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The flying really started on Friday, December 31st
since the weather was so nice and lots of people were already off work.
There were moments when the sun came out and it actually felt hot
outside! Friday spawned some of the unfortunate events, but
unfortunately we didn't have any cameras on hand to document any of it.
Suffice it to say that we hadn't seen Bob Kohnen in quite a while. He
was the first in the air on Friday and had a couple nice flights when
suddenly, right after take-off, his profile Extra took some sort of a
radio hit and proceeded to go into the ground just beyond the drop-off.
It will probably return, but after repairs. As the day went on more and
more people turned out. Kent Imhoff finally cranked up his Super Stick
and flew for the first time since last October. Even with the occasional
winds he did great! Stacy & Tom Gillmore flew their Ultra Stick.
Mike Anderson showed up with his Spacewalker. He was showing off his
aerobatic flying skills as well as making 70 M.P.H. touch-and-go's on
the runway when he suffered radio failure and his Spacewalker went into
a very nice spin, unfortunately it kept spinning until we all heard that
ugly crunching noise. The jury is still out on the crash investigation
to figure out the cause of the crash.
Paul Pennington showed up with a small Air Force of his own and as
always showed off his years of flying experience to the rest of us
who sat back watching, including some visitors who
came by. It was a pretty good day, then all of us left to get ready for
the various New Year's Eve celebrations.
On
Saturday, January 1, 2005
, it was so nice outside that, wisely, some of the members didn't even
want to wait for the
11 A.M.
start time (some of them apparently didn't party until the early morning
hours) because the field was already buzzing by then. The buzzing sound
was being made by a gaggle of electric F-27 Stryker aircraft belonging
to Tom Copeland, Mike Anderson and Tom Honich. It was quite a sight to
see three nearly identical aircraft in the air at the same time weaving
back and forth. It's a wonder they were able to tell them apart, but it
sure looked like a lot of fun. Mike Anderson & Tom Honich then
prepared to fly Mike's new electric Decathlon for the first time. It
sure looked good in the air and with a little tweaking should really
shine and certainly seemed to handle the wind better than most other
electrics. From that point on more and more pilots started showing up.
Several spectators and friends also arrived. The tables started filling
up quickly. One of the nicest things laid on the table was a pan full of
freshly-baked brownies make by
Brandon
's Mother, Charla Rex (Thank-you!).
One very exciting flight
session took place when Tom Copeland took off with his updated Boeing
biplane (he added the wing-shaped fuel tank underneath the wing for a
more scale appearance). He wasn't sure if the tank caused the problems
or not, but it looked like the start of a rodeo as Tom took off at full
speed and the plane was all over the sky, but his years of skill came
through as he was able to get it under control and make one of his best
landings ever as a collective sigh of relief fell over the entire flying
field!
Several other flights, some
more eventful than others, took place the rest of the time that the good
weather prevailed, like John Dussold and his 60-sized Great Planes Big Stick which made
lots of high-speed passes and exciting aerobatic maneuvers. John was
also setting up his new profile Eagle 3-D flyer that looks similar to an
Extra for its first flight. He ran the new engine for all to hear with
it's nice looking header pipe and it definitely sounds strong enough to
get the attention of anyone at the field. While John was running his
engine on the bench, Kent Imhoff flew his very speedy Hangar 9 Super
Stick 40 for the second day in a row, which may be some sort of a
personal record for him over the past few months (smile, we're only
joking Kent). It sure flies nice and
has a really neat landing attitude as it comes in on final approach and Kent
controls the descent and speed with a the pitch of the raised nose of the plane.
Tom & Stacy Gillmore
brought out their newly refurbished Tiger II. It is completely restored
and ready to fly,
except for the canopy. Unfortunately they have been unable to obtain a
replacement canopy, but one is supposed to arrive soon. They didn't
get to test fly it because they didn't want to take a chance at getting
fuel residue in open the cockpit area. In the meantime they put about a
gallon of fuel through their Ultra Stick 60 which is still flying great
and making some really neat landings with the 'crow' feature of the
split ailerons.
Roger Geller was finally
able to get a day off from work and having shaved off his beard, looked
like a whole new person! He brought out his Hangar 9 Alpha and appeared
to have a lot of fun flying right along side everyone else.
There was a squadron of the
very popular U-Can-Do-3D's on hand as well. One each belonging to Mike
Anderson, Brandon Hoelscher, and Brandon Rex - just what we need two
planes named the same, owned by two guys named the same! We're confused
enough as it is! :-) All three of them looked like they were having a
great time flying 3D type moves and almost hovering in for landings.
Having three of them at the field certainly is a testament of how well
these things fly - very nice.
