Sun.
27th April 2008: Fly-in
This
was our first event of the 2008 season and a completely new event for our calendar.
Sunday morning was very pleasant with light winds and surprisingly, along with
our other visitors, the sun decided to make an appearance. All in all an excellent
start to the flying season.
We
had an excellent turn out from our club members both fixed wing and helicopter
alike, who had obviously decided to take advantage of the fine weather and a chance
of a free burger. (Saves doing the Sunday dinner dishes any day). Although visitors
were a little scarce we did have an international feel to the day as members of
the Letterkenny Model Flying Club (Eire) dropped in for the days crack. Also in
attendance were welcome and regular visitors to our airfield John & David
McClean from the Saint Angelo Model Flying Club. It has to be said that the airspace
was in constant use to the extent that on a number of occasions a queue of pilots
anxious to get in the air formed. The only real exception to this was when the
lunch call was sounded. Special mention must be given to a young lad from the
Letterkenny club who put in an amazing helicopter flight. Most of us had difficulty
in keeping our eyes fixed on his model as he flipped, flicked and rolled it in
an unimaginable routine. His flight ended prematurely as the rotor and boom made
contact, luckily both survived and he made a perfect autorotation landing safely
on the tarmac. Apparently he was surprised at the incident as he said that he
had been taking it quite easy, this wasn't a surprise to the rest of us more a
total shock as it showed us just how far we had still to go.
Here's
hoping that the rest of our 2008 events are as good as our first!
Event
Photos 
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Scottish
Airshow 18th May 2008
It
was an early start (5.30am) for the four of us (Alex Collins, Paul Smyth, Tom
Long and Robert McCartney) to catch the early fast ferry from Belfast to Stranraer
for our day out at the Scottish Airshow. Good work by Alex on the internet had
identified a very attractive foot passenger excursion fare with Stena Line.
A
hearty breakfast was had by all on-board and in what seemed no time at all, we
were docking in Scotland. A short taxi drive, at a very reasonable rate and we
arrived by mid-morning at Castle Kennedy airfield, the venue for the show. The
sun was already making its presence known so it was tee-shirts all round, as it
remained for the rest of the day. Perfect flying weather.
A walk along the flightline presented us with a wide variety of models, both in
type and size (see photos) most of which were flown during the day, but the model
of the show for me was the massive Fiat CR42 biplane, although the twin turbine
powered Vulcan was a very close second. Its rock solid high alpha approach on
finals was so realistic. Two Broncos gave a very good demonstration of low level
flying and the Balfour family must be the most talented family in the UK, at least
were aerobatics is concerned. They gave a number of examples of their skills throughout
the day.
The
trade stands were visited by all of us at regular intervals during the day with
perhaps Alex securing the bargain of the day, a beautifully built BT 13 Vultee
Valiant for a 91 four stroke. The rest of us satisfied ourselves with picking
up some of those items you don't know you need until you see them!
One
of the real delights of this show is meeting our Scottish friends and chatting
over times past. Thanks for lunch Don and Eunice! After the show Bill (Grimsley)
invited us back to his caravan for "refreshments" and had us in stitches
with his Hillman Imp/Elephant story! Bill, you've really got to write that one
down.
Bill
kindly drove us back to the ferry tired but happy after a very enjoyable day at
the Scottish Airshow. Here's to next year!
Robert
McCartney
Event
Photos 
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Sun.
25th May 2008 Moorlough Splash-in
Our
second event of the 2008 season was again held on a gloriously sunny day. Unfortunately
the wind was extremely strong with a steady 20+ mph (gusting to 27+ ENE). This
gentle breeze wasn't going to ground, or should I say in this case water?, us
hardy NWMAC pilots. Gerry Donnelly was the first to get in the air with his 45
four stroke powered Cessna, and with only two attempts at take off showed us all
how it's done. A near perfect landing, which actually skimmed about 1-2 feet of
shoreline before entering the water, finished of a fine flight. This gave Sean
Scully the incentive and courage to get his model out from the car and set up.
