So now summer is here.  The days are hot and humid, mosquito's are fierce, and the yard work is never done, but at least it stays light until late those willing can get some flights in.  Lately the weather and my work schedule have cooperated, so I've been able to get out flying more often.

Toward the middle of June, I was finally able to get out and practice for the upcoming contests.  My Legacy seems to be a real competitive package, both the motor and plane, but the Thunderbird and I have yet to arrive at any sort of understanding as to who the boss is.  So far I believe the plane is winning.

At the Pewaukee contest, it was windy - as in very windy.  I put up one official flight, but bailed out of it about half way through and passed on the second round because of the wind.  John Christensen and Jeff Welliver were more manly than I, however, and toughed out both rounds.  Each came home with a trophy for their efforts.  Sina spent the previous couple of weeks practicing for the contest and got screwed when he got there because the grass hadn't been mowed and his plane with wheel pants couldn't take off.  The Pewaukee guys offered to make some concessions for Sina, take off from boards or carpet, but that doesn't address the landing issue and probably isn't fair to the people that did struggle with the grass.

Sig came two weeks later and our Club had its usual great showing with 19 members at the contest.  All of us had fun and that was due in large part to the efforts of Mike Pratt.  Here’s a man with personality and a sense of humor second to none.  It’s great to have him back in the Midwest where he belongs.  My hope is that Mike can drag the Sig Company out of the pit they are in and once again supply the control line community with worthwhile products.  I don’t want to seem negative, but lets face the facts: they put on a great contest, but don’t seem to have much interest in control line beyond that and haven’t added any new kits to their product line since Toby was a minnow.

After the Sig contest, came our 7^th Annual Kids Kontest.  The day started out rainy, but by about 10AM, the sun came out and we got the contest underway.  I really want to take some time to thank all the Club members for the work they put in to make this event possible.  I would mention their names, but there simply isn’t enough space in this newsletter.  We had a lot of kids flying (around 20 I think) and quick math puts me at about 100 training flights plus or minus a handful.  As usual, the competition was stiff and all the kids had fun.  Thanks to the local hobby shops because all the kids went home with a prize and an award, and hopefully the interest to continue on with the sport.

Next up on my contest agenda is Fargo.   I think this will be my sixth trip there, and I really enjoy the contest.  I like flying off the concrete, and it just seems like a relaxed and fun contest.  Soon after the Fargo contest will be our 5^th Annual Stunt Contest.  Once again, I’ll be looking for help putting this on, and my hope is that the people we’ve been with at other contests wills top by and visit us at ours.  This being the fifth year is also what we decided is the decision year as to whether or not we continue having this contest.  Our next meeting is on July 29^th and although I have to work that night, I’ll do my best to be there.  In any event, I’m sure there will be plenty of pictures and stores from the past month to justify attending.

See you there,
Keith Sandberg

Vice President's Column

This has been a really good month here at the southern wing of the Piston Poppers.  We have some projects finally bearing fruit (another way of saying I’m a terribly slow builder).  Ryan got over his dislike of the bigger .15 size planes and now the 1/2A’s are on the outs.  Well, at least I won’t have to scrounge as many Cox glow heads at ransom prices.

I got busy one day with the Ukey and started flying inverted and doing outsides and all that.  Sometimes I do a maneuver that can be recognized as something from the pattern.  And I learned the dramatic lesson of what happens overhead when your plane hasn’t got enough side area.  It drops like a safe falling off a high place.  When you’re under it.

Most fun of all was our trip to the SIG contest.  It was great to see so many of the Piston Poppers there at a contest that far away.  Bob had a Skyray race that looked to be more fun than should be legal, and won a well-deserved second.  Sina flew the best patterns I have seen him turn in.  Nice job!  And after wrestling a bit with needle settings on that Saito 56, Keith turned in a 497 flight for second in Advanced that really shows how much skill he really has.  Jeff extending his string of bad luck with a short tank that ran dry in the cloverleaf of a very nice flight.  Bill Calkins losing his ARF Nobler on its third flight.  The clevis pulled off the threads (buy American!).

Some snapshots of things seen and heard at SIG:

·         The surprisingly lumpy airstrip that makes hitting level flight a real puzzle.

·         Five feet on one side may be TWO feet on the other!

·         Bill Calkins and friends doing carrier.  Sorry gang, but this is a strange sport.  Pilot hanging on for dear life in the high speed laps, and then nursing the thing around at virtually no airspeed for the low speed laps, onto DQ it by blowing the landing…

·         Bill C. getting a DQ for flying backwards…

·         Half A combat planes that sound like Singer sewing machines on 440 volts.

·         Hazel Sig in her very modified golf-cart-mobile.  She took Ryan for a ride and completely bowled him over.  I’m drawing the line at 100MPH rides in the red Corvette, though.

·         Ryan receiving recognition and a Deweybird Kit for his work running scores.

·         Stories about learning to use the SIG factory laser cutter.  Did you know theirs draws up to 400amps?  Geez.

·         Pete Mazur telling about ordering decaf coffee on the Concorde and watching in horror as the stew made instant (the man is an expert on fine coffee; fine autos like Jaguars, as well as Carrier flying and nuclear physics, among other things).

·         All the lies, d*** lies that statistics traded under the coffee tent and around the pits.  And best of all, the easygoing friendship of a bunch of great guys doing their favorite thing.  You shoulda been there!

See you at the field,
Kelvin Heath

My First Sig Contest

As a new member to the club, I have to say that I had never been to a control-line contest.  “Sig” was a name I most heard and was the closest.

I had been keeping the date in mind with the intentions of flying down in my Experimental Thorp T-18.  As the weekend approached it appeared the weather would be ideal.  IN the meantime, Jim Gevay approached me with interest of flying down with me.

