We showed up, we flew, we crashed, we left. Any questions? Really, that’s kinda how it was.

But here’s a few more details. A whole bunch of the usual culprits were there today. Bob, Paul, Larry, Ken, Mike, Dan, Ron, Clem, Chip, Owen, and Gene W took advantage of the near windless flying day and the reasonable temperatures. The usual collection of planes flew with a few that caught the eye.

Mike had his new J-3 Cub which really flies nicely and also flew the Parkzone Albatros electric, which was surprisingly smooth and realistic in the air. It’s a very nicely made and painted model. Larry had a couple nice flights on his Vampire DH-10 ducted fan jet which is quite fast with its electric turbine and glides forever. Paul had done the first flight on it, then turned it over to Larry to show off, who heeded Ron’s warning of not letting the battery run down because the receiver stops working and a crash will happen. Larry also flew his Sig Hog Bipe and Hellcat electric, which ended up dead stick in the boonies, a rather common occurrence among the rest of us today.

Clem flew his trusty old Contender sporting its six new servos. A couple of them had started jittering badly, and it seemed that for only $12 a servo, it was stupid to not change them all. It’s kinda like washing your car, it always seems to run better afterward. Ron flew his beautiful scale Bell 222 helicopter with the retractable gear. It’s a good thing that Ron practices autorotations so much, because when his engine quit at about 15 feet altitude, his quick reaction enabled him to autorotate to the ground and save the aircraft. There was no time to think about it, his reaction had to be automatic. That was fun to watch, though Ron probably didn’t need that kind of excitement. Ron also flew his little Beast which flew like a much larger airplane and flew aerobatics with the best of them. It even torque rolled nicely at the top of a vertical climb.

Sadly, Paul pranged the Long John due to that old problem of having the wrong model selected. It rolled the wrong direction on takeoff and tore the wing off as it hit the runway. This is another lesson to us all to make a part of our ritual to double check the aircraft selection in the transmitter before picking up the starter. Clem almost had the same problem today having set his airplane down on the ground with the engine running before noticing that the wrong model was dialed in. So, before picking up the starter, check the model selection. All together now, “Before picking up the starter, check the model selection”. Thanks to Paul for this lesson we can all use.

Bob Mc brought his real pretty Radian Pro sailplane and he and Dan flew it several times. Dan also had a good time flying his Spectra electric sailplane and his Hangar 9 Showtime. Dan was bemoaning the toll of advancing years, but he’s obviously still got it in the flying department. We don’t know about the other departments 🙂

Bob Mc flew his big stick trying to get it to spin. He noticed that it doesn’t want to spin when it’s upright, but spins promptly when inverted. Clem offered the thought that if the wings had a little washout in the tips, that would be the result. The washout keeps the tips at a lower Angle of Attack thereby resisting the stall, but when inverted the wing tips are washed-in which would cause the tips to stall first and readily induce a spin. It was fun watching him trying to spin while inverted. This was watched with amazement by a visiting family who had come out to see us fly. The wife said,” Is that normal?”. Given that Bob Mc was flying, I could think of a thousand comebacks, but resisted the urge, hard as it was. Bob, normal?

Ken flew his 4-Star with his usual “enthusiasm”. He had a camera strapped to the canopy looking forward, so maybe we’ll get to see some footage. Chip flew the Thunderbug with skill and precision, but was overshadowed by Owen flying the Escapade w/ Saito 4-stroke. Owen just keeps getting better and better. Several of us commented how excellent a pilot Owen has become and he’s starting to make some of us old guys look like we have reached our peak.

Gene Wallock brought out his Gnome electric glider and the Amptique electric power which flew beautifully as Gene’s always do. There’s nothing like true craftsmanship and experience to make priceless airplanes.

Overall, a fine day in paradise,

– Clem

And from Ken Isaac:

Here’s the video of today’s flying at the field. And like I’ve said many many time when covering events, I don’t want to see you crash, but if you’re gonna crash I want to see it. But please wait till I get the video camera running!!!! Sorry Paul, got your “boo-boo” in all it’s glory.