April Flying Reports

A FOOL'S FOLLY

Open Combat at Its Finest!

Sunday, April 2, 2000 - The weather over the target area started the day partly sunny, but as if foreboding the events to come, turned cloudy and ominous. The flight line was crowded with collections of fighters from Northern Virginia, Williamsburg, and from the local squadrons. Several of the pilots put in practice flights, trimming their warbirds for the looming battle. Finally, the combat hour arrived, and into the thick of battle plunged eight brave soles - knowing that they might not all make it back....

Our eight contestants for the Fool's Folly Open Combat were broken into two groups of four to fly four sorties for each group. As the sorties progressed, the officials rotated one pilot into the other group. This allowed most of the pilots to fly with everyone at the field. The Outlaw class combat rounds were flown using a ninety second race horse start, and a five minute combat round. At the sound of the starting whistle, the pilots had ninety seconds to get into the air in any order they could. Once all pilots were airborne, or the ninety seconds were over, the whistle sounded again to start the combat round. For five minutes the pilots rolled and looped, and performed split-s maneuvers to try and cut streamer.

The first sortie of the first round of combat was intense, and the high quality of the aircraft and the pilots kept anyone from getting a cut. During the second sortie of the first round of combat, I made the first, and my only, cut of the day. As the sortie continued, Anthony from Northern Virginia got a cut on me, and Keith cut him!

The competition increased in the second round of combat as the pilots became more aggressive and made a couple more cuts. The rounds and sorties were flown with little down time in between. I flew my second and third sorties back to back! In the first sortie of the third round we had the first midair of the day! I went hard to the right with John Backes from Williamsburg in close pursuit. He went left in a scissors maneuver, hoping to come back across my streamer, but we collided instead! Unfortunately for him, my SPAD cut through his tail. His plane went down in the tall brush, and I had a dead stick landing. Surprisingly, there was no damage to my plane, and I continued on to the last round of the contest.
Photo by Chris Shepherd

By the final round of the meet, all the pilots were intense, and working hard to get one last cut. Jack Lewis and Chris Shepherd flew their Battle Floyds hard and collided in the last round! It was amazing to watch the foam and tape planes flat-spin three and four times - only to pull out and continue flying!

When the combat flying was finish, the first and second place winners were obvious, but there was a four way tie for third! We tried two attempts at carrier landings to settle the battle for third, but no one could stay in the box. For our final event to settle the dispute over third we used the simple spot landing technique. We all gave our best, but Anthony Marcantonio took the spot landing and third place! Chris Shepherd earned second, and Jack Lewis of Check Six Plans fame came out on top! Jack graciously donated a coupon for a free set of scale combat plane plans for the first, second, and third place winners.

Overall the event was incredible! Both the normal parking lot and the overflow lot were full. Spectators lined the viewing area, and the bleachers were full! I don't know about anyone else, but I'm hooked. I've already ordered two more combat planes, and I'm hoping to start combat practice soon.

PHOTOS - Check out some more photos of the Fool's Folly Open Combat Contest on the Newport News Park RC Club's Official website! Follow this link, and then go down to the "Recent Club Activities" link.
http://members.aol.com/nnrcclub/

CHAT - Would you like to talk about Combat? Why not post a topic on the message board by clicking on this link... Message Board

The Day the Field Ate the Landing Gear

Friday, April 7, 2000 - While this weekend turned out to be too windy for flying, I did manage to get out to the field Friday afternoon. I was surprised to find so many people at the field! I saw Owen Perkinson fly his new Sig Something Extra - very smooth. The Whippos, Jeff and Alan, were flying their trainer and their Piper Cub. Jay Jennings came out to fly his new Kaos. And Mark was racing his Stick around the field at a blinding pace!

It seemed as though Friday afternoon would be a great flying day! But ten feet into my take-off roll, the nut, axle, and wheel came off my plane! I was able to find the wheel and the axle, but not the nut. Luckily, Owen had spares. Not long after my problem, Owen announced he was coming in with only one wheel! His other wheel had fallen off in flight! We never did find his wheel - so keep your eyes open for a 2.5 inch wheel the next time you're at the field. A little while later Jeff noticed that his son Alan had lost his nose wheel while flying! Alan was nervous, but with a little coaching from everyone at the field, he brought his plane in low and slow. She didn't even flip over on touch-down!

