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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 6 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 2016 - The 32nd Annual The report on this event. The HTML version has a section of bonus photos, not included in the .pdf version. |
| Sad News Regarding Charles Langley Everydayflyer's son post some news about his father's stroke. | 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 32nd Annual By Ken Myers A Wicked Weather Start! Southeastern Michigan had had no appreciable rain in June and through the first week of July. Many cities had fireworks bans. I was worried about possible LiPo fires at the Mid-Am. Greg Cardillo, of the Skymasters' RC Club, arrived at the Midwest RC Society 7 Mile Road flying field, in his RV, on Thursday evening, July 7. A storm blew through the area, but caused no problems at the field, and the rain was much appreciated. He was on hand to help Denny Sumner, Roger Wilfong, Kevin Hille, C.J. Wysocki, Keith Shaw, and myself set up the flying field for the upcoming meet. The signs had to be set out at the road, as well as other small details at the field. Keith Shaw's two large canopies were also erected. One of Keith's canopies is used to house the registration and frequency control and the other is where Keith parks his fantastic models. There was a lot to do. The dining canopy, tables and chairs, from Kenny & Company (Party Rentals), had arrived on Thursday. The dining canopy was set up then. The rain on Thursday night was not a problem. By mid to late afternoon on Friday, many of our out of town guests started arriving. Mark Wolf (Brownsburg, IN), Don Belfort (West Chester, OH), John Kauk (Topeka, KS), Doug Ingraham (Rapid City, SD), Martin Irvine (Kingston, Ont., Canada), Jim Ryan (Cincinnati, OH), along with local fliers, set up their E-Z UP canopies and started some evening flying. It was a beautiful evening. Friday afternoon and evening is always fun. There is a lot of relaxed flying and "catching up" with our many friends. Friday, and Friday evening, is a great experience at the Mid-Am. 
Enjoying Friday Afternoon On the way home from the flying field that evening, I drove under some pretty heavy rain showers and thought, "Good, we needed this rain." I had been home only a few minutes when I received a call from Greg. Shortly, after all the folks left for the evening, a tremendous storm, with extremely high winds, hit the field. Greg and his camping buddy, Agnes the dog, were fine but there was a lot of wind damage. I got hold of Keith and told him I was on the way back to the flying field because we had storm damage. When I arrived I saw that Mark's E-Z Up was rolled into a ball, one of Keith's large canopies was terribly twisted and a mess, John's canopy was bent, and the dining canopy was down and torn. Yikes!!! 
Greg helped me sort out the dining canopy mess. Five of the long spikes holding it to the ground were pulled out, many of side poles and a main pole had fallen and the right 1/3 of the canopy had a huge rip in it. We semi-erected it, so it could be used, if I couldn't get hold of Kenny & Co. Fortunately, I was able to contact Frank Kenny and he assured me he'd have a replacement dining canopy up by the start of the meet the next day. He did!!! Thanks Frank! Greg and I extricated Mark's E-Z Up from the pole it was tangled on and moved it out of the way. We inspected John's canopy and found it bent but somewhat usable. Greg and I set Keith's canopy top on the ground and removed the three bent poles. By then, Keith had arrived, but it was getting late, after 9:30 p.m. Keith was able to make it to a Home Depot just before closing and had three new poles cut. The canopy was set up, ready for use very early the following morning, Saturday. Whew. Saturday started off totally overcast and extremely cool for southeastern Michigan in July. The winds turned out to be 'moderate', a far cry from the high winds predicted by the weather prognosticators. The sun came out after noon, and things warmed up for some nice flying during the day and great weather for the on-field potluck and evening flying. Sunday was warm and sunny with lightly shifting breezes. It was a great day for flying. 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 Jim Young, of Brighton, MI, flew a beautiful Monocoupe 90A. It received the Best Scale Award. It looks great and flies extremely well! Great design Jim!
John Kauk photo Dave Grife, of Coldwater, MI, brought an Airworld Me-262 electric ducted fan (EDF) and was awarded Best Ducted Fan. It is very, very impressive in flight. It comes somewhat in kit form, but there is a lot of work to be completed by the builder.
Greg Cardillo photo Mark Rittinger, of Roseville, MI, was awarded Most Beautiful for his Pharaoh low-wing sport plane. The plane not only looks great, but it flies very nicely.
