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Flying High With Electric Power!
The Ampeer ON-LINE!
Fly the Future - Fly Electric! |
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Site Table of Contents
| President: | Vice-President: | Secretary-Treasurer: |
| Ken Myers | Richard Utkan | Rick Sawicki |
| 1911 Bradshaw Ct. | 240 Cabinet | 5089 Ledgewood Ct. W. |
| Commerce Twp., MI 48390 | Milford, MI 48381 | Commerce Twp., MI 48382 |
| (248) 669-8124 | (248) 685-1705 | (2480 685-7056 |
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| Board of Directors: | Board of Directors: | Ampeer Editor |
| David Stacer | Arthur Deane | Ken Myers |
| 16575 Brooklane Blvd. | 21690 Bedford Dr. | 1911 Bradshaw Ct. |
| Northville, MI 48168 | Northville, MI 48167 | Commerce Twp., MI 48390 |
| (248) 924-2324 | (248) 348-2058 | (248) 669-8124 |
| The Next Meeting: Date: Saturday, August 1 Time: 10 a.m.
Place: Midwest RC Society 7 Mile Rd. Flying Field | ||
| Reminder About EFO Flying Season Meetings Ken shares that EFO Flying meeting dates are tentative. | Mid-America Electric Flies 2015 - The 31st Annual The report on this event. |
| Upcoming CARDS Electric Fly In Event Announcement | |
Dates given for the flying season EFO flying meetings are tentative. The date depends on the weather and may change from the one noted in the monthly Ampeer. The EFO Web site has the most current information posted. Also, emails are sent to EFO members if a date change is required. |
The 31st Annual Again this year, it had been one of the wettest weeks ever in southeastern Michigan. The field was in pretty good shape, but the 'lush' grass did prove to be a problem for some planes with smaller wheels. There were more pools of water off the east end of the runway than ever before. There was a 'ring' of extremely high grass surrounding the field, as it had been too wet to hay the area. The EFO and Ann Arbor Falcons thank the Midwest RC Society for allowing us to to use this very nice flying field. Many EFO and Midwest members were out early on Friday morning and helped with the field set up. There is always plenty to do to get ready for this type of event. It is really true that many hands do make light work. Their hard work was very, very much appreciated. Keith Shaw, and members of the Ann Arbor Falcons and Scio Flyers, came out about one o'clock to do the final set up of the large sunshades for the registration, formerly registration and transmitter impound, and to provide additional shade for the pilots. By mid-morning on Friday, we were ready for our guest fliers. Pete and Carolynn Foss and Greg and Lori Cardillo had been camping at the field since Thursday. They also pitched in and helped with the setup. By early Friday afternoon many folks started arriving and immediately started flying on this beautiful summer day. Friday afternoon and evening is always fun. There is a lot of relaxed flying and "catching up" with our many friends. With some truly good flying weather, some great planes took to the air through the afternoon and well into the evening. Unfortunately, swarms of mosquitos drove the folks off the field before any real night flying could be done. Friday, and Friday, evening is a great experience at the Mid-Am. Friday's weather was absolutely perfect. It was one of the very best weather days at the Mid-Am in years! The winds were light. There was sunshine all day. The humidity remained low and the temperature was moderate, for Michigan in July. Saturday was almost a repeat of Friday's perfect weather, but with a bit higher temperature and humidity and a sometimes a south wind. Earlier in the week, the weather folks had predicted rain for Sunday for most of the day. Thank goodness, THEY were wrong! There was a drizzle of rain very, very early in the morning, but by 8:30 the sky started clearing. There were light breezes early. The wind picked up some about noon, but it was another beautiful summer Michigan day. This year, our thirty-seven registered pilots came from all over Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina and Ontario, Canada. For some reason, this year proved even more fun than last year in catching up with our "old friends" and making new friends. That is what this meet is really about. Okay, the really "cool" planes are a very nice bonus. A lot of folks captured the images used to illustrate this article and more are posted online in RC Groups Events section for the Mid-Am. I am sincerely indebted to Denny Sumner, C.J. Wysocki, Rick Sawicki, Bob Weak, Dave Stacer, Martin Irvine and Roger Wilfong for their great photos. Simple plaque awards are presented on Saturday and Sunday. The plaques recognize some of the great planes and pilots flying at the Mid-Am. To receive an award the model must be scratch-built, built from a kit or be an extremely modified ARF. It must also fly at the event. 
