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Reminder - Upcoming flying events:
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

Let's start with a safety related issue right off the bat. And it's not to embarrass the individual involved. I hope everyone knows that. I take safety seriously, and I take every opportunity to mention these things when I instruct new people. I also love to illustrate with pictures, as gory as they may be! Hopefully it will make newcomers to the hobby (and you, too...) think about safety just a little more.

Russell somehow got his right arm into the spinning prop of his big Piper Cub a couple of weekends ago. He got several neat and closely spaced slashes on his lower arm. Fortunately no arteries or tendons were cut. The club's First Aid kit was pitifully empty, but Mike Corbett, a first-time visitor, offered us the use of his First Aid kit. Frits applied a cold pack and a stretch bandage to Russell's wounds. At first Russell didn't want to go to the hospital. And he actually DID fly his Cub before everyone finally persuaded him to go to the emergency room ! Russell got a dozen stitches and returned to the field later in the evening . I finally got a picture of the stitchery after the last club meeting . Our thanks to Mike Corbett for helping us out. And the club will soon purchase a new First Aid kit.

In the last report I mentioned that Mike Callen flew his B-25J Mitchell twin-engine bomber. Here's a nice picture that Russell had taken of him ... J. C. Day brought out three planes. A Twist, a 60-size U-Can-Do 3D, and a new Edge-540 . He asked Frits to test fly the Edge. The Edge appeared to be a bit tail-heavy. Sure enough, Frits found that out during the landing! The plane wanted to porpoise, and when its speed got too low Frits almost lost it. But he made a beautiful save, and the plane landed softly amidst cheering (and some booing...) from the spectators.

Tony brought his brand-new Hangar 9 Cub 40 . Before flying it, he first consulted with Wayne who tached the engine for him (I suppose that's to stay in good with the North End bunch...) And then Tony finally took the Cub up and flew it without any problems. Of course he got plenty of expert help flying the Cub, as that seems to be the policy at that end of the field...

A week later Tony had some trouble getting to the North End to fly his Cub. He had to beg for special permission from Henry to fly with the North Enders . I heard that some of the North End crowd are still not sure about accepting Tony as one of their own, because Tony tends to fly his Cub in a "non-scale manner" (I'm just passing on what I thought I heard...) Plus he sort of taunted them by parking his bright and fancy, flashy fluorescent helicopter — the one he doesn't fly any more — on a North Pit bench . You think I'm being picky? Well, then, why did Tony park his truck in his usual spot at the South End? We'll see...

There were at least six Cubs at the field a couple of weekends ago, and most were in the air at the same time. Al was showing off his patented "one-hung-low" touch-'n'-go . But Tony can do it very nicely too . They both actually got into close formation a couple of times . Or perhaps they just strayed close by accident . Who knows? I just know that Tony made Al squeal like a girl several times!... Not sure if Harold is trying to take over Frits' Pits Reporter job ... Wayne Miller flew his Pacific Models 40-size Edge-540 . Good to see Wayne at the field more often now.

Jon showed up with his Rookie turbine jet. That jet is very fast ! But it lost its right wheel and brake during the landing . Here's the YouTube video ... Rob brought his Flash and Super Hornet turbine jets . He flew them both . Only minutes after Jon's wheel incident Rob took off his Hornet . When he landed it, his jet lost its right wheel also !... Dewey Brown showed up with his new Cub . The plane lost its right wheel in flight, but Dewey made a great one-wheel landing anyway! It was a bad day for right wheels!... Ben McGee flew his trainer plane a couple of times, with Frits on the buddy box .

Jack Smith and wife were back with their NexSTAR trainer . I didn't see Ole Yeller today... Katarina ("Katt") Connors showed up with two helicopters, the Align T-Rex 600 Nitro and the electric T-Rex 650. She also brought a plane, a big Extra-300. Harold Dillon kept chasing her around in his scooter . She tried to escape him, but it was no use!... Alvin is back to flying his Raptor .50 helicopter fast and furiously . He had just replaced the piston ring in the engine . Nothing went wrong this time and the noise that had been bothering Alvin was gone. He tried to impress Katt . But she isn't easily impressed. So he actually let her fly it. And she did fine ! Alvin let Tony fly it too. Tony flew the Titan around in NASCAR-fashion and did okay . Alvin couldn't resist playing with it in the water ...

