Tempers flared after a Yak54 flown by Mike and a Wot 4 piloted by Barry were involved in a mid-air collision recently as captured in this picture below.

Mike was expediting a 'knife-edge' whilst Barry was flying flat out in the opposite direction when the collision happened.  These were the only models airborne when the unfortunate incident occurred leaving a totally shredded Wot 4 and a badly damaged Yak 54.

George commented.  'We haven't had a mid-air at this field for a number of years now and the chance of such a thing happening is quite rare'.

A short time later Mike, (now affectionately known as 'Mike the Knife')  took to the air with Bill's trainer when Johnny also got his 'Stick' into the sky.  Well, would you believe it?  Crash-bang. The Stick and the trainer collided head on resulting in both model being destroyed!

Three dead and one in intensive care.  Unbelievable!

It will take more than Super-glue to fix this one

Johnny puts on a brave face and later enquired if anyone had a number for the Samaritans

​Note:  Bill 'the Bookie'  is offering good odds on such an event happening again.  Maybe worth a punt??

Saturday the 22nd June saw the Red Arrows make a slight course alteration from their venue at Carrickfergus to carry out a low fly-past above the runway at Kirkistown with 'smoke on'.

Barry looked shocked when the formation overflew the barn with total disregard for Club rules and asked if anyone had Red One's phone number!

Estimated to be at no more than 600 ft the formation carried out a 'dirty' fly past which was applauded by those members who had turned up on this blustery morning and by the spectators at the 500 MRCI who were celebrating their club's 60th anniversery.

Thank you 'Red Arrows'

NDMAC Barbeque held on 25th May 2013

Having been postponed from last week, due to the poor weather, our club barbeque and fly-in was worth waiting for.

The sky was blue, the sun shone and there was plenty of safe and uneventful flying, despite a brisk breeze from the south, which developed as the day wore on.

The turnout was very good, (twenty-two diners), given the other attractions (amongst which was Ulster's appearance in the Rabo Direct final against old rivals Leinster in Dublin).

(Love those braces Jim!)

Our great thanks go to Mike Brown, who laboured over a very hot bed of charcoal ( we must light up an hour earlier next time) to produce as fine a display of bangers and burgers as we've had.

The event resulted in a small, but much needed boost to club funds, which are just beginning to recover from this year's large expenditure.

Thanks to Barry and Stewart for organising and thanks to all who supported in person or in absentia, such an enjoyable day. We will do it again some time soon !

George 'Steadyhand'

A BIG THANK YOU TO  THE 'WEEDKILLERS'

Thank you to the 'volunteers' who turned up at Kirkistown this morning to tackle the annual chore of ground maintenance.

An organised team effort ensured both the runways and the two lanes were carefully treated.

'Billy's Butt' was a god-send providing an ample supply of fresh rain water and this contributed to the job being finished in record breaking time.  

The farmer kindly agreed to move back the, 'you-know-what', which will facilitate the safe passage of vehicles to and from the Pitts.

Unfortunately, with wind speeds in excess of 15 mph, no one dared to fly!

Well done lads.

Taildragger

On a clear Saturday morning, Komrade Mike took to the air with his electrically motivated Hobby King 'Spacewalker'.  After an enjoyable 6-minute flight Mike landed and was astonished to see that the tips of his rudder and fin were missing together with a large chunk of the upper fuselage!

What could possibly have caused this damage?  Was it a Plane?  Was it a Bird?  Was it Balsa-fatigue?   Five other models were flying at the time and no pilot observed any incident and no other model was reported damaged.

Mike remains mystified as to what happened and would like to hear from anyone who can suggest a possible cause.

Sad to say, a new member was recently admitted to the 'Chopped Finger Club'.

That's after he was discharged from hospital!  His unfortunate and nasty injury required no less than sixteen stitches. (See Gallery)

It was a nasty electric plane what done it.

He'll not be washing dishes 'nor 'hoovering' for a while yet. (frown)

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU - BE CAREFUL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzXyYX7hZvw

NDMAC WELCOMES TWO NEW MEMBERS

Phil and Nathan are now fully fledged members of the NDAMC after having served their six month 'probationary' period.

Phil told us that little Finn McCready was born last Saturday 2nd March and is healthy and doing well.  Phil celebrated by treating himself to a lovely new DX18 Transmitter!  Congratulations Phil.

Nathan is practising hard and doing well with his  .40 sizeTrainer.   He hopes to be flying his new acquisition , a Hangar 9 'Pulse' .60 very soon.

Welcome aboard Guys.

It was only a matter of time I suppose, before someone decided to experiment with one of these, and I've got to say, it was mighty impressive.

Johnny is on a learning curve with this particular aspect of model flying, and he is hoping to use this Quad-copter as a camera platform for video and stills photography as well as for FPV (First Person View.)

The model was very stable in the blustry conditions and Johnny demonstrated the 'Return-to-Home' function which worked with amazing accuracy.  GPS coordinated at the flick of a switch!

We will post more details here in the coming weeks and hopefully we can look forward to some nice aerial videos in and around the Club's designated area at Kirkistown.

This is a Black Horse ARTF model designed for a 1.20 4-stroke.  However, not being a fan of glow I fitted a DLE20 petrol engine which runs 'sweet as a nut' and has plenty of power.  The Motor box/Firewall will need to be reinforced to facilitate this.  Wheel spats yet to be fitted and I'll need to find a pilot bust for the 'office'.

This is a nicely made model covered with Profilm/Oracover and well finished.  All sheeted fuselage and good hardware pack.  Only problems were the wire undercarriage which was badly aligned and was subsequently re-engineered by 'Barnes Engineering'  (Thank you Tony)  The fuel tank required repositioning and securing and the motor box had to be shortened to accomodate the DLE20.  All worth while in the end.

I've only had two flights with it at this time and would comment that the model is quite lively.  The take off needs to be carefully controlled as it has a great preponderance to ground loop.  Nearly caught me out.  The stall is quite benign.  A pugnacious looking 1500mm wingspan model which will fit into my Ford Galaxy fully rigged.

Feb 2015

Welcome to Matthew & Trevor   who have recently applied for membership.

Matthew and his Dad need no introduction from me other than to say that they are most welcome here at Kirkistown.

I understand Trevor does most of the building as well as being the 'Caller' during practise sessions and at competitions.

Matthew commented,  'I like flying at Kirkistown because of the nice strong sea breezes'.

Yes Matthew,  you've definately come to the right place!!