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 | Saturday 1st April 2006
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Splash-in at Eskragh Lough near Dungannon (the floats won't get time to dry out this
year).
The rain clouds loomed around the lake but thankfully kept their distance. A crowd had
gathered by noon and Seamasters, Piper Cubs, various other waterplanes and helicopters
were flying until dusk. Everyone will be looking forward to more of this on 29th April.
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Sunshine, a gentle breeze, a Raptor
cruising down the lake at Eskragh.
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Looks like a boat, floats like a boat,
flies like a mad thing.... |
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Barry's Cub touching down. |
Wren turbine power in this machine
made some extra ripples on the water. |
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| Wednesday 12th April 2006 |
Chairman and Secretary represented and reported progress of Kestrels MFC at the
NI Area meeting in Dungannon.
| Monday 17th April 2006 |
Denis O'Hara Memorial Fly-in at Nutts Corner. A great display of aircraft and
flying, some pictures below.
The Denis O'Hara Memorial Trophy was awarded to the Wren Turbine powered Century
Predator helicopter from Kestrels MFC.
Thanks to everyone at UMAC for a well organised day.
| Fri 28th - Sat 29th - Sun 30th April 2006 |
Splash-in at Eskragh Lough organised by Dungannon MFC. A really neat site and
always a well organised event.
Eric has now arranged off the peg flying for the entire weekend!
Overnight facilities available.
The weather was superb - A most impressive turnout
with a number of visitors who stayed for the whole weekend.
Many thanks to Eric, Reggie and everyone involved for a first class event.
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The Dungannon Club have a fantastic splash-in site as can
be seen here with John's Tiger Moth. Clear calm water only
broken by the aircraft floats and the fish.
Thanks to Adrian for the pictures. |
Chris trying not to get his floats wet on a low pass!
Thanks to Adrian for the pictures. |
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| Sat 6th May 2006 |
Scale day at South Derry MFC.
| Sat 13th May 2006 |
Skybirds Rally at Mount Stewart organised by NIAA.
Beautiful weather for the Skybirds Rally
at Mount Stewart this year. This part of the garden
is closed off for control line and radio control
flying demonstrations. |
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The courtyard had an excellent display of
all types of models.
Good to see the event so well supported. |
Silence broken by the jet engine in this helicopter
well captured by the camera on a fly past. |
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| Sat 20th - Sun 21st May 2006 |
Sandown show. Gordon and Robert were introduced to all at the Wren stand in the
exhibition centre and were presented with exclusive Wren merchandise! Radio Control Model
World took photographs for their magazine report. Even the display pilots had heard about
the Wren turbine powered helicopter on floats! Highlights were the new Raptor 50 electric
model (based on raptor 50 parts but with new frames and CCPM), the Jet flying displays,
Bob Johnston, the World Champion flying aerobatics, the 3D displays (particularly Daniel
Crozier), the Aerobatic Heli Association flying....... it was a great weekend! |
| Monday 22nd May 2006 |
Scouts 'Try model flying' evening with helicopter demonstrations, 7pm at the flying
site. The Limbo Dancer on the buddy box was flying for over 2 hours with only brief pauses
stops for re-fuelling and battery top-up, and three Raptors were in the air for the 16
visitors. Even the Leaders had a go. Many thanks to all of the club members who turned up
and helped. |
| Saturday 27th May 2006 |
Another quick Splash-in at Eskragh Lough organised by the Dungannon team. |
| Sunday 28th May 2006 |
Moor Lough Splash-in. The weather has been good for this
day out every year so far.
Another first class splash-in site with hospitality second to
none by NWMAC. Robert and Aidan had the BBQ running
at full steam with burgers for everyone.
