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Message from President Trevor Smith

Due to business commitments Terry Scolari has stepped down from his role as AEFA president and at the AEFA AGM held during NEFR 2017 I accepted the position of AEFA president.  All other Committee Members retained their positions with Terry taking on the role as Committee Member representing Queensland.

We have just successfully completed another NEFR and the results are contained within this magazine.  However events such as NEFR, the F5J Trophy and the raffle to support the Aussie F5J team in Slovakia don't just happen and as a participant in these events I'd like thank the AEFA committee, host clubs and prize sponsors for making these events a success.   Thanks to the generous cash donations and your support in buying tickets, the raffle raised $2,850 to support the Aussie F5J team. The event calendar is growing and it would be remiss of me if I didn't thank all those clubs who continue to take the time and effort to support our hobby buy hosting events throughout the year.

Like many others I returned to model flying after retirement, in my case after a break of 28 years.  While the technology has certainly changed from the JR Jeep 2 channel AM radio and Aeroflyte Capella I started with, what hasn't changed is the way flyers readily assist each other with everything from learning to fly, building tips, emergency repairs, spares, and of course finding that lost model.  This social aspect is a big part of hobby for me and I suspect for many others and  participating in events and learning from others has certainly helped me up that steep learning curve. If you haven't participated in a competition I urge you to do so. I was a bit apprehensive in my first F5J comp with my 2m foamy but found everybody is treated as equal regardless of skill level or model type. Get in and give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

At the AGM I boldly stated 'there will be changes' perhaps more to settle the nerves than to suggest an immediate way forward.  F5J is a runaway success and will only continue to grow.  But are there other events you would like to see at NEFR (any chance of Bixler pylon races?), perhaps more postal comps, or more EOT events.  Your suggestions and feed back is appreciated so please don't hesitate to contact an AEFA committee member.

Until next time...Trevor Smith

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Australian International F5J Team Support raffle

The Raffle winners were:-

1st Josef Dubraua 
2nd Steve Workman 
3rd John Armrego

Thanks to our prize sponsors

Ladislav Safarik and flyelectric.com,

and to the following for their cash donations:- 

NAAS - National Aeromodellers Aeronautical Society

ASAC - Appin Sport Aeromodeller's Club

MRSSA - Moreton Region Sports Soaring Association

AEFA - Australian Electric Flight Association

F5J Postal competition and F5J at NEFR 2017 now allow "Limited Class" entry on wingspans up to 2.6m.

INTERNATIONAL F5J COMPETITION

An exciting new European based competition - click here for details

AUSTRALIAN F5J TROPHY RESULTS - click here

You've Found It. AEFA, An Australian Organisation Fostering And Promoting Aeromodelling Using Electric Power.

The AEFA began in the mid ‘90s. In those early days, meetings, rallies and newsletters were the only methods we had to share our knowledge and passion.  While times have changed we believe it’s important to continue sharing our experience, problems and solutions to mastering electric flight.  This website is one of the main avenues for doing that and here you'll find things to help you enjoy electric powered models.

In our ‘Resources’ section we have compiled information that can be classified as electric flight 'know how'.  For many, understanding the technology, or selecting components for an electric model, is a daunting prospect.  We want to help.  Our focus is on those matters that are pertinent to electric flight and some of the differences from the IC world. We will try to point you in the right direction, present as broad a view as possible, and maintain brand independence.

Getting together as electric modelers is another way we can pass on what we have learned.  Our ‘Events, Competitions and Rules’ section provides information about where and when electric events are planned and the competitions that might be run at them. It’s also a section where new ideas about events and rules are published along with those for regularly flown contests.

The section ‘ About the AEFA’ is just that.  It explains our origins, recognizes some of the key individuals that have pioneered electric flight in Australia and provides information about how we are organized and operate.  Because we want to stay in step with current and emerging practices for connecting and collaborating with each other, we now concentrate on communicating via this website plus a network of ‘focus’ email groups.  News and information is circulated for each categories depicted in the graphic at the top of this page, namely:

• electric gliding,
• Electric Old Timers,
• general news and rally information.

Details on becoming an AEFA member (membership is free) are in our 'How to Join' page (here).