SPARKS Quarterly Newsletter - March 2025

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Toy Town Development:

The following was sent by Tom and Roel via email to membership regarding development of our field: A lot of guys have been asking about us losing our field after hearing about the Sale of the county property which our field sits on. Right now, everything is in negotiations. Basically, we all need to relax. This is not the first and won't be the last time someone is interested in the 235 acres of land that everybody wants, but no one wants to pay for. Especially with all the environmental cleanup that will be required to build anything on this property. This could take years to happen, and in the meantime there’s very little that we can do. Every time someone draws up plans to put something there it just goes away. So come to the field, fly and have a good time.

Tom and Roel

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Club Improvements:

• 99% complete is the placement of more visible signage atop the clubhouse facing Roosevelt Blvd on

• February 6. Tom Simpson, Roel Rios and Dakota Reeves installed the sign. A rear angle support is in the

• works for additional strength during storms.

• • On Saturday, March 1st, the previously delivered dock pilings were placed and secured with rebar along

• the access road. Several additional pilings needed to be placed with few on March 1st but were

• unavailable at that time. Thanks to Tom Simpson and his generator, drill, truck and chain, Roel Rios,

• Terry Smith, Mike Valletti, Jerry Thornton, Perry Easterwood, Salvatore Motarsaini (Sp?), Sergio

• Gonzales, Bernd Pfrommer and Mike Roberts for his use of the long auger bit. Tom and Dakota Reeves

• then finished placing the north side pilings shortly after they were delivered.

• Lastly, the stairs leading to the upper deck of the clubhouse will be needing replacement due to age

• and localized rot. This is in the planning stage.

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3D Event:

The Third Annual 3D Event was held on March 8th due to the success of last year’s, and this one did not disappoint with each getting bigger and better. Of note in attendance was Tim Hanstine and the Extreme flight pilots. Chris Barton from Full Throttle RC and QuiQue Somenzini from Flex Innovations as well Harry Sejour and members of Tailslide Aviation also flew. These sponsors also provided some nice merchandise for the raffle:

Flex Innovations:
Aura 8
Trailer aircraft wheel locking system
QQ 55” Yak
Extreme Flight:
67” Extra NG
Tailslide Aviation:
60” Lazer
60” Extra
Falcon 25x8 Prop
Gene Maxwell:
SPARKS member, donated a 38” ARS Skywing.

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A special thanks to Luis Espinoza for getting the word out to the 3D Community and securing the sponsors who flew demos and also provided merchandise for the Raffle. This was the largest event that I can remember at SPARKS with I estimate approximately 200 in attendance. Plan is to see about getting this into the AMA magazine events section for next year.

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Leader Club:

I’m looking into having SPARKS be again registered with the AMA as Leader Club where we last held the status in 2008. From details gathered via a contact at the AMA, we can easily achieve the status of Leader Club as we’re currently doing everything required. Beyond this, there are designations for bronze, silver and gold status. These designations are achieved by completing a subset of 9 additional elective tasks. Bronze, requires any 3 of the 9, Silver, any 6 of the 9 and Gold, all 9. From some quick investigation, we can have SPARKS achieve the bronze status quite easily. The requirements fulfillment and associated designations are a yearly endeavor. There seems to be no timeline requirement, meaning we can submit off proof of accomplishments at any time for a ‘medal’ designation for that year. I’ll have more details in future communication.

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The Coming Flying Season:

While the season never really ends in Tampa Bay, it will be markedly better in the coming months. We have a beautiful field we can be proud of and as such, all take part in ensuring only members have access to and use of the facilities as part of our obligation with the city. With the new Largo members recently joining and many perhaps not being fully familiar with current membership, please ensure your badge is viewable and the gate is locked by the last to exit.

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Frank Tiano Memorial Scale Contest:

For those interested, there looks to be a contest that may be taking the place of Top Gun which was run by Frank Tiano for many years. The Frank Tiano All Scale Fly-In is to be held May 1st through the 4th at the Imperial RC Club in Mulberry Fl. Link to the advertisement on their website for those interested: https://imperialrcclub.com/frank-tiano-all-scale-fly-in/

Flight Training:

A special thanks to Mike Roberts whose able to fly one night a week these days but offers flight training to students and tells me he’s booked up. Our website lists the following members as trainers, regarding ground school, simulator training, field training, etc. For those listed, and perhaps those missing, please review to ensure this is correct as we want zero barriers for new students to become active members. Let me know of any changes and we’ll get the website updated.

Mike Roberts turbomike2@yahoo.com
Paul Conrad pauljosephconrad@gmail.com
Keefe Huddleston efephi4_13@yahoo.com
Henrik Moller hm5@tampabay.rr.com
James Falcon jafalcon@gmail.com
Bruce Hartmann brewmann1@verizon.net

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www.sparksrc.org Website:

I want to give special thanks to Randy Gruber for being our webmaster, borrowing a term from bygone days. He’s been quick to provide needed updates and modifications when asked. My understanding is he’s also working a new improved version.

