1. As already emailed, PayPal is now accepted for dues payments. We can also use a swipe device at the launch locations for launch fee payments or for selling t-shirts/etc. We're in the process of linking the club bank account to our PayPal account.
2. Dan Welling reported on the Saturday April 6th launch at Elsberry. It was very windy but there were several successful high power flights.
Under accomplishments:
Congratulations to Chris Franklin for obtaining his level 2 certification. Here is the description of the flight from Dan Welling:
Chris Franklin flew his L2 cert flight - not on a little J like most folks and not a low altitude flight, but a window flight to 13,019ft AGL on a 5 gr 75mm Smokey Sam L1685. Unfortunately, there were clouds somewhere around 9,000 ft or so. A white rocket, no tracking, drogueless with a white main ;chute - found it in less than 45 min. (And about 20 minutes of that was a false alarm when we saw a partially unearthed white PVC drain pipe 1/3 mile into a field.) Main at 500ft was definitely not too low. It landed about 100 yards from the river.
Congratulations also to new member Greg Pernoud who obtained his level 1 certification using an I161 motor. Luckily, Greg's rocket landed very close to a road for an easier recovery.
3. The group discussed a possibility of a second spring launch at Elsberry. The landowner was getting ready to plant his crops. Once planted, we will have to wait until fall to fly again. the next possibility will be April 20th. Dan will contact the landowner to get a read on his planting schedule. I won't schedule the 20th until Dan has a chance to talk to the landowner.
4. The first launch at Buder park has been rescheduled to May 11th due to 2 groups of scouts who would like to attend. We will need help to assist the 40 to 50 scouts who may attend so please consider attending the model rocket launch. The setup usually starts at 12:30 Saturday and will run until 5:00 PM or so. Small H motors can be flown at Buder if the conditions are right and the rocket is less than 3.3 lbs. The field is not very large with a river to the south and I-44 to the north so any H motor flights would need to be in "low and slow" rockets (such as the Loc Mini-Mag). Look for more info as we get closer to the May launch.
5. Our new web site has been stable on the new provider and we plan to shut down the old provider before the May membership meeting. The only functionality left on the old provider is the club announcements and rocket-select mailing lists which will be discontinued. To continue receiving club email messages - you'll have to create an account with your email address on the new site once the mailing lists are shut down. I will provide the exact date and time of the shutdown a week before the actual date.
6. Dan Welling has yet to order the e-matches as part of the group buy. There is still time to order e-matches so contact Dan or leave a message on the e-match forum topic if you're interested.
7. Special thanks to Mark Henriksen who purchased new relays for our relay box in November. This helps maintain the reliability of our launch pads when its time to press the button. Acknowledgement of his contribution was long overdue and I want to thank Mark for his patience when I let it slip through the cracks. I'm looking at ways to improve our receipt process so that it doesn't take so long in the future. Thanks Mark!
Please let me know if there are any corrections, achievements or contributions that I've missed in these notes. Thanks to all who attended the meeting.
Heino Pull
SLRA Secretary