Last Weekend's Happenings...

Here are some pictures that I took last weekend...
Alvin, the South Pit Rambler, has stopped rambling altogether, it seems...

Last Saturday we had the ACMA Sailplane Fly-in.
The Coordinator of the event shocked many people when he showed up wearing a dress.

Now some people told me I was wrong in calling it a dress, and that it was a tutu. Donnie Hammett said it was a pelt...
Well, whatever it was, TJ looked absolutely lovely, his outfit accessorized with a cute purse and short, black boots.
None of us even suspected he was a cross-dresser...



There was a pretty good group of sailplane enthusiasts that showed up. We had a total of 26 who signed the register.
The Florida group brought a nice launch & retrieval system that got a good workout throughout the day...



Pilots came from Florida - Pensacola, Crestview, Eglin, Pace and Milton. Others from Mississippi - Picayune and Vancleave...

Matt Meadows of Pensacola made me tired by repeatedly slinging his bird-shaped Alula into the air. He said it's good exercise... Fourteen ACMA club members signed in and flew. Here's Johnny Jones retrieving the hook for the electric High-Start. He and Rob Baker made several trips on that bike... Dane Kinman flew his Sophisticated Lady...



There were a couple of casualties. Club member Lee Carroll crashed his Bird of Time sailplane right after a launch that quickly went wrong. The plane went in hard and sustained some damage...
Frits took Robert Sanderson's glider up, but right after the launch the glider went hard right and almost wiped out Mike McLaughlin, Dane Kinman, a couple of Florida boys and the launch & retrieval system! Almost...! No one was hurt... (Rudder was reversed...)
Rob Baker let Mike McLaughlin, Frits and Justin Peacock fly his large glider.



Lance Ropke of Pensacola lost his nice Xplorer sailplane in the trees on the property west of the parking lot. We got permission of the owner to get it out. He actually helped by trying to cut a branch with a couple of shots of his 12 gauge shotgun. But that did not work. Young Patrick Carroll and I helped Lance with the glider rescue. It took a lot of tugging, pushing and shaking to get it out of the tree. There was some damage to the tail section, but Lance was very happy to get the plane back!



It was Andrew Smith who caused Lance's Xplorer to crash into the trees. Andrew had turned his transmitter on and was wondering why he was getting glitches. Until Lance crashed. That's when Andrew asked him what channel he was on. Yep — it was the same as Andrew's! Lance had failed to get the pin from the frequency board. Andrew had the pin...

TJ was really enjoying the attention he was getting!
Henry Waltman was intrigued with TJ's legs and wanted to know if he was clean-shaven...



At one point TJ jumped in front of my camera to flash his junk...



Disregarding these kind of distractions the fly-in was a success, and everyone had a great time.

This post has been edited by Flying Dutchman on Sep 14 2011, 05:26 PM

It's not a dress, or a tutu, or a pelt, it's a Kilt! History Of The Scottish (and Irish) Kilt

And the accessory is not a purse, well kind of it is, it's called a Sporran, although mine is actually a 'fanny pack', and sometimes it is a pelt. History Of The Sporran

Both of which were purchased here: SportKilt.com

Good report Frits. Thanks for sharing.

This post has been edited by Tango Juliet on Sep 14 2011, 03:10 PM

I think you put a curse on Notre Dame by wearing it.. After all, they lost

Maybe you should have shaved your legs????

Actually at halftime, I decided to take a shower and changed into shorts for the rest of the evening. So they lost because I stopped wearing it. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it .

Yep Bro thats what happened

"sin tá iomarca" !!!

Not familiar with those last two words...
Which language is that?

I was looking at the "accidental" photo of TJ's almost embarrassing moment. LOL... it's supposed to be Gaelic for "that's too much", but maybe I got it wrong. I think I have to much time on my hands!

Here's what happened last Sunday, September 11.

Donnie Hammett is getting very impatient waiting for people to get the ACMA club shirts they ordered. He's not a happy camper, and I can't blame him. You promised to pay for them, now pick them up and pay Donnie!...
Donnie flew this 60-size Super Sportster after Frits put a test flight on it.

Well... that test flight almost ended up in disaster! At one point Frits lost total communications with the plane and it headed to the ground at full throttle, at about an eighty degree angle. Frits held the transmitter in front of Donnie, showing that he had both sticks in the down position — minimum throttle and up elevator. Then, with the plane about 30 or 40 ft. from the ground, Frits regained control ad the Super Sportster shot back up, a second short of crashing! Frits had full control again and quickly landed. Whew!... Donnie checked everything out and later a second flight went off without a hitch...

TJ Rohyans flew his glider, the lazy way... Frits gave his student Hal Veits (on right) a couple more flying lessons. Here's Hal talking to his neighbor, Victor French.



The Great Dane (Dane Kinman) showed up with another micro plane, an electric F-27Q Stryker 180. Very tiny! Very fast! He also has an electric tiny twin-motor Mosquito.



Tony Pirkle flew one of his P-47 Thunderbolts. He tried to get his fiery red Super Spitfire in the air, but there were issues... Paul Kelly showed up with a nice, new, electric twin ducted fan Sukhoi jet, but I never saw it fly. That is Jon Koppisch, Gary Johnson and Mike Callen helping or giving moral support...



Randy Bodefort brought his L-39 Albatros. That little foam jet is fast! Andrew successfully flew it... Andrew showed off his LMH Corona electric helicopter. He has replaced the piezo gyro with an old mechanical gyro controller. Hey, they still work!



Henry Waltman pretended to fly his glider for some time, but the glider had actually crashed inverted on the ground. He was trying to fly David Doss' glider, I believe. I'm not sure what happened to cause Henry to track the wrong plane...



On Tuesday TJ flew his profile Wildcat, trying out different size propellers.



Much more in an upcoming Pits Report...

This post has been edited by Flying Dutchman on Sep 17 2011, 04:17 PM

Here are some videos I took at the sailplane event:

Matt Meadows launches the Alula http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFDzNVaPO58

Sailplane Retrieval System http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r402rmC7wBQ

Rob Baker Launches his sailplane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXXVJkJK41w

Pit happenings / TJ in his skirt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4qARieqYx8