Club Update January 2012

I expect most of you know that the usual writer of the monthly blog (Duncan Dunfermline) has been forced to work in Scotland for a few weeks so he has asked me to fill in for him. Apparently he is earning loads of money and should be able to complete his total transition to electric flight on his return. 
In January the weather limited flying a bit, but the mid-weekers have managed to make the most of the decent days. Bob ended his run of crashes by working out that they all involved the same rx. A large hammer has now ended that particular problem, and Bob has regained his confidence to the extent that he took and passed his ‘A’ cert.  This obviously got right up Jim & Ron’s noses spurred on Jim & Ron and they also took and passed their tests. Well done to all three.  Several others are ready to take their ‘A’, you know who you are…
Our much beloved El Presidento managed to bury his long suffering fun fly a few weeks ago, that’s the first crash he’s had since he flew into Steve’s plane a few months back. This time it was rather more final and requires a minimum of a new fuselage. A post mortem revealed the cause, a duff rx battery. In my usual sympathetic way (once we had all stopped laughing) I commented that the battery had been fine for the last twenty years or so, but it turns out that it was actually fairly new. A timely reminder for everyone to check the condition of their batteries regularly. The good thing about the crash was that Don uttered a loud “Wooaa” to attract our attention as he lost control and then managed to bury the plane near enough to the patch for us all to enjoy. None of the usual novice error of crashing three fields away so nobody sees it!
Keith was obviously impressed by our Chairman’s vacuum forming demo at a recent club night, and he duly    moulded a cowl for his new Eflight Advance, saying he thought the ARTF’s exposed electric motor needed finishing off. It worked a treat, the lack of cooling air finished the motor off first time out! Nice try Keith, it’s just something else we can blame Mick for! 
We haven’t seen Nick sneaking off work to fly midweek so much recently. Rumour has it that his wife has finally realised that each time he volunteers to get the shopping at Tesco he arrives home 3 hours later smelling of glow fuel. Another reason for going electric! 
Finally:
A military pilot called for a priority landing because his single engined jet fighter was running ‘a bit peaked’.  Air Traffic Control told the fighter pilot he was number two, behind a B-52 that had one engine shut down. ‘Ah’ the fighter pilot remarked ‘The dreaded seven engine approach…’
Colin Cowplain