Practice Day #3

A bit of a broken record folks but here we go... out the door and on the road at 8 AM this morning. Another quick drive to the flying site and our usual group of flyers hit the Indiana skies on yet another nice but hot day.

Mark took his backup airframe and made sure it was trimmed and ready to go should bad things happen. Chad also put in a flight on his #2 airframe and made sure it was set up. The air density here requires one to adjust radio settings in order to get the feel and crispness that you would get back home. Mark commented that his #2 actually felt better than #1 so he may swap it to be his primary for the event.... nice problem to have!

Chargers galore!

We also check the fail safe settings in all the planes as this is a requirement during official processing. All that will take place in the coming days ahead.

For those that didn’t look at Bulletin #3, the official registration time for Canada is Sunday the 24th at 10:35 AM and our practice time at site #1 is Monday morning at 9:15 AM. We will then move to site #3 for the opening ceremony and reception later that day.

We wrapped up practice around one o’clock and headed for lunch then back to the hotel to shower up... we have to be clean and smelling nice when the gals arrive later!

Pat & Hartley arrived at the AMA site around 3 o’clock in the afternoon after their week long adventures across the USA.  They set up the RV and then headed into Muncie for some supplies (wine perhaps?)

Camp Canada is on site!

We headed out to the AMA site #3 and started putting in rounds. Hartley was put to work calling for Mark and also had a chance to meet some of the competitors. Shane & Sinead from the Irish team along with Pablo Kuri from Ecuador were on site as well as the Lichtenstein contingent. The Taiwanese team also arrived and started flying as we wrapped up our day’s flying session.

Mark readies his Xigris under Hartley's watch 

full eye.

Robyn and Kelly arrived at 7 PM following their day visit in Toronto and subsequent flight to Indianapolis this afternoon. After checking in at the hotel they made their way to the field and joined Pat at the RV.  We finished packing up the plane we headed over to “Camp Canada” for a catch up on everyone’s day.

Nedim carries Chad's Xigris Evolution back after a flight. 

Chad & Nedim went to the Roadhouse with the Lichtenstein Team in tow. They also met up with Harry & Rosemary Ells and we joined them later as hunger was setting in. After a great dinner again we headed “home” to the hotel as the gals headed to Walmart for “stuff”.

Xavier has started to take pictures and will list a link under the Pictures section on the right side of the page. For you smart phone types in blog land it’s here.....
 https://picasaweb.google.com/xavier.mouraux/20110722Practice#

Practice Day #2

Both Mark and I were up well before the alarm clock and headed for IHOP for a quick breakfast & coffee. A quick loading of the gear and we were headed out once again... see a trend here? We set the cruise control and waited for the van to make it’s way to the flying site... it knows the way now!

Paul carries John's plane back after a sortie.

 

Team Ireland (without Angus Balfour) were already flying and Mark quickly got his plane assembled and ready to fly. Team Liechtenstein arrived moments later and so did Dez and Nel. I think everyone wanted to start early and beat out the heat because today was a scorcher ... 101 degrees!! The Irish team must of thought there was an invasion!

Chad & Nedim arrived and got a good natured ribbing about sleeping in... all in fun of course. The teams took turns flying as both myself and Paul Houlihan managed to successfully complete the paper work for processing our respective teams.  This allowed me to stay in the shade as long as possible :-)

The winds were brisk out of the west and everyone seemed to handle it without any problems. I witnessed many flights from all the pilots and they all showed definite improvements from yesterday.  I believe everyone is getting more accustomed to the flying site and the weather.

I had brought my bib I wore in Argentina and made Mark wear it for his last flight. I remembered that it felt different when worn and I want Mark to have the experience before he flew at the worlds... one less “new” thing to experience. He looked good in it to. LOL

After the lunch hour we all packed up and headed back into Muncie for some R&R. We stopped at the local ice cream shop. Paul had mentioned that his team had stopped there and highly recommended it.... well those Irish were right! It was so good and we plan to stop for lunch tomorrow... anyway I am getting off topic.. sorry.

