Laurel Aviation and Technology Week

To view this page ensure that Adobe Flash Player version 9.0.124 or greater is installed.

Please login or register to make a comment!

Newsletter of the Billings Flying Mustangs HORSEFEATHERS June 1, 1998 Volume 25 Number 6 Laurel Aviation and Technology Week Eric Hawkinson, event chairman reported by Leland Schliep ?Do these things really fly?? ?How much does one cost?? ?Are you going to fly one in here??

The Billings Flying Mustangs had a very key place in the gym for the Laurel Aviation Week. An official told me they had 7000 kids through the gym the first day and I know that there were at least that many on the second day. Eric did a good job organizing and Eric and Vergil manned the tables all day long both days.

A thousand mini lectures were given. Although there were only about 4 questions, they were asked at least a thousand times over. The bare bones ?Spirit of ST.

Louis?, The helicopter, the Desafio, the Biplane and the combat models all sparked interest and questions. It was interesting to see the interest of the adult chaperones and teachers. I am sure we made impressions.

Vergil, Eric and the Kids We are Way down there in the center Talking, Even in the Slack times See the new outhouse on page 7 Spring Pattern Primer. A learning fun event! ... more. less.

Saturday, June 6 will be a great opportunity for you to learn to fly better, learn about a new form of competition and have fun. Eric Hawkinson will be leading the spring pattern primer on Saturday starting around 9:30 a.m. There will be instruction on Novice and Sportsman Pattern with demonstrations and then an informal contest to apply the techniques. Even if you never intend to compete this is a good event. You can learn to actually do some- thing on purpose instead of just following your plane around the sky , stirring the sticks occasionally just to see what happens. Come on out and have some fun. The concession stand will be open for lunch and we should finish in early afternoon. Jim Rangitsch Memorial Fly In June 26, 27th and 28th. Dennis Rollins Coordinator Have you ever seen 200 model airplanes on the flight line at once? Have you ever seen our field when the entire acreage is covered with Motor homes, travel trailers and cars? Come on out for the Fly In and you could well see all of the above. Fly In fanatics from three or four states will be coming to fly, gab, fly, yak, fly then some more flying. Dennis will have a beautiful big bird engine to raffle. All club members are invited to come out to fly and visit and even camp out at the field. Concessions will be open. President's Letter MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST ANGS ANGS ANGS ANGS ANGS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS SECTION SECTION SECTION SECTION SECTION "Horsefeathers" is the official newsletter of the Billings Flying Mustangs R/C Club. This newsletter is published monthly by the club and mailed to all current members. Newsletter editor: Leland Schliep P.O. Box 22406 phone 406 256-9836 Fax 406 256-9580 email leland5@imt.net 1998 OFFICERS President - Ron Beck Vice President - Tod Monson Treasurer - Leland Schliep Secretary - Steve Hergett Last Meeting?s Minutes. MAY 4 1998 The meeting was called to order at 7:38 PM by president Ron Beck. There were 15 members present. The minutes from the previous meeting were read and approved. Leland Schliep gave the Treasurer?s report. The report was approved. COMMITTEE REPORTS: BATHROOM CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE: Vergil Jones reported that the construction is nearly complete. Painting of the structure and a few miscellaneous details are left to do. LAUREL AVIATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE: Committee chairman Eric Hawkinson was looking for members with models for a static display. Several members will also give short informative lectures to student groups as they pass by the display. COMBAT COMMITTEE: Doug Haacke is still looking for several pilot judges to help out. Dennis Rollins will be the line judge again this year. There is some interest in having a banquet (probably on Saturday nite) so combat pilots can get together and discuss war stories. There will be 40 to 75 people who will attend. There will be a guaranteed $2500.00 purse. There will also be an additional $500.00 bonus allocated to the top 2 place finishers ($300.00 for 1st/ $200.00 for 2nd) who are both ASDA members and are also flying a SCALE FIGHTER aircraft design. Eric Hawikinson?s company D?BEST will be the largest single sponsor for the ?98? combat event. Eric also noted that this event will by the largest event in the States this year. This makes those vacant pilot judge spots ever so important. If you are able to help please do so. RACING COMMITTEE: The spring race meet will be the first money making event of the year. We still need race officials to help out. OLD BUSINESS: It was noted by Paul Yourk that the combination to the 1st aid kit was not the same as the gate. It will be fixed. NEW BUSINESS: Steve Garr presented the club with a proposal to rede- sign the club insignia and have the new design placed on a baseball style cap which will be available for purchase. Bring your sketches to the next meeting for review. New member Ty Potts soled. Pattern training meet will be held June 6th!! Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM Well Ron has had a pretty rough week so he asked me to fill in this column for him. I should call Todd and make him fill in as V.P. but time is running out so here goes. Ron wanted to make sure everyone was invited to the Fly In. Fly Ins are quite an experience. You can just get immersed in Model Airplanes and surrounded by Model Airplane people. It is an all weekend carnival of flying and socializing. This year?s Billings Fly In will be one of the biggest in the region. Other regional Fly Ins are Powell, Sheridan, Thermopolis, Helena and Great Falls. Note that a Fly In is different from a Fun Fly. A Fun Fly is a competition. A Fly In is a no competition, fly and socialize event. Our regions Fly In style developed from the IMAA Fly In concept. IMAA like any organization started to make up more and more rules over time and it came to a point where the Fly In went on and the IMAA went away (for our region). One major significant difference between an IMAA Fly In and our kind is that we do not restrict the size of the plane that you can fly. Again Ron wanted to mention the Pattern Event. He is lacking practice time this season and is just over his radiation therapy but I expect he will participate. This event is intended as an intro to pattern and a skill builder for those participating. Our club has had a good turn out for pattern in the past and has quite a contingent of pilots who have tried it. Flying aerobatic maneuvers with a sport plane isn?t hard, what makes it more of a challenge is trying to fly them exactly right, in exactly the right place - every time. I would challenge all of you to come out and give it a try. There is no entry fee and the concession stand will be open. Ron came out to the race for a visit on both days. He wanted to thank all the club members who participated as pilots and as workers. Special thanks to Steph and Dick Smith, Dennis Winchell, Doug Haacke, and the rest for a very well run, and profitable event. 1998 EVENTS - Events from all over the Region. JUNE 6. BILLINGS Billings Flying Mustangs Spring Pattern 1 day event IT?S ON FOR SURE! novice and sportsman . Maybe advanced. call eric 248-8127. June 6 - MISSOULA - Combat June 13, 14 - Powell Fly In June 20, 21 GREAT FALLS - Fly In June 20, 21 Gillette, Wyoming. First Annual IMAA meet. JUNE 26, 27,&28. BILLINGS Billings Flying Mustangs Rangitsch Memorial Fly In. Dennis Rollins Coordinator 652-5026. JULY 11 & 12. BILLINGS Western Regional Combat Championships. Doug Haacke Coordinator 252-7210 . July 18, 19 GREAT FALLS - Air Show July 17, 18, 19. - Thermopolis Fly In July 25, 26 MISSOULA Float Plane Fly In. July 25, 26 Helena Fly In. August 1,2 GREAT FALLS Big Sky Pattern Meet August 8, 9 CHOTEAU Jet Fly In August 8 & 9. SPOKANE,WA. Race meet. AUGUST 15 & 16. BILLINGS Billings Flying Mus- tangs Summer Race Meet. Dick Smith Coordinator 652- 3720. August 13 - 16. Gillette Wy. 3rd Annual Fly In. August 21,22,23 - Cody Fly In August 29, 30th. EUPHRATA, Wa. Race Meet. SEPTEMBER 5 & 6. BILLINGS Montana State Pattern Championships Eric Hawkinson Coordinator 248- 8127. September 11, 12, 13. - Sheridan Fly In September 13 GREAT FALLS Fun Fly SEPTEMBER 19 & 20. BILLINGS Billings Flying Mustangs Fun Fly/Multi Task Event. Doug Haacke 252- 7210 Coordinator. OCTOBER 3. BILLINGS Montana Combat State Championship 1 day event. Doug Haacke 252-7210 Coordi- nator. Leland?s Ramblin?s Junk You Can Skip If You?re Busy Somebody asked me this last month ?Why don?t you list (X towns) event in your calendar?? Well here?s the way it goes, I list most all events in Wyoming and Montana plus a few Washington. I get these from any input I can. Other newsletters, notes, email etc. If your event is missing use one of these methods to get me the information. Gee, so much flying and it?s not even summer yet! Loads of activities, lots of sunshine and just perfect weather. How has your flying been going? I remember last year at this time I think we had managed about one day of decent weather. We even called off some event because we just hadn?t had any flying time to practice. Not so this year. Well the Laurel Aviation Week event went well. We showed a variety of R/C aircraft to thousands and thousands of young people. Talk about funny, picture this - Here comes about 15 kindergartners, herded by two very haggard looking adults. You hear the adults saying over and over again ?don?t touch anything, don?t touch anything!? Guess what the first thing they do when they step up to the table, you are right, squeeze that wing tip to see if it is crush proof. Then it?s fifteen voices asking the ?does it fly?, how much does it cost? When will you fly it in here? And on and on. The teachers want you to give them a little class so you start into a speil and about 1 minute later you hear ?OK class time to go!? Oh well, there will be more... and more and more and.... It was a great two days. The race was fabulous. I like that ring side seat that cage 3 gives you. You