Again takeoff one failed, this time due to insufficient rudder throw. This was
soon remedied and his converted Arising Star trainer climbed into the air, (an
excellent example of recycling old models). The SC40 engine coped admirably in
the strong winds and the model even managed a few loops coping well with the extra
weight from the floats. It has to be said that the model was put into a steep
dive to gain momentum for the upwards part of the manoeuvres. Robert McCartney
also had a lovely flight with the converted trainer producing a silky smooth takeoff
and a gentle landing.
The
first of our visitors was Dick Whybury, a long time regular and welcome guest
at our splash-in's. Dick put in two or three lovely flights with his electric
powered Laker. The largest model in the line-up was a 12-foot wingspan Piper Cub
by John McGonagle of the NWMAC club. Powered by a 40cc engine this was indeed
a very impressive model.
As
always the Sunday lunch is top priority and master chef Robert McCartney didn't
let us down. (Robert must be too used to his home comforts as he had to call on
assistance from Aidan Lafferty to get the Barbeque lit. Aidan's Boy Scout skills
soon had the coals glowing). Recognising fellow pilots was now quite difficult
as most had huge fully trimmed burgers masking the lower half of their face.
All
in all a great days crack was had and thankfully no casualties were reported.
Event
Photos 
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NIAA
Area Scale Competition
No
Report
Event
Photos
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Duxford
Air Show 6th September 2008
At
0330 hours four rather dreary eyed NWMAC members (Sean Scully, Robert McCartney,
Alex Collins and Tom Long) met up at Homebase's car park and set of in the direction
of Belfast City Airport for the 1 hour hop to Stansted just outside Cambridge
in England. After an uneventful car journey with only minor slaggings having taken
place, we checked in at the airport security and boarded a Ryan Air Boeing 737-800.
By
0900 we were tucking into a rather tasty Ulster/English fry, (arguments over who
invented this delicacy will no doubt rage for millennium to come but thumbs up
to whoever it was), and with the hire car collected we headed for Duxford airfield.
Navigating through the English countryside turned out to be one of the easiest
journeys yet and took a mere 30 minutes with no hiccups. Upon arrival at Duxford
we were given parking directions by a number of army cadets and headed straight
for the museums. First stop was the British Air Museum which was absolutely astounding
with a multitude of British aircraft on display. Included in the display were
a Shorts Sunderland, BAC Concorde, Avro Lancaster, De Havilland Mosquito, Avro
Vulcan and a Hawker Hunter. It took nearly two hours to do a whistle stop tour
of this museum and our cameras were rarely away from a good shooting position.
It has to be said that our available time for this museum was simply too short
by far and did not do it justice.
Next
up was a flight line walk which took us past no less than nine spitfires, a Boeing
B-17 Flying Fortress, 3 x DC3's, a Messerschmitt Bf109 (1109-M1L Buchón
(Pigeon)), a Hawk and a Piper Cub (invasion colours). All this was accompanied
by nostalgic theme tunes such as Dambusters and other WWII era classics which
were piped through the PA system. From time to time a few fighter pilots, wing
commanders and even a station commander, all in authentic WWII uniforms, popped
up creating a total 1940's experience. The flight line walk led us straight to
the American Air Museum, which again was mind blowing. Once top secret aircraft
such as the SR-71Blackbird, B52 Stratofortress and F4 Phantom were displayed in
a domed shaped hangar with easy access to get up close and personal. An absolutely
beautiful Super Sabre was also on proud display. Again hours could be spent in
this museum and our available time just wasn't enough. My personal favourite was
the PT17 Boeing Stearman which hung from the ceiling as if in flight.
After
a very short visit to the Battle of Britain exhibition the roar of aircraft overhead
could be heard so a quick dash outside was made. Display after display of both
WWII and more modern aircraft stunned the crowd for nearly 3 hours and was only
interrupted once by rain. In saying that there were many static aircraft on display
with fine wingspans which double well as umbrellas. One of the many highlights
of the air-show was an Avro Vulcan which did a number of impressive low level
flypasts. Also extremely notable was a beautiful display from the 3 DC3's two
of which were in invasion colours. A dogfight between a Messerschmitt, Spitfire
and Hurricane enthralled the spectators, needless to say it was deemed to be a
victory for the allies.
