District X
FRM is their club in Fresno, California, and they fly the blimp at Fresno State men's basketball games in the Save Mart Center. The blimp has a Spektrum radio and drops coupons for the crowd. They fly it before the game and during halftime. According to John, it's a lot of fun to see the great crowd reaction as it comes out and flies over the court.
The First-to-Fly Fun-Fly and Chili Feed
Modelers will come up with any reason for a flying event, and the Northern California Radio Control Unlimited Flyers are no different. A chili feed? Sure, why not. A club's first flight of the New Year? You bet. Two reasons, one event!
I am not sure how many of these January 1 chili feeds we have had, but if I were to guess I would say somewhere around 10. The weather was foggy and cold early and stayed cloudy and cold nearly all day, but that didn't bother the modelers. This year's event started with:
- Six gallons of homemade chili
- Three pans of cornbread
- Much more food
As you can see, the fire was a nice place to hang out. It was a fly, hang-out-by-the-fire, eat-hot-chili kind of day — perfect! Brian Waligorski flew his Wingo and it was the first airplane to fly in 2009. The fog was too low for most aircraft at that time of the morning. Tyler Armstrong was playing in the fog with his Chip Hyde CAP X.
One couple stayed the night on New Year's Eve at the field, and sometime around 7:30 a.m. I showed up, took the fire barrel over to the normal gathering place, and began to feed it wood to keep the masses nice and warm.
Shortly after that another flier drove onto club property, followed by others. I don't know how many actually attended, but again, if I were to guess I would say 50–60 easily. I do know all the chili and cornbread was eaten and people flew all day.
District X Vice President Jim Giffin and his wife came out to say hello, and members from a few local clubs came as well. There was a wide variety of airplanes: everything from a tiny foamy helicopter to a 128.75-inch electric B-36.
The event lasted long into the evening and into the dark for a few of the truly dedicated (or is that crazy?), with everybody having a great time no matter when they left. Events and other gatherings like this are great for a club. We have been talking about this day ever since. Plan to attend your club's next event — no matter how cold it is, you will enjoy it.
The fog had to lift before I would fly the B-36, but when it did it flew beautifully. Scratch-built by Rich Jennings and me, the B-36 is powered by six Scorpion motors and speed controllers, and it uses Excalibur batteries from Innovative Model Products.
—Mike Brown
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
