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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>yep 15 to 20 years later or not at all
</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mjhall@alaskarcs.com href="mailto:mjhall@alaskarcs.com">Marty
Hall</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=alaskarc@lists.alaskarc.org
href="mailto:alaskarc@lists.alaskarc.org">ARCS mailing list</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, May 10, 2009 5:44 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [AlaskaRC] The Field</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=3>But as soon that bridge is built you guys will
have a 15 minute drive to the flying site...... ;-)<BR><BR><BR><BR>At 17:32
5/10/2009, you wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">On Mon, 11 May 2009 10:23:21
+1200<BR>"Ira Hemphill" <<A
href="mailto:twohedwlf@xtra.co.nz">twohedwlf@xtra.co.nz</A>>
wrote:<BR><BR>> If you'll forgive an outsider for asking a few questions
about things<BR>> I'm curious about that I'm not clear on. I was
discussing what I've<BR>> been reading with a member of our club's
council on Sunday, yesterday.<BR>> <BR>> That field looks like it's an
hour and a half or two hour drive<BR>> outside of Anchorage? Am I
correct in assuming that most members<BR>> would live in the Anchorage,
Eagle River area?<BR><BR>You are correct Ira, driving out to this new field
is basically an all<BR>day affair for the majority of the club
membership. It's an irony of<BR>living in Alaska that although the
state is positively VAST, very little<BR>of the land is suitable for R/C use
due to ownership, regulation<BR>(particularly sound ordinances in the Mat-Su
valley just north of<BR>Anchorage), or a combination of topology or
vegetation. Land in and<BR>around Anchorage has gotten valuable enough
recently that it became<BR>economically viable to fill in a 200 foot deep
gravel pit and build<BR>houses on it.<BR><BR>> Is the strip at Elmendorf
currently the only permanent field? Back<BR>> when I visited what
must have been a fun fly there 20 years it seemed<BR>> like a great field
to me. I should have gotten into it back then<BR>> isntead of
waiting another 15 years and doing it in another country.<BR><BR>Currently
Elmendorf is our only permanent field, it's paved and quite<BR>nice for what
it is. However, the field and flying rules have changed<BR>quite a bit
since you saw it 20 years ago. The field is on an active<BR>military
base and back then the general public could drop by the field<BR>simply by
telling the gate sentries where they were headed. Sadly that's<BR>no
longer the case and the general public is basically prohibited
from<BR>visiting the field. The field is also basically right off the
end of an<BR>active runway, so there is a 300 foot altitude restriction at
the field.<BR>20 years ago when most folks were flying .40 or .60 size
planes, that<BR>was less of an issue than it is today with 50 CC and up IMAC
planes<BR>gaining popularity. <BR><BR>The recent sound ordinance
issues out in the Mat-Su valley have taught<BR>the R/C community up here a
hard political lesson. In order to gain<BR>flying fields, we need
broad community support. In order to gain broad<BR>community support
we need to be visible as a positive and beneficial<BR>group within the
community. Unfortunately it's hard for us to be<BR>visible to the
general public when sequestered away at the Elmendorf<BR>field - so it's
kind of a chicken and the egg problem. We've made good<BR>progress
with the Parks and Recreation department, and they are willing<BR>to give us
a letter of support as we approach other entities in the<BR>Anchorage and
Eagle River areas requesting to use their facilities for<BR>R/C
activities.<BR><BR>Sorry for the long winded explanation, the upshot is my
current first<BR>priority is getting the new field squared away from an
insurance<BR>standpoint so people can fly there - spring is here and people
are ready<BR>to break out the planes. My second priority is getting
the club website<BR>back to a functional state. My third priority is
pursuing a publicly<BR>accessible flying site closer in to Anchorage with as
few restrictions<BR>as possible.<BR><BR>> Here we have a field that has
been leased continuously to our club<BR>> since 1937, that's only 10
minutes drive from me. Another about 45<BR>> minute drive that's
even better belongs to another club.<BR><BR>Count yourself as
fortunate! Not only for having nearby fields, but<BR>also for living
in a beautiful country with filled with friendly people<BR>:) We took
a wonderful two week tour through NZ in a rented camper van<BR>when my
oldest daughter was around 2 years old.<BR><BR>--
<BR>Tom<BR><BR>_____________________________________________________________________<BR><BR>
| ,
|
Tom Simes -
President<BR>---------(@)---------
Alaska Radio Control Society<BR>
--|--
AMA Chartered Club
#1998<BR>
'
president@alaskarc.org<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>AlaskaRC
mailing list<BR>AlaskaRC@lists.alaskarc.org<BR><A
href="http://lists.alaskarc.org/mailman/listinfo/alaskarc"
eudora="autourl">http://lists.alaskarc.org/mailman/listinfo/alaskarc</A></BLOCKQUOTE><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP>Marty Hall<BR>Fairbanks,
Alaska<BR>mjhall@alaskarcs.com<BR><BR>The United States Constitution
(c)1791. All Rights Reserved. </FONT>
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