Thunderbird SPA
Ft Worth, TX
April 27-28, 2013

What a great weekend of SPA flying. The weather, the camaraderie, and the flying were great. There were 24 pilots who enjoyed the light winds and excellent temperature to test their flying skills. Pilots flew 4 rounds Saturday and 2 rounds Sunday morning.

No airplanes were lost although Richard Tibbits tried on the opening flight of the day. No ailerons, hit the fence and broke the motor off. He was ready to go home when Blake Arnold said "hold on" and took the motor mount off his disabled airplane and gave it Richard who was then able to fly the rest of the contest. That’s what SPA is about. Then Michael Clements had a flameout on his first flight and landed in the trees, damaging the leading edge on both sides of the wing. A little tape and he was back in the air winning second place in the new Advanced class.

Tab Bowland cooked hamburgers for lunch and Gary Alphin brought some home made Chili for "Dinner at the field". Everyone was enjoying hot dogs, chili and Fritos when Dave Dingman said he had a show and tell. Dave brought out a beautiful custom made Compensator and told everyone about the feather light airplane. It is covered with Monocoat and the color scheme is outstanding. Dave then said the airplane was made for Lindy Quinton for all the work he has done for the SPA and how members appreciate his positive attitude through some really trying times after the death of his father Dan. That was a really emotional event for Lindy and those who participated.

There were 10 pilots in Novice and Gary Nelson won over Tony Stelly. Novice-B had one pilot and Frank Reed ran away with it. The Sportsman class winner was Mark Ehlers who edged Gary Alphin by less than 12 points. Chuck Lee ran away with Advanced class and won 5 of the 6 rounds. Expert saw Ellis Newkirk edge Dave Dingman with some excellent flying. We also saw some fantastic flying by AMA Master champion Rick Byrd who flew a borrowed airplane on Saturday and won the third round after he got the feel of the airplane.

Every pilot won a gift and an OS 65 AX was raffled with the winner being Lindy Quinten who just happens to have a brand new airplane to put it in. Let us know how it flies Lindy.

Thanks to Ellis Newkirk for his photo journalism. In addition to being a very good expert pilot, he is a pretty darn good photographer.

Ken Knotts, CD

Click here for photos