C.J. Wysocki photo Mark Rittinger, of Roseville, MI, flew his new Skoda-Kauba V4. It is a great flying plane and Mark was awarded CD's Choice for it on Saturday.
Greg Cardillo Archive photo 2014 Mid-Am Denny Sumner, of Canton, MI, flew his Don Dewey's New Era III ex-pattern style, low-wing sport plane. Denny built and converted it from a vintage kit. Denny was awarded Best Sport Plane for his fine efforts.
CJ Wysocki photo Denny Sumner, of Canton, MI, brought his nice flying, beautiful Mooney Mite. Denny was presented with Sunday's Best Scale award.
CJ Wysocki photo Mark Rittinger, of Roseville, MI, flew his small, 3.5 oz. Dauntless. It was awarded Best Mini-Electric. 
CJ Wysocki photo Jim Young, of Brighton, MI, with his beautiful Monocoupe 90A, received the Most Beautiful Award on Sunday.
Dave Grife, of Coldwater, MI, received the Best Multi-Motor award on Sunday for his Me-262. 
CJ Wysocki photo Mark Rittinger, of Roseville, MI, received the CD's Choice award again on Sunday. Receiving the CD's Choice award on both days hardly ever happens. Ken selects the CD's Choice on Saturday and Keith selects it on Sunday. They were both very impressed with this plane! Jim Young is seen launching Mark's plane for another great flight. Once the awards are presented, and the pilots' raffle held, it was time for the Annual Steak Sandwich and potluck dinner. Dave Hares and Dave Stacer prepared the steaks and onions. Dave Stacer had already worked pilot registration and then helped out with the potluck. He provided the much needed help in preparation and clean up. A HUGE thanks go to both Daves. 
Ken Myers photo As usual, Don Belfort, from West Chester, OH, brought his "traditional" Mid-Am cake. This year's cake celebrated the 32nd 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. 
Ken Myers photo It was a total surprise to have our old friend, Doug Ingraham, join us this year after more than a decade. Fantastic! This great tradition WILL BE CONTINUED! It is just too great to let go! During the evening flying time, I flew the Old Fogey 1.22x. Keith Shaw asked, "Does it loop?" I said I didn't know, as it was used as a primary, introductory trainer. After loading in a new battery, Keith flew it. Even with the reduced control throws, Keith looped, rolled and stall turned all over the sky with it. Does it loop? You betcha.  The photo of the Old Fogey 1.22x was not taken at the Mid-Am. It is from the Skymasters' Web site of photos from their electric fly-in. 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 Pharaoh and Omen III. A very special thanks goes to Joe Hass for making the great donations from Hobbico and Beacon Adhesives happen! Hobbico: Flyzone Extra 300SX Brushless Rx-R 41.5" & Hobbico hat Beacon Adhesives: several 1 oz. FOAM-TAC Adhesive & FOAM-FINISH Retro RC/Mark Freeland: Baby Biwinger & camp e'Racer Roger Wilfong Maxford USA Nieuport-17 WWI EP 60" ARF Doug Ingraham 6 vintage RC kits Martin Irvine - many vintage, full-scale aircraft books (proved to be a HUGE hit! KM) Ken Myers Flyzone Extra 300SX Brushless Rx-R 41.5" Keith and I cannot thank enough all of the folks from the EFO, Ann Arbor Falcons, 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, registration, concessions, potluck picnic grilling and a myriad of other details need to be taken care of. Our behind the scenes folks are the best! Guys, 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. 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. 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, Dave Hares, Arthur Deane, Roger Wilfong, Barb and Bob Weak, C.J. Wysocki, Kevin Hille, Norm Peters, Pete Waters and Charlie Dochenetz, and especially this year, Greg Cardillo 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 sautéing the onion, with an able assist from Dave Stacer, 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 Dave Stacer for pitching in after working a full day at registration. Dave Stacer was also able to give a helping hand this year during the potluck setup and clean up. There are all kinds of flying vehicles that take to the air at the Mid-Am. 
C.J. Wysocki photo
At the turn of the century, Jim Ryan, designed, published and produced kits for several very successful 'Speed 400' stand-off scale kits. He flew his 2002 F4F Wildcat and P-38 once again at this year's Mid-Am. 
Greg Cardillo photo
Robert Throne flew his beautiful, Jim Young designed, Monocoupe as well as his converted Goldberg Anniversary Cub. Both are great fliers. 
