==== “From the Pits” Field Activities, January 13
& 17, 2009 =========
Azalea City Model Aeronautics had a nice club meeting about a week
ago. The usual crowd showed up. Tim McLeod and Andrew
Smith. JC Day looked divinely happy with that fancy halo hovering
over his head.
Ben McGee settled his membership with Secretary Allen Pippin while
Secretary John Lee looked
on.
Tommy Shields and Henry Waltman were having a quiet conversation.
And Russell Ward had issues with some pizza.
Alvin Reed was as excited with his new camera as a kid with a new
toy… Three new members were voted in: John Walker, RD Stacy
and Todd Culpepper, yet another fire fighter. Here’s Todd talking
to Ben.
I almost didn’t make it to the field at all. No, really! It
happened right there at the intersection of Highway 90 and Padgett
Switch Road, in front of “the Chicken” convenience store.
An SUV just ahead of me had a head-on collision, causing three people
to be injured…
Had I made it to that spot about five seconds sooner…
Dewey Brown showed up with a couple of planes. One was the Senior
Kadet. The other
was his Hangar 9 Cub.
He flew them both.
There were no incidents…
Roger Geil had a great time flying his new Chinese Yak-54.
Nice, easy-to-see color scheme. It seemed to fly very well. The landing
was a bit dicey…
Paul Kelly, accompanied by newcomer Larry Bramblett and young Mack,
flew his Ugly Stick, a Senior Telemaster and the CyClone.
Paul tried to impress Frits with his knife-edge.
He had a sizable audience.
Very impressive, Paul!... Larry tried to get his small, electric,
all-foam twin-motor passenger jet in the air, but that proved pretty
difficult. The
tiny model has NO control surfaces at all! Steering is produced by
individual motor control, and pitch by varying the throttle setting.
Lee Carroll flew his nice electric Seagull Models Edge-540…
Mike McLaughlin showed up with his Super
Decathlon. Yep, he had smoke
on! Mike also flew his P-51
Mustang… Wayne Miller showed up with his trusty 40-size
Edge-540, a Pacific
Models kit… Four Stearmans… Four Stearmen? —
Four full-scale Stearman biplanes flew
over. They appeared to have come from Roy E. Ray Airport nearby.
They later returned, minus
one.
Frank Rowell flew his Strega racing plane. It’s very orange…
Russell Ward swore he had already flown his Ugly Stick earlier, but
I had no proof of that. One dead give-away — Russell’s
mechanical egg timer was lying in the grass in front of one of the
pilot stations. (Still don’t know how to set that timer on your
transmitter, do you, Russell…?)
Henry Waltman flew his Kadet Senior
Citizen… With him was newcomer Joe Ward, who had brought
his Avistar trainer.
Henry was even doing some instructing, I believe…
Ken Tow showed up with a couple of helicopters, both electric. One
was a small Align T-Rex, the other a scale Airwolf.
Ken thinks the Airwolf it a bit noisy, and perhaps it was, but it
hovered nicely.
It has retractable gear…
Rob Baker showed off some very nice, prolonged knife-edge maneuvers
with his Venus 40 aerobatics plane. I saw Paul taking mental notes…
Rob let Frits fly the Venus also, making Frits wish he had a good
plane to fly again… Alvin gets people to do the strangest things
sometimes. (…Bad
Robert…)
Robert Sanderson brought one or his many HORs (“Hell On Rails”).
This was the Li’l HOR, designated to be Robert’s next
combat plane.
Robert hand-launched it and Frits flew it just fine. It was actually
pretty much in trim from the start, something rare for one of Robert’s
designs! It flew great and Frits was about to turn it over to Robert
when the muffler end-piece came off, and the engine shut down. No
damage during the rather steep, hard landing. Robert hoped to have
it back the next day, Combat Sunday.
Alvin spent some time figuring out his new camera.
Frits gave him some pointers… Robert brought some delicious
chicken & dumplings.
After a couple of helpings you just wanted to sit around.
So we did!
==== “From the Pits” Field Activities, January
18 = Combat! =========
I talked to Al Ayler last week. He’s been working on his P-38
Lightning, he said. He wanted me to help him look for the “Mamma’s
Boy” nose art on the Internet. When the P-38 is finished, it
should look like
this... And Larry Rogers has a new helicopter in the works, a
gasoline powered Mongoose.
