1. RCACF Flypaper The Official Monthly Newsletter
Remote Control Assoc of Central Florida
“Airplane April”, 2017
Cover Photo : Tranquil morning for a Float plane
For years we have been flying off the pavement of our club. A few weeks ago one of our club members, Mr. Al Ward, invited some of us to join him on his lake to fly float planes. It was a beautiful calm morning. The lake was smooth as glass. As the Sun began to rise the first plane taxied out and prepared to takeoff. Lining up into the slight wind, a gentle push of the throttle and the plane began to slip over the water gaining speed until she broke free of the waters grasp. Up she rose with a glistening stream of moisture trailing off the pontoons. A slight bank to the right and level flight was attained. It was a serene picture watching the plane maneuvering around the sky. After a few minutes it was time to land. Bringing the craft around for a base leg and lining up into the wind. She gently slowed until she settled on the surface of the watery runway. Perfect landing. Slowly taxing in and posing for this tranquil picture.

2. John Foushi John Foushi President
New Flying Event: Bill Higdon is heading up our night flying event. We have had many pilots getting airplanes with lights and some have even installed lights on their existing planes. Flying at night is beautiful and if you want to join in on the fun, come on out on the last Tuesday of the month and join Bill and the night flying pilots of RCACF.
Another Flying Event: Al Ward is heading up a “Float Plane” event near his home in Eustis on Crooked Lake. They have had a great turnout of members for the past two months. Come on out and join the fun! Oh, and don’t forget to put some floats on your plane!
New Hospital: As many of you may know Florida Hospital has opened a new hospital in Apopka. Many members are concerned that we now are in their “Controlled Air Space”. Not true. Having a heliport does not require a controlled airspace or an air traffic control space. The FAA only requires the operating helicopter to have an “Ingress and Egress” flight path into and out of the helipad area. Our VP Dave Sirak will be
contacting the hospital’s aviation department as a courtesy. We want to make them aware of our field and invite them to see our facility.
New Tables and Chairs: Our Work Party members have put together four (4) new wooden picnic tables and they look great. We have also purchased (12) new chairs for the pilot stations for your comfort. Please handle them with care and make sure they don’t “walk away”!
Bill Graves Passing: Bill Graves founder of “Graves-RC” bravely fought cancer for the past year and a half but lost the battle Friday the 23rd of March. He was a true supporter of RCACF. We will miss him dearly.4
John Foushi

3. Photos of RC Float Plane Fly In Hosted by Al Ward
Dave Sirak
Vice President

4. Al Cooper Al Cooper Membership Chairman
Badges – Why do we have to wear them?
Many of you question why we have to wear our RCACF Membership Badge when flying at RCACF.
The primary purpose of our Id Badge is to visually “identify members” without having to ask them to produce their Membership Card.    
RCACF has a current membership of more than 200 people.  Some of you are “old timers” that have been with the club for 10, 20, 30 or more years.  And others have joined in the past few days, weeks or months.  The Id badge provides a means of identifying all members at a glance.  
For those old timers “who know everyone” it may seem redundant to have to wear a badge at the field because “everyone knows who they are!”  Unfortunately, not everyone does know who you are.  Personally, I’ve been a club member for just over a year and I still have to rely on looking at badges in order to know your names, and I have direct access to all of your photos in the club’s membership database.  How can we expect new members to know who they’re talking to or watching?  
Another reason for badges is to “identify non-members” based on the absence of a current badge.  Over the past year that I’ve been at Tangerine Field, I’ve not only been told about non-members just coming in, getting their planes ready to fly and flying without a membership but been there when they did.  When asked, several have stated “I’m an AMA Member!”  Some AMA Members feel that they can fly at any AMA club without joining because of their AMA Membership.  We all know that AMA does not pay for maintaining Tangerine Field – RCACF members do!
A new reason for badges is to identify what types of aircraft each member flies at RCACF.  In the past month, we have added some basic symbology to our badges.  The first type of aircraft that we have identified are Turbine powered aircraft.  For that purpose, we reviewed AMA’s complete list of AMA Members who hold the Turbine Waiver certification by AMA to identify RCACF members who hold this certification.  A new symbol was added to the existing 2017 Id Badges for those members and new badges where mailed to them.  The following symbol was added to those badges to the lower left corner of the badges for these members.  So you will soon start seeing badges with this symbol on it at the field.
In 2018, we will be adding further symbology to our badges when we process membership renewals.  As part of the renewal process you will be asked to identify which type of aircraft you fly.  The categories are:
* Fixed Wing – any non-Turbine powered fixed wing aircraft regardless of whether they are
fueled by glow fuel, gas, battery or unpowered gliders.
* Turbine – any Turbine powered aircraft regardless of type
* Helicopters – any helicopter regardless of power source
* Drones – any multi-prop drone
So when you receive your 2018 badges, these symbols will have been added (as long as you answer the question on your renewal form).  
If you have any questions about these badges, please feel free to contact me at
Al Cooper

