New Years Flying with the Carolina Gang - Part 1 & 2

The Metrolina Control Line Society(MCLS) of Huntersville, NC calls themselves the Carolina Gang, and they usually fly on or around New Years Day. This year they had a fairly large gathering on Friday 12/27 at Watt Moore's house, but I had to decline due to my medical schedule. Because of this and unbeknownst to me, Will Davis scheduled another get-together on a day that I could come. Monday we gathered at Watt's for a second fly-in. That's when realized they had already had one with a whole bunch of people and planes just a few days earlier. Needless to say, I was astounded and very grateful to find out that they were so thoughtful as to do this just to accommodate lil' ol' me. I think I really need to join this club for the premium rate of only $20 bucks a year.

I'd never been to Watt's since I missed the post contest BBQ in October, but had heard what a great place it is. Watt has a piece of rural SC property with his house and workshop, which I'm pretty sure he built himself, and a perfectly flat grassy control line field right next to his catfish pond. His shop is smaller on the outside than it is on the inside... I swear! And fully stocked with everything to build anything. If a plane breaks, it's there next to the field for anyone to work and do repairs. In fact I had some Monokote come loose during a flight and I just found a box full of every color of Kote, plugged in an iron and voila, like new again. I'd have been dead in the water at any other field. Will took me on the nickle tour, and upstairs and there was a museum of planes, memorabilia, trophies, magazines, videos, and enough beds to house a fair gathering of pilots from all over the country that pass through there to gather before traveling to East Coast contests. He keeps a book of names for visitors to sign and the list was one of so many control line greats, I was awe stricken. Many are names of people known and revered from all over. Watt is a mechanical engineer and has massive stacks of rolls of plans that he and many others have designed, all in immaculate order. This place is an unbelievable treasure. Later I walked through another door I hadn't noticed and damned if there wasn't a full blown wood shop back there.

Other guys started filtering in and we decided to go down to the field where our planes were waiting. More guys came for the visiting and hotdog lunch than flying, maybe since they had all flown a couple of days ago, so it was mostly Will, Don Jenkins and me with planes in the air. I got there a few minutes ahead of them and there was no wind, so I decided to put the Li'l Satan in the air. The crowd had gathered by the time I launched with an ounce of fuel. They always get a kick out of my stooge, and none of these guys had ever gotten past the childhood frustration of smashing plastic 1/2As, if they could even get them cranked. So I had a great audience while I flew the everliving crap out of the Satan for however long an ounce lasts... a long friggin' time. That was fun. I always grin like I got a coat hanger in my mouth after flying one of those.

Don had a perfectly beautiful Geiske Nobler, and Will was flying a Vector that he is lending to a guy who's on vacation in Florida and wants to fly at KOI. The dude posted on Stunthanger asking if he could borrow a plane, so Will obliged and brought it to Watts to get it trimmed, and he'll take it when he heads down to Jacksonville for the contest. I had my ugly old Skyray that flies much better than it looks. I brought the Shoestring too, in case I wrecked the Ray, but that wasn't a problem.

We flew, took a lunch break, and flew more.

I'm honestly fading here, so I'll write about the flying and see what the pics and vids look like in the morning and continue. I have fallen in with a truly great bunch of buddies.
See y'all in the morning

Rusty