District VIII
HOPE EVERYONE is enjoying the summer weather and having fun flying. As I write this in March, it is hard to talk about summer. I just came from Fort Worth, Texas, where the wind chill was in the 20s and there were folks flying RC Combat!
Lone Star Nationals Combat
The day I traveled to Greater Southwest Aero Modelers field for the Lone Star Nationals Combat event, the temperature was 85°. By that evening it was in the 30s and windy. I didn’t have clothes for that. A late-night trip to the store discovered they had taken winter clothes out and stocked summer, so a windbreaker was the best I could get. Saturday morning dawned with 36° and winds of 25–35 mph. Some of the guys reported seeing spitting snow. I nearly froze at the pilots’ meeting, but CD Ed Kettler drove on and had a great safety discussion.
Jack Hogan, Associate Vice President for North and East Texas, and I watched in amazement as they prepared to fly Slow Survivable Combat (SSC) with .15-size airplanes. The launches were the most exciting part of the event, with numerous incidents with terra firma in every heat.
Despite the cold and wind, a lot of fun and camaraderie was had with some pretty good aerial wars as well. The three-day event had good weather on Friday and Sunday, but the day I was there was miserable at best. Attendees were from across the district, as well as brave souls from Denver and Ohio who come in annually to participate.
Planning is already underway for Lone Star Nationals 2010. Hope they have ordered better weather! Plan to attend even if you don’t fly Combat — you will enjoy watching.
Texas Indoor New Year (TINY), San Angelo
I attended the annual Texas Indoor New Year (TINY) event in San Angelo, Texas. It was well organized by CD Mark Greer. Everyone loved the size of the facility and the great fun. There was balloon busting, full-contact Combat, Pattern, and Freestyle. Rick, Brandon, and Brian Chitty flew a formation demo with Mike Hammel of Fancy Foam. They flew the little Euro-Jet and did a great job. The picture was too dark to print.
Twelve-year-old Johnathan Jennings really blew me away with the improvement in his flying since the last time I watched him. He placed second in Freestyle with some serious competitors. Photos are a little scarce, but Brian Chitty provided one of Pattern winners Rick and Brandon Chitty.
Event Results
Entry Pattern F3P-C:
- First place: Rick Chitty
- Second place: Johnathan Jennings
- Third place: Mike Hammel
F3P-A Pattern:
- First place: Brandon Chitty
- Second place: Brian Chitty
- Third place: Dennis Robbins
Freestyle:
- First place: Brandon Chitty
- Second place: Johnathan Jennings
- Third place: Brian Chitty
Have fun and fly safely! See you on the flightline.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