Don got his Slow Stick back from the woods north of the field. I believe Elton and LT found it. It was not in great shape, but it was fixable ... Roger flew his Mini Funtana . It is powered by a.15 engine. He could also be seen flying his little Focke Wulf 190 and the yellow Lazy Bee... Lee flew his Great Planes Matt Chapman Edge-580, while LT made several flights on his new 120-size U-Can-Do 3D plane ... Billy Toliver showed up with his Hangar 9 P-51 Mustang trainer. And he had a new toy, a bat-like electric plane . Rob helped him crash it and get it going again .

James Donald flew his U-Can-Do 3D 60. He asked Frits to test fly his brand-new U-Can-Do 3D 160 . Frits tried, but the large, O. S. 160 two-stroke engine died seconds after takeoff and Frits had to set it down south of the runway, skillfully missing a couple of PVC vent pipes... Heli pilot Larry Rogers showed up with his 5-bladed Vigor heli . It will get a scale makeover soon ... And Johnny Turner flew one of his choppers . Perhaps both. He has a Raptor 90 and a T-Rex 600 Nitro... Frits showed up with his Century Hawk helicopter, recently rebuilt by Justin. And Justin showed up to do a test flight, but the receiver was jittery, so that took care of the test flight...

Tony, Jeff and Alvin helped themselves to plenty of watermelon . So did Enzo Finizola . Al tried to hide with his plate, but Frits caught up with him anyway !... Jon did the first flight on David Conway's Piper Pawney. There were no problems... Johnny Jones seems to enjoy his E-Flite CAP-232, a small electric 3D plane that he got from Elton. Johnny's color-coordinated outfit was only missing some yellow shorts ... Tommy flew his Super Decathlon 40 and the Chipmunk. The Decathlon made a hard landing .

A black sky with lightning interrupted flying for a while . It was intense, and some of the North Enders huddled in the pavilion. Notice Tony in there with Billy Krebs, Al, Henry and Joe Krebs . Alvin and Jeff took refuge in the kitchen, making sure the food was okay ... Joe flew his scale P-51 Mustang, after the usual ground crew — Al, Wayne and Henry — did all the preflight checks . Oh, wait! Who's that holding the Mustang for Joe? Oh, yeah, that's Tony ! He likes to rub elbows with the North End boys, doesn't he? Joe had a great flight . The P-51 flew very well .

Gary and son Thomas Johnson showed up with their electric foam Blue Angels "jet." Gary asked Frits to fly it. That's when Frits noticed that the motor was mounted on the elevator surface . Hmmm!... Gary said that this model had thrust-vectoring. Yeah sure, but it sure looked like trouble to Frits! On the first handlaunch the jet went hard left and hit the ground. But nothing broke. When Gary launched it the second time Frits was ready for it and "caught it" just fine. After some wild porpoising, he got the jet lined out — sort of! The plane was extremely twitchy!

Frits finally dared trim it. He flew it around the field several times. But then, in a turn, when the batteries were getting low, he overcorrected with the elevator. The slowing plane stalled and spun in, nose first. It got torn up pretty bad . But Gary and Thomas vowed to be back with it soon! Frits recommended that they reduce the elevator throw to half of what it was, reducing the effect of the thrust-vectoring.

Bill Slagle has soloed! Frits stood by when Bill took off, flew and landed his Avistar trainer without the use of Frits and the buddy box. Congratulations, Bill! Later he and Don flew their electric Slow Sticks ...Ben McGee got a couple of flights in on his trainer after Don worked on the plumbing a bit. Notice that Ground Instructor Don carried a pretty elaborate tool kit ... TJ now has an electric Slow Stick too . He had a nice and quiet flight ... Andrew has been experimenting with his electric Slow Stick and a RC guided missile, the EDS-V2 . (EDS - Egg Delivery System). It's a team effort. Don flies the Stick and drops the missile . Then Andrew flies the missile to the ground . After several tries and modifications, the missile is now pretty controllable. Andrew is still doing more testing ...