5. Keeping Our Finances In Order
Bill Freeland
Treasurer
All is well with the Treasury. Our yearly expenses will be met with no issues. 
I will hold a setup session for the cameras following next months meeting if interested.
Our club has two different cameras that you may use to see how crowded it might be, or to check the wind-sock before you head to the field.
The first camera is a snapshot of the center parking area and the wind-sock/flagpole. It is viewed on the home page of RCACF.com. It doesn’t require any special applications or logins. It is a high-res snapshot that updates every 60 seconds.
Windsock WebCam
The second camera is the security DVR. It has 4 small cameras that point in different directions from the clubhouse roof. It does require special access parameters and passwords. It also requires a special application if being accessed from a Smartphone. These cameras are motion video, but due to the limited bandwidth of our internet connection there are a couple of items to note.
Video is jerky or freeze at times.
Soft looking or pixilated image. Video cams are lower resolution than the website snapshot cam.
An with full instructions went out to all members. If you are still having difficulty, please catch up with Bill Freeland or Michael Vivona at the next club meeting.
Security Cameras
Bill Freeland

6. Bill Higdon Bill Higdon Secretary Minutes of Meeting - March 2017
Meeting came to order at 10:00
There were 49 members present.
2 new members introduced.
We purchased 2 new picnic tables to replace the old unsafe plastic ones. these are mad of wood and built quite strong.
We also purchased 12 new chairs for pit area.
There was a complaint sent to the club President about a swearing conflict between 2 members on flight line. This has been addressed and will never happen again.
John Foushi received an from Secret Service concerning a possible TFR violation that either occurred at our near our club.
Riegl will be building 4 new target pillars on the field.
VP report: We are coordinating with the new hospital being build close by about their helipad.
Safety report: Emphasized the need to pay close attention to TFR notices. It is the responsibility of every member to look for notices and not the responibily of the FAA to inform. Any time the President or high ranking official is set to visit Central Florida please go to and see if there is a TFR for the area. All members must comply!
Webmaster report: The video camera server has been changed once again. The old phone application will not work with it. We are still in the process of configuring and should have the latest information soon. We will have a class for new camera app if needed.
Secretary report: Minutes read, nothing to add.
Maintenance report: Work party next Saturday. We’ll be serving the World’s BEST fried chicken with all the fix-ins. Please come out and show your support of our great club.
Membership: Current membership is 203.
Treasury report: We have funds in bank to cover $4000 rent payment due for this quarter.
Thanks to Mike Smith and Brian Provost for building our new handicap ramp on the North side of our clubhouse.
Winning ticket for the Model Raffle was held by Shane Hoevelman.
A $25 Graves gift card was won by Steve Rose.
Meeting adjourned at 11:00
Bill Higdon

7. Barry Vaught Barry Vaught Photographer Hello Pilots.
Thanks to everyone that visited and flew at Florida Jets recently. If you were not there you missed some great jet eye candy and thrills, like a 14 ft wingspan B-2 Bomber, a Formation of Six Giant Monster Elite Aerosports Havocs, A House Of Power Turbine Hover Show, New Jet Debuts, Many More Jets and Greg Foushi and his F-16.
Thank you to John Foushi and Ruben Rodz for helping with RCACF’s photography.
More photographs to be posted soon
Barry Vaught
RCACF Photographer

8. Up coming Air Shows for Central FL in the month Of April
Melbourne Air & Space Show April 1-2, 2017
Melbourne Int'l Airport, Florida
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
F-18 Super Hornet Demo
Patrouille de France
U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds
Flight Line Club VIP
More Info Here
More Info Here

