The Flightmasters' Fun-Fly near Fort Smith, Arkansas

Yeah, at almost the last moment, I stopped my waffling and decided to go, spending the night in a parking spot at Spring Hill campground after a hard drive with a lot of stops.  The place was chocked full (it IS a holiday, goofy), but perhaps my ragged appearance and red eyes inspired some pity from the kind folks in the office.  They let me pay a small amount in order to be able to issue me a parking permit, and pointed me toward a nice level spot for my rig.  Hard to believe a parking space could look so good.



Rolled in early on Monday as the guys were setting up, and started dragging my stuff out.  They offered to let me camp overnite, which was great...makes packing out a little easier.





I paid a price for my lack of decisiveness though...forgetting to take my little model airplane trailer to help haul my stuff to the flightline.  

Several hikes back and forth to the van just about put me out of it altogether.  The heat seemed way worse than S.M.A.L.L. and the Sig Fly-In---which I thought were fairly warm.

I managed to get too warm and had to flop in the shade for a while, missing the drawing for a couple planes.



Probably just as well, since I've 'bout got wings sticking out of the windows of my shop anyway...

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There was some pretty steady flight instruction going on through the early part of the day.  Wish I'd gotten a better close-up of the faithful battered foamie trainer that's obviously introduced a lot of fledgling pilots to R/C.  I like this kind of stuff.





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Got to meet Mr. Olin Rutherford, the AMA Associate Vice President for District VIII.  Great guy, who put up several flights with his large Fokker DVII.











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They had a pretty good turn-out, with a bunch of flying before and right after the BBQ folks set up their lunch stand, but the heat apparently drove a lot of flyers back home toward mid afternoon.  By 4:00, a couple guys and myself had the place to ourselves.  

We were warned in the pilots' meeting that the swamps to the south east of the field were highly restricted conservation areas, and that the only hope of retrieving a downed plane from there was to contact the local authorities to see if they'd make an effort to bring it out.

The other sides had some fairly heavy woods, so it was a good idea to keep the babies in close. 





Them Drone People





This Goonie Bird had some trim issues on take-off, but recovered, and put in some very stately passes.





Eventually got my stuff together and launched some flights, with only one near-miss...that was just about as close as I'd ever care to see:



I knew we'd gotten close, but was shocked when the GoPro showed how close I came to ruining a guy's day.
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Later in the day, there was only me and and couple other guys still flying, but the coolest part was still to come.  

Drones had been buzzing around all day and I guess I'd gone deaf to them.  Right after a flight with my 3 Meter B.O.T., a young man named Reed walked up and said he had videoed some of the sailplane's flight.  I had no idea his drone was up there, and was REAL surprised and happy when he volunteered to let me down-load the footage.





It was great.  I'm still crunching the video, and will post footage soon.  I had unknowingly caught his drone in a couple frames from the GoPro the B.O.T. was packing.



Wish I'd gotten the young pilot's info so I could send a proper Thank You, but am gonna post to the site and thank him there.

Some random photos:





















Tuesday morning...just me and some assorted critters...



Ought to have some video finished soon...as I fight this incredible urge to buy myself a drone !

Oh, the drone urge is for real. I wrote "Pervasive" at first, but that's unfair, the little machines can be used for so much fun, like you witness at the fly-ins. I watched a C/L stunt ship flying a pattern through the lens of a multirotor, and it's amazing at the different things you see from all the possible perspectives. Like a vertical 8 from 300' over the pilot. It betrays the reality of the hidden hemisphere we fly with strings and wires inside of.

Kim, I'm glad you are getting around and taking advantage of your freedom to roam. It makes me feel good to know my buddies are out there making life go on.
Rusty

RknRusty wrote:

Kim, I'm glad you are getting around and taking advantage of your freedom to roam. It makes me feel good to know my buddies are out there making life go on.
Rusty

Thanks Rusty !! I just hope you still feel that way when you look out your front window and see me in your driveway !!!

(---Don't sweat the 'Cousin Eddie Scenario'...I don't even own a bathrobe!!!---)

RknRusty wrote:Oh, the drone urge is for real. I wrote "Pervasive" at first, but that's unfair, the little machines can be used for so much fun, like you witness at the fly-ins. I watched a C/L stunt ship flying a pattern through the lens of a multirotor, and it's amazing at the different things you see from all the possible perspectives. Like a vertical 8 from 300' over the pilot. It betrays the reality of the hidden hemisphere we fly with strings and wires inside of.
Rusty

Your comment jarred my memory:  I'd actually scanned this with you in mind back when you were really getting into pattern work, but forgot to post it.  It's a decidedly low-tech, old-school (like 1963) version of your drone-provided perspective of a stunter's patterns.





Flintstone Kim

Kim wrote:

RknRusty wrote:

Kim, I'm glad you are getting around and taking advantage of your freedom to roam. It makes me feel good to know my buddies are out there making life go on.
Rusty

Thanks Rusty !!  I just hope you still feel that way when you look out your front window and see me in your driveway !!!

(---Don't sweat the 'Cousin Eddie Scenario'...I don't even own a bathrobe!!!---)

I've got those white shoes for you that you liked so much. You can put them on as soon as you get here and wear them out to Fort Jax. The Rangers will love 'em. And you'll no doubt be ready for a cold one, so you can have a slug of my Bud, Lol.

I'm hitting the sack and will read your next post with the bowling ball and wires in the morning.

Later,
Rusty