Alvin mentioned on the Forum that he’s been dreaming about
a Great Planes Escapade. In the ads it sure looks nice.
He claims he’s getting one. Alvin didn’t fly anything
this weekend. He showed up with Belle, his sister’s little
dog (if in fact that’s what it is…) He stayed pretty
busy with his new camera, and some of his photographic efforts are
featured in this report. Thanks, Alvin!
This was Combat Sunday! Several members showed up for the battle.
There were several spectators. Frank Rowell and Julie (c’mon
Frank, you know you want to be in the middle of it!), Dean Ritola
(thanks for your pictures!), David Lanzo (ditto!), Jon Koppisch (thanks
for taking some videos for me!), Enzo Finizola (Mr. President!), and
Charlie Gillespie (he took care of Belle, the little monster from
hell…)
Roger Geil flew his Yak-54 again. All appeared well, except for the
landing.
Something appeared to be wrong with the plane. Slam!
Bam! Wham!
Yikes! Luckily, after that cart-wheeling landing, damage looked pretty
light for such a large airplane.
Roger found out the Yak had lost half of its split elevator control
and its rudder.
Doug Shorey (“Mr. Tuxedo”) showed up with his small electric
flying wing. It’s fast as a bullet!... Joe Krebs brought his
Fokker DR1-152 triplane.
This old plane always looks nice in the air!...
Infrequent flier David Lanzo flew his Twist. You DO remember who David
is, right?...
Gary Johnson got some advice from Rob regarding the F-16 pusher jet
that he got from Robert.
And then it was time for Combat! There were more contestants than
there had been in the last couple of months combined! Johnny Turner
was there with his Urgent FedEx combat
Cub; Russ Green and his Battle
Axe (with a Phence Post as a backup); Mike McLaughlin and his
Battle Axe;
Andrew Smith also with a Phence Post (and had the ol’ Aircore
Battle Tank standing by); Mike Callen and a purple Coroplast combat
plane; Robert Sanderson with his L’l HOR, sporting a freshly
repaired muffler; and — surprise! — Frits Jetten and his
Lanier Predator, a Quikie 500 pylon racer pressed into action as his
combat plane!
Frits had problems getting his engine started. It proved to be a
clunk line that had come off inside the fuel tank. Combat General
Andrew and the other contestants were gracious enough to allow for
extra time for Frits to get his act together. And finally, they were
off!
Most launches were good.
Some better than others.
Mike Callen had some problems taking off his plane. And after he did
he had to make a — fatal — dead-stick landing…
So did Robert and his Li’l
HOR… David caught it on his camera as the Li’l HOR
went down.
There were many close
calls. Action was hot and heavy!
Audible contact was made a couple of times without anybody being knocked
out of the sky.
Second round and no midairs so
far!... And then it happened!… Frits was weaving his Predator
through the heavy air traffic, when Andrew’s Phence Post hit
it. Wham! The wing came off of the fuse, and parts went everywhere.
Here’s the picture David snapped right after it happened.
Andrew’s plane kept on going and never even seemed affected!
Frits won’t be rebuilding this Predator.
In the 19 years he’s been flying RC, this midair collision is
the 15th for Frits. Yes — that made fifteen! He’s had
seven “normal” midairs (a couple with students). The other
eight happened during pylon racing, close-formation chasing, and combat…
Andrew Smith ended up winning the $25 gift card that Frits had given
back to Robert after winning it at the New Year’s Eve Part/Night
Fly drawing. Congratulations to Andrew! And Johnny Turner is the January
Combat champion. Congratulations, Johnny! For the January Combat
Report, written by Andrew, select Combat Report from the
main menu shown on the left of this report.
Rob Baker flew his Venus 40 again, but this time something happened
during an unplanned landing that knocked the nose section of the plane
right off. Rob
says he will probably revive this one… Mike Callen had brought
his big B-25J Mitchell twin-engine bomber.
After some tinkering, Rob took it off. Or at least he tried a couple
of times.
During the second run one engine stopped.
Finally the bomber became airborne.
It flew well and Rob even did some aerobatic maneuvers with it. The
landing was exciting!
Looks like the Mitchell will fly again.
It’s my understanding Ken Tow and Russell each have one of these…
Johnny Turner flew his newest plane, a Great Planes Escapade.
It flew very well and Johnny is quite happy with the new addition
to his fleet… Newcomer Randy Bodiford flew his little foam
Cub… Tony flew his Piper
Cub…All by himself this time.