Frits took up David Conway and his electric NexSTAR-E trainer, one of three electric planes that he had brought to the field . David is doing very well and should be ready to do his first takeoff soon. Frits flew David's new electric Extra-300. It was set up way too sensitive, and after the first takeoff the plane jumped up high, Frits overcorrected and the plane banged nose-first into the runway, breaking the prop. After Johnny Jones minimized the throw settings on the transmitter, it was a whole lot better and Frits had a good flight... Frits also made a first flight on a Four Star 40, built by Thomas (the last name escapes me. Sorry!) Thomas and Terry brought four planes: two Four Star 40s and two Eagle 2 trainers, all scratch-built by Thomas . And a great job he did on all of them! Thomas hasn't flown in 17 years, but he's picking it right back up.

Billy Frost had his electric twin-engine A-10 Warthog with him, but I never saw him fly it... Elton worked on his planes more than he flew them. He had his Cub, Kaos 40, Four Star 60 and Spitfire, and they all got his attention . I DID see him fly the Kaos . And now Elton has started work on a glider also ... Justin must have made a deal with Elton ! I saw him carry Elton's Ultimate biplane to his Mustang ... We got a visit from David and Diann Hughes, who showed up with their motorcycle . Lots of shiny chrome, including on their heads! While we're talking bikes, here's another oddball bike for ya'. Not much shiny chrome on this one .

John LaFleur flew his giant scale 40% Edge-540 ... And Bobby Hawthorne did an IMAC routine with his Carden 40% Extra-330 . (IMAC - International Miniature Airplane Club.) If you are interested in IMAC-type flying — which is precision aerobatics — see Bobby ... It doesn't happen often, but it recently did. Three big scale Mustangs were in the air at one time ! Henry, Joe and Al flew theirs. Al was flying his P-51D "Off Color" Mustang . Jon flew Henry's Mustang, and he made a couple of low altitude, high speed passes . Nice show! Al doesn't dare to get that low! After Jon landed Henry's Mustang you could see that he was lucky! The left aileron had come off ! Here's Joe's landing . And this is Al's ...

Wayne and Scott showed off their new Kia Dog KD-2 multipurpose plane . It's designed to drop parachutes, RC parachutists, up to 20 lb. of candy and pull a banner . Not sure when the plane will be ready for its first flight... David Doss took up his brand-new scale Piper Cub for its maiden flight . But it ended in disaster! Somehow, while in a landing approach, the plane pitched to the runway hard, ejecting the cowled engine . The rest of the plane then jumped back into the air and spiraled down . Not sure what the cause was ... Robert showed up with some pyrotechnics and launched a couple of his unconventional "aircraft." No, nothing scale, of course! I think the "Flying Piece of Tail" would be an appropriate name. Here's the video ...

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Upcoming events:
Sat., Aug. 16, ACMA Nite Fly-in. Starts at dusk. I will send details to all club members by e-mail soon.
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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Previous Week Report Follows        Back to Top

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Reminder - Upcoming flying events:
Sun., July 20 - 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.

Irvington Field Activities - Includes the St. Elmo Full Scale Fly-in on June 14 and Combat on June 15.

St. Elmo Full Scale Fly-in on June 14.
By invitation, several RC modelers showed up at this year's St. Elmo Full-scale EEA Fly-in. In spite of the rainy weather Rob Baker showed up with his F-4 Flash turbine jet and the bigger F-18 Super Hornet ... Jon Koppisch brought his small nitro profile Edge-540 and the Rookie turbine jet ... Carl Broughton had his Pitts Special biplane ... And Joe Krebs and Henry Waltman each brought a scale P-51 Mustang ... Larry Rogers brought a couple of his helicopters . I believe everyone got a chance to fly at least once. There was a lot of idle time while airport officials tried to coordinate the flying times of full scale aircraft and RC models, an area that needs vast improvement, in my opinion.

Tony Farmer's 8-year old daughter Makenzie and her friend wanted to take a ride with one of the full-scale pilots. Mother Renι said "no way," but Tony let her anyway. Makenzie thought the ride was awesome !... This fly-in featured many ultralights, several civilian airplanes and a Coast Guard helicopter . Many planes flew in between rain showers . Bill Culberson stores his full-scale Czechoslovakian Aero Vodochody jet, the L-29 Delfin, at this airport . It was the only full-scale jet present . Bill apparently also uses this jet as a kiddy ride ! Prior to takeoff Andy and Tony watched as Bill and Rob went through the preflight check list . I watched only one brief flight . The flight was short and the landing was made in the rain . Not much later I left for our flying field.

