================= ACMA Irvington Field Activities, Feb. 27
& 28 =================
…………….... All photos and videos by
Frits Jetten unless otherwise indicated. …….…….…
ACMA Club 40 pylon racing will start Saturday, March 13! That’s
just around the corner! So far six pilots have said they will be ready
to race. Four will use a World Models La.
Racer-40 racer: Rob Baker, Russ Green, Mike McLaughlin and Frits
Jetten. Two will be flying a World Models Sky
Raiders Mach II: Elton Sullivan and/or Johnny Jones (Team “EltonJohnny”),
and Robert Sanderson.
Mike Callen is trying to finish up his Sky Raider Mach II, and Bill
Culberson is still working on his La. Racer-40. They both said they
would probably not be ready by March 13. Well, six should be sufficient
to have a race. So we’ll soon see how that goes!
The monthly combat schedule has been affected by the pylon race schedule
and at this time Combat Czar Andrew Smith and Pylon Racing Czar Russ
Green and those involved with combat and racing will hash all that
out. As it stands, pylon races will be held on Saturday, March 13,
and combat is tentatively set for Sunday, May 16.
While looking around on the Mobile Area RC Model Aviation Forum,
I found that Robert Sanderson’s SASkWOT (Sanderson's Advanced
Skunk Works of Outrageous Technology) had recently completed its latest
Coroplast airplane.
It’s in the aircraft class of Multi-HORs (Hell On Rails), nicknamed
“Insane”, loosely based on Robert’s ol’ BUHOR
(Big Ugly Hell On Rails) of yesteryear.
Robert’s plans to carry a packed parachute aloft, cut throttle
to idle speed, pop the chute in flight, lower the airplane with the
chute attached, and then release the chute, while continuing to fly
the plane. The parachute operation was successfully tested last year
on its predecessor. The Insane Multi-HOR should be ready for its first
flight on Sunday…
Another plane scheduled for a maiden flight on Sunday was TJ Rohyan’s
newest camera-toting plane, as shown on
the forum. The wing and fuselage are hotwire cut from 2"
white EPP foam, with plywood doublers glued to the higher stress areas.
The empennage is constructed of Depron foam with carbon fiber rods
for support. Its name is the “Super Solution”.
Saturday, February 27 — Jonathan Festa had
his electric F/A-18 Hornet ducted fan jet all fixed up after a problem
with the main gear last
weekend. But this time he didn’t fare much better. It was
actually
worse! The damage can be repaired, of
course. Jonathan also flew his newest toy, the popular Habu electric
foam ducted fan
jet. (Habu is the name of a south Asian snake, a venomous pit
viper, in case you must know.)
Raymond Murtha showed up with his Banshee and his friend’s
U-Can-Do 3D giant
scale airplane. The U-Can-Do is powered by an OS 160 engine. Ray
discovered he had lost the dowel that holds the canopy to the cockpit
and had to put the flight off to another day… Russell Ward was
caught napping through the afternoon
…
Mike Hess showed up with his wife, a JetMach turbine jet and a Tiger
60 sport plane. He flew the Tiger a couple of times. Rob Baker was
to test the Shock Jet turbine jet today and then let Mike fly an unassisted
flight to sign off on the special waiver that’s required from
the AMA to fly turbine
jets. Well, the takeoff looked okay, but when the jet got up the
flight altitude, in what looked to me as a rather steep climb, it
seemed to stall and then spin into
the ground.
Damage to the wing appeared small, but the nose section of the fuse
was destroyed.
Mike (and his wife) felt terrible about the
incident. So did Rob, but it was not his fault. In one picture
taken during the ascent you can see the left flap in the full
down position (bright white area on left). Not sure if Mike will
repair this one…
Rob had brought two of his airplanes. One was the ShockJet that Katt
Connors used to
have. Rob has turned it into a Navy
jet. It flew very
nicely. He had a couple of good
flights. He also flew his new Habu, an electric ducted fan similar
to Jonathan’s that was painted by Rob in a camouflage
scheme. At one point Rob and Jonathan both had their Habus in
the air. Jonathan likes the Habu, I
think.
I was looking at the runway, over there where the cracks
are. Well, the cracks are getting larger. With warmer weather
coming up the gear-snatching Crack Monsters should show their presence
soon… Roger Hagler flew his old Dazzler, It was one of the
largest in Roger’s
fleet. If they don’t fit in his Volvo, they are history…
Sunday, February 28 — Found: pair of sunglasses.
