================== ACMA Irvington Field Activities, Dec. 26
& 27, ‘09 ================
……………...…... All photos and videos
by Frits Jetten unless otherwise indicated ……….……..…......
Saturday, Dec. 26 — Newcomer Juan Figueroa showed up with his
Carl Goldberg Protégé trainer.
(The picture was taken a month ago.) Frits took him up on the buddy
box. Juan is practicing figure eights and started doing some loops
with the 60-size
plane. He’s had six flights and is progressing very
nicely.
A couple more newcomers showed up. One was AJ Stewart who some of
you may know. The other was Peter Grayson who needs no training, as
he has been flying while in Tuscaloosa. He brought a Great Planes
Matt Chapman Edge-580.
He put a couple of flights on it. He also flew a small Pitts Special
biplane. On
the second flight with the biplane, he apparently lost contact with
it and the Pitts went in, but not too
hard. The firewall had come loose and the cowl was banged up.
Katt Connors flew her Align T-Rex 600 Nitro helicopter today.
But she had some engine problems to contend with… David Etheredge
flew his U-Can-Do
3D… Russell Ward and Alvin Reed were cold and spent some
time huddled up in
the shed. It’s possible they were looking for food…
Sunday, Dec. 27 — Doug Shorey, an occasional flier, showed
up with his small electric HobbyStar
trainer. He was doing fine, but then things went wrong when he
tried to bring it in and the plane slammed into the runway and lost
its nose…
Kenny Morris had his trainer with
him. It’s hard to tell what it is with all those colorful
patches on it. He’s getting it ready to fly soon… Sam
Chest flew his giant scale Extra-260.
When you stand one of those on its nose you can tell how large that
plane really is.
Sam had a couple of nice flights with the
Extra.
Peter Grayson and AJ Stewart were back. Peter had brought his Edge-580
and a low-wing plane, the “Miss
Bikini”. This time Peter was accompanied by a pretty young
lady, Christine.
They liked Al Ayler’s Douglas SBD “Dauntless”.
The Dauntless flew well, although not
very long. But that is not unusual when Al flies his warbirds.
I think Al believes that a short flight reduces the chances of anything
bad happening. Besides the Dauntless, Al had also brought his yellow
Bearcat, the “Beetle
Bomb”. There was a problem with the gear well
doors. But they finally got the problem resolved.
Not sure if Al took it off, because I saw Jon Koppisch fly it. There
were a couple of nice low passes, followed by a not-so-graceful landing
that resulted in a nose-over. By the way, Al has yet to learn how
to back up his trailer.
What will he do when those railroad timbers will block his way?...
Randy Bodiford flew his small HobbyZone electric foam Cub. Randy
always seems to have a great
time… Robert Sanderson showed up with his Double Trouble
2, the twin-engine
plane. He had patched it up after Jon crashed it the previous
weekend, after a muffler came off.
Robert asked Frits to fly it. Unfortunately we don’t have video
of the launch nor its flight. Well, the launch by Robert was great.
But either the trims were way off or one of the engines was running
at a much lower rpm than the other, because the Double Trouble quickly
spun out of control and crashed. I think only the props broke…
Katt Connors was back with her Align T-Rex 600 Nitro
helicopter. The engine problems she had the day before went away
after she changed to new
fuel!...
Jim Quint, Alvin Reed, Dean Ritola, David Doss and Russell Ward were
there but didn’t fly anything… Alvin found some ice
cream… Russell found his easy
chair… Joe Krebs tried on Al’s hat and found it to
be a bit tight. Well, that’s no surprise. It’s easy to
see who has the biggest
head…
Sam Guirges showed up with his Solo Star trainer, but there were
problems. The tail feathers were about to come off, so he had to glue
them back with epoxy.
Then later, when it was getting dark, the spinner and prop came loose.
Sam decided that it was best to wait for a better day… Larry
Rogers flew his small helicopter, an electric T-Rex, I believe.
He flew it close to Foster’s Frog Pond, which had filled back
up during the recent
storms.
Ramsay Clevenger showed up with a tiny, flimsy looking airplane,
a Vapor. It
was electric, and it flew extremely slowly and gracefully. There was
nothing graceful about the fast Stryker that Ramsey also flew…
Rob Baker flew his turbine jet. The takeoff was routine.
And the flight was fast and furious.
It ended with a relatively smooth
landing.
Jimmy Kennamer showed up with his newest airplane, an electric Deuces
Wild. It has twin-motors and looks just great. Jimmy asked Frits
to take it up. There was a lot of preparatory checking going on. The
elevator had to be reset, and Frits worried about the flaps being
off some.
And, unfortunately, because of all that, Frits did not check the ailerons.
Once on the runway, Frits went through the motions of checking the
control surfaces. But, that’s just it. He went though the motions,
without checking to make sure that the deflection was correct. It
was a stupid mistake that he soon came to regret very much.
As you can see in the video, the takeoff was just great. The plane
rose smoothly and Frits didn’t have to do anything really. Frits
thought, “Wow, this thing is already perfectly trimmed.”
But about three seconds into the flight, when Frits eased the ailerons
to the left to make a left turn, the plane rolled
right.
When Frits realized that the ailerons were reversed, it was already
too late. The plane spun into the ground and broke up into several
pieces. The crash scene looked pretty
bad. The wings mostly survived.
But the fuselage was all broken
up. Frits suddenly wasn’t feeling too well, but Jimmy pretty
much took it all in
stride.
Frits tried to partially compensate Jimmy for his loss, as he felt
responsible for the crash, but Jimmy wouldn’t have any of that.
He ended up donating the money to the Mobile Animal Rescue Foundation.
Jimmy had seen my write-up in a previous Pits Report about the four
dogs that were abandoned at the field and Michael and Dawn McLaughlin
took to the rescue place. He said he really liked that…
Andrew Smith flew his electric Lite Machines LMH-120 Corona helicopter.
I failed to get a photo of that. He also got a flight in on his little
Edge-540. He also flew his electric foam Swift II flying wing.
Frits asked him to fly it around the moon, and Andrew
did. When it got dark Andrew switched on its lights.
That wing looks really great in the dark.
(I know. Bad picture…)
Ken Tow brought his helicopters, but I don’t think he actually
flew them. At least I didn’t see it. He’s got at least
three different size T-Rex helicopters… But what was amazing
was Ken’s latest toy, an Air Hogs electric twin-motor “Switchblade”.
This aircraft can take off from a hand-launch and fly normally, or
take off from a small launching pad with its body twisted 90 degrees.
In other words, it takes off with one propeller facing forward, while
the other is facing
down. As it is spinning in the air, you flip a switch and the
aircraft changes to a “conventional” twin-motor plane.
But that is easier said than done. It’s pretty wild!
Bill Culberson flew a new electric ducted fan foam jet, an
F-14. It took off, but its power seemed marginal.
He also flew his big Tiger turbine jet, just when it started getting
dark! But this jet has running lights
on it. The flight went well, until it was time to land. The gear
would not come down, so Bill had to make a belly landing. And so
he did.
Here’s a New Year’s greeting I got from our modeler friends
in Dordrecht, the
Netherlands.
Notice — Feb. 6, Annual Swap Meet, Pensacola Civic Center Gym.
Northwest Florida Modelers, Inc., Pensacola, FL.
That’s all for now. I’ll see you at the field.
Stay away from spinning props! Check those ailerons! 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
