Today was a fun day to fly....

As the day turned out, we ended up not having the scheduled monthly fun fly, but it certainly ended up being a fun day to fly anyhow...we unofficially named the event the "All Chrysler Fun Fly Day" as Steve Anderson was there with his black Dodge pickup and flying his giant scale Super Sportster and his Alpha trainer planes.....Dennis Sporing was there with his black Dodge pickup and flew his Twist 3D plane too...Bob and Robert Crofford arrived in the red Dodge Dakota pickup and Bob Jr. flew his electric 3d Plane very sweetly too...Buzz Haviland arrived in his blue Jeep and had several fine flights with his Ugly Stick plane, he informed me that he and his wife had gone back to IN to his grandsons High School graduation ceremonies and had been gone the past couple of weeks doing that and hadn't gotten a chance to do much flying lately either....I was there with my black Dodge and got in a few nice flights flying my Uproar 3D plane also...everyone had a very nice and enjoyable visit today, and the weather was just perfect for flying all day long...no pictures today but it sure was a fun time for all.

Steve Anderson also announced he is selling both of his giant scale gasser planes and asked that I put it on here for him. He is selling the giant scale Super Sportster that has the Fugi gasser engine in it, along with also selling his giant scale G-62  gas powered giant scale Stinger. Contact him anytime for further information.

Looks like several members are also planning on flying this coming Sunday, June 16th, 2013 early sometime after 8am or so, and I am hoping to be able to fly again then too. Hope to see several folks there then.

Imagine My Surprise

I arrived at the field Sunday Morning at 10:00 AM and I was surprised to find that I was the only one at the field. Winds were calm and the temps were mild. Mark Sullivan arrived as I was unloading my J-3 Cub. I got a flight in and Mark had an aborted takeoff run on his Sig Four Star 60 when his OS 75AX quit. That started us trouble shooting his problem. After fiddling around alternating tuning the high speed and low speed settings, we finally got it transitioning from idle to full throttle. It was instructive to say the least. We both got in some good flights as the winds cooperated until early afternoon.

Fremont County Radio Control Club Fallen Members Memorial Plaque

I picked up the plaque that the club  voted on, and was authorized to purchase from Mohr's Trophy Shop in Florence, CO. last Saturday, May 25th 2013 from them, and if I do say so myself, I think that they did a very fantastic job making this Memorial Plaque for our club. She donated part of it's price to the club so that we could stay near our allotted budget figure also, which was a very nice and thoughtful gesture on their part as a local small business. Her comment to me in regards to the cost savings for us was "If I can't try to help a small club that does so much for our community like you folks do for others, then I wouldn't feel right for not trying to help out in some small way".  I sure do appreciate their kindness, and I am sure that the other club members share in that feeling towards Mohr's Trophy Shop also, if I may be so bold and speak for them too.

 I was able to get out to the field finally on Saturday morning June 1st, 2013 and got it mounted to the wall of the impound building where it is adequately protected from the elements.I had asked when it was ordered to have them make it so as to help withstand being outdoors when they made it for us too. I have seen other clubs that have these types of signs or plaques that have been  made in the same manner, and they have been up for instance a good 20 plus years and they don't look any worse for the wearm and they are even in much more direct contact with the elements and not under any sort of protected area, such as is the case with our new plaque.

We will compile a list of members names to be engraved and put on the plates that are attached to the plaque just as soon as we can get as complete of a list of all fallen members from any and all club members both past and present, so please put on your thinking caps and get the list in to any of the club officers as soon as you can, so that we can get the engraving done right away on the plates.

I'd like to suggest an idea of a possible Memorial Plaque dedication ceremony to be held at a later date that the members feel is a proper time to conduct that sort of a ceremony also. Please let us know when you have any ideas of holding an event like that suggested above please.

I took some pictures of it after it was mounted earlier today after being assisted by fellow club members Terry Davis and Jim Aultman in getting it installed at the field today, and I have included the pictures in this blog report.

