============== ACMA Irvington Field Pits Report, August 8,
2010 =================
.....................All photos and videos by Frits Jetten unless
otherwise indicated. …….…..….…
Well, it's been a while since I stopped writing the Pits Reports.
It's been since March, I've been told… Things in my other life - the
real one - took over and I had to rearrange my priorities… Since then
several people inquired, hinted and scolded me that I should get back
to writing the reports...
For those of you who do not want to receive notifications of when
my Pits Reports are posted, let me know by e-mail and I will drop
you off my Pits Report e-mail list. E-mail me here > fjetten@aol.com.
So, I'm back now, and we'll see how it goes… This report is sort
of a recap of events of the past few months. So here we go - if I
can still remember how!…
Andrew Smith had shown up with his latest creation, an electric all-foam
Space Shuttle.
It was unfinished because Andrew wanted to first prove that it would
fly. Check out those engines.
Well, the first couple of flights were very short. Here's the last
one. It was also brief. But Andrew will
be back, I'm sure... Couldn't a plane be any brighter than Randy Bodiford's
electric Corsair?
It's hard to miss…
Paul Kelly finally flew the Stinson that Gary Johnson finished for
him. He also flew this
biplane. I'm not sure what it is. A Waco, perhaps?... Russell
Ward put together his World Models LA-Race 40, a pylon racer. Frits
Jetten flew it successfully…
Jonathan Festa flew his festively covered 40% Edge-540 3D plane, affectionately
named "the Mardi
Gras plane". I wonder why… Henry Waltman
and Julia White showed up a couple
of times. Here are Henry and John Walker with a Mustang.
There was a Spring Scale Fly-in at our field in May. We had a great
turnout. Here are some guys from the Koast Air Modelers Society of
Ocean Springs…
We also had several modelers from the Mississippi Coast RC Club in
Gulfport, and Jeff Williams and his flying buddies from the Pine Belt
RC club out of Jackson, Mississippi.
And these guys are from the Northshore RC club in Slidell, Louisiana.
They are Phil Koury, Will Argeanton and Roland
Wibbing. Too bad John Perkins, usually part of the entourage,
couldn't make it… Larry Wilkinson and Larry Peavy came from Foley.
They fly a lot and always seem to have a good time.
Another scale modeler from out-of-town who has attended in the past
was Brian Cabrera, from Birmingham.
He brought an assortment of aircraft that included a turbine jet,
an electric jet, a gasoline powered airplane and a couple of helicopters…
Emile Sheriff is a nationally know helicopter modeler from Daleville,
Alabama, and he brought several really nice scale helicopters with
him. And here is Wayne Paulk of Dothan, Alabama, and his nice
chopper… Tony
Farmer flew his L-4 Cub several
times… Henry showed up with his Spacewalker and his P-47 Thunderbolt…
Al Ayler brought his trailer full of aircraft, as usual. He even
brought his wife Cheryl.
Besides the black Corsair, he also assembled his SNJ-6 Texan, the
Dauntless and the twin-engine P-38
Lightning. Al actually had all of them flight-ready…
There weren't any incidents to speak of, except for Garry Busby's
crash. Gary was doing well, I thought, but then something happened!
I think that's a biplane minus
one wing…
Then in June we had the annual Armageddon Fun Fly. It was well attended,
but not all events were completed because of the weather. Nick Neville,
from Fairhope, with the red cap, shown here with Roger Hagler, won
the overall competition.
Our Russ Green and Andrew Smith came in 2nd and 3rd … Mississipian
Garry Busby - here with Thomas LeMaster - gave it his best shot and
survived the day with his plane intact…
Several weeks ago our club helped out with EYE Summer Camp - "Camp
Big Air: a Study of Aerospace Engineering". 180 campers from several
schools showed up. They came from Dodge, Griggs, ER Dickson, Kate
Shepard, Council, Hall, Fonde, Castlen, Nan Gray Davis and Clark School
of Math and Science. These were all 4th and 5th graders. They had
the opportunity to see several flying demonstrations of radio controlled
gasoline, nitro, electric and turbine powered aircraft.
Max Needels coordinated the sessions. Several club members participated.
Jon Koppisch showed off his 40% Yak-54 3D
plane. Rob Baker flew a turbine jet and explained the workings
of a turbine engine.
TJ Rohyans flew his electric ParkZone Radian sailplane and the Sole
Solution, and electric plane that carries a camera.
Max discussed the building of RC
airplanes. Larry Rogers talked about his helicopters, which included
his 5-bladed Vigor heli, the Sky King helicopter, and the Airstar
International "Mongoose" gasser.
Frits flew his pylon racer and talked about trainer planes. All three
sessions turned out very
well.
At the end of June we had the Club 40 Pylon Races. There were five
competitors. Here's Russ
Green. He's also the coordinator. And this is Rob
Baker. Also in the races were Bill Culberson, Frits and Mike McLaughlin.
Things went well until Frits and Bill Culberson had a midair and the
race had not even started yet! They were only seconds away from the
"flying start", when the two LA racers contacted each other.
Frits' plane lost its left
wing. Bill's plane lost the right
wing. Both fuselages also sustained damage when they impacted
the ground. Frits will repair his racer. But Bill said his was a goner!
As a matter of fact he gave Frits the wing to his plane, should he
need it...
Ray Murtha has been flying his 3D plane, a U-Can-Do.
