A few shots taken on a beautiful sunny day right after Christmas, it is on days like this I have second thoughts about going to Florida for the winter.

Click on the picture for a larger image!

Visit with Laura and Philippe and Sebastien

Sebastien og bedstefar

Dick Grieve's 80th Birthday Party

Yesterday, Saturday December 1st. Dianne and I attended Dick Grieve's 80th. Birthday party in Markham Ontario. I first met Dick almost 40 years ago at a model airplane contest in London On. in 1968.

Dick currently makes his home in Cambridge ON but his son Marty and his wife Cynthia who lives in Markham On hosted the party. Many friends and family came to this noontime luncheon to help Dick celebrate including son Brad and his wife Erika all the way from Mexico and daughter Louise from Edmonton.

Click here for a link to a photo album of this get together. You can also click on these pictures and get a larger image.

Saturday brunch

For some time we had been planning to get together with my friend and colleague from my flying days, John Thorne and today was the day. John and I worker for a Kitchener corporation and we were the pilots for the company airplane, a King Air B-100. John and his wife Karen brought their new baby girl Melody. Laura, Philippe and our new grandson Sebastien also came and so did our friends Art and Jane Penner.

We had a great time talking about the "good old days" of flying the King Air. Art was hired to fill in co-pilot duties when one of us could not go so we had quite a lot to catch up on.

Of course the two newborns were the center of attention. Sebastien and Melody pretty well stole the show and we took tons of pictures. Somewhere in the middle of it all we managed to cook up a heap of pancakes, bacon and eggs and we all enjoyed a great time together.

Click here for a link to a photo album of this get together

Hand operation update

Yesterday I went to the hand clinic for a follow-up, there the therapist fitted me with a splint and gave me some exercises to do. I didn't quite realize that I have to wear this splint 24-7 for 3 months to be removed only for exercises at least 5 times per day. In addition they recommended that it be worn at night for up to one year.

On an up note I was told that the incision looked very good and that my range of motion on the affected finger was better than normal. I will be going back to see the doctor early next week and the the stitches will be taken out in early December.


While this is turning out to be a bit more involved than I have anticipated I am very happy with the result as I can now straighten the affected finger. (LH ring finger) I am sure that it will be well worth the effort in the end.

Transmitter Stick Mode!

I have been told that 4 out of the top 5 at the recent Pattern (F3A) World Championship in Argentina used Mode I stick configuration on their transmitters. This gives me reason to promote my Mode III stick set-up which I have been using for many years. Futaba makes this Mode available in most of their transmitters but they call it "Mode IIII".

Lets begin with an explanation of the 3 main stick configuration in use today.
The most popular and widely used stick configuration is Mode II. On this mode we have throttle & rudder on LH stick , aileron & elev on RH stick.

Mode I is a carry over from the old reed days and here we have rudder & elev. on the LH stick with throttle & aileron on the RH stick. Mode III is the reverse of Mode I with throttle & aileron on the left, rudder & elev. on the right.

Now I can hear the arguments already and I would agree that a good case could be made for learning to fly on the stick mode that is most popular in your area.
For general sport flying for you to learn to fly on mode II may well be the best way for you to begin. But if you have any ambitions of flying aerobatics competitively then Mode I or Mode III is definitely the way to go.

Here is why, I will use Mode III for my explanation as this is the one I use but the same principles applies to Mode I.

On Mode III aileron control is placed on your left hand along with throttle. Now imagine doing a slow roll, all you have to do is lean the stick slightly to the left or right to establish the roll rate and all the co-ordination is done with rudder and elevator on your right hand. Being right handed would be some benefit here.

This ability to co-ordinate all the corrective inputs with the right hand applies to all rolling maneuvers incl. rolling loops and rolling circles as well giving this pilot a great advantage over the one having to use two sticks to accomplice the same thing.

Quite some years ago as a result of my influence two already accompliced pattern fliers in Canada switched from Mode II to Mode III and they both went on to win the Canadian Nationals, one of them shared the podium with myself and one other team member when we won the team world championship in Australia in 1991.

I would also point out that Gernot Bruckman of Austria who won the free style at the recent Tucson Shootout is flying mode III so there is a lot of evidence in support of this set-up.

Now I don't want to give anyone the idea that switching stick modes will somehow make you a winner. Flying aaerobatics is all about practice, set up and reducing pilot workload. I strongly believe that mode III reduces pilot workload and that Mode III is the best option for a person who is right handed where Mode I would be best suited for a left handed person.

Hand operation.