We could also use some assistance with the oncoming weed control and mowing situation this season also, if anyone would please donate some time, or possibly some fuel or weed killer, to get some weeds sprayed and the mowing taken care of, even if it is only a portion of the areas that need attention. Any and all help is always greatly appreciated as everyone well knows too. The gas mower is in the storage building and there is a gas can stored in there also, but it needs a gallon or so of gas purchased to get the mowing and weed cutting caught up. There is also a weed wacker available for use in the storage building, along with some spare cutting line, for anyone's use also. The weed wacker uses a 2 stroke mix of gas and oil similar to what some of our club members gas airplanes use in those types of engines too.

Feel free to call me anytime with any questions regarding the weeds or the mowing and I will definitely be available to help answer any concerns or questions you may have as best that I possibly can. Thanks to everyone for all of their hard work in keeping our facility in such nice shape that it is in, and that includes picking up your trash and broken or used rubber bands and any sort of litter that is blown into the area too. We have had some of our members bringing their pets to the field and those members have been definitely trying to keep up with any of their pets "droppings" removed when found in a very timely manner lately, and I have noticed a very nice improvement along those lines, and I want to thank the members for diligently taking the time to do so personally.

I will be placing the emergency water fire buckets out near the flight line for the season again very soon, just in case of a fire, and there also are two fire extinguishers mounted inside the impound building available for emergency use at any time at the field also.

Please also consider bringing a gallon or so jug of water with you when you visit the field, and pour it into the "blue-room" latrine tank to help with that situation also. I try to use a trick that I read that a fellow AMA pilot posted about on one of the many club forums online, to help them remember to bring a jug of water for that purpose, and that trick was as follows:

" I try to remember to bring a jug of fuel for flying my planes, so I also then try to remember to bring a jug of water to pour in that tank of the latrine too".

I thought this was a very effective and easy remedy for a thoughtful gesture of helping out where we all can. If anyone needs a spare jug for this purpose there are some spare jugs under the table inside the impound building available for the taking for that purpose.

 I have rambled on long enough, so as promised, here are the Fallen Members Memorial Plaque pictures:

Thanks to everyone for their continued support and assistance,
Regards,
Mark J. Sullivan

Fun-Fly Spot Landing

Mark Sullivan covered a lot of stuff that happened today, so I'll just cover the spot landing stuff plus add some photos,

Guys waiting for the wind to cooperate and the rest of the club to show up

Jim Aultman also waiting for things to get started

Bobby was the first to start the spot landing competition with his 3D profile  electric

Cloyce next tried his hand with his Twist 40

Mark & his Super Decathalon Citabria

The overall winner ...with the target line. Mark nailed the competition with the closest to the line

Father & Son team Ed & Ryan Vincent at the fight line

Ed was flying his new Spitfire ... I caught it just above touchdown

Cloyce brought out his large gas powered Edge 260. What an impressive plane.

And the Competition results were:

Electric Division:

1. Jim Aultman    38"
2. Bobby            47"

Fueled Division:

1. Mark Sullivan    21"
2. Kenny               63"
3. Cloyce Mann   125"
4. Marlowe          154"

And there you have it. A good time was had by all.

