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Brief reminder - Upcoming flying events:
Sep. 6-7 (Sat/Sun) - NFMI - 3rd IMAC Challenge – Fritz Field

Sep. 27 (Sat) - NFMI - Tailgate Swap Meet and Raffle – Fritz Field
There are several more flying events coming up in the Fall. Check at the bottom of this report.

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REDUCED For Quick Sale! TWO Helicopters, a JR Transmitter and many accessories... I got the following message from ex-club member David Rushing... Hey, Frits, I'm getting out of the RC hobby. This is a list of the things I'm selling: (Here's a photo. ) Was originally asking $650 for everything. Now lowered to $450!

1-JR radio 8103 (heli/plane combo).
1-Thunder Tiger Raptor 50 Helicopter. Ready to fly. Has everything.
1-ALIGN T-REX 450. Ready to fly, but has one stripped servo. Plus carrying case full of extra parts and spare motor.
1-Great Planes field box with charger, electric fuel pump.
1-Heli starter motor gear reduction - very strong.
1-Helicopter pitch gauge.
3-Thunder Power lipo batteries, from 730 mah to 2100 mah.
1-Cell Power, 2000 mah.
1-E-Flite lipo battery charger. Charges 1-3 cells.
1-Pinnacle battery charger. Charges 1-14 cells.
1-Tachometer/Voltmeter combo.

************* I'll take $450 for everything (was $650) **************
If you are interested, contact David directly at david7999@comcast.net.

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Irvington Field Activities

Because of impending bad weather, the Night Fly-in scheduled for August 16 was postponed, but a small crowd showed up anyway — to eat, mainly!... Tony and Renι brought food . So did Robert, Alvin, Frits, and Gary and Rhonda . Thanks to all of you who brought something to eat! Alvin cooked the hush puppies and Tony did the fish . It was all very good!

Well, two pilots showed up because they didn't get word about the cancellation in time. Rod Gilbert brought his daughter Nicole and a Rascal, his lighted plane . Rod had used colorful light ropes... The other pilot was Mike Hess who came all the way from Evergreen, Alabama, a 1-1/2 hour drive. He and his wife Pam actually had a motel room arranged for and had planned to spend the weekend with us. Mike flew his Eaglet, lit up with strings of incandescent bulbs . It had a couple of landing lights, too . Mike got a couple of flights in . He had no problems flying the Eaglet in the dark

Then there was Combat Sunday, August 17. Don Koval ran the Combat event, as usual . Here's his report: "We had four pilots today for the start of the new season. Justin Peacock and his Coroplast combat plane , Johnny Turner with a Piper Cub (!), Mike McLaughlin and his Coroplast Battle Axe , and Russ Green, also with a Battle Axe. The spotters today were Billy Frost, Jon Koppisch, Rob Baker and Johnny Jones. I thank you all! The weather looked like it would rain at any moment, but it didn't! And we had some spectators.

The first round didn't have much action . Johnny and Russ got one point each. But things got HOT in the second round! Mike was going at it Big Time . He got a completion point, three cut points, and survived a midair with Russ! Russ lost his rudder in the midair, but he had another plane to use for the third round, a foam combat Flying Wing . The third round was also exciting. Everyone was fighting hard, but Mike was able to get two cuts. This gave him a total of SEVEN points to take the win! Johnny Turner had three points for second... It was another GREAT combat day! Next Combat, September 2nd. Don."

Someone new showed up at our field, Jonathan Festa and his large Extra 260 . He had just moved from North Alabama and was scouting around for a flying field. So far he likes ours ... Roger Hagler flew an ancient DeBolt 3-channel plane. It was noticeably upgraded to Roger's style of flying as it was doing about Mach 1.3 scale speed... There was another visitor who's interested in joining our club, Fred Brock, who got himself a Slow Stick . John LaFleur has been helping him. Actually John has been giving Fred instructions also . Maybe John is trying to become the instructor for the North End? I know a couple of them could use some refresher lessons...

