Hi All 
The PC is repaired so its time to have a dig at the usual subjects.
Club nights have continued to be well attended, as I have said before the larger numbers are great for the raffles, the last large prize went in five nights. Thanks to Ken Waller, selling us the kit at a great discount, we made about £40.00 for club funds.
Gary was the proud winner of the Cub and is looking forward to a bit of proper building. Unfortunately the smile did not last past the next Sunday morning when he learnt the hard way that up elevator makes the plane go down when its inverted!! OUCH.
Not being one to miss an opportunity I offered him an almost identical replacement to take home and no one would have to know, Gary declined this offer to deceive his family, he probably blamed his instructor instead.
 
The fine weather has kept the field busy, but has also led to a few crashes. Gary has not been alone, Franks very nice Chippy was very badly damaged, Frank admitted this one was pilot error, he said he started a loop a little to low. Sadly I don't think even Franks wizardry with a scalpel will revive this one.
As we all know when it comes to crashing Mick Harper doesn't like to be left out, and true to form broke his very, very, nice new model which he stole from me, twice in three weeks. Sadly Woody’s bad luck seems to have returned as he badly broke his second Innovator this Sunday attempting a take off.
 
Congratulations to Andy Smith who stupidly, or some would say cleverly took, and passed his (A) test on a windy day with a foam, electric war bird, OH! for the confidence of yoooff, I am sure we all had it once.
 
It really is a great feeling to see this club returning to what I think (the good old days) were like, 2 years ago the club was on a bit of a decline and people were asking where are the new members going to come from, how times have changed. Now talk about having to close the membership. I also think we have been lucky to have been joined by some really nice guys, well they are nice now, while they all still need an instructor!!.
 
Personally I am enjoying helping the new flyers and seeing them progress, some faster than others, but I am confident that we will have a good number of (A) certificate holders in the very near future, I am also sure that Don, Andy, Ian, and Mick all feel the same, so if we are free grab us, we all had to learn, so its just our way of putting something back.
 
And finally, my new found friend, and favourite Granddad in the whole wide world, who, some would say I spend more time with, than I do with my wife, gave me the proudest moment of my year on Sunday afternoon. A take off and a successful landing in the same flight, you know who you are, your approach and attitude to this silly hobby has been great, and I hope this will give you the confidence boost you need. While I am being so sincere any chance of a £2000 loan?
 
Time to go, hopefully see you at the field.

Happy Landings Steve.

Hi Steve again,
At the last club meeting we asked for volunteers to assist with improving the parking at the field, it was agreed we would all meet at 19.00 HRS on Wednesday evening.
I arrived at about 18.55 HRS along with the chairman, president and others, only to find that an advanced party under the guidance of Roly had already made a large impression on the surrounding foliage.
As the evening went on we witnessed an impressive display of very effective tree surgery, once Roland got started there was no stopping him, anything standing in his way was shown no mercy, Woody was scared to stand still!!
Jim the strim Hobday and his partner in nettle destruction, John Evans were on a mission to flatten every stinging nettle in site.
After about an hour and a half of sawing, chopping, lopping, raking, and moving bits of tree, we now have all the parking we need, keeping all the lane and field access clear.
Andy was heard to say, this was a real triumph for IC engines, although I am sure Peter could tell us which speed controller, battery, motor combination would be required to achieve the same result.
We did however only have 3 IC in use at any time, and Don didn't TWIG none of them had a noise certificate!
The sound of splitting wood finally came to an end at about 20.15, just at the time Woody attempted his first landing, The model is repairable.
On behalf of the chairman and the rest of the committee I would like to express our thanks to all those who came to help with this little gardening job, special thanks to Rolland, John and Jim for bringing their petrol tools.
Finally ,it was great to see Geoff looking well and working as hard as the rest of the guys, lets hope this is a sign of his continued return to better health.
That's it happy landings Steve.

Hi everyone, Steve again,
The weather is on the up and this has had a positive effect on attendance at the patch. Club membership is very healthy, this is really good news for the bank balance, club nights are also on the up, more people buying raffle tickets, this means I can give prizes with better value and any profit helps to fund the club trainer, and the large raffle goes quicker.
We need to keep interest in the club nights so any ideas for things to do will be gratefully received.
I have never hidden the fact that I don't enter competitions, but I do feel sorry for Peter, after long discussions at club and committee level it was decided to keep the comps running, Peter then spent some time compiling a calendar only to have the first comp cancelled due to lack of competitors!!!
Ok, get off my soapbox and back to the flying, the last 2 weekends have been good for the modelling trade, 3 bin bag jobs , I badly damaged under cart, lost engine parts, and unexplained radio problems, maybe we should stay at home!!!
On the positive side, Woody seems to have finally beat his bad luck and is flying his own trainer with the very able assistance of Andy, Jim Hobday has joined and is also flying his own model, again with Andy's help, George has had a few niggles with engines and radio but has had a few flights and is showing great promise. Is it a coincidence that Andy is sticking to the electric planes and I am on the IC?
Mick Harper has commented that the club has a good feeling about it again and I hope that the longer serving members agree, the future looks good for Petersfield Aero Modellers, lets all hope it continues. That's enough
All the best and happy landings
Steve

