Dare County Radio Control Flyers

A youth education outreach group headed by Peter Fynn held an introduction to radio control model aviation event for sixth-grade students of First Flight Middle School at the school's athletic field. The event was hosted by the school's career development coordinator, Ashley Basnight, and included over 60 students from the STEM and computer applications and coding classes of Mrs Elizabeth Gray and Mr. Brandon Woods.

Students learned about some of the various types of aircraft that our club members fly, and received instruction on how an airplane is controlled in flight, and how our members use radio signals to communicate flight commands to model aircraft. Following this period of instruction, students were then treated to an actual flight demonstration by Peter Fynn and First Flight Middle School alumnus and club member, Philip Garey.

At the conclusion of the event, each student received an invitation to visit us at our flying field with a parent where they would be afforded an opportunity to actually fly a radio control model aircraft with the assistance of one of the club's flight instructors.

Mike Kirkpatrick, Mike Alexander, Skip Wescott, Robert Yanacek, Stephen Yanacek, Peter Fynn, and Grant Peacock met for breakfast today at the Jolly Roger Restaurant. Discussion today was centered around the design work for the Rocker Madness event the club will be holding at the end of May.

At the conclusion of breakfast, Skip Wescott, Stephen Yanacek, and Peter Fynn decided to head to the field to do some flying with Jim Shiels, Richard Boyd, and Philip Garey who were already there. Although the cloud cover looked concerning, the rain held off and permitted our six members to enjoy a good day of flying.

With rain and high winds again this weekend, Grant Peacock, Skip Wescott, Robert Yanacek, Stephen Yanacek, Charlie Doss, Mike Kirkpatrick, and Peter Fynn met at the Jolly Roger Restaurant for breakfast and our usual flying-related discussions.

At the forefront of today's discussions were designs and development for the Rocket Madness challenge for our members that will be held in May.

Recently, our club president watched a viral YouTube video of someone launching a foam glider into the air on a skyrocket, and this inspired him to create a fun and challenging contest for our members. However, before announcing this challenge, Stephen Yanacek, Peter Fynn, and Robert Yanacek met in Jim Davis' workshop to conduct some proof-of-concept testing.

Each of the four members involved today began by constructing the FliteTest glider that will be used, followed by some tinkering with rocket motors. This proved to be an enjoyable and constructive meeting in which it was determined that the contest concept was certainly challenging, but sound.

The contest will be to launch a FliteTest glider into the air through the use of a small solid-propellant rocket motor, then separate the glider from the booster and control the glider so that it remains airborne the longest. Further details and specific rules will be published in the near future.

Bernie Feaganes from the Skyline Flyers Radio Control Club in Culpeper, Virginia visited the Outer Banks this weekend with the hope of flying his 1/6th scale Fokker D.VII at our field. Unfortunately, between rain and winds in excess of 25 miles per hour, this was just not possible. Instead of flying, Bernie met our pilots at the Jolly Roger Restaurant for breakfast, where he was welcomed and shared his flying experiences with our members.

In addition to our usual discussions, Jim Davis proposed a fun contest for members to participate in that consisted of building and flying a small FlightTest glider that would be launched into the air through the use of a small solid-propellant rocket motor. Many in attendance liked this fun challenge, so Jim will be finalizing the details and inviting the remainder of our members to participate in this challenge that will be held in early May at our field.

Those who attended today were Jim Davis, Robert Yanacek, Charlie Doss, Mike Kirkpatrick, Skip Wescott, Grant Peacock, Virgil Kee, Bernie Feaganes, Peter Fynn, Mike Alexander, Stephen Yanacek, and Grant Dick.

Five club members visited fourteen Cub Scouts from Pack 117 in Kitty Hawk and talked to them about building and flying model airplanes.

Club president, Jim Davis, opened by providing the scouts with an overview of our club and a demonstration how we use radio signals to communicate the movement of a plane's motor and control surfaces. Next, Stephen Yanacek showed his Messerschmidt ME-163 Komet to the youngsters and explained its ability to fly very fast through the use of a rocket motor—just like the original full-size aircraft. Club safety officer Peter Fynn, then explained about the fundamentals of a how a wing provides lift with a demonstration of his two-foot glider in the meeting room. Finally, Philip Garey took the stage to talk about drones, which most of the scouts were already familiar, and how he flies it using a camera to provide a First-Person View (FPV). A short video was then shown so the scouts could see a view from Philip's drone as he followed the flights of some of our member's planes at the field. Philip then flew his drone in the meeting room and each scout was provided with an opportunity to watch the flight in real-time through a set of FPV goggles. Prior to concluding, Robert Yanacek handed-out NASA stickers to each of the scouts as a token of thanks for allowing us to be their guests.

All five of our members had a great time interacting with the members of Cub Scout Pack 117 and we wish each of them many safe and happy landings!

Although the temperature was in the 70s today, our members met for breakfast to decide if wind gusts in excess of 20 miles may be a bit too much to conduct flight operations.

As usual, we had a good time and productive discussions, including the plans for our aeromodeling presentation for Cub Scout Pack 117 Monday evening, and flying with a guest from Virginia next weekend. Club president, Jim Davis, also received our Gold Leader Club certificate from the Academy of Model Aeronautics and displayed it to those present with his thanks for a job well done.