Rob flew his L-36 Albatross, a small electric delta jet. It's very fast ! The hand launch was a bit rough, as you can see in this video . Rob also launched his electric delta jet, the name of which I don't recall, with a launch ramp that uses a bungee cord to get the jet into the air . It worked fine ... Billy flew a small electric F-16 jet which can really zip too ! And he flew the A-10 Wart Hog . That's a nice-flying and nice-sounding twin-motor ducted fan jet ! Rob and Billy did some chasing too

Johnny Jones showed off his new electric Align T-Rex 450 helicopter, all nice and shiny ! A sometimes reliable source told me that Johnny actually flew it a couple of times. If I had not seen it on video, I wouldn't have believed it... Justin flew his little Ember, a tiny park flyer. Wing span is about 12 inches, I think. It flew very well . Justin also flew his T-Rex, the big, 600 Nitro version. Yeah, he showed off with it !... And Johnny Turner also flew his T-Rex 600 Nitro....

Frits took up Gary and Thomas Johnson's new blue foam electric jet . The jet's wings conform to no airfoil shape. They're just flat blue foam. Perhaps that's why it didn't really want to lift, even with full up elevator. But when it finally did it jumped straight up, then dived into the ground! Come to think about it, the pilot might have overcorrected too. Frits will have a sleepless night over this one, I'm sure ...

There were Cubs, of course . Al Ayler had his . So did Joe and Henry . They flew them in a sort of loose formation . Then Al — trying to impress Henry — flew his Cub really low, right above pipe height ! Those guys at the North End really DO have a lot of fun with those Cubs . Most just fly them around, but occasionally someone will actually do a couple of maneuvers with a Cub. Like Al. He was in top form, of course !... Al had also brought his black Corsair night fighter. He had added a radar dome on the right wing and some armament on the bottom of the wings . It really looked mean! But Al was scared to fly it again, so it just sat there ...

The postponed Night Fly-in that was reset for August 23 was again canceled when Tropical Storm Fay came skirting around Mobile. A small group went to the field anyway and — what else? — cooked and ate! The following day, Sunday, was windy and wet at times, so there was only a lot of INactivity . Not one person flew ... Lee DID get to run the engine on his shiny new P-47D Thunderbolt. He said it ran great! The P-47 looks GOOD ! Lee promises a test flight very soon... No word yet on when the Night Fly-in will be held. At least let's wait and see if Tropical Storm Gustav will develop into something windy and wet enough to mess us up ...

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There are several flying events coming up in our area. First here is a listing of local area clubs:
ACMA - Azalea City Model Aeronautics, Mobile, AL / BARCS - Bay Area Radio Control Society, Silverhill, AL / EAM - Eglin Aero Modellers, Eglin, FL / ECMA - Emerald Coast Model Aviators, Panama City, FL / MCRCC - Mississippi Coast R/C Club, Gulfport, MS / NFMI - Northwest Florida Modelers, Inc., Pensacola, FL / KAMS - Koast Air Modeling Society, Ocean Springs, MS / PRCA - Pinebelt R/C Association, Hattiesburg, MS / SARCMC - South Alabama R/C Modelers Club, Foley, AL.
Upcoming Fall Events:
Sep. 6-7 (Sat/Sun) - NFMI - 3rd IMAC Challenge – Fritz Field
Sep. 21 (Sun) - ACMA - Combat - Irvington Field. (Starts at 2:00 PM)
Sep. 27 (Sat) - NFMI - Tailgate Swap Meet and Raffle – Fritz Field
Oct. 4 & 5 (Sat/Sun) - PRCA - Blades And Burgers Of Glory Heli Fly-in
Oct. 11 (Sat) - MCRCC - Annual Fly-in – Bob Miller Field
Oct. 11 (Sat) - NFMI - Regional Soaring Event – Harold Field
Oct. 11 & 12 (Sat/Sun) - ECMA - 18th Annual Fly-in/RC Model Air Show – Parker Grounds Campground Site. Here's a map .
Oct. 18 (Sat) - KAMS - Fall Fly-in - Ludlow Field
Oct. 19 (Sun) - ACMA - Combat - Irvington Field. (Starts at 2:00 PM)
Oct. 25 (Sat) - ACMA - Fall Scale Fly-In - Irvington Field. Flier is coming.
Oct. 25 (Sat) - NFMI - Annual NFMI Open House & Learn to Fly Day – Fritz Field
Postponed until Spring '09: ACMA's 1st IMAC Contest - Irvington Field (was set for Nov. 1st)
Sep. 16 (Sun) - ACMA - Combat - Irvington Field. (At 2:00 PM)
Nov. 21-23 (Fri/Sat/Sun) - Pensacola Jets, Navarre, FL - Holley Field

Local area flying events (if provided to Alvin), are on the Gulf Coast Area RC Event Calendar .
If you feel chatty, join us at the Mobile Area RC Model Aviation Forum .

