Newsletter of the Pikes Peak Radio Control Club AMA Club Number 179 Volume 34, Number 10 August, 2006 Officers: Pres.: Richard Gugeler; VP: Randy Oswald; Secretary: Bill Sanderman; Treasurer: Frank Tuxworth Mailing Address: P.O. Box 25604, Colorado Springs, CO 80936 Web Site: http://www.pprcflyers.net Next Club Meeting: Tuesday, August 1, 2006 7:00 PM at the ELIC (East Library Info Center) Pikes Peak Public Library (on Union) Brunson, flying Ed Smith's beautiful Sopwith biplane, and Ed Sweeney flying several of his electrics. Prez Says By Richard Gugeler The good news for our Warbirds Fly-in is that the fire ban was lifted in time for unrestricted flying and cooking. The bad news is that it rained both days, significantly cutting down on the number of participants and spectators we had expected. Jim Terry's Dr.1 making a low pass near Les Couey's Fokker The Gazette newspaper sent a reporter, Danny Summers, and the Slice photographer, Kirk Speer, to cover the action. Our members really made them feel welcome and gave them all the help and information they needed. Despite the rain, I noticed Kirk got some terrific pictures. The twopage story and photos appeared in the Wednesday, July 19 edition of the Gazette s Slice magazine. Gus Gustafson handles pilot check-in duties Nonetheless, 20 pilots from around Colorado and as far away as Farmington, New Mexico, and Skiatook, Oklahoma, ignored Mother Nature's poor sense of humor and had a great time flying in between cloud bursts. Cox Hobby Distributors, well represented by Jim Terry, brightened each pilot's day by giving him one of the new Cox Wings electric warbird models. In light of the limited turn-out and the weather, Contest Director Greg Moore set a relaxed tone for the event. Jim Terry, with his Fokker Dr.1 triplane, and Les Couey with his Fokker Dr.1, dominated Saturday's flying. They were joined by Dan Rick Paquin's P-47 on a low, high-speed pass Sunday morning featured clear skies and calm breezes, leading to a lot more flying. Rick Paquin seemed to be permanently glued to the blocks, flying either his P-47 or his Fokker E.III Eindecker. Other active pilots included John Fay flying his giant scale Spitfire, P-51 or electric F-16; Jim Murphy and his P-47; Les Couey, assisted by PPRCC Radio Flyer Newsletter 1 August, 2006
his wife, Lola, flying his Fokker D7 biplane; Keith Davis flying his push-pull Cessna O-2 and P-47; Dan Brunson flying Ed's Sopwith; and Ed Sweeney flying a beautiful electric (of course) P-38 Lightning. Jim Terry launched his Dr.1 for yet another sortie, but it suffered an engine mount failure, grounding it for the duration. Ed Sweeney also flew an interesting electric, inverted V-tail Ed Sweeney launches John design for a UAV Fay's electric F-16 (unmanned aerial vehicle). He mounted a video camera and filmed the day's activities. He later downloaded the video to his laptop so we could watch it Multi-wing planes took two of the top three awards, with Pilots' Choice going to Les Couey, Farmington, NM, and his Fokker D7, and People's Choice going to Jim Terry and his Fokker Dr.1. The award for Best Scale Flight was a tight decision between John Fay and his Spitfire and Ed Sweeney and his electric P-38, with John Fay winning it by one vote. Thanks to impressive sponsorship, we had three very nice raffle prizes. Jim Murphy, who must have a fairy godmother, replaced his crashed P-47 with a Hangar 9 P-40 ARF donated by Pikes Peak R/C Hobbies. Marc Mai won the Parkzone FW 190 donated by Hobby Town USA of Colorado Springs, and Ron Porter won the Electrifly F4U Corsair, donated by Great Planes Model Distributors Company. Saturday was, alas, not a good day for Thunderbolts or small Spitfires. Jim Murphy and Keith Davis both experienced "arrivals" that caused moderate-to-severe damage, and Gus Gustafson's very large P-47 ingested Jack Dech's beautiful electric Spitfire. (If anyone finds a Spectrum receiver in the area of the west fence, please return it to Jack.) Taking a break from flying Saturday and Sunday, Jim Terry and Dan Brunson, ably assisted by Frank Tuxworth, fired up the grill and prepared welcome hamburgers and hotdogs for hungry pilots and visitors. I'd also like to thank our newest member, Rob Waggoner, who helped out as a jack-of-all-trades for the weekend. A storm front moved in around 1 p.m. Sunday, and Greg Moore, deciding that discretion was the better part of damage, called the end of the flying and the start of the awards, raffle drawings and prize give-aways. PPRCC Radio Flyer Newsletter 2 August, 2006
