Hello from the sunny SW. After several weeks off, the blog is back. We had the coldest January in 28 years, and are now enjoying some really beautiful spring-like weather. In anticipation of spring in MN, Jack is getting a new up-dated version of the club directory printed up and some of you may already have a copy.

We have a sneak preview of Dick's new Big Bird. I don’t know if that is his official name, but we will use it for now. I don’t know what else he is planning on for spring, but I am sure it will be neat.

Gaige talk to Jim G the other day, and he has been busy getting all his big gliders up to date with new motors, batteries, mounts etc. Do you suppose cabin fever is setting in?

At SAGE this Saturday, we had a potentially dangerous situation occur after one of our members crashed a big glider. We walked over to survey the damage since it had struck with such an impressive thunk. As we were helping pick up the pieces and discuss what might have happened; smoke began to erupt from the fuselage. You guessed it – one of the lipo batteries was damaged enough in the crash to start on fire. The pilot immediately began putting dirt on it and finally got the fire out, but the damage was already done – one battery ruined, receiver partially melted, and the other battery???

Gaige has been flying some new planes; including an Eflite J-3 Cub (nice), a new Taboo GT dlg (sweet), a CAP 232 (fun) and a P-38 profile (too much like work). I have been trying some touch and goes with my SS. Some aren't too good, but I'll work on it. Another club member just maidened a Cessna C-37 Airmaster yesterday. After discovering on take-off that the ailerons were hooked up backwards; he adjusted that and was back in the air shortly. He decided it was definitely a "keeper".

Stay warm and well. We saw several turkey vultures headed north the other day, so spring maybe around the corner.

12/7/2006:
Hello from the desert!! We have had a few days too windy to fly, but generally fly at least twice a week. Gaige has been working on a couple of BypYaks. He has had some difficulty getting them set up; too much motor and not enough battery.

Have you sent in your AMA renewal yet? Time to get that done if you haven’t already and you can renew online at http://www.modelaircraft.org/.

We hear that it has been cold in Mn, but sounds indoor work is moving along smoothly. We had a note from Chuck that he is fairly well along in repairing his A-26. Hope we will see that fly next summer. Dick has started covering his new bird.

A couple of weeks ago we went to watch a fly-in at TRCC (Tucson Radio Control Club). One of the local superstar pilots flew this model C-5 for the crowd. It usually resides hanging from the ceiling of the local hobby shop. Needless to say, it was an impressive sight; the C-5 has a 15 foot wingspan and weighs 55 pounds. It was built in Germany and shipped over to the hobby shop. When they had the noon drawing for a new JR radio, guess who had the winning ticket? Gaige is now learning to speak and “program” JR. Stay warm and well!!!

11/21/06 Good Morning and Happy Turkey Day to all. Gaige is getting his new smoker ready for the bird right now. We will be smoking him tomorrow, so that we can go flying on Thanksgiving.

Can anyone identify this mystery flyer?? Here is the flying report straight from his mouth: I put in a flight of 30 minutes on an engine run of 4 minutes 45 seconds. I was still a mile high on a really surprising bit of thermal activity and was getting tired and cold so dove down and landed. Adrian put in one flight on his Mayhem. Shot a few landings and then the engine started cutting out occasionally so he hung it up. Good choice. All in all a good day under the conditions. Forty three and about 4 mph wind. Not too bad. We're planning on getting together with a prospective new member for breakfast one of these days soon. Let me know your guess for our “mystery man”.

The SkyGo better known as the MN wiener is a success. Everyone down here loves it. Gaige is enjoying flying it for me until I feel confident to try myself. He also has introduced the SAGE flyers to the Twinjet. They are all impressed with that one too. Gaige just completed an E-Flite Cub which we will try out Thursday with a flying report to follow.

Remember we need some pictures of your projects, rumor has it more of you are flying “choppers” now, pictures to follow.

11/9/2006: Our weather is still beautiful, and it sounded like you had some terrific weather this past week too. Did anyone get out flying? I think the word for next summer is beware of monsters – “Sea Monsters” that is. Adrian is building one; rumor has it that Jack is too, and Gaige has one that he has flown once. Dick forwarded these pictures of Adrian with his as it looks out of the box.

There also seems to be a fleet of mini-helicopters in the Longville-Pequot Lakes area. Adrian flies his in the kitchen, and I am waiting for a picture of Dick trimming Pat’s hair with his.

Jack has listed our club and this blog with the Minnesota RC clubs; check out their website when you have time. The link to it is:http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/minnesota-rc-airplane-clubs.html . I set up the club with its own email address which is llamf@yahoo.com . Please refer any potential new members or interested flyers to that email address and someone will get back to them. This avoids having any personal contact information posted on the blog.

