== Reminder: Upcoming 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 on the left of this report and
select Events Calendar.
Andrew is still working on making the maps available on our ACMA Website.
In the meantime, if you need a flying field map, go to Alvin’s
Website > main menu > Field Maps.
== “From the Pits” - ACMA Field Activities, Dec.
27-30 ==============
Frank Rowell brought his small "Red Baron" biplane. The
takeoff was rather wild!
Unfazed, Frank kept on flying.
The landing was short and abrupt!
There was only minor main gear
damage. Good thing wife Julie wasn’t there to see it. But
then, you can show her these videos here, Frank!... Lee Hughes showed
up with his Revolver sport plane, but there was a Y-harness problem
that caused some interference, and it remained grounded.
Lee’s son LT brought his brand-new U-Can-Do
3D 40. He flew it a couple of times.
LT also has the larger model… Tony Farmer showed up with his
Hangar 9 Cub. He
apparently impressed Wayne Boudreaux when he made the Cub do some
knife-edge. Wayne
said that it was impossible for a Cub to do knife-edge. Well, Tony
proved him wrong!
Just because YOU can’t do it, Wayne, doesn’t mean…
Maybe you just can’t do it with a white
Cub.
We had nice weather this past week. The usual pilots showed up to
fly, eat and socialize.
Paul Verger flew his Edge-540T.
Paul always has a good time at our field.
He also flew Roger Hagler’s Mini Funtana… Mike McLaughlin
flew his P-51 Mustang again.
Nothing fell off this time…
Justin Peacock showed up with his new toy! Check out this brand-new
Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Let’s keep it shiny and unscratched, Justin! We know what you
can do to a Mustang, and it has FOUR wheels!...
Robert Sanderson showed up with three planes. The Great Planes Lancair
ES plane, his DOOMED! flying combat wing, and his most recent project.
Yep! Sanderson’s Advanced Skunk Works of Outrageous Technology
(SASkWOT) can add one more successful aircraft to its growing list.
It's the "Pterodactyl." Mike Callen coined that name and
it stuck. It's made of a Coroplast wing, an angle-aluminum fuselage,
many rubber bands, three types of adhesive tape and several tie straps.
It’s patterned after a glider, of all things, and powered by
an old OS .46 engine that only seems to like a 9X4 prop...
Here is the Pterodactyl with its proud creator, Robert.
Frits felt honored to be chosen as the test pilot once again. Robert’s
contraptions are always a challenge to fly. Heck, just to get into
the air! But the Pterodactyl flew just fine! So far it has had two
successful flights.
(Yes, out of two…) Robert mostly flew it on the second flight
as you can see here in this video.
Next will be an evaluation of the Pterodactyl’s night flying
capabilities at the upcoming Night Fly. Yes, the Pterodactyl has a
couple dozen LEDs buried in its clear plastic wing, so even though
it’s destined to be a combat plane, it will also double as a
night flier! It is scheduled to do battle in the combat event on January
18, that is IF it survives the night flying!...
Robert assembled his Lancair.
Frits flew it, but the engine quit and Frits had to put it down in
his special emergency landing area. The Lancair glided in nicely,
but on landing hit a small ridge and knocked half of the main gear
off. An easy repair job… Jeff Foster came by to visit.
He had smelled the food all the way in Coden, where he lives…
Elton Sullivan didn’t fly anything, but he hosed down the pavilion
floor and straightened things up. Thanks, Elton!...
Robert and Russell brought some freshly cut firewood. They had been
cutting it on Russell’s property. It had tired Russell out pretty
much, because not long after unloading the wood he looked all tuckered
out and fell asleep while eating some peanuts…
Henry Waltman had brought his Fleet biplane.
He got into a formation flight with Al Ayler’s and Wayne’s
Cubs. The takeoff
of the three planes was confusing and rather chaotic.
Al was having his share of problems.
But they finally managed to get the planes in the air.
Henry was a bit nervous when Tony flew the Fleet.
You know, it’s really tough to get the North Enders to fly
close formation.
To them “close” is 50 ft. By comparison, the South Enders
measure “close” in inches — and sometimes in decibels…
Tony Farmer, flying Henry’s Fleet, tried to keep things tight,
but that usually makes Henry hyperventilate…
Henry seems most relaxed when his planes are firmly on the ground…
Harold Dillon was quite a sight, showing up decked out in his flight
suit. Looked to me like he just needed wings on that scooter he
was driving…
Harold asked Al to let him fly the Cub, but Al said No
Way!... Then he begged Alvin to let him fly the Titan chopper,
but Alvin turned him down also…
Alvin was doing some auto-rotations, and a couple of them actually
looked pretty good.
(He wasn’t in his usual top form that day, if you asked me…)
Sam Chest flew his 42% Dietrich Extra-260.
He looks very comfortable flying that plane.
He did some 3D maneuvers.
He also showed off his newest aircraft, a tiny electric Blade CMX
helicopter. It’s
a coaxial blade heli that cannot stand any wind.
It flew fine!...
Jon Koppisch flew his small profile Edge-540 3D plane and the aerobatic
Reactor.
Bill Culberson showed up with his largest turbine powered jet, the
Tiger jet (I really
don’t know the exact name of this jet). It’s a big one
and never fails to put on a great show.
Nice cockpit detail.
It’s not extremely fast, if you can call 175 MPH “not
extremely fast”, but it does move!
Bill did some nice 4-point rolls and knife-edge.
Bill made a couple of nice landings.
On the day before New Year’s Eve, several Mississippians from
the Ocean Springs club descended on our field. This time there were
FIVE of them! Paul Verger, Joe Krebs, RD Stacy, Bob Thornton and Larry
Horsley (who goes by “Russell”. That’s SO confusing!)
Yep, you’d better get used to it. We are letting more and more
of them fly with us now… Those pilots are all members of the
Koast Air Modeling Society, and they are currently having problems
with their flying field, Ludlow Field, which is also on a landfill.
Except theirs is a “live” one. And today there was heavy
equipment operating close to and even on their runway, causing Joe
and his buddies to come to our Irvington Field to fly.
RD flew his very nice AT-6 Texan.
You can tell RD is a fine builder.
Bob Thornton brought a Twist.
Russell Horsley flew Tom Barrett’s old yellow Ultimate
Bipe. Joe flew his smaller Piper
Cub. And Paul flew his Cherokee — I think.
They all seemed to enjoy themselves. Well, you guys know that y’all
are always welcome to fly with us. Paul and Joe are already members
of our club, and RD will be voted in at the next club meeting unless
he ticks off someone really bad before then…
One evening before I left the field, Russell was still there, gazing
at the distant tree line, seemingly in deep, really deep thought.
I really hated to leave him…
Until next time. Fly safe, always! And have a Happy
New Year!
== Still Having Problems Viewing The Pits Report? ===============
Please let me or Andrew know about ANY problems you are experiencing
with the new ACMA Website and its features! And I welcome any comments
regarding the Pits Report or the new Website — good or bad.
E-mail me > fjetten@aol.com, or e-mail Andrew > andrew@acma-rc.com.
== Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap Shop ==============
You know you can advertise your For Sale items with photos of them
in the Forum’s Swap Shop. Go to the main
menu shown here to the left of this report and select Swap
Shop. You must register with a username and password first,
but it’s free and it is very easy. If you need help with that,
let me know and I will tell you how to do it, step by step. Just e-mail
me > fjetten@aol.com.
Frits Goes Hollywood - Click For Details
