January 17rd, 2024

Good morning everyone. I guess I should really say – GREAT MORNING everyone! I received this from the Federal FAA. This our ‘OFFICIAL’ Letter of Authorization, allowing us to fly our RC airplanes ‘WITHOUT’ Remote ID at our flying site. Letter of Authorization

I have been in communications with the AMA and they’ve agreed that this isn’t a “FRIA”, but it’s ‘Official’ and thus they also recognize this as a CBO. The AMA stated that most of the clubs that had been denied in the FRIA request received these letters instead. Additionally, I just received the below from the AMA Webcast. The map lists our area as being an ‘officially recognized’ FRIA. Have a GREAT day everyone.
KC

FRIA Map Now Available FAA-Recognized Identification Area (FRIA) status has been extended to more than 1,500 AMA club flying fields. AMA staff continue to work hard on behalf of clubs to process a few hundred more and appeal and reverse those that were not granted FRIA status. The FAA has published a map that identifies FRIA sites throughout the US. FRIA sites

I just finished wrapping a 12’ gymnastic balance beam for my grand­daughters. It looks more like Dolly Parton’s coat of many colors. How can you disguise this? Do you think that the kids will know what it is? 😊 By the time I completed it, it looked more like one of my models that I tried to Monocote. But I’m also aware of how happy they’ll be.

I hope and pray that all of you are able to spend Christmas with the family and friends. If you’re traveling out of town, I hope you have safe and uneventful travels. I’ll be looking forward to seeing all of you out at the field soon.

KC

December 23rd, 2023

I just finished wrapping a 12’ gymnastic balance beam for my granddaughters. It looks more like Dolly Parton’s coat of many colors. How can you disguise this? Do you think that the kids will know what it is? 😊 By the time I completed it, it looked more like one of my models that I tried to Monocote. But I’m also aware of how happy they’ll be.

I hope and pray that all of you are able to spend Christmas with the family and friends. If you’re traveling out of town, I hope you have safe and uneventful travels. I’ll be looking forward to seeing all of you out at the field soon.

KC

December 23rd, 2023

I just finished wrapping a 12’ gymnastic balance beam for my granddaughters. It looks more like Dolly Parton’s coat of many colors. How can you disguise this? Do you think that the kids will know what it is? 😊 By the time I completed it, it looked more like one of my models that I tried to Monocote. But I’m also aware of how happy they’ll be.

I hope and pray that all of you are able to spend Christmas with the family and friends. If you’re traveling out of town, I hope you have safe and uneventful travels. I’ll be looking forward to seeing all of you out at the field soon.

KC

December 6th, 2023

Hello everyone,

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving with family and friends. I’ve renewed my membership to the gym 😊.

Just a reminder for those that are planning to attend the December 12th club meeting: If you desire, we’ll be having our ‘White Elephant’ gift exchange. As in previous years, the price ceiling is set at $15. At this meeting, we’ll be voting in the 2024 club officers. Additionally, we’ll be soliciting names for the “Most Crashes” and also Arc of the Year.

KC


November 9th, 2023

I just received communications from the AMA Government Relations Representative. This provides more clarity to my previous announcements.

“The email from Ms. Stewart is correct in that your FRIA application was likely automatically denied due to location in a 0’ grid. This denial will not affect your LOA or future 7711 AA. Even if the FRIA status is never given to the site, you would still be able to operate under the LOA or AA with a broadcast module added to aircraft. However, we will do everything we can to get you FRIA status at your site. Ilona Maine is our staff member working on your FRIA application and she has already resubmitted your application to the FAA.”

This means that we’re back to our original stance in that we’re waiting for the results of the FRIA application to determine whether or not we’ll need the ‘Remote ID’ modules installed into our aircraft.

I apologize for any confusion or anxiety that I may have caused. I’m simply passing along to you what the respective agencies are telling me.

KC


November 2nd, 2023

I’m actively attempting to answer all questions with regards to our recent FAA Airspace Authorization. With the recent emails and phone calls that I’ve been on, much of the information has been positive, while some of it has put a damper on the optimism that I had.

I’ve had many club members express concern with the wording and the omission of some ‘key terms’. A tremendous shout out to those members that are attempting to keep me on the correct path. I can’t thank you enough. I’m attempting to be the mouth piece primarily for our members.