The AMA site allows open flying after 5 pm so we loaded the van and headed out for a quick drive around the site. We ended up at Site #1 as Mark wanted to put a few rounds in having never flown here. Chad just yawned :-) then put in a burner round. He seemed very comfortable today and in his element.

The Japanese team starts to assemble their planes.

The Japanese entourage arrived en mass and we were once again treated to some great model construction eye candy. These guys never cease to amaze me with their spotless planes. They put some flights in but fuel issues plagued them as the fuel that was shipped to support the team has not arrive. They made due with some “other” fuel and I suspect they will find the correct blend in short order. I heard today that the French team had similar problems as well up in Peoria.... see their blog.

Xavier arrived and called a round for Dez then after watching the Japanese team fly again, we packed up and headed to the hotel to put Mark’s #2 airframe together. Hartley and Pat finally checked in and were in El Paso, Illinois. I suspect that they should arrive tomorrow afternoon and Camp Canada will be in full swing shortly thereafter. The Clark’s were at the Smithsonian in Washington as they worked their way west.

The gals start their adventure to the Worlds tonight on the red eye out of Victoria, BC..... but that’s another story yet to be told.

I have added additional pictures to the team section so check them out... I will get the captions done as soon as possible. I will log off now and hit the rack... it’s ground hog day again tomorrow!

Practice Day

We met up with Nell, Dez, Nedim & Chad in the morning as we grabbed a quick snack downstairs. They were set to depart for the practice site so we headed back up to the room to assemble Mark’s planes.  Everything was in good order as the plane boxes were emptied and everything inspected for possible damage. Mark elected to assemble only his #1 airframe for today's practice session and after getting it all put together, we loaded up the van and were on our way.

A quick stop at Subway (for our lunch) and we arrived at the field in short order. Several teams were also actively using the site and I had a chance to meet the Irish Team Manager Paul Houlihan and his pilots Angus Balfour, John Martin and Shane Robinson. I had met Shane in Argentina in 07 with his helper/caller and wife Sinead and she was also here doing those duties. It was good to renew acquaintances with them.

The team from Lichtenstein was practicing as well and we were introduced to Wolfgang Matt, Stefan and Rob Kaiser and I believe the other team member/manager was Gunther Matt. 

Practice time.

Mark spent the first flight checking trims and putting in a few elements to see what the performance was like from our relatively colder climate and sea level elevation. With some tweaking to improve roll rates, the plane looked good and Mark was happy. Dez also put in numerous rounds as we watched. Nedim was calling and with some suggestions, had Dez starting to lock in his plane. Some throttle issues remain and with some addition tweaking we should have this resolved for tomorrows practice. Chad had solid rounds and worked hard in the winds and heat. His Xigris Evolution performed flawlessly and he seemed pleased with his flights. What more can a guy ask for.

Dez readies for another flight.

The teams took turns flying and with the heat sucking the energy out of everyone, the flying stopped around 1500 local. Did I mention there is a heat wave that is breaking records? Hottest in a decade they say!

There were some very nice flights put in with various flying styles observed. Larger & faster flights along with slower, more methodical styles contrasted the P-11 schedules flown.

We headed back to Muncie and after a nice swim to cool down we all headed to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. It was very good. Tomorrow we will see the arrival of Xavier Mouraux to the onsite team.  No updates today from the Hughson’s or Clark’s so I am unsure of their travel status at the time of posting this blog.

Travel Update - Part III

 Chad & Nedim hit a practice field near Muncie this morning but I have had no updates or Facebook status reports from him lately.

Hartley and Pat sent some pictures as they toured Mt Rushmore today. Only one email as I suspect they 1) could'nt find internet access or 2) found a wine store :-)

Hartley's adventures!

Mark and Robyn picked me up this morning and after saying good bye to Kelly we headed to the airport for the flight to YYZ (Toronto). The plane is posting a 20 minute delay so our connection time to Indianapolis is minimized a bit... shouldn’t be a problem.

