MAAA Wingspan

24 25 WING SPAN FEBRUARY CLUB ASSISTANCE SCHEME PROVIDES A HELPING HAND Kingaroy Aeromodellers Club are cutting a clear path for their members to fly sky high thanks to the MAAA Club Assistance Scheme. The club has received a grant to replace their old ride on mower. The Kingaroy Aero Modellers Society – KAMS, was founded in 1983 and has provided a valuable meeting point for like-minded South Burnett community members to expand their skills and capabilities as aeromodelling pilots. They have been flying at their current field for more than 20 years and felt it was time for some upgrades. KAMS applied in February and received approval of the $5000 grant to proceed in October, KAMS raised an additional $2000. “We applied to replace Greenfield ride on mower that had served us well for more than 20 years, but was coming to the end of its useful life,” said John. “Our tired mower was well and truly past its use by date so we decided to put in for the MAAA Club Assistance Scheme. We were delighted to receive the $5000 grant which we put towards a new $7000 mower. The rest of the funds came from our club who helped raise the additional $2,000.” “We have 2x 200x22m runways east - west and north- south plus we have big ground around the runway that we have to maintain.” “In a good season we have to mow every couple of weeks so the quicker we can get it done the quicker we can enjoy more flying time.“ “The club needed a mower that could cut the central runways down low for the small models.” “The Club Assistance Scheme has been a big benefit to the club as its reliable and we can now mow our flying field a lot quicker. This means that there is more time to spend flying. It’s a win win.” KAMS carried out a major upgrade of club facilities with a grant from the GCBF in 2014. The facilities provide access to a growing number of disabled community members to achieve their goals of independence and to be supported and encouraged in a safe sporting environment. The club actively promotes the hobby/sport to the community and regularly offers an opportunity to come and ‘have a go’. Constellation Model Flying Club applied for funds under the club assistance scheme so that it can extend the East- west runway further to the east which will enable pilots to avoid our neighbour’s house and property at the South-west boundary. Overflying and in some cases crashes on the neighbour’s property have caused issues in the past and with area approvals now requiring sign-off by our neighbours, the club is keen to do what it can to avoid future issues. The club has a large grassed area but to extend the runway to the east required additional irrigation. Some earthworks were required to smooth out the dip at the east end of the current runway and fortunately one of members who has an earth moving business recently needed to get rid of some fill which has been spread in the runway extension area. Our members have been doing final levelling and removal of rocks and debris. The sprinklers were installed by VISS water a local firm and this will give us about 90 metres of additional runway. To keep club running costs down we have turned off a section of sprinklers where the pits used to be. The club is just waiting for the ground to warm up so we can sow a Kikuyu grass seed blend, all being well that should happen in the next few weeks and we could be using the runway extension by the end of the year. A big thank you to Steve Barker and Larry Scott for organizing the Club Assistance Scheme and installation of the sprinkler system. Club Assistance Scheme Constellation Model Flying Club (CMFC)