============== Azalea City Model Aeronautics, Mobile, Alabama,
USA ================
================“From the Pits” Field Activities
— April 18/19, ’09 ===================
…...…………..…….. All photos
and videos by Frits Jetten unless otherwise indicated …………..….….....
I know, this report is more than a week late. But too many things
have eaten away at my time lately. My Dad spent almost a week in the
hospital. Company from the Netherlands came to visit (still here…)
My wife had to have some surgery, etc… Anyway, here I am with
the birthday party/night-fry report. The Spring Scale Fly-in report
will come later, as I desperately try to catch up…
The “100th birthday party” was in honor of Henry Waltman,
along with Al Ayler, TJ Rohyans, JC Day and any other member with
a birthday in April. Henry isn’t really 100, but he’s
getting there.
The afternoon started very slowly, with few people present. To do
something, ANYTHING, JC got out his kite
plane. The thing did not act quite right, but JC and Frits and
others kept trying to boost its air
time. JC made a nice and smooth landing…
Roger Hagler flew his Lazy Bee several times. Have you noticed that
he seems to kiss that transmitter every time he walks out to the pilot
station?...
There was plenty of food, all donated by the club and participating
club members. Robert Sanderson, organizer of the party/fish fry/night
fly, put up some lighted party decorations, assisted by Jeff
Foster… Alvin Reed pretty much hung out in the kitchen,
whispering secret instructions to his sous chef , Russell
Ward. (Did I see Alvin wash his hands in that frying
pan? Good gawd!…)
Andy Anderson helped with the cooking also.
His dad had a great time eating pretty much everything in sight…
Easy to do — everything was delicious!... Al Ayler donated a
bunch of ice to the party.
He now has his own commercial ice machine in his hobby shed, you know…
Ben McGee was in charge of three ice cream churns.
Occasionally someone offered to help, but no help was needed to turn
these churns, as they were all electric! Frank Rowell mostly wanted
to taste the goods…
Henry Waltman’s son Gary and daughter-in-law Sandy joined the
festivities.
So did Joe Krebs, his wife Betty Jo and their daughter Sharon.
John and Joyce Walker enjoyed themselves.
And Jeff and Nancibeth Williams came all the way from Hattiesburg,
Mississippi.
(He sure looks like Meteorologist John Edd Thompson’s brother,
doesn’t he?) Also present was prospective member Joe Ward, a
friend of Henry’s…
Here are Joyce, Nancibeth and Linda
Koppisch.
Several more couples showed up. Frank and Nancy Madison.
Mike and Stephanie Callen.
Andrew and Amber Smith.
Tony and René Farmer.
They brought daughter Mackenzie…
! The food line was pretty long.
Here are John and Joyce, with Nancibeth and Jeff.
And Henry’s table was busy, eating that
is. Jon Koppisch could be seen eating at more than one table…
Enzo Finizola, ACMA’s club President, also showed up. Here
he gets a quick lesson from Jeff Foster on Jeff’s big Canon
D300… David Etheredge — accompanied by grandson Hunter
Walker — was one of the few who flew. He took up his U-Can-Do…
Tony had brought his little electric electric Mini Ultra Stick and
he flew it. He could be seen making a quick deal and stowing a new
Coroplast combat plane in his car…
Robert Sanderson showed off his Double Trouble twin-engine speed plane,
still in need of some modifications.
Jeff Williams flew his electric Stryker.
He had modified it and replaced the pusher motor with a top-mounted
electric ducted
fan. It flew very
well… Robert was busy getting his lighted plane ready for
the night flying. He was tinkering with his 8 ft. wing-span Coroplast
plane, the “Lit
HOR”. (HOR – Hell On Rails)… At the last moment,
Andy Anderson donated an old Super Fli kit, destined for a deserving
night fly pilot.
Jeff presented Henry and Al with a singing birthday
card. Not sure if Henry appreciated that high-tech card…
Everyone seemed to enjoy the food.
We all sang Happy Birthday, of
course. Then Joe Krebs made a speech.
It was pretty lengthy.
He dug into Henry’s life a bit and mentioned some good old
times. Joe kept on talking.
He praised Henry so much that I thought I saw Henry’s head visibly
swell as the speech finally wound
down.
Then it was time for the night fly. The pavilion was all lit up with
Robert’s decorations.