The PPRC Warbirds Fly-in also thanks these sponsors who donated pilots' prizes: Aero Carpet Cleaning Fountain, CO Performance Specialties (YS Performance) Gardnerville, NV Fox Manufacturing Fort Smith, AR Nick Ziroli Plans Ronkonkoma, NY Micro Fasteners, Inc. Lebanon, NJ Monday? Tuesday? Flite Line Products Lancaster, TX SR Batteries, Inc. Bellport, NY Bob Smith Industries Atascadero, CA RTL Fasteners, Inc. Chesapeake, VA Sullivan Products Baltimore, MD Please remember that we have some adjustments in our monthly meeting schedule. Specifically, due to holidays and library activities, not all our general membership meetings will be held the normal first Tuesday of the month. In particular, please note November's date [it s later in the month]. Meetings will be held: August 1, Tuesday September 5, Tuesday October 2, Monday November 20, Monday December 5, Tuesday Warbirds Fly-In Wrap-Up By Greg Moore Well, it's come and gone...the Warbirds event that is. In spite of the weather 20 folks came, registered and flew, and most had a good time. Mother Nature conspired to darn near weather us out, but those of us who attended saw small electrics, large electrics, small glow and large gas...with a ducted-fan F-15 thrown in as well. We had mono-planes, bi-planes and two(!) triplanes...sorry, no four-wingers were in attendance. There were some fantastic donations that really made this event special. Special thanks go to Dan Brunson for several raffle goodies, including a particularly nice P-40 ARF. Also, thanks go to Jim Terry for donating several e-powered Warbirds that went to the pilots and a few lucky others. Finally, both of these guys (and Frank Tuxworth) offered their collective cooking prowess that was enjoyed by all. Jack Dech and his beautiful electric air force. The Spitfire was ingested by Gus Gustafson's large P-47 So... in spite of the weather we did everything we could to make the event a success... Please plan on attending and supporting YOUR club s event next year. The winners of the awards were: Pilots Choice: Peoples Choice: Best Scale Flight: The Warbird Corner By Keith Davis Les Couey Jim Terry John Fay (Spitfire) Well, our 6th annual PPRC Warbird fly-in has come and gone. This time it brought plenty of rain and clouds throughout the event. Only about 20 pilots registered and only a hand full of them flew Saturday because of the bad weather. Sunday was a little better. The sun did come out a few times and quite a few pilots did get their warbirds into the air. This year, I think there were more P-47 Thunderbolts on display than any other aircraft. Normally the P-51 Mustang rules the skies. There were also plenty of electric warbirds out there, more than usual in past PPRC warbird events. Some of the other type aircraft that did show up were a pair of WWI DR1s, a DVII, a Sopwith Pup, an F-16, a few Spitfires and P-40 Warhawks, Tigermoths, an electric P-38 Lightning, an AT-6 Texan and an O-2 Skymaster. PPRCC Radio Flyer Newsletter 3 August, 2006
pilot of the P-47 that he was taking this warbird event too seriously by downing his fellow pilot. He still claimed the kill. Thanks again to Greg Moore for hosting the event. Hopefully next year the weather will cooperate! Gus Gustafson preps his large Hangar 9 P-47 for another sortie Jim Terry, Cox Hobby representative, handed out Cox Wings electric fighters to all those who registered. Maybe that s why there were so many electrics around! Pilots had a choice of a P-40 Warhawk, a P-51 Mustang, a Spitfire, a P-47 Thunderbolt and an F4U Corsair. Did You Know? In 1952, the British strategic bomber, the Avro Vulcan, was the first nuclear weapons, jet bomber to use the delta wing design. During the initial ground testing phase of the Vulcan, the company s photographer Paul Gulerne, strapped himself onto the Vulcan s nose gear so that he could get close up shots of the Vulcan s landing gear during taxiing and emergency stop procedures. True Story! Did You Know? The Douglas aircraft company had the tradition of naming many of its aircraft with the prefix SKY in its name. Can you match the correct nomenclature with the correct SKY? Name Identifier 1. Skymaster a. A-1 2. Skytrain b. A-3 3. Skyraider c. A-4 4. Skyknight d. F-4D 5. Skyray e. F10 6. Skytrooper f. DC-4 7. Skywarrior g. C-47 8. Skyhawk h. DC-53 Safety By Bill Sanderman Keith Davis describes his Cessna O-2 to Ed Smith (far right), and Randy Oswald and his son, Chris And of course if there is flying to be done, mishaps are just around the corner. The giant scale AT-6 Texan was on short final for landing when it decided to bank hard right and cart-wheel into the ground. It was totaled. Then a small Cox electric Spitfire decided to fly through the 20 prop of a large scale Hangar 9 P-47 Thunderbolt. Yes, a mid-air. The only thing that was found from the Spitfire was a servo and the battery. The P-47 landed