There was not much going on at the field. Just Katt Connors flying her Extra-300 . Oh, and I found out she flies RC helicopters too ! Katt has done a bit of everything, including being a flight instructor in full-scale helicopters and airplanes... Tim McCloud was trying to get his Coroplast combat wing ready for battle the next day ... And Jeff and Alvin were stuffing themselves, which is nothing unusual ...

Combat on June 15.
On Sunday, the 15th, we had our monthly combat event. This month Robert Sanderson decided to file a report on our Mobile Area RC Aviation Forum . So here it is, slightly edited:
"Another GREAT day of combat! It was raining when I arrived at the field. "Where is Justin?" became the cry of the afternoon, being that he was tied with Andrew for combat leader. We all expected him to defend his title. The rain wasn't stopping Andrew. He was test flying his AirCore trainer in the rain ! That LONG walk to get your plane becomes a lot longer in the rain! Not wanting to let Andrew have all the fun, I got out the Coroplas delta wing. I fired up the engine, handed Frits the transmitter and threw the Delta out in the rain . It went 10 ft., then, SPLAT!!! Needed more up-throw!

Tried again. This time it flew GREAT! Frits said "Don't touch anything!" We could have had the first round of combat in the rain, but we waited for it to quit. Tim tried a test flight on his Coroplast combat wing . TJ Rohyans was on the handlaunch. He looked like he was skipping rope as the plane ground-looped in. We took a timeout so Tim could fix his plane. So, with extra time before combat, I added two 3 ft. long dowels to each tip of the Delta wing (for added stability), just before combat started . (Stability? Yeah, right! Frits didn't even want to think about what would happen to the Delta's flight characteristics if one of those dowels were to snag an opponent's streamer...)

ROUND ONE - Not much action in round one. My motor overheated with two minutes remaining and we had to come down. Somehow Andrew was the only plane flying for the last two minutes. ROUND TWO - A lot of action in round two. A newly signed-up combatter — Billy Toliver — was flying an electric Spitfire foamy thing. He went into combat knowing we got points for hitting other's planes. (We DO? - Editor.) Billy's streamer didn't unwrap! But he still put up a good fight and finished the round. At the end of round two — after Don subtracted one point for my imaginary finish of round one — Andrew was tied with Frits and I for 1st place.

ROUND THREE - A lot of action. Four planes going at it ! No cuts though . With 30 seconds left, it looked like we might outlast Andrew, when I hear a loud THUMP ! Contact with Andrew! One of my 3 ft. sticks is GONE! Frits yells "I can only turn left!" as he holds a full right rudder. I didn't have the heart to tell him there is no rudder on that plane! (Frits told me that he was holding full right ailerons PLUS the rudder, just in case... - Editor.) "Pretend it's NASCAR" I said, as the plane continued turning left. It finally made a left turn into the ground! The Delta doesn't fly well with just one stick!

Mere seconds after my midair with Andrew, "BOOM!" I look up to see Andrew in a flat spin, with balsa and foam chips raining down from his plane. He pulls out of the flat spin with the canopy of the electric foamy Spitfire lodged in his wing ! (I hope the new guy comes back!) That's TWO midairs (the ONLY two of the day) in the last 30 seconds! Andrew had hit the foamy with 3 seconds left on the clock . Don said "All the pieces were still flying (falling) at the end of the round, so the foamy got one point for "finishing" the round ... So, Andrew was KING of the day . @#&%•$@! I think we should take up a $5.00 collection per pilot, and give it to "whoever" takes OUT Andrew! A GREAT TIME was had by all! Robert S."

Combat Chief Don Koval added his own comments: "Robert, That is a great report you did on combat. If you would edit it and add this, we will use it as the official report. This was Billy's first time in combat, and I was sad to see his plane get TOTALED OUT in the last few seconds of the last round ! Andrew Smith took the win with 5 points. Robert and Billy had 2 points each to tie for 2nd place. Thanks to the spotters for their help. Congratulations to Andrew Smith, June's ACMA RC Combat Champ. Next Combat, July 20." ... Look out next month, LT !

