Next SEBMFA Ordinary General Meeting

This will take place on Wednesday 16 May at the Angel Centre, Tonbridge starting at 8pm.

The May SEADOG contains the Agenda plus the minutes & reports from Ordinary General Meeting 25 January.

Nev's Days on the Isle of Sheppey

Enjoying the weather, last years's meeting

The Medway Model Flying Club invites you to a day of model flying fun at their large site at Leysdown Marshes, on The Isle of Sheppey in Kent. MAP

Two meetings have been arranged, 17 June and 30 September. They have been called Nev's Days 2, in memory of Medway's secretary, Neville Legg.

All day flying, 10am to 6pm, for Free Flight, Free Flight Scale, Control Line and Radio Assist (2 channels max). BMFA Insurance required.

All flyers £4.00, in aid of Kent Air Ambulance.

Contact Mike Smith on 01474 564 863 or mike@freeflightscale.com

SEADOG - Area Newsletter

The SEADOG (South East Area Digest of Gen) is distributed to all the Club Secretaries in the SE Area.
If you would like your own copy sent directly to you, please send your Email address to
seadogeditor@btconnect.com

RC Flying at Long Man

This site, run by East Sussex Soaring Association (ESSA), is open to all BMFA members. It is important to be aware of these flying & conduct rules.

Southern Area BMFA Website

Check out www.sabmfa.org.uk for all the flying news from our next door neighbour. There are 64 clubs and associations based in and around the counties of Hampshire, Berkshire and Dorset affiliated to the BMFA through the Southern Area.

 

 

 

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Ashdown FF 4th Area Meeting 2012

The fourth of a series of eight BMFA Free Flight competitions took place on 25 March on Ashdown Forest.

Download the Plane Paper for the Ashdown 4th Area results

The FFTC website has the National BMFA 4th Area results

Flyers are reminded to carry their BMFA cards with them at all times on Ashdown Forest. More details are on the Free-Flight page

SEBMFA Crawley K2 Indoor Meeting

K2 Indoor Meeting

The 37th year of the SE Area Indoor meeting became the first to be seriously affected by the weather. A heavy fall of snow the evening before reduced the attendace by roughly half.

However, for those that did attend, the sight of a cleared carpark and K2 running normally was welcome. The flyers took advantage (pictured is Joe Harper) of the less crowded airspace and enjoyed some hours of fine flying.

See Crawley K2 Indoor competition results and pics

All the competitions had reasonable support and were viable events, despite some regular entrants missing. Ken Taylor did particularly well, winning HLG and second in both Catapult and Gyminnie Cricket. This was enough for him to become SEBMFA Indoor Champion.

Thanks to John Dart and his helpers for running the meeting, John has already booked the venue for next year, the first sunday in February as usual!

Model Flying on Ashdown Forest

The Ashdown Forest in West Sussex is perhaps the only venue suitable for running free flight competitions in the South East (unless you know differently) and for very many years the South East Area of the BMFA has paid a not inconsiderable sum to the Forest Conservators for an annual licence to run these events. In addition the Area was able to include in the licence the general flying of free flight models and also radio controlled gliders by BMFA members only. The only other restrictions related to the flying times and locations to be used.

Two glider flyers enjoy the open spaces of Ashdown Forest

Two glider flyers enjoy the open spaces of Ashdown Forest

This arrangement has worked very well over the years, but just recently the Conservators have received a number of complaints both from walkers and horse riders regarding the behaviour of model flyers on the Forest. For example, one lady called to report that she and her small daughter were verbally abused by two flyers after she had gone to talk to them after seeing them deliberately flying low towards and over horse riders. A Forest ranger went to investigate but the flyers had gone when he arrived.

Sadly, this is not an uncommon complaint and the Area has been informed that if there are any further incidents, the police will be called in and the Conservators will have to look again at model flying over the Forest

The South East Area is happy after investigation that the incident mentioned is not connected with the free flight competition element and that the culprits were probably R/C glider/electric flyers. They may not even have been BMFA members but were obviously unaware of their duty to fly safely with due consideration for others.

Action is being taken to acquaint South East Area members of the position but in case anyone from other BMFA areas wish to fly on Ashdown Forest they are asked to ascertain details of the licence requirements either from our Free Flight Competition Secretary, Gary Oulds, by telephone on 01293 511872 or the undersigned on 01892 534974. It is imperative that anyone flying on the Forest carries with them their BMFA membership cards and be prepared to show them to Forest staff or members of the Public if they are asked. Ashdown Forest is an area of outstanding natural beauty which has national and international protection because of its wildlife and as such is a highly sensitive location. If we were to lose the site for model flying it would be a great blow to aeromodelling in general and would almost certainly end competition free flight in the South East. Please help us to prevent this happening

Keith Miller