North Kent Nomads Model Club

Constitution and Rules

Rev. Jan 2011

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1. The name of the club shall be the North Kent Nomads Model Club.

2. The object of the club is the pursuit of pleasure from the building and operation of models.

3. Membership of the club shall not be used to promote political or sectarian interests nor for financial gain.

4. Any person over the age of 18 may be an ordinary Flying Member of the club.  Persons under the age of 18 may be ordinary Junior Members. Juniors under 16 years of age must be accompanied by an adult member of their family on the flying field or at club meetings. Anyone who wishes to join in the social activities of the club or anyone waiting to become an ordinary Flying or Junior Member of the club may become an Associate Member. Associates have priority on any waiting list for ordinary membership.

All members will receive a membership card each year, as evidence of membership. The card will also be used by ordinary members to claim transmitting time at the flying field.

5.  There shall be not less than two, nor more than four, Trustees of the club.

Trustees shall be appointed by a general meeting and shall hold office until death or resignation or when removed from office by resolution at an Annual General Meeting.  A Trustee may also be a club officer or Committee Member.

All property of the club (except cash, which will be under the control of the    Treasurer), including any leases, shall be vested in the Trustees, to be dealt with by them as the club shall, by resolution, direct.  However, a member of the Trustees may require a resolution from an Annual General Meeting or a Special General Meeting before acting.

The Trustees shall be indemnified out of the assets of the club against any risk or expense incurred by them in pursuance of their office.

6.   The club shall normally conduct its business during 11 general meetings each year, and one Annual General Meeting which will be closed to non-members.  At such meetings only the ordinary Flying Members and ordinary Junior Members may vote.  The quorum for general meetings shall be 25.  The quorum for an AGM or SGM shall be 40.

A Special General Meeting may be called at the request of 10 ordinary members, the Committee, or two Trustees. 14 days notice of the meeting and its business must be given to all members.

At the Annual General Meeting, the ordinary members of the club shall elect the following officers: Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, Competition Secretary, Deputy Competition Secretary and Social Secretary.  These officers, with four other elected ordinary members, shall be the Committee.  The club will also elect two auditors.

7. The officers of the club shall normally implement the decisions taken during the general meetings of the club. When necessary, the Committee may act for the members of the club.  The quorum for committee meetings is 5.

8. The officers of the club shall report to every general meeting and present a written report at the Annual General Meeting. The Minutes book shall be present at all meetings.

9. Any person wishing to join the club must be proposed and seconded by ordinary members of the club, who may propose one person or second one person per year. Where a prospective member cannot find a Proposer and Seconder, two members of the Committee may, after a suitable interview, put the application for membership forward.  Applications for membership will normally be considered for acceptance by majority vote at a general meeting. Where an application for membership is received from a person who intends to pursue a business interest through club membership the application shall be considered and decided upon by the Committee. A new member may not fly solo at the field until approved to do so by a member of the Committee, or by a member approved by the Committee. This is to ensure that the new member is fully conversant with the club safety & flying rules and is competent to fly within them.

10. The club may invite anyone to become President for a period of 3 years.  A retiring president shall become a Past President.  A Past President may hold office in the club and may be invited to become President again.

The club may invite anyone to accept honorary membership of the club for life.

11. All members will be required to pay an annual subscription.  The ordinary Junior Member subscription will be one third of the ordinary Flying Member subscription.  All new members will be required to pay an additional joining fee.

Subscriptions, joining fees and the total number of ordinary Flying Members will be determined at the Annual General Meeting. Up to 10 ordinary Junior Members will not be included in the total.

Subscriptions shall be payable by the end of the first general meeting — normally the January meeting — after the Annual General Meeting.  Where a subscription and any other money owing to the club have not been paid by that time, membership will be deemed to have lapsed and a joining fee will become due on rejoining.

12. Members must have whatever third party insurance is required by the club and, for this to be valid, members operating radio-control equipment must comply with the appropriate statutory regulations. The club shall not be held responsible for any infringement of these regulations.