Other field activities:
Before I forget — Don Koval will be ordering ACMA club shirts again. Get with Don. Here are the details .... Alvin Reed got his Thunder Tiger Raptor .50 Titan helicopter going again . And then he broke a piston ring . He was not happy ... Larry Rogers cracked up his Airwolf helicopter a bit ... Frank Rowell has a new plane, a bright orange Strega International racing plane . Wife Julie keeps her cool and just reads... Andrew Smith used his electric Slow Stick to drop a RC guided missile . Don flew the Stick and dropped the missile while Andrew tried to fly the projectile . The missile responded, but didn't fly very well. There's more testing to be done here !... Don flew his Piper Cub 40 for a change ... Jack Smith and his wife flew Old Yeller .

Billy Frost showed off his latest project, a 1/4 scale Polish PZL Pulaski P.11c. PZL (Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze) was the manufacturer. The plane has a gull-wing design. The model uses a G-26 gasoline engine and flew great, according to Billy . I didn't get one in flight, but I'm sure it looks sort of like this ... Justin Peacock delivered one of Frits Jetten's Century Hawk II helicopters, after overhauling it, as promised. It just needs setting up and a test flight by Justin... Speaking of helicopters. I hear Russell Ward has recently acquired one. It that really true? Well, after you talk to Russell for a spell you realize that that man is a collector of anything electronic or electromechanical. In a big way!... Gary Johnson brought an electric foam FA-18 Blue Angels "jet." But the winds were such that Frits put off its first test flight until a better day.

Frits brought his Lanier Predator 500 pylon racer with good intentions to fly it last Sunday, but he didn't get to fly it after all. There were students to instruct and planes to test fly. (Are you reading this, David?...) Newcomer David Conway wanted Frits to test fly his new Piper Pawney . Because of the bad weather, Frits put it off until the next weekend... Russ Green successfully flew his brand-new Coroplast Battle Axe . It's Russ' new combat plane... And Mike McLaughlin also showed up with a Battle Axe. The colors are different ... Andy and Justin flew the turbine powered Boomerang . Sharing the same air space was Jon's Rookie turbine jet. It's FAST! ...

Frits (currently the club's ONLY official full-time instructor again...) took up Bill Slagle and his Avistar trainer. Bill is ready to solo, but Frits would like to teach Bill some more maneuvers, which Bill is fortunately receptive to. Bill's doing exceptionally well and learning things like the Split S Turn, inverted flight, the Hammerhead Stall Turn, the Half Cuban Eight, The Half Reverse Cuban Eight, and more... Frits also took up Doug Butler and grandsons Levy and Christopher. But they managed only a couple of flights, as the transmitter battery prematurely died. Fortunately their plane was on the ground at the time!... Mike Callen flew his Hangar 9 B-25J Mitchell twin-engine bomber . That was right after a pretty severe thunderstorm went by ... Wayne Miller flew his Pacific Models 40-size Edge-540 ...

Elton Sullivan flew his U-Can-Do 3D to self-destruction when the plane developed a severe flutter in its tail section . Elton had mistakenly taken off with elevator on high rates. Days later the evidence was still visible at the field ... Lee Hughes loves to fly his Venus 40 aerobatics plane ever since he put a YS .63 engine on the thing ... LT Hughes showed up with a new green and black Piper Cub. Not sure if he will be accepted by the North Enders (90% of whom own Cubs...) with that unorthodox color scheme . LT also flew his Phoenix Models Extra-330S, a birthday present from Lee . Girlfriend Meghan — neither shy nor quiet — watched ... Johnny Morris flew his Hangar 9 PT-51 Mustang . Nice flight ... Don Harlan brought his Tiger 2 . And his Pulse 60 ... Jeff Lee flew his Corsair 40 . And his Miss America P-51 Mustang . And his racing plane, the Revolver ...

