============= “From the Pits” Field Activities,
Sep. 12 & 13, ‘09 =============
…….... All photos and videos by Frits Jetten unless otherwise
indicated …….....
Saturday… Not many people at the field. Perhaps they were scared
off by the grim weather
outlook. Justin Peacock was there, but didn’t bring anything
to fly that I know of… Robert Sanderson showed up with his Tiger
2, the one he and Frits flew in the dark during the recent night flying
event. But he didn’t fly it while I was there. The weather
did clear up, but not until after it refilled Foster’s
Fish Pond… Jeff had done a nice job cutting the grass Friday.
Russell Ward had made a run to the store and was loading up his face.
He makes so many food runs now (for himself and Alvin), that he’s
bought a special bag that’s supposed to keep the food
warm… The field was very quiet until Alvin showed up. He
had brought his camera, of
course. And he had a small companion with him. It was Li’l
Belle. The little dog from hell immediately tried to attack me when
she spotted me.
Sunday… Max Needels showed up with wife Nikki, son Dale and
a profile 3D plane.
Not sure what the name of the plane is… Andy Anderson did something
you don’t see him do often. He flew! No, not his turbine fan
jet, dedburn it! He flew his Piper Cherokee…
Jonathan Festa came out with his 40% Edge-540 3D plane, but I have
absolutely no pictures of him, because he decided to heed the darkening
skies and he packed up early… In between showers Jon Koppisch
flew Frank Madison’s P-47 Thunderbolt.
Robert Sanderson brought his Tiger 2 again, and this time it was
pressed into service as a tow plane for whistling bombs. The “bombs”
are made of foam and have whistles built in. First Robert took the
plane up with one
bomb. And the bomb DID whistle.
Then he tied three of them to the plane.
That went okay also, but he lost one bomb when he tried to make the
bombs do a touch-‘n’-go.
Robert seemed extremely pleased with his latest brainstorm...
Today was supposed to be Cub Day, according to Henry Waltman. Well,
there were a few Cubs, but not many. I had not mentioned Cub Day by
e-mail to all club members until this morning. Simply forgot. Next
time, if you want me to notify the club membership about a certain
“Day” you’re going to have, please let me know by
e-mail. Yes, even after you mention it to me at the field. The old
brain sometimes forgets…
Mike Callen showed up with his really dusty Fokker triplane.
I wonder if this was its pilot waiting his turn?
Mike also brought his Piper
Cub. So did Joe Krebs and Tony
Farmer. Tony ended his nice flight with a flip-over…
I assume Henry had his Cub too, but I don’t recall seeing it.
TJ Rohyans brought his 40-size Cub and got it airborne.
After the flight TJ made the Cub do a perfect nose-stand!...
By the way, my ALMOST-all-knowing club aircraft database shows me
that we have 20 members with Cubs. And there are at least 30 with
biplanes/triplanes. And we have 25 P-51 Mustang people. So we could
have a “Mustang Day.” Or a “Biplane Day.”
Just let me know (by e-mail too, please…) and I’ll spread
the word.
Al Ayler decided to bring his yellow Bearcat and the 1/3 scale Aeronca
Champ. This
Champ has been worked on by many people and dates back more than 20
years. It had never been flown. This was to be its first flight. It
took some effort to assemble.
By several people.
And then it was ready to “only
taxi”.
Well, Al taxied it and then decided to take it off anyway. It flew!
After a short flight it started to rain, so Al finally brought it
down. It took
many people to help Joe make changes to the flight
controls… The Bearcat remained grounded.
John Walker brought a large gasoline engine for testing.
After clamping it down, it took a long time of cranking and tweaking,
but I heard it finally come
to life… Well, John accidentally locked his car keys in
his vehicle.
Al tried to fish them out with a coat
hanger. So did Joe. It took a long time, but Joe finally snagged
them and got them out! Just when John’s wife Joyce was taking
to OnStar, which had a problem unlocking the vehicle remotely. Bad
weather prevented that, perhaps?
Larry Rogers showed up with his Airstar International “Mongoose,”
a gasser heli with a Zenoah G26
engine. I think he was still going through an engine break-in
period. That’s some fancy field box, Larry!
Tal Fowler checked the Mongoose over pretty
closely… Tal had brought his Compass Knight heli. He had
not flown in six months, but he didn’t look too rusty…
Scott and Chris Gayle had their Raptor heli with them. And I believe
Scott brought his large Predator gasser also. Or was that Tal’s?...
Gary Johnson has pretty much finished up newcomer Jim Jordan’s
Ultra Sport
40. Nice job, Gary! Jim hopes to get it in the air next weekend.
Well, someone will, because Jim has never flown before.
Alvin Reed was back with Li’l
Belle. She’s Alvin’s sister’s Chihuahua.
She looks pretty docile.
But, she’s called “the little dog from hell” for
a reason! It didn’t take long for her to find me and she went
for my throat…
Jeff Foster mostly hung around in the kitchen, because that’s
where the food was.
Of course Alvin was loading up his
plate. That’s some
meal!... Al also got himself a plate-full.
That’s an unusual burger!...
Henry only stuck to something sweet.
Later Alvin and Jeff, too full to move, just sat around and made fun
of others…
Hey, remember our annual Azalea City Model Aeronautics Fall
Scale Fly-in. It will be a 2-day event and is scheduled for
Saturday Oct. 24 & Sunday 25. Blow the dust off of your scale
planes, scale helicopters and scale jets, charge your batteries and
plan to be there!
Notice: Forum Administrator Alvin Reed informed me that there is
a new rule in the Swap Shop/Flea Market on the Mobile Area RC Model
Aviation Forum. More information below…
That’s all for now. I’ll see you at the field. Be safe!
========== Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap Shop/Flea
Market===========
You know that 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.
New rule! - 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.
======== 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
