KOI this weekend

[Will Davis]

We are leaving out early Friday morning to the sunny state of Florida for the KOI ,  ETA  whitehouse field by noon . Looks like great weather, I will try to post results as soon as we get back to the hotel ,

which hotel are most people staying at, , I have reservations at Hampton inn , chaffee. Rd ,

[EddyR]

Will   It looks like you will have good weather for a change. The attendance more than likely will be down because of the late notice. Hope you do well.
Ed

[Steve Fitton]

I will get there Friday evening. Staying at the Hampton.

[bob whitney]

i believe that is where we are staying  do i need to bring some extra balsa wood

[Will Davis]

Good turnout today, good weather, nice, sunny Florida , normal people out today, we flew until we had to leave site at 6 pm, then off to Olive Garden for supper .

No need for the balsa Bob,  but thanks for the glue and the moral support

[RknRusty]

Looks beautiful. Steady Nor'Easter picking up gradually to 9 mph by mid day and back down to 7 near the end. Mostly cloudy. Good luck everybody, let us know how it goes.
Rusty

[Matt Colan]

Weather was beautiful today! Stunt Heaven air for the time I was there in the late afternoon.  Looking forward to tomorrow!

I'm staying at the Hampton tomorrow night.  I'm in Daytona tonight and heading out early.  Planning to get there around 8:30

[Curt D Contrata]

Good luck Matt, but perfect air? Hardly a KOI without a story. I remember many that were freezing cold and heavy fog in the morning.

Rumor is that Les won it one year putting up only one flight. No practice, out of his car, flew, then back in his car with the heater on.

Alan Deveve (can never spell his name right) and I had a fly off one year for 1/2a combat on the Monday following one year for bad weather.

My first "almost" win in stunt, I was displaced by a guy who flew four inside loops that the judges seemed to not see. He will probably be there again, so be sure to count loops.

My second "almost" was the year I nearly got Les stuck in the swamp on the way in and then had a control failure on an outside square.

On my first win, I actually placed second, but then won the fly off with a dog of a plane, beating Randy Smith and John with his Cavalier (A good year, but cold air that helped the dog of a plane).

My second win, I had placed fourth, but Rob Gruber had to leave for college and they stuck me in the fly-off. First up, one flight, I won!

Last year, the wind howled as I am sure you remember. Barbara spent the entire time in my car with the heater on. My third win.

Good luck to everyone, and be sure to have fun. I will miss seeing my friends and defending the crown, but work is in the way this time around.

Please be sure to give Gene some grief for me, lord knows he deserves it.

Curt

[wwwarbird]

 Please don't forget the cameras folks!

[EddyR]

 I remember back in the mid 1970's I got a sunburn and was in a Tshirt the whole weekend. A couple of years later Bill Whitson and I had to clean off 4" inches of snow from the truck before we could go to the field. Them there was the year the other judge and I sat in my truck and judged the flyoff. Bill won that year. One of the years I won advanced and was in the flyoff my ST/46 blew the crank band and Rebecca was holding the plane and she though she had put the prop into the ground.
 I won Advanced three times in a row and Old time five times in a row. For many years now I can barley get to the center of the circle. Vascular surgery later this month will take away 90% of the leg pain,so I am told??
 I also remember one year long ago at the KOI in Sebring and I was fly FF and had to sit under a old bomber wing to get out of the hot sun.
 Back in the 1950's two other guys and myself drove all day and night non stop from NYS to go to the KOI in Miami. We got sunburned and had a great time. Met all the famous flyers who are gone now that weekend.
EddyR 

[Matt Colan]

Good luck Matt, but perfect air? Hardly a KOI without a story. I remember many that were freezing cold and heavy fog in the morning.

Rumor is that Les won it one year putting up only one flight. No practice, out of his car, flew, then back in his car with the heater on.

Alan Deveve (can never spell his name right) and I had a fly off one year for 1/2a combat on the Monday following one year for bad weather.

My first "almost" win in stunt, I was displaced by a guy who flew four inside loops that the judges seemed to not see. He will probably be there again, so be sure to count loops.

My second "almost" was the year I nearly got Les stuck in the swamp on the way in and then had a control failure on an outside square.