Here are some odds and ends... Al Ayler made the local newspaper recently! I suppose that's proof that he's a great fisherman ! Well — maybe. Whether he's a great RC pilot is still a question that's best left unanswered by those of us who know him... Newcomer Dan Armstrong showed up at the field with his new E_Sky electric Belt CP helicopter. The tiny heli apparently Belted Dan's ring finger after he connected the helicopter battery without first turning on the transmitter! He suffered some severe cuts and Dan had to go to the emergency room. After Dan talked about leaving the hobby that he barely got started in on the Forum, he met up with some club members last Sunday who also have been intimately in touch with their model aircraft.

There was Alvin, who many years ago got part of his index finger burned off by a rocket motor exhaust. OUCH! And we remember Billy, who got sucked into an electric motor nacelle by a 30,000 RPM motor and lost a portion of his ring finger. DOUBLE OUCH ! Small motor, lots of power ! What a pitiful group ! That's Dan's finger on the left, Alvin's in the middle and Billy's on the right . Too bad Justin wasn't present . Or Todd Zimbelman . Oh, there have been others ! They are now all members of the Stumpy Fingers Club, as Don Koval has coined it... Please BE SAFE — ALWAYS!

Remember that picture of the motor bike with the radial airplane engine I used a couple of weeks ago? Here's another unique motorcycle. Andrew's fiancι Amber should appreciate this one ... And one more thing... Not to be getting into your personal life, but I'm getting a bit concerned about a couple of you. If you are going to drink beer, do it responsibly. Okay ?

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Upcoming events:
Sun., July 20 - 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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Previous Week Report Follows        Back to Top

---

Reminder - Upcoming flying events:
Sun., June 15 - ACMA Combat at Irvington Field, Irvington, AL. Combat is every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM.
More details on these and other events at the end of this report.

================================

Irvington Field Activities - Includes Combat on May 18 and the ACMA Armageddon Fun Fly on June 7.

I know I'm behind again. So here goes. I'll try to keep it brief... Last month's combat was wild and fierce as Combat General Don Koval mentioned in his post on the Mobile Area RC Model Aviation Forum. We should have known — there were vultures hanging out over the field before combat even started ! Frits (he had nothing to fly, as usual) wore the appropriate head covering for such an action-packed event . I'll let Don talk about what happened during Combat:

"Combat this past Sunday was another good one. It just keeps getting better and better! We had a lots of spectators also. There were seven combat pilots: TJ Rohyans, Robert Sanderson, Tony Farmer, Andrew Smith, Johnny Turner, Mike McLaughlin, Russ Green, LT Hughes and Garry Busby. It would have been eight, but Justin had a little bad luck with the test flight of his Corsair. Something about his receiver not wanting to receive...

Round 1 - First Andrew and Tony had a midair . It was a violent one ! Then Robert and TJ hit also. TJ was able to repair his plane and make it into the second round. Round 2 - Russ and Johnny had a midair ! Johnny's plane was destroyed, but Russ was able to repair his plane to make it into the third round... Somewhere in all this mess, Mike got hit and he was taken out! So much action was going on that I missed what happened . Round 3 - There were only three planes left. Russ, LT and ??? (Darn I need to keep better notes...) I apologize!

But when it was all over, Russ came out on top with four points to take the win. Congratulations to Russ Green, ACMA May Combat Champ! Thanks to all spotters who help me out. Frank, Jon, Alvin, Russell, Justin, Bill, Lee, Billy Ray, and I know there was someone else. I really appreciate it. Next Combat Sunday, June 15th." Nice job, Don! Another great combat !

By the way, did you notice Carl Broughton's picture in the June issue of AMA's Model Aviation magazine? Carl looks like he knows what he's talking about !... Someone sent me this. It's something you don't see very often. What a nice way to recycle an old airplane engine. I'm sure it has plenty of power !

Now on to the recent Armageddon Fun Fly, another successful event. Thanks to Rob Baker, owner of the two local HobbyTown USA stores, for putting this popular annual event on, and for donating three airplanes as prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place . Also a big thanks to the volunteers who helped before, during and after the event. Jeff Foster had the field looking clean and neat. Ben McGee had emptied trash barrels. Larry Rogers did the registration and raffle . Russell Ward handled the food money. Alvin Reed and Tony Farmer bought the groceries and manned the kitchen. JC Day and Rob did the timing and judging . I'm sure there were others who helped.