Following breakfast, Virgil Kee, Skip Wescott, Charlie Doss, and Mike Kirkpatrick headed home, while Peter Fynn, Stephen Yanacek, Robert Yanacek, and Jim Davis decided to head to the field to perform some maintenance and see whether flying conditions were favorable.

At the field we mounted the propeller-shaped sign that Jim Davis made to our storage shed, and three bat houses donated by Peter Fynn. These three houses will hopefully encourage bats to roost in the area and help us control mosquitoes.

Flying unfortunately proved problematic, as the wind velocity was higher than forecast, with constant gusts exceeding 25 miles per hour! Nonetheless, Jim Davis, Peter Fynn, and Stephen Yanacek decided to fly and each was able to overcome the challenges and land safely before heading home.

Our vice president stopped at the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, the Kill Devil Hills Library, and at the Dare County Youth Recreation Center today and placed our club's promotional rack cards in their brochure displays. It is hoped that this information will make many more local residents aware of our aeromodeling activities and generate interest in becoming members.

Rain and high winds today grounded our flight operations, however it did not dampen our spirits. We decided to meet for breakfast at the Jolly Roger instead and had a good time discussing flying, building models, and club activities and events.

Attending were: Mike Kirkpatrick; Jim Shiels; Mike Alexander; Stephen Yanacek; Charlie Doss; Jim Davis; Robert Yanacek; Peter Fynn; Skip Wescott, and; Virgil Kee.

With eleven members present, Dare County Radio Control Flyers held its first meeting for the 2023 flying season. A great deal of work has been done by our members already, and we have some great projects and activities being planned for 2023!

Among the first activities planned will be presentations on model aviation to the members of Scout Cub Pack 117 in Kitty Hawk, and then to First Flight Middle School STEM students. Following these presentations, both the scouts and the students will be invited to our field to actually fly a radio control model airplane with one of our instructors.

Other events on the schedule include two events during the late-summer that the public will be invited to attend to learn about the club and model aviation, including the Outer Banks Festival of Model Aviation event that was so popular with local residents in 2021 and 2022.

As far as field improvements, projects will include the construction of a battery charging station, increased member and guest seating accommodations, and a shaded hangar area behind the flight line to park aircraft. Club president, Jim Davis also displayed a propeller-shaped club sign he made to display on our recently constructed field storage shed.

One of the most important outcomes of the meeting was the club's commitment to making the hobby affordable to anyone with a desire to fly with us. In addition to not raising annual membership dues, the club established a family membership option designed to encourage parents and their children to become members and fly with us at a highly discounted rate.

Jim Davis, Stephen Yanacek, Peter Fynn, Mike Alexander, Skip Wescott, Mike Kirkpatrick, Jim Shiels, and Richard Boyd met at our field to enjoy the good weather with a day of pre-season flying.

As usual, many sorties were flown, including Stephen Yanacek with his Messerschmidt Me-163B Komet, Richard Boyd with his 2.1-meter Carbon-Z Cub SS, and Jim Davis with his brand-new American Champion Decathlon.

Although we had an unseasonably warm temperature for March, eleven club members met for breakfast because the wind gusts were just too high to fly safely. We met at our usual non-flying location, the Jolly Roger Restaurant, for fellowship and discussion of our latest radio control airplane projects.

Attending today was Mike Kirkpatrick, Charlie Doss, Robert Yanacek, Peter Fynn, Grant Peacock, Jim Davis, Stephen Yanacek, Mike Alexander, Skip Wescott, Philip Garey, and Richard Boyd.

Eight of our club members decided to take a chance at some flying at our field in February and were rewarded with unseasonably moderate temperatures in the low-50s and winds ranging from 2 to 5 miles per hour. Philip Garey, Robert Yanacek, Stephen Yanacek, Peter Fynn, Mike Alexander, Jim Shiels, Grant Peacock, and Mike Kirkpatrick all came out to the field to enjoy the day.

As usual, many sorties were flown throughout the day, but prior to the day's flying activities, Stephen Yanacek ran the mower a few passes over the runway to provide our members with a smoother surface.

Peter Fynn led off the day's flight operations with his Turbo-Timber Evolution, a remarkably stable and fun airplane to fly. Mike Alexander got into the air with us for the first time with his brand-new AeroScout S2, and did really well, while Philip Garey stood-by to assist him if needed. Jim Shiels launched and piloted two of his micro-mini aircraft and they performed very well in the low winds. Grant Peacock was also able to fly for the first time in many months, due to his out of town work schedule. Despite the hiatus, Grant quickly redeveloped his skills and was soon preforming level-flight, textbook turns, and solid landings. Unfortunately, Mike Kirkpatrick was unable to get the Valiant that he won at The Outer Banks Festival of Model Aviation last October into the air due to technical electronic difficulties. Mike, under Peter and Philip's guidance, wisely decided that it was better to take the time to sort out the difficulties at home on the bench, rather than taking an unnecessary risk. Stephen Yanacek flew a number of good flights with his AeroScout, then attempted to perform a maiden flight with his new Messerschmidt ME-163 Komet. The latter did not go well due to a low-altitude stall on takeoff, however the plane was recovered with only some minor damage to the right wingtip and will get into the air soon.

We departed the field following about four hours of flying with good memories and desire to do it again as soon as possible.