are right in the action. Actually about three times the action was about inside the cage with me. Two very very very fast planes missed the cage by inches and destroyed themselves right behind me. Both scattered wreckage for over 30 feet. The first was Mel and when I saw him come around turn 2 I thought ?man he is low, he needs to pull up!? About then he took out one of the fence posts right out side the cage. I was right, he was really low and he really really needed to pull up. The engine and radio gear was at least 30 feet from the airframe. The second close call was one of the Zoons from Bozeman. He rounded turn 2 way out of shape and had a dead eye bead on the center of my cage on a down hill dive. When I knew he would be inside the pole I put my head down and blew the horn to call the cut. The smashing sounds right behind me let me know I didn?t need to yell out which plane cut - they could just go through the wreckage and call it. He missed the top of the cage by 2 feet max. Again, the wreckage was strung out clear into the plowed field. I think we really need to do a test on those cages. We need one suicidal old quickee 500 plane, radio gear that is ready to abandon anyway and an engine that can run for the few minutes to do a full throttle dive into the side of one of the cages to see just how safe they might be. I am serious, the force those planes have when they hit is incredible. I would rather contribute to the cost of the test than the cost of the hospital bills in case the cage mesh isn?t good enough. We should sell tickets to the test crash. Maybe at the pattern event Saturday afternoon we could just drag the scatter trailer out to the end of the runway and use the back side of it for the test. Boy was this Memorial Day weekend great for flying. I spent Combat June 1998 by Doug Haacke It?s been an active month for combat! It started with Eric?s announcement that his company will be the major sponsor this year, which we all appreciate. Walt and I have been pounding on doors and making calls looking for sponsors without a great deal of success. Eric?s generous contribution was VERY welcome. The week after the Spring primer came Cody?s first combat event. Brad Lane and Mike Fech did an absolutely outstanding job of hosting the event. The brought out a bunch of new combat pilots, both in the scale and open classes. The weather was perfect. Before the event got started, there were several crashes during test and trim flights, and for a short while, several of us thought if we keep test flying, there won?t be any planes left! About that time Brad started the event, and off to battle we went. It was tons of fun, and the Cody guys proved to be outstanding competition. The luck was with the Billings lads, comprised of myself, Steve Hergett, Ken Steinmetz and Vergil Jones. Vergil snagged not only his first-ever streamer cut, but followed his sterling performance with another cut later in the day! Vergil even took a chunk of the streamer home for framing. Ken Steinmetz was also there, flying his HOB P-51. Ken did some awesome flying, but lost his Mustang during an aggressive, high-speed turn at low altitude. Ken?s Wonder filled in for the remainder of the day. Steve did his usual superb flying, getting quite a few kills, with his nice P-51. Boy, that thing flies great and turns on a dime. Steve managed to miss getting mid-aired with it. I was not so lucky. I was flying my precious 4-channel AT-6, and although I tried to stay out of trouble, the excitement of battle became too much for me. Mike Fech was all over me with his quick and nimble Cub. After sneaking a quick cut, I split-S?d down and hit his wing with my wing. His wing got a small dent, Mine separated from the fuse at impact. The AT-6 is a goner. Brad was gracious enough to let me finish the event with my big 109, which also got mid- air?d but survived. All told, the 3 Billing pilots came home with 5 of the 6 trophies, and I even won the raffle (which shows you what can happen when Wilkinson isn?t buying tickets). Many thanks to our good friend in Cody for hosting an excellent event, and we?re all looking forward to your next one! Don?t forget we still need a few pilots judges for the big event in July on the 11th and 12th. If you want a chance to play God, provide the community a real service, get a couple of free meals, and otherwise be a real hero, please see me about volunteering that weekend. we REALLY need your help!! See ya at the field! -Doug Spring Race Report By Dick Smith The first race of the season is now just a fond memory for most of us, the possible exception being those unfortunate few who had the misfortune of finding the ground before the race was over!!! There always seems to be a couple of mid airs or a pilot trying to get that small advantage by flying a little tighter or pulling that extra elevator and being a bit too close to the ground or just not rolled up 90 degrees .The racing gods should be appeased. We did indeed give them their sacrifice. The Cody racers did more than their share with Brad and Troy both leaving the race thinking about the new color schemes for the next Q- 500?s. The weather was just about perfect for