Jessica first contest with her +P

[Mark Scarborough]

Veteran

Posts: 249
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Location: Pullman Washington   well it was a long fun weekend. jessica and I went to Chehalis for the Raider Roundup. To make a long story short, Jessica pretty much doubled her flying experience in one weekend. she got to fly some combat with the guys, the put her up on a Dbat, diesel combat. and she flew against Jeff Rein. she was having a total blast and actually got a couple cuts on him! of course he was flying pretty conservative, ok so no loops or anything just chasing each others tails. but still hey that's pretty awesome she wasn't intimidated and had a blast!! Only broke 3 props and the only damage to airframe was when the motor and mount came off the nose, but that was in flight. so not her fault.
Sunday morning we got there early and we got in some flights before the contest to see if she really felt comfortable and wanted to enter. She did her first set s of 3 consecutive inside loops, her first outside loops, her first wing over, oh and regrettably her first lawn dart imitation, it got into the sun and she kind of panicked,, well we can fix it so no harm. Dan offered his Dirtmobile so she could fly in the contest and after much deliberation, and Dan assuring her that if it crashed it was past due anyway. she decided to go ahead and enter. She sadly had the same thing pretty much happen , it got in the sun and the wind caught it, by the time she saw it again, it was pretty much to late, so the dirtmobile is no more,, She calmed down after about 15 minutes and was back to her self . especially after about 5 or 6 guys thanked her, seems many of them were tired of the old dirtmobile lol,, Dan was great sport and saved a souvenir for her,,I suppose now he will pull another one out of the stash ? That plane has been around and volunteered longer than I have been flying control line!
In any case, she won beginner regardless and got herself a new Skyraider chair
on the drive home she talked about wanting to build some combat ships so she can practice without destroying airplanes. her idea, so I am working on that now. It was a great weekend overall despite the carnage.
I posted some pictures of her in the albums.
PS I got the first flights on my electric P-40 profile as well.

[Paul Taylor]

Mark,
That is great news. Tell Jessica to keep it going. Killing DaDirt mobile was a good thing. It had out lived most ARF flite streaks.

Hey if you got another one that could double at a Stunt plane and slow combat.

[Ron Belcourt]

 I haven't seen the Dirtmobile look so good in a long time   Looks like she had fun, that smile says it all. Thanks for posting the pics.

[Leo Mehl]

Mark,
That is great news. Tell Jessica to keep it going. Killing DaDirt mobile was a good thing. It had out lived most ARF flite streaks.

Hey if you got another one that could double at a Stunt plane and slow combat.

Yes Jessica did real good and learned a lot about contest flying and we all commented that Marks flying was getting real boring because he went home with the planes he brought. I think he deserves to have a boring good time. He was getting awful tired of furnishing all the entertainment.

[john e. holliday]

Great news to Jessica is so enthused.  Do not discourage her.  Also tell her we have all been there and done that as far as getting rid of planes.  Good to hear the Dirt helped her out.  DOC Holliday

[John Paris]

Mark,
Congratulations to both you and Jessica.  Glad to see some younger blood out there in the circles.  Won't be long and you will be like me and starting to consider a larger vehicle to carry all the airplanes for the various events for all the pilots in the family.
John

[Mark Scarborough]

Leo,,
gee thanks I think? Yes I actually have brought my airplanes home after contests in one peice,, unlike last year,, its pretty nice,,

John,,
I hope not to much bigger, heck my Astro van already eats to much gas! but if I have to then so be it! For now at least her planes are smaller so They fit in and around mine. but probably not long,,,
It was a great weekend, with lots of memory material.

[Randy Powell]

Jessica's a sweety and a good sport. Glad to see her coming along.

[Steve Helmick]

Great to see Jessica flying officially. And the Dirtmobile reaching it's just rewards. Kinda missed Sienna's barking at me and trying to eat my kneecaps. Good to see you come over for our contest, Mark, and bringing reinforcements from PHS. Go Greyhounds!  Steve

PS: Just what kind of MPG does an Astro Van get? I'm thinking of looking for an AWD one, and putting in S-10 5spd and transfer case. Any Chevy mechanics out there? 

[Mark Scarborough]

Steve, I get about 19 or 20 mpg with the auto but its two wheel drive not all wheel.
and the 4.3 in the astro is an s-10 engine. There are better MPG minvans out there, but, hey this is a guys minivan,, not some dodge kidavan or something,, though my girlfriend used to have a Toyota Sienna and it was pretty cool with much better mpg..

[Randy Powell]

Mark,

Man, my S-10 4x4 Blazer gets 24 on the road (about 20 in town). I would have sworn the Astro would do better.

[Mark Scarborough]

Well remember there is twice the frontal area of your S-10 so it adds up.