Vince Tabacco's 1st Annual Float Fly

To all......who volunteered, donated, watched, helped or might care to see and know what a great time we had October 1st, 2005 at Lake Ritchie, I hope you enjoy the following recap and pictures. My heartfelt thanks to all who made this wondrously successful day possible.

With special thanks to:

  • Kimberly Johnson at Fauquier County Development Commission,
  • Debbie Dotson at Fauquier County Development Commission,
  • Gene Hobson at Powerline Hobbies,
  • Leanne Wildman at Horizon Hobby,
  • Charlie at Bob Smith Industries,
  • Russ Tantillo at TCG Printing,

Vince Tabacco


2005 Charity Float Fly Recap

Well, folks, the word went out, the planes flew on, the votes are in and the consensus is that the FARM club's first annual Charity Float Fly held at Lake Ritchie in Bealeton, VA was a resounding success!!! After expenses, the event cleared over $800.00 thanks to the support of many sponsors and club member volunteer efforts. Since the crowd of 15 floatplane pilots, volunteers and spectators totaled about 50 people, we hope to do it again next year.

There are so many people to thank, where to begin? Every person who contributed was an essential ingredient for the final outcome. Most of the members who served stayed all day from morning to late afternoon. Since he retrieved my flunky-dunky Seamaster 3 times alone, I want to personally thank Gene Flynn as the most valuable volunteer of the event for tirelessly going after airplanes all day that didn't make it back to the beach under their own power. Without Gene and Ralph Graul assisting with Tom Wright's electric fishing boat he brought, we would have been swimming a lot!

Then, there was Nic Burhans and Ron Coen who continuously ran the registration and raffle ticket tables, taking money, handing out prizes, coordinating all the administrative stuff. Nic managed to win 3 out of the 4 gallons of fuel that Hobbytowne USA donated. Bud Hilker did a great job holding down the transmitter impound and frequency board all day. Duane Beck was our all-around gopher, do anything helper until the very end. Duane was our chronicler and his Ultra Stik 40 on floats was a great performer. Also, there was Bruce Green who sliced tomatoes and onions for lunch. Sadly, Bruce lost his Goldberg Eagle on floats to a bad receiver battery.

Our two grill-meisters who cooked up the most perfect all-beef hot dogs and hamburgers were Bill McMullen and Charlie Koustenis. All agreed the National Deli burgers and dogs donated by Hobby Hangar along with the buns and cheese donated by Foster's Grill, were truly excellent. Since the beginning of the day, the 4 dozen donuts donated by Carla Wallace of Sheetz Gas Stations steadily disappeared until at 4 o'clock there were none left.

We started giving away raffle prizes at 10:00 am and handed out at least two prizes every half hour until 4 pm when we finished up by giving away the big prizes. The top raffle prize donated by Great Planes was a Realflight G3 simulator won by John Hunton. Second prize, a Tiger Wing RTF electric plane by Powerline Hobbies, went to Dave Rothbart. Third prize from Horizon Hobby was a Mini-Mauler RTR RC truck won by Ken Sonneleitner who works part time at TSG Hobbies.

Additional thanks go to the sponsors who donated so much of what made the entire event a profitable undertaking for the club's efforts to raise money for Pilots for Christ International whose members showed up in force to honor our model floatplanes. TSG Hobbies donated epoxy and CA, Hobby Hangar besides donating the meat for lunch, gave us a GWS C-47, A GWS Flying Witch and Firebird Scout, Handibond Adhesives gave us 35 bottles of CA to give to all pilots who signed up as well as filling out the raffle prize pools, Bob Smith Industries gave us a fine assortment of their quality CA products including odorless and flexible CA's, and 6 one year subscriptions to RC Report were donated by Gordon Banks who runs the magazine.

Special thanks go to Dan Chapman who won the GWS C-47, then, donated it back to the club for us to auction off while we had everyone together for the group photo shot. Ralph Graul won the auction with his top bid of $40 to bolster the day's fundraising. Also, Pete Carpenter donated the RC Report subscription he won back to the club for use as a fun fly prize, thanks, Pete. A special recognition goes to Charlie Koustenis, who, although he didn't win anything of the three raffles we held, was the only pilot (I think) who didn't require the services of the Flyin' Flynn retrieval boat. Way to go Big Kahuna!!!

Other notable mentions go to the Fauquier County Development Commission for waiving the special event fee by giving us a "no fee" administrative permit. The second greatest thanks of all go to Boots Ritchie for letting us use the Lake Ritchie facility without the usual $400 a day rental charge. Everyone who came (and they came from as far as Leesburg down to Fredericksburg), agreed that the venue was absolutely beautiful. The greatest thanks go to the "Higher Powers" that made the whole event possible with a gorgeous sunny day and only light winds. The weather couldn't have been more perfect.

There were the usual Cubs on floats, an Ace Seamaster, an Eindecker monoplane on floats, several electric planes on floats such as Wingos, Soarmasters, and several neat planes by Don Srull and Pat Daily. Me, I flew my Skyraider Mach II converted with Gee Bee 33 inch floats, running an OS Max 46 FX, swinging a 12 x 4 APC prop. It was quite exciting when I tried my Herr Engineering Aquastar with Norvel .061 hand-launched from the beach. I didn't realize the fuselage was full of water from extended taxiing earlier until I shoved it forward and felt the water shift inside. Too late then, as the resulting near misses with the surface of the lake on climb-out were the cause of lots of excited comments from the pilots watching. After an unceremonious dunk-landing 4 feet off shore, I removed the wing to let out the Niagra Falls of water inside the plane that made snap-rolls into wild, gyroscopically strong maneuvers. Alas, my Seamaster's 3 flight attempts were cursed by a stubborn Webra 61 engine that kept cutting out.

For even more photos of seaplanes, go to Duane Beck's web site to see his pictures at
float_fly_2005

Once again, we thank all those who made the event a success. Hope to see you next year.

Vince T