C.J. Wysocki photos
Jim Ryan, of Cincinnati, OH, once again had his great flying OH-6 LOACH scale helicopter. It uses T-Rex 600 mechanics and a scale body. Jim love's flying this one all the time. 
EFO archive photo Keith Shaw prepares to take off his GeeBee, in 1989, at the Mid-Am. 
C.J. Wysocki photo (2016) Keith recently refurbished the GeeBee, note that I said refurbished, not rebuilt, and flew it very well, once again at the 2016 Mid-Am. 
Greg Cardillo photo Keith at the Mid-Am in 2016. 
Greg Cardillo photo Not sure what the grimace is for, but that's me, Ken Myers, CD, at the 2016 Mid-Am. Yep, both Ken and Keith have gotten a bit more gray over the years, but we are still very much enthused about electrically powered models. Steve Labuta captured Ken's Son of Swallow, Old Fogey 1.22x and modified Sig 4-Star 40. Pictured below. 
During the noon demos, Keith flew his crowd pleasing Bugatti, as well as the the Goon, Horton and GeeBee. 
Greg Cardillo photo 
Mark Freeland, mister Retro RC, demonstrated the fun flying ability of his new Saucerus RC. What a fun flying aircraft! 
Greg Cardillo Photo Mr. Bill Brown brought his Maxford 1/6 Bleriot XI ARF for Keith to maiden for him.
 Steve Labuta captured Dave Grife's planes on the ground. The following photos are not in the .pdf version of this issue. Barb Weak provided the following early Saturday morning photos. Thank you Barb.  Charlie Dochenetz, far left, Kevin Hille, center, Pete Waters, right, and Arthur Deane, Midwest RC Society president, back to camera, prepare the concession stand early Saturday morning.  Dave Grife readies his T-45 for a flight as Jim Ryan, Robert Throne, and Doug Ingraham look on. Don Belfort can also be seen checking out the T-45 in the photo below.   The west end of the flight line (above) and east end of the flight line (below) are shown very, very early on the chilly Saturday morning. Dave Grife returns the Me-262 to the pits in the photo above.   Many of Dave Grife's excellent flying planes are shown in this photo.  Keith Shaw's demo planes, the Bugatti, Goon and GeeBee are shown in this photo. John Kauk provided the following photos. I edited them for resolution for use on the Web and cropped them. If you'd like a high resolution photo of your plane, please contact John. Thanks so very, very much for the great photos John!  Dave Grife's Mini-Avanti is shown above and large scale Mystery Ship is shown below.   Mark Rittinger's Precious Metal P-51 racer is shown above and Pharaoh sport plane is shown below.   This is Don Belfort's Miles and Atwood Special. The full-scale was the winner of the 1935 Cleveland Air Races. According to Don, "It started life as a rubber powered plan enlarged to 1/3 scale. I do have the original rubber powered plan if someone wants to copy it. A google search will show the green to be more of a pea green, but it does have the stringers showing." Sad News Regarding Charles Langley
Charles Langley's son posted the following about Charles, AKA everydayflyer, on RC Groups. "I just wanted to let everyone know that the day before yesterday (July 15, I believe KM) my father Everydayflyer username on here and on Helifreak had a massive Stroke and he is in the hospital. He cannot use his left arm or hand at all, and they're going to be doing rehab for him to get his speech back. Yesterday was the longest, worst day I have had in many, many years. I guess I was in shock all day and the way my mom was acting she was also. My parents have been married 53 years. My dad is 71 years old. Upcoming CARDS Electric Fly In
Upcoming CARDS Electric Fly-in On Saturday, August 27, the CARDS (Capital Area Radio Drone Squadron) present their 6th Annual Electric Fly-in from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The CARDS flying field is located at 8328 Otto Rd., Grand Ledge, MI, 48837. The event is open to all RC electric fliers that have proof of current AMA membership. Planes, multi-copters and helicopters are all welcome. The flying field features the best two runways in Mid-Michigan. The field will be available to registered pilots for electric only open flying on Friday, Aug. 26 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. There are pilot prizes and a raffle on Saturday. The landing fee is $15, which includes pilot pizza and soda. For more information contact the CD, Marv Thomson, phone 517-802-7675 or email Marv. There will be a pop and water concession.
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 |
