It was an unseasonably cool and blustery morning, although a much better upgrade from the weather a week before. As I arrived at the field with my cup of Timmie’s in hand, I saw our stalwart, ever-present president already at our field and getting things set up.

As we discussed the sub-optimal weather conditions, the wind was blowing steadily from the north, the sky was a solid grey, and the  temperature was around the 13° mark (REALLY glad I brought my Kenora dinner jacket and a windbreaker) and we were wondering what the attendance was going to be like.

As the morning progressed, the parking lot quickly filled up and at 9:00, Pierre led the pilot’s meeting, the usual rules as per MAAC and such. After that we held a brief memorial ceremony for our friends no longer with us, Sue MacDonald, Jim Denyer and Jason Hlaing. A quick word from Mike Lalonde about the spot landing contest and from yours truly and we were on our way. 

We had 32 registered pilots! Very brave intrepid fliers! Thankfully, the clouds started to break up, the temperature steadily rose, and the wind died down somewhat, although it remained gusty. At 11:00 we had the spot landing competition, initially starting out with three competitors but four more joined and decided to take a swing at it. After all seveen had flown we actually had a tie!! A fly off was held between Mark Winstanley and Andy Smith with Andy taking the prize. 

Flying was resumed while some took part in the burgers and hotdogs provided by the volunteers of the canteen as arranged by Robert St Germain. 

At 1:00 there was a control line demo put on by Richard Gareau, who did many amazing aerobatic maneuvers but thankfully not the infamous figure 9. We had a very strong showing of control line folks, as well as some larger scale, fun flyer and even some EDFs flying in (at times challenging) crosswinds with only one major mishap but we won’t talk about that. 

All in all, this year’s Ed Rae started out looking a bit questionable due to weather but ended up being a pretty good day (the sun burn on my face as evidence to that!) .

I would like to personally thank all the volunteers who stepped up to help and make the Ed Rae Memorial Fun Fly a great day at the field: 

Registration and MC: Pierre Coulombe
Flight Line Supervisors:

Photographer: Hal MacDonald
50/50 tickets: Garrett Smith
Spot landing competition: Mike Lalonde
Balloon bust competition: Peter Wakefield
Control Line Precision Aerobatics demonstration: Richard Gareau (organized and
coordinated by Brian Pepin)
Canteen:
Robert St Germain and his sister Diana (special thanks to Diana for supporting our club)
Bill Ellis
Rick Ramalho
Alain Richer
Set up and cleanup:  Mike Lalonde, Chris Rebidoux and Pierre Coulombe.