Andrew had brought three lighted planes: his electric Slow Stick,
the electric Swift II flying wing, and and his electric Slow
Stick. He uses some very bright LEDs…
Jon had a couple of brief flights with Robert’s HOR.
And after each flight, Robert had to make a few minor repairs. But
he kept launching.
Then Frits flew the Lit HOR also. He made several circuits around
the field that included two heart-stopping dips to within feet of
the ground! Then something went wrong and Frits crashed the HOR in
the northwest corner of the field.
TJ Rohyans had brought his tripod.
He created some time-exposed photographs of some of the lighted
planes. Interesting flight
patterns! And of the children. The kids had a good time with the
light sticks.
He also caught an unexpected visitor.
Hmmm. First the ever-present Irvington Triangle, which supposedly
wreaks havoc with flight electronics, the recent Runway Crack Monster,
who rips off landing gear, and now this?...
Sunday was combat day! Several pilots showed up for that. Here’s
the start.
Russ Green, with spotter Frank Madison, was battle-ready with his
Phence Post combat
plane. Jon Koppisch had his Quickie 500 ready, and his spotter
was Al, which was quite a surprise…
Justin Peacock spotted for Mike McLaughlin, who flew his Battle
Axe…
Robert Sanderson entered his swept-wing HOR-86 in combat. Rob Baker
had to make a test flight first, as the plane was not
ready. They tried.
And tried
again. But there were problems.
Even a new wing didn’t help.
Robert was out of the competition. All he had to show for it were
six broken props. Yep — SIX!…
Jade Taylor entered his Twist in combat, and TJ Rohyans and Tony
did the spotting…
Andrew Smith flew his Phence Post combat plane, with Russell counting
cuts for him.
Hey, did you notice? Andrew built a cradle for his combat plane that
could support the weight of a full scale battle
tank…
Everyone survived the first and second round, I believe. Then round
three got under
way. There was plenty of combat
action. Many cuts were made.
Mike was soon pulling a couple of streamers, one not his own.
Jade and his Twist weaved in and out like he was enjoying himself.
And a couple of planes collided. One was Russ. His plane didn’t
do too badly.
He and Andrew hit each other. Jade got carried away and dumb-thumbed
his Twist!. I don’t think he’ll do the Twist
again...
For the official combat report, written by Combat General Andrew
Smith, go to our club’s Website, accessible from the menu on
the left of this report. Select Combat Report >
then Current Report.
After combat was over normal flying resumed. Rob Baker flew his Venus
40, powered by a Webra .50 engine.
He had some problems keeping that engine running, so he ended up using
a Dremel tool to eliminate some friction…
Justin Peacock flew his Align T-Rex 600 Nitro helicopter.
He did some nice inverted hovering…
Al showed up with his Cessna
310. Beautiful plane. And he tried.
But the plane did not fly today.
I don’t know if you have noticed. That old folks row at the
North End is getting longer and longer…
Oh, and now there’s this new fancy glass top table at the North
End. Frank Madison donated it. Very classy, Frank!…
Russell was seen sleeping in his truck again. Alvin has been working
him too hard, I think, and he needs to lighten up on Russell…
Henry tried to get his CAP-21 going. Again.
Still no go, though. Joe Ward even got into the act.
It still did not become airborne. So Henry amused himself by dressing
up as an old Storm
Trooper. Who said Henry doesn’t have a sense of humor?....
By the way, Al is now working on a new toy. At the last meeting he
showed off his home-brewed exhaust pipe for the upcoming Supermarine
Sea Fury.
Later in the evening, Joe Krebs did some reminiscing.
He told a story to a small group that included Karen,
Al, Rob,
and Ben. It
was very entertaining!...
Oh, the Super Fli kit was awarded to Andrew as a result of a complicated
formula that determined the winner of a Birthday-Party-Night-Fry-Fly-in.
You’ll have to ask Robert how it was determined…
It was a great weekend — the party, the food, and the night
fly! It was very well-attended. Thanks to all the people who helped
get it all done and who participated in the activities and who brought
food. And some great combat, too!
The Scale Fly-in report is coming up next… I promise!
I’ll see you at the field. Fly safe!
======= Upcoming Flying Events - Azalea City Model Aeronautics
======
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.
May 30 (Sat) — ACMA’s Armageddon Fun Fly.
Rob Baker — owner of HobbyTown USA in Mobile and Daphne —
will again be the organizer of this fun fly. This will be our 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 simple 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 an optional and separate 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 come to this one!
Better yet, participate in it!
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
