ORIGINAL: proptop
Hey Abel...I went flying off Lake Delta last year! Small world...
We used to fly at Griffiss, but that's another story[:@][:'(] (politics, need I say more?! )
Anyway...I'm the club's "electric guy" (sounds like a comic book character ) and fly my Tribute in St. John's parking lot, usually at night. Also have a Mini Funtana, GWS Zero, Slow Stick, etc. etc.
I have never seen anyone except a few fellow club members actually flying another "park Flyer" and that's always at our field (now in Westmoreland )
I hear stories at the LHS of young guys (who usually drive r/c monster trucks ) saying they've tried flying something like a Firebird, or one of those other cheap little things and it usually ends up in pieces, or stuck in a tree, etc.
Personally, I think (big sign that says "opinion" here ) that there are a lot of guys that are exaggerating the "threat" (?) of so called "park flyers" and don't like change, or the whole idea of electric power in the first place.
There are a few old die hards in our clubs that think elec. powered airplanes are effeminate or "not real airplanes" (whatever that means ) but they're entitled to their opinions too, aye?!
Hi propnut-
Good to hear from a hometown boy! Your mention of Griffiss AFB brings on a lot of nostalgia. My neighbor/mentor was an RADC engineer that steered me to a career in elex eng, and the priest at St. Johns was my dad's best flying bud, and my marryin' man. Had a lot of buds that were USAF. A Buff aircrew was always on alert to fly to the Azores and fetch a couple of cases of Mateus for parties at my place. Some jocks flew F104s, which the pilot 'wore' and there wasn't enough room left for a piddle pack. There was however just precisely enough room for an 80 lb teenaged girlfriend. Unfortunately, my girlfriend but not my airplane! I saw my first model airplane at a Griffiss open house, a ukie with a Drone diesel engine. Been hooked ever since.
BTW, OT as to model airplanes, but does Westmoreland VFD still have a lavender fire truck? Pretty kinky, but kinky has always held an atraction - maybe that's why I'm partial to the 'leckie 3D PFs too.
Abel