jsesere

My Feedback: (38)

It looks like another Basin Hater in the works.
Be safe Basin Bum.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Yes, Spaceclam posted that but never elaborated. Nobody at the field heard anything about it and we were wondering if it happened at the Basin or another field.

Jsesre, don't assume everyone else shares your feelings for the Basin.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Well, two good midairs at the Basin today, unfortunately for me one of them was mine.

First TaildragerDave lost his WM 40 Dago Red when he collided with his buddies H9 P-51. I only saw the aftermath but the witnesses said it was pretty spectacular. The wing came off and it spiraled into the gully. One wing servo was never found so look for Max to have it for sale at the next swap meet.

Then was my turn. My expertly built (if I do say so myself) Somethin Extra got swiped by a Dave Patrck Ultimate and darn if these things don't fly as well with a missing wing. It dropped onto the run way right at show center and landed upright on the wheels, the wing landed soon afterward about ten feet away. The engine and radio survived so it could have been a lot worse and I didn't even have to loose a pair of socks to the jungle to retrieve it. We were both in the pattern flying down the run way so I just chalk it up to being part of the game.

Before Jsesre speaks up about another reason to hate the Basin let me say this sort of thing happens at any and every field where they fly RC.

Hello and thanks to OUHoser for helping me carry in the wreckage and a shout out to Baretta who introduced himself today. Hey Baretta after I left it occurred to me that I forgot to ask how you knew I was BasinBum?

David Cutler

Not the beautiful YS63 powered SE?

That was sooo beautifully made too.

Commiserations!

I thought it was a Helis only day today?

Oh well, I suppose with only one wing a Somethin' Extra flies a bit like a helicopter?



-David C.

taildraggerdave

My Feedback: (1)

Wow, sorry to hear about yours as well. Good to hear that no one was hurt and that the important stuff (engine and radio) survived.
Tim and I always talk about how were going to mid air someday and today happened to be it. We've already discussed our "no fault" mid air policy. I think everyone that's watched us fly knew it was inevitable. Thankfully, no one was hurt with ours either so that is good.
There will always be things like this at an open, uncontrolled field. That's part of the risk. Personally, I'd rather loose a plane to a mid air than to a verified radio hit.

p.s. I use CA to glue my servo extensions on so if you see a Hitec 425 with a servo extension pre-installed......... :surprised

GoeKeli

My Feedback: (18)

Hi Guys,
Sorry to hear about the mulched planes! :cry: I have had my share of problems as well. You know what they say, the death of a plane is the birth of a new one! I got there late today to fly electric. I talked to Dennis, the ultimate that hit Richard. He was really bummed. You guys are really awesome sports and yes, anywhere that people really fly, these things will always happen. I got some good time on my brand new mountain models Tantrum, it is a fun fly with a razor 400 brushless and lipoly batties. AUW, 13 oz with 370 sq"!!! It swings a 12/8 and is totally balistic! I got issues to get straighend out still.

Joe

Baretta92

BasinBum,

We have spoken on occasion before. I have seen you out there with your GP Patty Wagstaff. You talk to so many people out there you probably don't remember me from before. Anyway, sorry for your loss. I can't believe that nothing happened to the Dave Patrick that sawed your SE in half.

Nother day at the Basin



Baretta92

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Baretta,
Yes I did recognize you as a regular and your right about talking to so many people that sometimes we forget who is who unless you see the plane and the person at the same time. I've known people for a long time that I talk to fairly regularly out there and neither of us could tell you the other guys name, so you always describe someone by their plane and some distinguishing feature or habit.

Hence, Dirty Bob, Crashin Ken, One armed Eric (as opposed to )Crazy Eric with the Dago Red, Rex with the WAY over-powered Zero, T-Bone the head of the Warbird guys,Jet guys that pit at the North End vs. guys that pit at the South End, the Jet guy with the hot Asian chick, Sammy's guy with the short fuse, wheelchair Brian, English warbird guy with the ukulele, English guy with the beard and Venus (David Cutler), Grizley Adams long sleeve white shirt 1/4 scale dude (Joe Kelly), Black Hummer foreign guy, Miss America high speed low pass Mr. Lee, German Peter, Skinny black guy with the Magic Extra just to name a few.

Jeez, now that I mention it I wonder what they call me? I guess short bald guy that got his Somethin Extra mid-aired but now with the Flying Turd or GP Patty wagstaff would do.