I finally received this below email from the AMA Director of Government Relations:

“The AA is meant to replace the previous LOA but does not provide any exemptions for Remote ID. You would still need to apply for FRIA status for your site.

“We are aware and agree with the issues that your club member has with the AA. All clubs are receiving AAs with very similar language that does not fit our operations. We have already had meetings with the FAA group leading this process and provided them with a list of needed changes. They agreed in our meeting that the content of the cookie-cutter AAs they were providing to clubs did not apply to our operations and were willing to make changes. I am currently in DC meeting with congressional offices about FRIA issues but will follow up with the AA team regarding this issue and get an update as to where they are in the changes they agreed to make when I return to the office next week.

“Please let me know if you have additional questions.

“Best regards,
Chrystal Pearson, Director of Government Relations”

KC


November 1st, 2023

CHRISTMAS has come early!!!! We have just received an Airspace Authorization from FAA Seattle TRACON. This authorization is effective immediately and valid for the next 2 years. This document replaces our FAA Letter of Authorization and essentially takes the place of the FAA FRIA. This means, that we don’t need to have a Remote ID in our aircraft. We are mandated to ensure that everyone flying at our site complies with all of the requirements that were in our original FAA Letter of Authorization.

This is a tremendous relief and an answer that we were all hoping for,
KC


September 5th, 2023

Here’s the latest on the Club’s FAA-Recognized Identification Area (FRIA) request.

On August 24th, I received two simultaneous emails, one from the Drone Zone and the other from the AMA. The email from the Drone Zone was the FAA’s response informing the club that our FRIA was denied due to our close proximity to the Bremerton Airport. This was about two weeks after the Shelton Flyers received a similar denial for the same reason. I sent an immediate response to the AMA including a copy of the current FAA Letter of Agreement (LOA) between the Kitsap ARCS and the FAA Seattle Terminal Radar Approach Control (S46). I received a response back from the AMA stating that they were going to resubmit our FRIA request along with our FAA LOA.

I also sent a copy of our FRIA denial to the FAA official(s) that signed our LOA. I’m attempting to keep both the AMA and the LOA signatories informed of our appeal.

The following weekend I received a phone call from Paul Fleming. He was at the Wenatchee Scale Flying competition. There were some AMA representatives there and Paul gave them an earful. Based on the response from the representatives, it appears that any RC club that was within five miles of an airport received a denial of their FRIA request. It’s like they sent all applications through a filter and any application that failed to meet the 5-mile restriction was automatically denied, regardless of the club’s safety record or how many years that they had been flying from that site.

A member sent me an announcement from Horizon Hobby, offering a Remote ID module for “pre-order”. The announcement further referred to the deadline for installation of these modules for all UAS not operating in a FRIA was to be September 16, 2023. Although there have been a couple of companies that are offering their Remote ID modules on a “pre-order” basis, it is extremely doubtful that the manufacturers will have sufficient quantities of these modules available by the September 16th deadline.

On Sunday, September 3rd, we sent the following inquery to the FAA UAS Support Center:
Has the Sept. 16th date been paused since Remote ID units still haven't shipped??
On Monday, September 4th, we received the following response:
"As of this moment, the RID compliance date remains 16 Sep 2023. We are considering options with respect to relief from the 16 Sep compliance date. We will have more to share with you in the near future on FAA websites and social media."

I am waiting from further correspondence from the AMA and the FAA. When I have more information, I’ll keep you informed.

Thanks,
KC

July 24th, 2023

To everyone that normally volunteers to assist with the field mowing/trimming, I’m extremely sorry about the short notice Saturday about the cancellation. I saw the forecast last night, but with what we’ve experienced over the last couple of years, you can’t always rely on the ‘weather guessers’ 😊. I was able to call Duane and go to Mike’s before they left their houses. I tried to call everyone at 8am to catch you before you left.

I was sincerely hoping that we’d get in an hour or so of mowing. That’s all we needed to catch up on all of the areas that we’d missed over the last month due to my mechanical breakdowns. However, the weather guessers were correct and Mother Nature gave us some much needed rain.

I can’t express how much I appreciate everyone coming out to help keep the field in as good of a condition as it is. We hear so many compliments from visitor, KCPD personnel, and the airport Director. The first words out of their mouths are "WOW! This place looks great."  It’s all because of you and your efforts.