Sadly he crashed his Banshee, which he's had for many
years… Billy Ray Krebs has been flying his Easy
Sport… Oh, and Kenny Morris flew his trainer airplane into the
north pylon pole a few weeks ago. He was the first one to do so, as
far as I know…
Robert Sanderson is still at it. Coming up with unique airplanes,
I mean. The planes are produced by Robert's one-man model aircraft
outfit, Sanderson's Advanced Skunk Works of Outrageous Technology
(SASkWOT). Robert built yet another multi-purpose plane that can do
a variety of things.
He drops projectiles and deploys a parachute to lower the plane with.
He can also release two rolls of toilet paper at one time. He recently
used it to tow a jet
kite.
Jim Quint showed up with a brand-new Navy Contender by Top
Flite. Frits took it up on its first
flight. There were no problems… Dean Ritola got the opportunity
to go up with some full-scale Stearman airplane pilots from Roy E.
Ray Airport. He took some nice photos of the area. Here's one that
he took of the other planes while they buzzed our
runway…
Guess who finally showed his face after a long absence? David Lanzo
actually found his way to the field recently.
He had brought his Twist and showed us that he had not forgotten how
to fly…
Club instructor Max Needels and his student Phillip Hooper are making
steady progress toward Phillip's first solo
flight. There was a bit of a setback when Phillip contacted the
north pylon post recently. Damage appeared light at the time, but
then a week later the plane's wing broke off in flight, totaling the
aircraft.
Phillip took it well. He has a couple of backup planes and will be
back with one soon. Robert coined a new phrase to describe a crash
related to Max. He calls it "Fritsed to the Max", unfairly associating
Frits with Max's crashes. The term "He Fritsed it!" has been around
for years…
Robert still does plenty of burning…
He recently built a new Kite Plane, and it flies nicely.
It flutters right along… Roger Geil still
flies his full-scale experimental aircraft, the Quicksilver CT-400.
Roger lives on Dauphin Island, and he and his plane, here outfitted
with floats, were recently featured in a local magazine.
There was an unofficial sailplane event a few weeks ago. Rob Baker,
Johnny Jones, Lee Carroll, Roger Hagler and Robert Sanderson all flew
their sailplanes.
Strange to see Roger with a plane taller than he is! He's had that
long-winged Cirrus for decades… Rob flew his Radian...
Missing from the group was Elton Sullivan, who could not make this
event.
There was some rain that weekend, but that didn't stop Mike Hess
from flying his Tiger 60 sport
plane… Mike McLaughlin is still flying his Raptor
helicopter… Roger Hagler showed up with a nice T-34 Mentor, an
electric that he had converted to nitro…
Kevin Spragg, who does not fly very often, brought several of his
electric planes. One of them was this Extra.
Jimmy Kennamer and his two in-law sons, Daine Kinman and Ramsay Clevenger,
showed up with a new twin-motor beauty, an Electralet.
That's not a typo. I think. That's what it's called. Maybe Elektra
LET. Not sure. Daine took it up and all was well until the battery
went out prematurely and he had to come down.
Not too much damage…
Jeff Foster showed off his newest toy, a Harley motorcycle, to Alvin
Reed… Speaking of motorcycles, Dianne and David Hughes swung by
on theirs for a brief visit…
Al has brought his SNJ out a couple of times.
He can still land okay.
The last few weekends were very hot! The people who showed up usually
just sat around. Don't David Doss, Roger Hagler and Donnie Hammett
look like zombies?...
Newcomer Bruce Nelson showed up with his SIG
Kadet. It's been checked out and flown by Max, so it won't be
long and Bruce will start his training.
Carl Broughton showed up with his Hog Bipe. I'm pretty sure that's
what it was. With him is Eugene
Hunt… Here's another hot group - Marvin Helton, William Moore
and David Etheredge.
The U-Can-Do 3D, Ultimate biplane and the Matt Chapman CAP-480 are
all David's… It was so hot the grass is getting a good
burn…
You know we have been dealing with some really bad cracks in the
runway for many
months. They have actually eaten some wheels. Well, the runway
has been repaired during a recent workday.
Several club members and even non-members showed up to fill the runway
cracks with concrete.
It took more concrete than first estimated.
Special thanks go out to Tal Fowler for the use of his cement mixer
and to Tony Pirkle for his tractor/front-end loader.
The cracks are all gone
now! But be aware that several months from now the crack monster
that lurks in the landfill's underground caves will probably find
his way to the top again. He
always does… I could already see hairline cracks last Sunday…
Here are a couple of aerial views of the runway taken from Roger Geil's
ultralight.
Someone suggested we should paint the cement patches an asphalt
color…
Last Sunday was very rainy and while I was there nothing much as
going on. Everyone sat around. The only action was Wayne Boudreaux
trying to tune up the engine on Frank Madison's silver P-47
Thunderbolt. Nothing flew while I was at the field. Robert was
out of town, so there was no cooking this weekend…
Remember that we'll have combat on Sunday the 15th of August. Combat
is on the third Sunday of the month, every other month, alternating
with the pylon races, which are also held on Sundays.
The Northwest Florida Modelers, Inc. club of Pensacola will have
their sailplane event on August 21st. It's a competition event and
only Vista planes are allowed. Here are the details…
They will hold a Swap & Shop event on October 9th. Read about it here.
For maps to event locations mentioned here, you'll find almost all
of them on our website.
Click here >
http://www.acma-rc.com/index.html > select Club Information
> then Rules & Officers > click map.
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
