2023 Ed Rae Memorial Fun Fly Event Report

Event Date

June 4th, 2023 - Ed Rae Memorial Fun Fly

The event was held on Sunday, June 4th, due to quite breezy conditions on Saturday.  We wish to thank the twenty-two pilots who registered plus guests and spectators who attended. In total, we had 40 people.

The event was held on Sunday, June 4th, due to quite breezy conditions on Saturday.  We wish to thank the twenty-two pilots who registered plus guests and spectators who attended. In total, we had 40 people.

Click on the links below to view photos from the event:

This year’s event catered to a special request from Mrs. Ann Brown, widowed wife of Jim Brown, a former Stetson member who passed away earlier this year. She spread some of Jim’s ashes on the runway, then gave an emotional eulogy, which described Jim’s passion for RC Modeling. All who were present could relate to Jim’s feelings about the hobby and the relationships he enjoyed with this great community. After a moment of silence to reflect on the dearly departed, the club offered Ann a bouquet of flowers as a memento for this day.

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Top Gun 2023 - Christopher Simon and Elckar Monsalve

Thursday, May 11 saw a group of over 20 Stetsons enjoy a dinner evening with Christopher Simon and Elckar Monsalve. We were there to celebrate the incredible achievements of these two at the recently completed TOP GUN 2023 event, in Lakeland Florida.

Young Chris, at eight years old, competed successfully in Sportsman class, flew every round, impressed everyone there, and became the YOUNGEST EVER competitor at Top Gun! You might say Chris set the stage for Elckar. Elckar took up the challenge and flew superbly, taking the lead in round one, never to be caught! Our good friend Elckar is now a Sportsman class TOP GUN champion! Wow! Just Wow! Young Chris was officially recognized and celebrated as a YOUNG GUN, with trophy to match and much excitement.

Their stories of getting to Top Gun are full of drama, politics, great cooperation, huge amounts of work on the equipment, endless planning and networking. Between all the MAAC issues, Turbine certificates, AMA requirements, and all the hoops to go through, just getting everything approved and signed off was nerve-wracking until the very end. Once there, a big thunderstorm, Florida style, nearly ruined everything at 3am after the first round. Fortunately, Elckar and Chris were able to continue. Weather and it's consequences continued to upset schedules, flying order, pattern direction, and all sorts of things, in true contest tradition. (anyone who competes in contests will attest that weather can be the #1 enemy, and frequently is!)

Have a chat with them when you get the chance this summer and hear more of the stories!

In the meantime, CONGRATULATIONS TO CHRISTOPHER SIMON, YOUNG GUN, AND ELCKAR MONSALVE, TOP GUN! .

2022 Christmas Party Event Report

Event Date

November 24th was our Annual Christmas Dinner. Fifty members and guests enjoyed excellent food and a fun and relaxing evening. ‘Special’ presentations were made and the children received gifts from one of Santa’s elves. We had many draws for door prizes, including several gift cards graciously provided by Great Hobbies and Orleans Hobbies. Thank you to both hobby stores. Your support to our club events is much appreciated. The highlight of the evening was the opportunity to suitably honour our recently retired president, Daniel Marcotte.

Our Annual Christmas Dinner was back this year after too-long a break. By all accounts, everyone had a very pleasant evening enjoying each other’s company as well as the plentiful buffet.

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2022 Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon

Event Date

October 1-2, 2022: The 15th Annual Worldwide Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon is over and what a blast! The final numbers are in and as of  15 Nations worldwide submitted a total of 10,481 flights logged by 605 pilots. A whopping 2,154 flights more than last year's record setting 8,327 flights logged by 553 pilots!

For the Stetson Flyers Club it was the 4th consecutive year participating in this event.
Mother Nature graced us with a good weather weekend. 
Stetson Flyers Club’s previous Fly-A-Thon records were surpassed: 15(14) pilots flying 12(5) variants of the "Ringmaster" logged a total of 241(66) flights over the course of the two days. Interest in control line (C/L) is definitely on the upswing. Piloting the model aircraft were new, very lapsed (i.e. decades), budding and veteran C/L pilots.

2022 Last Night of Flight School Event Report

Event Date

The final session of Flight School for this year enjoyed favorable weather, despite a fairly gloomy forecast. It was attended by five students flying a mix of Apprentice, Mini Apprentice and AeroScout trainers. No models were hurt during this event!

In the accompanying pictures you can see the instructors hard at work scrutinizing models before flight, showing a student which switch not to press, demonstrating how to make a turn, and just standing around after a successful flight. Len is guarding the Flight School’s collection of equipment. One picture shows 12-year-old Kailen, a very promising pilot.

Flight School will return in 2023 with ground school sessions followed by a resumption of flight training as soon as the field dries out after the spring runoff.

Thanks to all who contributed to making Flight School 2022 a success.

President Daniel Marcotte

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FLYING FIELD ADDRESS

5800 Frontier Road, 
Vars, ON, Canada
 

Google Maps Link

 

MAILING ADDRESS:

Stetson Flyers Model Airplane Club 
PO Box 91542 RPO Mer Bleu 
Orleans, ON, K1W 0A6 
613-518-4463
contact@stetsonflyers.com