Archive for February, 2008

Disaster Stories

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Dump TruckMerry Leap Year Bonus Day!

I’ve been sidelined for a couple of days with an eye infection but I plan to venture out to Baylands today.

Meanwhile, here are two of my favorite R/C stories.

Mike Nadler told me this Best Crash Story just the other day.

A Pulverizing Mishap. A few years ago, he belonged to a group that flew on a leveled section of a dump site.

One of his friends flew his plane over his head and, as happens, lost orientation and control as the plane passed behind him.

Unfortunately, the plane landed in the bed of a passing dump truck.

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Posted in Elsewhere | 4 Comments »

Nice Weather for…

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

Wet Weather Pals

Ducks!

Posted in Baylands | 3 Comments »

Turning 1,000,003

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

Flying CloseTomorrow is my birthday.

I like to joke that it’s my 1 millionth birthday, but I’ve made that joke for several years now, so I must be at least 1,000,003.

As long as I’m picking numbers, I’d prefer a prime number. But whaddya know, 1,000,003 is prime, so that’ll be the new age I claim.

How did I get so old?

Actually, I’ll be 68. Leaving a prime year—67—for an age that’s divisible by 4 and 17.

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Posted in Home | 7 Comments »

Gary’s Hammer Symposium

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

Four So Far

Saturday, Gary Morgan hosted what he called a “Combat Hammer Build Symposium” at Baylands.

Wikipedia tells me that Symposium originally meant a drinking party but has since come to refer to any academic conference, whether or not drinking takes place.

This academic conference focused on the profile foam Hammer plane, which Gary, Mike Nadler, Rick Carmichael and others have been building and modifying for the past six months or so.

It’s cheap, acrobatic and easy to build: perfect for streamer combat.

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Posted in Baylands | 7 Comments »

These Boots Are Made for Flying

Monday, February 4th, 2008

Rubber Boots

Pull on your boots: the Great Meadow is squishy. Rain has saturated the ground. Water pools in the lower sections of the field.

My wet-weather footgear is a pair of calf-high rubber boots which I bought at Orchard Supply Hardware a couple of years ago for about $20.

They’ve enabled me to wade into the wetlands slough to retrieve errant planes. And now they let me navigate the spongy turf and slicks of mud with comfortably dry feet.

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Posted in Baylands | 4 Comments »