the entire weekend, with a little wind on Sunday but for the most part a great week- end. The helpers were out in force and contributed greatly to the overall weekend success. There are never enough THANK YOU?s said to the race course worker?s. It makes for a very long day standing in the sun for about 8 hours watching the flyers have fun while you?re out counting laps or calling cut?s. The rewards, beside the Sunburn, are the THANK YOU and the knowledge that you helped and added to the club funds which will make our field and hobby more enjoyable for all who participate. The Special THANK?s go to Virgil who has hardly missed a race and Leland and Paul , who spent both days at 2&3 , Larry was the scatter boss for the race turning in another fine job, while doing PTA activities with his wife in the evening. The rest of the course was manned by some new and old members some of whom will hopefully be back racing in the fall. I can?t stress enough how much we appreciate you people donating your time. Without you we would not be able to have a good quality event. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH. A little about the results. Ron Horton, a new comer to racing took the first place honors in the Rossi class. Second place was won by Mike Fech from Cody, and third place was taken by our Steve Hergett (was that an electric Q-500 )- maybe Electrifying ?? The 428 ( Nelson class ) was won by none other than our own Dennis Winchell , who also made phone calls and helped set up the course and ran errands for yours truly. Dennis did a great job flying and deserved the win. He of course does have the FAST- EST plane in Montana! Second place went to Mike and Pam Sperry from Cody. They?re a good team. Pam got the new Quickee motor for Mothers day and let Mike use it because he broke his. TEAMWORK! Third place went to Mister Combat Doug Haacke who flew well all weekend and also helped with the race. The 422 class Q-40 was won by BRUCE ZOON from Three Forks and our own Pat Kenny took second place. Pat also won the raffle-its better to be Lucky than Good isn?t it ! Third place went to Wally Zoon, who flew all the classes and was pretty tired Current Events! By Steve Hergett by Sunday afternoon. Thanks to all for coming. I would be remiss if I didn?t mention the fly off between DOUG and EARL for third place. The race was very close right up to the time when Earl?s plane didn?t come back from the number one turn . Doug finished to win and as far as I know Earl is still standing waiting for his Q-500 to come back from scatter mumbling something about ...Kicking A... Again THANK YOU all help and Racers for a fun weekend ! I hope you all had some Fun. See you at the Fall Race GO FAST TURN LEFT s DICK Spring Race continued. The Need for Speed!! (with batteries?) Wow!! I think my heart is still in my throat after competing in the spring race meet. This is my first year competing in the ROSSI class. The Rossi class racer is a little slower than the Nelson?s which are flown by more experienced veterans. While having a great time, one thing was very evident. I need lots of practice!! One accomplishment however was the fact that I did not crash. However, as Leland can testify I had several close calls coming out of turn 3. I have in past used electric powered planes for practicing. I learned to fly with a converted GENTLE LADY sailplane. I will begin teaching my 8 yr. old to fly with it this season. I learned how to handle small responsive combat planes by flying a TERMINATOR which is similar to a SIG WONDER. The Terminator was crashed many times while learning to fly it. It was a low tech, low cost approach to gain experience. I know for a fact that my pylon racing skills (which do not exist yet) would benefit greatly if I practiced with an electric pylon plane. I will try to squeeze in some time to get a practice racer built. Because I am involved with electric?s already the cost will be minimal. These small (32? wingspan) speed 400 racers will liven up the day for me between training rounds with my son on the sailplane. These are hand-launched rockets capable of speeds of 120 mph!! This speed isn?t to far off from the Rossi?s. I find this capability in electric?s amazing. Electric?s still won?t be competi- tive with a glow powered racer, but I feel any time spent flying this type of plane will pay dividends. Until I actually get this done, I can only dream of a perfect left hand turn. Steve Pattern corner Precision Aerobatics News and Items of Interest. Center of Gravity on a ?Pattern? Plane NOTE: This discussion came from the NSRCA mail list which is a forum on the Internet for Pattern related subjects. Lots of questions and even more answers are posted to the list daily. Some of the tips and procedures apply to all planes. I have found out that most of the sport planes I have fly 100% better after you trim them out. Most of the new computer radio books and several other sources have trim charts that pretty much take a plane from a squirrel dog to a nice performing angel. Well maybe not all planes can be changed that much but it sure helps. This question and answer was taken from the list recently and express a couple of tests that would be interesting to try. s. leland Q??