flyflyfly

If blog entries were any benchmark with which to measure our club against, this entry would rank right up there with Martin Luther's speech and Abe Lincoln's famous oratory. We have spoken. Dispensing with the preamble, this week looks set to be properly explosive with many activities in store.

First up we have the important event on National Day Eve. If you haven't yet guessed it's on the 8th - which is just a couple of days away, do be reminded - and our team of Black Knights will be on display for the very first time in all their glory. Watch as they take to the skies and hear the symphony of engines as they tear past you on full afterburner. Well, almost. The show will start at 1700h and everyone is expected to be seated by 1600h. After the show has ended we will be makaning with the Director of EEE and several other of his colleagues, so no flip-flops or singlets or we'll make sure that's the last thing you wear. It'll be held at the Multi-Purpose Field, so do be there.



Now just a bit more, so do bear with us. For this Wednesday - the 6th - there will be no CCA meetup but do come down to the clubroom between 1200-1300 to make payment for your equipment that you'll be getting. It costs $90 in total so do beg, steal, borrow or perhaps sell one of your kidneys on ebay like the fashion is now so that you can get your stuff quicker.

And before we forget, yes, SPAVC is participating in the Poly50 run! With our Team WTF (Ed: get that thought out of your head. now. it's not what you think) we're going to blitz our opponents and make them wish they had never been born. Do support us - Team WTF - on the 6th at 1630 on campus, behind the Admin building, near the library. With a team of runners comprising of extremely fit and highly motivated young men and women there is no doubt that we are in a prime position to clinch the gold trophy and bring glory and honor to the club.

Dragonboaters, you have plenty to fear.

Update

Fellow clubbers!

Just a short blurb to keep the fire burning inside all of us. Not literally la, but you get the idea.

This Wednesday shall be very interesting because it involves electricity. Electrical connections more like it. T1553 shall come alive with the sound of engines roaring (screaming, actually) as you guys fix up your planes because your parts have arrived. Yes, all your electronics have arrived so you may proceed to electrocute yourselves to high heaven and back. Please don't however, blame SPAVC for any burns you may suffer. Don't forget, you guys signed up for a dangerous game.

***

ExCo members please do note that we are meeting at 1900h in the clubroom after CCA on Wednesday for His Edwinness to address us humble servants of Ye Olde Kingdom.

We Fly Again

Hello and welcome to another episode of "Planes On Rooftops" again.

Now as you know at SPAVC, we all derive certain pleasure from seeing planes fly around in circles and watch as hapless trainee pilots attempt to effect a proper landing of their dinky Depron planes that will never happen in this century or the next. We all laugh in the face of these frankly useless pilots and dream of one day shredding their planes with our mighty ducted-fan, eleventy-million horsepower RC fighter jets.

But one thing we desire the most is to watch the guy on the ground, holding his controller uselessly and watching in dismay as his plane flies overheard, behind a building and lands spectacularly on the rooftop where no man has ever gone before.

See, it's easy to fly a plane but quite another thing to handle it precisely. And that is what Alex precisely forgot how to do when he landed his "flying wing" (we have no idea what to call it) atop the sports stadium complex's roof and had to climb all over the place to get at it. Nothing would get between him and his beloved aircraft so he effected a daring rescue in broad daylight which earned him cheers and praise all round. He climbed over the parapet wall, walked gingerly on the roof (lest it broke and he fell through and died. It's okay, we have hot glue.) and saved the plane from death.

Nevertheless the freshies had their fun taking turns at the controls of the orange (and plastic) B-2 Spirit. Of course, Alex and Yiming were on hand to save the day should any of those intrepid pilots take a nosedive and spectacularly obliterate that multimillion-cent plane.

And here be pictures...

Names, Schmanes

As you can see from the just-closed poll that many readers and viewers have favored the name "SPAVC Red Warriors" over "SPAVC Black Knights". 

Owing to the way things are done in club there will still be much discussion over the names, which will then become an argument and then finally degenerate into an all-out fistfight over who should name the team what. 

Nevertheless an overwhelming number of you chose 'Red Warriors and we thank you for taking time out to do our little survey.

New Post!

Great News!
What?
The blog's back!

Would have been back earlier, if not for our imbecilic blog administrator dragging his leaden feet and making all of us wait. Remind us to shoot him on sight.

Anyway, a quick recap of the week. Bear in mind that we're on the verge of a major event (we're not going supersonic yet, by the way) and all this stuff is leading up to it. First off was our first flight simulator session for the greenhorns. As much as they crashed so much that it made the Battle of Britain look like a passing shower, overall they did brilliantly. After much practice though they managed to fly smoothly, some going a bit further and threw their plane around the screen, which unsurprisingly crashed. But great job guys, you all did superbly for first timers.

Next up, which is tomorrow, we'll probably be having some more simulations to make you greenhorns be less green and horny and probably Alex - our resident genius and pilot extraordinaire - will be teaching you some basic electronics relating to the servos and motors and rubber bands and whatever other gizmos that make a plane fly.

And no post will be complete without some Youtube. And here it is! 3 planes flying over SP over the first time. Not exactly in formation or any particular order because we're still cadets but it's still cool. Watch it!

New Activity!

Stop slacking around, dear members.

Because we're gonna have the first activity after the exams! And speaking of your exams, how have they been? Good? Rubbish? Remember to tell you parents your marks, we don't want to be inundated with calls asking us how come their son/daughter have been spending on CCA but not on studies. You have been warned.


Anyway to cut to the chase, there will be a CCA session tomorrow, 2nd of July at 1530-1800. There will be flight simulator training and some more interesting stuff to look forward to. Do meet at FC5218 which is where our clubroom is located.

Bring along yourselves, an adventurous mindset and a healthy dose of fun pills. We shall not hesitate to feed you into our propellers should any of these rules be broken.

Above All

Ever look up at the skies during National Day and wonder where had all the fighters gone? Those sleek, majestic machines, every bit as polished as a Formula 1 car, screaming across the sky and enthralling all in their very supersonic wake. Well this year, they're going to make a comeback. In all their livery. The Black Knights will come back to makes the crowds p*** their pants with their spectacular maneuvers. Dips and dives and rolls and spins, such maneuvers are testament to the efforts these brave men who have put in so much to bring out the very essence in aerobatics.

Which isn't to say we can't be like them. We've some highly qualified pilots around here so we're not that short on talent. Problem is, we're short on planes. And that's where our new Extra 300s come in. Of course they're not as big as the actual F-16s used in that aerial ballet you see. They aren't even real Extra 300s to begin with.

They're made out of foam! Depron, to be exact. And 10 of us Chosen Ones be flying them during our very own National Day in SP. The school however isn't exactly organising things the way we'd like to be so we're making this happen on our own accord.

It isn't easy, this. We've got plenty to learn, not least of which is coordinated formation flying. Anyone who has had to privilege of seeing any of us fly know that our flights end mostly in losing control and crashing sensationally in a shower of Depron and servos. So that's one area we need to improve on if we want to deliver a show worthy of its weight.

Bring on the afterburners.