Aloha Clarence and mahalo for your views on the present diatribe of the two meter class and contests. I used to have a fun time flying here on the island of Maui at the various get-togethers the local glider club had each month in which the club called "fun fly's". Two meter planes, especially the Goldberg Gentle Lady, was prevalent in these contests and I had a blast with the other pilots talking story and farting around with what new kits we brought up for show and tell. But alas, these contests have fallen out of favor in recent years with me in particular because of the "competitiveness" of some pilots. Some people were just too serious about a supposedly fun hobby. The camaraderie started to fade and I just didn't want to be a part of the seriousness and competitiveness mind-set. I would rather go to work and hear someone bitch than go to the flying field and hear the same. As I mentioned earlier, these monthly get-togethers were called "fun fly's" not contests. For me and some other pilots, it wasn't enjoyable anymore.
The 2 meter class of plane is very popular with the local glider club. I, for one, started off with a Gentle Lady (priced $25 at the local hobby store 20 years ago). I then built an Airtronics Olympic 650 and that was one of the best flyers I had when I first started in the hobby. In fact, my first four planes I built were 2 meter planes. They are inexpensive (especially the gasbags) and enabled many beginner flyer here on the island to get into the hobby. Yes, it may not be a class of plane that is in favor with the contest crowd, but it sure is a great class of plane for newbie/novice flyers. Aloha to all in the group, Al Battad - WH6VE AMA #506981 ________________________________________ From: Clarence Ashcraft [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 4:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [RCSE] Contests & 2 M class As I read the various post's about contests and two meter class.� I sit and scratch My head and wonder why did some of you get into this hobby.� With all the bitching being done here about two meter class it would make someone feel that you only care about what you fly. And You wonder why it is hard to bring new people into a hobby that We all love to be in.� what We as a group need to be doing is look for ways to improve this hobby so all can feel welcome as they start there journey towards getting�more skills and a better plane.� � Most people getting into this hobby have limited funds�and that means that the new people fly what they have.� I have taught a few people to fly and I try to keep that person from focusing on the high dollar ships at first in hopes that they will get enough good flights in to get them through the bad times of repairs etc.��� I personally don't care what you fly and�yes I have a Hera but I have a bunch of other ships that I love to fly, For me it's about the time I get to fly.� As for two meter yes it has a performance difference but don't count it out of a contest or event because of it's size.� A good example of this is My scratch built mini bird of time during Soar Utah 2004, Mark Howard got his eight hour LSF and I got My 4 hour LSF slope with my 2 meter bird of time.� Yes it was hard at times for me to keep My eye on a small bird for four hours but I did it. � Well that's enough typing on the computer for me I just hope some of you will think back to the time when a 2 meter bird was all you had and how much fun it was...Clarence � CLARENCE� ASHCRAFT PRESIDENT OF IMSF 2005 [EMAIL PROTECTED] � HOME OF INTERMOUNTAIN SILENT FLYERS AND SOAR UTAH WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN TO FLY R/C CONTACT THE CLUB AT http://www.silentflyer.org/ RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
