General News

UNCLASSIFIED 

Merry Xmas to all, 

I hope everyone had a great xmas with family and friends. 
I have attached a couple of photos of how I spent my xmas. 
The photos are mid day and no wind, -5, a warm day! 

All the best for the new year, wishing I was home still, 
as cold as it was at home, its nothing compared to here. 

I will see you all in the new year. 

Cheers, 
kim 

 

Monday 28 November 2011 - View of CMAC Field from Mt Ainslie Although it's over 10 kilometers in a straight line from Mt Ainslie to the CMAC Flying Field at Symonston, our newly-covered airstrip can now be spotted from the lookout up there, provided that you know where to look. This telephoto image, taken recently from Mt Ainslie, reveals the airstrip as a pinkish object in the middle distance. Thanks to Ray Botten for forwarding the image to CMAC.

CMAC from Mt Ainslie Photo by John Charlton

 

Sunday 20 November 2011 - Another New Graduate Instructor Today, Rick Wood became the third member of the current CMAC Instructor Training Class to completed his flying test and achieve MAAA Instructor status. In photo at right, ACTAA Chief Flying Instructor Kent Jorgensen presents Rick with his new MAAA Instructor Wings. Congratulations Mr Wood. CMAC now has fifteen MAAA-accredited Instructors in its current membership. See About CMAC > Flying Instructors to download their contact details.

Kent J (left) and Rick W

 

Sunday 13 November 2011 - New Graduate Instructors Today, Rick Brown and Gowrie Waterhouse, members of the current CMAC Instructor Training Class, became the first students to successfully complete their theory and practical test and achieve MAAA Instructor status. See photos of ACTAA Chief Flying Instructor Kent Jorgensen presenting their MAAA Instructor Wings. Well done Rick and Gowrie! This Class has been the first to be conducted with the entirely new train-the-instructor curriculum and supporting material developed by Kent for ACT use. This training package is now being evaluated by MAAA for national adoption. Special thanks are due to Kent for the many hours that he has devoted to the development of the new Instructor Training class and then to running the current Class.

Rick B (left) and Kent J Gowrie W (left) and Kent J

 

Saturday 05 November 2011 - Birthday Party Vic Jones reports: "Here is a photo I took on Sat 5 November, showing some of the Visitors who attended CMAC Field to celebrate the third Birthday of a young man who took a shine to the Club's Flying Field when his Parents bought him out to watch the models a couple of months ago. Apparently, when his parents asked the lad where he would like to go for a treat on his birthday, he nominated "the place where the model planes fly". The parents subsequently approached the Committee who readily agreed to the party being held in our 'Public Area'. Nice to see the facilities being enjoyed by people unrelated to the Club."

Click to enlarge

 

Saturday 05 November 2011 - Shade Trees alive and well The ten deciduous shade trees planted at the CMAC field six weeks ago are now covered in spring foliage. Many thanks to Byam for looking after their care and feeding over this initial period,

Click to enlarge

 

Thursday 27 September 2011 - Shade Trees Today, ten deciduous shade trees were planted at the CMAC field. These Maple trees - five 'October Glory' cultivars and five 'Lipstick Maple' - were recommended by John at Willow Park Nursery, who supplied them to CMAC with a generous discount. It is expected that these trees will provide morning shade in the summer both for CMAC members in the pit area and also for spectators standing in the path to the east of the pit fence. Special thanks to Kent who marked out and dug the holes and to Byam who organized the purchase and delivery of the trees and then did the planting, staking and mulching.

New shade trees for spectators Byam at work Click to enlarge

 

Sunday 18 September 2011 - Visitors from BMAC The Belconnen Model Aero Club's flying field is located at the southern end of Bellenden Street, Mitchell. See map. As a consequence of last Friday's major chemical fire at Mitchell, authorities closed the entire neighborhood over the weekend - including the BMAC flying field - while EPA ensured that the area would be safe for the public to re-enter. BMAC members were invited to use the CMAC field while they were locked out from Mitchell and several fliers turned up this morning. See amongst them was Geoff Woodward, AUS 7478, a long-time aeromodeller and one-time CMAC member. After some quick work with a wipper-snipper, the old control line-circle at the CMAC field was cleared sufficiently to allow Geoff to fly a couple of his diesel-powered models successfully.

