Meeting Minutes
March Club Meeting
VRCF Club Meeting – March 3, 2020
Fargo Air Museum - members and guests present - 12
Checking - $5,089.74
Savings - $2,287.27
TOTAL - $7,377.01
36 new or renewed members to date
Treasurer:
• Bills: - electric, safe deposit box, internet site
President: Dean not present.
Vice President Mark Pueppke presiding
• Two items identified at board meeting to address this year
o Gravel work on parking lot and topsoil for ruts and low spots on runway
▪ Verbal quotes received by Kevin and Dean
o Paint cement walls of main shelter
• REMINDER - DL Mall Show – April 4, 2020
AGENDA
1. Jets, EDFs, etc. – Dave Tsen
2. Update on group build of Gee Bee Y – work continues on Sunday afternoons at Ron’s house. Please call Ron to participate.
2020 Officers
President – Dean Gary
Vice President – Mark Pueppke
Treasurer – Ryan Johnson
Secretary – Ron Landman
Safety –-> Kevin Paulson
Members at large – Ken Littlefield, Randy Pitura
March Board Meeting
VRCF Board Meeting – Feb 18, 2020
Dean Gary’s house - members and guests present ~6
No financial report, treasurer not present
Checking - $
Savings - $
TOTAL - $
AGENDA
Discussed Field Improvements list – Zeroed in on two main items for 2020 field maintenance.
• Gravel for the drive and parking.
• Painting of shelter cement
Also discussed that some leveling of ruts on the north end of the field is in order.
Confirmed that our first Fun Fly of the season will be Saturday, June 6.
Other discussion regarding the annual Fun Fly on August 1, 2020.
• Go back to traditional pilot stations. Some found the fence too confining (too high) and also hard to drag items out to starting area. We will need to emphasize safety, maybe designate a starting area to the east of the pits.
• Extra Porta Potty was deemed a very helpful success and we should repeat it.
• Mark P is already working on prizes, has some commitments.
• We considered if we should have vendors there like they did at the GF indoor.
o ExtremeRcPrecision.com
o Bruce Pennington – Horizon Hobby dealer
• Considered other food options for the Saturday night meal. Steak or catering. Could be a few dollars more but many people seem to like this type of thing. Chicken from Hornbacher’s is a good fall back.
• 1-day vs. 2-day. Some like to camp and fly longer. They already can but the energy of the Saturday crowd is not there on Sunday. Maybe just encourage more Friday and Sunday attendance in our advertising.
Club Build of Gee Bee Y in honor of Florence Klingensmith in progressing, mostly on Sunday afternoons. We need to ask for donations or club financial support. Also bring some of it to the club meetings to get more participation and excitement.
Club meetings – March meeting will feature Dave Tsen’s jets and EDF talk. Also club build and any member winter projects.
Misc: Improvement list
<Please see the attachment for a list of improvement items.>
No Board Meeting
No board meeting this week.
November Board Meeting Minutes
VRCF Board Meeting – November 19, 2019
Labby’s Bar and Grill - members and guests present ~9
Checking - $3,624.51
Savings - $2,287.27
TOTAL - $5,911.78
AGENDA
Holiday party – It was decided to set the event for Sunday Jan. 12, 2020 at Spitfire in West Fargo
–. Mark P will reserve the back room. Club and board meeting included in the event.
Indoor Flying - Metro Rec – could be available for $56/hour, available around noon on Sundays. The board is favorable but want to make sure there are enough participant to make sharing the cost reasonable. Maybe just start with one event and see how it goes. Ron and Dean to check out the facility.
Field Improvements list – We updated the list and discussed priorities. No decisions were made to spend money at this time.
Field property is $14.5 Acres. Farmer is renting and paying for 5 acres at $100/acre. Ken volunteered to talk to farmer about the value of the rent and possibly raise it.
Ryan Jordet got quotes on doing allowing membership to be paid on the web site PayPal. Its about 2.5%. Ryan Johnson want to check out other options like Venmo and Square.
Florence Kingensmith memorial. Maybe build a model of one of her planes, then donate to Air Museum. Air Museum needs plaques for the models they have so people know what they are.
November Club Meeting
Club Meeting – November 5, 2019
VRCF Field - members and guests present - 12
Checking - $3,643.78
Savings - $2,287.27
TOTAL - $5,931.05
AGENDA
Ideas for indoor flying - Metro rec, Oak Grove gym, …
Holiday Party location – Spitfire and Frying Pan – have a room
Email members for additional ideas Is alcohol availability desired. Yes
Canopy painting techniques
Update projects list
Priority – maintain the field we have
Elections were held for 2020 officers. Ken Littlefield ran the elections in an efficient and fair manner. The results are as follows:
2020 Officers
President – Dean Gary
Vice President – Mark Pueppke
Treasurer – Ryan Johnson
Secretary – Ron Landman
Safety – Kevin Paulson
Members at large – Ken Littlefield, Randy Pitura
September 2019 Meeting Minutes
Club Meeting – September 3, 2019
VRCF Field - members and guests present - 10
Checking - $4,311.00
Savings - $2,286.69
TOTAL - $6,597.69
AGENDA
• Indoor Fun Fly? Inquiries at NDSU for their indoor track building seem promising. Ron to proceed with looking into available dates for a Sat or Sun in Jan or Feb. Don’t conflict with GF club or Bismarck. Don’t conflict with GF
• Talked about the visit we had from the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). No question we want to cooperate with them in any way we can. This led to a discussion of the club possible charging entities that want to use the field for learning or practicing drone piloting. This would not be an ongoing business model but just have a plan in place so when opportunities come up we can offer a possible arrangement. Government agencies like CAP or Sheriff’s department would have one price, commercial companies like agricultural equipment companies would be a higher price. The board will discuss this further.
