Communications
Rescheduled Swap Meet
March 20th2022
MFRCC has rescheduled our swap meet to April 23rd. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this time! Please mark it on your calendar and spread the word.
2022 Fall/Winter Swap Meet
December 3rd 2022
Beautiful day for a swap meet with a nice turn-out!
Upcoming Swap Meets
February 1st 2022
MFRCC has set the date of their annual swap meet to Saturday, March 12th. Please mark it on your calendar and save the date. More details to come.
Highland RC Club (Sebring, FL) is hosting a swap meet on February 12th. Follow the link for more details.
Message from the President
January 22nd 2022
Welcome to the 2022 flying season! Hopefully 2022 will be a great year of flying.
I would like to introduce you to the club officers for 2022.
President: Chris Finn
Vice-President & Field Operations: Glenn Martin
Secretary: Bo Brown
Treasurer: Sam Cannella
Safety Coordinator: Michael Knight
( I removed the contact info due to phishing issues. Contact info is available as a PDF down load from the "Meet the Board" tab.)
Do not hesitate to contact any of the club officers if you have any questions or concerns.
2022 finished strong with a total of 62 full pay members and a total member count of 74. The membership level to break-even, based on our budget, is 43 so this really helped restore our finances. Another year like this will help secure our finances and let us move forward with some of the field improvements that are needed.
We had a recent donation of a brand-new trainer airplane that will be used as a club trainer by our certified Intro Pilot Instructors. We also had a donation of transmitters that will allow setup of buddy box. This is a great addition to our club.
The board will be meeting shortly and discuss our plans to host a fun-fly, swap meet, and pot-luck fly-inn. Stay tuned for details.
I want to thank the many members that make the MFRCC club a great place to fly and enjoy the wonderful hobby of RC flight!
I wish you all a fun and safe flying season. See you at the field!!
Chris Finn
Club Status Update
May 10th 2021
As we approach the summer heat I wanted to give the club members an update regarding the status of the club.
Membership
We now have a total of 56 paid members and a total membership of 68 (kids, spouses, etc). With our current budget we need 43 members to break even so this is a good position.
We also are now participating in AMA's Introduction Pilot Program and have two registered Intro Pilot Instructors (Jimmy and Bo).
Activities
We hosted a member only fun fly that was well attended and fun had by all. This help raise some additional dollars targeted for field improvements.
We hosted a very successful swap meet. Really good attendance and lots of commerce going on. This also helped raise some funds targeted for field improvements and helped give our club visibility.
Donations
The generosity of our membership has been overwhelming. I had put a number of items on a needed donation page on our web-site and all items have now been covered!! We also have had a couple of donations from non-members! AWESOME
Finances
We are currently well below our budget, of course the year isn't over, but year to date we are looking good.
Improvements
The board has decided to only pursue improvements that can be covered with the additional monies provided by the events hosted and cash donations received. We will be using the membership dues to help build back a safety net in our checkbook. Given the donations received I really think we can make needed improvements without tapping into the membership monies.
To date:
-
Both warning fences have been replaced (donation).
-
Lawn Mower Battery has been replaced (donation).
-
New windsocks installed (donation)
-
New chairs (donation)
-
New flag (donation)
-
New club sign at end of road (donation)
-
New club sign on container (donation)
-
Container painted (donation)
-
New flag pole installed (paid by club) that allows the flag to be lowered in severe weather.
Future Planned Improvements
-
Gene Woolley sign replacement (donation)
-
2 plane stands (club finances)
What to look forward to?
Once the summer heat is behind us a little we would like to host another fun fly, hold a pot luck/fly-in, and hold another swap meet. If you have any ideas for other activities that might benefit the club please let me know.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Happy Flying!
Chris Finn
Barfield Road
May 7th 2021
Imperial Polk Properties (Fantasy of Flight) has been working with Polk County and the Sheriffs office to deal with the issues of dumping on Barfield Road. The first issue they had to deal with is the abandoned trailer and the associated HAZMAT materials. Thankfully they were able to get that cleaned up.
The Sheriffs office did commit to installing video cameras along Barfield road in an attempt to curb some of the various activity. While they committed to adding these cameras they didn't commit to a time line.
