In this section are the answers to questions that seem to be routinely asked. If you don't find the answer here please write the appropriate member of our volunteer staff. See the Contacts page for email addresses.
And of course, if the answers here don't really answer your question, or you know the answer has changed, do let us know. Thank you!
Bob Kay
President, F-4 Phantom II Society
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| Q - WHERE IS MY NEXT ISSUE OF SMOKE TRAILS? |
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A - Smoke Trails is published four times per year. Scheduled publish dates are March, June, September, and December. Occasionally short delays occur due to a variety of causes. Keep an eye on our home page for the announcement of the next issue when it goes to the printer. Delivery follows soon thereafter.
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| Q - WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SUBMISSION OF MATERIALS FOR PUBLICATION IN SMOKE TRAILS? WHEN WILL MY ARTICLE BE PUBLIISHED? |
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A - Materials submitted to the editor of SMOKE TRAILS are placed into our submissions files for inclusion in a future issue. Many factors determine when this will happen, such as the general theme of a specific issue, similar materials in a specific issue, spacing of materials from issue to issue, size of a submission, etc. And, some materials need supplemental text and/or photos to be supplied by the editorial staff.
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| Q - IS HELP AVAILABLE IN PUTTING TOGETHER AN ARTICLE FOR SMOKE TRAILS? |
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A - Generally speaking, the editorial staff can help in finalizing an article for production in SMOKE TRAILS. But we need more than an idea or a request. Do the best that you can at writing the article and include any drawings, photos, or other materials that support the text. Once the editor has decided that your submission is pertinent to a specific issue of SMOKE TRAILS we will type, edit, polish, and whatever else needs to be done to get your idea into print . And, your name will be on the by-line.
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| Q - DOES MY idEA HAVE TO BE AN ORIGINAL idEA? |
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A - Not at all. A collection of materials from other sources is ok as long as the appropriate written permission is in place from the original author(s) of those materials. Usually such a submission must also have additional/ new information, interpretation, and/or opinion included in order to avoid a simple duplication of a former work. With that said, situations do occur where it is perfectly legitimate to publish a previous work with little or no change as long as all the appropriate permissions are in order.
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| Q - WHEN IS MY MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL DUE? |
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A - Membership is on a calendar year basis. Reminder notices appear on the web site and in the fourth issue of Smoke Trails magazine for a given calendar year. Membership expiration dates also appear on the mailing labels on each issue of Smoke Trails.
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| Q - HOW CAN I PAY FOR MY SUBSCRIPTION AND F-4 PHANTOM SOCIETY MERCHANDISE? |
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A - Visit our website at www.f4phantom.com and pay using our secure payment system, PayPal.
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| Q - IF I REGISTER FOR PHANCON AND THEN FIND OUT THAT I CANNOT ATTEND, CAN I GET A REFUND OF MY REGISTRATION DEPOSIT? |
A - There is a three part answer to this question.
Part 1 - What is the registration fee for?
The registration fee covers certain fixed costs that the Society incurs when conducting a PhanCon. Some of those costs are meals that are provided; usually 2 lunches and one meal during the annual business meeting. Also included are the cost of the event patch, transportation costs such as busses, and admission tickets. All of these costs are determined in advance of PhanCon. By certain dates, the vendors of these services need to know how many attendees are expected. On those dates, the Society makes a comitment to those vendors based upon the number of attendees that are registered. Once that is done, the Society is obligated to those comitments. We pay no matter how many members show up!!
Part 2 - Under what circumstances is the registration fee refundable?
When the Society advertises a PhanCon, it also publishes a date by which a registrant must notify the Society of a cancellation. That date coincides with the aforementioned vendor comitment dates. In other words, if a member cancels his/her PhanCon registration prior to that date, the Phantom society can adjust its monetary comitment to the servicing vendors. Under these circumstances, the member can receive a full refund.
Part 3 - Under what circumstances is the registration fee non-refundable?
If for any reason a member cancels his/her PhanCon travel plans after the published cancellation date, the Society must pay all vendors on the basis of the PhanCon commitment amount no matter how many members are in attendance. Since the society must pay for those in this category even though they are not in attendance, that expense must be borne by the registrant and no refund is issued.
In the instance of part 3 above, the Society provides the member with the tangible “free” items that were included in the registration fee, such as the event patch.
Please remember it is the member's obligation to be mindful of the registration closing date and the registration cancellation date. Those dates will be clearly stated during registration.
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