There were 24 pilots who registered. A few from out of town showed up: Nick Neville, Garry Busby & Thomas LeMaster from Mississippi , Mike Hess , and Tony Nolfe . (If anyone sees Tony please ask him to email me, fjetten@aol.com). Nice to see first-timers Russ Green, Frank Rowell, Tommy Shields, Jack Smith, Russell Ward and David Etheredge participating. A couple of pilots crashed while test flying their planes even before the contest started! Frits was one of them, breaking his Predator barely an hour before the start . And Rob crashed his flying wing combat plane.

After Rob Baker had his pilots briefing, the competition was on ! I can't remember everything that went on in all the separate events, so this will not be a lengthy report (did I hear you say: "Thank God!") I will intersperse my pictures throughout this write-up, but some may not have anything to do with the statement that accompanies it.

The Carrier Landing was the first event, based on precision. Landing inside the confines of a large rectangle seemed easy, but those who had never done it found out it was harder than it looked . Mike McLaughlin flew his Ultra Sport 40 well in this event, scoring a perfect 15 points . So did Jon Koppisch. Just when this event was about to end, Mike Callen showed up, and was talked into joining .

The 3 Loops, 3 Rolls & Touch-'n'-go, 3 Times event was next. It is a timed event. Nick Neville wiped out the competition, as he usually does, with a time of 1 min. 5 sec. Jon was right behind him with 1:10, followed by Rob with 1:12.

In the Egg Drop Andrew tied Nick with a distance of 4 paces. The Hughes team, LT and Dad Lee, did not do too well ... Throughout the events, Billy Frost flew his Mini Ultra Stick, the only electric, if I recall correctly . He did okay with it in several events... Roger Hagler did well too, but not enough to win ... Garry and Thomas worked as a team throughout most of the events . There were several Singing River RC club members who had come with them and who watched ... And Jack Smith brought his own crew mate with him ...

At around noon, Don Koval ran the Combat event. Here are Don's recollections: "There were twelve pilots who signed up. But five of them, Nick Neville, Tony Nolfe, Mike Callen, Frits Jetten and Thomas LeMaster had engine or test flight trouble and didn't make it into combat. The others were Andrew Smith, LT Hughes, Russ Green, Tommy Shields, Garry Busby, Johnny Turner and Harold Dillon .

LT was going at it strong. He got five points in the 1st round. And then he got five points again in the 2nd round! With two points in the 3rd round he had a total of twelve points to take the win . Tommy Shields and Johnny Turner had four points each to tie for 2nd . There was a lot of exciting flying and close calls . BUT NO MIDAIRS! Thanks to all the spotters. And thank you to all our club members who work hard to put on this event, and to Rob."

After Combat it was back to the Armageddon action. Overall Tony Farmer did pretty well with his Ultra Stick 60 ... So did Frank Rowell, who flew his Twist very conservatively and decided to skip Limbo ... David Etheredge slid his sluggish U-Can-Do under the ribbon and landed in the dirt . You need a more agile plane next time, David !... Mike Callen did one inverted pass and then crashed !... Tommy Shields also crashed his Sky Raider. He hit one of the PVC poles ... Andrew stayed upright and played it safe ... Johnny Turner flew two inverted passes under the ribbon . So did Michael and Jon. But Nick did three. Nice job!... Rob was the only one to try the Knife Edge Limbo pass. He didn't make it! The Diablo went in short and didn't survive .

After the competition Rob and JC tabulated everything. And the winners were: Nick Neville, 1st place , Jon Koppisch, 2nd place and Michael McLaughlin 3rd place ... Another successful fun fly is behind us! Everyone seemed to have a great time, participants and spectators alike. Until next year, when we'll do it all again!

We missed Robert Sanderson for Armageddon, but he was busy elsewhere, at SPAD Fest. Yeah, where some of those storms were ... But he said he and his fellow SPADders all had a great time ... Wayne Boudreaux and Scott Cameron showed off their newest Kia Dog, a multipurpose plane they will use to drop candy for the kids, drop a rc parachutist, and pull a banner . This one is much larger than the previous two...

