December 1, 2023 meeting of the Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting called to order at 12:05PM
No secretary’s report given.
Treasurer’s report by Ron Cota: Bank balance remains stable
Old Business:
Don Monson, contest director for the June outdoor contest, reported that AMA paperwork for the meet
still had not been sent in. Don will take of this and report to Dennis Batty when it is sent in. DB will
help, if necessary to finalize. Dave Braun has already taken care of the NFFS national points part of the
paperwork.
New Business:
Election of officers for 2024 year: Motion by Garry Peterson to re-elect the four present officers, Dennis
Batty, president, Gary Oakins, vice-president, Tim Brockman, secretary, and Ron Cota, treasurer.
Motion seconded by Ron Cota. Motion carried. Slate of officers will remain the same for 2024.
Ron Cota, the current club treasurer shared his feelings for the need for a back-up for him at the
treasurer’s position. Currently Gary Oakins can also sign checks. Although no motions were made or
voted on about this matter, it was decided that the present set-up would be continued until some
change was deemed necessary.
A discussion of club dues took place. Current club dues are $25 annually as they have been for a
number of years. With the new year just around the corner, dues for 2024 are now due and payable. A
motion was made by Garry Peterson and seconded by Ken Barry the dues remain annually at $25.
Motion carried.
A discussion of the day of the week for outdoor contests took place. Dennis Batty made a motion to
change the contest day from Sunday to Saturday and to line the date up with the Tripoli Rocket Club
contest days. The motion was seconded by Garry Peterson. In the discussion that followed, it was
noted that the Tripoli Rocket Club had the ability to change the day of their contests on relatively short
notice, due to weather, so that they would not necessarily be on Saturday. Jim Jorgensen wondered if
we, in our sanctioning process with the AMA had any ability to change the date/day of our meets or
possibly make the contest a two day event, if we had problems with the weather. Dennis Batty will be
talking with the AMA soon about sanctions for the 2024 contest days and report back to the club on
what the sanctioning process might allow. The motion was voted on. The motion carried. Dennis Batty
encouraged continued input from members who did not attend the Friday meeting on the contest day
discussion.
A discussion of the outdoor contest format and events took place. Dennis Batty asked for input as to
whether any changes should be made in the various events/classes current flown? No changes were
proposed. No motions were made or voted on. This will be a matter of continuing discussion and
brought up again in the January club meeting.
Show and tell: Ron Cota stated that he had a partially finished Korda Wakefield plane that he wants to
give away and let someone else finish. Contact him directly if you are interested.
Motion to adjourn at 12:50PM by Don Munson and seconded by Ron Cota. Motion carried.
November 3, 2023 meeting of the Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting was called to order at 12:03 pm.
Ron gave a treasurers report and our funds remain stable.
Tim gave a secretaries report and reported that the information on the web site is up to date (results and meeting minutes)
Gary mentioned that he would prefer to meet at the old meeting site at Anoka Airport
Old Business
Dennis reported that we are all set for the indoor season. There will be 6 indoor events, one each in November, December, January, February, March, and April. 4:45 Doors Open, 5:00 Start Flying, 9:00 Stop Flying, 9:20 must be out.
We will continue to fly Butterflys even though they are no longer available. We voted last meeting to allow carbon Butterflys in this event.
No new Business
Next month we will elect officers for the club
Some discussion about other venues for our indoor events but nothing would be as inexpensive as what we have.
Someone mentioned having our location show up on Google Maps. Tim will look into this.
Dennis will make signs for outdoor events next year.
There was some discussion about meeting time but with adding Zoom to the meetings nothing was decided to change.
Gary O. again mentioned how he would prefer having the meetings at the Anoka Airport as was previously done. No decision was made.
Show and tell:
Dennis showed a Whitman Tailwind that he had built
Jeremy showed us a Comet Pepper that he is building and also talked about the program he is working on in SQL Cloud to keep track of information about a model. Number of winds, length of run, etc.
Meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm
October 6, 2023 meeting of the Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting was called to order at 12:05 pm.
Ron gave a treasurers report and our funds remain stable.
Tim gave a secretaries report and reported that the information on the web site is up to date (results and meeting minutes)
Old Business
Indoor space total cost for the upcoming season was $274 for all 6 events. This is less than last year.
