Wings Over Keizer!

Our event on Saturday was truly remarkable beyond my personal expectations. The crowd to see us fly all day was actually a CROWD. ALL the bleacher and bench seats were taken, people set up their own chairs behind the fence or on the grass area east of the pits, and also stood behind our spectator fence. The parking lot was full of THEIR cars because all KRCA members parked around the farmhouse! At one early point I counted about 50 people of all ages in our audience. I estimated about 15-20 in line for the food later. Other members came up with their crowd estimates. I would say we had over 100 total for the day, but could be conservative...I just try not to stretch the truth, lol.

Everything worked out well, and we had members helping that we rarely see help, so it was remarkable in that aspect as well! This was really an event that KRCA members could be proud of. I was actually in awe a number of times when I viewed the audience and saw the number of people, the variation in ages, many ladies, and a ton of smiles. WOW, WOW, WOW!!! We have to give Ron credit on this one.

The flying went well, better than I expected, haha. Flying in 4 levels worked out decently, as we tried to maintain separation and it apparently kept us apart because we had NO midairs. The deck session went shorter than planned , from just after 10 till about 11:15 when JB workers showed up to move the sprinklers. At that point we shut down flying and moved the planes to the runway for the static show. All the audience loved milling around the planes and asking questions, or posing some when prodded a little. We members circulated and talked to many happy people and very nice people, oldsters and kids, men and women, it was very fun. It worked well to have longer for this portion of the program.

At noon we put on our demo flights: Brandon and Ken showed our wide age membership, Joe and Jer flew the micro electrics, I flew my Intruder, Jer flew his Extra, Joe and Quang flew electric jets, Mike flew his Pawnee, Quang flew his nitro chopper, and Stu and friends had a tank battle. What great fun. The audience seemed to take it all in and enjoyed it. I sure did!

About TWENTY people signed up for Try and Fly slots starting at 1PM! It lasted to about 4PM. Some did not show up which was just as well because we had to stop flying a short time while JB guys did their thing again in the field. One of Bob's trainers folded a wing during one flight, due to a deficient wing joint (apparently cut/sawn through the main spar, reglued poorly, and not reinforced. Another problem arose later when the throttle servo on Mike's Avistar died completely. At this point there were just a couple more test flights and I think Bob handled them. I was pooped at 3:30 and departed.

It was a GRAND DAY! Job well done by all KRCA members who helped, as well as a couple wives...Ron and Doug Brown's wives! Members who participated: Rudy, Charlie, Doug Brown, Doug Steele, Ron, Bob B, Bob R, Mike, Ashton, Joe, Jer, Ken, Bruce, Brandon, Al, Quang, Dean, and me. Quang brought a friend along, named Dan, who also flew.

For my flight log, I flew the Intruder once, SNAFU once, and Toledo Special twice.