The following recollections cover the week before and after Armageddon. I have been trying to catch up. Bear with me... Lee Hughes asked Frits to do a test flight on his old Venus II aerobatics plane, but this time it was outfitted with a more powerful YS .63 engine. Frits loved the improvement in performance!... Billy Toliver showed off his newest, a Hangar 9 P-51 Mustang . He did a nice job flying it... Wayne Miller flew his Pacific 40-size Edge-540 ... And Johnny Morris hung out with Don Harlan . Probably up to no good... Good to see Don back again ...

Andy Anderson and Justin Peacock flew the Boomerang turbine powered jet . Nice shot by TJ. It seems only a few years ago that Andy was playing with fake jets !... Henry Waltman, Joe Krebs and Al Ayler flew their Piper Cubs, together. There could have been a fourth one. COULD have. Russell showed up with his Cub. But it and the Ugly Stick stayed in his truck ... Jon flew John Walker's P-51 Mustang . Al flew it too . He actually landed it pretty nicely ... Don brought his Morris Hobbies Balsa Nova . He asked Andrew to fly it. Andrew liked flying that plane a lot. Don then asked Frits to fly it too. It wasn't long until Frits was doing some nice maneuvers, including his own patented Loop-'n'-Go maneuver. (That's a low altitude Loop with a Touch-'n'-Go at the bottom.) That's always a sure sign that Frits feels comfortable and LOOOVES to fly that plane!

Frits (once again the only active club instructor, all by his lonesome...) took up Bill Slagle and his Avistar trainer. Bill is doing extremely well. Bill mastered the oval circuit that others repeatedly and insistently fly in his first two weekends. He already knows how to take off, land and do Loops and Rolls. He is now learning some more advanced maneuvers like the Immelmann Turn, the Split-S and the Hammerhead Stall Turn. After that Frits will teach Bill the Half Cuban Eight, the Reverse Half Cuban Eight and the Cuban Eight. Frits loves students who like learning more than just flying round... Frits also took up Doug Butler & grandsons Levy, Christopher and one more boy, whose name I have forgotten . Sorry!

I had the occasion to go by Al's house the other day. So I got to see his hobby room. It's a nice portable building in the back of his house . Lots of projects hanging and sitting around! He says he'll get around to them eventually . I know, Al. That's my story too!... Kat Conners could be seen flying her Extra 300 with smoke on . Until the engine bolts all fell out and she almost literally lost the engine !... Larry Rogers flew his nicely done Airwolf, based on a T-Rex helicopter ... And Elton Sullivan flew his newest Edge-540 ... I left Russell at field all by himself one evening. He said he needed some quiet time . As I backed out I noticed he was gesturing and seemed to be talking to himself . I sometimes wonder about him...

You know how Alvin Reed has been flying his Raptor helicopter from a seated position ? And he flies whole circuits inverted while seated. Very nice! Well, he finally got a bit too relaxed, I believe, because the other day he put his helicopter in. Not too badly, but with a helicopter sometimes damage is not always immediately visible . He claimed a mechanical failure . There were witnesses. One was pretty unreliable. He claimed a monkey had darted in front of Alvin, distracting him. Others — more reliable — insisted that a cry from the kitchen that sounded like "the food is ready" completely messed up Alvin's concentration. At least we have undeniable photographic evidence ...

And I hate to leave you with a crappy thought. But while Frits was spending time with one of his students, Jeff Foster took Frits' camera and took a picture of the inside of one of the portable potties. Frits should know better than to leave the camera lying around. Jeff has done this at least six times to Frits over the past 18 years ....

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Upcoming events:
Sun., June 15 - 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...)

Sat., June 21- 17th Annual North Alabama Big Bird Fly-In by DeKalb RC Flyers, Ft. Payne, AL. This is the fifth year for this exciting event, which is sanctioned by the Academy of Model Aeronautics and has always been a resounding success. This event will be held at the club field in Ft. Payne. Here's the flier . Contact: Ray E. Coffield, home: (256) 878-8012; cell (256) 738-7323. Website: www.dekalbrcflyers.com. Email: rcflyers@charter.net

For a calendar of all local area flying events that I know about, you can always go to the Gulf Coast Area RC Event Calendar .

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