They also installed a light at the intersection of 557A and Barfield Road. Not sure if that helps or just makes it easier for the undesirables to find it at night.
Lastly they have been pushing for Barfield road to be re-surfaced. Budget constraints and the limited traffic is making that a lower priority but maybe someday........
What can we do? Call and report road-side dumping as it occurs. The more voices they hear the more they will take the issue seriously.
Doug Houston Jeremy Turpin Mark Vandyke
A BIG THANK YOU!!
May 5th 2021
I'm overwhelmed by the generosity of our club members and even non-members who have an interest in this hobby. We now have covered all of the items we had on the donation board and then some. These donations really help the club finances.
The MFRCC Board of Directors would like to send a special thanks to the following individuals:
Michael Knight- lawn mower battery and 2nd set of wind-socks
Doug Houston- Full set of wind-socks, new flag, & north end warning fence
Charles Nickels (non-member)- $100 cash donation
Mark Vandyke- paint and labor for the container
Mark Vandyke & Jeremy Turpin(non-member)-new club sign for the container
Jimmy Logue- $200 cash donation
Anonymous- South end warning fence, club brochures, & chairs
Chris Finn
Kudo's!!!
March 20th 2021
I would like to send a big kudo's to Mark V. for the donation of paint and the labor to put a fresh coat of point on the storage container!! His efforts are VERY much appreciated.
THANKS Mark!!
Chris Finn
2021 Swap Meet
March 20th 2021
The 2021 Swap Meet was well attended and a successful event. It was great to see vehicles arriving early with a full parking lot shortly after the gates were open.
Kudo's to Ray V. for spear-heading the event.
Chris Finn
"Bomb Drop" fun fly
March 15th 2021
I would like to thank all who attended the fun fly. The weather was perfect and it was great to see so many flyers at the field. I hope everyone had a good time.
Chris Finn
p.s. photos taken by Q will be coming on-line shortly
Message from the President
February 5th 2021
Welcome to the 2021 flying season! Hopefully 2021 will be better than the lost year of 2020.
I would like to introduce you to the club officers for 2021.
President: Chris Finn (chris.finn.cjf@gmail.com) (763)227-6868
Vice-President & Field Operations: Ray Vosika (vosikaraymond02@gmail.com) (863)-272-0651
Secretary: Bo Brown (mrbobrown@yahoo.com) (863)412-5640
Treasurer: Sam Cannella (scannella1@tampabay.rr.com) (813)473-3475
Safety Coordinator: Michael Knight (mikeknight391@gmail.com) (863)698-1462
Do not hesitate to contact any of the club officers if you have any questions or concerns.
Our current membership is 48 regular adult members and a total membership of 58 (includes children and non-flying spouses etc.). This membership level is just above our break-even point. While it’s good that the club is viable with this membership level it does not support many of the improvements that would be nice for the field. I have added a DONATION section to the web-site (www.midfloridarcclub.org) that lists a variety of donation opportunities if you would like to help improve our facility.
Increasing membership would allow many of needed improvements. A club web-site was recently brought on-line and the field location was also added to Google Maps. Hopefully this will help give visibility to our club. Responsibility of driving membership also falls to the general membership. We all need to be good stewards of the hobby. Promote the hobby to potential flyers. Encouraging/assisting new flyers to help set the hook to retain the novice flyer. Being respectful/supportive to our fellow members helps retain our membership. A positive and supportive environment helps bring people back to the field.
We will also be participating in the AMA Introductory Pilot Program that allows new pilots to fly with a designated Intro Pilot Instructor without having to join the AMA. This is good for 60 days and all flights must be with an approved Intro Pilot Instructor. This helps new flyers to test the waters before they make the financial commitment. We will be registering 2-3 Intro Pilot Instructors with AMA to support this initiative.
AMA has established the Leader Club Award to recognize the best clubs. Achieving the bronze level of the Leader Club Award is well within our reach. Receiving the Leader Club Award would give recognition to our club in the Model Aviation Magazine and help promote our club. Promoting our club isn't about patting ourselfs on the back but hopefully gain visibility and increase new member opportunities.
We are currently planning on hosting a swap meet this spring and possibly a member only fun fly. Stay tuned for the details.
I wish you all a fun and safe flying season. See you at the field!!
Chris Finn