| Presidents Corner
The January meeting will be held at the South St. Paul Airport, Fleming Field Terminal building. The meeting room has been reopened so there will be ample room to maintain social distancing during our meeting. We have several subjects to discuss (see agenda above) so I hope we have good attendance.
Dan
2020 Holiday Dinner
The Holiday dinner has been rescheduled for Saturday, February 27th 2021.
Field Surveilance System
Balaji T. has upgraded the proposal we discussed at the November meeting which was to install video surveillance at the field. I have added a link below with his proposal. We will be discussing this proposal at the meeting. I welcome any input you may have on this issue.
Club Rules Update
Mike C. has been generous enough to review our rules and he has suggested some changes to bring them up-to-date. I have provided a link below to allow everyone to examine them and suggest any changes.
2020 Club Instructor and Student Bio's
Mike Corgait (Instructor)
I joined the RVRC club in Oct of 2019 after meeting some of the members at a flying demo they held at Stanton airport. I grew up in Milwaukee and started flying RC in 1983. My first plane was a Mark’s Models glider that I got at an auction. I still fly and enjoy gliders when I can as it’s pure stick and rudder work. Before that I built and flew line control models. I have 3 that still fly and 2 kits. I moved to MN in 1990 to work for NWA and now Delta where I’m in the corporate training dept. I live in Lakeville with my wife and have one daughter. I’m currently flying nitro but have come to appreciate the electric planes! My flyers include a Spacewalker, Funtana, Four Star 60, Edge 540 and a couple Old Timers. I truly enjoy the club because of the genuine camaraderie and good natured flying. The members all share great passion and are a wealth of knowledge; always willing to help. This summer I helped out with flight instruction which has been rewarding as well. Always great to see someone solo. Other hobbies include fishing and reading. One thing I’ve learned about this hobby is no two flying days are alike so you are always learning!
Regards,
Mike
Bob Bonahoom (student)
Bob joined the Rich Valley RC Club in the Spring of 2020 after searching for flying clubs on-line. He lives in Lakeville and has been retired since 2012. Before retirement he was Director of Technology and Intellectual Property for MSA Inc., a Pittsburgh PA safety products manufacturer. Bob graduated from Michigan State University in 1970 in chemical and electrical engineering. Bob and Eileen have 5 children and 10 grandchildren. Hobbywise, he has been racing RC boats for over 50 years but thought flying airplanes might be a lot of fun and he was right! Bob has been flying for only 6 months but can't seem to resist getting that 'next plane". When not flying, Bob is very involved at Grace Community Bible Church as the church treasurer and as a deacon. He very much likes how Rich Valley club members go out of their way to help people who are new to the hobby. In his case, experience with RC boats created the illusion that learning to fly planes would be a simple next step that he could do on his own. He said, “After all it just adds a Z axis to the situation” (engineers think everything is simple!) and he thought he already had the orientation problem tackled from his boating experience. Three plane crashes later, and after consuming a very large dose of humble pie, he reached out to others in the club for help. They immediately forgave him for his arrogance and jumped right in to help him. Those are the kind of people he happlily calls his friends now! During Bob's "early frustration phase" his loving wife also surprised him by registering him in a week-long hands on RC flight training school at 1st-US RC Flight School in Shawano, Wisconsin. The combination of the on-going training from club members and the basics training at the flight school resulted in good progress for Bob.
He enjoys building and has built two airplanes from kits so far. He likes the ease of electric planes, but just can't bring himself to quit nitro. The sound, smell and smoke are just too hard to abandon! His current aircraft are: Electrics: E-flight Turbo-Timber, Parkzone T-28. Nitro: Sig Senior Kadet Sport (OS 62/4), Hangar-9 Ulta-Sport 10cc (OS 65/2), Sig Somethin Extra (OS 46/2), Herr Cloud Ranger (NV .074/2). Under construction: Sig 4-Star 60 (OS 95/4). On his Christmas list: Sig 4-Star 20 (OS 25/2). Bob's new year's resolution will be to resist trying to fly 2 or three planes on a single day next year. Instead, he will try to follow the recent wise advice of an experienced club member and just focus on one plane at a time until he has that plane mastered.
Regards,
Bob
John Walsh (student)
Currently retired for 3 years following 32 years practice as a Family Physician in Red Wing. Currently living in Red Wing with my wife and son. I have 5 children and 6 grandchildren. I was a member of the Red Wing BarnStormers RC club starting in 1987. I have been a Rich Valley club member since 2009 but only active this last summer. I have been flying on and off and have started again after about 10 years away from the hobby. Current planes include a Butterfly, LT-40, Ultra Stick 40, 1/4 scale Clipped-Wing Monocoupe, Ascent Powered Glider and Foamy Bald Eagle. In addition to flying I snow ski, bike, boat and scuba dive. I enjoy flying at the field because of the great supportive group there.
Balaji Thiagarajan (student)
He joined the club in August of 2020 after finding RVRC after doing a Google search. He is a business owner of an IT Services and Staffing company with an office located in Burnsville. He lives in Apple Valley with his wife Banu and 3 boys ages 15, 9 and 1. He was born in India and moved to the U.S about 20 years ago. In 2018 he saw a guy flying an E-flite Pitts at a park in Eagan and was completely blown away at the aerobatic display! He immediately ordered one when he got home but soon realized it was not a beginner plane! So he bought a trainer plane instead to build his skills by joining our RC club since he had never flown an aircraft before. Rich Valley was closest to home and has now been flying for 4 months. Other hobbies include travel and spending a lot of time with his family in their travel trailer. Balaji says what he enjoys most about the club is the people. "They are the best, very helpful for beginners like me." He has learned that every successful landing is an accomplishment! Currently flying the Turbo Timber, EC1500, T28 and the E-Flite Pitts. Thanks to everyone for all the help.
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