Expensive toys for boys....lots of planes and noisy boats

February 9 (Friday)
Today was the big fly-in at the RC field in Quartzite. I was so excited to get there I tried to pick Steve up a half hour early. (Note to self: write the time down. Don't forget to read the note.)

We got to the field about 0830 or so. There was already a large crowd on hand. The weather was perfect. Warm and calm and not a cloud in the sky. The pilots might have wished for just a slight breeze and maybe some cloud cover for relief from the sun, but us spectators thought it was great.

We checked out the static displays and before long the flying commenced.

One of the big boys

Aerobatic beauties

A trailer full of cool planes

Some smaller but no less impressive planes

Big tundra tires. This plane could fly incredibly slow and maneuver so well in a small airspace

Let's fly!

This one wasn't flying today or anytime soon. It had major crash damage.

Some club planes on display

Steve got me on to using Sport Mode on my camera and it worked great. Far less blur of fast moving planes. I took over 400 pictures and lucky for you I have pruned it down to some of  my favorites. Pictures rarely help the viewer grasp the spins and turns these planes are performing during their aerobatic manouvers.

Can you tell which direction this plane if flying? It is actually moving left to right. The wings are mounted backwards. It was very maneuverable.

This plane is called an Ugly Stik, but don't be fooled. It is very easy to flay and quite aerobatic.

Pitts Special biplane

B-17 bomber

Small fanjet

Older WW 1 biplane

This is a glider that also has a motor on the front. The propeller folds back when gliding. It flew very well.

The Tundra plane. It had huge flaps that allowed it to fly very slow and still maneuver well. It could land in less than a foot or runway.

This is a home-built racing drone. It was so fast I could hardly track it with my camera. It sounded like an angry bee when it flew. It was very aerobatic and was flown by.........

.....virtual reality gogles! The pilot is on the right wearing the goggles. He flew the drone by looking at a display, not watching the drone itself. Incredible!

This plane is called the apprentice and is a good first airplane. It has three modes: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Each level gives the pilot more control for advanced manouvers but also has a 'panic' switch that will fly the plane itself at half throttle and level until the pilot can regain control. Very cool. With radios, engine, plane and accessories.......under $300 USD.

So much power this plane could hover on the prop.

This small plane had about a 12 inch wingspan and flew very well with virtually no wind today.

This unusual plane was shaped like an arrow. You would think it wouldn't fly that well but it sure did! Very aerobatic.

Japanese Zero

There must have been thirty or more planes and some flying more than once. All sizes from a roughly 12 inch wingspan to fully aerobatic monsters with maybe a five foot wingspan. Some electric, some gas, even an electric fanjet. The pilots were very skilled. No crashes, just a couple minor parts failures.

By early afternoon the flying was slowing down and we headed back to LaPosa. A few chores then over to Steve and Dianne's for an extended happy hour with a large group of friendly folks. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the group.

I did get a cell phone picture of our sunset.....and fire from later....

February 10 (Saturday)
Another early start today. We were on the road to Parker by 0800 to see the drag boats. Today was qualifying and often this racing is better than the finals. The better you do in qualifying the higher you rank on the ladder in the finals. You might even get a buy.

We arrived before 0900 and found some prime seating right on the shore just down course from the start line. The qualifying is set up similar to car drag racing in that within your boat class you declare how fast you think your boat will complete the 1000 foot course. You can tie or go slower but you can't 'break out' of your 'bracket'. Sunday is set up as elimination rounds and the ladder is set so that the first place qualifier (closest to his declared time) races the slowest (last place) boat and so on. It is rather complex for those of us not familiar with bracket racing, but whatever the format.......this was an awesome day on the river! (further reading at the ADBA website)

There were many classes of boats from personal watercraft (Sea-doos) to alcohol burning fire-breathers. The quickest time of the day went to this bad boy. 5.35 seconds on a declared time of 5.3 seconds.

The noise these things make is incredible. When some of these big boys gun their engine then shut it down quickly you could hear the engine noise echoing off the valley walls like an explosion. Awesome!

Not much of the boat in the water.

Even the ducks had a race!

These boats are running on the edge of self-destruction and in some cases today they crossed that line. I tried to get some good racing shots for this Team but they had just started their run when the engine blew up. They were trying to buy a new engine block today and would work all night to try and race Sunday. The driver/owner told me "We didn't drive all the way from Texas and not race! If we can buy a new engine block today we'll be out there tomorrow." That is some competitive spirit!

Lots of noise but.....

......no speed

Not what he wanted

Engine needs to be rebuilt. This is an expensive hobby!

In the pits......

Huge engine in such a small boat.

Those plates on the back bottom of the boat are adjustable by the driver during his run. They keep the nose of the boat down, and creat a lot of the spray you see behind the boats.

600 cubic inch monster. They cost over $50,000 each.

This one needs some repairs between heats.

We watched two and half rounds of qualifying and then headed home. Ears ringing and a snoot full of racing fuel exhaust we were happy. It was our first drag boat races and won't be our last. (Gee, I've said that about a lot of our first-time experiences this year!)

With the clouds that rolled in today the sunset was spectacular!
......and that was Our View From Here!