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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
***** IMPORTANT NOTICE *****
www.fcrcc.blogspot.com
please update your records accordingly
Marlowe Cassetti
FCRCC Secretary/Treasurer
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Flying Report Saturday Jan21
Everyone wasn’t expecting to fly this morning, but the high winds showed up later in the day. Mark sent out a hurriedly composed message that he was headed out to the field. When I got out there at 10:30 AM, Mark was opening the gate and it was dead calm. We were joined by Dennis, Cloyce, and Kenny.
Mark readied his Stick 40. Earlier his OS 55AX had been plagued by poor running, but he switched to fresh fuel and that solved his problems. Mark got is some good flying. I had my e-Mini Stick and I got in many flights that morning. Cloyce flew his Twist 40 and he discovered a patch of rough air just north of the runway. When I was flying my E-Mini Stick I had some bumpy flying in the same area.
Picture on the right is Mark and Dennis fooling around with the GSE (Ground Support Equipment). What a beautiful setting with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background.
Now the following is a bit scary. Parental guidance is strongly advised.
Normally when you are landing a R/C airplane, you are looking down the runway visually tracking the plane in order to guide it in for a safe landing. On our field if the wind is blowing from the west and the plane is travel off your left shoulder (as you face the plane) as illustrated by the picture of Cloyce and his Twist 40.
Okay what happens then it if it approaches you off your right shoulder? (see next pix of Cloyce watching the Twist fly off to the side)
The answer is You have a major problem!
Fortunately Cloyce recovered from the wind gust pushing the Twist off course and then to buzz Dennis and Mark (the two guys fooling around with the GSE). Mark thought Cloyce was trying to fly through his trailer. Cloyce brought it around for a perfect landing.
Kenny brought out his Edge and attempted a takeoff. Unfortunately the soft dirt on the runway tripped it over on its takeoff run and it nosed over damaging the prop. By the time to prop was changed the predicted high winds made their presence known and everyone packed up by 2:00PM. It was an exciting day and I’m glad we had an opportunity to get in a few hours of flying. After all, we are in Colorado at 5,439 feet altitude.
Indoor Flying Jan 20th
There was an exciting time Friday night at Harrison School in Canon City. Many flyers attended and a great time was had by all.
Ed Vincent, our new Prez had his little E-flite blade heli doing lots of tricks. He demonstrated flying between the gymnasium rafters with great skill.
There were many HobbyZone Champs flying, it was hard to know who was who. New member Buzz brought out a new Champ and found it a bit easier to fly if the transmitter was set to low rates. Robert Crofford , Cloyce, and Marlowe were also flying Champs.
Bob Crofford put on a great 3D flying show.
Terry Davis brought out a Slow Stick but it has problems with the wing mounting to adequately try it out. Photo on the left shows Ed giving Terry some suggestions.
Another new member, Dennis Sporing, was flying a small coaxial heli, is pictured to below.
At the end of the indoor flying session we talked about flying the next morning. However, the forecast was for very high winds on Saturday… up to 75 MPH. But you’ll be surprised what happened. See the next blog.
Friday, January 6, 2012
The 1st Annual New Years Flying Event
This was started by Mark Sullivan. He sent out a message asking if anyone was interested in flying on New Years Day 2012. It turned the winds were calm in the morning but the temp was cool. Mark was our flying earlier that morning, but he had to leave before more flyers arrived. Tim and Grant Brown plus Ed were flying when I arrived. Shortly Cloyce plus some of his guests came to the field. I assembled my J-3 Cub and prepared to fly but by then the winds picked up. With the winds came wind chill and I never flew on January 1st. However, on Monday, the 2nd, Mark and I did get some flying in to kick off the new year.
The photo on the right show the flight stands loaded with planes. Grant Brown’s T28 is in the foreground and his Dad’s Albatross is next. Ed is snapping some pix of the flight line.
The picture below shows Ed’s Kadet Senior (yellow body and tail). In the far background is Cloyce and his friends. Cloyce had a highly modified Stinger powered by an Evolution 35cc gas engine that howled through the skies. It is a moose of a bird. It is barely visible as a blue streak at the end of the flight stands.
Maybe the club can have this as an annual event with prizes awarded to the brave souls that fly that day. I never did fly my J-3 on Sunday, but with an enticement of a prize I just might have shrugged off the wind chill and given it a try.
Marlowe
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Flying Session Jan 7, 2012
I took a couple of pictures which I will share with you. The first is our former Prez Cloyce, with the moose, which he calls the Stinker.
The next one is Stinker in flight before its tuned pipe came loose, necessitating an early.landing. Notice it hanging down. Fortunately the tube didn't dig in and ruin the landing.
The next picture is Mark’s P-51 during a nice landing. A few months ago Mark handed me the transmitter and I got a chance to fly it. It was a great experience that inspired me to get cracking to fix up my P-51 Voodoo.
Next is a buddy box training session. Allen Stecklein is assisting new member Buzz Haviland with his Beachcraft T-34 Mentor. Buzz did a great job despite the wind growing stronger. It is electric and handled the wind quite well. The trainer box didn’t support the expo function which did hamper Buzz a bit.
The Mentor, just before touching down.
I got in two flights with my e-Mini Stick that flew great in the wind, which grew stronger and colder. After the two flights I packed up and drove to get a hot cup of coffee.
Mark, our newly appointed Field Marshal reset all the combination locks at the field. I Emailed the new combo code to all 2012 paid members who are AMA current.