No I did not stick my hand in a spinning model airplane propeller.
I did, however, require a small procedure done to the ring finger on my left hand correcting what is called "Dupuytren contracture".

Here is an explanation from the internet.

What is a Dupuytren contracture?

Dupuytren contracture is a localized formation of scar tissue beneath the skin of the palm of the hand. The scarring accumulates in a tissue (fascia) that normally covers the tendons that pull the fingers to grip. As Dupuytren contracture progresses, more of the fascia becomes thickened and shortened. Dimpling and puckering of the skin over the area eventually occurs.

Visit to Toronto

Our visit to Toronto this afternoon included a trip to Tim Horton's for lunch with Laura, Philippe and little Sebastien. After lunch we went for a stroll out the Leslie St. Spit, it was a cool fall day here with some sun but a beautiful afternoon for a walk on the Toronto waterfront.


Bestefar (Danish for grandfather) is pretty proud of his new grandson. Click on the link to the right to see a short video.

Indoor electric flying.

Today Terry Tripp and I went to Rim Park in Waterloo Ont. to fly our some indoor foamies. This is a popular activity in this area in the off season as we have a wonderful facility at Rim Park.

Terry torque rolling his Micro Epic.

The space we have to fly in we refer to as the "Field House". It is an indoor soccer field, I don't have the actual measurements but it is very large and one of the best facilities in Southern Ontario for indoor flying.








Anyone can come and fly here, all you have to do is call first to make sure the field house is not in use, book a time and pay $6.00 per hour per person.

Interesting detail on LE of Terry's plane.

Also, check this link for lots of photos and an excellent article Terry has written on building light foamy airplanes.



There is nothing organized but often Friday afternoons a group of us are there.



My Epic

Our grandchild is growing!

Little Sebastien was 2 months old yesterday (Oct 27Th.) the following pictures were taken in the last few days.

Ocala Fl. IMAC contest

This past weekend Oct. 20-21, 2007 I competed in the Ocala Fl IMAC contest hosted by the Ocala Model Flying Club and CD'ed by Fred Johnson and assisted by his wife Julie and son Baron.

Fred Johnson, contest director.

I got to the Ocala area several days before the contest began giving me a chance to fly the '07 IMAC sequence again after having been away form it for quite a while to practice for and fly in the (TAS) Tucson Aerobatic Shootout.

The Ocala Model field is a beautiful place especially after having spent a month or so in the Desert of Arizona it was great to be back to green grass and not dirt and dust.

As a special bonus of arriving early I had a chance to go for an airplane ride with Fred Johnson in his T-6 Texan. Fred picked me up at the field early one morning and took me to Leeward Air Ranch where he lives and has his hangar.

After the mandatory preparations and walk around I got a quick lesson in how to get in and out of a T-6, I was then strapped into the back seat with a parachute and restraining harnesses and a Bose noise cancelling headset completed my preparations.

During start up and taxiing away from the hangar Julie Johnson was in charge of taking pictures. Julie is a digital photography "shutter bug" and took a series of great pictures, far too many for me to post here.

After take off we proceed west to a practice area near the town of Dunnellen where Fred took me through a series of maneuvers, a loop, barrel roll, a Cuban eight ans so on, I even got to take the T-6 through a loop on my own (with some assistance from Fred). After all that I suddenly wasn't feeling too well so we landed in Dunnellen for fuel and returned to our home field soon after that. What a fantastic experience and one I will not soon forget. Thanks Fred.

Back to the contest. We had two great weather flying days for this event with 48 contestants, of significance it is worth mentioning that we had 18 competitors in the Basic class many of whom were first timers. IMAC is alive and growing in the SE region for sure and seems to be in the rest of both the US and Canada as well.

I flew my new YAK-54 from Quique Aircraft Co. to a first place finish in this contest. This is a 120" version and the latest in their now well know YAK-54 series of airplanes.

Quique now has this airplane in stock at the very modest price of $1800.00 check it out on the web at this URL http://qqaircraft.com/

This is a great flying machine! I now have about 120 flights on it and have really come to appreciate its VERY strong rudder and perfect axial rolls. At 42.5 lbs it does require a strong running engine. A DA-150 on Greeves pipes combined with a Mejzlik 30x12 2 bladed prop is plenty of Power.


I really enjoyed this contest and met many old friends and made some new ones as well, of course it helps coming away with a first place trophy.

Here I am receiving the first place trophy from Julie Johnson.

