== Are You Having Problems Viewing The Pits Report? ============
(And if so, then perhaps you can’t see this!...) After switching
over to the new Website, at least a couple of club member have experienced
strange things while trying to read or get to the Pits Report. I myself
managed to get myself into a tight-wound spiral!
If you have problems accessing anything through
the club’s new Website, please contact Andrew, the Webmaster
(andrew@acma-rc.com).
It would be nice if you could explain your problem in detail and mention
which browser you are using and which version, or how old it is. (Examples
of browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, etc.)
== Reminder: Upcoming Flying Events ==========================
Dec. 13 (Sat) — ACMA - Christmas Party and Night Fly-in.
Irvington Field.
Dec. 13 (Sat) — NFMI - Toys for Tots Fly-in
- Pensacola, Fritz Field.
For details and fliers describing these events, select Events
Calendar from the main menu on the ACMA
Website. Go to the day of the event and click on the event. Details
will show in a popup window. If you need a field map, select Field
Maps from Alvin's Website. (Andrew
is still working on making them available from our website.)
== “From the Pits” - ACMA Field Activities, December
6 ============
Robert Sanderson made a long-awaited announcement on the Forum about
a “new” plane he would be bringing to the field. Now if
you are familiar with Robert’s home-brew planes, you know that
it would be something exciting. Over the past sew years we have seen
some truly wondrous and weird contraptions come out of Sanderson’s
Advanced Skunk Works
of Outrageous Technology (SASkWOT).
Robert made this combat wing from a Funtana S 90 wing, salvaged from
one of Roger Geil’s unfortunate incidents.
To Frits, the appointed test pilot, this one looked like it could
be a handful. The ailerons looked HUGE! Dean Ritola and Jeff Foster
were skeptical. (Oh,
really?)
Frits tried to be optimistic, but those ailerons sure looked big!
And it didn’t help that Robert had named this one “The
DOOMED!”… The Webra .55 engine was bolted onto a mount
that was crafted from a plastic cutting board. SASKwAT many times
uses the most readily available materials, not necessarily the best,
nor the most popular... After some tinkering and tweaking by Robert
and Jeff, the wing was ready.
Some bets were being made in the pits, but Frits tried to ignore them…
Robert did the hand-launch.
It was a good launch, but the plane went into a steep climb, and then
dove straight down, heading for the ground!
Here’s the video of the launch.
Frits hung on for dear life, regained control, and spent the rest
of the flight trying to tame this wild beast!
The controls were way to sensitive, of course. Robert adjusted the
trim switches on the transmitter because Frits couldn’t take
his thumbs off the sticks for even a moment.
He couldn’t allow for his mind to wander.
It was a truly exciting flight.
After some terrifying moments, Frits gently brought the wing down.
Whew! Found out that the motor mount had broken, perhaps causing some
of the pitching and yawing. Or was that Frits who caused it? Anyway,
Robert was happy.
The wing made a second flight the next day. It wasn’t pretty
either, but better and all ended well.
David Etheredge and son Hunter showed up with a U-Can-Do 3D plane
and an Edge-540.
David flew both…
Jon Koppisch took up his small profile Edge-540T.
Nice hover!...
Roger Geil flew a plane I had not seen lately, his Carl Goldberg YAK-54.
Roger had a good time.
He was trying to do those hairy 3D maneuvers…
Jeff, Dean and David Lanzo brought their long cannons.
They shot Frits.
Thanks to these guys you are seeing many of the close-ups in these
reports. Jeff was the first one to notice that the length of the lenses
appeared to be directly proportional to the owner’s belly
sizes. (Hey, Jeff said it, not me!) Only TJ Rohyans and his big
lens were missing.
Alvin Reed flew his Thunder Tiger Raptor 50 Titan helicopter.
He had a few little problems getting it ready and trying to tell stories
at the
same time. Did you know it takes him about ONE HOUR to meticulously
wipe down his Titan…
Johnny Turner flew his Raptor 90 heli, (I think…) And Larry
Rogers showed up with his Hawk "Saphira" chopper.
I missed his flight…
Outgoing ACMA club President Andy Anderson showed up with an electric
F-15 jet. He had a couple of good flights…
Some of the guys were watching a football game. Jeff made an attempt
to get a better picture on the TV, even hooking up a converter box.
Jeff sounded as if he knew what he was doing. Well, all he did was
manage to get a lot more snow on the screen…
Frank Rowell brought his brand-new Supermarine Spitfire 40, the one
he had won at our Fall Scale Fly-in. Frits was going to test-fly it
for him, but the Tower Hobbies .46 engine would not stay running.
Then the tail wheel broke, so the flight was put off. I hate I didn’t
get a picture of it, but this is what it looked like on the box…
David Conway showed up with his electric NexSTAR-E trainer. He set
it up, but I didn’t see him fly it. I actually had to leave
the field twice for about 45 minutes each time, so I could have missed
lots of things…
Gary Johnson showed up with wife Rhonda, and their three children,
Thomas, Christy and Mariah. They brought the electric foam FA-28 Blue
Angels thrust-vectoring. Frits had flown it before.
They also brought a new one, an electric all-foam Swift II flying
wing. Andrew — Swift owner and expert Swift pilot — did
the test flight. Andrew did a self-launch, and he does that well with
his Swift. The first attempt with the new one was a bit rough, as
you can see here.
It flew well, and Andrew turned the controls over to Frits.
The Swift had an uneventful flight.
That Swift is already outfitted for night flying! It has tiny light
ropes along its leading edges. Should be interesting to fly at night!
