Just so everyone who is interested knows......there is a shortage of pilots for just about all types of Racing, locally and at the NATs.

 Bill Bischoff flies for many entries other than himself. I am constantly amazed at his ability to do this, it takes stamina beyond belief and he has it. I entered Super Slow Rat and "flew" my plane two heats. I flew Mike Greb's ship two heats and a final. The temperature was mid-nineties, humidity really high, my brain was cooked. Billy B. flew probably ten times that amount, F2CN, Scale Race, Super Slow, Quickie Rat, BTR, Clown, for himself and many others.

The guys in the pits have it tough, also, in spades! I told Bill Lee if I failed to get the plane to him, just forget it. Of course, I got it to him, by hitting him in the shin.  And he ran and got it. Then, I hit him on takeoff a few times......don't ask me how, I don't know, remember, my brain was poached, it was hot!

3...2...1....GO! All three start at once, at the first half lap, Billy B has an announcement to make, "I have NO control, nothing." Pretty much bedlam ensues, I decide to go high, maybe stay out of the way, but Bill, with no control is pretty high, too, with a faster plane, so he is going underneath me. "What the **** are doing, Dale??!!", he asks. "Change hands!", says I. He has already reached around me, changes hands, everyone gets out of the way. In time, all three of us run out of fuel,  Bill Lee's plane, perfectly balanced, lands safely, still no control, elevator locked in neutral.

Two questions:
What if we had thongs connecting our handles to our wrists?    What if we had shutoffs?

It was fun, thanks  to all,
dg
 

Right, Don. My model had a complete control failure. We hooked up the lines, set the handle, did the pull-test and ll was o.k. But as Dale said, they were locked in dead neutral. The model flew the whole tank out, Bill did a masterful job of it! Did a bit of g-lining when the motor quit, and landed safely.

No, we could not have shut off, but shut-offs on the other two models could have been used. If my model had been doing anything but flying level ( a bit high, but level) there would have been a serious situation. And this was one of those times when there WAS time to make the decision and do it, just not necessary this time.

BTW, the model is going back to Texas with the controls still locked up, for McCollum to do a PM to find out what happened.

I still turned a time in the second heat with a new, not-ready-for-prime-time model.

52 years old and still sitting at the kids' table...