Well, it seems that there are two important lessons to be learned about flying from our adventures on Friday. First, since Virginia weather is often unpredictable, take advantage of any good flying days you get. And secondly, tighten your landing gear before going to the field!

Two First Flights, Two Great Planes!

Sunday, April 16, 2000 - All week I watched the weather forecast. Everyday they predicted the same thing: rain throughout the week and into the weekend. Then yesterday, as if answering my prayers, the forecast changed! Sunny and warm Sunday! Well, I took advantage of the good weather and hit the field. I'm really glad I did. I witness two first flights, and I had a chance to practice several maneuvers.

When I arrived at about 2:30, Mike Whitney and Owen Perkinson were at the field. I could tell Jay Jennings had been there and was coming back - his MVVS powered Dauntless was sitting on a workstation. Mike got in a couple lessons, and I put in three flights.

Jay had decided that today would be the day for the maiden flight of his Dauntless. We fired her up, and I gave her an underhand launch. She really took off! The light airframe in combination with all the power from the MVVS .26 made for a very fast plane. Later, Mark came out and dialed in the engine a little more and went for a flight. Again I hand launched, but it wasn't one of my better launches. Immediately after launch the Dauntless settled, and touched the ground!! But she had enough airspeed, and the MVVS had enough power, that she flew right off. Who says you can't do touch and goes with a gearless combat plane!

Jeff and Alan Whippo came out to fly Jeff's Piper Cub. It seems he got his engine problem fixed! His plane sure looks and sounds great.

Larry's 4 Star 40
Larry Wall showed up with his new Sig 4 Star 40. Larry scratch built the wings from a set of plans I gave him, and then Owen gave him a fuselage kit to finish off the plane. Using his OS 46FX from his Kadet and a muffler I lent him, Larry had Owen take her up for her first flight. It took a couple of minutes to get her trimmed out right, but when we did - WOW! She flies beautifully. Larry's new plane has enough stability to fly well, yet is very acrobatic. We were able to hold inverted flight with hardly any down elevator input. Knife-edge was a little harder, but still easily maintained. And the large wing area let the 4 Star 40 slow down on demand. Landing was very easy, and touchdowns were soft. As Owen said, "It looks like Larry has a winner on his hands."
Photos by Jeff Whippo

One of our new club members, Jeff (I don't recall his last name), brought out his big beautiful Cap, and his new helicopter.

Sunday, April 23, 2000 - Have you ever had one of those days when you didn't feel like doing anything? That's how I felt today. I didn't want to build, finish my plane, or fly! Luckily, Jay Jennings gave me just enough motivation to throw my Avistar in the van and head to the field in the late afternoon. While my Sunday may have started in the doldrums, my sails were soon full and I got a chance to do something nice!

While my short phone call gave me enough motivation to hit the field, my heart wasn't really in it. As I pulled up, I noticed several fliers already there! It looked like everyone was having a good time. Jay was waiting on me, and Mike Arthurs was tooling around the sky. Someone else was there with a Monokote version of the Avistar, I'll have to remember to get their names next time. I got out my plane, and put in a flight or two. I can't believe how rusty I was. I still need to get back out there and work on my flying. Sometime after my second flight, Mike Grissett showed up with his new Sig Somethin' Extra. He asked me to take a look, so I went over it. We found several things we needed to fix, but couldn't handle at the field. We decided to ground his Somethin' Extra until we got it set-up right. After talking a little more, I found out he was a new pilot. We talked about the AMA, field rules, and basic flight instruction. He told me that he was in town on business and wanted to learn to fly. I got him signed up under the intro pilot program, and off we went! We put in several flights. I had a good time helping him, and I hope he had a good time too.

Some people might not understand, but I really enjoy helping someone get into flying. I hope that Mike goes home to Tennessee and gets involved in the hobby!