Bags and excess baggage ( 2 plane boxes) were processed quickly by the friendly Air Canada Express staff at the Victoria airport.  Mark’s bag weighed in at 49.2 lbs... just under the limit LOL
Our flight left 20 minutes late due headwinds on the inbound flight... but that meant tail winds for us! We landed in Toronto and within 35 minutes had grabbed our baggage, clear customs redeposited baggage and arrived at the plane. That is pretty good for YYZ. Our planes arrived along with the bags but we sat for another 30 minutes waiting for other connecting passengers.

Mark composes his blog.

The flight down was uneventful (the best kind!) and I watched Mark type out his blog report on the way. We quickly grabbed our gear and headed to the rental car facility at the Indianapolis airport to pick up our van.

In the new terminal in Indianapolis

After loading up we headed around the ring road and connected to HWY 69 northbound to Muncie. An hour quickly past before we arrived at our hotel. Boxes and planes unloaded we hit the local Walmart for supplies. I’ll update tomorrow with new details

Walmart supply run complete!

Dez and Nell also arrived in Muncie today and we will get together with them in the AM. That’s it for now. Off to bed.

Travel Update part II

Both Chad and Nedim are making themselves right at home in Muncie as they take in the sights of the town. Reports indicate that they spent the day flying with Shane and Sinead Robinson from Team Ireland
but I am unsure where exactly.......  guessing the AMA site. I believe they even indulged in a liquid refreshment or two at the Roadhouse this evening. Must have been a tough day of practice for those boys!

Hartley & Pat are "unavailable"... seems the internet is not functioning well for them tonight. I believe they are in the Rapid City area basting in the 100 degree heat! Yikes hope the A/C is working for them in that RV.

Mark has been busy packing and has updated his Worlds Blog. Hit the link to the right under the Blog section and check out his packing progress/technique. We swapped some equipment today so we can share the baggage limits for the flight tomorrow.

Boarding passes are printed and Robyn and Mark will be around in the morning to pick me up... better get packing TTYL.

Travel Update

After a quick pit stop/sleep in Champaign, IL. and a dinner with Ac Glenn and Ryan Smith....  both Chad and Nedim hit the Eli RC Field in Monticello, IL this morning along with Ac. They got the planes going and after some flights headed to Muncie and checked in to their "home away from home". Glad to see they made it!

Hartley & Pat also put in almost 500 miles again today and are in a camp site in Sundance, Wyoming. There was some bad news though... after setting up the RV, Hartley went to grab a cold bottle of wine from the fridge and...... well there was none!  They ran out! I believe this is a first to my knowledge:-)

Along the Bozeman trail.

Tomorrow they will head to a campsite around Rapid City, South Dakota. and spend a few days checking out the sights and I suspect, the local wine stores:-)

The Road to Muncie

Although some team members are still relaxing at home or on vacation :- ), others are well into the long drive to Muncie. Chad & Nedim departed on Friday morning and tonight they are in Champaign, IL. With the van full of planes they will hit an RC field tomorrow morning and get in a few rounds before heading in to Muncie on Sunday. This will give them a break from driving and allow for some relaxed flying prior to the last push through.

Pat and Hartley left Sechelt, BC early Friday and stayed in Bridgeport, WA last night. They pounded through some 495 miles of continental divide today and are safely camped in Three Forks, Mt. just west of Boseman.  The camp site has wi-fi so we managed to skype tonight and get caught up on their adventures.

Camp Canada in Three Forks

Grand Coulee

They will head towards Wyoming & South Dakota with a stop planned at Mount Rushmore. The Black Hills and the Badlands will also warrant a visit. They are making good time and may even arrive a day early into Muncie... maybe. At this point we hope to see them on the 23rd as they are cruising eastward on pace.

I will be heading back home tomorrow from our mini vacation to make final arrangements and pack for my Tuesday flight with Mark. We will fly via Toronto into Indianapolis and grab a rental van for the drive up to Muncie. Walmart ice cream section... look out!