Duxford
airfield was packed with countless trade stands offering everything from rather
tasty Cornish pasties to beautiful aircraft prints valued at £3,000.00.
These prints were signed by fighter aces from WWII and were simply stunning. We
would have purchased a few of these prints for our mantelpieces but we were worried
about our luggage allowance on the plane back home. Instead we settled for a few
keep sakes which were hand luggage size and priced to meet a more economically
orientated wallet.
Upon
completion of the air-show we headed back to Stansted Airport stopping of for
a Kentucky Fried Chicken on the way. Again another problem free journey was had
and a very tired foursome arrived back safely at Homebase's car park around 11.00pm.
Everyone agreed that it was a great experience and that it would be really nice
to return to Duxford for another trip just to spend more time in the museums.
Maybe one for the future!
Event
Photos
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NIAA
Aerobatics Competition 14th September 2008
The
2nd round of the Northern Ireland Area Aerobatic Championships took place at New
buildings on a slightly 'moist' 14th of September. This didn't dampen the spirits
of the 13 competitors who turned out for the Clubman and Intermediate competitions.
In
Clubman there were 10 pilots, the competition was very tight at the top between
Richard McMaster the reigning BMFA National F3A Clubman Champion and past NIAA
Area Champion a number of times Robert Graham. There wasn't much in it, Richard
had problems with his spin and Robert's solid rounds just pipped Richard into
1st place. Gordon McCrea improved vastly from last year, his new electric yak
profile has brought him on leaps and bounds and he deserved his 3rd place. Seamus
O'Donnell travelled up from Letterkenny with a troop of young flyers out to try
their hand at some aerobatics! Andrew, John, Shane and Christopher flew very well
with some very basic and old equipment, a credit to them and the Letterkenny club
as they have a very strong youth scene! I think we were just glad it was a fixed
wing competition & not heli's as Shane and Christopher would have shown us
all up, ones to watch in the future! Dick had a an unfortunate end to his 1st
round flight, a combination of a slight glitch and very little altitude meant
Dick didn't have time to recover, sad to see as his Superair is now a veteran
of the area aerobatics and has always flown well. Not to be out done he gave the
2nd round a go with his bug, 10 out of 10 for enthusiasm and effort, Dick has
supported this event for many years and maybe next year with a new model he will
have better luck! Aidan and Robert shared Robert's Giles and put in solid flights,
Aidan exited his Cuban 8 wrongly and flew the rest of the sequence backward, which
accounted for his low score, but he still had a smile on his face and room for
a burger or two at lunchtime!
In
intermediate we had 3 pilots, a bit down on the round at Ballymoney in June but
with the poor weather and other factors meant the numbers were down. That said
the standard was high, Andrew, Stu and myself, had a good battle and I was lucky
enough to come out on top flying my Extra 300 electric! It's a great wee model
and the Flightpower 5s packs and Spektrum DX7 guidance make for a model with tremendous
vertical performance and silky smooth control response due to the DSM link. It
also 3d's great I got to wring it out after the competition and really enjoyed
it! Stu flew very well and his F3A experience showed through, he flew a big controlled
box which presented very well from a spectators and judges' point of view. We
thank Stu for his support of this event, he nearly 300 mile to compete and this
is greatly appreciated by us all. Andrew's Zenith whizzed through the air, this
tradationtal pattern ship with Retracts is a real blast from the past, it still
works well and Andrew fly's it beautifully!
The
Northwest club treated us well and provided a good BBQ lunch cooked by Aidan.
They had supplied some nice trophy/medals as prizes; these wee touches just make
the event a bit better! We managed to get two rounds in despite the showers and
this was mainly down to all the pilots being very quick to the flight line between
flights. All in all I think everyone enjoyed the day, a big thanks to the Pilots,
judges, spectators and the Dave's Model Shop which took the time to setup a well
stocked stall.