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Brief reminder - Upcoming flying events:
Sat., Aug. 16 - EVENT CANCELLED ACMA Night Fly-in. Details at the end of this report.
Sun., Aug. 17 - ACMA Combat at Irvington Field, Irvington, AL. Combat is every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM.

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For Sale: Helicopters, JR Transmitter and many accessories. I got the following message from ex-club member David Rushing... Hey Frits, I'm getting out of the RC hobby. This is a list of the things I'm selling: (Here's a photo.)
1-JR radio 8103 (heli/plane combo). 1-Thunder Tiger Raptor 50 Helicopter. Ready to fly. Has everything. 1-ALIGN T-REX 450. Ready to fly, but has one stripped servo. Plus carrying case full of extra parts and spare motor. 1-Great Planes field box with charger, electric fuel pump. 1-Heli starter motor gear reduction - very strong. 1-Helicopter pitch gauge. 3-Thunder Power lipo batteries, from 730 mah to 2100 mah. 1-Cell Power, 2000 mah. 1-E-Flite lipo battery charger. Charges 1-3 cells. 1-Pinnacle battery charger. Charges 1-14 cells. 1-Tachometer/Voltmeter combo.
************* I'll take $650 for everything. ************** Thanks, David If you are interested, contact David directly at david7999@comcast.net.

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Pensacola National Naval Aviation Museum - Invitational RC Demonstration, August 9

A few weeks ago several RC modelers were invited to a RC models demonstration at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Members of the Northwest Modelers, Inc. club were there too. Actually, Bob Yearty of the NFMI club passed on the invitation from the museum to our club . I did not go. But ACMA club members Jon Koppisch, Joe and Billy Krebs, Al Ayler, Rob Baker, Henry Waltman, and TJ Rohyans went. I hear it was a nice event. The participants were held to a strict timeline and at times were a bit rushed. There were also some problems flying some of the planes. And an awesome aircraft model crashed...

This is the brief report TJ Rohyans sent me: "Here are a few photos from today's event. The turnout was better than most of us expected and is sure to be better in following years. The amount of flying time was limited to about two hours . They're already making plans for next year to have it on Sunday since the airfield is closed for a longer period to the full-scale aircraft. Rob lost his turbine powered F-18 Super Hornet when he purposely put it down away from the crowd after he lost elevator control...

Al Ayler had a loose engine mount on his Mustang and didn't fly. Jon Koppisch flew Henry's Mustang, but had to make an emergency deadstick landing due to receiver issues... Joe Krebs managed a beautiful flight with his Mustang . Jon put on a crowd-pleasing aerobatic display with his big Yak, and a screaming performance with his Bandit turbine jet, done in Blue Angels colors . Afterwards, all pilots were treated to a free lunch in the museum's Cubi Bar & Cafe." Thanks for the nice report and pictures, TJ!

Several pictures were posted on the Pensacola News Journal's Website. They were taken by John Blackie, Pensacola News Journal photographer (and are labeled as such). One featured Jon, his wife Leigh and the Blue Angels jet . Here's the group of RC pilots with Fat Albert, the Blue Angels' support plane, in the background . Apparently there was one helicopter demo . And besides Jon, a couple of other pilots from the Pensacola NFMI club also demonstrated 3D flight .

The next day, on the Mobile Area RC Model Aviation Forum, Rob had this to say about what happened to the Hornet, after Alvin posted a picture of the crashed jet . Here's what he said: "I have not figured it out exactly yet. After I took off, it looked like I got hit and the roll rate was higher than normal, so I flew around in circles a couple of times . Everything felt OK, so I proceeded with the usual F-18F demo. (In hindsight I probably should have landed the plane.) After about five minutes of flying I was setting up from the East for a level 360 deg. turn. When I rolled into the turn, it did not roll correctly and it was angled slightly toward the grandstand. So I gave a superhard pull on the stick to get the nose headed away from the stands. The plane did a 30 ft. diameter rolling, yawing loop. It bled off all the airspeed and stuck in the ground! The repair should not take too long — the nose is bolted on. I think I may have a transmitter problem. The increased roll rate has happened on the Flash before. I am not sure if this is related or not."