Gary wanted Frits to fly the electric F-28 blue jet again. And Frits
LOVED to, of course!
The first hand-launch didn’t go over too well because the hatch
came loose. Frits decided to continue on anyway, with some of the
jet’s guts hanging
out. It wanted to wander a bit, however, and Frits decided to
land it after a couple of circuits around the field. Then they decided
to go up again, minus the hatch this time. But during this launch
Gary’s throwing hand hit the pusher prop on the way out!
The motor was knocked loose from the elevator, and you could see it
dangling as the jet nosed down to the runway.
The plane appeared undamaged after the crash. However, Gary’s
hand was NOT. He got
three bad cuts — two slices to the bone, and one that split
the nail — all on his middle
finger. His wife Rhonda taped and bandaged him up very nicely.
Frits suggested to Gary that he should go to the emergency room and
get some stitches, but Gary is a tough ol'
bird. He used to be an EMT and a fire chief and he said he would
be just fine...
I have heard several people say that these little electrics are pretty
harmless. But I personally never believed that... My advice: Don't
let anyone tell you that these little electric toy airplanes cannot
hurt you! Ask Gary… Or ask Tony Farmer, for that matter.
He was hit on the side of his face by an electric Slow Stick several
months ago. He still has the scars on his upper cheek. But it could
have been his eye just as easily…
There was another new plane this weekend. Mike McLaughlin finally
finished his P-51 Mustang. It looks nice!
Mike took it up and had a successful but short
flight. According to Mike the engine was a little over-propped
and it was leaning out. He couldn't get the engine running quite right
for a second flight before he had to head home. Mike also flew his
Ultra Sport 40… Justin Peacock flew the Ultra Stick that he
acquired from Jeff. He and Mike chased each other around…
Andrew and David flew their electric Slow Sticks when it started to
get dark. They both
did some easy flying.
Elton Sullivan brought out his yellow Four Star 60 and the Hangar
9 Pulse. It was getting
dark, but Elton decided to fly anyway.
Well, he must not have seen the runway when it came up to meet the
Pulse. He whacked it in, breaking off the main gear. Oh, well. Easy
fix… Andrew tested out his new night flying plane, the “Firefly”.
It was his original trainer.
That thing has more than 60 bright and colorful LEDs buried in its
wing and tail feathers! This picture taken by David shows how brightly
it lights up! Andrew
says this one is easy to fly in the dark.
Elton is a tugboat captain. He sent me a nice picture that he had
taken while he was piloting his boat. Nice
sky!...And that’s it for this weekend. Until next time.
Fly safe, always!
== Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Flea Market &
Swap Shop ===
Several new posts were made recently in the For Sale section of the
Forum. Airplanes and helicopters… To see them, go to ACMA
Website > Swap Shop. By the way, anyone can
view what’s going on in the Forum. You don’t have to be
a Forum member. But to post new topics or reply to posts in the Forum,
you must register (and that’s free).
I have changed my mind about putting the instructions for posting
your For Sale items in the Forum here. It is easy, but if you really
do need help with that, let me know and I will tell you how to do
it, step by step. So e-mail me. fjetten@aol.com.
== Some of Your Pits Report Questions Answered ================
Several club members have asked me questions regarding the Pits Report
and how it interacts with their home computers. I’ll try to
answer the most-often asked here. Have more questions? E-mail me.
fjetten@aol.com.
Q: How can I transfer the pictures used in the Pits
Report to my computer?
A: Not knowing what type of computer or operating
system you are using, my answer may not work. But try this. While
you are looking at a picture that you want, use your mouse to click
& hold the image, and simply “drag” it to your hard
disk, desktop, or to a folder on the desktop. Another way is to right-click
your mouse while the cursor is on the image, and use the popup menu
to Save the file to your hard disk, desktop, or to a folder on the
desktop.
Q: Why am I not able to watch those YouTube or PhotoBucket
videos?
A: If they are really jerky, or nothing happens,
or your system freezes up, well… your computer is in dire need
of an upgrade or replacement by a more capable model! I’m very
sorry about that!
Q: I can see the videos just fine. But how can I
get those videos on my computer so I can watch them again and again
without having to go to the Pits Report?
A: The videos are movies I make with my digital still
camera. I keep them brief (about a minute or so) to keep the camera
from running out of memory, and to keep them from being boring, as
I cannot edit them (yet…)
These videos are “hosted” (stored and played) on the
YouTube or PhotoBucket server computers. So what you have to do is
copy the link that shows in your browser window while
the video is playing, and then paste it into a text document (like
Microsoft Word or NotePad) on your computer. That link is a string
of characters and looks something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKgPsK2nmyE.
If you want to be able to play it later, you first will have to copy
that link from your text file and paste it back into your browser
window, and then hit the Go button or the enter key. You can practice
with the link above. But first have your text window open and alongside
the one you’re looking at now, so you can copy and paste that
string from the YouTube window to your text document window. Now just
click on that link and go thorough the motions… You can send
that video link to another person by just pasting it into your email
message to them.
The only other way to get the movie you want is to ask me for it.
I can put the movie file on a CD or DVD for you. Then you can transfer
the file(s) to your hard drive. They will be in MOV QuickTime format,
and they will play from your hard drive without YouTube or PhotoBucket.
It is not practical to send videos by email because of the memory
they take up and the long download times involved.
For answers to other questions, please email me fjetten@aol.com,
as I will no longer answer them here… I already got a couple
of questions about how to put your own photos and videos on YouTube
or PhotoBucket, so you can easily share them with your family and
the rest of the world (which costs nothing). Well, e-mail me.
Frits Goes Hollywood - Click For Details
