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Christmas break Up/Presentation 2014

December the 7th had come around and it was time for our Christmas Break up and presentation day. The day was cold to start then warmed to a pleasant temperature around the mid twenties, though there was a mild southerly wind blowing. These conditions suited most of our pilots, and many flights were put in during the morning flying session.

Lunch was called just a couple of minutes after 12, and what a lunch it was. Plenty of hamburgers, steak, sausages, bacon, onions, and many types of salads had the plates loaded high. Chef Andy had done a great job again this year, must say he was supported by Gary Schmedje, who is learning the ropes. The apprentice chef you might say.

At 1 o'clock Chef Andy sent the cry out, sweets are ready! Oh my! Lovely cheesecake. This was devoured in record time. Now it's time for a drink and a sit down, while the catering staff gets all the mess cleaned up and ready for the formal part of the day the presentations etc.

While waiting for the kitchen staff to get cleaned and finished up, a seniors lolly drop was flown, meaning that the Minties were dropped, and the power of the prevailing wind was used to carry the Minties directly to where the seniors were standing. They only needed to bend over to pick up the sweets, which had a streamer and number attached and there was a prize for each number.

All members were called to the Clubhouse, it was time for the presentations. Les called all to attention then introduced the President Mr Andrew Thomas, to give his Welcome and Thankyou speeches for the year of 2014.

(Andrew's speech can be read by clicking here)

Next we had some fun or maybe entertainment with the ALOFT newsletter editor Noel Frost and member Ken Battersby who are both Hawthorn supports. For the last two years we had to put up with Hawthorn mascots and emblems stuck in the newsletter, this was our chance to get even.

The two had to sing the Hawthorn theme song, and if they were out of tune or forgot the words they would be egged, (well not real eggs). In fact they were orange coloured ping pong balls, and boy did they get pounded, by 60 ping pong balls that rained down on them, to great amount of laughter by all that were there. It was all taken in great sprit, and thankyou to the two members Noel and Ken, who participated in the fun and laughter. ( Go the Hawks)!

Onto the presentations. Les gave a run down on the numbers that took part in this years competitions. It was a great result with 38% of the club members participating in the clubs simple low key competitions, but unfortunately the weather had reduced the number of comps that could be flown this year which was a bit of a disappointment, but we can't control the weather, unfortunately.

Les also spoke on the quality and the skills of our pilots, which we believe are as good or better than many other clubs, and with these skills our pilots have become very safe and safety minded flyers, which is what we run the competitions for, so our club competitions are paying dividends. Skilled pilots are safe pilots.

Next Les spoke on the need for the club to purchase its own flying field, after many clubs around us here in Victoria and Tasmania have lost their rented fields, and are struggling to find new fields, which creates big big problems for clubs.

So the club is now looking for members who can make a "Financial Pledge " to boost the club funds to a position where we can start to apply for grants, from Governments Federal and State, Sports Organisations, Business that have sporting grants etc, so we need anyone who could manage to a Financial Pledge, to make our field account look healthy, and gives some authority and creditably to make submissions to the said authorities.

Can you help? If so please contact our Secretry Gary Schmedje at, 03 5441 1703, and have a discussion, please.
(Les has made the first pledge $ 5,000 to get the ball rolling )

Now to the Clubman awards, the President Andrew Thomas and retired Secretary Alan Uren, did the presentations, starting from the bottom of the list and working up to the Club Champion for 2014.

9th	Noel Young	1 point.
8th	* Cliff Goullet	2 points
= 7th	Steve Davis	3 points
=7th	Brian Deason	3 points
=6th	Shaun Power	4 points
=6th	* Larry Bethel	4 points
5th	Robbie Marshall	5 points
4th	Jack Andrews	7 points
3rd	Gary Schmedje	9points
2nd	* Roy Butterfield	10 points
Club Champion for 2014	Les Davis

(*Members not present on the day.)

Mitre 10 trophy.	Was won by Alan Uren for his services as Secretary.
Most Improved Flyer.	Ernie Cleijne ( Flying Solo )
Sucker Award.	Brian Deason ( got sucked into flying too high and lost the aircraft.)

The President closed the presentations off by saying...