Flying After Work

Wednesday, April 26, 2000 - When the sky cleared for a little while Wednesday night, I grabbed the plane and bolted to the field! It turns out that I wasn't the only one with that idea! As I pulled up to the field, I saw Mike Arthur and friend, as well as Nigel Duncanson, and one of the new Keiths, all flying!

I fueled up my plane and put in a couple flights. The sky was partly sunny, but it quickly became cold as the sun settled in for the evening. I was happy to get out and fly a little. I can't wait until the long, warm summer days.

Sunday, April 30, 2000 - I drove home in a near daze! My mind was spinning from the excitement of my first scale combat match, and my first win. I couldn't believe I took second place! I imagined squadrons of combat models in my garage, trips across the country to do battle, and winnings piling up in the corner. It was like a fantasy, only the new Pica Focke-Wulf 190A in the back seat proved it was real! Let me tell you what happened....

I started out at about 5:40 AM. I had charged all my gear, and filled the gas can Friday night. Saturday I loaded the van, and Sunday morning I grabbed my coffee and hit the door. Originally I wasn't going to go. I only had one 1/12 scale-sized plane: a Global ARF Texan. But Chris Shepherd and Jack Lewis goaded me into taking the three-hour drive to Winchester. Jack even offered to supply me with a back-up plane. So there I was before sunrise, heading to Jack's house in Mechanicsville for the two-hour drive to Winchester. After Jack and I loaded our gear into his van we set out for the contest. The hours slipped quickly by. I think I yapped his ear off the entire way there.

My first impression was, "oh my God!" The large runway and open area of the Newport News Park flying field had me spoiled. I wasn't ready for the smaller sized field of the Plane Crazy RC Club. My second thought was to count my blessings. I paid my $6 registration fee, and my $5 "all-you-can-eat" buffet charge. We unpacked the van, and I surveyed the collection of fighters. While I didn't actually count, I do know that there were eleven contestants, and most had three planes. Jack and Chris had four each! There were nearly 40 planes in the pits!

I set-up my Texan, and put in a tune up flight prior to the contest start. Several combatants commented on my plane - especially how long it flew on a 6 ounce tank. Shepherd called a pilot's meeting and we received our sorties for the day. I was in the first heat of every round! I prepped my plane and waited for the "start engines" command from the CD. Pete Rundel stood by as my judge and launcher. Once I heard the announcer yell, "start engines," I fired up my OS 25fp and hit the field. Pete gave me a good toss and I was in the skies above Winchester for the fight of my life.

With all the planes in the air, we began combat. Six planes trailing streamers dove and climbed, zigged and zagged, and performed any maneuver they could to claim the first "kill." To my utter delight, I got my first cut in my first round! I think it was the first cut of the day! My original plan was simply to fly all six rounds, but now I had a cut! But the round wasn't over, and we continued flying. Seven minutes is a long time when you're in combat! While my first round was great, not everyone fared as well. The first round also claimed the first mid-air of the day. Luckily the pilots had back-up planes.

I spent most of time during the second heat setting up my Texan for the next round. I did however, manage to watch enough combat to realize how intense these guys were. And I saw the second mid-air of the day in the second heat of the day!

Well, I didn't make any cuts in the second round, but I was having a great time. We decided to take a lunch break between the second and third rounds of combat because someone was still in the field picking up the pieces of his plane.

In today's world five dollars won't get you a very large lunch, but in Winchester it went a very long way! The food was great! The volunteer cooks put on quite a feast. They made burgers, hot dogs, chicken, BBQ Pork, and a deli platter. They also provided a wide range of side dishes like baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, pasta salad, fresh broccoli in ranch dressing, and of course the lettuce, tomato, and onion for the burgers. But that wasn't all! There were at least three different kinds of cake and all manner of drink. Altogether, the lunch fare was reason enough to make the trip! My hat's off to the cooks.

It was my turn to fly again after lunch. I had reached the halfway point in the day's events. We entered into the usual combat dance of zigs and zags. Nearly half way through the round I chased Larry's Corsair down to the tree line. I was closing the gap, and I knew his streamer would be mine! Just as our planes passed in front of us, I banked hard over to catch his streamer. Trying to turn the tables back on me, Larry banked hard into me, and BOOM! We collided! His Zigg's Corsair cut right through my right-side dihedral joint. My Texan plummeted to the ground under full power. While I don't recall the damage to Larry's Corsair, his pieces were just twenty feet from mine. I had put in a good three rounds, and I had no regrets.