Anyone want to add to the list?

Spaceclam

basin bum, that was you? i think i saw you. 3 midairs you mean. i pulled up vertical, and the guy parked next to me at the pits collided with me. there was a loud bang, but both planes were still flying. i thought somebody slammed a car door or something. he landed almost immediatly and on the way back mentioned that he thought we kissed in midair, and i was sceptical. so, after i ran out of fuel, i landed, and noticed that whatever part of him hit me hit me hard enough to wrinkle and take the color off the monokote on my aileron, and tear a small hole in the wing covering. that was it. his plane had just a week ago gone into the ground, and it was a pretty pathetic repair job, you would never find the color he took off my wing. jesus that was close. just think. another half inch tward me and.....

Hangtime

My Feedback: (19)

i'm sittin here 3,000 miles and 40 years away from the place where the modeling bug bit me...

it was june of '63 when i saw my first R/C ship fly.. and it was at sepulveda dam. the field was immense; seem to strech off forever.. off to the north across the vast expanse of squash fields sat a nike missile revetment. beyond that; VanNuys airfield. I used to go down there every chance i could.. used my bike to chase after freeflights.

big, open fields w/ alfalfa, squash; pumpkins..... paved C/L circles and F/F launch pads, and the wonder of the modern age; a paved R/C 'X' runway. I can sill remember sittin on my bike watchin the vannuys (walt??) hobby shop owner setting up a big di-pole antenna and tuning his rig before flying the plane. Rubber band escapments driving the servo. yup. one servo; rudder only.

amazing stuff.

couldn't afford r/c myself.. sure had fun building and flying Ranger 28's, IMI stardusters, and my veeco cub and dakota bipe.

the good 'ol days. still chasing after the dreams all these years later... woudn't trade the memories for anything. what great fun.. what a great hobby for a kid in the late fiftys and eary sixties.

no matter what you call the 'dam' nowadays.. it'll always be my field of dreams.

scale dail

My Feedback: (8)

I spent my childhood at the basin. my dad would take me there before i was old enough to ride my bicycle past the block in reseda. my earliest recollection was of low-AL Colman flying a tigercat inches from the deck at high speed before cart wheeling across the infield in an exploding ball of balsa. i finally got my first radio in 1979 after a year of saving. flew there every weekend both days and two or three weekdays after school,then after work. in the late 80's planes were going down a lot from radio hits then i lost one at a scale meet. then i joined a private club the Canyon Crosswinds in castaic.i fly at the basin during the flying events but i would not fly one of my nice planes,any other time there.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Fellow Basinites,
I spoke with Lynn Burkes the other day and by e-mail regarding the Nov.2 Aerobatic event at Whittier Narrows. It is a non-points basic and pre-basic event for first timers who want to see what IMAC type compatition is all about. I stumbled into the last one they had and it was a hoot, well run and extremely educational not to mention some good entry gifts that made up for the $10 entry fee..

Go to:
http://www.scaleaerobatics.org/sequences.html

to see the sequence for the Basic class, the pre- basic will be made up of similar manuvers only about half as many.

You can also go to the San Gabriel Valley Flyers Website for more info.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Well with the Santa Ana winds coming it looks like we will all have to learn the hardest maneuver to perform at the Basin, the dreaded right hand turn!

The field has been turning around from about 5pm for an hour or so and it is a great time to fly because nobody else is in the air. I recommend practicing your touch and goes from the South because October is usually windy from the North.

I was told I left out some of the regulars from the list of characters particularly guys named Ron of which there is lawn chair over the run way Ron, Mustache 3D Ron, Older happy U-Can-Do Ron did I leave out any Ron's?

A certain large person with the habit of crashing large planes is finally back with yet another victim, I mean plane and many excuses why it won't fly. I did hear a story he told about someone out in the desert who gave him the TX of his turbine so he could answer his cell phone because he thought our large person was an expert because of the way he was flying. You might want to wear hip waders as the pits are really filling up with it.

Everyone is wondering where *****hole/Crazy Eric is and there are substantiated rumors that he was banned at Whittier and Prado. Well he told me he was going to Florida for a few months as he usually does this time of year and last year the rumor was that he was in Jail. I expect to see him back soon terrorizing the flight line as usual. For those that have known him for a while he has been calming down and maybe this year he'll even stop flying at people before pulling up at the last second...oh hell, who am I trying to kid.