Dennis handed out contest dates for the upcoming indoor season. They were also emailed to the club.
A motion was made to add the Carbon Butterfly to the Butterfly event as was discussed at the last meeting. Motion was seconded and voted on and passed.
Dennis talked about various ways to try and improve involvement. He will make signs for the outdoor meets for next year.
No new Business
Show and tell:
Dennis showed a Jimmy Allen Skokie he built for the upcoming final outdoor contest
Ken showed his No Cal and talked about how he used a program on a Macintosh to do the design and printing
Jeremy showed us the program he is working on in SQL Cloud to keep track of information about a model. Number of winds, length of run, etc.
Meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm
September 1, 2023 meeting of the Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting was called to order at 12:01 pm.
Ron gave a treasurers report and our funds remain stable.
Tim gave a secretaries report and reported that the information on the web site is up to date (results and meeting minutes)
Old Business:
Dave Braun has volunteered to turn in National Cup points with NFFS
Dennis is waiting to hear from our indoor site to verify that the dates we have selected for our indoor contests are available
New Business:
There was discussion about possible changes to indoor contests as follows:
Should the Butterfly event be eliminated because it is no longer available or should we modify it to include the carbon model that is available? (Dennis will do some research to see if the old one has become available etc.)
Should we separate ultralight into the AMA categories? (Currently it is just one event combining all categories)
Why do we have 2 separate categories for catapult launch gliders when there appears to be no competition in this event?
Do we want to sanction our indoor contests? (Dennis will do some research on this)
Should we add P18 to help attract new flyers?
No motions were made or decisions regarding these discussions
There was discussion about outdoor events as follows:
Should we add Coupe to at least a couple of our outdoor events?
Is there any way to garner interest and get more people involved?
Should we advertise one of our outdoor events as a regional or national event?
Should we sync our event with Tripoli (The rocket launches on Saturday)?
Dennis will put together some ideas regarding outdoor contests and possible changes.
The idea of having signs posted to our events was brought up.
Show and Tell:
Dennis shared his Dornier 235 model. It is a twin motor (front and rear) but Dennis is probably only going to set it up with one motor in front.
August 4, 2023 meeting of the Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting was called to order at 12:05 pm.
Ron gave a treasurers report and our funds remain stable.
Dennis B. reported that he will be working to line up our events with national contest points (national cup points).
Dennis B. reported on the tentative schedule for the 2023-2024 indoor season. Basically the second Sunday of each month - November 12, December 10, January 14, February 11, March 10, and April 14th. Contests will be at the same location as last year. That venue costs $125 per event to rent. Since club finances remain stable, there is no need to raise fees at this time.
Dennis B. gave a report about NATS and his experiences. He showed some props he purchased from a gentelman who was selling them at NATS.
Andy had sent some information regarding rules for gliders. Some discussion also took place about general rules for each event. Jim mentioned that we should be sure the rules are as inclusive as possible to encourage newcomers. Dennis will work on putting the rules for each event on the score/time sheet he makes up for each event.
Dennis brought up the possibility of moving contests to Saturday. Ken talked about possibly lining the schedule up with Tripoli rocket club launch events since they have a portable toilet on site. Dennis will survey club members to see what the feelings are regarding this type of change.
Meeting adjourned at 12:50 pm.
July 7, 2023 meeting of the Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting was called to order at 12:03 pm.
Ron gave a treasurers report and our funds remain stable.
Dennis B. reported that he has been having some issues with the group email account so not everyone received the June contest results. (They are posted on this site)
Tim B. did up a flyer for posting at the local hobby stores advertising the club.
Dennis B. handed out the reporting forms to the contest directors for the outdoor contests.
Dennis mentioned the upcoming NATS event. Tim B., Dennis B., and Bill K. are planning on attending. The next club contest is July 9th.
A motion was made a seconded that the club purchase the 2023 NFFS Symposium. Motion passed.
Dennis B. will secure the same gym site we used for 2022-2023 indoor contests.
Dennis B. mentioned that it would be nice if we could have someone speak at our meetings about various free flight processes regarding building/flying.