Have a fun Christmas,
Have a good Christmas,
But most of all,
Have a Safe Christmas, and a Happy New Year !

And we'll be back again to do it all again next year, with hopefully more great success stories, about your safe flying.

Cheers !

Christmas Break Up and Presentations

This Sunday the 7th of December is our Club break up and Presentation Day, and all club members and their families are most welcome to attend, if you can, as this is the only time that the most club members come together, in the one place at the one time.

If suitable weather is available, morning flying up to lunch time for those who wish to. The free lunch and drinks will be on at approx. 12noon until 1pm when the formal part of the Breakup will take place, including the Presidents welcome and thank you speaches, followed by some light hearted entertainment, then the Clubman awards for 2014 leading up the the Clubman for this year.

There will be a couple of extra awards, like the "Mitre 10" trophy and "Most Improved Flyer" and of course there is the "Sucker Award" for some lucky member. These are great days that your club puts on for you, and we hope you can make the most of it, so will I see you there ?

Remember the date, Sunday the 7th of December, Marong Flying Field, Clubhouse

Marong Shire - 150 years.

On the 17th of November 1864 the Marong Shire was formed. It lasted up until 1994 when Jeff Kennett (premier of Victoria) amalgamated the councils into one. Marong then became a part of the Greater City of Bendigo.

The Marong residents and past employees of the Marong Shire Council are celebrating the 150 anniversary of this mile stone on the 17th of November this year, 2014.

The photo of the shire councilors in 1914 , 100 years ago in front of the their shire offices at Marong.

When I joined the BMAC* back in the mid sixties, the radio members of our club flew in the Marong district, and have been almost continuous in the Marong area for the next 50 years up to the present time, so Marong is a part of us and we are a part of Marong.

*BMAC , Bendigo Model Aero Club from 1951...
*BRCAC Bendigo Radio Controlled Aircraft Club 1976 onwards

Report, Les Davis

Fun day - 19th October

Sunday fun day, that's what its become, a great day to fly in fun events that create plenty of laughter, and this time was no exception. We had plenty of fun specially in the skittles event.

So what did we need to do today to compete in this fun day? Well there's the 2 minute timed flight, followed by the number of loops in 30 seconds. Next was touch and goes between the marked lines, and to finish off was the skittles event, where all the fun and laughter comes in.

In the 2 minute timed flight Ken Battersby had been practicing and his time was almost spot on being only one second over, well done to Ken.

Loops had to be done in a 30 second window with a flying start, which had to include a outside loop in the number of loops preformed, and Gary Schmedje lead the way with 12 loops.

Touch and goes followed. Given three passes to make three touch and goes, Les Davis was the only one to archive this perfect of 3 out three score.

Now the event that creates so much laugher, the skittle event. This year we had a lot more skittles than last year and expected high scores, but its not that easy, with a tennis ball attached to 6 metre string and hooked around the undercart. You need to fly over the skittles with the ball running along the ground to try and knock over as many skittles as possible.

Gary Schmedje was first and managed to knock over 2 skittles from his 3 passes which made him very happy indeed. Les Davis also managed 2 skittles from his 3 passes, but the rest of the pilots couldn't get a strike.

Looks easy, but its not. The ball has a mind of it own and will not run along the ground, bouncing up and down then sideways. In fact its all over the place managing to miss all the skittles, unbelievable. You need to come and watch what the ball can do, it creates plenty of laughter I can tell you.

Results:

First	Les Davis	11 1/2 points
Second	Gray Schmedje	10 points
Third	Shaun Power	7 1/2 points

Thanks to our helpers Andy and Ernie who did the timing and scoring.

CD and report by Gary Schmedje.

Check the number of skittles and only two could be knocked over, its not easy.
Pic by Andy Thomas.

Update on Roy's Accident

Roy Butterfield has had his stitches removed, and been re-bandaged and splinted. The doctor is happy with his progress. Roy says "Thanks to all those that have passed on their best wishes, it is very much appreciated"

(It's clearly not stopping him flying, see below...)

Glider Comp - 5 minute Drop out - 15th September

Sunday the 14th was our Glider comp, the 5 minute drop out, where we fly 4 complete rounds with a 5 minute max flight times, then the best 4 scores the go into a sudden death fly off for first place.