David Moser, my young 17 year friend from Florida has been giving me a lot of trouble in unlimited ever since he moved up to this catagory a couple of years ago. In fact I have not been able to beat him in any of the 4 or 5 contest we have flown in together until this one. David placed a close second though.


I congratulate David on his early success, he is a great R/C pilot and has a wonderful personality. David, I predict that you will be successful in whatever endeavour in life you choose.

David Moser calling for me in the last round of the contest on Sunday.

I mentioned that we had great flying weather and we did. Somehow the weather gods were looking after us as it wasn't 10 minutes after the trophy presentations were complete before the skies open up in a torrential downpour. And so ended another successful IMAC contest and a good time was had by all.

Ivan K.

More thoughts on TAS

Soon after the contest was over I had a call from my good friend Steve Dionne in Rimuski Quebec asking me about the contest. I was on the road at the time so I told him that I would get back to him later.

Frazer Briggs of New Zealand waives to the crowd after a great free style flight!

It is now Friday evening the week following the end of the contest so I have had quite a bit of time to gather my thoughts.

First of all I want to say "hats off" to Dave Johnson of Desert Aircraft, without his drive and financial support this contest wouldn't be here at all. He and his team of staffers and volunteers put on a first class event. For the IMAC competitor the Tucson Aerobatic Shootout(TAS)represents the best contest on the calendar anywhere in the world. This year there were in upwards of $100,000.00 in Cash and prises. The only contest of this magnitude was the TOC which ended in 2002.

In addition to Dave Johnson there were, of course, many other contributors to the cash purse and the prize table. In fact the list of contributors is way too long to list here besides I wouldn't be able to remember them all, suffice it to say that it was impressive indeed, the list read as the who's who of the R/C modeling industry.

Bill Hempel readies his 50% Extra 260.

A contest of this size with some 60 contestants in 5 classes does not come off without some serious organization. There are many volunteers to help run this contest and I couldn't name them all here but two of the them need special recognition.

Michael Marcellin was the CD for the event and as far as I know he has been the CD since the beginning, I think this is the 6th annual. Michael runs a fantastic event and is to be congratulated for his efforts, he has a special knack for putting the right people in the right places so the result is a contest that runs like clockwork.

Anna Wood most certainly need special recognition as well. Anna is the webmaster and score keeper and anyone who has been to the website will agree what a great job she does there. The scoring program is one she wrote her self and it works great. As a competitor you are able to walk into a tent adjacent to the scoring trailer where two monitors are set up and see you score only minutes after your flight. Also the original score sheets used on the line are made available to you so this makes for a much more transparent contest than what we are accustomed to from other local and national events.

The picture here is of some of the Canadians attending the event.

I won't comment here on the results of the contest as it gets way too political except I will say that I feel the right person won the invitational class. Congratulation to Mark Leseburg for his third win in a row at this event, it was well deserved. Also I would like to state that my 13th place does not reflect my efforts or my ability and yes I am disappointed with my results. I have no one to blame but my self but that would be for discussion at another time.

The free style portion of this event is always popular with the spectators and this year would not disappoint. Gernot Bruckmann of Austria put in a fantastic performance and easily won it with some very well choreographed flights. From my perspective the down low to the ground razzle dazzle stuff is no longer what it takes, while it has good spectator appeal the smooth well planned and flown, choreographed to the music is going to be the way of the future in free style.


Gernot Bruckmann, only 15 years old and winner of the Free Style

From a competitors point of view the venue is fantastic, The runway is a 700'x70' paved strip with a paved pit area and grass infield. The Ramada is probably 150' long with lots of tables and electricity. The center area is semi enclosed and has a telephone, fridge and a pop machine. 200' away there are his and hers as well as handicapped flush toilets so as you can see this facility has all the amenities.

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If this place has a down side it would be that distance to town. Although there are a couple of gas stations and convenience stores about 20 minutes away, to get to hotels, restaurants and shopping takes at least 45 minutes. another problem is with high winds the sand and dust can be really nasty as we found out the Friday of the contest.

Mark Leseburg celebrating with a bottle of Champagne

In conclusion let me say that this event is the best of it's kind and one that is not to me missed. I for one will be planning to attend the '08 addition and so will many others I know.

Thoughts on (TAS) Tucson Aerobatic Shootout!

Now that the '07 TAS is over I have a few thoughts I would like to share with you about this event.
Unfortunately it is very late at night here so I don't really have it to gather my thoughts tonight but I will get back to it later I promise.

I am on the road home from this event so my Internet connections are sporadic at best so it may be a few days before I get back to it.