C.J. Wysocki photo Denny Sumner, of Canton, MI, flew a beautiful 63-inch Jack Stafford Alon Aircoupe. It received the Best Scale Award. It looks great and flies extremely well!
C.J. Wysocki photo Dave Grife, of Coldwater, MI, brought a de Havilland DH 108 electric ducted fan (EDF) and was awarded Best Ducted Fan. It is very, very impressive in flight.
Rick Sawicki photo Jim Young of Brighton, MI, was awarded Most Beautiful for his Wedell-Williams. It was the prototype for one of his original kit. His kits are available at T&J Models.
C.J. Wysocki photo Denny Sumner of Canton, MI flew a beautifully finished Gee Bee Z. It is a great flying plane and Denny was awarded CD's Choice for it on Saturday.
Dave Stacer photo Dave Stacer, of Northville, MI, flew is Fusion 380 low-wing sport plane. It was scratch-built from plans by Ken Myers. It was his first scratch-build and it is a great flier. Dave was awarded Best Sport Plane for his fine efforts. Thanks for the photo. 
Martin Irvine photo Martin Irving of Kingston, Ontario, Canada brought a nice flying, beautiful Cassutt racer. It weighs in at 3.25 lbs. and uses a 4S A123 2300mAh battery pack Martin was presented with Sunday's Best Scale award. Thanks for the photo. 
Roger Wilfong photo Roger Wilfong from Novi, MI flew his electric RC conversion of the Hitec Hawkeye free flight model. It flies very well and has a unique look with its twin boom tail. Electrolyte EDF. It was awarded Best Mini-Electric. 
Ken Myers photo Ken Myers of Commerce Township (Walled Lake), MI flew his slightly modified, electric conversion of the Sig Four-Star Forty. Like all of Ken's planes, it is red and yellow, but this one sports a rather unique 'hawk' scheme. It was awarded Most Beautiful. 
Rick Sawicki photo Dave Grife, of Coldwater, MI, received a very unusual, almost never happens, second award for his de Havilland DH 108. It was Keith Shaw's CD's Choice Award. Congratulations on this awesome plane Dave!
Once the awards were presented and the pilots' raffle held, it was time for the Annual Steak Sandwich and potluck dinner. Dave Hares and Pam Sockow prepared the steaks and onions. Pam had already worked the Midwest concession stand and then helped out with the potluck. This year, Chris Myers, was also able to help with the setup and clean up of the potluck. Thanks to all three of you very, very much! The pilots, friends and families provided other great foods to go with the steak sandwiches. 
Ken Myers photo As usual, Don Belfort, from West Chester, OH, brought his "traditional" Mid-Am cake. This year's cake noted the 31st birthday of the Mid-Am. The cake tradition has been going on for almost as long as the Mid-America Electric Flies. During, and after, the potluck is a wonderful time to be at this meet. This is the time when folks continue to get in more flights as well as 'sit around' and 'catch up', talk planes, family, and politics and just relax. It is simply a marvelous time to be at the Mid-Am. It was a total surprise to have our old friend, Greg Gimlick, join us again this year after more than a decade. Fantastic! This great tradition WILL BE CONTINUED! It is just too great to let go! The weather was much better than anticipated. The day started with just a bit of drizzle, but it cleared early to a perfect day. Many pilots returned to enjoy the beautiful day and three more folks registered and flew! Flying continued until a little before 2 o'clock. Sunday's awards were presented and the pilots' raffle prizes passed out. Many of the registered pilots helped with the 'break down' of the field, before heading home. That was much appreciated. We would like to thank our sponsors for providing some "goodies" for our participating pilots each day. Mark Rittinger provided plans for two of his great flying planes, a Top Dawg and P-47. Sponsors included:
A very special thanks goes to Joe Hass for making the great donations from Great Planes/Hobbico and Beacon Adhesives happen! Several individuals also donated some very nice raffle items as well. Keith and I thank all of our sponsors very much. We know that the registered pilots, who received items from our sponsors, are very grateful as well. Keith and I cannot thank enough all of the folks from the EFO, Ann Arbor Falcons, Scio Flyers and Midwest RC Society who helped to make this meet the success it is. It is pretty easy to go to a "meet" and enjoy the facilities and forget that it takes a lot of dedicated and hard working people to pull it all together. The physical field needs to be in the best possible condition, the dining facilities, porta johns, registration, concessions, potluck picnic grilling and myriad of other details need to be taken care of. Our behind the scenes folks are the best! Guys and gals, Keith and I cannot be more sincere when we say thank you, and we really couldn't have done it all these years without you!
