================== ACMA Irvington Field Activities, Jan. 9-18
==================
…………….... All photos and videos by
Frits Jetten unless otherwise indicated. …….…….…
Weekend of January 9 & 10 - I didn’t go to the field at
all because of out-of-town company… But several people made
it out to the field in spite of the cold.
Elton Sullivan was one of them. He showed off his new pylon racer,
a World Models Sky Raider Mach
2. Looks as if the team of “EltonJohnny” is ready!
(The “Johnny” in the team name refers to Johnny Jones,
Elton’s alternate pilot…)
The only other airframe allowed in the upcoming ACMA Club 40 races
is the World Models LA
Racer 40. Azalea City Model Aeronautics club members can send
me an e-mail if you want to sign up for these races and I’ll
send you the rules > fjetten@aol.com.
Sam Chest and Katt Connors were also at the field. Most people stayed
huddled in back of the pavilion, away from the east wind. Comfort
was not lacking back there. There was food (see Alvin holding a plateful?),
a TV to watch a ball game, and a, uhmmm, source
of warmth… Alvin’s supposed to be on a diet. I think
that some of the time he actually does try to eat
right…
Speaking of eating… At the last club meeting Alvin could be
seen loading up his plate several times. But, he says, he leaves the
bread alone… Others ate quite well too, like Ed
Callen. Ed apparently LOVES desserts! And Tony Farmer loves steak.
So does Russell…
Frits put away a plate full of fried catfish, baked fish, okra, beans,
and broccoli and cheese. SOME of that is healthy, right?…
Robert Sanderson made it to the field and showed off his new multi-mission
Coroplast plane. I don’t know if it actually flew that
day. One thing Robert has wanted to do is to take the plane up
to a high altitude, lower the engine speed to idle, pop the parachute,
lower the plane with the parachute, release the chute, throttle back
up, and hopefully fly on to a successful landing…
“Why?” I hear you ask?... I don’t know —
but it sounds interesting! This plane is just another product by Robert's
one-man model aircraft company, Sanderson's Advanced Skunk Works of
Outrageous Technology (SASkWOT)... Russell and several others were
at the field, and Alvin, of course.
Thanks for letting me steal your pictures, Alvin!... Oh, by the way…
Alvin — who always tries to keep up with the latest techie trends
— has finally joined the blog craze. He has put together a blog
(short for Web log), where he rambles on about radio control and many
other topics. It’s one of the better-looking blogs on the Internet,
I think… But be forewarned — enter Donnovan’s blog
at your own
risk...
Thursday, January 14 — While running some errands I decided
to swing by the field to see what was going on…. There were
a few people there. Jack Smith was setting his brand-new Cub up, but
he decided to wait for another day to do its maiden
flight…
Roger Geil had brought his Yak-54, but I missed its flight.
He was already cleaning up and packing
up… Marvin Helton got a couple of flights in with his big
Ultra Stick.
Friday, January 15 — A rather small crowd showed up... Jon
Koppisch tried to get his Venus 2 in the air, but it had some technical
difficulties.
All Roger Hagler could do was stand by helplessly…
Roger tested out a new AP .15 engine on his yellow Lazy
Bee. I had never heard of an AP brand. It has a small muffler
shaped like a thin snuff
can. Roger had to tinker with it but it finally ran pretty well…
Marvin Helton had his Tango with
him. He put a couple of flights on it without any problems, although
he did stress test the landing gear on the runway once…
Saturday, January 16 — I did not venture out to Irvington Field
today. The weather was pretty
bad. I’m pretty sure Foster’s Fishing Hole at the
south pits was getting filled up again. Another hard freeze and we
should be able to skate on it…
Sunday, January 17 — The weather was predicted to be bad, but
with some sun in the afternoon. So I went to the field. Surprisingly,
several regulars had shown up… Henry Waltman showed up with
Julia, and while Henry was busy helping Paul Kelly with his Extra-260,
Robert saw his chance
again. Henry never
noticed…
Paul was back with a “new” plane, a familiar looking
Extra-260. Sure enough, it was the one that used to belong to Tim
McLeod. Even with most regular elders of the North End’s
Senior Advisory Group (SAG) not present, there was plenty of assistance
and verbal help…
Jon did a flight on that Extra, but Paul was just not brave enough.
“Too much wind”, he said, pointing at a windsock which
hung down about as limp as a drenched noodle. Paul did fly his SIG
Telemaster.
Alvin showed up late, and quickly put away some food that Robert
had cooked on the
grill. He even complimented Frits on the pork shoulder that he
cut up for Robert during Alvin’s absence.
