Clouds, wind, rain, and other bothers
by Dennis Norman
dennis@airacemodels.com
Following the close of the 2015 Non-Nats, the Flying Aces Club (FAC) reserved the entire Geneseo, New York, Quality Inn hotel for the 2016 FAC Nats, to be held July 13-16, 2016. For unknown reasons, the employee taking the reservation failed to enter it into the hotel’s records. This would have far-reaching effects for the FAC’s 2016 gathering.
My wife, Linda, volunteered to be my copilot for the 2016 trip. Linda had worked earlier in the day, so I suggested that she sleep while I drove. As we moved east along Lake Erie, I noticed a long finger of darkening clouds ominously pointing the way to Geneseo. It stayed with us for the whole trip.
Our delayed departure meant that I missed the Scale judging, but I had made plans to meet with Ralph Kuenz and Paul Boyanowski at 8 p.m. for a late supper at the Denny’s restaurant next to the Quality Inn. We arrived in Geneseo shortly after 7:30 p.m.
After checking in, I left Linda to rest and went to Denny’s. Ralph and Paul were not there. Puzzled, I drove to the flying field, to find that they were not there either. I stayed at the field and watched test flying until well after sunset then I went back to Denny’s, only to be chided by Ralph and Paul for “being late.” After explaining what had happened, all was forgiven. We visited, told jokes, and reminisced until 1 a.m.
On July 14, we awoke to a cloudy sky and intermittent rain. Linda elected to spend the morning at the hotel. She had books to read, her computer to browse, and hoped to spend time by the swimming pool. We agreed that I would return for lunch. When I arrived at the field, I was greeted by my friend, Richard Miller, who was celebrating his 88th birthday! Richard looks and acts 20 years younger and is an inspiration to all.
Next, I drove to pick up a golf cart. After a brief orientation to the cart’s controls, I drove it to Charlie Sauter’s tent because he had agreed to share the cart with me. I then chatted with friends for a couple of hours. One of them was Don Srull, who observed that the weather was “terrible, terrible.” By early afternoon, I returned to the hotel.
July 15 began with sun, clouds, and 20
- 2016 was the Flying Aces Club’s (FAC) 20th celebration of its biennial Nats.
- 135 contestants participated in 2016, versus 130 in 2014, and 148 in 2012.
- Hundreds of superb Free Flight Scale models were judged on July 13, 2016.
- 31 FAC events were flown.
- Computer tabulation of the results soared.
- Musical interludes were offered by Paul Morris.
- Participation by Junior competitors continued to rise.
Charlie had let Ben and Gryffin use our cart the day before. It turned out that they had accepted tips from grateful FAC members who hopped rides with them. When I inquired as to how much they had received in tips, Ben said, “About $60!” Upon further questioning, Ben clarified that he and Gryffin had received only about $12 in tips, and that they had split the money to buy gliders.
Our tour continued to the area of dense beans that were planted by the runway on the north side of the field. As we arrived, we noticed several people searching for models that had disappeared in the beans. I spotted one, sent the boys to get it, and had them return it to its grateful owner.
The bean field was deceptive. Initially it appeared that the plants were only 6 inches or so above ground, but when Ben laid down in one of the trenches between the beans, he disappeared completely! Beneath the leaves were trenches approximately 18 to 20 inches deep.
We spent a couple of hours helping FAC pilots recover their models from the beans and gave several free rides on the golf cart to exhausted searchers who were struggling to get back to their tents. The boys were genuinely impressed by the kindness and generosity of FAC members and enjoyed helping them. I explained that helping is a big part of the FAC spirit.
One final story involved Paul Morris, who launched his handsome ducted-fan Hawker Hunter, only to have it go out of sight into the bean field. After a