• Paint the Shelter? We have prices from 3 sources along with recommendations for how to prime and paint the cement shelter. Lots of stores have paint and even “masonry paint”. Hard to tell what will actually work best and last longest. People seem to have a good impression with Sherwin-Williams paint in spite of the fact that it is the most expensive. Ron to make a recommendation to the board for an amount of paint to do just the west, north and south sides of the shelter this fall for a trial.
• We discussed the field and flight line configuration that we used at the Fun Fly. It was “OK” for the big event but most are not interested or willing to have a permanent fence set up in place of the flight stations. Some discussion was had about moving the safety fence to the east up to 25’ to make more room to park in the center of the field. Also bringing electricity to the center area, maybe even putting it near the safety fence to make it more convenient to charge near the pits.
• Oct 20 – Spud Valley Toy Show Will talk about this more at the next meeting.
• Rodney Johnson and Johan Bauson gave a talk and demonstration of a very nice electronic weighing system used for determining the exact CG of an airplane and then adding weight at the appropriate point to get the exact balance desired. The system is from Xicoy CG scale.
2019 Officers
President – Ryan Johnson
Vice President – Dean Gary
Treasurer – Paul K
Secretary – Ron Landman
Safety – Dick V
Member at large – Ken L, Mark P
August Board Meeting
VRCF Board Meeting – August 20, 2019
VRCF field - members and guests present ~8
Checking - $4,298.70
Savings - $2,286.69
TOTAL - $6,585.39
AGENDA
Air Sho – no donations this year for anyone. Not enough people attended.
Quad Squad – planning on Saturday Aug. 24th. Let club know.
Pop machine is fixed thanks to Bob German.
Fall Fly - ? If someone wants to spearhead it, just an informal one should be OK. Do it on short notice according to weather.
Fun Fly – get sanction # soon.
Winter meetings – replace a club meeting with a Moorhead community course. Negotiate with Air Museum for winter meetings.
Possibility of recreational flying test in the near future. Not sure how it would be administered.
Civil Air Patrol – Two members came to our meeting to discuss possible cooperation. They have been asked to start UAS program. Tasked by government to build program, fly drones near critical infrastructure to test defenses, help with search and rescue, disaster assessment. Need Part 107, have DJI Mavik, etc. Fixed wing in future. It is a service related mission. Need place for training. MOU with CAP and AMA coming. Have “go” kits they send to sights that need them. 1 st and 3rd Mondays are CAP meetings.
Lee G – recognize for working on kitchen doors, etc.
Misc:
Indoor Fun Fly - ? deal with venues.
2019 Officers
President – Ryan Johnson
Vice President – Dean Gary
Treasurer – Paul K
Secretary – Ron Landman
Safety – Dick V
Member at large – Ken L, Mark P
June Board Meeting
VRCF Board Meeting – June 18, 2019
VRCF field - members and guests present ~8
Checking - $5,293.79
Savings - $2,286.12
TOTAL - $7,581.91
?? members so far this year
AGENDA
Quad Racing Region Qualifier – June 29. Sponsored by Quad Squad, local club 13 registered racers so far, likely will go up. ~20 last year. Ron and Ryan to figure out menu. Dean and Johan also willing to help serve lunch.
Fargo AirSho July 20, 21 – with Thunderbirds. VRCF to have a large static display. Need club members to volunteer for both days. ~6-8 each day. Volunteers so far - Mark P, Ryan Jordet, Ron L, Johan B Headcount for passes – Ken will ask for 8 each day. We should all try to wear blue club polo shirts. From last year’s experience, we should try to rope off better so little kids don’t just walk right under and start touching airplanes. Set up shade canopies. We still need an attention getter – like balloons or tall flag/banner. Handouts, ask AMA, business cards
VRCF Fun Fly – Aug 3 (Saturday) Prizes –
• Mark has contacted a half dozen suppliers
• 6 kits from Conrad Toni available for prizes. wing jig, airplanes
• The board agreed to contribute another $400 prize money – Ron and Dean to determine what to get and do it.
Volunteers – Need to fill all positions
• Registration
• Raffle tickets
• Lunch help – grilling and selling (5-6 people), someone to purchase supplies
• PA set up and possibly playing of some music during certain times
• Dinner – arrange meal from Hornbacher’s or other. Pick up meal. Set up serving line including any contributed salads and desserts, clean up
• Drink (lemonade), desserts, salads, condiments
• Field prep, mowing and cleaning of shelter
• Set up new flight line and temporary fencing (week or so ahead of time) Ask to get PA system from Jeff.
Cash or checks
We discussed whether to accept other forms of paymebnt. Seems like a good idea but needs to be investigated as to cost, accounts to be set up, equipment needed, etc. Possible services: Venmo – Square – Google – o.54%
Misc:
Pop machine not working. Paul blew out radiator coils and it seems to be working now. Graffiti – Ron painted over it. We should consider painting the entire outside cement.
2019 Officers
President – Ryan Johnson
Vice President – Dean Gary
Treasurer – Paul K
Secretary – Ron Landman
Safety – Dick V
Member at large – Ken L, Mark P