Keith Shaw handled the flight line beautifully on Saturday and Sunday as the flight line coordinator. He also put on noon demonstration flights both days.
Arthur Deane, president of the Midwest RC Society, headed up the concessions with the help of Margaret Deane and Pam Sockow. Parking and parking directions were handled by the Midwest RC Society members.
Denny Sumner and Dave Stacer handled registration and a bit of transmitter impound. Dave Stacer and Ken Myers are pictured in the photo. Denny took the photo. Gotta love these guys. They are there all of the time to do anything and everything asked of them and more. Thanks so much! Keith and I sincerely thank Denny Sumner, David Stacer, Paul and Pam Sockow, Dave Hares, Arthur Deane, Roger Wilfong, Barb and Bob Weak, and C.J. Wysocki, for all of their super help and support. There were more members of the EFO, Ann Arbor Falcons and the Midwest RC Society who pitched in with other spur of the moment jobs. Thanks to you folks as well! Also, a special thanks goes out to the Midwest RC Society for allowing us to use their field and flying time for the majority of our Mid-Am meets. You guys and gals are the very best! Many folks attending the Mid-Am know Dave as THE MAN attending to the grilling at the Saturday evening potluck. For more than 20 years he's filled this extremely important position. Besides cooking the steaks and sauteing the onions, with an able assist from Pam Sockow, he has been the organizer of the potluck and chief wrangler to see that everything is there for our guests. That is no small feat. Thanks again Dave for another special year at the traditional Saturday evening potluck. Also, a huge thanks to Pam for pitching in after working a full day in the concession stand. Chris Myers was also able to give a helping hand this year during the potluck setup and clean up. Thanks Dear. There are all kinds of flying vehicles that take to the air at the Mid-Am. 
Pete Foss flies these surprisingly well. Snoopy and Woodstock are a sight to behold in the air!
Rick Sawicki photo Ken Myers spots for Joe Hass while he flies his KeeCat, shown below. Information on Joe's conversion of the KeeCat appeared in the July 2015 Ampeer. 
Rick Sawicki photo 
Rick Sawicki photo Keith Shaw prepares to take off his Miles SparrowJet. It is a unique, tail-dragger, fixed gear, Electric Ducted Fan. The plane flies very well, much like a typical low-wing sport plane. It is a beauty in the air.
C.J. Wysocki photo 
Ken Myers photo Lori Cardillo concentrates on flying on Friday afternoon. 
Rick Sawicki photo Don Belfort readies his big, light J-3 Cub for a flight. 
C.J. Wysocki photo Look very carefully at Dave Grife's Me-163 right behind the fuselage. C.J. Wysocki managed to capture the rocket ignition and burn just before Dave went vertical. What a thrilling site that is! 
Denny Sumner photo Mark Rittinger in his handy, dandy pit area with table. Very convenient Mark. 
C.J. Wysocki photo Mark Rittinger's Shockwave was captured on a fast flyby. 
C.J. Wysocki photo Jim Ryan's beautifully crafted Cheyenne. It flies as good as it looks. 
Denny Sumner photo Big Smiles is what the weekend is all about. The photo shows Robert Throne, Jim Ryan and Jim Beagle doing just that.  Paul Sockow and family relax and enjoy the Mid-Am. Plan on joining us next year for the 2016 Mid-Am! Upcoming CARDS Electric Fly In
The Capital Area Radio Drone Society (CARDS) Electric Meet is Saturday, August 22, 2015 Their field is located at 8328 Otto Rd., Grand Ledge, MI. Time is from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Landing Fee is $15, which includes pizza & a soda. The field is available to registered pilots for electric only open flying on Friday Aug 21st from 4-9:00 p.m., Pilot pre-registration and Spectators are welcome. Pilot and airplane requirements:
Site Accomodations:
Contest Director: Marv Thomson To Reach Ken Myers, you can land mail to the address at the top of the page. My E-mail address is: KMyersEFO@theampeer.org |
