August 2002 Newsletter

2005 is in with a swing. Out with the old in with the new and all that other jazz. In the spirit of things our new officers were brought into office at the December meeting/Christmas party.

Sonny is really taking charge as President. He is taking care of business, let me tell you. This is going to be a good year. Of course if you have anything you would like to discuss or want to see done with the club, feel free to bring it to a meeting. Active members are always welcome.

In the spirit of the new year as well we will be meeting in a new place. It has a little more elbow room, but it is a little further out of town. Jim has graciously opened up his new shop to the club to have meetings there.

That is completely up to you guys, but there is always a place in the meeting to show off your latest and greatest flying machine. With more room, it will be a whole lot easier to show and tell.

Robert and Brenda Wilson have been hosting the meetings at Kokopelli Real Estate for about a year and a half now. We really appreciate the hospitality they have given RAF by letting us use their meeting room. But as the club grows, which is a good thing, we have outgrown the room. So next time you see Robert or Brenda, be sure you thank them for their generosity.

The December meeting and Annual RAF Christmas Party was held at Pepper's Grill and Bar December 3rd. We had lots of laughs and a good time. Men had their usual white elephant gift exchange with some really good gifts. There was a fuel pump, CG machine, power screwdriver, large spinners... Craig gave away a DVD he put together of the Alamogordo fly-in RAF members attended. If you would like a copy of the DVD give him $1 to cover the cost of the DVD and he'll get you a copy. The women had a gift exchange as well with some really good presents too. Lot's of pretty stuff.

Yes in the spirit of the new year and the season of giving, it is once again time to hand over the $15 for your RAF dues. Can't be a club without dues. So everyone bring your checkbook or cash to the next meeting and lets get this part of the year over with. We grew from about 12-15 members last year all the way up to 25 members. Wow, what an accomplishment. We are growing strong and we need to keep it strong. 2004 started a membership drive. Each member was challenged to bring in just one person to the club. I say it is a good tradition to keep going and lets see how many new members we can get for 2005.

Do we have one? I'm sure we do. Old business would include the highly talked about location for a new flying field. If you have more information, please bring it to the meeting. The Christmas party will probably be part of old business, just to say how much fun we had. I'm sure there is other old business I'm forgetting here.

I know some of you have noticed a new little section put out on the webpage called "Members Only". You have probably noticed the whole left side of the page is kind of messed up now too. I'm working on it. Really. Anyway, the member's only section contains a list of members with their addresses and email along with phone numbers. I guess you could call it the "Roster". Yeah, that is a good name for it. There is also a list of frequencies people are on. How do you get into this section. I know it says members only and this email goes out to other non-members, but I figure if you get the newsletter you are worthy to have access to member's information.

Well there has been more activity than one would expect for December 2004. The snow did not stop us. Well it did for awhile. But it was okay because it was Christmas weekend and all. I did hear that Sonny was out flying the Sunday after Christmas. A friend of a friend of a friend said he was out walking around staring at the ground again. I figured he was trying to spot that pesky tail wheel that keeps coming off the Extra. Have you taken time off from building the 40% Extra to glue that tail wheel on yet Sonny?

We found out this month, Abel is able to fly. Even without a trainer cord. After making a few approaches, he was able to land his plane. It wasn't pretty, but it is still in one piece and able to fly again. I'm sure with practice it will get much better and he will be more able. Enough with the ables here.

I have been seeing lots of new planes at the field. Curtis brought out a Cessna 140 New Year's Day. I don't think it flew though, but it sure did try hard. I'm sure we'll get to see it in the air soon. Curtis's friend showed us how little electric planes can hover too. Very impressive.

Pete has been shown some tough love the past month. I hope he didn't get discouraged. He did some taxiing around and even broke a few props when attempting some take offs though. Pete, will be a pilot yet. Tough love hurts.

The weather has been a little on the chili side up until New Year's weekend. New Year's Eve there was lots of action at the field. New Year's day of course is a mandatory flying day. I remember flying in 30 mile an hour wind with snow flakes blowing in my eyes, but it had to be done. The day didn't start off pretty, but the fog cleared off and what a beautiful day. The smoke from the planes wasn't even moving. There was more of that hover action happening at the field too.