We lifted into the clear skies at 7AM Saturday morning.  The 1-1/2 hour flight down was in about as good of conditions that anybody could ask for.  Bob Cheney had agreed to pick us up at the Grinnell Airport, so a fly by of the Sig field was in order to notify our chauffeur that we were here.

The contest was well organized and got off to prompt start.  What to watch first was the dilemma that I faced.  All the events looked equally interesting.  When the carrier event started, I couldn’t help but be drawn down to that part of the field.  The fast laps that almost looked like person flying couldn’t hold on anymore followed by the slow flight or should I say “HOVER” flight.  What a sight to see for the first time.

To sum things up, I’m sure I will again travel to one of these contests.  Possibly the NATS.

Jim Borg

My Day at Sig

This year I had the opportunity to visit the Sig contest for the first time.  I heard that Jim Borg was interest in flying down to the Sig in his T-18.  So we planned to go on Saturday if the weather looked good.  Saturday dawned crystal clear and we took off early for a beautiful flight.  Navigation was a snap, circle around east of St. Paul and then follow the section lines straight south to Sig.  Jim also backed it up with his GPS.  After circling the Sig field a few times we landed up at Grinnell, filled up with fuel, and tied the T-18 down.

Bob Cheney drove out with Keith’s truck to pick us up and soon we were at Sig.  I haven’t been to any large contest since about 1971 when I saw one at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.  Well I got to see some “Big” names fly that I had read about but never met.  There was Combat on the one end and Carrier on the other.  IN the middle was Skyray racing, Old Time, Classic, and P-40.  I tried to watch a little of each and keep track of our guys in their events.  It was interesting to see how our club members stacked up against the other competitors. I’m sure you will hear more about the results from them since they know more about the events than I do.  Like I said before the weather was great and the food was good with reasonable prices.  With lots of shade to sit under to watch everyone compete made for a very relaxing day.  I tried to get digital photos of everyone with my new camera so I can put some of them on our web site.

Well Jim and I needed to get back to the airport so we could fly home.  Bob again used Keith’s truck to drive us there to send us off.  We had a smooth and uneventful flight home, which capped off a full day for us.  Thanks to guys like Jim Borg, Bob Cheney, Keith Sandberg, and the other guys in our club, I had a great time!  The best part of all, I got to spend a great day with people I’m lucky enough to call my friends.  Thanks everyone!

Jim Gevay

More Sig Adventures

This year Jeff, Derek, and I started the drive to Montezuma and with great weather we made good time and were setup on the field by 3PM getting a few flights on the Firecat and greeting old friends.  What could be better.  Later we sat around the open grill staying warm while swapping stories with friends we haven’t seen since last year.

Saturday’s sunrise was cool but with the promise of being a nice day.  Shortly after 7AM we seen the “Jim’s” fly over and I headed to Grinnell to pick them up.  It was really swell to introduce Jim Borg and Jim Gevay to the Sig contest.

Back on the field for me was Skyray racing and what a great race it was.  Fred Krueger and I had one of the greatest matches I’ve seen FIVE SECONDS APART.  Though either Fred or I took first that was reserved for Mal Fawly.  I did get the second place with Fred getting third.  Just before I had seen Mel Roy get a 1^st place in the novice class.  Way to go Mel.

Though the other members were doing their thing in the stunt cirles, I was playing taxi service with another member.  Kelvin was trying to hunt down a radiator hose for his van.  As we returned to the field, I made out to the old-time circle with the Firecat and had a good flight going when the engine died for no reason (later while cleaning the plane, I found the fuel feed tube broke loose in the tank, I wonder?).

As Saturday drew to a close, Jeff Lange and I returned the “Jim’s” to Grinnell Airport for their flight home.  Thanks for coming.

Sunday was a little cloudy but the winds were calm.  Jeff, Derek, and I enjoyed the show the others put on.  I counted NINETEEN of our members at the Sig contest this year.  What a great showing for our club.  An uneventful trip home with talk of next year already on our minds.

Bob Cheney

SIG

This year my dad and I finally made it to SIG>  We had a blast!  I was amazed at how many people showed up.  I was even more surprised when someone said that most years the turnout was twice as much!

Most of the day I spent at combat, while my dad and Bob went hunting for a radiator hose.  At combat, I met 3 Boy Scouts, who with their parents, traveled down from Ottumwa, IA>  Later, after combat was finished, flyer brought a free flight airplane out and let us (the Boy Scouts and me) chase it down after he had thrown it.

The next day, I volunteered to run scores and I met a very friendly judge in the advanced circle, we were friends right off the bat.  The biggest surprise of all came when the awards were handed out.  For running scores, I received a ½ A Deweybird kit, which I’m currently building.

At the end of the 2^nd day, dad and I got to meet Hazel Sig.  She has to be the nicest lady I’ve ever met!  She even let me take a ride in her restored Ford!

If I had the choice, I’d come back every year until the day I die!

Ryan Heath

Take Note

Jim Ehlen has updated our garden at the field with a weed barrier and wood chips.  Looks great!  Thanks Jim!

I of course made a mention at our last meeting to add a new sign over the garden maybe a 2”x 12” painted with something to the effect:

PISTON POPPERS FLYING FIELD

With the original sign, redo it to enclose our field rules with graphics made up from the person that Wayne Willey has worked with.  How about some feed back.

Bob Cheney

Aviation Humor

A little humor from full scale flying that with changes fit right in with control-line flying.

Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.

Advice given to control-line pilots.  When a crash seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest object in the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible.

A pilot who doesn’t’ have any fear probably isn’t flying his plane to its maximum.

Basic Flying Rules

Try to stay in the middle of the air.

Do not go near the edges of it.

The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees, and interstellar space.  It is much more difficult to fly there.