Meeting adjourned
No minutes were taken at the June 2nd, 2023 meeting
May 5, 2023 meeting of the Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting was called to order at 12:00 pm.
Ron gave a treasurers report and our funds remain stable.
Dennis B. has completed the sanctions for the outdoor contests of 2023.
There will be a Fun Fly on May 21st at the field.
There was discussion about the new event replacing HoSoFo, the Sparky event. Maximum prop size will be 10.66 inches.
Andy R. brought up the suggestion that we post flyers at local hobby stores talking about our club in an attempt to bring in more members. Tim Brockman volunteered to make up a flyer and place them at Twin Cities local hobby stores.
Meeting was adjourned at 12:25 pm
April 7, 2023 meeting of the Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting was called to order at 12:04 pm. We are in a new location, the White Bear Lakes branch of the Washington County Library
Ron gave a treasurers report and our funds remain stable.
There was discussions about sanctions, Dennis B. is working on the sanctions for the upcoming outdoor season.
Andy R. discussed the possibility of having a Biffy at our outdoor events.
Meeting was adjourned at 12:30 pm
March 3, 2023 Meeting of Minneapolis Model Aero Club
There were 12 members present, 8 in person and 4 via Zoom meeting
Dennis Batty talked about the prize money for 2022. He had a discussion with Dave Braun about how this was handled in the past which was $25 for each HoSoFo win and 50 cents per point earned. Dave Braun won 4 of the 5 HoSoFo events and Dennis Batty won 1 of the 5. Dennis mentioned that neither he nor Dave will take any money for the HoSoFo wins.
The outdoor contest schedule for 2023 was looked at. It was approved with a couple of description changes and a CD change. The description fixes were one to clarify that the electric event is open to any electric and the other to fix a typo for the gas events. The CD change was to move Don Monson to the CD of the June event, switching with Andy Ringlien who will now CD the October event. A reminder that HoSoFo will be a Sparky event moving forward and a name change may take place.
The club meeting location was discussed as the current location is difficult for some members. (As it turns out - the room at the current location is not available for the April meeting) Tim Brockman and Dennis Batty agreed to look for alternate locations that have easier access. Meeting time was also discussed as the current time is not good for working people, although adding the Zoom meeting has helped.
Andy Ringlien had brought up the idea of having a Porta Potty available for outdoor meets. It was generally agreed that the cost of $160 per event would be tough to take on for the club without generating additional revenue. We would also need to check with the land owners to see if they would allow it.
It was suggested that we have name tags for meetings and Dennis agreed to bring those to future meetings.
It was mentioned that Gene Loudon had passed away.
Tim Brockman brought an old Wakefield kit that he had won at the 2022 NATS and that Dennis Batty had laser cut for him. Ken Barry online showed his NoCal and asked for help on the prop hardware setup.
February 3, 2023 Meeting of Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Meeting was called to order by Gary O. as Dennis B. was out of town. Treasurers report was given and funds are stable. The calendar for the upcoming outdoor season was discussed as well as other model related activities. Meeting was adjourned at 12:30 pm.
January 6th, 2023 Meeting of Minneapolis Model Aero Club
Due to technical difficulty, the Zoom meeting was up at 12:28 pm. 4 people were on, Jim J., Andy R., Bill K., and Ken F. The meeting was called to order by Dennis Batty.
Treasurer's report - Ron will keep some cash out in 1’s and 5’s for change at events and plans on attending the upcoming contests.
Dennis encouraged people to offer input for the MMAC website including sending in photos to be posted on the site. Ken mentioned that NFFS has our previous newsletters on their site and recommended we link to that. Tim said he would do that. (it has been done)
New Business
Dennis asked about club finances and is there any need to increase dues. It appears that the bank balance has been the same for quite some time so we are breaking even which is fine. No need at this time to do anything.
There was discussion about what events should be held at the outdoor contests. We will be changing HoSoFo to a Sparky competition, we will add electric as an event, listed as e-36 but we will allow anything. There is interest in doing a mass launch, Gary suggested using a Sky Bunny to encourage newcomers.
Andy R. has put together the club records for the indoor site we are using this year and will keep them up. Tim has posted these to the website.
Meeting adjourned at 1:30 pm