National Free Flight Society

SEN 2963

  1. MaxMen Update
  2. With a little help from my friends …

MaxMen Update

In case you are wondering why no F1B Results yet ..
F1B flyoff this morning, but wind has delayed the start. Seven flyers maxed a 10-minute flyoff at 5:30 Sunday night. Amazing air. Sevak Malkhasyan Ittai Shichman Michael Seifert Nikolay Kovalenko Robert Piserchio Jes Nyhegen, and Vegar Nereng wait for better weather today, although sadly Michael has to leave. It’s blowing 25+ mph at 7 a.m.


With a little help from my friends …

From: David Johannes

Roger:

I would appreciate your posting of this note in a future SEN edition.
As reflected in an earlier posting, I managed to win the F1J portion of the 2022 Max Men contest, flying Dad’s old 4-panel Odyssey, which was christened Lil’ Bird many years ago.
Everyone has a story to tell after a day of FF competition.  So, won’t bore the readers with too much detail here.
That said, Lil’ Bird was the most beat up model there, with roughly 15 to 20 “beauty marks” from previous crashes/repairs, most of which are my doing, and she has a relatively short wing span and a lower aspect ratio than the other competitor’s models.  But, even though she was not the “best” model and I’m certainly as proficient a flyer as the others, “we” flew well enough to get the win, with a little help from my friends.  Love that the underdog always has a chance in FF competition.
Espresso Tie-Breaker flight in the morning went well, with Lil’ Bird posting a time that was a good 40 seconds over next best time.  So, for the rest of the day, just had to stay “clean”, which as we all know, is not an easy thing to do.
The engine on Lil’ Bird started acting up and burning plugs ~ round 3, and my chase bike conked out about the same time.  I was getting pretty stressed out.
After taking me aside and saying “calm down, we have this”, Guy Menanno helped me with cleaning the needle valve/checking alignment of the spray bar, which fixed the engine problem to the point that power-trim adjustments were needed in subsequent flights, and we never got the climb back to pure vertical all the way to the bunt.
Marty and Aimee Schroedter did not hesitate when I asked if I could borrow their chase bike (they had stepped up to cover CD duties and were not flying).  Marty had to teach me how he actuates the clutch with his left elbow while holding the model.  But, the chase-bike issue went away.
I wanted to publicly thank these people; and acknowledge that my success last Friday would not have happened without their generous actions.
Also, want to say “Thank You” to Randy Secor for his having reached out to me earlier in the week to encourage me to get my butt up to Lost Hills, and to the Free Flight community as a whole, for a wonderful memory.
David Johannes