Flying Into Fall With The Sanderson Field RC Flyers
The Autumnal equinox has now passed. Here in Washington, the Sanderson Field RC Flyers(SFRCF) are looking forward to some Fall flying. There have not been as many good flying days this year as in 2008. To some, in fact, the flying season has seemed a bit disappointing; but, speaking for myself, I am surprised when I add up all of the activities in which I have participated as an SFRCF member this year. Many of the activities have not taken place on the club's flying fields.
Although the club was not able to fly on January 1 because the poor weather conditions, we did get our planes in the air early in the year. The view of the Olympic Mountains, covered in snow, is always a spetacular background for our home field as Winter passes into Spring.
Looking forward to better days, I spent a morning with Richard Robb discussing his building projects and learning about the latest building techniques.
In March, a group of SFRCF members made a trip to the Boeing Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington. I was particularly interested in the incredible craftsmanship apparent in the construction displays of early aircraft.
We spent several hours looking at the "Warbirds" exhibits and on the main museum floor.
When Summer arrived—finally—I headed to the field on June 2 with a Great Planes Easy Sport. I'd had a couple of flights with the plane and looked forward to flying it again. My instructor, Bob Beatty, taxied the plane and took off. After making a left-hand turn, Bob and I (on the buddy box) both lost control of the plane: the plane no longer responded to control from our transmitters. The throttle opened up to full and the plane dived for the ground. What started as a training flight with the Easy Sport ended up with a pile of Easy Sport parts and pieces. Like many such disasters, we could find no specific cause for the crash: the transmitter and receiver both checked out as working perfectly and the receiver and transmitter batteries also tested as good. There was very little that could be salvaged. I am now building a new Easy Sport to replace the old one.
After the crash, the day ended with a very positive experience: I was treated to flights of a REACTION 54 jet piloted by SFRCF's own Top Gun, Charles Kentfield.
On June 20, a group of SFRCF members traveled to the Olympic Airshow, held at the Olymic Flight Museum, Olympia, Washington. But first, the group stopped at the Toledo Swap Meet to look over lots of RC bargains.
It was fun to get a close-up look at many awesome aircraft at the airshow. My favorite event of the day was an incredible show by Bud Granley, flying a Yak-55, and son Ross, flying a Yak-18T.
On June 27, a beautiful summer day, the club met at the Hunter Farms grass field in the beautiful Skokomish River Valley. Since the day was warm and dry, workers at the farm were busy harvesting hay. Between flying and lunch, I walked about the farm admiring the scenery.