< I have also noticed that I need only a touch of down elevator to maintain inverted flight. Is this a normal characteristic for these planes (this is my first ?real? pattern plane)? >> As it?s your first pattern plane, you may be caught in the ?sport-flyer? mode of having a lot more elevator throw than many of us use on our planes. This common scenario arises from the fact that many sport flyers trim their planes on the nose-heavy side...and logically so, since many sport planes have horizontal stabs that are proportionately smaller than we commonly use on pattern-designed ships. To get you on the way to trimming the new ship do three tests. First trim your plane for hands off flight at full throttle. Without touching the trim, and from straight-and-level at full speed, quickly cut the throttle to idle and watch what the plane does.....if balanced ?correctly? it should continue straight ahead as it slows and then begin a GRADUAL arc downward. If it noses over significantly as soon as the power is cut, that shows a nose heavy tendency. Second, if you are confident in your pilotage, do the same thing inverted and compare the two trajectories. *****As alternates to these tests, you can do them from altitude at reduced throttle, first pitching to a 45-degree down line and observe whether the plane holds the line. If the plane pitches toward the canopy, it is tail heavy, and if toward the belly, it is nose heavy... Last, check your elevator throw.....assuming you are just getting into the lower pattern classes that don?t require spins and snaps, you won?t be TOO far off if you set the elevator throw to around 11-degrees. Hope this helps, SamTurner BLAST FROM THE PAST Article from 1974 found in the President?s papers This was a historic meeting! submitted by Ron Beck. The old crapper TO THE DUMP WITH YE Mr. Bill Poehls Designer and Builder Our new Outhouse - Almost finished and built to last forever Tons of thanks to Bill and his crew of Vergil, Don and Steve. Speed is working on some sheet metal finishing and urinals. The block will remain natural to keep the maintenance down. Thanks to Todd for the Doors. NEXT MEETING June 1 7:30 P.M. KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS FOR SALE The FOR SALE section is for anyone wishing to advertise model airplane related items for sale. All ads will be run one month unless called in again. GLOBAL RAVEN: Airframe only $125. With Magnum 91 4 stroke and both aileron servos $300. John Hahn 628-4946 ROYAL AIR 40 size trainer. Never crashed. Completely rebuilt and beautifully covered with Ultracoat. Rebuilt absolutely straight. Wing converted to Bolt on connection. OS 40 engine, all servos, 6 Channel Conquest FM radio. Ready to fuel and fly. $350. Bill Rattell 1 406 323 3148. HOBBY STAR 60 With or without OS 60 FP engine. $125 Plane only. $225 Plane and engine. John Hahn 628-4946 GREAT PLANES J3 CUB. With Surpass 48 four stroke engine and 1024 PCM 5 channel radio. Covered with 21st Century Fabric covering. Never flown. Displayed in Central Hobbies. Bill Rattell 1 406 323-3148. SIG WONDER - Really beat up. Perfect for combat. Be a ?nothing to lose? Combat flier, scare heck out of the guys with real combat planes. (A real combat pilot should buy this just to keep it out of the air.) Make offer. Leland 245-6008. NEW NEW NEW: O.S. Max 46 FX New in Box. $ Best Offer $ Mike Winter 651-0204 about two thirds of both Saturday and Sunday out flying. I heard that some of the guys went to Sheridan to camp/fly and that some might have gone up to Great Falls for Combat. If their weather was anything like here, I am sure they had a ball. I flew almost the whole fleet. I also had to do fix up on all of them after. The Biplane dead sticked and I did a fairly poor landing. The firewall is glued back in now - very minor. The Ultrasport just had new bearings in the engine and I guess I put something back together wrong, I couldn?t make it run. The Stinger 10 flew just great and so did the 4 Star 40 on Saturday. On Sunday I flew the Viper and the Stinger 10 again. The 4 star 40 had what appeared to be an aileron servo failure. Luckily it did it on the ground and not in the air. I fixed that. It was dirty contacts on the Receiver. I would suggest that you all check this, especially if you plug and unplug a connector to the receiver every flight. Those contacts are just tin and they corrode and crud up. Cleaning them is a snap. Open the case so that you can get to the posts. Slice up an eraser to fit between the posts and rub the corrosion/crud off. Don?t use any thing like sand paper or abrasive. Make sure you are grounded or at least touch a good ground before starting and don?t walk around while doing the job. Static will kill the Rx good. I would bet that these cruddy connections cause a lot of ?radio interference? glitches. In the world of real electronics outside of our toys they gold plate contacts to keep this problem away. Well Till Next time - See ya out flyin? Leland?s Ramblin?s cont. Billings Flying Mustangs P.O. Box 22406 Billings, MT 59104 FIRST CLASS TO: The latest scoop from the most active R/C club in the region!

less