For a moment I thought my day was over. But then Jack reiterated his offer of a back-up plane. So we trimmed out his second Check Six Plans P-40 Warhawk, and into the fourth round I went! The Warhawk was an incredible flyer. The OS 25fp was more power than I could manage, and I flew the entire round at under half throttle - but still as fast as everyone else! I made my third cut in the fourth round. I found myself in a tight three-way battle, and elected to pull out. I climbed straight up and over. In a maneuver I never could have planned, nor could I ever repeat, I flew directly into the sun! Chopping the throttle, I waited for the Warhawk to come back into view. As she did, she also came right down behind another plane! I pushed the throttle back up and took a healthy chunk out of someone's streamer!

Not knowing my standing entering into the fifth round, I flew as hard as I could. During the break I had overheard someone say that Jack Lewis had three cuts in one round! I decided I had to get one more cut in! Flying fast just below tree top level, I crossed paths with Chris Shepherd's beautiful Pica Corsair. Realizing he was a target of opportunity, I pulled back hard to cut his streamer as he flew by. Well we met and pieces of his bird fluttered off to the left as the Warhawk, tail severed, spiraled to the ground. Chris and I shook hands and watched the rest of the battle.

With the final round of combat over, Chris Shepherd tallied the scores and announced the final results. Jack Lewis took first place, and I claimed second place! I couldn't believe it! I placed in my first combat event! My prize was a Pica Squadron Series Focke-Wulf 190A. What an incredible day!

May Flying Reports

Belated Report!

Saturday, May 6, 2000 - Jeff Whippo sent me an email about his adventures back here in Newport News. Unfortunately, in all my excitement over the combat meet, I forgot to post his piece! Well, here it is...

Hi Rocks

Looks like you had a lot of fun last weekend; I checked out your story on the web. Sorry about the casualties. Alan and I were flying last night - it was great; no wind after about 7. I'm still having problems taking off with the Cub. Thought it was too much slop in the rudder so I modified it to a pull pull system. That made the rudder better, but not my takeoffs. As a matter of fact, Jay taxied it around last night and wasn't able to keep it straight either. After further inspection, I think I know what it is. It looks like the wooden fairings that straddle the front axles may be rubbing against the wheels when the plane goes bouncing down the runway. That would probably cause the symptoms I have. I'll fix that up this weekend and try it Sunday.

Jeff Whippo

Hot Sunday in May!

Sunday, May 7, 2000 - I'm a lobster! I went flying today, and stayed so long I became a lobster. While a few people made it out to the field today, it wasn't really crowded. When I first got out there around 9:30, I saw Gregg Thomas with his beautiful Cap. He was working on a control surface flutter problem. It turns out that his problem was a small difference in incedence on the wingtip shovels. I'm glad he got it figured out!

Later, Jay Jennings, Owen Perkinson, Mike Whitney, Larry Wall, Carl Nettles, Jeff and Alan Whippo, Larry Rash, Mike Aurthur, and Jerry of Stream hobbies came out to fly. Jay flew his Stick, Extra 300, and Aerosport. Owen put his modified Sig Somethin' Extra through some fancy manuevers. Mike Whitney and I went through some practice turns and figure eights with his Thunder Tiger Trainer. Larry brought out his new 4 Star 40. He just finished the trim scheme this morning, and is now working on getting used to flying it. Carl put up his P-51B Mustang and Dazzler. The Whippos flew their favorite mounts: Jeff's Cub and Alan's trainer. Although Larry Rash had a couple planes with him, he only flew his Cub. I forgot what Mike Arthur was flying, but Jerry had a large Cap in the air.

New Flyers at the Newport News Park

Saturday, May 13, 2000 - Well, summer is fast approaching and while some people are dusting off their planes, others are just learning to fly. I thought you'd like to hear about some of the new flyers at the field.