We couldn't have picked a better day to run this comp, it was just perfect. Warm and sunny with a just light breeze, just ideal for this type comp using the two the metre gliders.

Seven entries on the score sheet and a quick briefing we were ready to start flying. The early flights were poor, nobody could find lift, but as the day worn on the conditions got better, and when we had got to the end of the fourth round, there was four flyers well ahead of the rest, and they where the flyers who went on to the sudden death fly off.

And those were Roy Butterfield, Gary Schmedje, Les Davis and Jack Andrews, and first to be eliminated was Les who tried to fly with no radio, that put an end to him, next to drop out was Gary, missing out by just two (2) seconds, leaving only Roy and Jack to fly of for the winners spot.

Roy was first away and found good lift, then Jack launched and got good height but struggled to find lift and landed just before Roy, giving Roy the chance to take out first Place.

Results:

First Place	Roy Butterfield
Second	Jack Andrews
Third	Gary Schmedje

Thanks to the time keepers and helpers, and to Ted (and Margaret) who took photos for us. Another good competition day for the club and its members, it was very enjoyable for all concerned.

Report Les Davis

Nasty incident - September 5th

Roy Butterfield has had a nasty experience, launching a model with a pusher prop. Please be careful, or you too may have three lacerations, two severed arteries and a dislocation!

Update: Roy would like to thank those with kind words and best wishes following his little incident.

Pylon race competition - 31st of August.

Another lovely day for flying, just what we wanted for club pylon day competition, although it was a bit close to our Large Scale racing weekend, just last weekend and some may have been all raced out, but for the 8 pilots who did attend it was another great days' racing with plenty of excitement.

The CPR class was was first off. This is probably the last time this class will be run, we struggle to get 4 starters for wonderful little racing aircraft but if there's nobody wants to build them that's it, the class dies a natural death(what a pity). We even struggled to get enough light Marshalls to run the CPR class having only two in each race was a bit ordinary, to say the least, but we did have the two fastest together and the two with just off speed to try and make it interesting, that's all I can say.

Trainer Sport Class. This was a good class to run with 6 Scanners and two other trainers giving 8 pilots to race. The racing in this class started after lunch, which was a blessing in disguise as we now had more members at the field and could run 4 in each heat. Much more fun and excitement.

Having a northerly wind blowing across the course made it even more interesting but with the quality of these flyers they handled it quite well, although some did struggle occasionally, which adds to the excitement.

Andrew Ward and Les Davis had some great tussles during their 5 heats which is what we are after, it keeps every body on their toes, but I bet you're wondering did we have a midair. Well the answer is yes, between Gary Schmedje and Mark (from CHAMPS). Mark lost the tailplane and went down, while Gary lost a section of wing and flew around for awhile until he pulled the power off then the aircraft went into a uncontrollable spiral.

Overall Results are:

CPR	1st	Les Davis
	2nd	Shaun Power
	3rd	Andrew Ward (CHAMPS)
Trainer Sport	1st	Les Davis
	2nd	Andrew Ward (CHAMPS)
	3rd	Gary Schmedje

Club results:

CPR	1st	Les Davis
	2nd	Shaun Power
	3rd	Robbie Marshal
Trainer Sport	1st	Les Davis
	2nd	Gary Schmedje
	3rd	Jack Andrews

Thanks to those who helped with the lights and the starter, as well as the pilots for supporting this club event, I think everybody had a great time. That's all the racing for this year, it's now time to get practicing in for next year.

Report Les Davis

Large Scale Racing. 23-24th August.

What a weekend we had. Two wonderful days of racing under ideal weather conditions, on a lush green runway and blue skies above. It was just perfect, exactly what we prayed for.

With 30 entries spread over the 3 classes of Goodyear F1, Texan AT-6 and the Redball 120/30, racing got away at 10.30 with the Goodyear F1's off first. The speed of these racers is really something, well over 200 kph maybe even as high as 250kph with a couple of them. Jeremy Randle (NSW) and Steve Davis (Bendigo) had some great tussles during the seven heats that they raced in. This is really top stuff and exciting.

Next to race were the AT-6 Texan's. A little slower but many of these aircraft are at the same speed so lead swapping is quite common which is what we all like to see. It keeps everybody interested every time they race. These aircraft are lovely things to fly but not so good on the landings, they bounce almost on every landing.

