LUNAR’clips 2002                        Volume 9, Number 6

Copyright © 2002 by LUNAR, All rights reserved.

LUNAR Participation at the EBRC Airshow

On September 29, LUNAR participated once again with the East Bay Radio Controllers (EBRC) R/C flying club for their annual public air show. This show is a fundraiser for their club that allows them to sponsor local Scout Troops.

LUNAR's part of the show was the noontime demo. It was organized, as it has been for the other four times we've participated, by Joe Heckenbach who did his usual outstanding job. We had a large display area with three canopies and tables overflowing with rockets, club fliers and newsletters. While the R/C airplane fliers took a lunch break, we got to entertain the crowd with a dozen rockets from Micro-Maxx up through "G" and "H" powered models to show the range of the hobby. We only had 20 minutes, so we had to be quick. The flying part of the program went off without a hitch. As soon as the last airplane had landed, the launch crew started moving the pads out to the edge of the runway. I entertained the crowd as best I could with some background on the hobby until the pads had been hammered down.

First off the pad was Charlotte Dean flying a Standard ARM on a D12-5 to show sport scale. Next was Jessica Pettinicchi's Flash on a C6-5 showing a typical sport model. Tony Cooper was up next with his Interceptor G as an example of a futuristic sport model. Bill Orvis followed with his Estes Magnum flying a combination D12-0/C6-7 exhibiting, of course, multi-staging. James Moreno can always be counted on to do something different, and he flew his Big Daddy with an F39 core motor air starting a cluster of D13's. Jay Dean flew his Astrobee on a G35 to show larger scale models, was followed by Joe Pettinicchi with his Sumo using the same motor. Moving to the other end of the hobby, Bill Orvis set off his Micro Maxx Saturn V, which drew laughs from the crowd as it barely cleared the rods of the other models!

James Marino was back up with an Avenger on an F52 set up to do dual deployment of a streamer followed by a main 'chute. Zachary Pettinicchi gave us an energetic sport model with his Estes Fat Boy on a D24, then Jay Dean showed another larger scale model with his Strong ARM boosted by an F20. Bringing it all home was Tony Cooper with the ever-popular Piñata Rocket on the largest motor of the day, an H238. No candy on board, though, as this would have pushed it over the weight limit into HPR territory which our fire permit didn't allow.

It was another splendid time, not the least of which was watching the absolutely spectacular R/C aircraft fly, including helicopters that fly in any orientation, and honest-to-god turbine powered R/C fighter jets (a Mirage and an F-14 Tomcat). Truly amazing.

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