Irvington Field Activities

The lawnmower is out of the shop! President Andy Anderson tooled it around and cut some tall grass at the South end of the runway ... Andy and Justin Peacock loaded all of past ACMA President Richard Moore's RC stuff and put it out for display and sale at the field . There were many old kits and some unfinished and broken planes . The usual crowd of people showed up . By Sunday afternoon all items were sold by bid or best offer . The leftovers, mostly "junk," were disposed of. Melissa, Richard's daughter, was pleased with the sale and left happy ...

All airplanes, no matter in what condition they were in, were sold. Well, maybe not all. This questionable one remained . (Robert didn't even want it!) But Tony Farmer managed to haul off an unfinished 1/4 scale Cub. Some people are now wondering when Tony will get his permanent parking spot at the North End of the parking lot...

In the last report I failed to include Joe Krebs, who had brought one of those old pulse-controlled, rubber band-powered escapement systems . He had no transmitter, but the control inputs were simulated with a switch. The control surface that was manipulated was the rudder. One pulse — go left. Two pulses — go right. Three pulses — change throttle setting. Very interesting ! I have an Testors transmitter that could possibly work with it. (No smarty pants — I never used it myself, it was given to me by a much, much older gentleman...) Here's what it looks like . I'll have to bring it to the field and show it to Joe . Yep. Transmitters were different then . So were receivers . I guess the escapement was close to what a servo is now .

Lee Hughes showed off his latest unfinished project, a P-47 Thunderbolt . Nice work, Lee!... Johnny Jones flew his E-Flite CAP-232 electric 3D plane... Wayne Miller had a couple of aircraft this time and flew both. He first flew the Pacific Models 40-size Edge-540 . Later he got the Gee Bee Y in the air . Wayne says he's flying the Gee Bee as his trainer in preparation for a P-51 Mustang. You can do it, Wayne... Harold Dillon and Billy Frost were discussing health matters, or so it seemed ....

Wayne Boudreaux and Scotty Cameron showed up with Scotty's old Rascal, the original airplane they used for candy drops. This time they made a couple of attempts to drop one of their three radio controlled parachutists. (Which one was it, "Charlie," "Dude One" or his brother "Dude Two"?) Whoever it was, he got dropped all right ! Chute didn't open ! Wayne says the little guy will be back ...

Larry Rogers brought his scale Hughes MD-400 civilian chopper . And the 5-bladed Vigor . He's still doing tests on the Vigor, preparing it to become a scale helicopter soon ... Justin Peacock flew his Align T-Rex 600 Nitro helicopter several times... Frank Rowell flew his Voyager . There was a small problem, and Frank had to put it down on the runway overrun. Wife Julie assisted ... Bill Slagle showed up with a new Avistar trainer. It replaced the one that folded its wing in flight last week! Seems that Bill pulled out of a dive just a bit too hard! "And you've told me not to do that!", Bill admitted to Frits... By the way, Bill still has his yellow Slow Stick, so the yellow plane in the neighbor's tree is not his. So whose is it? C'mon, 'fess up!

Frits Jetten put a couple more flights on one of his two Century Hawk helicopters . He got some help from Justin with a plumbing problem on one of them. The clunk in the main tank had fallen off. In the last three weekends Frits has made about 15 flights now. He mentioned that after two years it feels good to fly helis again. Well, at least so far so good!...

Al Ayler brought his scale Cub with floats . What, no water? That didn't stop Al! It took a couple of tries and the assistance of TJ, but it finally flew . Here's the video . He flew formation with Joe's Cub . Then someone dared Al to do a touch-'n'-go. So he did! Nice, however he wasn't too proud of that landing ...

Andrew Smith had a small fleet with him . He flew the electric Synapse jet for sure, because I saw that flight. And he did the Twist. And his electric LMH Corona helicopter . Not sure if he flew the electric Slow Stick... Elton Sullivan flew his P-40 Warhawk, a small electric plane converted to nitro. It is powered by a .25 engine and it was fast !... Henry Waltman flew his Kadet Senior Citizen a couple of times ...

At the end of the day things got quiet and everybody relaxed ... And the only evidence of the big sale was that mystery plane that somehow changed into a canard ... Russell Ward was the last one still flying his Ugly Stick . Did you know that he still uses that so low-tech egg timer ? He's got a computer radio that has several perfectly good built-in timers ! It's always exciting to watch Russell in action as this video shows !...

