================ ACMA Irvington Field Pits Report, August 21,
2010 =================
Saturday, August 21 — Max Needels, one of
the club’s instructors, and his student Philip Hooper were hard
at it. They got a couple of flights on Philip’s Solo
Strike trainer… Frits Jetten, the other club instructor,
took up newcomer Bruce Nelson and his Kadet.
After that flight Max took him up a couple
of times.
Roger Hagler flew his “Extra Little”, a small plane with
a .15-size engine.
Roger flew it in his usual wild
way… David Etheredge brought an Ultimate Bluehawk biplane
and the U-Can-Do
3D. He flew both
of them.
Ray Murtha showed up with a new aircraft. It was a gyrocopter.
You don’t see these too often.
From experience I know they can be tough to fly. This one was no
different. Ray asked for help with the trim
switches. I had to turn my camera off. Only seconds later, while
attempting to turn the gyro, it went in like a lawn
dart. That also happened on its first
flight. But Ray says he’ll be back.
Dane Kinman had brought his new P-40
Warhawk. Looks good.
It is powered by a Turnigy 26
cc engine. The first flight went well until the very
end. But there was no
damage… Dane also flew Jimmy Kennamer’s twin-motor
TT62 Alekta. It was its second flight. It had bigger speed controllers
this time. It
really looks great in
flight. The takeoff and flight went
well. Except for missing the runway…
The third flight was brief, after one of the motors quit right after
takeoff. The plane almost did a full roll and smacked into the
runway. The
Alekta’s nose broke
off. It’s possible that one of the batteries auto-disconnected.
(I had it on video, but accidentally erased it from my camera…)
My wife and I went to one of the Mardi Gras organizations’
functions this past weekend. And guess whom I ran into? None other
than this guy.
Yep — it was Anthony Isaac Lopez-Montana. Remember him? He used
to be a club member. The member whose full name never did completely
fit in my membership database…
I recall that time Anthony/Isaac picked up a stray cat at the field.
No, really, he literally picked it up by its tail and then —
unbeknownst to me —Jeff took a picture of the cat’s very
exposed behind. I didn’t see it until I got home, and let me
tell you, a picture of a cat’s behind up close on a 20 inch
computer screen is not a pretty sight. I don’t care how sharp
it is…
Sunday, August 22 — Sam Chest has an airplane
for sale! It‘s the one he’s been flying, the Dietrich
42% giant scale
Extra-260. The plane includes a 3W 150 TOC motor with standard
mufflers and ignition. Also the fuel system and servo wiring, Hanger
9 Pro-links and HD control horns. Does not include servos, batteries,
switches, receiver, prop and spinner. Engine runs well and airframe
is in average condition with lots of life left. Sam’s asking
$1,200. He cannot ship, but will meet you at a reasonable distance
to deliver. Contact Sam by e-mail schest1102@aol.com
or call his cell phone 251-327-5937.
Joe Krebs and his wife Betty Jo showed up. Joe seems to be getting
along better with that new titanium hip. He was using a walker, but
has switched to a cane… Speaking of cane. Al Ayler pretended
to plant a kiss
on Henry. Well, Henry pretended to object. He grabbed Joe’s
cane and chased Al out
of the pits… Henry assembled his Kadet Senior but I don’t
think he flew it because of the worsening weather
conditions.
Frank Madison showed off his Douglas A-26 Invader, a twin-motor electric
attack bomber.
He’ll have it flying soon, I hope… Al Ayler flew his nice
Douglas SBD Dauntless, a dive bomber, but I have no pictures…
Infrequent flyer Mike Richardson showed up with his 1/3
scale Cub. Mike needs to come to the field more
often…
Jon Koppisch and Jonathan Festa showed up with their Habus, small
electric ducted fan jets. Jon put small gear on
his. After the jets took off you can see David Doss’ Radian
glider enter
the chase. The Habus flew in formation most of the flight, coming
pretty close a couple of times. But there was no contact fortunately.
David’s Radian had a good flight, but on landing David discovered
that he had no power.
Well, he did have power, just no
spinner! He doesn’t know where or when it fell of…
Gary Johnson took possession of someone’s 40-size Ultra Sport.
Hopefully we’ll see it fly
soon… And Robert ended up with this little electric
P-40. Wonder what it will turn into…
Besides the Habu Jonathan brought his electric F-35 Lightning II,
a variable thrust
jet. This was its second flight. And it was successful, albeit
wild and exciting!
It at least got trimmed out and future flights should be a whole lot
better.
Roger Hagler flew his Hyperion, a nice aerobatic plane with a .46
engine, which is very large for Roger…
Paul Verger flew one of his Extras, but I have no pictures of the
plane today. That’s Paul on
the right.
And we had a guest, Raiko Potter. I have met Raiko several times over
the years and he’s flown at our field a couple of times. His
building skills are much better than good. And the quality of his
flying is, well, also much better than good! That’s him on the
far right. He’s
thinking about joining our club.
Here’s what I found out about Raiko. (I love to Google people…)
He’s been in the RC hobby for 22 years or so. He is an experienced
pilot who has participated in IMAC, Pattern and Helicopter championship
competitions. He’s a member of Team Futaba. On the Futaba website
they mention his nickname — “RC
Kid”…
Raiko is the owner of Raiko Dzigns, a business dedicated to expanding
the outer limits of airplane appearance. “I am an extremist
builder," states Raiko, "along the lines of popular TV shows
like Pimp My Ride and West Coast Choppers. I get to express the radical
side of kit bashing and modification in building for myself and other
nationally known pilots."