The
new format for the NIAA aerobatics competition seems to have worked very well
and everyone has enjoyed the new Schedules and increased standard.
Overall
results for the NWMAC Round and overall Area competition are below. You can also
download the individual scores for each pilot.
Clubman
Results for NWMAC Round 2
| PILOT | Round
1 | Round
1 | Totals | Normalised | Place |
| Aidan
Lafferty | 80.00 | 120.50 | 200.50 | 553.10 | 8 |
| Robert
McCartney | 127.50 | 128.50 | 256.00 | 706.21 | 5 |
| Shane
McKirr | 140.50 | 127.00 | 267.50 | 737.93 | 4 |
| Richard
McMaster | 171.50 | 166.50 | 338.00 | 932.41 | 2 |
| Christopher
Kilpatrick | 119.00 | 119.00 | 238.00 | 656.55 | 6 |
| Richard
Whybray | 46.00 | 20.00 | 66.00 | 182.07 | 10 |
| John
Whorskey | 89.00 | 85.50 | 174.50 | 481.38 | 9 |
| Andrew
Russell | 120.00 | 117.00 | 237.00 | 653.79 | 7 |
| Gordon
McCrea | 127.00 | 167.50 | 294.50 | 812.41 | 3 |
| Robert
Graham | 180.00 | 182.50 | 362.50 | 1000.00 | 1 |
Intermediate
Results for NWMAC Round 2
| Pilot | Round
1 | Round
2 | Totals | Normalised | Place |
| Andrew
Wallace | 238.50 | 242.00 | 480.50 | 854.22 | 3 |
| Matthew
Poots | 286.00 | 276.50 | 562.50 | 1000.00 | 1 |
| Stu
Holland | 237.00 | 301.00 | 538.00 | 956.44 | 2 |
NIAA
Aerobatics Overall Scores 2008
| Clubman | Pilot | Ballymoney
Round | NWMAC
Round | Combined |
| 1 | Richard
McMaster | 1000.00 | 932.41 | 1932.41 |
| 2 | Robert
McCartney | 608.01 | 706.21 | 1314.21 |
| 3 | Aidan
Lafferty | 697.39 | 553.10 | 1250.50 |
| 4 | Richard
Whybray | 860.34 | 182.07 | 1042.40 |
| 5 | Robert
Graham | 0.00 | 1000.00 | 1000.00 |
| 6 | Richard
Boyd | 937.62 | 0.00 | 937.62 |
| 7 | David
Ardis | 918.99 | 0.00 | 918.99 |
| 8 | Clifford
Wallace | 846.37 | 0.00 | 846.37 |
| 9 | Gordon
McCrea | 0.00 | 812.41 | 812.41 |
| 10 | Shane
McKirr | 0.00 | 737.93 | 737.93 |
| 11 | Christopher
Kilpatrick | 0.00 | 656.55 | 656.55 |
| 12 | Iain
Johnston | 654.56 | 0.00 | 654.56 |
| 13 | Andrew
Russel | 0.00 | 653.79 | 653.79 |
| 14 | Sam
Kilpatrick | 629.42 | 0.00 | 629.42 |
| 15 | Fred
Buick | 525.14 | 0.00 | 525.14 |
| 16 | John
Whorskey | 0.00 | 481.38 | 481.38 |
INTERMEDIATE
PILOT BALLYMONEY ROUND NWMAC ROUND COMBINED
| Intermediate | Pilot | Ballymoney
Round | NWMAC
Round | Combined |
| 1 | Mathew
Poots | 1000.000 | 1000.00 | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Stu
Holland | 880.30 | 956.40 | 1836.40 |
| 3 | Andrew
Wallace | 798.20 | 854.20 | 1652.20 |
| 4 | Sean
Scullion | 837.39 | 0.00 | 837.39 |
| 5 | Alistair
Henry | 764.83 | 0.00 | 764.83 |
| 6 | Dennis
McNeill | 667.37 | 0.00 | 667.37 |
| 7 | Phelim
Lundy | 530.72 | 0.00 | 530.72 |
Report
by Matthew Poots
