Welcome back, everyone! Congratulations to all of the winners at the AMA Nats and world championships! The US teams and individuals did a fantastic job! A special shout-out goes to Andrew Jesky for winning the FAI F3A World Championship for Aerobatic Model Aircraft. I met Andrew several years ago and worked with his father, Tim, on the Executive Council—they are a great bunch of folks. Andrew’s win is a testament to hard work and lots of practice.
On the subject of aerobatics, I had the pleasure of meeting an aviation icon. The St. Augustine RC Flyers in Elkton, Florida, hosted a public fly-in and invited members of the community, the Board of County Commissioners of St. Johns County, Patty Wagstaff, and Doug Litton.
To most aviation nuts like me, Patty needs no introduction; she’s a world champion full-scale aerobatics pilot, has flown for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), is an aerobatics instructor, and, as it turns out, a genuinely nice lady. What she had never done until a hot day in August of this year was fly an RC airplane!
With the help of an instructor from the St. Augustine club, Patty took a turn at the sticks on a buddy box. Ironically, she was hesitant to try it because she was afraid that she was going to wreck the trainer! She did great!
Doug, of Doug Litton Airshows, performs at airshows throughout the country in an Extra 300. It turns out that he was bitten by the aviation bug when he started out building and flying model airplanes. So did Neil Armstrong, that astronaut guy.
Bring a kid to the flying field and get them hooked because there are a lot of people in aviation careers who got their start building and flying model airplanes—some are famous, such as Matt Chapman; some are just going about their jobs as airline pilots; some are filming movies, such as Happy Gilmore 2, with camera drones; and some are flying blimps at professional hockey games.
A safety note to pass along: Someone gave me one of the new (I’ll call them hairspray can-style) fire extinguishers. They are showing up at a lot of fields because they satisfy the requirements for operating turbine jets. This extinguisher exploded in my garage at 6 a.m. and scared the living daylights out of me and my dog. It sounded like a shotgun blast and made a big, fat mess.
Be careful and do yourself a favor. Invest in a decent fire extinguisher that is Underwriter Laboratories (UL) listed.
Until next month, stay safe!