=========== “From the Pits” Field Activities, Mar.
28/29, ‘09 ===========
…….... All photos and videos by Frits Jetten unless otherwise
indicated …….....
I didn’t make it to the flying field at all this weekend. I
was in Biloxi, MS, where I witnessed for the first time in my life
some wild racing by vehicles powered by aircraft turbine jet engines.
It was “Smokin’ the Sound’, an annual offshore racing
spectacular in the Mississippi Sound, just off the beach. Watch one
of the helicopters as it almost gets into one of the boat’s
rooster tails!
So, after a terribly rainy and windy Saturday, Sunday turned out
to be very nice, and I had absolutely no pictures or videos of the
happenings at Irvington Field! But, with a little snooping and prodding
I managed to get enough information together for a report. It helps
to have some reliable informants and a very capable paparazzo who
always supplies me with a deluge of pictures! Thanks, Dean Ritola!
Oh, and stealing Alvin’s pictures from his forum is old hat
for me…
Apparently there was a pretty good crowd present, which included
Enzo Finizola, Johnny Jones, William Moore, Terry Brownlee, Joe Krebs,
Russell Ward, David Doss, many others. Some may have just been visiting.
And there was quite a lot of action that I missed! Several planes
didn’t fare so well, as you’ll see as you read through
my report... Wayne Boudreaux again brought out his Super Skybolt biplane.
Nice-flying airplane.
I wasn’t there, but I’ll bet that bipe with smoke on looked
great against that blue background.
And who said Wayne has no sense of humor. This is his pilot
figure… Frank Madison had his F8F Bearcat “Rare Bear”,
with Rob piloting the aircraft.
Robert Sanderson showed up with a couple of his Coroplast planes.
One was the HOR-86, the swept-back wing version. He also brought Big
HOR 60, a 12 ft. wing span monster powered by a YS .61 rear-exhaust
engine with tuned pipe. I was told that Andrew Smith had a successful
full flight on the swept wing HOR-86.
But on the second flight Andrew crashed it. Tail-heaviness was mentioned
as the cause (of the HOR, not Andrew…) The impact sure straightened
out that wing!
With Frits' not there, Robert had assembled a different, older crew,
but details about who actually flew that Big HOR are fuzzy…
Billy Toliver lost his plane after some audible flutter. Not sure
what he was flying and what exactly caused the crash.
An elevator is suspect.
Tim Humbert and Bobby (nolastname), both engineering students at
the University Of South Alabama in Mobile, showed up with an airplane,
designed and built by them.
Tim took the plane up. The flight went well until the elevator broke!
In spite of the resulting flutter Tim didn't appear to panic and managed
to land the plane successfully… Rob also flew his turbine jet
again, the one he ripped the landing gear off last weekend. Things
went much better this
time! The gear stayed on, as far as I
know.
Al showed up with a trailer full of planes. But never mind all those
other warbirds. Today was THE day for the twin-engine P-38 Lightning!
Al took the Lightning off on its maiden
flight. Jon Koppisch and Rob stood
by. The flight apparently very
well. I was told the landing was a bit shaky. But what’s
important is that Al put it down without damage.
He was probably still shaking when this picture was taken!
Larry Rogers finally flew his new Airstar International “Mongoose”
gasser helicopter.
It uses a Zenoah G26 gasoline engine for power. This heli has an on-board
generator that powers up the flight electronics. Larry managed a hover
that appeared very stable.
Installation of a scale canopy is forthcoming… Jon Koppisch
brought a new aerobatic giant scale airplane. Nice knife-edge.
I could be wrong, but it’s an CAP-232, I believe.
Speaking of new aircraft. Elton Sullivan has been working on a couple
of them. One is a Cub.
Pretty flame work! The other is a Citabria.
Nice, Elton! You’ll soon have to add an extension to your trailer!...
Tony Farmer flew his electrically powered Mini
Ultra Stick... Gary Johnson got out his electric FA-18 Hornet
jet. Rob took it up and it flew well. Rob mentioned to Gary that he
should change out the aileron servos as the ones being used were too
weak… Henry Waltman flew his scale
Cub. And so did Al and Joe
Krebs.
Mike McLaughlin had brought his Four Star 40 and his Lancair.
The Lancair flew very
well. At one point Mike and Alvin Reed decided to race their planes.
So it was Mike’s Four Star against Alvin’s Escapade. The
race went well, and then it happened! Alvin’s Escapade lost
half of its horizontal stabilizer and crashed.
Parts were strewn across a large
area. A group of sad race fans paid their last
respects. Don’t let the caption on the photo mislead you.
It was Alvin who was flying the plane. I can just see Mike do his
victory roll!
Andrew Smith unloaded most of his growing fleet out of his small
car. Not sure if Randy Bodiford, also pictured here, flew anything.