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Upcoming events:
EVENT CANCELLEDSat., Aug. 16 - ACMA Nit Fly-in. Starts at dusk. Camp overnight to be ready for Combat on Sunday! Here are the details .
Sun., Aug. 17 - ACMA Combat at Irvington Field, Irvington, AL, every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM. No matter what the weather! (Lightning will only delay it some...)

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Previous Week Report Follows        Back to Top

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Brief reminder - Upcoming flying events:
Sat., Aug. 9 - Pensacola Naval Air Station. Invitation-only demo flights by some of our club members. Contact Jon Koppisch or Rob Baker for details.
Sat., Aug. 16 - ACMA Nite Fly-in. Starts at dusk.
Sun., Aug. 17 - ACMA Combat at Irvington Field, Irvington, AL. Combat is every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM.
More details on this and other events at the end of this report.

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Irvington Field Activities

I received some sad news from several RC modelers in Louisiana and Mississippi last week. Tom Hudson of Slidell, LA, and his wife Lucy, were involved in a car crash, caused by a drunk driver. Tom was killed and his wife was hospitalized. Tom has been a participant in several of our flying events. He always brought some unique airplane models and flew all of them. Here is a photo of Tom (on right) that I took at our last Giant Scale & Warbird Fly-in . We'll miss Tom's visits. Our sincere condolences to his family, and we wish Lucy a speedy and full recovery.

Don Koval ran the monthly combat on July 20th. I didn't make it to the field at all that weekend. So here are Don's own comments pertaining to that event: "Combat Season ended this month. The weather was HOT, 93 the weatherman said! But it felt more like 103 standing out there in the sun! We had four pilots: Mike McLaughlin, Andrew Smith, Robert Sanderson and Johnny Turner. The rounds went fast! Never did have a 6-minute one! Mike and Johnny had a midair in the first round. Mike was able to keep flying, but Johnny was out of action! Then Mike and Robert had a small hit but they were able to keep flying. By this time nobody had a streamer, so I ended the round right at four minutes.

Round 2. Andrew's engine got hot and quit, so he was out. Then Robert came down low over the runway. Mike was right down after him, but a little too low! His prop hit the runway and stopped his motor. This round lasted only about 3-1/2 minutes. Round 3. Good flying, quick cuts, no streamers, round over! It lasted only three minutes! In the end, it was Mike who was able to get five points to take the win. Andrew got two points for 2nd place. Congratulations to Mike McLaughlin, our July 2008 Combat Champ!

The combat season is over and I think we had a great year. There were a total of 24 pilots who participated. Along with a lot of spotters. Here are the results of Season 2007/2008: August - Johnny Turner. September - Andrew Smith. October - Justin Peacock. November - Justin Peacock. December - Justin Peacock. January - Tony Farmer. February - Johnny Turner. March - Andrew Smith. April - Andrew Smith. May - Russ Green. June - Andrew Smith. July - Mike McLaughlin. (Justin had a good 3-month in a row streak going!)

The Grand Total Winner and Over-all Champ was Andrew Smith with four wins for the season. Andrew gets $30.00 and a combat Tee shirt. Robert Sanderson wins $20.00 and a Tee shirt for participating every month with a plane. Well, planes? Some looked a little strange. But they all DID fly — some a little farther the others! But they were all "COOL"! Keep it up, Robert!

Other pilots who registered at least six times win a combat Tee shirt: Justin Peacock, Johnny Turner, Frits Jetten, Tony Farmer, and Mike McLaughlin. Thanks to all for your help. Also, it was a safe year. Next Combat and start of the new season is August 17th. Don." Too bad there were no action pictures this time. (Where were my usual assistant photographers?)

Other Field Action.

Roger Geil showed up with his full scale experimental ultralight aircraft, outfitted with a smoke injection system! He made a flyby with smoke on and then visited for a while . He took off with smoke on. Awesome, Roger!