Geoff pre-flights his c/l models Click to enlarge

 

Sunday 11 September 2011 - A 9/11 Success Story Vic Jones reports: "As you know, Stirling and I were CMAC’s representatives at the ASAA sponsored IMAC Competition held at the Twin Cities Model Aircraft Club in Albury, over this weekend (10 & 11 Sept 2011). Twin Cities is the Club which first employed the Paper-mill matting on its runway, taxiways and pits, and inspired us to use a similar approach in the redevelopment of CMAC’s Flying Field. "Despite the very challenging weather conditions, with wind strengths on Saturday that were far in excess of anything that we would consider flying in at CMAC, twenty pilots competed in five classes flying models which ranged in size from 2 metres wing span up to 3.3 metres wing span. "Stirling demonstrated his ability to handle the difficult wind conditions better than most, ultimately taking first place in the Intermediate class. I managed to collect second place, flying in the Basic class. Sincere Congratulations to both Stirling and Vic (Ed)

 

Tuesday 06 September 2011 - CMAC AGM and new Committee for 2011-12 On a cold and rainy Canberra night, CMAC's Annual General Meeting was held at Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden and was attend by over 30 members. In his Report to the Club, outgoing President Garrett McDonald reviewed the history of the now-complete project to upgrade the airstrip, taxiways and pits at the CMAC Flying Field. He acknowledged the many volunteers who made this possible, and thanked Vic Jones in particular for his special efforts to manage the project. Garrett also presented Certificates of Recognition to three members - Matt Chambers, Paul Pringle and Byam Wight - in acknowledgement of their outstanding contributions to CMAC through regular voluntary work at our Symonston Flying Field. Garrett end his report by thanked the outgoing committee for their support during 2010-11. Outgoing Treasurer David Haycraft presented the audit Financial Report for 2010-11 and acknowledged professional advice from Kent Jorgensen on how properly to record pre-paid Membership Subscriptions and pre-paid ACTAA Affiliation Fees. The Meeting concluded with the election of the Committee for 2011-12.

 

Friday 02 September 2011 - New flight training Instructor's Manual CMAC CFI Kent Jorgensen reports: "Hi all, We have just finished putting the final touches on the Instructors' Lesson Plans. Can you please look at these, and if useful use them. I am seeking feedback on their usefulness and content. I shall have hard copies available for the instructors' course next weekend. Any feedback welcome. Cheers, Kent

 

Monday 16 August 2011 - Nominations for CMAC Committee 2011-12 To date, fifteen nominations have been received for the ten position on the CMAC Committee for 2011-12. Click Committee Nominations for the current list. As required by CMAC Constitution Section 16, nomination of committee members must be in the approved form and given to the Secretary by Wednesday 31 August 2011, seven days prior to the AGM. Click Committee Position Nomination Form to download the form.

 

Sunday 15 August 2011 - Flight School is In CMAC Chief Flying Instructor Kent Jorgensen continues to run his no-cost weekly initial training classes for R/C Pilots. at the CMAC field. The Boomerang 60 has proved to be a very effective model - stable and robust - for beginners.

Flight School assembles: from left Kent J, Ken Guest, Phil Deamer Brett Cadwallader watches from behind fence Click to enlarge

 

Thursday 05 August 2011 - Spektrum and JR DSMX Transmitter Recall The Spektrum Team has been investigating sporadic reports from DSMX transmitter owners using their products in DSM2 mode. We have discovered that in some rare instances, DSMX equipped transmitters with the Product ID (PID) within this bulletin, may have a backwards compatibility issue that could cause a "hold" with the following superseded DSM2 receivers: AR500, AR6100, AR6100E, AR6110, AR6110E, AR6200 and AR6300. Affected users are advised to send their transmitter to OMP for a free firmware update. For more info see DSMX Bulletin 110607

 

Wednesday 20 July 2011 - Noise Minimisation In response to recent events the CMAC Committee has introduced two new operational procedures to minimise noise in the neighborhood of the CMAC field. The new procedures are: Mufflers Any internal combustion engine that is to be run at the CMAC Field must be fitted with a muffler which effectively limits noise to a moderate and generally acceptable level Curfew Noisy models may not be flown at CMAC Field earlier than 8.00 AM local time on Sundays or Public Holidays The Sunday/Public Holiday curfew time aligns with the ACT Government's published Noise Standards in Noise in Residential Areas. A Notice concerning these new procedures has been mailed to each CMAC member. This Notice is also available on-line to Members at CMAC News > Member News

 

Sunday 03 July 2011 - Kombat! Under gray clouds, Gowrie, Jurgen and Owen engaged in a streamer-cutting challenge with their semi-disposable electric-powered foamies. Despite the predictions of some the older spectators, it didn't end in tears or a shower of polystyrene fragments, and no models were harmed in this exercise.

