== Announcements ========================================================
ACMA Club Dues — Your club membership renewal
was due January 1st. But if you are late you have some grace time
before you’ll get dropped from the membership roster. You can
pay your dues ($96.00) at the next club meeting, on February 14. After
that date a $5.00 late fee will be added. Then, you have until the
March 13 meeting to pay the $101.00 that you owe. After that, you
will be dropped from the ACMA membership roster. Hate to see you drop
out!...
Catch me at the field and you can give me your club dues (preferably
by check) and I’ll give you a 2012 club card. Unless you have
renewed your 2012 AMA license I cannot take your ACMA dues money.
Club Shirts, Hats — Hats are sold out... Enzo
Finizola has the extra club shirts now, I believe. If you want to
buy one contact him > enzof1@bellsouth.net.
Club Lapel/Hat Pins — Frits Jetten has five
of them left at $4.00 a piece.
I was charging too much. If you paid $4.50 before, let me know and
I’ll give you a 50 cent refund… Contact me > Frits
Jetten.
Flying Event Schedule — The schedule for 2012
is located at the end of this report. Our ACMA event dates were set
at the January club meeting. A new events has been added to the ones
we usually have, a Big Bird & 3D Aerobatics Fly-in in March.
== ACMA Irvington Field Pits Report ==========================================
Saturday, January 8 — Saturday was slow. Only
a few people showed up…
Frits is making good on a couple of his New Year's resolutions. One
was to clean up his hobby room to where he could see the workbenches’
tops, and one was to start building another La Racer. Tadahh!
It's coming along!… David Doss brought a twin-engine assembly
that John Walker had put together from two
weed eater engines. Here are Al Ayler and John Walker discussing
its power…
Donnie Hammett brought out his nice new LA
Racer. He let Frits test fly it. Flies just like the LA Racer
Frits had. Yep, the
one he crashed at the Great
Toy Drive Fly-in!...
Dane Kinman showed up with several planes.
He flew his screaming Ultimate
Bipe. It has a loud
engine! But Dane thinks loud is cool!
And also that tiny electric Albatros D.Va
biplane. It seems to handle really
well. It can fly almost 30 minutes on one charge. Here’s
a nice close-up by Dean
Ritola. I don’t think Jimmy Kennamer even
flew today.
Mike McLaughlin showed up with his Ultra Sport and his Raptor helicopter.
He put a nice flight on
that heli… Roger Geil brought his ModelTech Formula 3D plane
and his Xeno flying wing.
Here’s the ModelTech.
And the Xeno…
Al Ayler hand-launched David Doss Wonder, grunting, nostrils flaring,
and his tie flapping wildly. Look at that impeccable
form!... Scott Cameron flew his KIA plane, a multi-purpose cargo
plane that has dropped candy and parachutists.
Rob Baker showed up with a big jet, still unfinished. he had planned
to taxi it, I believe.
But there was a problem with one of the servos, as I recall…
Sam Chest flew his big Extra-300 3D
plane… And Wes Batson flew his Extra-260.
Marie stood by. Still
no decals on that plane.
Wes must still be testing
it out... Tony Pirkle flew his P-47
Thunderbolt. With him is Ed
Wells… The South End was lying low today, taking
it easy..
Later in the afternoon Bill Culberson showed up with a nice, big
jet. It was an F-80, the full-size versions of which served as
target drones, according to Henry Waltman, who used to work on them
back in their day. That's why it is painted orange. The jet is large
— and noisy!
LOUD, actually. This
was Bill’s first
flight. He made one taxi
run. He had no trouble taking
off.
The F-80 looked good streaking across
the sky. Here’s a high speed
pass. Bill made a couple low passes in preparation for the landing.
The retractable gear worked
well. I think he was feeling out the jet’s approach
speed. Finally he committed to the landing, and it was a
good one.
It was almost dark when Rob Baker flew this Stick 75, a tiny electric
plane. It flew very nicely.
