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Suburban R/C Barnstormers |
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| 7 Sep | 09:00 AM | Membership meeting and flying |
Pratt's-Wayne |
| 15 Sep | 08:30-noon | Fun Fly #6: Glider Duration |
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| 23 Sep | 07:00 PM | Board meeting | Zoom |
| 14 Oct | 07:00 PM | Club meeting & Annual Club Swap |
Itasca Library |
| 11 Nov | 07:00 PM | Membership meeting; Officer Nomination & Election |
Itasca Library |
| 9 Dec | 07:00 PM |
Christmas Pot Luck meeting at Maywood Sportsmen's Club |
Maywood Sportsmen's Club |
Club mneetings are held on the second Monday of every month (except July and August) at Itasca Community Library. Check the event calendar for details.
[We also provide a Zoom presence for those unable or unwilling to come in person. Watch for emails.]
Club business consists of event planning, event reports, and technical discussion, with an occasional presentation by a vendor with something juicy to share. Then we have Show-and-Tell for Big Kids, with members displaying and describing their latest aircraft. We close the meeting by asking folks if they have any tips to pass along. Sometimes the group adjourns to a local restaurant for food and more aircraft talk.
Our small set of bylaws describe the rather loose way we conduct the club's business, which is never very demanding. You can get more information on our meetings by emailing our club officers.
New Ideas and Technical Discussion
SRCB members regularly share their latest discoveries through presentations at club meetings, discussion at after-meeting dinners, email lists, and local, national, and international convocations. Are you looking for answers on how to best apply that special paint? Need some pointers on fiberglass techniques? Want to know how to trim your helicopter? Check out the action at an SRCB event. Ask some questions. You'll get hooked up in no time.
Share What You Know
You may have some hobby techniques of your own or other technical knowledge that you'd like to share with the club. The floor is always open at SRCB meetings for members to help each other out with tips and tricks.
Often there will be some technical question that has arisen at a previous meeting or flying event and one of our members will make a presentation to educate the rest of the club on this matter. Since R/C is such a diverse and technically challenging arena it makes sense to bring a notebook and pencil to the meetings. You never know what useful tidbits you might pick up!
Get Involved with the Larger R/C Community
Many of our members attend national conventions like E-FEST, SPAD, and others. This is a great way to meet new people and find out what's happening in the R/C field. Often our members bring back new ideas, sources for parts and equipment, construction and repair techniques, and other useful "stuff" from which we can all benefit.
Monthly Club Fun Fly
Regular club flying events are held at our paved runway flying field at Pratt's Wayne Model Flight Field in Bartlett. Club events are open to the general public, but for spectating only. Visit the DuPage Forest Preserve District web site for more detailed information about the venue.
Just For Fun Contests
Our Fun Fly events occasionally have a silly contest of some type. Here are some examples of the contests we've had:
Contest Events
- Altitude Precision
- Participants are loaned a recording altimeter, which they attach to their aircraft. Using no aid other than their own senses pilots fly to a target altitude and return. Closest to the target altitude without going over wins!
- Time Precision
- Judges start a timer when the pilot's aircraft leaves the ground or hand. Using no aid other than their own senses pilots fly a loop and land. Closest to the target time wins!
- Dead Stick Spot Landing
- Pilots fly a racetrack pattern for a random time. At the horn the pilot chops the throttle and attempts to land on the target spot. Closest first wheel touchdown wins!
- Limbo
- Pilots fly their aircraft under a crepe streamer slung between two poles. The streamer is lowered until no aircraft can pass underneath without touching the ground. Lowest pass wins!
- Fast and Slow
- The same plane is used to fly fast passes and slow passes on the same sortie. Slow passes are timed between markers; fast passes are clocked via radar. The slow pass time is multiplied by the fast pass speed for the final score.
Additionally, we usually have food and always have a door prize drawing at Fun Fly events. Everybody goes home with something, even if it's just memories of a good time!
Check Out Our Fields!
SRCB flies off of a paved runway with dedicated flying stations at our main field, Pratt's Wayne Model Flight Field in Bartlett.
We soft land on grass at our secondary field, Kress Creek Farms Park in West Chicago.
DuPage FPD has other flying fields, also. Check them out.
Getting There
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Pratt's Wayne Model Flight Field
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Current weather
at Pratt's Wayne |
The DuPage Forest Preserve District is allowing drone and other multirotor FPV flying at preserve fields as long as we adhere to FPD rules. Most of these rules echo those of the AMA already, so none of these should come as a shock. Here is an extract from the FPD concerning the rules of flying at any FPD facility:
Rules and Regulations
For everyone's safety and enjoyment, you must follow these rules and regulations, which the Forest Preserve District may change at any time.
- Only use designated model crafts in the designated DuPage forest preserve areas. Use is first-come, first-served unless someone obtains exclusive use from the Forest Preserve District via written request.
- Carry your permit with you when using a model-craft area, and present it to a Forest Preserve District agent for inspection if requested.
- Operate your transmitter only when operating your craft, and double-check to make sure no one's using the same frequency.
- Fit all craft with mufflers, and use mats or platforms when fueling gasoline-powered engines to protect the grass.
For Model Aircraft
- Per the Academy of Model Aeronautics, do not fly planes or helicopters over 55 pounds or gliders or sailplanes over 15 pounds.
- If you fly a drone with a first-person video system, you must have a spotter.
- Affix your current Forest Preserve District permit or pin to the control stand to indicate which radio band you're using. Turn off any radio bands you're not using. At Greene Valley, affix a frequency flag to your transmitter antenna and a similar flag of the same color with your name and frequency to your frequency control device.
- Carry your aircraft to the runway and do not taxi into or through the pit area.
- Control your aircraft from designated flight lines per selected flight patterns, which are posted at each area. Respect fellow operators and their flight patterns regardless of the type of aircraft.
- Yield the right-of-way to landing aircraft and to aircraft that have just landed.
- Follow all Federal Aviation Administration rules and regulations specific to your type of aircraft.