"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth,
the egg of the phoenix."
-- Christina Baldwin
January 2007 marks the first anniversary of the Flying Lines web page -- and 2007 marks 28 years of the Flying Lines concept: an independent news network for Pacific Northwest control-line model airplane enthusiasts.
Since May 1979, the goal of FL has been to unite Northwest CL builders and fliers so that we all think and act as one community of CL fliers, separated perhaps by distance but together in the spirit of CL model aviation. The "boundaries" of the FL network are formally Academy of Model Aeronautics District XI (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska) and British Columbia, but over the years the FL community has been much larger than that. As we move into year 29 of FL and year 2 of the web site, we say to all, "Happy New Year!"
And, of course, every new year brings changes.
We're starting off 2007 with a redesign of the FL index page.
You will see that links to "Latest News" and "Contest News" pages are gone. For 2007, the news headlines will be kept on the home page -- new items added at the top. Each will contain a link to the article or the appropriate FL section. We hope that this new setup will reduce the clicking you as web site visitors will have to do, and it certainly will mean a bit less work for your editor.
All of the "latest news" and "contest news" items and links from 2006 remain on the web site for your review. You can get to them by hitting the links at the bottom of the home page, "2006 FL News Archive" and "2006 Contest News Archive."
And be sure to occasionally browse all the FL subsections (via the links at the top of the home page and some elsewhere on the page) to make sure you don't miss any of the great features and technical articles scattered throughout the site. More are being added all the time.
We're definitely open to suggestions for further improvements to the web site. 2005 has been a "shakedown" year for FL as we learn how to manipulate the software, organize the content, and navigate through various pitfalls. Sometime in 2007 you may see yet another new look as we carry through plans to upgrade our web development software. We will try to maintain the FL look and our philosophy of minimizing bells and whistles that slow down your access to information.
A couple of tips for new visitors: From any page within the web site, you can jump back to the index page by clicking on the Flying Lines logo at the top of any page. For those who use the message board, note that there is now a backlink to the main FL web page at the top of the message board pages.
We're charged up for building and flying in 2007, and we hope the sharing of information via FL will enhance that experience for everyone involved in CL modeling in the Northwest.
And one more thing we've said many times and will say again: Flying Lines is your web site. Participate! Send in articles, club news, photos of planes and flying sessions, anything you think might enhance the general CL knowledge base. We're here to spread the good news!
--jt
This page was updated Dec. 30, 2006