Rob was the last one to fly. It was just getting too
dark… I caught this moonrise before I left for
home.
Bonus Feature 1 —Top Secret Russian weapon
from the Cold War Era, the Lun-class Ekranoplan was a ground effect
aircraft used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 to sometime
in the late 1990s.
It flew using the extra lift generated by the effect of its large
wings when close to the surface of the water - about four meters or
less. One version had missile launchers on its
fuselage. The Ekranoplan was one of the largest seaplanes ever
built, with a length of 240 ft, rivaling the Hughes H-4 Hercules ("The
Spruce Goose") and many jumbo
jets.
Bonus Feature 2 — The Lockheed Martin F-35
Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation
multi-role fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance,
and air defense missions with stealth
capability. The F-35 has three main models; one is a conventional
takeoff and landing variant, the second is a short take off and vertical-landing
variant, and the third is a carrier-based
variant.
That’s all for now. Fly safe!
== Flying Event Schedule ===================================================
Maps to almost all the flying fields in our area are on our ACMA
website. You can go there by selecting from the main menu
on the left of this report > Field Maps > then Maps to Other
Fields.
Make sure you verify dates yourself if you intend to go to
these events.
Items that start with an asterisk are new to this list.
*Feb. 11, Sat — Swap Meet and Auction — Capitol
City RC, Jackson, MS
Mar. 1- 4, Thu-Sun — Florida Jets —
Lakeland, FL. Here’s the Florida
Jets flyer.
Mar. 16-18, Fri/Sat/Sun — Big Bird 3D Aerobatics Fly-in
— Azalea City Model Aeronautics, Mobile, AL. Irvington Field.
Apr. 7, Sat — Spring Fly-in — Pine Belt RC Association,
Purvis, MS. (Just southwest of Hattiesburg.)
Apr. 28 — Spring Scale Fly-in — Azalea
City Model Aeronautics, Mobile, AL. Irvington Field.
May 3-5, Fri-Sun — Mississippi Afterburner —
Jet Rally, Bolton, MS (near Jackson).
May 12, Sat — Koast Air Modelers Society — Spring
Fly-in, Ocean Springs, MS. Ludlow Field.
May 19 — Armageddon Fun Fly — Azalea City Model
Aeronautics, Mobile, AL. Irvington Field.
*Jun. 2, Sat — Mid-Mississippi RC — Spring Fling,
Jackson, MS.
Jun. 16, Sat — Mississippi Coast RC Club — Spring
Fly-in, Gulfport, MS. Bob Miller Field.
Sep. 15 — Sailplane Fly-in — Azalea
City Model Aeronautics, Mobile, AL. Irvington Field.
Oct. 6, Sat — Koast Air Modelers Society —
Fall Fly-in, Ocean Springs, MS. Ludlow Field.
Oct. 6, Sat — Mid-Mississippi RC — Fall Classic,
Jackson, MS.
Oct. 13 — Fall Scale Fly-in — Azalea
City Model Aeronautics, Mobile, AL. Irvington Field.
Oct. 20, Sat — Fall Fly-in — Mississippi Coast
RC Club, Gulfport, MS. Bob Miller Field.
Nov. 3, Sat — Fall Fly-in — Pine Belt RC Association,
Purvis, MS. (Just southwest of Hattiesburg.)
Nov. 17 — The Great Toy Drive Fly-in —
Azalea City Model Aeronautics, Mobile, AL. Irvington Field.
== Mobile Area RC Model Aviation Forum ====================================
Come chat with some of us on Alvin’s Mobile Area RC Model Aviation
Forum (MARCMAF). There’s always something or somebody being
talked about there…
== Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap Shop/Flea
Market =================
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.
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.
In addition, you can send the detailed information to me by e-mail,
preferably with pictures, and I'll forward it to the 108 members of
our club. I have all the members' e-mail addresses, and I don't mind
doing it. 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
