and the NZJMA had purchased five free standing awnings that when erected gave us a total
of fifty four square metres of shelter that as it
turned out was a god send due to the extremely
sunny conditions. This was just the first example of how well we were being looked after.
By lunch we had re-assembled the planes
and been though a static inspection by the
local Heavy Model/Turbine inspectors to ensure we were safe to operate; mixed fuel and
made our way to the flight line.
The flying location is stunning with picturesque views all around. One thing that became obvious was the high number if little
whirlwinds kicking up the dust all around the
runway. This area is well known for its thermals and is a well sought destination for full
scale gliders with the effects of these thermals kicking our smaller airframes around
quite a bit. Other than this we were treated
with kind winds, great weather and stunning
warmness from our kiwi cousins.
The level and quality of aeromodelling and
in particular jet modelling is as you would expect the same as ours where innovation
stood out and as usual, necessity is the
mother of invention. There were some outstanding examples of scratch building along
with a very impressive array of ARF’s. Some
of the standouts for me were a scratch built
Mig 25 Foxbat that required wheelbarrow
wheels for the mains due to how big it is, seeing two Skymaster F4 Phantoms piloted by
Peter Brown and Dave Hodges in the air at
the same time and four gas turbine powered
helicopters all being flown expertly.
The Saturday and Sunday were much the
same with still great weather, great flying and
only minimal carnage although there were a
few in the pits that were suffering from the
previous evenings get together where those
who should know better, tempted fate by eating way too much hot salami!
Team Jamo consisting of Max Jamieson
and his two sons Ben and Daniel and supported by Phil Giles were burning a lot of kero
in the Euro Sport and Reaction 54 that they
brought along. Ben was busy swapping his
Airborne
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