Date posted: November 20, 2009

– Download Omahawks Meeting, 11-20-2009 as PDF –

So, about an hour and a half before the Omahawks meeting, I decided to take a combat flyer to Hawk field in Omaha, NE for some practice (the club’s field). I was surprised to find a fellow member named Larry already up there flying, so I watched this little spot up in the air get bigger and bigger, then smaller and smaller again. I’m understanding why so many of these planes are so large…because they just get so tinywhen they’re out there.

Larry and I have a small chat while the daylight fades, discussing topics at a fairly high level from club events, trainer planes, and the combat flyer I brought. After a little chat and watching Larry clean fuel off the fuselage and wings (they seem like they can be messy), I took the combat flyer up in a near dead calm, great for flying. Made a few passes and then noticed the throttle completely cut off. Fresh battery, that shouldn’t be happening.

So, I had to glide it into the nearby grass area, landed as well as you can land these things, as there isn’t a landing gear on the Mark I version. Servos work fine, but throttle just makes the motor ‘spurt’. I’ll have to check the wiring and see what’s going on, everything at the surface looks just fine.

Fast forward an hour and a half and I’m in a room filled with mostly older gentlemen and huge airplanes brought in for show and tell. Having only flown my own Park Zone Vapor and combat flyers as airplanes, seeing one fuselage as long as I am tall (I’m 6’5”) instantly dwarfed anything I’ve personally flown.

As the meeting starts the president, E.J. Murphy, asks if there are any new members since the last meeting. gulp… That would be me. I raise my hand and he asks me to stand up and introduce myself. I’m not a proficient public speaker, so I tried to keep it quick and concise, but honestly, they made it easy. All of them very welcoming, and quickly saw that although there was an order to the meeting (which I was expecting), there is also a very laid back atmosphere as well, and it quickly made my night.

Moving through the meeting, a raffle is held at the end for a few kits, an engine, and an engine. If you brought a plane to show and tell, you get a couple of free raffle tickets. So, for show and tell, each member that brought something talks a bit about what they brought along with a little Q&A. I had my combat flyer in the car, but was quite nervous and leery about bringing in this simple foam flyer compared to the larger and complex models put on display. I hesitantly ask a fellow member if it’d be okay if I brought mine in. With a quick affirmation, I hustle out to the car, grab my combat flyer, and perform a quick show and tell, giving a brief explanation about the flyer, parts, etc. and answer a few questions about it, even giving a wing tear with my key-chain, demolishing a section of wing. Just put a little packing tape on it, and voila, it will still go up and fly!

Good lesson: When you’re given four free raffle tickets, make sure you separate them so the matching tickets actually go into the ticket box, makes it so much easier to have a chance to win. Thanks again to the members that noticed, giving a quick laugh for the audience as I bashfully rip my tickets apart and hand them to the president.

After the raffle (Didn’t win anything, thankfully, I’d almost have no idea what to do with an engine or bottle of fuel), I take some time and walk around a bit, meeting a father/son pair who live less than a block away from me. The son works at HobbytownUSA, and Chameleon met him while he was here during his last trucking stop in Omaha, so we had that connection, and was a pleasure meeting them both.

Having a few questions raised about the combat flyer (Note to self: I need to whip up business cards fast), I told them about hoverandsmile.com and pointed them to where they can get the plans and parts lists. Seems like some interest was sparked, perhaps we’ve the beginning of a small combat group!

All in all, I had an absolute blast as the members of the club made me feel very welcome. Chatting with K.C., Gary, Ed, Mikey, and all the other names I have to learn now was a very enjoyable experience, and I look forward to getting to know the other members, perhaps getting Pops to come out for the next event.