 

Saturday 02 July 2011 - Prime Possum meets Stirlo Stirling Jones appeared in Prime TV's "Possum's Club" this morning. As well as a studio segment in which Stirlo described the basics of aeromodelling to Maddie and Possum ("it's for anyone from eight to eighty"), they showed some nifty flying sequences filmed earlier at the CMAC field with Stirlo and other club members. Very smooth presentation ... and the bloke wasn't too bad either :o)

Click to enlarge

 

Sunday 26 June 2011 - Prime Possum aeromodelling segment From Vic Jones, CMAC Secretary: Prime TV approached CMAC a few weeks ago, asking if we would assist them with an item for their Kid’s Show – Prime Possum. Well, Stirling Jones (Stirlo) took on the job on behalf of the Club and, after various exchanges with the show’s Director and their Co-ordinator, he took part in a series of recorded segments with the show’s Host, plus their “talent” – Prime Possum (a 6ft 6” possum look-alike) and Doofa Dog (a 6ft plus Goofy look-alike). This all happened at the Prime Studios, after an aborted attempt to shoot it at the Club Flying Field recently (with howling winds, rain and freezing temperatures). The show’s Director and their cameraman visited the Club Flying Field this morning to record some flying sequences with Stirlo, and also to get some shots of our Field and our Club facilities. This may be a kid’s show, but it is on National Syndication and we had a brilliant opportunity to get the Club some wonderful “community exposure”, to say nothing of our Hobby being shown to many young Australians and their parents in an excellent light.

Stirlo (in light blue jacket) flies for the video cameraman Click to enlarge

 

Saturday 25 June 2011 - Mike McGrath gets his Wings Today, Mike McGrath (AUS 69271), now in his second year at CMAC, successfully completed the MAAA Bronze Wings (Power) flying test under the watchful eye of CFI Kent Jorgensen. Well done Mike! Photo by Terry Griffiths

Mike (right) receives Bronze Wings from Kent Click to enlarge

 

Saturday 25 June 2011 - New Welcome Signage We now have a new Welcome sign next to the entrance gate at the CMAC Field. Thanks to Vic Jones, Terry Griffiths and "C&G s!gns" of Fyshwick ACT for this installation.

Welcome to CMAC Click to enlarge

 

Thursday 23 June 2011 - Call for Expressions of Interest in Instructor Training Course Today CMAC Chief Flying Instructor Kent Jorgensen commenced planning for a new MAAA Instructor Training Course to be held in the Spring at the CMAC field. If you have a current Gold Wings certificate and would like to participate in this course, please contact Kent by 30 July 2011.

 

Sunday 05 June 2011 - Sausage Sizzle Day In what has now become a regular fixture on the CMAC calendar, the First Sunday Sausage Sizzle was enjoyed today by a good number of CMAC members. The CMAC Committee funds this event and thanks Byam Wight for making it happen each time. Byam buys in the supplies, operates the barbeque, serves it all out and cleans up afterwards. Good man!

Usual Suspects enjoying the Sizzle Click to enlarge

 

Sunday 05 June 2011 - Puzzle Time What's going on here? Answers please, on the back of an envelope to the Web Editor.

What? Click to enlarge

 

03-30 June 2011 - Kangaroo Cull, Jerrabomberra West Nature Reserve Click for Notice to CMAC Members

 

Saturday 04 June 2011 - CMAC 2011-12 Membership Renewal Reminder Today CMAC 2011-12 Membership Renewal Reminders were sent to all current senior members, 75 by e-mail and 6 by post. These reminders included copies of the new CMAC Membership Application Form and CMAC Fee Structure.

Click to download: Membership Renewal Reminder CMAC Membership Application Form 2011-12 CMAC Fee Structure 2011-12.

 

Friday 27 May 2011 - CMAC Membership Fees Remain Unchanged for 2011-12 CMAC Membership Fees include three components: Club Fee, ACTAA Fee and MAAA Fee (primarily an insurance premium). Following the recent MAAA Annual Council Conference held in Canberra, ACTAA President Anthony Robinson advised that the MAAA has agreed to hold its fees for 2011-12 at current levels and that ACTAA will too. At its meeting on 19 May 2011 the CMAC Committee also agreed to hold the CMAC component of its annual fees at the same level as last year. Consequently CMAC Membership Fees remain unchanged for 2010-11. In particular the annual fee for Seniors is still $200. For the full CMAC fee structure see Useful Info > CMAC Fee Structure.

