Cairns Life Expo 11th & 12th of May 2013

Over the Mother's Day weekend we set up a fantastic display at the Cairns Life Expo which was manned by up to 4 CMAC members at all times.

The members kindly giving up their time to promote our sport & club to the Cairns public were:

Michael Dupuis
Paul Dixon
Anthony Macri
Greg Wood
James Butler
Graeme Toune
Rob Martin

A very special mention goes to Bill (Fingers) who provided transport for Shane's F-18 & two choppers to & from the venue - thanks Bill & thanks also to Shane who allowed us to display his amazing aircraft!

Here's some photos of the setup prior to final signage going up.

We had a flight sim set up which proved very popular with kids & Dark Jedi alike!

The level of interest & the crowd we drew was simply amazing!

We also ran a raffle to win a Boomerang II trainer which raised $400!

The winner was Ross & his son who are looking forward to getting into the sport ASAP!

Greg Wood was interviewed on radio live from the expo & we featured heavily in the Win News report on the show that was aired on the Monday night.

We had a chat with Councillor Robert Pyne who drew our raffle & that has led to futher discussions with Councillor Steve Brain about finally securing a permanent home for our club.

All in all a great effort & something the club should be very proud of!

Cheers, Rob

4th of May 2013

For the first time in a long time the weather was far from perfect out at the farm - dull overcast conditions coupled with intermittant rain did not provide an ideal backdrop for good photos!

There was still plenty of flying, even if it was hard to keep perspective against the grey backdrop of the clouds.

First I'd like to introduce Paul's new Black Horse Edge 540 V3 powered by a 72cc twin cylinder Pterodactyl gas engine. No maiden due to a couple of electrical glitches, but that engine has got some grunt & she should go like a scalded cat!

Curtis brought along his Mustang again, this time with a bigger prop & better results!

Anthony deserved some luck after his recent run of misfortune!

His new MXS-R Matt Hall flew like a champ & he even threw in some hovers for the crowd!

Next intoducing "Captain Bird" (James) in his DH Tiger Moth!

We couldn't have a newsletter without some destruction & mayhem, so first there was Greg's Yak 54 that lost elevator control & attempted to reach China!

Not to be outdone, Dennis also ran into elevator trouble (as in the horn coming off the servo) & his Sbach 342 met a nasty end up near the shed!

Not the most memorable day with the cloudy skies & leaking tents, but we do it for the love don't we?

At least the beer was cold!

See you next week.

Cheers, Rob

27th of April 2013

On arrival at the farm yesterday conditions looked good, but unfortunately before too long we had a swirling, gusting crosswind which didn't let up all day & made landings quite interesting for some!

Curtis brought out his Mustang but the long grass would not let him get away & eventually after a few nose-overs one of the retracts gave way & that was the end of flying for "Hurry Home Honey" for the day...

Nearly got away!

Birthday boy Paul had more success with "Glamorous Glen", but it was not the day for large warbirds with that unpredictable wind.

Not to be put off, Barry brought out a very nice electric Albatross D.V.a which looked great & flew well!

Luckily for Curtis he had a plan B for the day & his Super Skybolt performed without fault.

Next up was the return of the Trojan which flew much, much better, but a dead-stick combined with the conditions led to a heavy landing which ripped out one of the retracts. Very fixable but disappointing when everything was going so well!

The wind didn't seem to worry the "Glider Brothers" Barry & Bill.

Michael's definitely found his mojo again & had a good day thrashing the Katana!

I had a good day out with the MXS-R - makes a nice change to have no homework to do!

"Jet Master" Dennis had a great flight but the wind made landing very tricky!

Great to catch up with Terry for a chat - as owner of the turf farm we are very lucky that he generously allows us to set up camp on his land every weekend!

Graeme had a good time with his foam Pitts until it made very hard contact with the ground whilst clearly trying to dive-bomb Dennis' Falcon!

All in all not a bad day even if the flying wasn't the best!

I almost forgot to mention that Curtis had a plan C as well!

For something completely different we finished the day off with a couple of beers.

See you next week.

Cheers, Rob