…having fun on the hill
Business end of something 'fast'
After a few long and noisy days and nights, it’s time to wake up to the reality of this new 2012. Over on this side of the water, the locals managed to keep the fireworks going for most of the last few nights ;-(
Anyway, we’re all looking forward to a nice warm and dry 2012, with endless blue skies. When it comes, enjoy it!
kees.
..that orange thing?? All will be revealed in good time!
The area Funfly had been due to take place during the summer, but unfortunately our summer weather meant it didn’t happen, so it was rescheduled for what was forecast to be a proper Autumn day of wind & rain. Thankfully the forecast was about as accurate as a horoscope and while there was dull start, before long there were complaints of sun in the eyes. Unfortunately the forecast may have put off some folks who had wanted to take part, resulting in a massive turnout of four pilots, all from Banbridge!
As I mentioned there was a dull start which meant that the climb for the climb & glide had to be limited to fifteen seconds to avoid low cloud, meaning glide times were not spectacular.
Dennis in the Limbo (the flex of the knee apparently helps the plane under!)
The triple thrash was adapted to the slightly wet conditions on the strip, with bunts being substituted for touch & go’s and a final pass & roll before the clock stopped on landing. The bunts proved interesting, as while limbo dancers will loop very tightly, for whatever reason will bunt in a much bigger diameter.
The touch & go round was substituted with one minutes loops, and some harsh judging by the CD ensured nobody got away with anything but level wings (IMAC judging kicking in). This was followed straight away by a timed flight round, with the first five seconds counted out from the stop watch, and the pilot then left to figure out when a minute had passed, ensuring his wheels touched down as close to 60 seconds as possible, which was surprisingly close for most.
Matthews Limbo Dancer making it under (This Time!) And yes that is Sunshine.
The last round is left to last for good reason, the limbo generally gets the blood pumping for even the most experienced pilots, to prove this, Dennis, who has been flying since year dot, clipped both poles, before making one pass under & cutting the cord on the next. The wind was making it a bit lumpy for a round usually flown at a fairly steady pace, a bit more throttle was used by some, with mixed results, but everyone took their plane home in one piece, so a good time was had by all.
The results were:
Matthew Poots: 1st
Sean Scullion: 2nd
Iain Johnston: 3rd
Dennis McNeill: 4th
The expectant “crowd” waiting for the results.
CD Paul Harrison congratulates Matthew on first place.
Sean, Matthew & Iain with Limbo Dancers & the Area Trophy.
It’s been a while since the website was updated, hopefully it won’t be as long until the next bit of news.
The club put on a display at Drumlough outside Rathfriland on Friday 29th July. It was an evening display so time was limited before the light went. We also flew at this venue last year and to say it is restricted is generous and means all flying is limited to small electric & helis. It has to be said that one of the main draws to attending this display for us is the excellent hospitality received and may be the reason we had a few more flyers this year!
The Display Team (Alistair Behind the Camera)
As always the toffee drop was popular among the younger folk at the display although one big child was also seen running for a stray sweet, but it wouldn’t be right to name Dave! Unusually there were two toffee bombers in use, Matthew had added a removable bomb bay to his Parkzone Supercub which worked well, and my Flash was also sporting a couple of correx bomb bays, which while effective, leave it as aerodynamic as a breeze block.
After finishing his sweet Dave but on a great display with his Minature Aircraft Furion 6 electric heli, which certainly grabbed the crowds attention. If you haven’t seen this machine at work, it is something to behold, with a ridiculous amount of power instantly on tap. As usual Dave managed to draw a few ooh’s & aah’s from the onlookers, luckily Paul had the microphone turned off at this stage.
The new Parkzone Stryker was well in evidence, with Sean, Trevor & Matthew all putting on a well co-ordinated display of almost “formation” flying with high and low speed manoeuvres being demonstrated. But is has to be said it was the second flight with the Strykers which really got the crowd going. Sean had decide to sit this one out, and Trevor only just managed to join in after replacing a broken prop. Just as they were getting into it, Matthew went up into a big looping turnaround while Trevor had peeled off to the left and was coming back towards centre field when the unthinkable happened, the two models met, with Trevor basically flying through Matthews model. Couldn’t have done it if you had tried all day. And while Matthew’s Stryker was a write off, Trevor’s was a fairly easy fix so these are tough models and great value.
That brought the flying to a close and we were happy to take our hosts up on the offer of a fine spread from the BBQ and nice cup of tea, while we settled back and watched the very fine fireworks display.
Matthew with his ex Stryker
A club night has been arranged in Corr’s Corner hotel Thursday 20th January 19:30when we will receive a talk and slide show from Norman Surplus on his adventures while attempting to circumnavigate the world in his Gyrocopter. He landed in a lake in the Phillipines and the aircraft is now under repair. When repaired he will carry on. To help with costs UHPC members will be asked for £3 and non members £6. Normanis from Larne and is a cancer survivor who is raising money for Cancer Research. Perhaps you have seen him, flying his yellow machine, while flying the East Antrimsites. He has seen us and is curious about us.
Read more about him @ http://www.gyroxgoesglobal.com/
and http://gyroxgoesglobal.blogspot.com/.
more details: ask someone who knows 
Aeromusical - Matthew
For those of you that belong to the indoor-species: No doubt you want to follow the EIM event.
As usual, the local lads are outnumbering the competition.
There’s Matthew, Simon, Robert, Gordon, Harry, Derek (my replacement for this event), Bert (since he has grey hair and looks more like me).
So, it’s not a matter of IF there’s gold, it’s only a matter of who brings it home!
(update with partial results@2100)
Pylon
1st Derk Van Der Vecht (27 Laps in two minutes)
2nd Simon McNeil (26 Laps in two minutes)
3rd Matthew Poots (25 Laps in two minutes)
AM
1st Derk Van Der Vecht………MM Extra
2nd Connor Stephenson………. Afriel EVO
3rd Matthew Poots…………….. Elipsa
Matthews story is of course over here
Aeromusical- Simon
LOL, I was not that far off then! Big congratulations to all
Info at: F3P-UK
You can see the video’s on Youtoob, courtesy of mr Flash.
If you do a search for ‘EIM 2010′ in the searchbox, you’ll get all the latest uploads.
Annual Club Fly-In this Saturday
Saturday the 18th September is our annual Club Fly-In!
Every size and shape of plane can fly from the 80M grass strip.
Tea/coffee /sandwiches available all day,
Hope everyone can make this another special day in the history of Dungannon MFC.
SEE YOU ALL ON SATURDAY!
George
We had us a small demo in Bessbrook last Saturday. Turned out to be small in many ways. But let’s say we were saved by the torrential downpour. I cannot remember ever getting so wet in such a short time. 3 minutes from dry to soaking to the skin. I don’t think I’d be wetter if I had jumped into a pool.
Nevertheless a few flights were had, toffees dropped and a few ooooh’s and aaahhh’s extracted from the public.
.. broken Birdy..
Oh, and flying on the back side of a large windmill is quite exiting with a small Spinning Birdy or Blaster. Talk about artificial turbulence! Sadly, the Spinning Birdy desintegrated in what I thought would be my highest throw! An almighty skrunch, and I got the feeling that all I had left in my hand was a wing. After the parts came down to earth, it became clear that the centrifugal forces of my throw had been enough to sever nose from center from tail.. Reconstructive surgery can be applied, but not today..
kees
Aerobatics NI 3D Heli Ireland