Let me know if these are yours. E-mail me > fjetten@aol.com…
Some new worktables showed up in the north pits. Well, not really
new. Frank Madison had donated the three tables several months ago,
but the weather had pretty much destroyed the unprotected wooded surfaces.
Kenny Morris took some measurements and then resurfaced and painted
all three tables.
Nice job. Thanks, Kenny! Oh, and Kenny’s suggestion to everyone
— keep your butts
off…
Speaking of butts. Carl Broughton had his up in the air, trying to
get his Astro Hog (I think) ready for
a flight. I don’t think I saw it in the air though…
Dewey Brown flew his Extra-300.
It took some time to get it ready, but Dewey — here assisted
by Roger Hagler — finally got it airborne.
He had a great flight.
Jonathan Festa showed up with the Habu and his large, 40% Edge-540.
There was an aborted takeoff with the Edge when Jonathan noticed the
canopy lifting from the cockpit just as the plane took to the air.
The Edge landed and rolled to a stop at the south end of the runway
where it flipped over. No
damage. The Habu did
fine.
Andrew Smith showed up with a carload of planes and a very nice handcrafted
electric flight box. The box is literally electrified, because a 120Volt
AC cord powers its innards — a DC power supply, battery chargers,
battery cyclers and cooling
fans.
A couple of Andrew’s planes we had not seen in a few months.
I counted seven aircraft — the Lite Machines LMH-120 Corona
helicopter, the Synapse foamy jet, the old Ugly Stick, the Slow Stick,
the Swift II foam flying wing, the F-15 jet and the
small Corsair. All are electric except the Ugly Stick. Not sure
if Andrew flew
them all.
Mike McLaughlin flew his Saito .80 powered P-51
Mustang. Well, anyway, he had brought it and there it sat, but
I don’t recall seeing it in the air… Max Needels showed
up with a new profile plane, the LamYak.
It seems to fly well and is capable of some 3D
maneuvers... Joe Krebs fired up his Cub, but I never saw it move
from the bench…
Al Ayler flew his Douglas SBD “Dauntless”, one of his
nicer warbirds.
He had other planes with him, but he only assembled the Dauntless.
That thing really roars.
Here is Al flying and actually making a nice
landing…
John Walker showed up with his newest project, a Reno Zero racing
plane. They cranked the engine, but that was all. Even engine guru
Wayne Boudreaux couldn’t keep it running.
Check out that very substantial engine
starter! Now here is a nice picture of Frank’s wife Joyce
and their small
dog.
Larry Rogers brought his electric T-Rex, his scale Hughes MD-400
civilian helicopter and the Airstar International Mongoose
gasser. He flew the Mongoose a couple
of times. This picture shows you just how big this
one is. It seems to fly really
well. And it’s very stable.
Maybe it’s just that steady
hand…
The scale MD-400 had a bit of a mishap when the horizontal stabilizer
flew off while the heli was in a hover close to the ground. The stab
got caught by the main
blades. That big set of carbon fiber blades will have to be replaced.
Jeff Foster and Russell Ward fooled around with the top of a pineapple…
Henry Waltman and his lady friend Julia are still going
strong… And Alvin Reed was the center of attention again,
this time he had attracted all the kids that were at the field and
gathered around him. Watching him eat is always a spectacle…
Tony Brown was back with his three T-Rex helicopters.
And again he put on some fine demos.
There were a couple of times when you expected the heli to slam into
the ground! Notice the direction and angle of the exhaust
trail! Great show!
Chris and Scott Gayle were also back with Chris’ helicopter,
but I got no pictures this time.
Frank Rowell showed up with his hot pink (or is that magenta?) Cermark
Sukhoi. The SPE 26 cc engine needed some tweaking and Frank spent
quite a bit of tuning trying to get it to the exact rpm Wayne Boudreaux
had recommended to him. Wayne probably told him it had to be EXACTLY
8,442 rpm… The Sukhoi flew later, but I didn’t see it.
The engine quit in flight and Frank had to make a deadstick landing.
Robert Sanderson brought his Insane Multi-HOR Coroplast plane, a
new Sky Raider pylon racer, and the old Double Trouble 2, a twin-engine
speed plane, which had not been flown for
awhile. Robert worked on the Sky Raider, but it stayed grounded.
The Insane HOR, however, would be “grounded” in a different
way, three times, as you will see in the next three videos.