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| Sat 3rd - Sun 4th June 2006 |
LEMWA/Saint Angelo splash-in at Gublusk. Bright
sunshine for two days in a row with hardly a movement in the air. A better turnout
on Sunday with good representation from Kestrels MFC. |
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| Sunday 4th June 2006 |
Ballymoney fly-in and BBQ. Well worth a visit, a very organised club.
| Saturday 10th June 2006 |
Open day/fly-in at Omagh Model Flying Club. A breezy day, but we were all made very
welcome by the Omagh members and
soon discovered that flying on a windy day isn't a problem from their well
maintained site.
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There were 2 'Arrow' models flying, but they were so
fast that the camera couldn't catch them!
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Aidan gives the other Arrow a hand launch. |
Slow pass by a Raptor heli. |
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The Wren Jet powered helicopter did a lot of flying
through the day |
| Saturday 10th June 2006 |
Moy model aircraft club Open Day - look out for the flying site signposts at the
M1 junction 12 (originally advertised as Sunday 11th June).
| Saturday 17th June 2006 |
Jet Masters flying demonstration at Enniskillen Airport starting 2pm. Follow the NI
pilots' progress here.
News and updates should be sent to info@kestrelsmfc.co.uk
Robert McCartney and Aidan Lafferty from the JWM2007 Committee
gave us all an excellent presentation.
It quickly became apparent to some that the scale and flying requirements in a
World Jet competition required more skill,
time and attention to detail than they had expected.
Visitors included John Beasley and friends from a long way South and the room was
filled to capacity.
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Stephen prepares his Wren powered Hawk for take off. |
Coming in for a fast low pass. |
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Jetcat P80 Skymaster Hawk caught on a fast fly-pass. |
Ian's Hawk touching down safely after a flame out. |
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Flying eventually took place when the airport was closed and
Stephen Browne was quick to get fuelled up
and away in his AMD Hawk powered by a Wren Super Sport engine. While cameras
clicked and everyone
was enjoying the sight, sound and smell the Robb team were preparing their
Skymaster Hawk for flight.
Stephen did an excellent crosswind landing with a long taxi back to a round of
applause from the spectators.
As the Wren was cooling Ian had the Jetcat P80 starting up and did a superb Red
Arrow style take off and again
the demonstration was superb for all watching. The engine flamed out on the
approach but he still managed
to land safely. |
| Saturday 24th June 2006
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Area Fun-Fly Competition at Dungannon organised by the Banbridge
and Dungannon clubs.
Be there early, it starts at 9.30am!LAST MINUTE CHANGE OF
PLAN! This will now be held at the Banbridge site and start at 10am
Class 1: Climb & Glide - 20 second climb timed
from when the wheels leave the ground, cut your engine and your glide is
timed until your wheels touch down again, 10% bonus for a landing on the strip.
Triple Thrash - Timer starts when the wheels leave the ground, do 3 touch & goes on
the strip, 3 rolls and 3
symmetrical loops ending with a touch and go, timer stops at the touch down. The model
must
complete a circuit after the touch and go.
Touch & Goes -Timer starts when the wheels leave the ground, you have 2 minutes to do
as many touch & goes
as you can on the strip. If your engine stops you can re-start it.
Limbo - take off and complete one pass, timer starts when you next pass the string; you
now have 2 minutes to
fly under the string as many times as you can without touching the ground. If you cut the
string
your time is up. The limbo gate is approximately 6ft high and 15-20ft wide.
Class 2: Climb & Glide - as above
Loops - take off and call when you are ready, you have 2 minutes to complete as many loops
as you can.
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Subtle modifications to help the undercarriage cope
with the touch & go bumps.... |
Paul had some sort of radioactive power to help
with the climb & glide but he couldn't stop it glowing! |
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Glen got a good left hand circuit going for the limbo. |
In case you can't see the limbo string, it's
outlined in this picture. |
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Limbo dancers were the most common model used.
Surprising, as they aren't available any more. |
Trevor prepares to fly with the timers ready to go. |
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| Sunday 25th June 2006 |
Display for the National Trust 'Have-A-Go Day' at Crom Estate.
| Sunday 25th June 2006 |
Dr Kinsella Area Scale Championship at Newbuildings organised by NDMAC. |
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