Todd Culpepper showed up with his Somethin’ Extra and a small
Fokker biplane.
The little bipe flew well. Todd is ACMA’s newest member.
Andrew Smith tried a new plastic Coroplast wing on his Aircore combat
Battle Tank. This wing was much smaller that the original wing. I
think even Amber was skeptical.
Several people had doubts that it would get off of the ground. But
it DID! Well — sorta-kinda. In an exciting sort of way!
It finally bit the dust.
Russell Ward had his Ugly Stick sitting out there most of the day.
He decided to fly it later in the afternoon. He was doing well, flying
around at high speed. Then came the inevitable calls from the pits.
“Lower! — LOWER, Russell!” Well, how can one resist,
especially when one feels so confident? After hundreds of flights
on this very plane…
So Russell, coming in from the North at maximum speed, at about five
feet altitude, pushed the elevator down some. Perhaps a bit more than
he intended, because the Stick immediately jumped back up to ten feet
or so! Probably an understandable overcorrection. But then the Stick
rolled over on its back! Suddenly — stunning everyone —
the plane slammed into the runway hard, scattering itself across a
wide area.
Someone in the pits yelled: “He Fritsed it!”, a cry often
heard after someone crashes. Yes, that fatal flight maneuver has been
named after you-know-who…
The Ugly Stick’s debris field was large, and the small pieces
were many. So
many that Robert got the broom and dustpan out of the shed.
It took a while to clean off the runway.
Alvin made Russell pose for pictures.
Now I would NEVER do THAT!... Respect was paid to the fallen aircraft,
of course.
Russell took it all very
well.
Then, with his arms full of Stick remains, he marched over toward
the pits. I
thought he was going to dump the pieces into one of the trash barrels.
Instead, Russell walked straight to the pavilion and dumped everything
on the fire in the fireplace!
He never even took some of the hardware off! Well, Russell, it’s
high time to finish one of your other planes! (And just remember —
repeat after me — when inverted, PUSH!)
I’ll see you at the field. Fly safe! Always!
==== Don’t Fly If You Don’t Have Your 2009 AMA
License! ==============
If you have not renewed your AMA membership, just putting your green
2008 ACMA membership club card up on the frequency board doesn’t
get it! Your 2008 AMA license expired last December 31st. Your ACMA
club dues are due now, but payment can be delayed until the February
10 meeting, after which a $5.00 late fee will be added.
Then after the March 10 meeting, if you have not paid your 2009 club
dues, you will be dropped from the ACMA membership roster. Restoring
your membership after March 10 means that you will have to pay that
$50 initiation fee a second time, in addition to any dues and late
fees owed…
If you don’t have a valid 2009 AMA insurance license
between Dec. 31 and Feb. 10, you may not fly at our field during that
time! So — to whom it may concern — please renew
your AMA license… As of January 20, thirteen ACMA members had
not renewed their AMA membership. Which is perfectly okay, of course,
as long as they don’t fly at Irvington field.
==== Upcoming Flying Events =================================
Feb. 7 (Sat) — NFMI — Rich Herrmann Annual RC
Swap & Shop Meet, Pensacola. For details and a flier
describing this event, go to the main menu shown to the left of this
report and select Events Calendar.
*tentative* Feb. 14 (Sat) — Fun
Fly — Eglin Aero Modelers. *tentative*
Mar. 6/7 (Sat/Sun) — Swap
Meet & Model Show. Perry, Georgia.
Apr. 4/5 (Sat/Sun) — Air
Show. This is a FULL-SCALE event. Tuscaloosa, AL.
Apr. 25 (Sat) — Spring Scale Fly-in. ACMA.
Irvington Field, Irvington, AL.
May 9 (Sat) — Fly-in. Hattiesburg, MS. (I have
no details yet.)
You can check RC event dates on our Website by selecting Events
Calendar from the main menu shown on the left of this report.
If you need a flying field map, go to Alvin’s
Website > main menu > Field Maps.
==== Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap Shop ==============
You know you can advertise your For Sale items with photos in the
Forum’s Swap Shop. Go to the main menu
shown on the left of this report and select Swap Shop.
You must register with a username and password first, but that’s
free and it is very easy. If you have questions or need help with
this just e-mail me > fjetten@aol.com..
==== 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.
Frits Goes Hollywood - Click For Details