A couple of weekends ago there was a small gathering of giant scale 3D pilots, some from out of town . Several brought their wives. Club members Wes & Marie Batson were there with an Extra-260 . Jon Koppisch had his big Yak . Nice flying, Jon ! Bobby Hawthorne brought his Carden Extra, and Sam Chest had his Dietrich Extra-260. Also present were Duane & Judy Long and a large 39% Aeroworks Yak powered by a 3W-170, and Hal & Debbie Jennings and a 42% Extra-260. Here are Duane and Hal . Also present were Brian and Karen Zang. Brian owns AeroGrafix out of Rolla, Oklahoma. Hal is a sponsored pilot for Aeroworks . They all put on a fine show. I got an e-mail message from Wes: "All of the guys gave a big thanks for letting everyone fly and for letting us park our trailers overnight! THANKS!"

Billy Frost showed up with a unique and strange-looking design of a ground attack/dive bomber, it looks like a variation of the Blohm & Voss 237 . During W.W.II the Blohm & Voss company was known for its many unorthodox and asymmetric designs. The BV-237's cockpit is offset from the main fuselage, the wings are different sizes, and the right horizontal stab is not even there ! The plane flew very well, according to Billy. For some reason the gear did not retract in flight, but that was okay. At least they stayed locked down for the landing ! Nice job, Billy!

Jon brought some new toys! One was a new Blue Angels turbine jet, which I have not seen in the air, and a colorful, large Extra-260 . He tried to fly the Extra, but a balky DA twin-cylinder engine would not let him . So back in the rolling hangar it went... Jon helped Rob launch a delta-winged electric ducted fan jet. The first try was brief . The second lasted a little longer . After some repairs the two finally got it together and the little jet flew fine. Even Frits got a brief flight in, until the batteries started giving out.

And there were Mustangs! A couple of weeks ago Jon was flying John Walker's P-51 Mustang, when the home-brewed 4-bladed propeller came apart ! The propeller was made from two black plastic props, carved out in the center, fastened perpendicularly, and then coated with some sort of epoxy coating . Well, one of the four prop halves slung off in flight, causing a loud racket due to the imbalance. But Jon landed the plane okay ...

Joe Krebs flew his scale P-51 Mustang . Joe also flew his Fokker DR1-152 tri-decker. Here's a video of one of Joe's flights with the Fokker ... Al Ayler flew his "Off Color" P-51 . Henry Waltman brought his Mustang and his old Marquart MC-6 Charger, which he flew . Al had also brought his black Corsair night fighter, but it didn't fly this time. Al said he was "scared to fly it." He wants to save it for a static display at the Pensacola Naval Air Station on Saturday, Aug. 9. Several RC modelers like Jon, Al and Rob have been invited to a RC models demonstration at the NAS. No full scale planes are part of this event. For details contact Jon or Rob. Here is the NAS's site .

Wayne Boudreaux showed up with his white Piper Super Cub ... Scott Cameron, assisted by Wayne, flew their new Kia Dog KD-2. They demonstrated a double bomb drop, using water-filled plastic bottles. I watched Wayne "pack" one of the parachutists (one of three). But this little guy didn't fly on this day ... John LaFleur was back with his Edge-540 ...

Mike McLaughlin flew his Four Star "Foh," Battle Axe combat plane and Super Decathlon ... Russ Green also flew his Battle Axe. Both Axes fly out of the launchers' hand on launching and are very fast ... Roger Hagler flew his EXTRA Little and the Mini Funtana . Both use .15 engines, I believe... Frank Rowell's Funtana X 100 almost lost its engine in flight! It came loose but stayed in the cowl . His wife Julie was not there when it happened, but it didn't take long for Frank to give her a full report by telephone... Tommy Shields flew his 40-size CAP-232 Castrol Aviator...

David Conway showed up with several of his electric planes, a couple of them brand-new. There was his NexSTAR-E trainer, of course, and the Piper Pawnee, plus a new Taylorcraft and Pitts biplane . Frits test flew the Taylorcraft and Pitts. They both flew very well. David put a couple of flights on the trainer. A flight on the Pawnee almost ended in disaster when Frits took it off. "Something" was changed on the control settings since the last time. But Frits landed it fine... Andrew Smith has been handlaunching his little electric Synapse jet by himself lately. He went with lighter batteries and now it really zips ! He also flew his good ol' Twist...

Elton Sullivan brought his rolling hangar full of planes, as usual. He flew several of them. He now has added a Tower Hobbies Vista glider and another glider, the name of which I can't remember . And this electric Power Line Extreme ... Johnny Jones also finished his new identical Vista glider ... Billy Toliver flew his electric Multiplex Gemini biplane several times... Russell Ward's stitches have almost totally healed. He could be seen picking at the scab ...