9. $25 Gift Card Monthly Airplane Raffle
At our March club meeting Shane Hoevelman won the monthly airplane raffle. It was a cool looking Horizon Hobby Commander PNP.
Classic lines and modern influences come together perfectly in the Commander mPd 1.4m park flyer. Pilots of almost any skill level will instantly fall in love with its wide flight envelope and abundance of power. Assembly is fast and easy, too.
Key Features
Visionary design by Mirco Pecorari and David Payne (mPd)
Wide flight envelope from slow flight to aerobatics
Factory-installed flaps for shorter takeoffs and landings
Innovative Hands-Free Servo Connection System
Goes together fast - only 8 screws required for assembly
Powerful 15-size brushless motor with 45A ESC
Vibrant trim scheme by Aircraft Design Studio
Durable aluminum landing gear with wheel pants
Monthly gift card Raffle
$25
Gift Card
Steve Rose won the Graves RC $25 gift card.
Next Airplane Raffle
We purchase an exciting new RC aircraft each month to raffle off at our club meetings. To take part just attend our next meeting to be held on April 8th at 10AM in our cozy clubhouse center field. Purchase a raffle ticket and wait for you number to be called. All planes are up to a $300 value and a raffle ticket is only a couple of bucks. The more tickets you buy the better chance you have to be the winner of the month.

10. I have a new Ultimate 50cc BiPlane for sale.
I purchased it several months ago with good intentions of adding this great model to my fleet, but found that my hanger was full. It is a very well designed ARF. The pictures are just stock pictures off the website. It is a quality built ARF and still in its box.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Wing Span: 71in
Wing Area: 1564sq in/101sq dm
Flying Weight: 17.6lbs
Fuselage Length: 75in
Engine Required:
Gas Engine: 45cc - 50cc
Electric: Power-160 Brushless motor
Radio Required: 4-5 Channels, 8-9 Servos
FEATURES:
Top quality balsa and plywood construction.
Premium hand iron-on covering film.
Comes with all necessary parts, hardware and accessories.
User Manual Included.
Here is a similar model with a person beside it for reference to give you an idea of how big it is. As you can see it is quite large.
Please contact me at:

11. Next general club meeting – April 8th 10AM
Michael Vivona
Webmaster
For those of you that are in the market for a new video link for your RC craft, one that allows you to have a camera on your plane or quad and watch it on a remote monitor or through goggles. Here is some basic information that should aid in your decision of what to buy.
First off, there are currently two modes of video transmission. Analog and Digital.
Analog is the de-facto video transmission standard that has been used for years. It uses the old NTSC standard which is what TV broadcasters used in the days of analog TV. Analog video signals are comprised of 525 vertical lines and up to around 650 horizontal lines.
Pros: Inexpensive. Lightweight. Many manufacturers. Weak signals will still show a snowy but usable signal. No delay.
Cons: Poor video quality. Susceptible to interference. Manufacturers blatantly lie about its resolution to charge you more.
               
Digital transmissions use the ATSC standard or forms thereof. Being that it is a digital signal it also contains ancillary space for data. This data space can contain anything from battery voltage, to GPS information.
Pros: Great video resolution. Ancillary data space. Less susceptible to interference. The latest technology.
Cons: Expensive. Heavy. Delay or laggy video. Not much competition yet. Weak signals will experience video freeze or complete dropouts.
Like anything, this new digital technology is being developed at a rapid pace. The size of a transmitter last year has already been cut in half. The delay is much better than last year, but still exists. Having a delay in the video even a slight delay can be very difficult to get used to whey flying a fast FPV plane. The cost level still hasn’t come down anywhere near what you can buy an analog setup for. My guess is that it will take about 3 more years for good competition to drop the prices significantly.
So, which one is best for you?
If you have the money to spend, go for one of the top of the line digitals. If you don’t want to break the bank, then purchase one of the many low cost low weight analog setups. The biggest thing to remember is be cautious if any manufacturer touts 700h lines or more of video resolution in an analog setup. It is stretching the truth. We have several members in the club that can help with any question you might have, just ask.
Here is an example of a top of the line Analog package: (analog link)
Here is an example of a top of the line Digital package: (digital link)
Michael Vivona
Next general club meeting – April 8th 10AM