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Club Rules:

With the recent influx of new members, please review the club rules. We’re lucky to have such a facility in the heart of Pinellas County and must all do our part to ensure we don’t lose it. The below is from our website: https:www.sparksrc.org under “Our Field Rules”

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SPARKS Flying Field Boundaries

The SPARKS flying field includes a 450 ft asphalt-covered runway, with
taxiways, nearby pavilion and office building. We are close to Interstate
275, Roosevelt Blvd. and 16th St. and there are perimeter fences bordering

these road sides.

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Under no reason or circumstances can your plane go past the fences.
Ifthis rule is violated a one month’s flying penalty is in effect. A second
occurrence of this rule could result in expulsion from Sparks Flying

entirely.

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You are the sole Pilot in Command (PIC) of your plane and are solely
responsible for your plane and all its actions and consequences at all
times. Cause and effects (wind, servo failure, signal loss, or whatever) do
not change this. If another member or Flight Instructor is helping you learn

to fly they are not responsible for your plane.

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The green boundary line is shown below and flying or crashing between
the green and the red line will result in a one week flying suspension.
Please take others that point out to you that you could be approaching
these boundaries as a “THANK YOU.” We all need to help in keeping all

planes within our boundaries.
FLY INSIDE THE GREEN LINE !

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Club Donations:

Chris Finta has donated a kayak to the club for retrieval of airplanes from the pond at the East end of the field. Storage when when not in use is being figured out so it’s still easily accessible but secure.

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Member Submissions:

Thanks to Ken Elder for the following: 

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Propeller Pitch:

Q: What propeller should I use on my airplane?
A: The correct propeller is the one that keeps the engine within its rpm limits and flies the airplane properly. A good starting place is the engine instructions, which often list a range of propeller sizes.
Q: How do I select from within the recommended range?
A: Decide on what you want your airplane to do. If you want to go fast, use a higher pitch and lower diameter (for example a 9 x 8 instead of a 10 x 6). Props are rated in pitch x diameter, so a 10 x 6 prop is ten inches in diameter and 6 inches in pitch. If you want your plane to climb better or have more vertical performance and slow down better use a lower pitch larger diameter prop (for example an 11 x 5 instead of a 10 x 6). Trying different propellers is the only way to be sure you are using the correct one for your plane. Often a prop change will surprise you at how much better the plane flies.

Flying True:
Q: When my plane climbs straight up, it veers off and I cannot keep it going straight up. What’s wrong?
A: The engine thrust line needs to be adjusted. Propeller driven aircraft usually need a bit of right thrust to keep them climbing straight up. If the plane veers left, it needs more right thrust. If it veers right, it needs less right thrust.
Q: When performing a loop, my plane twists a little so the end of the loop is in a little different direction than the beginning. How can I keep it perfectly straight?
A: When a propeller driven plane is flying at a high angle of attack, the propeller tries to pull the airplane to the left (on engines with counterclockwise rotation looking at the prop). Since a loop is performed with quite a bit of up elevator, the plane is flying at a high angle of attack and the prop pulls it to the left. A little bit of right rudder is the cure.
Q: Well then, why can’t I use right thrust to make my loops straight?
A: Because then when the airplane climbs straight up (no up elevator so low angle of attack) there will be too much right thrust and you will need a bit of left rudder to counteract.

Q: What about up and down thrust?
A: This depends on the engine mounting location relative to the wing and tail. A trainer like the Seniorita or Kaydet has a high wing and the engine is mounted below the wing. With the high angle of incidence between the wing and tail, some engine down thrust is needed to keep the plane from going nose up when you go to full throttle. In fact, that’s an excellent test. Fly your plane about 1⁄4 throttle in level flight, then rapidly open the throttle and watch the plane. If it pitches up when you first open the throttle, it probably needs some down thrust.

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Arming for Torque:
Q: What hole on a control arm should I use to get the most torque from my servos?
A: The torque is fixed by the servo power. Most servos have a rating of 40 to 50 in-oz of torque. Whatever the rating,
you cannot change it by changing holes in a control arm. But you can change the force the servo puts on the controls and the length of movement.
Q: OK, what hole do I use to get more force?
A: At the servo, use a hole closer to the center of the servo (shorter). At the control surface use the hole farthest out. This will improve the force but reduce the movement of the control surface.
Q: What if I want more movement?
A: At the servo, use a hole farther out from the center of the servo. At the control surface use a hole closer to the
control surface. Remember, you get more movement but at the same time less force. Unless you are into 3D maneuvers, extreme control movement is to be avoided. Most of the time the need for more control movement is in the elevators. This should only be adjusted after the balance point is as far back as you are willing to fly with. Case in point: my TopFlite P-51 is extremely sensitive to elevator control, yet has only 1⁄4” movement!

Some information from Ken’s RCGroups.com Blog:

Tail Heavy
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3452167-Tail-heavy-is-OK
High Speed Stalls
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3415855-High-speed-stalls-on-any-plane
Incidence Angles
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3455209-Airplane-Incidence-Angles

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Classifieds:

While Jerry sends emails to the membership regarding items for sale, I received a request to have a classifieds section in our newsletter. As the emails are one and done, perhaps we can list items still available here or price reductions, etc. Before the next edition sometime end of June, I’ll put out a call for anyone wishing to have their item(s) listed or relisted if still for sale or have had a price reduction.