Every ordinary Flying Member and ordinary Junior Member will receive a cover note giving details of the insurance.  The insurance provided by the club shall not be used for display flying except where the display is organised by the club. An incident which may lead to an insurance claim must be reported to an officer of the club within 7 days of its occurrence

13. Where the conduct of a member is shown to be detrimental to the interests of other members of the club, his or her membership may be terminated at a Special General Meeting. The nature of the complaint must be communicated to the member at least 14 days before that meeting.

14. The funds of the club shall be held in a bank account with a recognised bank and in the name of the club. Cheques shall be signed by any two of the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. The two auditors shall audit the accounts annually and submit a report to the Annual General Meeting.

15. The club may be converted or dissolved at a Special General Meeting, provided that two thirds of the ordinary members vote either directly or by proxy for such conversion or dissolution.

16. All matters not provided for in these rules shall be dealt with by the club or, if necessary, by the Committee.

STANDING AGREEMENTS

1. The Club is affiliated to Kent Interclub and will offer the field for up to two Interclub Competitions each season. Other members of Interclub will similarly offer their fields for competitions.

2. The Club has an ongoing friendship with the Hanau Modelbau Club from Germany and Riggisberg Model Flug Gruppe from Switzerland. Every three years, the Nomads will invite these clubs to meet at the patch. Club members contribute £1 per annum from the subscription into a fund for entertaining the visitors. This fund will be kept within the Club’s current account and its value noted on the annual balance sheet.

APPENDIX A:               THE LONG REACH FLYING FIELD

We have an arrangement for access with the proprietor of the Gun Club, and field maintenance with Mr Thomsett, the farmer at Long Reach. This arrangement does not give us unrestricted rights to over-fly or go into the surrounding land. We have a lease on the field from the landowner (Hanson) which may be terminated with 6 months notice by either party.  Our continued use of the field is dependent on our maintaining good relations with the landlord, gun club, farmer, occupier of the fireworks factory, and other users of the area like horse riders, bird watchers and members of the gun clubs.

Any difficulties experienced whilst using the field should be reported to an officer of the Club and no direct contact made with the farmer, a neighbour, or anyone else unless this is unavoidable.

Restrictions on our use are as follows:

1. The gate to the Marsh by the fireworks factory must be closed and locked behind you if it is closed on your arrival or departure, if open it should be left open. The security lock is provided by the Nomads and keys may be cut only by order of the Club. The keys are available to members on payment of a returnable deposit. This also applies to the gate by the Farm House.

2. The gate to the field must be closed and locked when the field is not in use by the club.  The lock should always be secured to the chain.

3. Cars must be parked on the assigned car park and not in the grass or on the road.  Cars must not be driven up to the patch.

4. The grass in the field is a valuable crop and must not be trampled down unnecessarily.

5. Aircraft may be retrieved from areas under growing crops but members must take the shortest route through the crop after reaching the nearest point by way of the perimeter of the field.   (Members should always attempt to get a “line” on a crashing aeroplane to reduce the search area.)  Search parties in growing crops put our use of the field at risk.

6. Flying over the motor cycle track (if in use), fireworks factory, and the clay shooting area must be avoided. 

7. Flagrant breaches of these restrictions or those in Appendix B may lead to termination of membership under Rule 13.

APPENDIX B:               FLYING AND WATCHING ON THE PATCH

The patch is the centre of R/C flying and, as models can be dangerous to both people and property, we have to fly in an orderly manner so that flying will be acceptably safe.  The basis of our procedure for safety is that we stay together in as small a group as is practicable on the patch.  A pilot then knows where the group is, can give warning of possible danger from his aeroplane, and may be informed of hazards by others in the group.  For this to be possible pilots are expected to return to the group immediately after take-off.

Pilots of helicopters and gliders may not be able to fit in with this procedure.  They should make it clear to the fixed-wing power fliers where they intend to operate and everyone on the patch should be alert to the situation and pass information to pilots as required for safe flying. Two small circles are provided to the South and East of the patch for hovering manoeuvres; these should be used according to wind direction so that they are not over-flown by fixed-wing models.

The rules to be observed on the flying patch are as follows:-

1. Flying of power models is restricted to the hours between 9 am and 9 pm to avoid noise nuisance.

EQUIPMENT

2. Model engines must not make excessive noise. In general this means that all engines must have an effective muffler. (‘Excessive noise’ is to be interpreted from the point of view of other users of the area and club members.)