The Sustainability centre is holding The Hampshire Green Fair on Sunday 9th May and the flying field will be used to provide extra parking for visitors. It was decided that in the interests of safety that no flying would take place on this day.
Rob and George joined the club and we also had two visitors attend.
Thanks to John Evans for the evenings quiz which ended in a draw. Mick mentioned that he will bring his Lancaster to the next meeting and will be hoping to fly it at the patch on the following Sunday the 16th May.

We all woke up on Sunday the 18th of April to be greeted by warm sun and zero wind; this promised to be the best day of the year so far.
We were not disappointed, thanks to the success of the web site our membership is on the up. Two new prospective members had a flight on the club trainer and following their probation will, I am sure become fully active, and assets to the club as they both seem to want to be fully involved, we look forward to seeing Robs photos.
Woody was finally persuaded to have a full flight on the trainer, he was very surprised when Ron told him his flight had lasted 25 minutes, I think he will be at the front of the queue next week!!!!!!
Nick decided to get his heart rate up by flying his Acrowot, much less scary now that its not rolling right with full left trim and half the available left stick!!!, shorts and a vest in April, can we look forward to underpants and flip flops in July?
Mick went home for the second week with his model in one piece despite letting Don fly it, and without the dulcet tones of Andy in his ear giving advice on how it should be flown.
Ian stayed out for over three hours, and learned how to do a snap roll, things are looking up.
Don took his coat off and kept it off all morning!!
It was good to see Peter out again after his health problems, he had his first flight since October.
On a personal note, after trying for 3 years I very, very nearly managed consistent prop hangs, note to self, must try harder.
And finally where was Andy, like I said at the top we were not disappointed!!!
PS if I get it in the neck over the next few weeks it will prove someone is visiting our web site. Steve

The club AGM was held on 18th February, the attendance was high over 90% of members attended.
The previous committee with the exception of the PRO read out their carefully written reports on the year, Chas as always finding the funny side of the years events.
The old committee then retired.
The new committe was then elected..... funny how much it resembled the old one!!
There were two raffles on the evening, the big raffle for the limbodancer was won by Nick. As he already has two of these he very kindly auctioned it for club funds.
There was also a prize giving for the 2009 competitions winners. Chas won the league and was presented with the league trophy.
Steve was presented with the presidents trophy by Don for his contribution to the club over the last year, and Nick won the most improved flyer. Club man of the year should be settled with a vote at the next club night.

Hi everyone,
Back in the summer of 2008 I put two challenges to Nick,
1:  To pass his 'A' ticket by August 2009 and
2:  To learn how to design, build and run a web site!
By September the 'A' test was passed and the site was up and running just like he said it would be.
The thinking behind having a club site #F3F3F5was to have a link to the outside world and also to have a resource for the club members, so far the site is all Nick's work with criticisms from me, so now is the time to move it forward.
If you have any ideas, can write a small article, have any old photos, anecdotes, items for sale send the details to Nick, his web address is on the list, and he will post them.
I hope that by putting more club content on the site its use will increase even if only to check the weather forecast!
The AGM is upon us and we have had 2 major projects in the last year, the club trainer which is all the work of Mick Harper, and is proving very popular, and the web site. I am sure that during the committees reports Nick will be thanked for his efforts, so as I set him up I would like to add my thanks here.
But most of all, to make the work worthwhile, we need to use the site, and after all we have to pay to keep it running.
Happy landings for 2010
Steve.

For further event details visit the BMFA Southern Area Website www.southernareabmfa.hampshire.org.uk/

Andy Palmer has kindly organised a skittles evening at the Barley Mow, Walderton.
£8 per person to include supper.

A choice of food from:-
-Ricotta cheese & spinach cannelloni, served with fresh salad.
-Deep fried scampi, served with chips, peas & fresh salad garnish.
-Home cooked lasagne, served with fresh salad.
-Home cooked curry, served on a bed of rice & popadom.
-Salads choose from cheese, ham or tuna.
-Traditional ploughmans, choose from cheddar, stilton, brie, ham or pate.
Please let Andy know as soon as possible if you'd like to go and your food choice. Andy will provide directions if needed.