SLNT Club Information

General Info - Club Officers - Update Newsletter - Equipment - Home Page - Field Rules - Maps to Flying Fields

General

The Soaring League of North Texas is an AMA charter club founded to promote radio control sailplanes. On a monthly bases we have club meetings, contests and publish our newsletter the "Update". Our dues are $20.00 per year. AMA membership is required for all club activities. To join, send $20.00 to: Perry Dunlap, 10035 Milltrail, Dallas, Texas, 75238. Make checks payable to Perry Dunlap, NOT SLNT. We have almost 100 dues paying members. Visitors are welcome to come to our meetings and flying events. Club meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at the Lake Highlands Recreation Center located at 9940 White Rock Trail (White Rock Trail at Church) in North Dallas. Call or e-mail Mike Glass for meeting and direction details.

Club Officers

Officers are elected yearly. Any member can run for any office. The current officers for the rest of 2000 until November of 2001 are:

Jack Hamilton - President
Dave Webb - Vice President
Perry Dunlap - Secretary/Treasurer
Henry Bostick - Public Relations
Chuck Fisher - Safety Officer
Gerry Walton, Bobby Dixon, Robert Taylor, Tim Bennett & Mark Williams - Equipment Officers
Gary Warner - Internet Maintenance
Mike Glass - Newsletter Editor

Field Rules

The Field rules are very simple - Don't Do Anything Stupid. Our flying fields are on public property so safety is our biggest concern. Airplanes that crash out of control are the clubs worst fear. The public surrounds our field and if anyone gets hurt we'll almost certainly lose the privilege of using the field.

Observe AMA Safety Code at all times.

You must be an AMA member and have your membership card in your possession to fly at Eastfield. If an accident occurs involving personal injury or property damage to Eastfield facilities, contact Eastfield Campus Police at (972) 860-8333. Do not leave until police have arrived. If you know of anyone that is not an active AMA member and they are in control of a plane, inform the individual of the rules. If further action becomes necessary contact one of the club officers and in an emergency, call the police at 911.
Frequency control measures are in force at all times. If no frequency board is present, it is the responsibility of the members to determine which frequencies are present at the field and to coordinate the alternate use of frequencies so every flyer will have an equal opportunity to fly. At contests, frequency pins are provided. On other days you should bring your own frequency pin (cloths pin with name and frequency on it).
"The Shootdown Rule"- If you cause an already airborne plane to crash due to your turning on of your radio. You purchase that pilots' plane which was lost.
Airplanes that are launching have the right-of-way. While in flight, avoid the path of launching aircraft.
If you join a pilot flying in a thermal, always circle in the same direction as the original plane- to avoid a mid-air collision.
Driving onto the fields is not permitted for any reason except for setting up winches.
Avoid flying low over pit areas.
Always be aware of other people crossing the field.
The club winch is only to be operated by qualified persons. These things can be very dangerous so don't operate one until someone checks you out.
Do not launch to the East or West and stay at least 20 paces (aprox. 100') from street and jogging track.
When launching from the south end of field, launch a safe distance from the power lines to allow reasonable landing approaches.
Do not cross La Prada Dr. or College St. (North of field) at altitudes less than the height of two telephone poles.
Do not fly over the soccer field at ANY altitude when in use.
Absolutely no alcoholic beverages are allowed on the field or in open containers in cars.
Park your cars in a group, not scattered up and down the field.
No loud profanity.
Be courteous to observers.
Please do not leave any trash at the field.
Flying power aircraft except electrics is strictly prohibited.
No model rocketry allowed.

Club Equipment

The SLNT maintains 3 fully operational and trailered winches with retrievers. Each trailer is a complete stand alone winching system. It's not necessary to share equipment from other winches. The club purchases batteries, line and hardware as needed to keep them in good working order. The winch trailers are available to any club member that has been checked out on them.
We also maintain the necessary equipment needed for the monthly open class and hand launch contests, club meetings and other club activities. Funds for all equipment maintenance comes from member dues and contest entry fees.

Update Newsletter

The SLNT publishes a monthly newsletter named "Update". The main focus of the newsletter is to inform club members of club activities. The newsletter commonly contains 6 pages that include contest and event schedules, comments from the president, club contest reports, hand launch contest reports, Top Gun Points standings, details of up coming contests, out of town contest schedules, technical articles, personal articles, "For Sail" want ads and other odds and ends.
It is provided free of charge to all current paid members. Additional copies are exchanged with other sailplane oriented club's newsletters in a free exchange of information with all clubs involved. No other circulation of the Update is currently available without membership to SLNT. If you would like to receive a copy of the Update and you are a newsletter editor for another sailplane club or if you would like to join SLNT you can E-mail Update Editor with your request.

Home Page Information

The SLNT home page was founded in August of 1996. It is donated and maintained by Gary Warner. It has 5 megs of page space. Construction is on HTML Assistant Pro 2 Ver2.0. Compatibility is confirmed on Netscape 2.01 and InterGo 1.3. Every attempt has been made to insure that the information in this web page is correct, however, the SLNT and Gary Warner cannot and will not be responsible for inaccurate information and consequences incurred as a result of such errors. Errors in this web page may be brought to the attention of Gary Warner and reasonable attempts will be made to correct the problem.
Articles, contest schedules, and general information can be contributed by E-mailing the information to Gary. Submission of articles is an automatic agreement to reprint them freely. If your submitting a previously published article, you must include the original author and appropriate credits given. All articles published here can be reprinted for personal use and for the use in other R/C related club newsletters. Proper credit should be given on reprinted articles. All other uses (including commercial) must be granted in writing from the original author or Gary Warner. Pictures are free to be downloaded as long as they are not used for commercial purposes. Constructive criticism is welcome but may not always be heeded.

Maps to Flying Fields
The Practice field is in Mesquite Tx just East of Dallas on I-30 at the Eastfield Community College. Exit Big Town Blvd and go north. Go 2 tenths of a mile past the stop light at Gross Rd. Parking is on the grass just north of the apartments on the right. Keep close to the road - don't drive out into the field. This field is used for general flying and practice. Use is restricted to daylight hours only. Monthly Hand launch contests are also held on this field. As of 11/97, club contests will be held here too until a more suitable place can be found.
This is the practice field from the air. Up is roughly Northwest. The picture was taken from Gary Warner's Electra.

Here's a map to our new Open Class contest flying site at Southfork Ranch (Hand Launch contests will still be at Eastfield).

E-Mail Gary Warner at: warner1@airmail.net