the time to read it. Experienced pilots will also find it a great refresher for some of the finer points of setting up their airplanes.
To all our helicopter pilots: You are all doing an excellent job of flying well within our boundaries, and respecting the activities within the aircraft pattern. I thank you. Keep up the great work.
So here's to a great August. Hope it's a safe and fun one.
Keep up the good work myu friend
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