At this point the day got so
busy that it was kind of a blur so if we failed to mention anybody else
who showed up to fly, we apologize. Gordon McEntire - back from his job
assignment - came by the field, possibly other members and friends
showed up to watch or fly as well. As always we're glad to see anyone
who wants to stop by and participate.
Shaun Zimmerman arrived with
his 4-stroke powered Sig LT-40 Kadet, the first and only flight was
flawless as the conditions were perfect for him to hog the runway with
about 40 touch-and-go's. At least he was kind enough to give others a
chance to fly it as well. However, from that point on, his first-day-of-the-New-Year didn't go
as well for him as it did for the others at the flying field. Shaun's
friends Don & Michelle Redel showed up at the field with Don's very
first R/C airplane that he had received as a Christmas gift, just a few
days before. A first flight on a three-channel Firebird Extreme
shouldn't be too hard to handle, right? Wrong!
After checking to make sure
that everything was setup properly and having taken the pre-first flight
photos, Shaun and Don walked out to the flight line and launched his
Aerobird. It was a little windy to be flying a three-channel airplane,
but nothing that we hadn't done before, heck Shaun usually flies his at
night with lights! The plane was set with the lower pitch settings so
that Don could hopefully get some time piloting the airplane around too.
Shaun trimmed it out and it was flying pretty good, even at 1/2 to 3/4
throttle settings. He handed the transmitter over to Don who did quite
well on his first flight. As with all other people on their first
flight, eventually things got a little out-of-control, so Shaun took
over again. What they hadn't realized is the reason the airplane wasn't
responding as it should was because the battery had stopped powering the
motor. Combined with the high winds and no motor, the little airplane
wouldn't respond to the flight commands. It drifted closer and closer to
the tree line, right at the very instant that Shaun was able to get the
plane to turn, it wedged itself in the top of a tree about 75 to 80
above ground level. Oddly enough this was the exact same tree where
other friends of Shaun, John Alberts & Harvey Schmidt stuck an
airplane some years before. At that time Harvey was able to climb the
tree - scaring everyone to death - and retrieve the plane. This time it
was going to be much more difficult.
Shaun and Don drove around
the long way to get to the tree line in Shaun's van. It had been raining
quite a bit the previous week so the ground was a bit damp, but didn't
seem too bad and they made it right up close to the tree where they
ended up in an area of water run-off that got Shaun's van stuck in the
mud. Don used to climb trees when he worked in an orchard and he is
still very nimble, but this tree is dying and the branches break off
fairly easy. Don was able to get about 35 feet up the tree on his own,
but there was a section of the tree, perhaps 10' tall where there were
no branches at all, so back down he came. Don had a rope so he and Shaun put the rope around the tree and they tried to shake or rock the
tree so that the plane would fall out. This is a large old tree and
isn't easily moved, besides that, on one final attempt, Don pulled the
rope twice and Shaun thought he was going to pull a third time so he
ended up on the ground, pants covered in mud! No pride left now! Roger
Geller has a 4-wheel drive pick-up truck and with his assistance they
were able to get Shaun's van out of the mud and back up the hill.
At that point there was a
lot of engineering going on to figure out the best way to get Don's
plane out of the top of the tree. Brandon Rex tried climbing until we
asked him to get down, we didn't need a 13 year old killed trying to
retrieve a $200 airplane! One less tree obstructing the flight path was
appealing, but we knew we'd better check with Park officials before
cutting down a tree and we weren't sure what kind of fines or penalties
might be dealt out for cutting one down, so that was out. Don went to
get chains and ropes in hopes of shaking the tree enough with his big
4-wheel drive truck to get the plane to fall out. Several hours and one
huge thunderstorm later that evening after everyone else had their fun
and went home, Shaun met Don out there again. Don had wrapped the rope
around the tree. Chains and rope were hooked to the hitch on his truck.
He tried valiantly to shake the plane out, but only managed to make it
drop about 5 feet lower AND get his big 4-wheel drive truck stuck in the
mud!
They went up to try to start
the Club Tractor to pull him out of the mud, but the battery on the
tractor was completely dead and it wouldn't crank. So a desperate phone
call was placed to Stacy Gillmore & Kent Imhoff who were together
enjoying R/C videos. Stacy has a Dodge 4-wheel drive truck, so along
with more chains and rope we were finally able to get all vehicles out
of the mud, but no plane out of the tree. Later Don called a friend of
his who works for Ameren U.E. and is trained in climbing poles and trees
and has the proper equipment to do so and the plane was finally lowered
to the ground with only minimal damage to the plane, but the electronics
had spent the last two days getting rain soaked. Don is very good with
electronics, so he was able to clean off the circuit board, he ended up
having to replace two components on the board and it is working fine
again. He has since decided to fly it at his cousin's farm with nice,
wide-open fields - can't imagine why!
Happy New Year!
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