On my first win, I actually placed second, but then won the fly off with a dog of a plane, beating Randy Smith and John with his Cavalier (A good year, but cold air that helped the dog of a plane).

My second win, I had placed fourth, but Rob Gruber had to leave for college and they stuck me in the fly-off. First up, one flight, I won!

Last year, the wind howled as I am sure you remember. Barbara spent the entire time in my car with the heater on. My third win.

Good luck to everyone, and be sure to have fun. I will miss seeing my friends and defending the crown, but work is in the way this time around.

Please be sure to give Gene some grief for me, lord knows he deserves it.

Curt

Thanks Curt!

Today was another day of almost perfect air, temps warmed up in the mid 60s and winds stayed light throughout the day.  John Simpson has a new Cavalier with him that looks great, and flies exceptionally well! 

Not sure about the results for Old time and profile, but the top three in classic and N-30 were:

1st: Matt Colan
2nd: John Simpson
3rd: Gene Martine

The weather forecast is looking like the winds will be back up to the usual KOI standards tomorrow, and the temps will be in the high 60s. 

[Matt Colan]

The wind howled today in typical KOI fashion. A few planes splattered the ground due to the conditions.  By the time the fly off took place the wind was gusting up to and occasionally over 20mph.  Gene Martine won the fly off for the perpetual trophy over Steve Fitton by just 8 points.

I took a bunch of video that I'll post sometime soon on YouTube.

[peabody]

Some good flying both days....I watched several flights Sunday and thought that Gene was handling the weather better than the rest. Steve was flying really well, too. Matt flew Grandpa's P-47/LA 46 like it was a tuna piped plane.
Don Ogden had the 'lectric motor eject from the nose of his profile Pathfinder ARC....I wonder if too many think that building a strong motor mount isn't necessary with battery power? They run so smooth....but a day like today, to prop was pulling one way while the wind was pushing the plane a different way.

Have fun!

[Jim Carter]

My flying buddy, Larry and I had the pleasure of participating in the K.O.I. Sunday and I must say we both had a wonderful time.  Yes, it was breezy and chilly for the better part of the day but spirits were high and everyone we had the privilege of talking with yesterday was cordial and ready to enjoy some good flying.  I have nothing but the highest respect for the competitors because, at least to me, the winds were quite a challenge but they all put on quite a show of skill and dedication to the sport.  It proved to me that one can actually hang onto the lines and "control the plane" rather than have the plane be in control!!    Sadly there were three mishaps thus giving the glue manufacturers reason to stay in business a bit longer  and a few very, very close encounters but overall everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Allow me to extend my appreciation for the support and dedication of Mr. Weedman and his team of supporters for pulling it all together.  From speaking with Len he will be dealing with some medical issues in the near future and I sincerely offer my prayers and ask all of you to join me to pray for his full healing and restoration.  Finally, I want to say thank you to Mr. Martine, I believe, who arranged for a really nice catered lunch.  Just so you all know, my tummy was oh so happy!!!  Thank you Chef Thorne, the food was super and I, for one, enjoyed it!!  I had a ball!!  

[Garf]

It seems that things may have improved a little since my last visit to Whitehouse field. I may have to give it another chance.

[Steve Fitton]

The guys worked hard to pull off a good King Orange this year, even having to contend with a disinformation campaign run by someone who seemed determined to kill off attendance at this years event.  Those efforts failed and the numbers looked good.  The contest ran without a hitch.

My congratulations to Gene Martine, who had put in a lot of wind practice flights on his home field that paid off handsomely when the wind came up Sunday.  Gene looked completely unruffled out there as his 75 pulled his SV with perfect authority-at 5.5 second laps!  His practice paid off with a well deserved win.

[Gene Martine]

 
Steve:
Thanks, you also flew very well.
Gene

[Matt Colan]

Here are a couple videos I took from this year's KOI.

This one is my winning flight in classic.  Thanks Steve Fitton for videoing it for me!


Here is Steve Fitton's winning  flight in expert:


And I am currently uploading Gene's winning flight from the fly off for the perpetual trophy.

[Matt Colan]

Here is Gene's flight in the heavy winds during the fly-off that got him the perpetual trophy.

I launched for him so I wasn't able to get video his take-off and wingover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvs4BPm6omw&feature=youtu.be