The last class to race was the Redball 120/30. As you can see by the name there is two different size engines used and the size of the aircraft varies quite a bit. Its a really mixed up class, and a nightmare for contest director to work out what's legal and whats not. Barry Townsend (Bendigo) was the stand out in this class, he purchased the aircraft only a few weeks ago and this was his first time at racing this type aircraft, and quickly found his feet and nobody could catch him. Yes, there was a big smile on this face.

The failure rate was low, with only two aircraft suffering airframe failure and one dumb thumbed his into the ground, now compare that with the 172 flights recorded over the weekend on the score sheets, it's a pretty fair ratio I think.

Results:

Goodyear F1	1st	Steve Davis.	Results
	2nd	Jeremy Randle.
	3rd	Byron Simpson
GTR Texan	1st	Jeremy Randle	Results
	2nd	Les Sawyer
	3rd	Steve Green
Redball 120/30	1st	Barry Townsend	Results
	2nd	Jeremy Randle
	3rd	Byron Simpson

Thanks goes to Model Engines for the race fuel and Prizes, next to the light marshalls and canteen staff and Graeme Beagley who did a great job on the start line getting the planes off quickly in each race. Well done to all.

Item for Sale by Club Member

Roy Butterfield is selling his Boomerang 40. Details here.

Radian Glider 27-7-2014

The weather was cool with light winds so good conditions for this event.

At 1.00PM start time we needed a CD so that ended up to be me. With 6 entries I did a quick rundown on the rules for the day and got the comp under way. A 20 second motor run and a total flight time of 5 minute flight, a total score per flight of 300. Landings to be in the paddock and we were away. 6 starters up all at one time it looked great.

Round 1 won by Alan U. with 270 Points

Round 2 we had 4 with 300 points. Les, Alan U, Brian & Roy.

Round 3 the best was Roy with 293 Points.

It was time for afternoon tea by then as the stress was showing on the contestants as scores were close. Back to it with Round 4 with the dark horse in the race winning the round with 300 points John.

Round 5 we had Brian, Roy and Cliff on 300 points but John did 3 loops and 2 rolls on take off and landed at his feet, safe and sound with the shortest flight of the day 80 points

Round 6 the last of the day. It had turned cold and all the flight times dropped.

1st	Roy Butterfield
2nd	Cliff Goullett
3rd	Les Davis
4th	Alan Uren
5th	Brian Deason
6th	John Newman

Well done to you all and thanks to the times Jack, Garry, Alan R, Ernie.

Happy Flying
CD - Andy Thomas

[Special thanks to Andy for stepping in, timing for two of us and doing CD duties!]

(Photos) by Alan Uren

BRCAC Executive Members 2014 -15

At the annual general meeting held on the 28th of July, the following members were elected to the Executive positions.

President	Andrew Thomas	(re-elected
Treasurer/Secretary	Gary Schmedje	(elected unanimously)
Vice President	Graeme Beagley	(re-elected)
Ordinary Members	(1) John Newman (2) Terry Passalaqua	(elected)

Other roles:

Web Master	John Newman.
Aloft Editor	Noel Frost.
Safety officers	All club members!

The President Mr Andrew Thomas gave a thankyou speech to the executive members, all workers/helpers and anybody else who helped running of the club over the last 12 months, which has been another very successful year for the club and what its been able to achieve.

BRCAC goes soaring

Terry Passalaqua went to Jerilderie with the League of Silent Flight in June!
Jerilderie 2014

The Bunnings Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser - May 25

Not the usual October Fundraiser but this year the Date was determined by Bunnings new 'Barrel Draw' system to give all requests a fairer outcome. At least we had a Sunday which typically has the better outcome than the Friday or Saturday. Take it or miss out - we took it.

The weather was colder and windier and off to a slow start as were Bunnings customers, but there was good patches at different times. The volunteers this year were Andy, who did a lot of the food and utilities organising and serving, Ernie in charge of the money, Gary and Jack on the cooking with myself on the bread and Graeme organising the onions. Ted turned up and took the Pics for the Club and my sincere thanks to all those members, including David, who helped and additionally made donations to finish up with a very healthy profit for the day.

