BIG BIRD FESTIVAL 1998
We held our Fifth Annual Big Bird Festival on August 15 & 16, 1998.
94 pilots from 6 states registered 156 planes for a great weekend of flying. People began arriving on Wednesday and by Saturday Morning more than 20 RV's and campers were in the parking lot.

Parking lot Saturday morning

Spectators and pilots began arriving and by noon 220 vehicles were in the parking lot.

Aircraft of all types were present: Sport, Aerobatic, and Military to name a few.

(Click on pictures to see them full size)
South side of pits (49.3K)
South Pit Area
North side of pits (51.6K)
Center Pit Area
North side of pits (50.8K)
North Pit Area



Members of the club were kept busy all weekend long. Several people manned the transmitter impound. Jim Parnell and Gene Burmeister sold raffle tickets to pilots and spectators throughout the weekend. Flight bosses directed traffic for the pilots.

TX impound (47.6K)
Transmitter Impound
Raffle table (36.1K)
Raffle Ticket Sales
Flight boss (45.2K)
Flight Boss



Thanks to the generosity of the local hobby shops and manufacturers around the country we were able to reward the pilots with lots of door prizes. Pilot numbers were drawn for prizes about every 30 minutes.

Prize table 1 (42.9K)
Prize Table #1
Prize table 2 (38K)
Prize table #2



Bill Hempel, 1997 IMAC national champion, performed noontime demonstration flights with his AeroWorks 36% Edge 540. AMAZING is the only word that comes close to describing the way Bill flies. Pictures here don't do justice to his abilities. Hopefully Bill will be back next year and you can see it for yourself.

Bill Hempel (30.5K)
Bill Hempel
Bill's 540 (39.1K)
Bill's AeroWorks Edge 540
LOW Pass (26.1K)
LOW Inverted Pass



Bill also flew the AeroWorks 1/4 scale Edge 540. Throughout the weekend Bill also flew several of the planes of other pilots, and on Sunday, others got to try the sticks of his 36% Edge 540! What a treat!

1/4 Scale Edge 540 (42.4K)
1/4 Scale Edge 540
Jack Quinn, Bill Hempel, Jack Bugg (42.7K)
Jack Quinn, Bill Hempel, and Jack Bugg with a Jack Bugg's Quinn Kadet



The Big Bird Festival comes to a close Sunday afternoon with the raffle drawing for the Ready-To-Fly Quinn Kadet. This years winner was Kay McConnell.

Jack Quinn Drawing (37.9K)
Jack Quinn Drawing the Raffle Ticket
Jack Quinn, Kay and Lloyd McConnell (47.5K)
Jack Quinn, Kay and Lloyd McConnell