Jim_McIntyre

I chanced to visit and fly in the Quinte Isle Big Little Air Show this past weekend.

This is a new scale event that was, imho, a big success.

For those that don't know, Picton is a small town (pop. 4k) located south of Belleville Ontario. The local club (small) with the help of neighbouring clubs and the community put on a terrific show in celbration of the 65th anniversary of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan that founded the Airport/base just outside Picton.

Period aircraft were well represented but, the event was open to all scale aircraft. The site is superb with both grass and tarmac surfaces in excellent shape and plenty of open sky.

The event was well organised, with running commentary, static displays, on-site camping, food etc. Overall it ran smoothly with no major mishaps (the usual run of dead stick landings, lost wheels and one hatch etc. ). Great PR for the local community and, hopefully a new annual Scale event![8D]

The noon show featured aircraft from most periods from about 1917 (Dr1) to present day (F16) including helicopter demonstrations and a powered parachute in the markings of the Canadian flag.

A great event, great people, great site ... definitely one to put on the short list of events to attend next year.

Sharpy01

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Sounds like the recipe for success.

Good flying site, on site camping, multi-day and small town support.

Most of our best, and biggest events around here share the same characteristics. Two of the best here have club memberships of less than a 1/2 dozen, but they know how to attract flyers.

Any pics from the event?

Jim_McIntyre

Wish I had pictures, I was too busy flying, keeping my kids entertained, enjoying the show and socialising with a new group of scale types.

I did see some familiar faces, managed to fly loose formation with Pete Sturgess in our 1/4 scale Tigermoths and was invited to fly my small (1/6th) mustang in on some formation straffing runs. I must admit that little mustang looked a little strange beside the 1/4 scale and larger metal behemoths.

They did have a camera equiped heli taking pictures and I heard there would be an article written for MAAC....

Nice to see a new scale event on the east side of Toronto.[8D]

New friends made, old friends re-visited. The weather was superb (finally a break in the humidity). An excellent way to spend a long weekend.[8D]

Sharpy01

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...oh yeah....

Well, I got to work all weekend. [&o]

Firday evening, I did manage to get out with my son for a couple of flights with his new trainer and a good friend allowed me to take his Ziroli Mustang for a tear so it wasn't a complete write-off. My frikkin cell went off both times while I was helping my son. (I hate those things) Chuckle, the detective Sgt on the other end was met with, "he'll talk to you in a minute, he has to land my airplane"........ hehe.

Between weather and work, the summer thus far has sucked tremendously. On the bright side, it can only get better.

Sounds like your event was a good one and I must admit a twinge of envy. I'll look for the article.

Jim_McIntyre

Sorry to hear that ... truthfully. I wouldn't wish poor weather and bad schedules on anyone ... even Ken.

Not "my event" by any stretch of the truth, I can't take any credit for the success of the event, I was merely one of the attending pilots.

can773

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Bad weather everywhere :-(..... Only around 125 flights this year about 1/2 of normal....however I managed to get in 25 of that in the past 3 days :-)

bkind

Thanks for the Kind Words Jim. Looks like we will be doing it again next year. Just have to wait until meeting in Sept to pry the funds loose from the club and have the official vote. Surprizing to me that we had such great support from the local buisness community. IE not hobby related folks who were very generous with funds and materials. I will try to get some pics up over the next few weeks.
Have Fun Brian

Krish

Hey guys just by chance found this thread.

Attended the event in Picton and thoroughly enjoyed it. Has the makings of truly great one. I was part of one of many groups from Montreal and had a lots of fun flying my buddy (Stan) giant scale P-47. Unfortunately loosing a gear after 5th flight. My Bud Nosen P-51, which I flew the previous day in Ottawa, suffered irrepairable damage and did not make Picton, ready once again.

The location, facilitiy and organization was second to none. Unlimited runways and enjoyable summer region all combined. Located half way between Montreal and Toronto will attract from both.

Hope to see you all again next year.

Deerslayer

Several of us from the Kingston Radio Control Modellers (KRCM) attended the event.

Sign me up for next year! What a great time we had.

In our case, it was a chance to fly and demo some WW1 aircraft. Our own planned Rhinebeck-style Dawn Patrol was rained out in May.

We have quite a few WW1 and other scale aircraft in our club and I think you will see more of these at next year's Picton event. Certainly, those of us who attended have talked it up to our membership.

Jim_McIntyre

Hi Brian,

Where would I search for these pictures?

bkind

Hi Jim We have a member of the club building a new web site for the club and he just hasn't gotten that far yet. Dam volinteers just don't understand that they need to give up life when volinteering for something such as this. Kidding aside he is doing a great job so far and it should be worth the wait.
Meanwhile i have a static shot of almost every plane that was there over the weekend on a cd unedited.
If you would like a copy. Email me your mail address and i will send one out to you.
It was and still is my plan to put together a cd with pics and flying vidieo and send a copy to all pilots that attended.
We aquired a new field in late august and we have been spending most free time getting it ready for spring, with work, wife honey do list etc i have not had much time to get anything done either. Colder weather is coming and the yard-housework will be put on hold until warmer days and i will have some free time to get it together.

Have fun Brian

Jim_McIntyre

Sounds all too familiar.

I'll PM you my address, thanks for the kind offer.[8D]

cessna206a

This scale event sounds wonderful, however I do not think my scale plane would not do very well in static judging, is this event very competitive or do they do a quick eyeball look for static scores?

Jim_McIntyre

Non Competitive, no judges but our own critical eyes.

C'mon out and have fun.[8D]

j79

Congrat's on a successful event.
Our club is thinking of doing an model air show for fund raising, I am wondering how you guys handled the maac safety code item 4.2.9 on page 7
[link=http://www.maac.ca/docs/forms/2006/2006_MAAC_Safety_Code.pdf]maac safety code[/link]
on club qualified r/c demonstration pilots.

Would our club have to qualify the pilots prior to flying in the airshow, there is only a few of us in the club.

Jim_McIntyre

Well, it does say the club is responsible for making the determination....
This could be as simple as a designation by the executive or as complex as a qualification program.
In most clubs, especially small clubs where everyone knows everyone else, it's generally a simple matter to identify who the good, safe flyers are. The important part is not only to recognize these people but to support them. They will be busy flying, it's up to the rest of the club to ensure the safety and enjoyment of the event. Announcers, flight line directors, spotters, answer guys for the visitors, parking control, vendor management, site management, cleanup and prep ... it all depends on the size of the event and intended audience.

j79

thanks for the reply Jim, that makes it simple, some of our club executive aren't big sticklers for rules so it should not make hard to get everyone airshow qualified, here we were stressing out thinking that there was some formal maac flying standard that would have to go through.

Guys show up at airshows with the flying witch or race car, or a great scale model and are not the best flyers but they are so keen and it's so hard to say no to them, now it's problem solved, thanks again.

Jim_McIntyre

A simple checkflight by your CFI shouldn't be too much to ask. As long as they fly in a controlled and safe manner (e.g. stay out of the no fly zones), and maintain their equipment in a safe manner, why turn them away?

extra300xs

I'm looking forward to the photos too.
Like Jim says, don't worry about that, the airshows I've been at this summer, everyone who wanted to fly, flew, even the zone director, no checkouts or anything, giver and fly safe.

bkind

A little late with the pics fellows. Forgot about the thread. We are doing Scale Rally again this year. Details are on website. Link below. As well as some pics from last year.

http://percfc.topcities.com/index.html

Have fun Brian