Whilst the sales were down on the October ones, the oversupply of items was handed out to the helpers and yours truly took the surplus cooked ones home to pacify the pet. Monty thanks the Club for the gift. I can do it again next time.

The attached pics below were from Ted Goulter and the dog in here actually had a purchased sausage - full price - less bread and onion. Thanks Ted for the effort, picture taking is not easy on crutches.

Report: Alan Uren

Large Scale Racing 24-25 May

The first Large Scale Racing day for 2014 was held at our State Field (Darraweit Guim. Vic) on a nice green runway that runs north/south, but it faces the wrong direction, as the pilots are looking into the sun early in the morning, which makes it hard in the winter time with the late rising sun. The barb wire fence around 3 sides of the runway doesn't do much for your confidence, either. Well not when you have to land large aircraft.

Five classes were flown. Redbull, Texan, Formula 1, Reno and Golden Era. Only two rounds were completed on the Saturday which was rather slow for an event like this, but the skills and thrills were prevalent. Unfortunately Bendigo lost the lovely large Mustang in a midair collision with a Spitfire flown by Richard Mudge, neck and neck for 9 laps before it happened. (That's racing, I know, but its still a Bugger.)

A further two rounds were flown on the Sunday, and that was it, all over. It wasn't a great weekend, but it was enjoyable to catch up with the flyers from interstate and the out of town Victorians. For Bendigo it was a very poor showing. Our F1 (Fang-Owl racer) failed to start on the start line and later the rudder push rod came adrift. That put an end to that one, the Mustang was lost to a midair, and my AT-6 Texan got caught up in a scoring problem and only finished in Second Place..................................

Say no more.

Report by Les Davis. (photos)

May 18th - FUN DAY

Fun day comp has arrived at last, this year on a almost perfect day for this type of event. The entries were taken, the events laided out, and the 8 pilots were ready to have some fun, specially with the Skittles event.

Right on one o'clock we started, the first event was Timed Flight. The pilot has to count up to 2 minutes in his head from the point of take off to the point of landing, as well the pilot has to include two aerobatic maneuvers during the flight.

Graham Hadwen had the closest time being only 2 seconds off with a score of 2m 2s.

Next event was loops in 30 seconds, how many can they do, and must include one outside loop (bunt). Best were Les Davis and Gary Schmedje with 10 loops each.

Now to the Touch and Goes between the two marked lines. Five passes to score three touch and goes, and three pilots did manage to get two out of three. They were Gary Schmedje, Robbie Marshall and Les Davis.

Its now time for the skittles event. The pink milk bottles were place out on the runway in two rows, four in the front and three in the second row in stagged formation. Now with the 10 metre line and ball attached to the end, aircraft had to fly over the skittles and try and knock over the skittles with the ball. It seems easy but the ball has a mind of its own and will bounce over the skittles every time. This is really a game of chance. Of all the pilots Les Davis was the only one to managed a strike, one skittle down , all the rest came so close but without any luck. This brought out heaps of laughter as the ball just jumps enough over the skittles to miss.

Results, but before I give the results, let me explain that I had made a miscalculation in the scoring, it was to be one point for every pilot that you beat in each event, which I started off with, then I just added the task score, which was incorrect. The scores have now been corrected, I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

First place	Les Davis	18 points
Second	Gary Schmedje	17 points
Equal third	Robbie Marshall	10 points
"	Shaun Power	10 points

Thanks to the timekeepers and counting judges Andy and Ernie and the pilots for making it such a great day of fun !

Gary Schmedje. (photos)

MODEL ENGINES Scanner Challenge - 27th April

The Second Model Engines Scanner Challenge was held on this Sunday under ideal conditions. Blue sky, light mild winds, and a smooth green runway, the field was in perfect condition for this event.

24 entries were received but only 20 made it to the start line. The pilots were graded this year to make the heats close together, as far as speed went and it worked a treat, with the fastest flyers in the first heat and working down to the last heat with the less experience / beginner pilots. In fact each heat became a race of its own, giving us a winner from each of the heats after the 5 rounds were flown.