3. All 35 MHz radio equipment must operate on frequency modulation.  The six spot frequencies may be used on the 27 MHz band and all 26 frequencies on the 35 MHz band; 2.4 GHz equipment is also permitted. Radio equipment should be expected to have a ground range equal to the length of the field. All transmitters will carry a pennant which indicates the channel colour on 27 MHz or an orange pennant with the channel number on the 35 MHz band.

4. It is essential to avoid radio operation on the same frequency.  When adjacent frequencies are in use a check for interference should be made.  A board with hooks, frequency numbers and colours will be kept at the patch and should be stood at the flight line. Members may claim a frequency by putting their plastic membership card on the appropriate hook to cover the colour or number. The use of scraps of paper is not an acceptable alternative, ask a committee member for temporary use of a Visitor card.

5. Transmitters must not be operated anywhere in the field or the vicinity of the field unless a frequency has been claimed by putting a card on the board. Collapse the transmitter aerial, switch off and remove the card as soon as possible when finished using the frequency. Mobile phones must not be taken onto the patch.

6.  All members have an equal right to use a given frequency.

PEOPLE

7. Children and dogs are not allowed on the patch.  People sitting in portable chairs are not allowed on the patch as they cannot move quickly enough to avoid a wayward aeroplane.

8. Non-flying visitors to the field must be escorted by a member who must accept responsibility for the safety of the visitor and ensure visitors are aware that they need to be vigilant at all times.  Our insurance would treat a visitor as a ‘third party’ unless negligence is proved.

9. Visitors to the area (i.e. not normally resident in the area served by the club) who are properly insured may fly from the patch when accompanied by a member. The agreement of two Committee members must be obtained in advance, & one of them must provide a Visitor card for frequency control.

FLYING

It is essential to fly models in a safe and predictable way. The following requirements have been found to be acceptably safe:

10. If the landing area is being mown it is not safe to use the patch for flying and the operator of the mower must not be asked to agree to any arrangement to fly.

11. Engines should not be started or run with bystanders in front of the propeller.

12. Large models may be started on the edge of the patch to the left or right of the pilot line but any ground equipment must be moved to the fence line before flying and then to the pits after flying.  

13. Pilots should stand behind their models or in the group for take off and return to the group whilst flying. The group should stand behind or in close proximity to the fence in front of the pit area.

14. Pilots should not taxi directly towards people in the pits, pilots behind the fence, or anyone on the patch.

16. It is desirable that pilots are able to hear their engines running and warnings that may given by other pilots, spectators should also be able to hear warnings. Protracted running of engines on the patch or near people in the car park should be avoided. When starting an engine, a helper or an adequate mechanical method must be employed to restrain the aircraft.

17. When an aeroplane is making a first flight or is unpredictable for any reason people on the patch must be informed of the potential hazard.

18. The club routine is to fly a left- or right-hand circuit for approach to land or touch and go according, to wind direction. Fixed-wing and helicopter take off and landings should be to the left or right of the pilot area to suit the wind direction. Crosswind take-off and landings are required if the wind is from the S.E. or N.W. Under no circumstance should models take off towards the pilot and pit areas, likewise models should not approach for landing over the heads of pilots or pit area or be flown between the pilots and pit area. These areas are illustrated in the diagram above.

19. Helicopters should not be hovered in the path of aircraft on the patch.  Pilots of aircraft should ‘call’ landings and take-off to enable helicopter and other pilots to clear the landing area.

20. Two mown circles for hovering / training manoeuvres are available to the South and East of the main landing area. Pilots using the hovering circles must not perform aerobatic or 3D manoeuvres that could interfere with models being flown from the main landing area. Aircraft and Helicopters flown from the main landing area have priority and a hovering circle should not be used if it is likely to be ‘over-flown’ by models that are taking off or landing. Pilots on the main landing area should be aware that a hovering circle is in use and avoid over-flying that area.

21. When a fail-safe receiver or system is available the engine should be programmed to either idle or stop.