6th February, 2010. The First Offical NIJets meet Courtesy of North Down MAC.

It was with great enthusiasm that the first ever NIJets event took place on the 6th February at the North Down Model Aircraft Club. The day dawned a little grey but with very light winds and with the van packed Chris, Adam and I headed for North Down. Arriving around 10.30 there was a significant number of models already flying.

The earily birds had received their safety briefing and were burning up the kerosene in a non stop fashion. As one jet landed the next was beginning to taxi out onto the runway to take off. I set about taking some photos and video of the event as I normally get cought up in the day and forget to take the camera out of the car.

Unfortunately the low light conditions did nothing to help the cameras obtain autofocus so the video footage was of little use. Adam Robb was in charge of my still camera for the day and took some nice shots despite the poor conditions.

The North Down club had agreed to provide the jet pilots with clear sky for most of the day, with a slot to fly club models at 12.30 and 2.30. This was very generous and some jets took to the air more than 7 times during the day.

Phelim very kindly provided burgers, baps, etc for everyone at lunch time and the hot food was greaftully received by the cold modellers present. In fact, some couldn't decide weither to stand beside the BBQ for heat, or the back end of the jets.

11 jets made up the first NIJets fly-in with two modellers coming from the other side of the boarder. Andreas and Seamus took the time to travel a considerable distance to join us and both made several flights during the day.

Robert flew his Wren powered Harpoon, a beautiful model that looks fast even sitting on the ground. It creats a fantastic sound as it passes down the strip and has great performance to back up the great looks.

Harry joined Robert on several occasions with his Boomerang Intro to fly in formation. This is very difficult to do with models, I tried it once years ago, only once. Nuff said. To make it look even easier they now take off and land in formation as well.

Phelim brought his Kangaroo and made several flights throughout the day. Gordon brought his L39 and I believe this was the only scale jet to fly on the day. Chris taxied his Red Arrows Hawk around the runway to show off his smoke system but opted not to fly in the light conditions.

By far the most popular model was the Boomerang Intro. 6 models were present showing how well this great little model has been designed. I brought my Boomerang Elan, another fantastic model from the stable of Alan Caldish. I spoke to Alan at the BMFA Nationals a couple of years ago and Alan told me there are people flying Elans with P160's in them. The design was originally for up to P80's.

I have added a smoke system to mine and on my second flight of the day burnt some smoke oil during an aerobatic flight. The grey sky did nothing to enhance the smoke trail unfortunately.

Ian flew his swing wing F14, a large foam model powered with a prop on the back. Although it is not fast it is impressive to watch as the wings sweep back in flight. Unfortunately on a very low pass the prop hit the runway and ended the flight with the aid of a wire mesh fence. Luckly the damage is minor and the big F14 will fly again soon.

Phelim had provided prizes for some low key competition on the day. Best flight was won by Gordon with his L39, furthest travelled by Andreas. Most flights was split between Robert and Harry as they always seem to fly together.

Albert, the North Down Club Chairman then handed out the prizes and thanked the NIJets members for coming, and invited us back later in the year for another days fun. We look forward to it very much.

Peter - Chair NIJets.