Robert checked the balance by holding the HOR up by the parachute
straps, and it looked
okay. Max helped him carry the plane to the runway.
And then it was ready for the Insane’s first
flight. Well, it was brief! The impact looked even scarier to
Frits, who was recording it on video.
It was truly a sphincter-tightening moment…
(That picture should remind Frits to get on a diet again…)
After a prop replacement, the Insane was back in business for the
second flight. This time it flew erratically a
bit farther. Damage was slight. After some minor fixes the plane
was ready again. But during a final check of the control surfaces,
Robert discovered that the ailerons had been reversed all
along!
Well now, that was encouraging and that meant there was hope for
a successful third flight after all. And fly it did! But even though
it went farther and higher, there was a surprise ending to this flight.
Robert got to flight altitude and made the first turn, but then activated
the wrong switch!
Instead of DEPLOYING the chute, he RELEASED it, which caused some
sort of adverse affect on the plane’s stability, as this third
video shows.
And so the plane spiraled into the ground, sustaining definitely more
damage this time. The aluminum frame was bent pretty badly. Knowing
Robert, that HOR will be back in business soon!
Here’s a recap of the three flights as taken by Andrew Smith
with Robert’s
camera.
Remember TJ’s first camera-carrying motorized kite that flew
away a couple of months ago. Well, he never got it back. So here now
is the Super Solution, not a kite, but a real airplane. It's also
electric. Oh, that chair was to keep it from blowing away in the
breeze, in case you are wondering...
After checking everything, and with an empty fuel tank in place of
the camera, TJ was ready for its maiden
flight. That flight went well, and it looks as if TJ has got himself
a nice and solid camera
platform… Roger Geil and Robert could be seen amusing themselves
with a kite. But there just was not
enough wind.
Jimmy Kennamer flew his Vista sailplane, towed aloft by his colorful
tow plane, the Mirage.
Ramsay Clevenger piloted the tow plane. There were no
problems. Jimmy also flew his Great Planes Escapade and the old
Electralite sailplane, Jimmy’s first-ever motorized plane from
about thirty years
ago.
Ramsay had brought his Twist. It was all fixed up after he had crashed
it some time ago.
He asked Frits to do a test flight on it. Frits obliged and after
landing the Twist he recommended that Ramsay lessen the elevator and
aileron throws. They were just too sensitive.
Frits then left the field to go home, after telling Ramsay to let
him know if he crashed the Twist. Well, Frits found out later in the
evening from the forum that Ramsay had indeed crashed
the plane! Oh, well, it will be an easy fix. A Twist’s fuselage
usually breaks in two behind the trailing edge of the wing…
I just got an e-mail from club member Drew Moss to let everyone know
that he successfully flew his new Escapade…
Bonus Feature — This is about some amazing
electric helicopters. You have probably seen pictures of the 4-motor
QuadroKopter.
And I have talked about the Parrot helicopter before. That’s
the one that’s controlled by the Apple
iPhone. Now here’s a HektoKopter, with six radially located
propellers, but that is not the amazing
part. After all, there is even an OktoKopter with eight
motors!
What is remarkable is how this HektoKopter aircraft flies. It can
be controlled by a human operator or by GPS, and it can “fly
home” by onboard computer control. And you’d be surprised
at how much it can lift. Watch this excellent
video.
Well, this is about it for this week. Come chat with some of us on
Alvin’s Mobile Area RC Model Aviation Forum
(MARCMAF). There’s always something or somebody being talked
about there…
I’ll see you at the field. Fly safe!
========== Advertising Your For Sale Stuff in the Swap Shop/Flea
Market===========
You know that you can advertise your For Sale items in the Mobile
Area RC Model Aviation Forum’s Swap Shop/Flea Market. You can
even include photos, which is always helpful when you try to sell
RC stuff.
To use this feature, go to the main menu
shown on the left of this report and select Swap Shop.
First-timers must register with a username and password, but that’s
free and it is very easy.
New rule! - Inactive topics will be pruned when 160 days old. Listings
will be displayed for about five months before being pruned. Please
edit your topic to reflect any changes, if the item(s) sold, or if
they are no longer for sale.
======== If You Have Any Comments About These Pits Reports…
=====
I welcome any comments regarding these Pits Reports — good
or bad.
E-mail me > fjetten@aol.com.
Azalea City Model Aeronautics Website > http://www.acma-rc.com/index.html
Frits Goes Hollywood - Click For Details
