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We have to find something to worry about, you know?

I had a Deception in 82. I forget the weight of the model when completed, but it was within the typical range for a kit built model in those days. Mine was powered by an OS .61FSR with OPS pipe (running down the right fuselage side) and was equipped with Rhom-Air tricycle retracts. I flew from a grass field in Salem County, New Jersey. While our grass field accommodated most kinds of models with ease, flying the Deception from that field was pure misery because the field was simply too small and rough. Every landing, no matter how gentle and slow, resulted in a session of restraightening the 5/32" landing gear legs. I was working in a machine shop at the time and made up a special tool to grab the aluminum landing gear blocks and let me bend the wire gear back to a straight position so that they would retract cleanly on the next flight.

The OS was a good engine for sport flying, but it was not strong enough to haul the Deception well vertically. At that particular time, Rossi and YS engines were sold before they even entered the country. Just having money was not enough to buy one. You had to be someone of note in the pattern community in order to qualify for purchase. That wasn't me.

Realizing that I did not have the resources (flying field and money) to compete effectively, I dropped out of pattern competition. I won or placed in the few contests in which I did compete. But I couldn't compete with the wallets of those with more money. Some things never change.

Now that I have the money to compete successfully, I no longer have the vision or the energy to do so. Life is weird like that.


Ed Cregger