 

Friday 06 May 2011 - Dickson College prepares for UAV Challenge This week CMAC welcomes three new junior members - Alexander Evans, Robbie Reynolds and Luke Searle - to our Field. They are students at Dickson College and members of a College team preparing to compete in the UAV Outback Challenge 2011 in September. The Dickson College team is being cooordinated by their ICT/Robotics Teacher Andrew Moss and they are all learning to fly R/C model aircraft under instruction from CMAC Instructor Jack Pittar.

Alex, Luke, Jack Pittar, Andrew Moss, Robbie Click to enlarge

 

Friday 06 May 2011 - CMAC Membership reaches 90 With the acceptance of three new Juniors from Dickson College, CMAC now has 90 members. CMAC Members may view the Membership Register at CMAC News > Committee Reports.

CMAC Membership Senior 78 Junior 9 Associate 3 Total 90

 

Wednesday 05 May 2011 - Vale: Barry Bosanac (AUS 18763) Barry Bosanac has been an active member of BMAC for the past few years, but prior to that he was a well known and liked member of CMAC. Barry served on the Management Committee for several years – including one year where he took on the role of Treasurer simply because we needed one – not because he had any experience in accounting. As with everything, Barry took on that role quietly but effectively, helping the Club out when it needed it. It is my sad duty to advise those members who knew Barry Bosanac, that Barry died last Monday morning while undergoing emergency surgery in a Sydney hospital. Barry was taken ill only last week, with a heart problem. Vic Jones - Secretary

 

Sunday 01 May 2011 - Mayday Sausage Sizzle To set up this meet, Club Secretary Vic Jones e-mailed the following invitation to each individual member. Hi Guys, Instead of inviting you to help-out with yet another Working Bee, I am writing to remind you that the Club’s Monthly Sausage Sizzle is on again, next Sunday 1st of May. This one is quite special, because we can celebrate the availability of the full “layout” of our Flying Field Runway: 141 metres long by 17 metres wide (and all of it smooothe!) with grassed run-off at each end Taxiways: three of them leading directly to and from the runway Pits: 50 metres fully covered Starting Areas - three separate areas with a total of eight sets of starting poles. Come along and try out the new facilities, and enjoy Byam’s great work on the BBQ. Sunday morning started under heavy fog, but it cleared by around 09:30 to present a perfect Autumn morning with light winds and temperature approaching 20C. At least 30 CMAC members turned up, and it was especially pleasing to welcome visiting members from the Belconnen and Namadgi clubs. A highlight of the morning was a demonstration "Xtreme Dragon" flight by David Purshon from NSFC. This model is an example of the current type of sports jet and was manufactured in South America. It is powered by a JetCat 160SX turbine, which, at full throttle, consumes Jet A1 fuel at 700 ml per minute. This allows a flight time of around 6 minutes, with a good safety margin. For more pix of this outstanding gas turbine model see Photo Gallery > Planes .

Waiting, waiting... Byam does early business with Kent and kids Aeromodellers gathering in the new CMAC pits President Garrett inspects David Purshon's turbine model

Saturday 30 April 2011 - Bronze Wings for Karl

CMAC's Karl Werner was today awarded his MAAA Bronze Wings by our main Instructor Kent Jorgensen. Karl first started dual-control instruction on a fixed-wing trainer at CMAC on Sunday 02 May 2010 so it's taken him a year less two days -- and several models -- to achieve this milestone. Congratulations, Mr Persistence!

Karl W

Tuesday 26 April 2011 - Additional Matting Laid This morning, under gray Autumn skies and a cool southerly wind, a volunteer team of CMAC members lead by Vic and Byam finished laying the new matting on the airstrip. The team also laid matting in the pits and the connecting corridors between the taxiways and the strip. This work completes the current runway upgrade project. Upgraded CMAC Runway layout Click to enlarge

CMAC Pits South entry to airstrip North entry to airstrip

Tuesday 19 April 2011 - Additional Matting Obtained

CMAC Secretary Vic Jones reports: "On Sunday night, I sent another email to my contact at the Paper Mill in Albury, saying 'Pretty please, can you find us a couple more rolls of Dryer Screen?' In truth, I was hoping that he might commit to getting us another roll or two from their mid-year maintenance shut-down. " To my surprise and delight, he got back to me this morning, saying that he had one roll of red matting available immediately, if we could arrange to pick it up pronto. " I have since arranged to hire a long, long trailer, and for Rupert Hewison to accompany me and assist with loading, etc. We will be off to Albury, early tomorrow morning. " The new roll of red/red matting will allow us to join up the Taxiways and release the green/red matting to be rolled out in the Pits, where it was always intended to be used. Vic and Rupert hired a long trailer from Bunnings, made the return trip to Albury on Tuesday 19 and returned with a full roll of matting.

