About the DC Maxecuters

Who We Are

The DC Maxecuters are model aviation enthusiasts.  First organized in the late 50’s, the club’s roots are in rubber-powered Free Flight,  though members actively pursue other facets of the model aircraft hobby, including electric and gas-powered free-flight as well as radio control, especially micro R/C.  We fly year-round,  both in select indoor venues and outdoors in the fields.  Members are typically also members of other model aviation clubs, including the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA),
the National Free Flight Society (NFFS),
and the Society of Antique Modelers (SAM).
And of course the Flying Aces Club (FAC) --No link yet as there is no official FAC web site yet-- stay tuned.

Club Officers

NEWSLETTER - The Maxecuters publish a journal, MAX-FAX, six times a year on a regular basis. All members receive a copy of the journal. We try to produce a varied and stimulating source of mostly free flight scale information, including plans, articles, construction and flying techniques and photos.
Click on MaxFax in the NavBar for more details.

Dues for membership are now $20 per year for residents of the USA, Canada and Mexico, and $25 for all other countries.
Send a check, payable to the "D.C. MAXECUTERS" to the Treasurer:
 Stew Meyers
 8304 Whitman Dr.
 Bethesda, MD 20817

Our Planes

These are free flight models that fly on their own after launch. Free flight model airplanes follow the wind and soar in rising thermal currents of warm air. They set their own course and are free of any control from the ground. If you have ever tossed a folded paper airplane or a dime store balsa glider, you have flown a free flight model in its most basic form They usually are trimmed to fly in circles to reduce the probability of a fly away. The model airplanes we fly are usually hand-built, primarily from balsa wood and tissue paper. Modern materials such as carbon fiber and foam board are occasionally used as well, but for the most part these models are built using the same materials and methods that a kid in the 1930s would have employed.

Somethings HAVE changed though, especially the quality of rubber that is used for motors.This improvement has enabled modern Free Flight modelers to increase their average flight times considerably over the “old days”.  Flights of 40 to 60 seconds are fairly commonplace, with everyone angling for the coveted “max” flight of 120 seconds or better.  With such long flight times and no method of controlling the model once it has been launched, many models fly OOS (out of sight), lifted by thermals into the blue horizon.