Saturday May 11th, 2013 Fun-Fly

I barely arrived at the air field just before the scheduled 10:00 AM MST start time for the monthly Fun-Fly event this morning,and already there were several club members in attendance and getting in lots of good flights all morning long.
 I went around talking to and learning lots of good information from numerous members throughout the entire day's event today. I and several others assisted Cloyce Mann in getting his Edge 260 up and going strong, and got to enjoy watching him put that fast 3D plane through its paces over several different flights.
 Our newest pilot in the club, Jim Aultman, even got in several flights with his Hobbistar Trainer plane today even with the intermittent gusty wind conditons we had today and he did very nicely again too.
 Ed Vincent got in some really good flights on his new "Spitfire" warbird today, and it sure looks great both in the air and on the flight line too.
Several club members participated in the "Spot Landing" competition event held today during the Fun-Fly and there were lots of very close landings all day long, as well as a few attempts that fell short of the spot also. I don't know the results of the great times of this event yet, but I am positive that our CD, Marlowe Cassetti will post those results very soon for all of us to see how we fared for the day.
 I suffered a not-so-good day as I soon discovered that in my haste to get out of the rain and winds yesterday after flying my SIG 4 Star 60, that it appears that I may have inadvertently left the LiFe 1800 mAh flight battery switch turned on the plane while it was stored in the trailer, and the LiFe battery discharged itself to a low voltage condition. I am now unable to salvage that flight battery, as it would not even accept any type of a charge mode, discharge mode nor even a balance mode charge any longer. A very expensive lesson learned there in this case.
 I then got out my 1/4 scale RC Guys Super Decathalon Citabria, and with other fellow club members helping me assemble it, we had it ready for a nice flight in no time at all. I am truly thankful and I sincererly appreciate everyone's help with this task also.
 I then took off and went flying around for a bit, and then called Kenny McMullen up to the flight line with me to learn more about "Coordinated Rudder Turns" and "Coordinated Rudder and Aileron Rolls" both, and how they compare while doing them. Apparently while doing those parts of the flight, or possibly while looping out wide to the North to set up for landings and touch and go's, I may have inadvertently let the plane drift too far North and got too close to the full scale runway area, and the airport manager came over to let us know about it. I took full responsibility for my errors and assured the airport manager that I will be extremely conscientous of my planes whereabouts to a much greater degree from now on, so there isn't a safety concern on anyone's part. I also plan on writing and presenting a formal written letter of apology to them and spelling out my intentions of not letting that happen again, as much as humanly possible.
 After quite a long and spirited discussion among several club members as to how to attempt to prevent this situation from happening ever again, I got my Citabria refueled and readied for another flight to see what the perspective views are of it while flying out near and over the fuel storage tanks to our North. Cloyce Mann and Bobby Bellino drove over near that area in line with the fuel storage tanks as I was flying overhead and they observed my flight from that perspective. I also had Dennis Sporing standing right next to me at the flight line, where he could also keep a good visual reference on the distance and perspective distance judging while I was flying. Several other pilots were also in the pits observing every part of this flight too, and they also were able to see things themselves, and let us all know what they saw too.
 A large scale plane of this size we discovered is relatively easy to fly both out and/or up at that distance away and further North than the tanks, where the possibility of a runway over-flight condition could possibly happen with a plane of this size or even a smaller 40 or 60 size airplane too, but with a much greater degree of difficulty with those smaller planes of course.

 The lessons I humbly learned today were thus:

 Stay in closer than my farthest "comfort zone" of flying distance away, so as to avoid another incident in the future with a plane of this larger size.
 And also stay in close with the smaller aircraft also, just in case there may be a problem with it getting out too far away also, even though it is much less likely to happen that way I feel.
And finally, if a person is flying at a distance greater than the fuel storage tanks then please by all means inform that pilot of the safety concerns held by everyone involved immediately while they are flying, so that they can correct any percieved safety concerns right away.

"SAFETY FIRST" no matter the situation is what is needed on everyones part, both at our field and at the airport too.

Thanks to everyone for the great times and Fun Flying today.

Mark J. Sullivan

Starpoint Donation

 Fremont Radio Control Flying Club donates to Starpoint 

ErinDavidson | May 7, 2013

Canon City Shopper 

The Fremont Radio Control Flying Club recently presented a $100 donation to Starpoint Adult Services at a Fun-Fly held at the club’s flying field located at the Fremont County Airport. Pictured at the event are members of the flying club with Starpoint representatives John P., Cheryl R., Roxanne P. (Salida) and staff member Anna Louge.   