He always seems to have a good time whether he flies or not. Andrew
had brought a new Spirit glider, his Aircore combat Battle Tank, the
Phence Post combat plan and his electric E-Flite Mini Edge-540. He
ripped the gear out of the Mini Edge during a harsh landing.
Then Andrew and Mike attempted a glider tow, with the AirCore pulling
the sail plane aloft.
But things didn’t go entirely well... I’ll let Mike tell
us the details in his own words:
“Andrew's tow setup and dolly for the glider worked perfectly.
On both flights the takeoff was pretty much a non-event.
Both flights went wrong on the first turn to return downwind. There
were a number of possible reasons for the breakdown and in the end
it was probably a combination of all of them. I was probably flying
too fast, which forced the glider to go high.
He may have turned too sharp instead of flying outside of the tug's
turn radius, I should have stayed in a constant climb instead of leveling
out, etc. All of those scenarios create slack in the line.”
“When the slack was pulled out, hilarity ensued and the planes
crashed. On the first one the line got wrapped around the glider's
wing and Andrew was unable to release the towline. Both planes spiraled
around each other and both landed nearly flat on the ground. A servo
horn needed to be replaced on the tug and that was it.“
“On the second flight the glider got inverted and was nosing
towards Mother Earth and was pulling the tug with
it. Andrew released the towline literally inches before impact,
and I was able to recover the tug again literally inches before impact
and return for a safe landing. The glider suffered minor damage in
the form of a broken off nose section in that incident.”
Thanks, Mike!
What an exciting weekend at the field, and I missed it all!…
Hey, check this out. I’m throwing this in as a bonus because
the report is rather skimpy this week... This Hotelicopter is just
what is sounds like. It’s a helicopter that is as much a flying
hotel as it is a rotorcraft!
The massive helicopter is outfitted with 18 luxury rooms that are
each sound proofed and equipped with a queen-size bed, mini-bar, Wi-Fi,
and more. The aircraft offers room service after takeoff. It even
has an on-board spa…
The helicopter is 137 feet long and 91 feet high. The maximum takeoff
weight is 232,870 pounds and it can hit a maximum speed of 158 mph
with a cruise speed of 147 mph. the cruise range is 320 miles originally,
but the optimized range of the Hotelicopter is 700 miles. The Hotelicopter
will make its maiden voyage this summer.
It'll look like this computer animation.
The giant helicopter started life as one of only two Russian Mil
V-12 helicopter prototypes ever produced. The Hotelicopter Company
purchased one of them in 2004 and modified it with an extra floor,
turbofans, and aerodynamic modifications to be a flying hotel. Each
of the four GEnx turbofans produces 75,000 pounds of thrust. (March
30, Hotelicopter.)
======== ACMA Upcoming Flying Event - Armageddon Fun Fly
========
The popular annual ACMA Armageddon Fun Fly will be here before you
know it! Rob Baker — owner of HobbyTown USA in Mobile and Daphne
— will again be the organizer of this event. He’ll soon
set a date. This will be the 12th annual Fun Fly! Get a plane ready
now. Nothing fancy! It needs to be a plane you’re not too fond
of, but one that can perform in a variety of competition events, fast
and slow.
The same plane must be used for all events, unless you crash it beyond
repair. In that case you can substitute another plane. You’ll
perform in events like: Aircraft Carrier Landing - a precision landing
event; 3 Loops, 3 Rolls, 1 Touch-‘n’-go, 3 times - a timed
event; Egg Drop - a precision “bomb” drop; and Limbo -
flying under a stretched ribbon, with extra points if you can do it
inverted or knife-edge!
On Armageddon day Combat is a separate and optional event around
noon, but you can use a different plane for that. Armageddon is an
all-day fun event with a lot of action! Plan to make that one! Better
yet, participate in it!
I’ll see you at the field. Fly safe!
======= Upcoming Flying Events - Azalea City Model Aeronautics
======
From now on only ACMA events will be listed in these Pits Reports.
Details about them and other clubs’ events are always available
on our ACMA Website > Events Calendar. Or select
from main menu on the left side of this report.
Apr. 18 (Sat) — ACMA The Colonel’s Night Fry
& 100th Birthday Party.
Apr.19 (Sun) — ACMA’s Monthly Combat.
Starts promptly at 2:00 PM.
Apr. 25 (Sat) — ACMA’s Spring Scale Fly-in.
Details here.
(May or June) ACMA’s Annual Armageddon Fun Fly
will be coming soon!
If you need a map to a flying field — either to Irvington Field
or to another club’s field — go to our ACMA Website and
select Field Maps. Or select from main menu
on the left side of this report.
========= Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap Shop
===========
You know you can advertise your For Sale items with photos in the
Mobile Area RC Aviation Forum’s Swap Shop.
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.
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
