================ACMA Irvington Field Activities, Dec. 31 / Jan.
02 & 03 ==============
…………….... All photos and videos by
Frits Jetten unless otherwise indicated. …….…….…
Remember that nice Hawkeye camera-carrying kite that was covered
in last week’s report? Well… Let’s start with a
Missing In Action report. From club member TJ Rohyans comes this sad
message: “MISSING: One Hawkeye Aerial Photography Platform.
The Hawkeye looks like an electric
powered kite. It carries a Canon PowerShot A640 Digital Camera
and a Hyperion G3 2500 mAh LiPo
battery.”
“The Hawkeye was last seen departing from The Mitchell Center
on the USA Campus at approximately 07:30 AM Monday, January 4th, and
drifting South on the wind currents at about 300'. Estimations put
it at anywhere from 3-5 miles South of the USA Campus in West Mobile.
If found, please contact TJ Rohyans immediately at: 251-656-9575”.
Just a reminder: The AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) recommends
that modelers affix a label to the inside of their aircraft in case
of such a fly-away. It should have your AMA number, name, address
and telephone number. Makes sense…
Thursday, December 31 — Not too much going on at the field
on this last day of 2009. Doug Shorey showed up with five of his airplanes.
I saw a HobbyTown USA trainer, small electric trainer, a profile electric
Gee Bee, and an electric twin-motor yellow park flier. I did not recognize
the fifth one. Doug is Mobile’s Mr.
Tuxedo. He’s getting ready to clean and press many ball
gowns and tuxes in the upcoming Mardi
Gras season.
David Conway, who has been gone for some time, came back and flew
one of his Extras.
Not sure if this was the 260 or the
300… Ken Tow had a new Radian sailplane. He likes it very
much… Andrew Smith tested out a new fuselage with an old
Phence Post wing.
It’s his combat
plane.
Russell Ward showed up with several planes lumped together in the
back of his truck.
He put together the Avistar and tried to get Frits to fly it. I guess
he did that because Frits had crashed Jimmy Kennamer’s nice
Deuces Wild the previous Sunday.
But Frits, traumatized by that terrible crash, turned him down, as
he had not had much sleep since then…
Jeff Lee brought a couple of electric foamies. One was a little Mustang,
the other was his new electric Multplex FunJet. He had not flown the
FunJet, and it
didn’t get to fly today either… Katt Connors showed up
with he Sundowner
racer. She likes it a
lot. It’s a good-looking plane… Roger Hagler flew
his Extra Little…
And Paul Verger was just
leaving.
Friday, January 1 — The first day of 2010 was totally eventless.
I stopped by the field, but there was no one there. It was cold and
perhaps the wind was blowing too
much…
Saturday, January 2 — When I got to the field Russell Ward
was quick to tell me about this new kitty that had shown up. Not sure
what was wrong with it, but he seemed comfortable lying there in the
sun, under Russell’s sweater.
Marvin Helton showed up with a Hobbico SuperStar, but I didn’t
see him fly the thing.
He had just gotten a Tango from Paul
Kelly. Paul has only had it for a short while, but he was never
really ready to tango with that plane…
Sunday, January 3 — There was hot chocolate and food. The chocolate
was great, because the weather was turning quite
cold. And some got themselves a bite
to eat. The pork chops and beans were good. And the vegetable
soup and hotdogs too…
Russ Green showed up with a brand-new LA Racer 40 pylon
racer. This is the type of racing plane that we’ll start
racing around April/May. The Sky Raider Mach 2 is the only other plane
allowed. Russ fired up the Thunder Tiger .40 engine (one of five allowed)
and had a couple of good test
flights. So far nine club members have said they will race.
Jimmy Kennamer brought his Great Planes Escapade. While flying it
around he lost the canopy way out in the field. We were unable to
find it. Paul Kelly also lost his Escapade’s canopy. One lesson
to be learned from this. Don’t trust those little magnets. I
believe that the airflow over the canopy causes a low pressure in
the canopy causing it to release. Best to add a retainer screw at
the rear of the canopy.
Speaking of Paul. He pulled up with a truckload of planes. And soon
they were being transferred to Gary
Johnson’s truck. The planes belong to Roger Geil who must
be doing an early spring cleaning. I think I heard Paul say that the
planes will be taken to the upcoming swap meet in Pensacola.
That annual event will be on February 6, at the Pensacola Civic Center
Gym. It’s put on by the Pensacola Northwest Florida Modelers,
Inc. club.
Katt Connors again showed up, this time with one of her neighbors
— a pretty young lady named Lynn — and her Sundowner…
It was pretty chilly, and the warmest spot at the field is usually
at the south end of the shed, where you are in the sun and away from
the north wind. It may have been too cold for this woolly
bear caterpillar. It wasn’t moving…
Larry Rogers flew a couple of his helicopters. One was the very orange
Airstar International “Mongoose”, a gasser heli with a
Zenoah G26 engine…
Peter Grayson was back with his Pitts Special, another orange aircraft,
this one trimmed in blue. The colors matched Peter’s
cap… Henry Waltman showed up with Julia, but this time Henry
didn’t fly anything. He stayed huddled up close to Julia in
his vehicle…
Marvin Helton asked Jon Koppisch to fly his gasoline-powered Ultra
Stick. The flight went well… Tony Farmer brought his ¼
scale L-4 Cub. It took him a while to decide to get it out of the
truck, but he finally did. He and Wayne Boudreaux talked engine for
some time. I
don’t think Tony ever put the wing on it.
Robert Sanderson Double Trouble 2 twin-engine speed plane was ready
to go again. Frits had spun it into the ground just one week ago,
but Robert had it ready. It so happened that Frits was in heavy conversation
with Lynn, so Robert asked Jon to do the honors.
Well, the handlaunch was fine, and Jon appeared to have things under
control for several seconds.
But then, the plane started acting weird, and finally veered off
to the north-west, flew across the parking lot and crashed through
the trees in the adjacent lot. Robert climbed the fence to look for
the pieces. It
took some time, but he finally located the plane and both engines.
I’m sure it’ll fly again…
TJ Rohyans Hawkeye flew his electric camera-carrying kite. He was
flying it at a pretty high
altitude. The wind was a bit strong for it, I thought, but TJ
did all right and landed it safely. But, if you read the first paragraph
of this report you know what happened tto it he next day… Too
bad! I hope someone finds it and returns it to TJ.
Notice — ACMA club meeting Tuesday, January 12. Last chance
to pay your dues ($96.00). After that meeting a $5.00 late fee will
be added on…
Oh, in case you are wondering, Russell, who already has three cats,
took the little cat home with
him. So that kitty will have a Happy Mew Year after all…
Bonus feature — Here’s a slideshow of pictures taken
at the aviation museum at Edwards AFB, Fairfield, CA. There are some
nice aircraft there. Taken by a well-known photographer.
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
Frits Goes Hollywood - Click For Details