Using this system, each of the heats was very exciting because of the closeness of the speed of the Scanners, but like all racing we did have them get too close to each other, and as you may guessed, yes we had two mid air collisions. Not really what we were after, but boy did they look spectacular. This didn't stop some pilots as they simply borrowed another scanner and kept racing, after all this is a fun event, the "Model Engines Scanner Challenge"

After the 5 rounds were flown the scores were added up, to see who had won the Model Engines Prizes, and it went like this,

Heat 1	winner was Steve Davis (Bendigo )
Heat 2	winner was Les Sawyer (Shepparton)
Heat 3	Winner was Leigh Kellock (Shepparton )
Heat 4	winner was Rob Popelier (Shepperton )
Heat 5	winner was Jack Andrews (Bendigo)

Two special awards were also given out. The first was to the Female pilot, Lucy Simkin from Shepparton, Lucy had the misfortune to slice her thumb open in the week before the race, and she had to fly using her pointer finger on her left hand which she did quite comfortably, so well done to her.

The Second special award went to Moss Heard from Ararat, who was involved in a midair collision with his Scanner but managed to fly away without a fin and rudder. The rest of his aircraft was still intact, but the scanner had a mind of its own, slipping and sliding around the sky until Mossy managed to gain some control and flew it away from the pit area and some how landed safely on the runway, so it was 10 points to Mossy for a great effort.

Thanks must go to the helpers who stepped in at the last moment to help me run the show, as the regulars were not available this time, also to the light marshals where we had two of our grandsons, Declan Thomas and Jordan Divito, who helped us out and they did a great job. Thanks boys, not forgetting Andy , David, Noel, Ernie, Alan, Ian and our picture man Ted.

Report by Les Davis, and a great set of photos by Ted Goulter!.

PS....and thanks to Mr Tony Farnan who commissioned Bendigo to run this low cost fun event the, "Model Engines Scanner Challenge" and supply the prizes for this wonderful day.

Did ya know, The Phoenix Scanner is 16 years old ? Check the front of your Scanner box, in 1998 it won toy of the year for Model Engines at the Toy Fair, so why did it take sooo Long to get the Scanner Challenge going ?

6th April - Glider Comp

When the weather is fine, all the boys came out to play on this Sunday, well that's exactly what happened. Nine pilots and three other club members came along to help run this wonderful competition day that we had with our gliders.

With this many entries the score sheet was full, and now 2.4 has come along there is no frequency clashers,which makes it so easy to run these comps. A quick briefing and we were ready to go at 1pm on the dot.

The task was in four flights to obtain 2 minute, 4 minute, 6 minute and 8 minute flight times, in any order, with time under or over was given as your score. One second equals one point and the pilot with the lowest points wins, sounds simple enough, well lets see !

Round 1 and all pilots except one, could only manage the two minute flight time, where was the lift ? Conditions looked and seemed right, but poor scores were recorded. In Round 2 things picked up just a little, and scores were better but not great.

In rounds 3 and 4, Roy Butterfield, Les Davis and Brian Deason started to find reasonable lift flying one after the other, and their scores improved quite a bit, being able to get close to the 6 and 8 minute flight times. The rest must have found the sink or couldn't get the launch height of these previous three pilots.

The results were counted up and it was found on double checking that we had a tied score for First place. What's that saying? "When the going gets tough, the tough get going " and I think this was the day for it. Everybody except Alan Roshier who had a small radio problem, enjoyed themselves it was great weather and a real fun day, hope we can get more off these days during the rest of this year.

Thanks to the members who came and helped with the scoring and bungee chasing, I know the pilot's appreciate your support that you supply to these events, thankyou !

Results:

Equal first	Brian Deason	82 points
	Les Davis	82 "
Second	Roy Butterfield	143 "
Third	Noel Young	603 "

Pics by Alan Uren and Roy Butterfield, Report and CD Les Davis.

Scanners at Geelong - 23rd March 2014

Knowing that our club's Model Engines, Scanner Challenge (race), is coming up very shortly (27th of April) I thought it would be appropriate that someone from Bendigo would attend the Geelong Scanner Race, so in return they would participate in our Scanner Challenge.

An email told me to be there (Dog Rocks Rd, Geelong) by 8.30am ready for a 9am start, must have a lot of entries for a start that early in the morning, so up and ready to go by 6.30 am and its still very dark, and what about the Kangaroos not a great time for driving, yes did see plenty but all waited for me to pass by, thank goodness.

