=== March 10 Deadline For Paying ACMA Dues Before You’re
Dropped ===
After next Tuesday’s meeting on March 10, if you have not paid
your 2009 club dues PLUS the $5.00 late charge (total $101.00), you
will be dropped from the Azalea City Model Aeronautics membership
roster.
If you wish to go on INACTIVE STATUS, simply send me an e-mail message
with a brief reason. No gory details necessary… > fjetten@aol.com.
Do it before the March 10 meeting. If you are placed on INACTIVE STATUS,
you “will not be allowed to fly at our field, participate in
club activities, or vote”, according to the club bylaws.
========== “From the Pits” Field Activities,
Feb. 28/Mar. 1, ‘09 =========
……...... All photos and videos by Frits Jetten unless
otherwise indicated ……..
I stopped by the field last Saturday and the cracks were still
there. Don’t they look bigger to
you? Not sure what’s living in those underground caves,
but I think I finally got a picture of one of them…
I have no more news regarding the planned runway repairs, except that
the County was waiting on a price quote for the repair materials late
last week.
As I mentioned in the last report the County will use a contractor
to do the repairs. Be patient! And you are reminded that for
safety reasons all flying must cease while County workers are present
on or around the runway.
I figured this report would be very short, because the weather sure
didn’t look good weekend. (Thank God!, I can hear some of you
groan…) I saw no one there on Saturday so I went home.
But later that day Roger Hagler flew his Lazy Bee, I’m told,
and he was cheered on by Russell Ward. The field is Russell’s
second home, I’m beginning to believe…
Lots of wind and low temperatures were predicted for Sunday and again
I expected no one to show up. So I figured I just make up some stuff
for this report. Just steal pictures off of the Forum! Perhaps talk
about Mike McLaughlin and the Four Star Foh that he’s recovering.
Remember that plane? I called it the Four Star Foh, because the outer
rib bays were removed.
Well, he’s redone it now, and it’s almost finished.
Maybe next weekend, Mike?
I would mention that Larry Rogers finally got his Airstar International
“Mongoose” delivered, a helicopter powered by a Zenoah
G26 gasoline engine. Here is the test flight at the Airstar facility.
And here is the fully assembled heli, ready to be flown by Larry…
Oh, Elton Sullivan sent me a picture of his new plane. It’s
an Extra-330SP.
We should see it in the air soon.
Well, Sunday turned out beautiful, but cold and breezy. That didn’t
stop some of us! The fireplace was fired
up. But the bottom had broken as you can see,
and it was just sitting on the concrete slab. Well, because that thing
is made of fired clay, it’s probably not designed to hold the
weight of huge logs. This is just my opinion. I’m just saying…
The hotdog cooker was soon cooking hotdogs and some fat sausages too.
Al Ayler assisted newcomer Les Stenson and his Kadet Senorita.
I finally heard the engine come to life, but the plane never flew
today. That’s James Milton (“Bear”) in the middle.
He’s from Birmingham and just visiting… There were others
who just dropped by for a visit. Henry Waltman, David Conway, Charlie
Gillespie, Jon Koppisch and his mom Linda, Russell and Jeff
Foster.
Jon showed off his new homebuilt trailer. Looked too small to carry
most of the planes he has, in my opinion… Elton tried out the
“new” easy chair recliner that Robert had dropped off
at the field. Oh, it has a massager, a vibrator, and heaters! Elton
appeared to enjoy that thing WAY too
much… It was a cozy gathering.
Alvin Reed was working on his Escapade’s Thunder Tiger engine.
He said it was not running right, so he had done an overhaul.
And he got it running great.
He was going to take the plane up, I guess, but he only got as far
as the runway.
He tried to take off, but the Escapade made a sharp turn, the wind
grabbed it and then the plane jumped five feet straight up, did a
brief hovering Harrier that would have made Wes Batson proud, and
then smartly plopped down! The right main gear was bent a little bit.
That was it for Alvin. He cleaned the plane up and put it away…
He did take some pictures.
Most of them are on the Forum.
Robert Sanderson brought his little
HOR (“Hell On Rails”). Al hand-launched it for him.
Not sure what happened, but Robert turned the HOR turned into a lawn
dart. Blame it on the hand-launcher, Frits always says! No damage.
Robert flew the little HOR a couple of times.
The poor HOR’s wings were just a-flapping in the wind!
And some of the wood stiffener rods were working itself out of the
wings. Mike and Frits flew it also, and even Al and Henry.
Yes, Henry!
I think Robert told Henry that he will have to fly the HOR in the
next combat event. Henry did not seem too excited about that, but
Robert says it’s a done deal… Mike showed up with his
Battle Axe combat plane, and he flew it a couple
of times. He and Robert’s HOR had a couple of fairly close
encounters.
