SIMON’S SERMON - October 2021
As I mentioned in my email last week (3/10/21), on behalf of our committee I hope that everyone is well and staying safe. COVID is having may poor effects on our daily lives, health, hobbies, friendships, etc. Personally, one positive outcome is that I am able to work from home for a company based in Sydney with a great team that I have not met yet! On the negative side, working and living alone at home does put a great mental pressure on you and your activities. Getting on a computer for personal reasons is difficult and is one of the reasons I have been slow in putting out more Sermons. The other more important impact is not being able to meet up with you, our members. I expect, like me, you are frothing at the bit to get back on the field (or should I say our new field) and meet up, fly and have a good old simple catch up. Something we used to take for granted!
As always there are a number of photos at the top of the page. Just move your mouse over the photos and there will be a caption providing details of what the picture shows. If you find that the photo is not displaying correctly just reduce the size of your browser and the photo should display better.
The COVID break has helped in one way with the field. It has prevented us from getting on the runways to early and permitted the grass to take hold, grow and mature without interference. As a result of this the runways are looking extremely good, they are thick, green and luscious. They are now ready for us to make good of the best runways around. If you have planes with smaller wheels you might have a problem with taking off, but Brendon will be looking into cutting the grass a bit shorter now that it is established and we are about to start using the runways.
Looking South from the Northern End of the North - South runway.
The runways are looking extremely good, they are thick and luscious.
SEMAC Airfield is now open
As reported last week (3/10/21) the SEAMC field is now open. There are some conditions of entry until the Victorian Government change their directions:
A maximum of five (5) double COVID vaccinated members are permitted at the field.
You must be a current financial member to attend and fly.
Anyone entering the SEAMAC airfield must scan the QR code which is located on the first gate (gate two) as you enter the field behind Mulch Express. A second QR code is available at the second gate (gate three) if required.
If you are not working we would prefer that you fly during the week to keep flying slots available for those members who work through the week.
Please keep in mind that we are currently not permitted to leave our 15km zone unless it is for the approved reasons. Unfortunately attending our field is not one of those reasons.
You are required to wear a mask unless you are eating or drinking.
Booking a flying slot
As there are limited spots available, and so that we can keep the numbers down to five members at the field, we need to put a roster process in place. Depending on demand we will be limiting spots to:
Five (5) all day slots Monday to Friday, unless the demand for weekday slots requires changes to this.
Five (5) morning slots between 9:00am to 12:30pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Five (5) afternoon slots between 1:00pm and 5:00pm on Saturday and Sunday.
If you want to make a booking for a slot, please sms or email me (Simon Bole-Brown) with your name day and time that you would like to book one to two days prior to the required slot. I will come back to you as soon as possible prior to the day.
Gate 3. The QR Code sheets are here and on gate two, the entrance to John’s (Mulch Expresses) field.
Brendon has been doing a great job looking after the field, cutting the grass for the runways, maintaining the surrounding grass and another repair job on the Bobcat. The bobcat had another minor breakdown after Brendon’s last major repair of the mower. He is happy to report that it is running better than ever and now has no oil leaks!
Brendon’s open-air workshop which has now been moved to the new field.
Last weekend 3/10/21, I went down to the field to put up the QR codes and to do another “Security” check of the field, our containers and equipment. While down there Adrian dropped in with his new Stinson. The plane is ready to fly and Adrian wanted to run the engine up and do some taxi work and fine tuning. I got the chance to take photos of this great new model. I found out later that he got the courage up to maiden the plan and land in one piece. Well done!
Hopefully we will get to see a large number of new planes that COVID has produced which we will put up on the website. Unfortunately, I can’t claim the same, my project Stick and the repair to my old Stick are still on the bench!
Adrian proudly showing off his new Stinson.
Both the new runway and the new Stinson looking good.
Just a reminder of how our runways looked a few months back. We have come a long way and some of us will benefit from the great work sooner than others, but we will all be back again soon.
Stay safe and I look forward to when we can all catch up and get back to what we love.