As I turn on to Dog Rocks Road its 8.45am, I can see the cars in the paddock their all here, but no one is flying can't be late, pulled up near the pit area, got out there and noticed there was only two or three Scanners in the pit area, where are all the entries I thought they had, requiring such an early start, by 9am?

A briefing was called at 9.45am and the racing did start at about 10am, using coloured flags at number one pylon and coloured ribbons on each Scanner, its not very hitech at all, even the timing was done with a counter in one hand and watch in the other, never mind, it works, a bit like what we used to do some 10 or 12 years ago.

I need a Caller to help me and in the background was Lance Langham, a long time ago Bendigo club member, which was great to have a past member helping me, I think Bendigo people like to stick together when they can, and this was just great.

Twelve entries were accepted but only eleven made it to the start line, so two heats of 4 and one heat of 3, three heats by five rounds and it was all over by 12 o'clock, lunch time. Bendigo had the fastest time but that meant nought, as they wanted to have a race off. The top four to race off for the final placings. I made a suggestion that they also run a B final for the flyers who had finished 5th to 8th place, and they agreed.

The B final was run, can't remember all the names but Dave Barling won and Mossy Heard over-rolled, crashed out.

Next was a the A final with Jay Everett , Jarrod Tippings, Dave Chapman and myself, the race starts with flying start on a count down system, I missed the start by about 2 seconds, but on the seventh lap I managed to get to the lead and hang on to win by less than one second, in fact it was 0.7 of a second, not bad for hand held time pieces and counters.

At the presentation I was awarded a very nice trophy for the first place, which I asked permission to represent this wonderful trophy to the winner of the B final, which was done and the smile of Dave Barling face said it all, and what a loverly day I had, Bendigo had won their race, had made Dave Barling a very very happy man, and I managed to get four paid entries for our Scanner Day, also sold 4 scanner aircraft kits while I was there.

Thanks to the Geelong Club for the day, and their hospitality.

Report by Les Davis photos from Jarrod Tippings

7th March - Visit by BRCAC to Chum House.

A request came in for our club to give a presentation to the Seniors at the Chum House day care centre, on Friday the 7th of March at 1pm, which I/we excepted. This is now the second time we've been invited. I guess you could look at as our community service to the Seniors of Bendigo.

We were given 2 hours, 1 to 3pm, to do the presentation on our club and its activities to the 7 Seniors and 3 Carers who where present on the day. Of the seniors, most had been involve in the WW2 in some way or other, so most had a aircraft story to tell us, at the end of the presentation.

To help me with this day I asked Alan Roshier if he would like to come along and help, (a sort of Barrel Boy or a wheel Girl) and he agreed and suggested that he may bring some of his plastic airfix aircraft along. This then gave us a range of aircraft to talk about, from the 60 size Spitty to the smaller Electric Tiger Month and down to the plastic models.

I started this presentation with how I first got started with aviation as a school boy making balsa gliders, then got onto very simple Control line aircraft at Secondary School. I couldn't wait until I got a job and could earn money to get more and better aircraft and engines.

Once Married we shifted to Bendigo and not long after found "B M A C" ,yes the Bendigo Model Aero Club, after joining up it only took a short time and they made me President, this happens when you're the new kid on the block. After 3 years I stepped down, and found my self as the new Secretary. This then lead on to loss of the pages from the minutes book, and how we the found out how old the Club was, only when the old bank book was discovered.

We jumped forward to the current day with the club and the Current name of the Club and why we changed it to BRCAC, "Bendigo Radio Controlled Aircraft Club", and how we teach the pilots to fly. At this point we were out of words, it was time for afternoon tea and chocolates, which gave us time sit and talk no listen to the senior citizens and their stories.

The Carers thanked us for our time and effort, and in turn we thanked them for having us, then it was time to pack up and go home.

This is a our club doing a small part for "Community Service".

Photo By Karen Etheredge (Carer)

Report by Les Davis

BRCAC Duration Competition 16th March 2014

Whether - Yes whether to run the comp again due to weather conditions but with six starters and being Bendigo flyers we decided to go.

