Reading & District Model Aircraft Club.

Indoor Flying at the Madejski Dome Reading 10 Jan 2009

Following on from the first meeting in November some thirty hardy souls assembled to partake of some indoor fun. The weather leading up to the day had been cold and the Saturday dawned frosty with some fog. The Dome is designed as an undercover football training facility where users typically run about chasing a ball and is, therefore, unheated. Most flyers reckoned it was warmer outside than in, with the warmest place being the heated toilet facilities in an adjacent Portacabin! With some changes in the layout of the flight line, this time running the length of the building, certainly improved the utilisation of the 60M X 40M space and allowed better use of the height of the building. The introduction of a ‘fly by a cone’ seemed to reduce the congestion somewhat. Flyers came from a wide area. From Romanway and North Berks clubs to the North of Reading and from more local clubs including South East Berks and Basinsgtoke club Andy Steff (Robotbirds) brought a number of friends along. Whilst George Worley of 4-Max was flying and displaying some of his products. There was the usual incidents involving mid airs and for the first time we had a model stuck in the lattice roof structure. Its rescue (see photo) involved the use of a Perch pole extended with a piece of dowel bought from B&Q, conveniently situated next door. The three hour duration seemed just about perfect although a number gave up earlier before hypothermia set in. Things learned to improve the experience next time; will be to divide the time up into sessions. With opportunities for models ‘just cruisin’, to fly together to those ‘kinda aerobatting ‘ to join up and finally a ‘frankly frantic’ models will have some time to indulge there form of indoor fun. The next event is on the 14th February, but note the later start of 3pm and later finish of 6pm in order to avoid the spectators attending a London Irish match at the stadium. In view of the date the committee think there is a trading opportunity for a flower seller and confectioner to hover at the door! Photos courtesy of David Belcher.