Sunday 17 April 2011 - CMAC Runway Upgrade

CMAC Secretary Vic Jones reports: "Thanks to the magnificent effort put in by a dedicated team of members who worked hard on both Saturday and Sunday, the Club’s Flying Field is again open for flying. "Not only is our Field open again, but the matting on the runway has been expanded so that a smoothe, drought-proof area measuring 141 metres by 17 metres is now available for your use. "While this area is somewhat smaller than our original grass-covered runway, which measured 155 metres by 25 metres, I am confident that the quality and consistency of the matting surface will more than compensate for the loss of area. In any case, the Club will continue to maintain all of the grassed area immediately adjacent to the matting. "Unfortunately, the Club’s entire stock of matting had to be invested in the runway, so that connection of the taxiways and full matting of the pits must be placed on hold, until such time as the Club is able to acquire a further supply of matting. These remaining elements of the project will continue to have a high priority. "All of CMAC is indebted to the strong group of volunteers who worked so hard and co-operatively over the past two days. Will the individuals concerned please accept my thanks – which are expressed on behalf of the entire Club. Regards Vic Jones on behalf of the Management Committee

Work in progress View of new runway from south Click to enlarge

Friday 15 April 2011 - CASA Approval Renewed until April 2013

The CMAC Flying Field has CASA Approval for a further two years. The restrictions are basically unchanged from the previous approval, except that we are now required to remain at least 500 feet below any general cloud base. Click to download

Sunday 27 March 2011 - CMAC supports SouthCare Base Open Day

In mild and sunny Autumn weather, over 10,000 people attended the Snowy Hydro SouthCare Base Open Day, held at the helicopter base on Monaro Highway, Hume. For the second year running, CMAC put on a static display of model aircraft at this event, and attracted a lot of interest from the public. Club Secretary Vic Jones organised the CMAC stand and prepared a stack of leaflets to hand out to the crowd. Jack Pittar provided the marquee. Display models were loaned for the day by Vic, Jack, Ray Botten, Steve Grzeskowiak and David Haycraft.

The CMAC Display Steve discusses "straight and level" with Vic Click to enlarge

Tuesday 15 March 2011 - Notice to all CMAC Members: Height Restrictions at CMAC Flying Field

Reminder from CMAC Committee about CASA restrictions Club Flying Operations. Click here to download and read your PDF copy.

Saturday 12 February 2011 - CIAM Flyer Published

CIAM (see About CMAC > Relationships ) has now published CIAM Flyer No 1 - 2011. This edtion features an article titled "Three ways of launching a model glider plane to gain altitude". Click here to download and read your PDF copy.

Saturday 29 January 2011 - Quadcopter flies at CMAC

Today Justin Galbraith test-flew his new XAircraft X-450 "quadcopter" at the CMAC field. Unlike conventional rotary-wing aircraft the X-450 doesn't require variable-pitch rotor blades or complex mechanical linkages. Instead, directional control of this electric-powered UAV is achieved simply by varying the rotational speed of the rotor at each corner through its own dedicated ESC. No, you don't need four thumbs! The X-450 uses an automated AHRS system to calculate flight attitude (pitch and roll) and heading and manage the flight. The AHRS features an on-board inertial reference system with 3 gyros and 3 accelerometers and accepts either conventional radio-control directions from a ground transmitter or an automated flight plan from an on-board GPS receiver. For more info on the revolutionary micro-technology behind the X-450 and its big brother, the X-650, see the XAircraft QuadCopter Weblog.

Justin flies the Quadcopter X-450 flying away from the camera (The two forward legs are yellow.) Click to enlarge

Wednesday 19 January 2011 - Problem with JR X9303 (DX9) Transmitters

Alert to anyone who has a JR X9303 2.4 GHz transmitter (DSX 9). JR have issued a warning about internal wiring being damaged by stick movement. The fix is easy, instructions on the JR Website at X9303 2.4GHz Service Bulletin Info kindly provided by John Kastelan of Blacktown Aeromodellers Club