Jeff Foster came to eat, of course. You have to be quick to get a picture of Jeff eating. Now you see it . Now you don't ! Jeff is still waiting for the club lawnmower to be fixed. But, thanks to Elton and Russell, the grass was cut anyway. Elton said he used his push mower until he almost passed out and died! Fortunately Russell showed up with his riding mower to finish the job. Thanks, guys!

Wayne Boudreaux emptied the trash barrels at the North End. Thanks, Wayne! Several days later Frits emptied the barrels at the South End. Frits always thought (as others do) that one should empty them all. I mean, while you're at it, you may as well, right? The North End crowd would not have appreciated it if Elton and Russell had only mowed the grass at the South End portion of the field...

Rob Baker flew his F-4 Flash turbine jet . He had a nice landing . And one not so good . He also flew a tiny electric plane, the Ember . He let Frits fly it. Very nice, but a little wild when there's wind !... Rob helped Mike Hess with his Boomerang turbine jet . That long pipe is not a permanent fixture to the jet . It's to prevent the exhaust from setting the horizontal stab on fire while the jet is stationary! Mike is well on his way to becoming a certified turbine jet pilot . For information on what that entails, read the article about turbine jets in your August issue of AMA Model Aviation magazine ...

Katt Connors flew her Align T-Rex 600 Nitro helicopter . I heard she had cracked up her electric T-Rex during a nose-in situation. Got disoriented! Her L-39 electric jet got a nice flight in . But it broke its nose after one handlaunch . Easy fix, though. Katt, her husband Bob, their two dogs and their sail boat have now left the area. They are headed for clearer Gulf waters. But Katt promised she'd be back . Godspeed, Katt!...

Frits finally started flying two of his Century Hawk helicopters. After two years of staying away from his helis he's quickly getting the hang of it again! So watch out!... Larry Rogers made another successful test flight on his 5-bladed Vigor CS heli ... Justin Peacock got his new Align T-Rex 600 Nitro helicopter finished. He had a great first flight until the tail boom support strut came loose! He gently landed it, fixed it, and later had a great flight ...

Some strangers showed up with several nice high-performance helicopters. Well, not really strangers! Tal Fowler, who is a club member, brought his Compass Knight heli. He put it through its paces !... Occasional guest flyer Tony Brown had his T-Rex 600 Nitro, an electric Outrage G5, a tiny electric Gaui 200, and a Synergy . He flew them all ... And Richard Bosco — known to several club members — showed up at our field for the first time . He brought his T-Rex 600 Nitro, a Synergy, and an impressive AVANT Aurora. I LOVE that logo design ! It's been years since I had seen Richard. He and Kerry Duggan built the Yellow Aircraft F-16 ducted fan jet that has been sitting in my hobby room for the last 10 years or so... Richard hasn't been sitting idle, either, and has become very proficient at flying a heli, as this flight shows !

Hey, Bill Slagle! Did you loose a yellow electric Slow Stick in the neighbor's yard? (Or was it David Lanzo's? He has one too, but I don't think he flies any more...) Our neighbors found a yellow plane of that size and description in a tall oak tree. He came by and said he'd help you get it down. Just bring your climbing spurs!... The weather has been very iffy lately with many daily thunder showers. Here's a picture of a sky that made me pack up and go home !

By the way, the Nite Fly will be Saturday, August 16th. Light up your plane or helicopter with chemical light sticks, LEDs or light bulbs and come fly with us! And if you can't fly, come see! There will be food for sale, HobbyTown gift card raffles and some surprises. Previous night fly-ins have always been exciting and quite unpredictable ...

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Upcoming events:
Sat., Aug. 9 - Pensacola Naval Air Station. Invitation-only demo flights by some of our club members. Contact Jon Koppisch or Rob Baker for details. Here is the NAS's site .
Sat., Aug. 16 - ACMA Nite Fly-in. Starts at dusk. Camp overnight to be ready for Combat on Sunday!
Sun., Aug. 17 - ACMA Combat at Irvington Field, Irvington, AL, every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM. No matter what the weather! (Lightning will only delay it some...)

For a calendar of other local area flying events, you can always go to the Gulf Coast Area RC Event Calendar .

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