I'm currently working with Mike Whitney. He's coming along fine. We're working on remaining oriented with the plane at various attitudes. If he keeps progressing as well as he has, he'll be soloed before summer! I also received a call from Keith Cox. He wants to learn to fly. He has purchased three ARF planes, three radios, and three engines! I guess he isn't messing around! Joe Adams sent him to me for training, and I told him I'd be happy to help him get in the air. We'll be meeting at the field the first time this Sunday.

As you may already know, I had one Intro Pilot recently. Mike Grissett, in town on business, wanted to go flying. Well, we got him all hooked up, and off he went! I hope he enjoyed it! Mike is back home in Tennesse now.

And last weekend I met another new flyer! I remember that his first name was Nathan, but I've forgotten his last name. He already has a Thunder Tiger Trainer and two Airtronics radios. We talked for a little while and I introduced him to Larry Rash. I'm not sure what he's decided to do, but I told him that I'd be happy to help. We'll see! Can you believe all the new flyers we'll have this summer!

A Quiet Day, Or Was It?

Sunday, May 14, 2000 - While I had made arrangements with several people to meet me at the flying field, when I arrived thirty minutes late, no one was there. I considered the possibility that they had already come and gone, but decided that either way, I should go ahead and fly. Jay Jennings finally showed up, and the fun began. While Jay and I jabbred, I checked my batteries and airplanes prior to flying. Unfortunately, I dropped the SPAD on the Avistar, and the Avistar suffered a rip in the wing covering. What's with that SPAD always going after other planes?

Jay and I started our flying. It was a little windy, but nothing we hadn't seen before. Sometime during one of my flights, I heard a car pull up. When I finished flying, I saw that Owen Perkinson had come out to play. While we were sitting around looking at the interesting magazine clips and flyers that Owen always brings, Keith Cox arrived. I introduced him to everyone and then started looking over his new plane.

Keith's Airvista look pretty good, but we did find a few things to adjust. After we made the adjustments, we set-up his two Airtronics radios on the buddy-box. The Airvista performed well with Keith's Supertiger GP 42 providing power. We spent several flights trimming the plane, and Keith! I also receive some flying practice. Twice we flew the fuel tank dry. The first deadstick landing was fine, but the second one landed well short of the field. The plane sucked fuel faster than I had expected, and its penetration without power was much less than I normally get from my Avistar. Luckily, there was no damage to his plane.

After Keith and I finished most of our flying for the day, I went back to flying my Avistar. I decided to chase Owen and his Magnum powered Sig Somethin' Extra. We looped and spun. I chased him low across the runway. And then back across the runway inverted. We reversed our runs by performing an immelman from the inverted, back to inverted. Each pass across the field Owen brought his plane lower, and I tried to follow. I think I did an admirable job, but the Avistar seems to require a high angle of attack to maintain slow inverted flight. Unfortunately, I discovered the limits of the angle of attack on my final flight of the day.

As I came across the runway from the right to the left, I decided I was a little high. So I let the nose drop a little, and kept the power low. As I got closer to the runway, I began to feed in down elevator - I was inverted after all. Well, at about four feet off the ground, I realized that I was approaching stall speed! But it appears I was ten feet behind the plane. By the time I added more throttle, the wing and vertical stabilizer were kissing the runway. Luckily, the damage was limited to the vertical stab. The Avistar will fly again!

A little later John Philbrick came out with his Advance 40, and his biplane. By then it was near 5PM and I had to pack up. Overall I thought it was a great day of flying. I'm never fond of breaking airplanes, but what's that old saying, "no pain, no gain."

The Weatherman Said Don't Go Outside

Sunday, May 21, 2000 - How many times have you stayed home because of weather? Me too! I almost stayed home this Sunday, but I didn't think it would be right to break the arrangements I had already made with Jay and Owen. So I went to the field even though the weatherman said that it would rain all day. By the time I arrived, Jay Jennings and Owen Perkinson were already at the field looking at some Ultra-light brochures Owen had brought. I showed them the mostly completed fuselage to my Sig Somethin' Extra, and we talked about modeling some of the airplanes in the Ultra-light brochures.

