Everyone please look at this

[cynr100]

Everything has gone very quiet on this topic, no news, no vids, nada, zip

Appears that all the protagonists have dropped off the face of the earth. Would appreciate an update, anything to keep the dream alive

[bmsweb]

Yes it has become pretty quiet hey!

[RCModelReviews]

Well we're fighting both the local council and our national model-flying body so it's damned hard work.

MFNZ (Model Flying New Zealand) seem intent on installing another club (the exclusive Jet fliers club) as the controllers of the airfield for model flying and have seemingly expedited their paperwork -- while our application remains in limbo.

These guys will no doubt be allowed to continue flying their 30lb, 200mph jets over the heads of crowds of MotoX riders and members of the public -- while we're considered "unsafe" with our 500g foamies.

We flew at a local park last weekend but one of our guys was bitten by a pitbull. It seems that the parks are *very* unsafe.

I'm still working very hard on the international model park concept and hope that if there's enough support for this it will over-ride the cronyism intrinsic to the local district council.

And the weather has been crap for the past week here -- lots of flooding etc.

Now I'm waiting for some turbine oil to arrive so I can run the HK turbine engine -- the airframe arrived yesterday so I'm hoping to get the engine going this weekend and do some flying (from wherever) the weekend after.

[cynr100]

Know any ..............ah..........interlopers (full size craft) that may require use of the field on "model" days .
Users would have to fork out $300 for field closure and $60 for a NOTAM, see how long that will last

Looks like my NZ holiday is not even going to get off the ground......no SWMAC/SWIM...........no Tokoroa..........that sucks

[Hal9000]

Looks like my NZ holiday is not even going to get off the ground......no SWMAC/SWIM...........no Tokoroa..........that sucks

Tell the SWDC too.

The more people that say "Because of the banning of SWMAC/SWIM from flying at the Tokoroa airstrip I shan't be visiting Tokoroa in the near future, nor spending my money there." the more they will realise the damage they have done to their tourism sector.

[cynr100]

Looks like my NZ holiday is not even going to get off the ground......no SWMAC/SWIM...........no Tokoroa..........that sucks

Tell the SWDC too.

The more people that say "Because of the banning of SWMAC/SWIM from flying at the Tokoroa airstrip I shan't be visiting Tokoroa in the near future, nor spending my money there." the more they will realise the damage they have done to their tourism sector.

Done, email to the Mayor

[RCModelReviews]

The mayor isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer I'm afraid.

Some of the councilors are a bit better -- Mike Grubb seems to be the most swtiched-on these days -- but I'm going to put up a website to promote the South Waikato International Model Park and I'll be inviting people to leave messages of support on that site. We can then show it to the council and they can (hopefully) see the level of support that's out there.

[BillGriffiths100]

Hi Bruce,
No matter how thick Neil Sinclair (the mayor) is, being derogatory about him is not going to further your progress.
Avoid airing your views about personalities, if someone insults me my response is to be somewhat vindictive, this is a result you don't want, with someone who has power.
If Sinclair has your post pointed out to him by someone, the outcome is not going to be positive.

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Sorry I know how frustrated you must feel but in a situation like this it's best to button it.

[cynr100]

Anyone...... .......... update would be appreciated.

MFNZ AGM is over and not word anywhere.

Have RCers in NZ closed ranks
Do we keep hounding the SWDC on behalf of SWMAC/SWIM or backoff.
Are our little voices in the distance being of any use

[RCModelReviews]

I didn't attend the MFNZ AGM -- I don't think that would have helped any.

However, those who did attend report that any attempt to raise the SWMAC situation at that meeting was shut down pretty quickly (as I expected it would be).

It also seems that MFNZ has put in place further steps to ensure no dissent within the ranks of its administration.

I could be wrong but they very much give the impression that they're circling the wagons to protect their position.

With that in mind, and given that they're almost totally ignoring the two fastest growing aspects of the hobby (parkfliers and FPV), I strongly suspect that it won't be long before an alternative to MFNZ appears on the horizon.

Any group that offered to act as a unified voice for parkfliers and FPVers would likely get a lot of members.

MFNZ's role may well become one of organising contests for those who fly non-RC models and preserving the status-quo, rather than promoting the hobby.

MFNZ has cash reserves of almost quarter of a million dollars -- yet they have done virtually nothing (apart from attend a few airshows) to promote the hobby and all my proposals to boost the hobby here in NZ have met with nothing but excuses as to why it's too hard or nobody has time.