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The newsletter will be put out quarterly. You can send thoughts, comments, sly remarks to:
Mike Valletti: mtvufg8r@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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"Wishing you peace, love, and laughter in the New Year." "This year, may you be stronger, wiser, and surrounded by the people you love.

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                     So long to 2024 and to happiness, peace and health in 2025…                                

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2024 has come and gone and 2025 is here in a few hours. What can be said without repeating works of the past. Yes, the years come and go, even more quickly each year, so here’s a novel idea. Let’s make the new year about action (as is doing) instead of just saying. A few good ideas are to fly more, enjoy life more, be happier, smile more and of course make new friends and make time for our old friends. It’s said another way in our Sparks’ Club mission statement…

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Sparks Mission Statement!

All we ask is that you are respectful to your fellow members. We are here to develop our flying skills and to have fun.

We take great pride in our flying field and once you visit us, you’ll see why. It’s a blessing we do not take for granted.

Just a friendly group enjoying our hobby and making friends along the way.

WELCOME TO OUR CLUB!

 

Now a few words about Sparks’ business…

For the fourth year we have a complete Board of Directors and Officers. Most clubs can’t state that, and we owe this to the desire by our members to make our club grow and stay strong. So many thanks to Tom, Roel, Terry, our newly elected Sec. Michael, Jimmy, Jerry, Ken, Lois and Ed…

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A special welcome goes to the Largo Club, please make the Sparks’ Club your second home as your field is not open for flying. All Largo members know you’re welcome, thanks for joining our club.

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Please note that if you haven’t paid your dues by the 1st of January a $10 late fee is added to the $75 membership, we have made it more convenient to join by paying online. This is our website link for filling out a new application and paying your 2025 dues.

                                                           https://www.sparksrc.org/application-form

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2025 Meetings and events will be announced in the January newsletter. Let’s go flying…

 

                                                            Happy New Years!! to all..

 

December 7 th Meeting/Funfly

 

Sparksrc Club

ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS

 

 

Membership Meeting Saturday Nov 2.......10am at the field.

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New largo members are excluded for this year's voting participation, but are welcome to all meetings. 

 

It is imperative we have a membership meeting the 2nd of November to close October's nominations for our 2025 elections and start the voting process from that meeting's closed nomination list, once nominations are closed, the voting box will be available to start the voting and will continue through November til the December meeting Saturday Dec 7th. At the December meeting voting will end and the votes will be counted to announce the 2025 officers and board. Same as last year and as easy as dirt. 

 

 You can vote by filling out the provided election sheet and placing your vote in the provided sealed box in the club office... You can only vote in-person to the club. If the club is locked you can still vote by filling out the provided sheet in the box next to the coke machine. Fold the voting sheet and slide in the mail door slot on the club shed, the next officer entering the shed will put your vote in the sealed box for you. If a voting sheet does not have your name on it, your vote will not be counted (your name is the only way we can assure only one vote sheet per member)

 

Tom and Roel

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Thu, Oct 17, 5:00 PM (2 days ago)

to bcc: me

1.  Voting process for 2025....

 

I know we all have a lot to deal with regarding storm recovery. But I am hopeful all is well and your recovery is underway. It's imperative we take care of ourselves and our families needs first and then our beloved Sparks RC club. 

 

Regarding Sparks business there will be now meetings or gatherings "FUN FLYS" they will be rescheduled at a later time. HOWEVER, it is imperative we have a membership meeting the 2nd of November to close nominations for our 2025 elections and start the voting process from that meeting's nomination list, once nominations are closed. Remember, as in past 

years, November, we vote the entire month. You can vote by filling out the provided election sheet and placing your vote in the provided sealed box in the club office... You can only vote in-person to the club. If the club is locked you can still vote by filling out the provided sheet in the box next to the coke machine. Fold the voting sheet and slide in the mail door slot on the club shed, the next officer will put your vote in the sealed box for you. If a voting sheet does not have your name on it, your vote will not be counted (your name is the only way we can assure only one vote sheet per member)

 

2.  Club electrical. 

 

Half of the electricity for battery charging is working. Please, where there are working outlets leave room for others to set up their battery charging equipment. Updates will be coming to let you know when all outlets are working again. 

 

3.  2025 MEMBERSHIP DUES. 

 

IF YOU GO TO  https://www.sparksrc.org/  GO TO THE CENTER TAP "APPLICATION FORM-DUES"  YOU CAN RENEW ONLINE IMMEDIATELY. IF YOU PAY NOW THERE IS AN OCTOBER DISCOUNT OF $10 ....NOVEMBER DUES GO TO $75.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO USE OUR WEBSITE GO TO THE GO THE CLUB WITH CHECK ONLY AND FILL OUT AN APPLICATION.  REMEMBER WE HAVE TO HAVE A NEW APPLICATION EACH YEAR PLEASE MAKE (LEGIBLE)

 

Be safe and please let's keep our club Sparks' membership strong...

 

Tom and Roel