As I got ready to fly, Keith Cox pulled up and started putting together his Thunder Tiger Trainer 40. Today would be Keith's second lesson with me. Keith was still having problems getting the throttle to fully close on his SuperTiger 40. Owen, Jay, and I looked at it, and we found that the carburetor retaining screw was a little too long - It was preventing the carburetor from moving it's full travel volume. We used a washer to keep the retaining screw from going to far into the channel in the carburetor.

Jay put a few flights on his Extra and Aerosport while Keith and I went over safety and starting procedures again. Jay says he has been flying every night after work, and it shows! His whole flight is looking better all the time! Keith did an outstanding job with his task! We learned the left turn and flew boxes around the field.

Woody Trant and son also came out to play. I've seen them at the field several times, and I've always admired the performance of Woody's yellow Sig Four Star 40. Today was no exception. The Four Star is very responsive and stable. That almost seems like a contradiction, but she really is! During one of Woody's flights we noticed something fall from his Four Star. So he did a fly-by and we realized that he had lost his canopy! You know, I think you could find enough parts in the over-fly area to make an entire plane!

Woody also brought out his Hobbico Spectrum ARF. Today was the first time I had ever seen a Spectrum. It seemed like a nice plane. She was very fast and smooth, and she got even better with the gear retracted! I know that Woody's son flew the Spectrum most of the time. I'm not sure who did take-offs and landings, but when they brought her in for a landing, one of the retracts ripped right out of the wing. Luckily it was a clean break, and it won't take them long to get her put back together.

Towards the end of the day, Richard Cooper brought out his big, beautiful Hangar 9 Cap. That big bird flies great, and Richard really knows how to put her through her paces. Like I said in the beginning, I wasn't going to go out today because the weatherman had said that it would rain, but then I would have missed another great day of flying!

Three Clubs Had A Challenge:

Sunday, May 28, 2000 - Who would win the inter-club fun-fly? As Sunday dawned, it appeared that we wouldn't get the answer toady. The cloud cover was thick and, at times, the ceiling was very low. The weather report called for scattered showers throughout the day, not good for our fun-fly. But we went ahead with the contest anyway.

Jay Jennings had asked me to come out and help officiate the event, so I arrived early to get in some flying time before the contest. Several spectators were already at the field when I arrived around 9:30. A couple members of the Hampton Roads Radio Control club had come to watch the event, and they were waiting at the gate to the field. I unlocked the gate and we went in. I set up the Avistar and started flying.

Jay and Owen Perkinson began setting up the limbo poles when they arrived a little while after me. Since I was already in the air, I decided to give the limbo a shot. It was definitely difficult, but I could get my worn Avistar under the nine-foot streamer. Then I started to get brave and fly the limbo inverted!

The trick to making inverted passes was a long set-up run. I stood with the limbo pole between my approach flight path and me. I went inverted on my base leg and flew a landing pattern that I aborted just before the limbo poles! This plan seemed to be working well, and I flew a couple inverted passes right at the nine-foot level.

More flyers arrived, including one of my students: Keith Cox. We set up his Thunder Tiger Trainer and went out for a flight. He's doing great! Joe Adam came and asked for my AMA number while we were practicing using the elevator to maintain altitude in a turn. Apparently one of our fliers didn't show and they needed me to substitute for in him the contest!

The contest was great fun! The limbo was the first event. We drew numbers to see what order we would fly. I drew third. I watched the first two flyers make their runs. They did a great job, but they didn't get all of their passes. I noticed that the judges were counting passes every time a plane went further than the limbo pole. But if you turned short of the pole they didn't count it as a run! Well I used that to my advantage when it was my turn.

After take-off, I flew a holding pattern to the left of the runway while I settled my plane down and got comfortable with her low speed inverted flight. Then I started flying landing approaches. On my first three inverted passes, I had to make some minor adjustments to my approach, but otherwise it was fairly easy. I guess I started to relax a little too much! I was a little short on my fourth approach, and I had to abort early. Unfortunately I crossed the limbo streamer right at nine feet and took out the streamer! Several people chided me about this not being a combat meet - no points for streamer cuts. Mike Munday, Joe Adam, Jay, and Owen ran out and fixed the streamer while I flew around. My fifth and final pass was great! I had four successful, inverted passes for double points! Norm Hayes flew next.

