Some observations on West Baden

From: <mkirda_at_sbcglobal.net>
Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:21:47 -0000

This thing got pulled together in a real hurry. Walt and the hotel crew did a great job.

Saturday was really busy in the morning in the atrium. Guests and flyers shared the space and as the sun came up, air was pretty turbulent down low. By the afternoon, the air really seemed to pop and the flights got better and better.

I hope we conducted ourselves in such a way that we will get invited back. The guests were enthralled. It was very interesting to hear their questions especially on F1D - they couldn't see the rubber band, so they were trying to work it all out how they flew. "Solar powered"? "Convective Air currents?" Kang remarked that several folks saw the timers and assumed that they were remote controls somehow. At one point Kang's and Brett's F1Ds collided at the top near the 20 minute mark and there was an audible gasp from the spectators at the other end of the atrium who were watching it all, more so than from the actual fliers.

If this happens again in the future, several remarked that some small amount of crowd control would be useful. They just don't realize how important it is to focus while winding or not to come up when you are launching for example. Some kind gentleman caught my F1D as it came down due to a prop tuck and folded my tailboom. Just some basic rules, maybe a model display, etc.

A huge thank you should go out to Walt for busting his butt over the years and getting us back into this wonderful space again.

Regards.
Mike Kirda
Received on Mon Apr 08 2013 - 09:21:49 CEST