Club President Ed Vincent presents the check to Starpoint Foundation Director Ron Hinkle, who said “This donation is another excellent example of a local organization contributing to the welfare of another non profit in the county.”  The R/C flying club is proud to “give back” to the community in appreciation for community support. The club has been in existence for more than 30 years and has members throughout southern Colorado. For more information go online to www.fcrcc.blogspot.com.

Some Sunday flying notes....

Ed Vincent's F4U Corsair during the taxi testing today.

  I recieved a phone call from Ed Vincent here at the house this morning, Sunday, May 5th, 2013 asking if I would be showing up to fly. I let Ed know I'd be there about 10AM or so, and then got my gear ready to head to the field then.

 Upon arriving I was able to be in attendance to witness Jim Aultmans successful first solo RC flight and several other flights he flew later that day too.

 Ken Conway was there also preparing his SIG Kadet Senior RC plane to start his buddy box training with Ed Vincent as his very well qualified instructor, and they were going over his plane and equipment readying it for flight on the buddy box system.

 Soon afterwards Terry Davis showed up with his Hangar 9 Pulse 60 plane and put on his usual fantastic and fast performance with it until he had some suspect glitching going on while flying, so he decided to bring it right in for a nice landing even though he had killed the engine and dead sticked it in.

 I decided I needed to get busy and get something put together to fly so out came the SIG 4 Star 60 and I got in something like 3 flights or so on it today also. I did some stall turns and vertical stalls with it along with several rolls and loops of different kinds, all in the name of learning this planes flight tendencies. It performed very nicely for me and gave me a lot of confidence in how well it was running as well as flying too.

 Ken and Ed got in numerous flights on the buddy box system together today also and it appeared to me while observing the flying they did that Ken was doing very smooth and good with his first flights on his plane today. They stayed up so long on one flight that Ed ended up doing a dead stick landing with the plane when it ran out of fuel. Come to find out upon further discovery that Ken's timer in his coat pocket somehow got turned off during the flight and did not alert them of how long they had been up flying. No damages or concerns at all for the dead stick landing for Ed to accomplish due to his great skill and experience, and the great flying tendencies of that SIG trainer plane too.

Marlowe Cassetti showed up with a brand new "Dras-Stick" 40 or 60 sized nitro plane to maiden today and after the usual pre flight checks and range checks and fueling he took off with it on its maiden flight. It turned out to be horribly out of trim and Marlowe struggled with it the entire short time it was flying trying to get it trimmed out, but had to ditch it out in the field. A small amount of damage was suffered to the upper wing mounting block area, but it appears to be a very easy repair that he is going to do. That plane is very pretty and looks to be a well designed plane too. Marlowe then got out his small electric Ultra-Stick and attempted to fly it too, but for some reason it went down also. I didn't find out what the situation was for that one however, but by all appearances it did not appear to be damaged either.

Ed Vincent got in quite a bit of "taxi-testing" attempts on his F4U Corsair war bird and it proved to be a very difficult plane to handle on the ground, as is typical of lots of warbirds. We also discovered that the set screw had backed out on his tail wheel and he did not have full travel throws on it, which added to the difficult ground handling problems that Ed was experiencing with this plane today. That is the purpose of the "taxi-testing" portion that he did today to uncover any possible problems prior to flying this plane for it's maiden flight. It seems that the repairs and adjustments will be very minor things to attend to on Ed's warbird and I look forward to seeing it flying a lot in the very near future too. Ed also flew the SIG Kadet Seniorita that he purchased at the club's swap meet recently.

I have a few pictures of Ken getting his SIG Kadet Senior ready for the buddy box flying that he and Ed accomplished today and will post them here now, as well as some pictures of Ed Vincent's Corsair warbird taxiing around learning about this plane too.

Enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them and being at the field with some very good pilots and friends today.

Ken and Ed.

Getting started.

Tweaking and tuning the SIG Kadet Senior.

Ed's F4U Corsair warbird.

 A very nice looking warbird here.