David Cutler

da doo ron ron?

-DC

(sorry)

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Oh, Help me Rhonda...

Spaceclam

as much as i hate to wish ill, i really hope that eric guy is out of here for good.

h8w8n

What kind of plane does this guy Eric usually fly? We had a few problems in Camarillo with someone who flies a Dago Red arf with a YS 91ac in it. He broke just every rule in the bylaws. He isn't a member of our club. Someone said he usually terrorizes people at the 'basin.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Sounds like him. Dago red/ YS91 low inverted passes 90 degrees to the run way and pull up at the last second, take off from the taxiway. He is about 5'-9" Dark blond hair, flip-flops and shorts. Red folding chair. He's a really good pilot and I've seen him let a kid in a whell chair fly his trainer to see what it is like but then he get's out to the flight line with the Dago and a screw gets loose in his head.

h8w8n

That sure describes him. He has been at our field (Condors) for the last few sundays( actually I don't think he was there last sunday). I believe he has been asked not to come back, and you're right , he is a good pilot. A little scary though!

Spaceclam

good riddance

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Well Sunday was your typical zoo day at the Basin. My personal highlights were getting hit in the arm with a spinner when a Funtana threw it's prop. From ten feet away it still took off the top layers of skin and luckily didn't hit me in the head. When I look around at the kids roaming pits with unaware parents spectating I just shake my head.

Happy Ron with a U-Can-Do demonstarted some of the best flying I've seen in quite a while. After a midair took off his rudder and half his elevator he still brought it around and landed it on the run way. Very impressive, and I had a front row seat along with OUHoser.

Rex pointed out that the new field rules were posted on the bulletin board. After reading I realized that I break about half of them but I also realized that posting a piece of paper on the bulletin board doesn't mean squat and untill the club/city pays for the sign to be posted the Rangers can't do anything. Besides that, many of the rules really don't pertain to safety but field etiqutte, in my opinion. What the rangers can and should do is come out once in a blue moon and tell spectating parents with kids to get the hell away from planes in the pits, especially the ones who's engines are running.

Since the rangers don't do anything at the field it is up to us to diplomatically point out these obvious (to us) safety issues so we can avoid an incident that will effect us all by losing some of our flying privilages.

h8w8n-RCA

BasinBum. I was at the basin last thursday with a friend of mine that was doing some testing of a giant scale GeeBee "Y" Owned by a fellow named John. Maybe you know him. Anyway there was a guy flying a very large extra and he lost control of it . It was a fly away and it was heading for North Hollywood or there abouts. I'm sure it was close to the 405 freeway when for some reason it gently turned to the left and came back to the field. The guy flying it said he only briefly got control of it again over the field and tried to bring it around to land it but it rolled in at the north end of the runway. The plane was pink and white and had a blond female doll for a pilot. Someone said the pilot is well known there so maybe you know him too.
I may go to the giant scale meet there next sunday. Are you going to be there? If so maybe I'll try to look you up.

Spaceclam

the only reason i go to that place is because it's too windy to fly at simi. a lot of the guys out there are rude, have no real control over their plane, and to be really honest, a lot of people think that they can boss me around ant treat me as though i were incompetent just because i am about 40 years younger than they are. i once was at the field, and a guy came out and told me to watch my altitude, as i was breaking 400 feet. he was pretty pissed, even though i had seen him do higher. about 5 seconds after he turned away, a jet guy took off and went balistic at least 1000 feet. nobody tells them what to do. he was one of the people watching them fly with his mouth wide open

David Cutler

I haven't had any of the bad experiences you mention in all the time I've been flying at the basin. I have to think really hard to remember anybody who has been anything other than extremely friendly and helpful. But then, I go there precisely because the people there are good to be with and not for any meteorological reason.

I also can't think of anybody who is 40 years older than you who would think you are incompetent. If somebody did take that attitude, then be happy in the thought that he isn't getting anything worthwhile out of the hobby, smile and ignore him.

It's all a matter of attitude. Maybe you get out what you put in?

And as for altitude, I know I couldn't judge 'at least 1000 feet', so you definitely have one over me there.

-David C.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

David,
It's easy just picture the run way straight up and add 2/3 of it again and you get 1000 feet. When you figure out how high that is show me cause I don't have a friggin clue.