Model Airplanes

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Arroyo del Oso North Neighborhood Association is coming to the defense of a group of radio control model airplane enthusiasts who were unexpectedly given the heave-ho from Arroyo del Oso Park recently, where they had been flying their aircraft for more than 20 years.

TURICIANO: Petition vote was unanimous

Barb Turiciano, secretary of the neighborhood association, whose boundaries include the park at Spain and Wyoming NE, said Thursday that neighborhood association members voted unanimously to circulate a petition and draft a letter to city Parks and Recreation director Barbara Taylor, City Councilor Brad Winter, whose district includes Arroyo del Oso, and Mayor Richard Berry, asking that they “rescind the prohibition and allow the radio control airplane operators to return to the park and fly their aircraft.”

Turiciano further echoed one of the complaints voiced by the model airplane pilots – that nobody from the city ever contacted the neighborhood association before the signs were suddenly posted at the park prohibiting that activity.

Also on Thursday, Winter told the Journal that there is a possibility the airplanes can return. He is scheduling a March 9 meeting with city Parks and Rec, representatives of various neighborhood associations who use Arroyo del Oso Park, as well as members of the two radio control model airplane clubs, Duke City Electric Flyers and the Albuquerque Soaring Association.

Although a city ordinance prohibits the flying of model aircraft in most city

Article source: http://www.abqjournal.com/722837/news/neighborhood-association-comes-to-the-defense-of-radio-control-plane-buffs.html

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter seems to get the reality that the so-called “coalition” of 66 countries that are supposedly fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria is a sham. Most of these countries are contributing nothing to the fight and many that once did have ceased doing so. This week, he will attempt to do something about it, which could also signal a much needed-shift in America’s ISIS strategy.

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The Air Force Times reports Carter even alluded to the dreaded “boots on the ground” when referencing his plan:

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“What I’m going to do is sit down and say, here is the campaign plan … If you’re thinking World War II newsreel pictures, you think of an arrow going north to take Mosul and another arrow coming south to take Raqqa,” he said last week. And then he will run through a list of military capabilities — “boots on the ground, airplanes in the air,” plus trainers and other support personnel — that will be needed to achieve victory.

“And I’m going

Article source: http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/will-ash-carters-hail-mary-pass-to-reboot-the-anti-isis-1758081775

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For more than two decades, hobbyists have flown their radio control airplanes at Arroyo del Oso Park in the Northeast Heights.

Greg Rullman, president of the Duke City Electric Flyers Club, launches a P-51 Mustang model aircraft at Balloon Fiesta Park. (Courtesy of Greg Rullman)

But several weeks ago, a sign suddenly appeared announcing that the use of such aircraft was prohibited there.

The radio control pilots – many of whom are retired and veterans – question why the city would run them out of the park without at least talking to them. And they say there are few alternative sites.

“It just breaks my heart,” said Gary Kyle, 65, who said he will probably not fly his airplanes very much anymore. He lives close to the VA Hospital in the Southeast Heights and has been flying at Arroyo del Oso since the early 1980s.

A spokesman for the city Parks and Recreation Department said they were responding to complaints and safety concerns.

The president of a local RC club, however, said there was only one complaint, which he said was exaggerated. The city responded without seeking comment from RC pilots who used the park, he said.

Since 1992, radio control clubs have flown out of Arroyo del Oso Park under a waiver of a city ordinance granted for

Article source: http://www.abqjournal.com/721985/news/enthusiasts-banned-from-flying-radio-control-planes.html