Robert insisted that Al and Mike do some “bowling” with
the HOR. Al did great and slammed into the partially filled bottles.
But Al said it made him feel bad to run the plane into a solid object…
Mike missed the bottles twice and slammed the HOR into the runway,
but he didn’t care!
It wasn’t his plane after all… But he also had one strike.
The HOR survived all the abuse just fine…
Then Mike brought out his small gyrocopter.
He’s had it for 12 years and has never flown it. It‘s
supposed to hover while attached to a string. The rotating blades
would give it lift. You would think that it would be easy in the stiff
wind. Well, au contraire. It was quite an effort for nothing! But
Mike did not give up easily and kept on trying.
Finally he decided to give the copter a spin test from his moving
vehicle.
So Mike drove his vehicle down the runway into the wind while holding
his little chopper out of the driver’s window.
Well now — progress, at last! Apparently the rotor blades now
spun up just great. So great in fact that the rotor head came apart
and — WHAM! — slammed the blades into his vehicle, putting
a small, but very visible, dent into the
side! The little gyrocopter will not be repaired, according to
Mike.
Robert Sanderson is firming up plans for his upcoming night fly-in,
combined with a fish fry. He is calling it the SPRING BREAK
NITE- FRY, a name Mike McLaughlin had come up with. It’s
scheduled for March 14. Anyone wishing to participate is asked to
contribute a dish. Meals are $3.00pe rplate to offset the cost of
the fish for the next night event. The fish for this event is provided
by Ben McGee. E-mail Frits, who will post periodic updates of the
food contributions on the Forum. Send to fjetten@aol.com.
Okay, I’ll make up for the brevity of this report with a video
that I think you may like. Just remember, if someone yells “ACHTUNG!”
you pay attention.
Regarding safety and starting electric airplanes… Keep reading…
========= A safer way to start electric airplanes =====================
For some reason, electric on/off switches aren’t used that
much on electric airplanes. And from what I’ve experienced with
other people’s electric planes, starting them can be a bit hairy.
Those electric motors — even the smaller ones — can whack
you pretty hard if they come to live before they’re supposed
to!
In most cases the airplane’s batteries are simply installed
in the airplane and plugged in just before you fly. You have to also
deal with fastening hatches or canopies after you do it. But, if the
plane is unknowingly “armed” and ready to go, and you’re
not paying attention, it can slice you up you when power is applied.
An “arming switch” would be nice. It’s so simple
you could build one yourself. But what if you don’t like the
hassle? Well, the MDi company makes a very simple arming switch harness
for less than $10. The little plug is inserted AFTER the batteries
are plugged in and everything is ready
to go. I would probably add a small clip-on red flag to the little
plug — to be removed before flight — so I wouldn’t
lose it!
You can read about this and other arming switches in AMA’s
Model Aviation magazine, February 2009, page 114. The MPi arming switch
can be purchased online at http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-21.html
========= One cool way to keep track of all your RC stuff
============
CleverTangerine has released a major update to its radio control
logging software, an application for the iPhone and iPod touch designed
for RC modelers by an RC modeler. The February 2009 issue of AMA’s
Model Aviation magazine covers this application in "Worth A Closer
Look", on page 15.
RCLogbook allows you to easily capture and edit information on flights
or races such as the total time, notes, or average current
draw. It helps you track both your models as well as your batteries.
With RCLogbook, you can watch the health of your batteries over
time. RCLogbook provides an integrated timer that leaves the logging
details to the application while you fly or race your models.
RCLogbook is available for $4.99 on Apple’s App Store. It’s
in the Utilities category > http://www.apple.com/iTunes
========= Azalea City Model Aeronautics - Upcoming Flying
Events ================
From now on only ACMA events will be posted in these Pits Reports.
Details about them and other clubs’ events are always available
on our ACMA Website > Events Calendar.
Mar. 14 (Sat) — ACMA’s Spring Break Nite-Fry,
a Fish Fry plus Night Fly.
Mar. 15 (Sun) — ACMA’s Monthly Combat.
Starts promptly at 2:00 PM.
Apr. 25 (Sat) — ACMA’s Spring
Scale Fly-in
.
ACMA’s Annual Armageddon Fun Fly will be coming
soon!
You can check for more details about these events by clicking on
Events Calendar on the main menu
shown on the left of this report.
If you need a flying field map — either Irvington
Field’s or another club field’s — go to our ACMA
Website and select Field Maps.
========= Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap Shop
===========
You know you can advertise your For Sale items with photos in the
Forum’s Swap Shop. Go to the main menu
shown on the left of this report and select Swap Shop.
You must register with a username and password first, but that’s
free and it is very easy. If you have questions or need help with
this just 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.
Azalea City Model Aeronautics Website > http://www.acma-rc.com/index.html
Frits Goes Hollywood - Click For Details