Alvin used to be a professional meat cutter, you know, (we used to
call them butchers), and I’m sure he would have cut it up differently.
But Frits, who never attended meat cutters college, was pretty sure
the meat’s taste would not be affected by the way it was cut…
James Donald drove up with a monstrously large
Extra-300! It was a 55% scale model, scratch-built from Wendell
Hostetler plans. It has a 144 in. wingspan! For power, it uses a German
3W 275 twin-cylinder, gasoline
engine. Carl Broughton and Eugene Hunt were there to see
it fly.
It was he largest plane I had ever seen at Irvington
Field. They cranked it (notice the size of the prop!) and it briefly
ran. But unfortunately James accidentally broke the upper portion
of the rudder while maneuvering around the plane during startup, so
the first test flight would have to wait for another
day. I hope I’ll be there to see it!
Monday, January 18 — Today was Martin Luther King Day, a holiday.
I decided to swing by the field for a few minutes… Well! The
pavilion had been transformed into a shelter with
walls! The inside looked like an avant-garde art
show. One thing that was very noticeable — there was very
little wind inside the pavilion!
Carl, who works for the Lamar Advertising Co. of Mobile, Alabama,
donated the tarpaulins. They were used on roadside billboards.
Jon and his wife Leigh, and Marvin Helton, who’s a new club
member, put the tarps
up. I’m now hoping that the weather will turn cold again,
to see if this really makes a difference! I’m pretty sure it
will. Russell is feeling more and more at
home here. I heard that he and his three cats may be moving into
the pavilion in a week
or so…
Katt Connors was flying her new electric Bonanza.
She had wanted one for a long time, as she used to own and fly the
full-scale version.
She’s got a V-tail section coming for it, and she hopes to replace
the conventional tail with it soon…
Max Needels and Roger Hagler were there too. Max flew his Craptech
GroundPounder, I’m
sure. Crappie name, ain’t it?...
Paul was back with his Telemaster.
He flew it just fine, but then, anyone can fly one of those…
And Jack Smith showed up again, not only with his new Cub, but also
with a new Cessna 182 Skylane. Neither had been flown yet, as Jack
was still carefully checking things
out… Marvin had brought his Tango and Ultra
Stick. I didn’t see either one fly because I could not stay
long.
Back to that large 3W engine on that humongous Extra-300 of James’…
I wonder how its power compares to the two engines used on the Cri-cri,
the smallest twin-engine MANNED aircraft in the
world? Cri-cri is French for cricket. This aircraft was designed
in the early 1970s by French aeronautical engineer Michel Colomban.
At only 16.1 ft wingspan and 12.8 ft length, it is a single-seater.
(Remember, James’ big Extra has a wingspan of 12 ft!) This Cri-cri
is capable of one roll per
second. Watch the takeoff!
The MC-10 model has a cruising speed of 105.6 miles per hour and a
range of 405 nautical miles. The MC-15 model is powered by two 15
horsepower engines. Here’s some more flight video taken by on-board
cameras.
One flying Cri-cri was equipped by its pilot with jet engines, increasing
the cruising speed from 105.6 mph for the regular propeller-driven
version to around 149.1
mph. Here is a full size Cri-cri next to an Airbus
engine. (Thanks to club member Rod Gilbert for bringing the Cri-cri
to my attention…)
Reminder — Saturday, Feb. 6, Annual
Swap & Shop - Pensacola Bayview Community Ctr. Gym, Pensacola,
Florida. Here are directions.
This event is put on by the Northwest Florida Modelers, Inc. club
of Pensacola.
Another reminder — There’s another swap meet, a week
later, on Saturday, Feb. 13. It’s the RC Airplane Swap Meet
& Auction, in Jackson, MS. It is sponsored by the Capital City
Radio Control Club. Here’s their flier.
That’s all for now. I’ll see you at the field. Fly safe!
========== Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap Shop/Flea
Market===========
You know that you can advertise your For Sale items in the Mobile
Area RC Model Aviation Forum’s Swap Shop/Flea Market. You can
even include photos, which is always helpful when you try to sell
RC stuff.
To use this feature, go to the main menu
shown on the left of this report and select Swap Shop.
First-timers must register with a username and password, but that’s
free and it is very easy.
New rule! - Inactive topics will be pruned when 160 days old. Listings
will be displayed for about five months before being pruned. Please
edit your topic to reflect any changes, if the item(s) sold, or if
they are no longer for sale.
======== If You Have Any Comments About These Pits Reports…
=====
I welcome any comments regarding these Pits Reports — good
or bad.
E-mail me > fjetten@aol.com.
Azalea City Model Aeronautics Website > http://www.acma-rc.com/index.html
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