Team Update #6 - Final Auction

Hi folks

As mentioned on our team’s Facebook page, we wrapped up our monthly fundraising auction in Victoria last night.  Congratulations to Wayne Powell on winning the Corsair Print donated by the PDQ Flyers and to Paul Nazaroff for his winning bid on the 88” Yak 55 donated by former Canadian F3A Team Pilot Mark Byrne.  

Some additional items were up for grabs by “open donation” and the team would like to thank Lawrence Lewis and Al Vandergroot for their donations!   New club member Allen Paul made a cash donation as well. Thanks guys!!!.

We are still awaiting Bulletin #2 from the organizers but planning is ongoing. Several of us have booked flights and accommodations in Warwick and we are preparing to get some uniform plans into place over the next few weeks. I have all the aircraft documents and elusive FAI stickers in my hands now!!

Henry has been busy with his Apollo build https://www.facebook.com/henry.piorun and has managed to get out flying as well. Not sure what he is planning to use as his primary & backup just yet… proof is in the pudding I suspect.

Michi has been up to PDQ in Parksville and had some flights on his Akuma. He has also received a second VLV unit for his backup Excess Bipe. With the shutdown of our VRCMS field, Michi has been piling on the kilometers with numerous trips up island. Have to do it!  

Chad has booked flights and is bring along the whole family for this trip. With Will also bring his family along it should be a lot of fun for the kids… I hope… because we will be at the practice field most of the time lol  

Almost forgot… in keeping with the spirit of support for our National F3A Team, the Victoria Radio Control Modelers Society (VRCMS) has made a donation towards the teams expenses. These funds were previously raised and held since 2019 for the promotion and running of future Precision Aerobatic events but with that not happening anytime soon, the funds were repurposed as a donation from both the Fathers Day VRCMS Contest and the BC Precision Aerobatics Contest.
   

More news when it happens!..

Team Update #5 - Fundraising Continues

 The teams fundraising efforts continue with yet another auction on the horizon. April 4th will see the Sukhio SU35 and Timber Float plane go on the block and this will be followed by a Gold Wing Yak 55M and a framed print of a Corsair in action. Full details will be available at https://rcplanesforsale.ca/

 

The team would like to thank OneFeather Mobile Technologies for their generous donation to the team. They kindly matched auctioned items over the past few months.

I've managed to source the Class F Model Aircraft Specification Certificates from the Aero Club of Canada as well as the FAI stickers from the FAI - World Air Sports Federation.  

Following the recent requests for preliminary entry to the World's event, the organizers have published a list of countries and competitors that are now registered. I expect a few more late entries as well... you can see the various teams here   Not as large as past Championships but still a very strong field.  

There is a lot of great information on the Worlds Web Site and I also see "Live Scores" so this will be a great portal to real time action.

We now await Bulletin #2 from the organizers.  

MAAC RPAS Exemption Issues

 Due to recent events pertaining to the loss of MAAC’s exemption governing RPAS, the team has taken the proverbial half full view of the glass and continues to plan and prepare for the World Championships.

For those unfamiliar, RPAS stands for Remotely Piloted Aircraft System and incorporates any unmanned aircraft operating within Canadian Domestic airspace. It provides guidance on certification, registration and rules governing the operation of RPAS.  Where you are located and what type of flying you are doing will determine the level of compliance required. 

Since 2019, MAAC had an exemption from these limitations, based on the longstanding safety record and governance in the modelling community.  That exemption was removed by Transport Canada.

For most flyers in Canada you will now need 1) a Basic RPAS Pilot Certificate 2) registration of your aircraft 3) permission from the land owner and 4) a record log for both the pilot & aircraft.  You can now fly up to 400' AGL. 

If your flying site is located within 3nm of an airport, 1.5nm within a heliport or in Controlled Airspace, you are even more restricted with higher qualifying criteria to operate your aircraft.

Both Chad and Henry are flying/practicing in this Basic category but unfortunately our local club, the VRCMS, is located within controlled airspace. Michi's only work around is to travel to another field (a two hour drive each way!)  The biggest restriction at this point is with the altitude limit of 400' but, in consultation amongst the team members, we feel it is well worth continuing to practice and prepare. Is it ideal? Far from it but we will do our best.

We are hopeful that negotiations between Transport Canada and MAAC will soon have us back under the exemption and we can return to more normal, less restrictive operations.  

 On to other news... the team has submitted the preliminary entry form to the organizing folks and is now awaiting Bulletin #2. 

