River Valley Flyers Electric meet.

[tdswan]

Finally got the dates for my club's annual electric fun-fly. This is a mixed event, helis or planes. Anything without a internal combustion engine (or external) is allowed to fly provided you hold a current AMA membership (and pay the entry fee).
There will be food, raffles and events scheduled provided 5 or more pilots sign up. There should not be any problems with heli/plane mixes because the field is "L" shaped and the planes can stay on the active RR and helis will use the other flight line. There is primative camping allowed. No electric and no running water, so bring large batteries or generators.
The field is aany pilot's dream. The grass is like carpet and there's no major obstructions for quite some distance. Nothing but flat marshland all around!
Last year we didn't have any helis there aside from myself and it was too windy to take the T-Rex up.
For more info, go to www.rivervalleyflyers.com

http://www.rivervalleyflyers.com/photos/image32.jpg
http://www.rivervalleyflyers.com/electric06/img86m.jpg
http://www.rivervalleyflyers.com/electric06/img5m.jpg
http://www.rivervalleyflyers.com/electric06/img66m.jpg

[heli-cuzz]

td, that's not grass.... that's TURF :D

[jschief]

I will see you there Td. Maybe by then I will have my Titan Mini......

[tdswan]

Sound good, chief! I look forward to seeing ya!

You really need to feel the grass to appreciate it, Cuzz. It's just like carpet! Right in the middle of a huge marsh, there's this green jewel! It probably saved someone some money one time or another with the "bounce factor". :p Are you planning a trip out? Chief and I will probably be the only heli guys there. Winds were so bad last year that I didn't even get to fly the T-Rex, after 5 I got to fire the gasser up, though. :D

[heli-cuzz]

I know about grass, td. ;)

Actually, I was in turf management for 5 years. Maintaining the grounds/greens at a high-end golf course on cape cod. Your field is well taking care of and the turf looks healthy enough that you could cut sod and sell it, not that one would want to. :)

As for making it there, I would love to and will make it one day, but with a brand new baby on the way. I don't think it will be possible this time around. :(

[tdswan]

Congrats on the new baby! I know, it's quite a hike to take for a smaller event like this. Maybe Owatonna? ;)

[tdswan]

Bump!

The event's getting close! Any plans changed Cuzz? ;) You're probably dying to get out of the house!

[tdswan]

Bump!
Only 2 more weeks!

[vapochilled]

From Mapquest

Total Est. Time: 15 hours, 39 minutes
Total Est. Distance: 980.47 miles

That's some road trip! I'd love to go, but that's an bloody long drive

[tdswan]

I once took a road trip to Maryland just to look at a boat! Left Friday night and got back on Sunday....and didn't buy the boat. It's not that far! LOL! :p

[DJB2.0]

Well, Im actually from Wisconsin Rapids. Thats my home town, where I was born and raised.
I often drove from south eastern Connecticut to Wisconsin Rapids in just one day. I've made the round-trip about 10 times.
Sometimes, I would stop at the half way point, around Youngstown, OH, or western Pennsylvania. If I left western PA anytime before 8am EST, I would almost always make it to WR, WI several hours before dark.
Really, once you've made the drive a few times, you start to realize that this country of hours isnt that big.

If you guys really were going to Wisconsin Rapids for the Fun Fly, I suggest going around Chicago. Chi-Town rush hour could slow you down by over 3 hours EASILY.
If coming from the east, take I-80 all the way west untill you get to the I-39 junction. Then its just a quick trip up I-39 a few hours untill you get to Wisconsin Rapids (middle of the state)
Of course, ONLY take the I-39 direct route if you anticipate Chicago traffic.
I80 to I39 directly is the LONGEST, LONLIEST, BORINGEST drive in this entire country. I would avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

even if you don't fly, you should make a trip to Wisconsin just for the Leinenkugels and the cheese curds.
You really havent lived untill you have had Leinenkukugels and cheese curds. :D

