Hello and welcome to NVRC!  We'll be happy to have you join us when you arrive.  Do you have a current AMA membership?
Steve

NVRC will once again support the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Become a Pilot Day.  We're looking for volunteers - volunteers get in for free and are provided with lunch.
Steve   

"Save the date for the Museum's most popular summer event at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA near Washington Dulles International Airport. Enjoy educational activities and an outdoor aviation display with dozens of visiting vintage, recreational, military, and homebuilt aircraft.  Talk to pilots and find out what skills are needed to fly.  Inside the Center, test your piloting skills in flight simulators, meet model airplane experts, and hear a variety of guest speakers. The event is free and open to the public. Parking is $15."

http://www.nasm.si.edu/becomeapilot/

Hello Geng - there should be folks out at Burnett field this weekend.  Best thing for you to do is email Ken Bassett at rcflyer132@aol.com to coordinate arrival with him since we're behind a locked gate.
thanks,
Steve

Great pictures!

Hello Ali - we do have a few members that fly helicopters and they are certainly welcome at the field.  Many members do fly small electrics such as the E-flite MCX, but these are indoor models.  Since heli's fly in the landing/take-off area for airplanes, pilots just need to coordinate when there are a bunch of people flying at a given time to ensure there aren't any mid-airs.  It's as easy as an airplane pilot announcing that he'll be landing and the heli pilot taking his heli away from the runway.  It will be more of a challenge to get flight instruction on a heli, but we do have a few members that are excellent heli pilots.   

I think the sim will help greatly. 
Steve 

The forcast for Sunday isn't great, but there will be a handful of us at the Tree farm Saturday mid morning.
Steve

But they're calling for sunny skies and good temps on Saturday!  I discussed this with a few folks yesterday, and a bunch of us are going to convene at the Tree Farm field on Saturday mid morning for a quick board meeting from 10-11.  Ken confirmed he'll bring the club trainer so if you can show up Saturday, that would be great.  Sunday will probably be a wash out.

Our field at the Tree Farm is behind a gate so unless you follow one of us in, you'll need to call to be let in.  My number is 703-517-0941, give a call when you get there and we'll let you in.  I'm going to try to be there around 9:30.

Steve   

cool!  It's doubful you'll have your membership card back by Sunday so just be sure to bring your AMA card and you'll be good to go. 

sounds good.  I may stop by if the weather is okay.  I'm planning to go to the Snow Fun Fly on the 23rd, it will be open flying after the event which is from 10-12?.

Also, you should try to make our meeting on the 21st!

Hey AsskickinChicken - The club has a few trainers that we use for flight training, so this would be a great way for you to get some initial stick time.  Your best bet for meeting us at the field is on those days we have access to the Poplar Ford Park flying field (third Sunday and following Saturday of each month, see "Upcoming Events" frame on right of websit).  Sunday the 17th is the next day we have the field so as long as the weather is good, please come out and join us.  Ken Bassett (rcflyer132@aol.com) has the club trainers so you'll want to touch base with him to ensure he'll be bringing them out.
Steve

While visiting my in-laws in Tucson this past week, I was fortunate enough to be able to watch the Tucson Aerobatic Shootout on Sunday.  All I have to say is WOW!  The planes were huge 40% beauties and the pilots tossed them around like foamies.  Billy Hemple put on a really cool demo with a gigantic 60% Cub and flew a great sequence in a very small area.  Pictures don't really do it justice, but here are a few.
Steve    

Contest Report from Don Szczur:
Northern Virginia Pattern Championships, 19-20 September 2009

We had a great contest with supurb weather, excellent turnout, and strong flying from all competitors. The third fall Northern VA Championships started off with field preparations that facilitated practice on Friday, 18 September under mild conditions and light winds. When I got out to the field early Friday afternoon all the preparations were completed by the FARM club and there were 10 to 12 folks practicing. We opened up registration and pre-registered those who were present. The flying site had electric hook up and a beautiful aviation tempo which what makes the event so unique. All weekend we got to see aerobatic biplanes, Piper Cubs and even a Cessna or two. There was a full scale aerobatic competition that also took place about 5 miles from the field, and you could hear and see the full scale planes in the far-off distance in front of the flight line.

Our competition started promptly on Saturday morning with 27 contestants. Many thanks to the diligent work of Bill McMullen as line chief, we got 4 rounds in by 4:15 PM and two more rounds completed by a little after noon on Sunday. Many thanks to Pat Dunap (NVRC) and Nick Burhans (FARM) for the scoring.

There was some great flying over the weekend. Coming back with some focused practice this year, Duane Beck took the Sportsman event by storm. Duane plans to move up to Intermediate next year and is one of the local success stories flying pattern. Duane is also very competitive in sailplanes, often seen practicing for thermal duration competitions as well. Duane was followed by Barrett Hill and Joe Peck to round out the Sportsman trophy winners.

Intermediate was a new ballgame with Larry Kauffman moving to Advanced. This opened things up for the local competitors. In a very close finish, Steve Insalaco finished on top of the 9 member Intermediate contingent. He and Joseph Szczur traded 1000’s round after round. Steve’s consistent flying paid off and he took home 1st. Joseph and Edwin Manson rounded out the top 3, closely followed by Bruce Ginn who ended up in 4th.

Advanced was a lightly attended class with Larry Kaffman taking the win, followed not far behind by Mike Doud. I had to spend some time looking at both of their beautiful airplanes. We expect a couple of additional Advanced competitors at future events as this season winds down (move up!)

Masters was another hotly contested class with 5 entrants. Arch Stafford made his presence known in the district with straight 1000’s across the board. Joe Lachowski and Chris Moon wrestled for 2nd, with Chis moon ending in 2nd and Joe taking 3rd. Dale Arnold showed he was going to let up and finished strong and right behind Chris to take 4th. Buff Miller rounded out the Masters class.

In FAI, it was great to see folks traveling from such great distances as Massachusetts and South Carolina. Joey Hayes and I traded rounds with him leading most of the contest, but I was able to post a couple of flights on Sunday to clinch the win this year. Bill Holston showed the agility and precision flying his pristine Black Magic to 3rd place. We welcomed Steve Lelito for competing with some great maneuvers and top line aircraft to finish 4th just behind Bill.

Sunday afternoon concluded with several photo-op passes of full scale Stearman biplanes.  We were able to get everyone safely back on the road, with no mid-airs and not too-much sunburn to round out a great weekend of flying and competition.

The contest donated $54 to the NSRCA award fund.  Thanks all who attended and hope to see you again next year.

Don

Thanks to everyone who volunteered!  Bill Alexander got us off to a great start earlier in the week with aerating the field.  Then on Sunday we spread 10 cu yds of compost across the majority of the runway in an effort to condition the soil, then applied 800 lbs of lime, ~80 lbs of fertilizer, and 100 lbs of seed.  It was a tough day of work but thanks to everyone's help, we were able to get this done in only 3 hrs so by 4pm we were flying. 

Next spring we will fertilize, lime, seed (at least bare spots), and lightly roll the field.

Due to the rain we are going to meet at 1pm instead of the morning and hope the field is dry enough at that time to do our stuff.
thanks
Steve