AstroWings 2009 Ice Fly

The first thing I noticed at the AstroWings 2009 Ice Fly was the number of rc pilots who showed up on a cold January day to fly RC airplanes! The temperature when I arrived was about 24 degrees and there were 10 cars already lining the road next to our field as is traditional for a winter flying session. The number of pilots was at least 15 and I wondered how the heck the best turnout of the year for a single flying event happened to be a cold winter day. Perhaps golf, yard work, honey-dos and other distractions are less prevalent. Whatever the reason, it was good to see so many pilots participating in an event.

Frankly, it was COLD. I don’t know why it felt so cold but I have flown slope planes on the bluffs of Lake Michigan for years in as cold or colder weather and not felt the bite as much but it was a day to fly so fly I flew. I had my Multiplex Twin Star and flew for about 5 minutes in the 15 mph breeze. The Twin Star, set up stock like mine, is a great plane in light air and, while it flew fine today, the breezy conditions, combined with the cold spelled short flight. Still I managed some rolls and strafing runs along with a nice right-at-the-foot landing.

I saw Ben fly a Profile job and Brad fly another glow plane. I know there were other planes in the air but I split after about 40 minutes.

At least the year started with a flight!

Schwanke-Kasten Donates a Tag-Heuer Watch to Astrowings Raffle!

Wow! Thanks to Steve and Tom at Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers for the generous donation to the Astrowings Fun Fly Raffle. The Tag-Heuer Aquaracer watch is valued at $1,600! You can’t win unless you buy a raffle ticket. Let me know if you need tickets. A buck each or 6 for $5.

The Astrowings Fun Fly has been a tradition for years with the proceeds from the event benefiting Special Olympics of Ozaukee County. To date our RC Flying Club has donated over $80,000 to this worthy cause!