Our local club here in Tucson had its fall classic glider contest this past Saturday. You can check out the results and pictures at:http://www.sageflyers.com/page7.html You might note the picture sequence toward the bottom where one of the contestants actually hit himself and his timer w/his glider and received a cut on his leg. Another safety point to keep in mind as his equipment (spoilers) failed and they had no way of getting out of the way in time to avoid the collision. Also had another frequency interference problem during the contest—no damage as the problem occurred during landing approach and the downed plane won the contest (both categories). Any members considering replacing their radio equipment over the winter might be wise to check out the new 2.4 GHz radios which are being touted as being “interference-free”.

Remember to send in pictures or information about any new purchases or building projects you may have going. Even Linda has a new plane she’s going to bring out next week, the Flying Kielbasa. See ya then.

10/30/06--The sunny SW is beautiful today. The temperature is 76 with light winds at noon. Gaige is in his shop working on a 60” thermal wing; that he hopes to have ready to fly tomorrow.

Jack has reported in that he and Adrian have purchased supplies and have finished 3 pilot safety fences measuring 8 x 3. Pictures will follow as soon as they arrive in my email.

Dick is putting out a challenge. If you don’t want to just see pictures of him and his planes, get some pictures of yourself to me. Dick is working on a large scratch-built, high-wing yet to be officially described much less named. Stay tuned.

Gaige flew a Diamona for the first time Saturday. The Diamona is an electric-powered glider. You can check it out on the SAGE website Saturday report: http://www.sageflyers.com. It is the featured plane. The rest just shows a little maintenance on the field and shed being completed before our annual fall contest next weekend. Clean-up, fix-up is the same all over.

Check out this link http://www.rcuvideos.com/uvideos.php?UID=35&type=public to see some incredible flying at the Tucson Aerobatic Shootout. It was held at TIMPA flying field this past weekend. Fliers competed from across the U. S. and around the world. We went out Sunday to see the freestyle; they seem to go all out on Sunday afternoon. They have nothing to lose but an airplane at that point. We did see one go down after a wing rod broke. Also heard a report of one pilot losing a wing in a similar situation, flipping the plane on its side in “knife edge” and successfully landing and saving the plane. Try that one in your next flying dream.

Remember send some pictures or you’ll just have to look at Dick and Gaige!!! Old planes, new planes, shoveling snow, whatever!!!

Hello from the sunny SW. I think AZ received more rain than MN this past summer. We have horse weeds in our yard that are taller than my head, and they had to bring a Bobcat into the flying field to clear a path for the winch line. Check out our SW club’s activities at this link: http://www.sageflyers.com. Our web meister usually posts a Saturday report every week by Sunday afternoon.

After weeks of diligent searching the illusive SS has been found and returned to Jim G. Jim and Jeri searched; then Jack and Adrian searched some more and finally found it had flown further out than everyone thought. Typical in a lost-plane case like this one.

An incident occurred here at our Maxwell School flying field this past Sunday that I would like to share with you. Maxwell is a renegade field, not AMA santioned, used by many local glider and electric pilots. Most of these pilots are experienced and/or competition level flyers and mishaps are unusual. We enjoy visiting with these fellows and seeing some beautiful, unique and expensive planes. This past Sunday we drove over to pay everyone a visit and renew old friendships. One such friend who was later involved in the Maxwell mayhem, reported it to us the next day and gave me permission to use this on our blog to help save others from similar disasters. In his own words:

1. Tracy ran his Encore (DLG) into a t'phone pole - "Who the he-- put that telephone pole in my way!"
2. I augured my DLG in - switched rx. crystals, but forgot to change the tx. channel. Also forgot to check the controls. Minimal damage.
3. As a result of (2) above, my tx. being on the wrong channel, I crashed Dan's airplane and ruined his $50 lipoly.
4. Don backed into Bill’s truck - I figure $500 - $1,000 for Bill's. Didn't see Don's.
5. Mauro augured the Hurricane (scratch built-semi-scale) in.

Luckily there was no one hurt in these incidents, but lots of property damage and potential for bad feelings among friends. We need to keep safety first in mind always and be extra careful when flying. Hopefully LLAMF flyers can avoid a bad Karma day like this one!!!

Stay warm and well and if you haven't already, get started on a project for next spring!!

10/8/06 Hello to all!!! Aren't the roses beautiful on your home table thanks to Dick sharing them with us. They sure are on ours. Five stars to Dick for thinking of the dinner and roses and getting it all organized. I think everyone is already looking forward to next summer for flying and having fun with friends. For all who couldn't make the get-together; I hope you will be there next year. The food was good and the company was absolutely fabulous. Keep checking the blog over the winter; we will keep you posted on our winter flying and hope that you will send us pictures of your winter activities be it flying or building. I also have a few pictures from the summer that we can all reminisce over. Remember you can add comments whenever you have something you'd like to share.