Raiko served as the assistant manager for Team USA during the 2007
and 2009 World Aerobatic Championships. He is also the lead at Marianna
Airmotive and head of the C-5 Main Landing Gear Door Program, which
rebuilds the landing gear doors for the C-5 Galaxy aircraft presently
being used by the United States Air Force.
Ben McGee stopped by for a visit. He helped Robert Sanderson with
the Spirit sailplane.
Here’s the launch…
Marvin Helton is doing great with his helicopters.
He first flew his Blade and then his T-Rex
450. He still keeps them in close…
Marvin also showed off his latest toy, a Paracopter.
More on it later…
Russell Ward was sacked out in his favorite chair again.
I wonder if he was dreaming about that “huge rat” that
he found in one of the trash
barrels. After he described the dimensions of that rat —
12” long body, 12” long tail — I quickly determined
that it had to be something else.
Besides, Russell said, “it snarled at me and showed me lots
of teeth!” So I got on my iPhone, went to the Internet, did
my Google thing and showed Russell what I thought he had seen. Sure
enough! It wasn’t a rat.
It was what I suspected a possum!
Not the first time we found one trapped in a trash can…
After a brief shower we saw a nice rainbow.
That usually means a rainstorm just passed. Well, it wasn’t
long after that the skies clouded up
again. And not much later a real storm blew
in! With a wind a hurricane would be proud of. Everyone was huddled
together in the pavilion.
Robert took refuge under his large
kite plane.
At one point we could see Henry’s red foam kneepad somersaulting
down the runway at about 50 knots. After it was over William walked
downrange looking for it, just as Alvin drove up. Alvin, being in
a jovial mood, picked up some windblown trash on
the way in… The new swale the County had put in seems to
be working fairly
well.
A little later Henry ventured out south of the runway and found his
kneepad. I guess
he was determined to get out of giving William the reward he had offered
— a Coke… As soon as the sky cleared Rob Baker fueled
up his turbine powered Shock
Jet. He and Jon flew it against an orangy
sky…
Marvin Helton was now ready to fly his Paracopter.
The first takeoff was not good. But the second one went
better. But Marvin had some problems adjusting the
trims. In spite of that it flew
well. After some mechanical adjustments it should be more
controllable. And once he gets rid of that burnt
motor smell…
Hey, I have a status update on Bill Culberson’s Russian MiG-17.
No I’m not talking about a RC jet, I’m talking about his
full-scale one. A year or so ago, he managed to start and briefly
run the engine. When I asked him by e-mail how it was coming along,
Bill replied: “Pretty good, I'm now deep into the installation
of all the "western" equipment. Lights, instruments in feet
and knots, transponders, VHF com radios and the like.”
Bill continued: “I am down to a punch list of about 16-17 things.
I hope to start certification in late fall or this winter (cooler)
to have it ready for air shows in the spring... But we will see.”
In the meantime Bill can fly his full-scale Czechoslovakian Aero Vodochody
L-29 Delfin jet. That thing is awesome! I took this video in April
2008.
Did you see the wing come off that full-scale aerobatics plane during
an air show a couple of weeks ago? I watched it on CNN. The pilot
walked
away! Those parachutes (referred to as BRS - Ballistic Recovery
Systems) do work.
There are a lot of flying activities this fall:
Sep. 11, Sat. — Azalea City Model Aeronautics 1st Annual
Sailplane Fly-in — Irvington Field, AL. Here’s
the ACMA sailplane
flier.
Sep. 17-19, Fri./Sat./Sun. — West Alabama Aero Modelers
- Tuscaloosa 3D Throwdown — Northport, AL. Here’s
some Tuscaloosa
info.
Sep. 24/25, Fri./Sat. — Warbirds over Montgomery
— Montgomery, AL
Sep. 24-26, Fri./Sat./Sun. — West Alabama Aero Modelers
- 1st Annual Helicopter Fly-In — Tuscaloosa, AL. Here
are the heli
fly-in details.
Oct. 2, Sat. — Mid-Mississippi RC Fall Fly-in
— Jackson, MS.
Oct. 9, Sat. — Koast Air Modelers Society Fall Fly-in
— Ocean Springs, MS. Here’s the KAMS
flier.
Oct. 9-11, Sat./Sun./Mon. — Rally of Eagles
— Navarre, FL
Oct. 16, Sat. — Mississippi Coast RC Club Fall Fly-in
— Gulfport, MS
Oct. 16, Sat. — (changed from Oct. 9) Northwest Florida
Modelers, Inc., Tailgate Swap Meet — Pensacola, FL.
Fritz Field. This is the Tailgate
flier.
Oct. 23, Sat. — Azalea City Model Aeronautics Fall Warbird
Fly-in — Irvington Field, AL. A flier is coming.
Nov. 6, Sat. — Pine Belt RC Fall Fly-in —
Hattiesburg, MS.
Nov. 20, Sat. — Azalea City Model Aeronautics Charity
Fly-in — Irvington Field, AL. A flier is coming.
Maps to the flying fields listed above are on our ACMA website. You
can go there now by selecting from the main menu on the left
of this report > Field Maps > then Maps to
Other Fields. Or go to our ACMA
Home Page.
Come chat with some of us on Alvin’s Mobile Area RC Model Aviation
Forum (MARCMAF). There’s always something or somebody being
talked about there…
I’ll see you at the field. Fly safe!
============ Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap
Shop/Flea Market ===============
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.
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.
In addition, you can send the detailed information to me by e-mail,
preferably with pictures, and I'll forward it to the 112 members of
our club. I have all the members' e-mail addresses, and I don't mind
doing it. 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.
Frits
Goes Hollywood - Click For Details