Norm's new Thunder Tiger Fun Tiger 300 flies nice and Norm is really good. He made two great inverted passes, but on his third pass he flew into the pole! The PVC pipe crushed his left wing from leading edge to mainspar. When the plane cartwheeled to the ground, the tail snapped midway from the wing to the tail feathers. But since his plane cartwheeled inside the pole, he got points for the limbo pass. Norm's brother kept Norm in the contest by lending him his Thunder Tiger Super Stick.

John Backes, Bob Swain, H. B. Urrutia and Bill VanCleave made all of their limbo passes, but no one else attempted inverted passes. Once everyone finished the limbo event we went into the loops. I didn't pay much attention to the flying during the loop event. Instead I went with Ray Foley to see his new Cap. It's a really nice plane! I hope to get a chance to see it fly sometime soon.

Norm came back strong in the loop event. He pumped out twenty loops in the one-minute time limit! I only managed fifteen. John Backes and Ray Nelson were right on Norm's tail with eighteen loops each.

Our final event, called the Holding Pattern, timed how quickly we could get the wheels on the ground once a judge said LAND! Our own Keith Jones took the top spot in this event with a time of 2.31 seconds - wow! Once again John Backes kept the game close by pulling down a 2.62 second landing!

Once all the scores were tallied, Jay Jennings announced the individual winners: first - Norm Hayes, second - John Backes, and third - Keith Jones! Congratulations gentlemen, awesome flying! Once again I'm glad that we didn't let Mother Nature get the best of us. The rain began to fall shortly after the contest ended around 4 PM.

June Flying Reports

So What Happened To The June Reports?

Compared to my previous monthly reports, the June reports look pretty weak. There are three reasons this happened. First I spent two weekends driving to Philadelphia and back so that my wife could visit her parents. Secondly, I spent most of my time finishing the Somethin' Extra. And finally, no one else sent my anything I could post on the site! It would be nice to get some reports from other flyers. If you fly at the Newport News Park RC Field, and you would like submit an article for the website, then email it to me at Wjmillerjr@aol.com

Six Months Later - Somethin' EXTRA

Sunday, June 25, 2000 - Well I finally finished my Sig Somethin' Extra! I took her to the Newport News Park RC field and broke in my new OS Max 46FX with the help of Owen Perkinson. We used an APC 11 x 6 prop and 10% Powermaster fuel. Boy what a mess! We ran through the first tank of gas with the needle valve set really, really rich. For the second tank of gas, we started leaning the engine in just slightly. Owen would run the needle valve up until the engine was singing like a champ, and then he'd back it off until it was almost four-stroking. This was a lot of needle work. But I think the results should be good.

When we were ready to see her fly for the first time, I noticed a problem. The left aileron was dancing! It was like she had a mind of her own. I thought the servo must be broken, but serveral guys suggested I check the connection. I reversed the servo leads, right to left, and everything seemed to work fine. So off I went! My initial roll-rate was incredible, I couldn't even count the rotations! After landing, I reduced the aileron throws. I spent the rest of my flying time working on the trim. I hope to get her all trimmed out and ready for the upcoming Fun-Fly.

So how does the Somethin' Extra fly? I don't think I've really trimmed everything perfectly, but I'll tell you what I noticed. Because of the short landing gear, it's hard to get the tail up on take-off without touching the prop. So most of my take-offs are accomplished without any real rotation to speak of. But this isn't a problem. The OS Max 46FX seems to have plenty of pull with the 11x6 APC prop. As I said earlier, the ailerons are very effective, and I had to reduce the throws. So it goes without saying that the Somethin' Extra is very responsive around the roll axis. And she needs only very slight elevator inputs to maintain a level flight path while performing consecutive rolls. The elevator and rudder are rather large, and they provide plenty of response. But I think I'll have to reduce the elevator throw some, without dual rates or exponential, she's just too jerky. The rudder will hold a good knife edge, but she'd need more rudder, or more power, to do a knife edge loop. Of course we have to keep in mind that the plane is really designed for fun-fly events. Having said that, she slows down quick and has a decent top speed. Ground handling is respectable, and she can out-roll anything I've seen.