Initial test flights saw Matt out with a scanner at full throttle towing a big Aussie flag around the field but discarded the flag for the event.

Shaun lined up for a test flight and managed about six meters high, a roll or two for about a 3 meter total distance and unfortunately no longer in the running to compete.

The CD's Barnstormer at least got ½ way across the runway rockin & rollin before spreading the U/C flat but still operational.

Time to get underway with Larry (flying Ian's aircraft under Instructions) and Jack as first timers to duration were allowed 200mil of fuel and the others on 150mil. Larry actually only had a 170mil tank though.

With five starters we were away for round 1 and all up together - Alan down after 11min (engine stopped) and the others between 28 to 40 minutes. Winds in the mid 20s & gusts to the mid 30s were not helping Round 1.

Lunch and then round two - Alan struggling to stop going backwards and then the big black cloud sucked it up until it had to be full nose down and power to get it back - difficulty in seeing & controlling the rocket until back close when the comment was made "he's flying upside down" - right way up approach was made to land but another big gust put it down for me.

Matt also was caught out on his deadstick approach with another gust but the remaining three survived the day. Winds were in the high 20s - mid 30s and gusts into the 40s from the airport records for Round 2.

Thanks to Andy and Shaun for doing the timekeeping and to Ian for assisting Larry to be able to compete in the comp for the first time.

Results

1st	Larry Bethel	47m 38s
2nd	Gary Schmedje	37m 16s
3rd	Jack Andrew	36m 38s
4th	Matt Young	28m 24s
5th	Alan Uren	19m 59s

Report CD Pics AlanU

Glider Comp "4 in 20" - 2/3/2014

It had to happen. At last the weather has come good, so we could run the first comp for this year after two failed attempts because of the extreme high temps or the strong winds that cause cancellations. The weather was fine for our 4 in 20 Glider comp.

4 in 20 relates to four flights to gain a total of 20 minutes flight time, which is easy some days and very hard to do on others. Our six entries that we had soon dropped to five, after Alan Uren dropped the lid of his TX case on the fin of his glider, with a nasty result. ( Bugger)

The five remaining entrants were set and ready to go. First to launch was Robbie Marshall, straight into a thermal, almost losing sight of it before a recovery was made. Next off was Roy Butterfield. He also found lift and produced a good score, but the next three entrants, Les Davis, Larry Bethel and Cliff Goullett, had no luck at all with finding good lift and the best scored between the three, for the whole of day was Les's, 5 mins 15 sec. The rest of their scores were, well, poor to say the least.

Robbie Marshall flew on to get a score of 19 mins 24 sec out of the 20 minutes possible. Well done to Robbie, he hasn't been flying in any our comps for a long time, and its great to see him back, and also in the winners circle.

Thanks to Ernie, Andy and Gary for the time keeping and also Jack (with the green Shirt) for running a few bungees retrieves. We can't run these comps without helpers so a big thanks to you all.

Results,

First Place	Robbie Marshall	19m 24s
Second	Roy Butterfield	15m 21s
Third	Larry Bethel	13m 36s

Report by, AL Dee (The happy Contest Director). Thanks to Alan Uren for photos.

Item for Sale by Club Member

Andy is selling his VIPER jet! Details here.

Birthday Gathering 21-2-2014

Three of our club members had reached a milestone birthday since the start of this year, but with Christmas holidays, the stinking hot weather then the Funeral of our Club member Billy Matthews, most club activities had been pushed aside until now.

Then it was discovered that 3 milestone birthdays had come up, a 50th, 60th and 80th, so it was time to call all three together and celebrate the 3 birthdays on one day, and that day was Friday 21st of Feb. So invites went out to those club members on the Email list, for a birthday gathering to celebrate these 3 milestone birthdays. The sangers, drinks and cake with 3 names on it were all arranged and ready to go.

The three club members, whose milestone birthdays had come up were,

The advertising flyer has been done and the rules for this years challenge have been drawn up, with a new format that will make it a lot more even for all entrants. To find out all the details, rules and entry forms etc, for this exciting enjoyable fun day of the Scanner Challenge No 2. Rules and entry form, click on the links.

Bendigo has plenty of Scanner kits and OS 46AX engines available, Ring Les, 03 54438681