I am taking a golfing vacation for the next two weeks. I’m looking to have the next field mowing/trimming on August 14th. Thank you all again for your help and I’m extremely sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused.

KC


July 9th, 2023

The local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association has a special Young Eagles program for children of ages eight through seventeen. In the next couple of weeks, two airports will have YE rallies, one with 200+ kids at Auburn and one with 400+ kids at Bremerton. The rallies will help to assist with getting kids into the air.

The Bremerton Young Eagles Rally will be on July 15th. Amelia’s Hanger restaurant (Bremerton Airport Diner) will be donating their net proceeds to the EAA 406 Young Eagles. This is where some of the funds will come to pay for the YE Build and Fly kits and scholarships to send kids to Osh Kosh’s weekly aviation camps for kids.

This is a great opportunity to try the food at the new restaurant and to also support the EAA Young Eagles.


July 3rd, 2023

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I hope you are all able to enjoy this Holiday with family, BBQs and are able to share the fireworks.

But I hope and pray that you all take just a moment out of your celebration to remember the efforts and sacrifices by those early great men. Even though the Declaration of Independence was written on July 4, 1776, it was formally delivered to the Great Britain about 1 month later. There wasn’t the fast means of communications that we all enjoy today.

The Revolutionary War actually spanned from April 1775 with the ‘Shot Heard Around the World’ at Lexington and Concord and even though the British surrendered in Yorktown in 1781, the war would not formally end until 1783. Their fight was perilous, and many times in doubt.

KC


May 27th, 2023

This Memorial Day, I was looking to send the membership a “message from the president”. I was thinking of the words to convey how I feel. However, I just ran across the below message that says it far greater than I ever could.

In his 1983 message on Memorial Day, President Ronald Reagan, a veteran of the Army and then a Captain in the Army Air Force during World War II at age 30, offered this simple tribute:

"Memorial Day is a time to take stock of the present, reflect on the past, and renew our commitment to the future of America.

Today, as in the past, there are problems that must be solved and challenges that must be met. We can tackle them with our full strength and creativity only because we are free to work them out in our own way. We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free.

"I don't have to tell you how fragile this precious gift of freedom is. Every time we hear, watch, or read the news, we are reminded that liberty is a rare commodity in this world.

"This Memorial Day of 1983, we honor those brave Americans who died in the service of their country. I think an ancient scholar put it well when he wrote: 'Let us now praise famous men ... All these were honored in their generation, and were the glory of their times. Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.' As a tribute to their sacrifice, let us renew our resolve to remain strong enough to deter aggression, wise enough to preserve and protect our freedom, and thoughtful enough to promote lasting peace throughout the world."

Message on the Observance of Memorial Day, May 26, 1983
(National Archives, Ronald Regan Presidential Library & Museum)

Please, if you see a veteran, shake their hand and thank them.
KC


April 10th, 2023

Wednesday, April 5th, at about 8:45 am, Mike McIntyre called KC to advise him that the front entrance gate to the field had been driven through. He also let KC know that there was a white pickup truck on the road. No one was seen walking about. KC let him know that he was leaving for the field immediately.

Before he left the house, KC sent an email to the KCPD management to advise them of the gate situation. He also called 9-1-1 to report the incident. On the way to the field he called Jim Wilkie, Floyd Dunaway, Greg Tinius and Terry Hubbard to let them know of the situation.

When KC arrived at the gate there was a Sheriff's Deputy in front of the abandoned truck. The Deputy was on the phone to his headquarters to run the license plate of the truck; it had been reported as stolen. KC introduced himself to the Deputy. Mike Miller drove in and they let him know what happened. KC requested that Mike and the Deputy drive up to the field to determine if there was any damage to the facility.

Mike came back about 15 minutes later and handed KC the bent locking bar. KC straightened it up and with the help of the Deputy was also able to straightened the gate back so the lock boxes aligned. With the addition of a new padlock, the gate is repaired and fully operational.

When KC arrived back at his house, he emailed the KCPD Management to advise them of the situation.

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to Mike McIntyre for his quick action in reporting the damage. Additionally, we want to thank Mike Miller, Jim Wilkie, Greg Tinius and Terry Hubbard for their quick response to get the gate operational. This just goes to show that vigilance and being a frequent participant at the field is vital for the security of our facility. Thanks everyone.

KC


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