[tdswan]

Bump! We're setting up tomorrow! Looks like the winds are even going to cooperate with us this weekend! I'm glad, it's been windy (15+ mph) and STORMY lately. Had baseball sized hail today. :eek: Weather for the weekend looks BEAUTIFUL! See the weather here: http://usairnet.com/cgi-bin/launch/code.cgi?sta=KISW&model=avn&state=WI&Submit=Change+Location

[tdswan]

You guys missed a good time. I only flew the heli once....and had 3 glitches in a 2 minute flight.
The airwaves were a little busy around my frequency so I kept the heli on the ground.
The winds were a bit high for the Mini Titan, too.
I did buy a F-27C Stryker (brushless PNP) that impressed the hell out of anyone who could see that little sucker whiz by the flightline.
What a fast little foamy! Here's a panoramic view from Friday night.
I stayed Friday and Saturday, but had enough sun by Sunday and stayed home.

[blax1]

Hi Td
AWESOME PHOTO!!!!!! :cool:
It looks like a beautiful day and check out the scenery, love the Webber BBQ, and even an ice cream van, I'm sitting here watching all this, and you say you couldn't do much flying because of frequency hassles :( I'm truly amazed.. I find that very unfortunate... Like why??? You guys spend so much time, money and effort on your wonderful machines, but radio glitches kill you off, it to me is amazing, Why don't you invest in the new 2.4 GHz technology and you can fly your backsides off, I just don't get it?? I suppose some of you are on the fence waiting for the new Futaba 9 channel, we all have our favorites and we have all used the same gear for a long time, but more and more, i hear about radio problems etc.Some of you will take me to task over this statement and my opinion, which you are all entitled to, everyone has their opinions and should express it when they feel like it. Over on Heliraptor a guy smashed up his $3500.00 USD thats $4550.00 here,Hurricane Heli :eek: because of a radio glitch, holy cow!!!! I just don't get it :confused:

[Helifino]

Cool pic td! Got any more?



Hey blax, keep your opinions to yourself! :p (just kidding)

[tdswan]

That's about all of the pics I took. There were all planes there aside from me, so I didn't really find anything interesting to take pics of. The panoramic was taken while standing on the tonneau cover on the Avalanche. It was a nice vantage point up there! :p

Ralph, I know....I'm planning on the Spectrum upgrade, but it'll take about 600+ dollars to get a module and receivers for all of the machines. I've got it on a "low priority" savings system. It's slowly building. I'm also building up a crash fund as well. Once that's built up, the Spectrum fund will grow much faster. ;)

[heli-cuzz]

That's a ginormous field. :D Sorry I couldn't make it,td. Next year is looking better. As long as no more new babies come along. :D

[tdswan]

I'm gonna hold you to that, Cuzz! ;)

[blax1]

Hi Td
I'm glad you took my "opinion" in the way it was intended :cool: 2.4GHz isn't the bomb proof either? It just seemed a shame, I know you were looking forward to the day :)

[tdswan]

That might be sooner than I originally though, Ralph. Things are better on the financial front with a considerable raise at work and a nice performance bonus! We'll see. I've got a couple of other upgrades I wanna buy, but it's still high on the list. :D

[heli-cuzz]

I'm gonna hold you to that, Cuzz! ;)

:cool: I think by next year my flying will be worthy to fly at out of state funflys and such.

*buys a years worth of birthcontrol* :D

[tdswan]

Pics are posted of the fun fly. You can view them at: http://www.rivervalleyflyers.com/elec2007/index.html
There's even a few pics of my sexy mug on there with the Stryker and MT!

[vapochilled]

Pics are posted of the fun fly. You can view them at: http://www.rivervalleyflyers.com/elec2007/index.html
There's even a few pics of my sexy mug on there with the Stryker and MT!

now why hack up a glow motor to hide an electric? lol

[tdswan]

Yes, I giggled a bit when I saw that, too. :p