We also ran another auction for a couple planes last night and would like to congratulate Mitchell St George as the winning bidder on the Big Stick ARF. Unfortunately the Sukhoi kit did not meet the reserve so it will be auctioned off next month.  There were also several other donated items (engines etc) that garnered funds towards the trip.  

Team Update #4

Last night we held our monthly fundraising auction in support of the team. The winning bid was from Warwick Patterson and he picked up the 1100mm Supermarine Spitfire.  In a strange twist, Warwick is also the name of the host town that we will visit in Australia!!  Karma? 

Next up will be a Sukhoi SU-31 to be auctioned off at our next club meeting on March 6th in Victoria. The auction website has been updated at https://rcplanesforsale.ca/ for those interested.

Team members are going through the motions with FAI license applications, as well as helper and supporter numbers being discussed in preparation our preliminary entry form to be submit by the end of the month. 

I have been in touch with the folks at the Aero Club of Canada (Our NAC) for processing of documents and procurement of other items that will be required for aircraft processing. Identification documents and FAI stickers etc... 

 

Team Update #3 - Auction

 A quick update on some fundraising initiatives... The team continues to plan for our trip to Australia and we have been running local auctions within our club to help raise funds. As mention in the last blog update, we have our online auction page set up at https://rcplanesforsale.ca/    and will be auctioning off  a Supermarine Spitfire on the 7th of February (at our VRCMS club meeting). 

In addition, we have added a couple more items to auction off at the March 7th club meeting. They include a Sukhoi SU-31 ARF and a Big Stick 40 ARF. 

Most of team members have applied for and received their FAI License's in preparation for the World Championships. This is a basic requirement for anyone competing at this event.  We are also getting our preliminary paperwork compiled and ready for submission by February 28th, 2023. This will give the organizers an ideal of team composition, helpers/ supporters etc. for planning purposes. 

Construction news.... Henry Piorun has been busy building his latest airframe, a BJ Anthem and if you go to https://www.facebook.com/henry.piorun you can see his build thread. He has another kit right behind this one awaiting construction, a Pavana that replaces the one he lost in a fire.  Both will use the Adverrun Contra Drive.

Chad Northeast continues work on his back up Nexus airframe... when he is not looking a ski boat brochures :-)  He plans a VLV Contra Drive setup with Thunder Power batteries.

Michi Akimoto has used up his free time to construct a plane storage system in his garage. He used otherwise wasted space to provide a safe location for his many planes! 

And.... our alternate pilot Will Gross, is putting in work on his own Nexus Bipe for 2023.

Worlds Bulletin #1

Ah the best laid plans.....  

Well it appears that the location has changed for the 2023 Worlds in Australia. The dates remain the same but the new location is in Warwick, Queensland.  We will be pouring over the data that makes up Bulletin #1 which includes dates, event schedules, fees etc. and planning accordingly.

In an effort to secure a place to stay ahead of the pack, we had already booked accommodation in Casino, NSW and made a deposit.   After some back & worth emails and calls, we managed to get most of our deposits back. Special thanks to the Big4 Casino Holiday Park for their understanding with the venue swap.  We are now looking at other accommodation in the Warwick area.  

We have been running a local auction here in Victoria to help generate funds to support the team. To date this has been just our local club members but Lawrence has opened it up to anyone interested. The website is at https://rcplanesforsale.ca/ and features a "kit a month" that will be on the block.  

Lawrence also made a pledge to match any donations or successful auction winners bids up to $1000 dollars! That is fantastic! 

Introducing OneFeather & PayPal Donation Link

 As mentioned in previous blog posts, Lawrence Lewis is now assisting the team with his expertise in fundraising for our trip to the World Championships next year in Australia.  

Lawrence has been kind enough to use his business portal to set up a PayPal Donation link for us! 

His company's name is OneFeather Mobile Technologies Ltd. and is located right here in Victoria, BC, Canada. They provide empowerment to Indigenous Peoples and Nations and are leaders in dedicated Indigenous banking solutions, a truth center for digital Indigenous sovereign identity and data, community engagement, election and voting services.  For further details you can check out the website at https://www.onefeather.ca/

Now with a simple click of a mouse button or QR Scan you can be directed to the team's donation page. This makes it quick and easy for anyone wishing to financially assist the team. All funds donated go through a rigorous accounting process to ensure every dollar* goes towards team expenses (*with the exception of PayPal fees... yes they get their small piece for the service)    

REMOVED LINK

 

or simply scan this QR code with your device and it will open up the donation portal.  Any amount is appreciated!

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I will be adding these links to the main blog page (once I figure out how to correctly do it!) as well as our team's Facebook page shortly.  A big shout out to Lawrence for getting this up and running!!