with only paint marks on the prop and cowling. We told the With warmer temperatures, I think we've all noticed the increased number of ultralight aircraft near our field. Some of these look to be flying closer to our operations than we would prefer, causing some concern, especially if the ultralight seems to pop up out of nowhere. The Club Safety Rules and Operating Guidelines state that "Models yield the right-of-way to full-scale aircraft by immediately descending to the lowest practical altitude (less than 100 feet) to avoid flying in the proximity of the full-scale aircraft. The full-scale aircraft s alleged violations of Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR s) does not relieve the modeler from giving way. If full-scale aircraft are in PPRCC Radio Flyer Newsletter 4 August, 2006
the vicinity of the field, fliers will use an observer to assure there are no conflicts. Anyone and everyone who sights a full-scale aircraft that may be endangered by models will call it out immediately. Full-scale aircraft always have priority." The phrase "anyone and everyone" used in the rule points out that all of us, fliers and onlookers alike, should be alert to the possibility that a fullscale aircraft might be flying in the vicinity of the club field. If you see a full-scale aircraft, conventional aircraft or ultralight that might be a problem for our fliers, notify those with models in the air immediately and continually advise the pilots as to the location, altitude and direction of flight of the intruder until there is no longer any possibility of a conflict. We should all consider ourselves responsible for flying safety. From The Meeting By Bill Sanderman The meeting was called to order by President Richard Gugeler at the East Library precisely at 7:00 PM on July 3rd. Treasurer, Frank Tuxworth stated that June income was $ 590.00 and expenses totaled $ 499.18. Total club cash assets are now $ 35,006.74. The porta-potties have been serviced prior to the upcoming Warbird Fly-In. The dumpster should be emptied this week. Vice President Randy Oswald announced that we have reached an agreement with Meadowlake Airport for us to provide a static display of R/C aircraft and a flight demonstration as well during the EAA Fly-In scheduled for August 19th and 20th. Secretary Bill Sanderman stated that a request has been received from Dan Ferrantelli of the Peterson AFB Aero Club to have a field trip visit to our field by participants in a summer Youth Camp. They will visit in the morning of August 10th and 11th and want to fly small hand-launched gliders during their visit. Bill will arrange for a club member to be present during their visit. Hopefully, the weather will allow member R/C flying demonstration for the visitors. Jim Murphy and Adam Heffington described an incident when an ultralight aircraft flew near the field while Adam was flying his R/C aircraft. In the process of avoiding the ultralight, Adam s R/C aircraft crashed. This led to a discussion about the value of having an observer available during R/C flying to warn of such potential airspace interference. Warbird Fly-In Contest Director Greg Moore said that tee shirts have arrived and President Gugeler has a variety of hardware donated for prizes and give-aways. Gus Gustafson brought his E-Flight Mini Ultra-Stick to display for show and tell. The meeting was gaveled to a close by the President at 7:27. Weather Assumptions By Dave Smith Well, as others have already said, the warbirds event has come and gone for this year. Even if you weren t there, you might have guessed that the weather was going to be an issue. For me, I ve seen plenty of events, competitive and otherwise, be affected by weather. Sometimes, entire events have been cancelled by wind or rain. I went out on Saturday to help out with the event and set up a sound system. By the time Sunday came around it was pouring at my house and the weather forecast said that 100% saturation was due (dew?) for the entire day. Well, guess what? Sunday was fine. Not only did the weather get okay, but the people and activities were fantastic. I didn t make it to the field on Sunday. Boy, did I miss out. What I ve (once again) come to remember is that the weather and the flying don t define the event. I can go to a field on a calm day and fly all by myself. (This is theoretically speaking of course, it s not safe to do so.) However, it s when I can join others and share ideas or plans that I really enjoy the camaraderie. It s not the balsa that binds us, it s the people. I m looking forward to the next chance to join in, help out and really the people, the planes and the entire experience. PPRCC Radio Flyer Newsletter 5 August, 2006