R/C aircraft

Richard

Richard

Final Approach
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Feb 27, 2005
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Ack...city life
In this morning paper I read an announcement that the local R/C club would be meeting.

They didn't seem to like it when I mentioned (as reason for my interest in observing their get together) that I was a pilot and fly "real" planes. Admittingly, that slipped over my lips before I caught it. Other than that unfortunate slip of the tongue, the guys were very accomodating of me. Real nice bunch....

The club has 130 members, mostly Canuck snowbirds. The engines, including the jet engines, burn "15%" -- 15% synthetic oil in nitromethane.

The jet engine produced 19 lbs of thrust. The piston engine produced 8 lbs of thrust. The full fuel aircraft weight was 18 lbs and 8 lbs, respectively. All the birds were "35s" --1/35th scale. The crossing rwys were 600' and 400' x 24'. Most of the pilots decided not to fly since the winds were 21G28 and not favoring either rwy.

The piston engine is a 4 stroke with adjustable valves. The owner showed me the inner workings of the engine. The HOT SHOT is attached to the glow plug (no need for battery jump) which heats the plug and when temperature is reached the prop kicks over. All engine starts are made in the "static engine run up" consisting of vertical metal bars preventing the plane from moving forward. The pilot then carries his bird to the rwy.

The batt in my camera died so I was not able to get pics of the very well appointed facilities ( very nice BBQ pit, hanger, pilot room, and two paved rwys)
 

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Well Richard , i am into R/C i have a 1/5 scale Waco WMF5 That ha a 1.2 CID 4 stroke motor , and luckybird trainer, a J-3 Cub, and my budyy has around a dozen others that I (we) fly. We fly them off a Grass strip that is 250 x 25 ft.
Dave G
P.S when the Wx breaks i'll take some pics for you
 
This man said he knew Art Scholl...in fact, had taken his first plane ride with Art.

He said I misssed it, I shoulda been there last week when he crashed his hand built Pitts. This plane is a stand in...store bought, just bolt on the wings and go fly.

JRS are his initials....
 

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The little jets are interesting, but they are thirsty. My father has a pulse-jet (think V-1 buzz bomb) he got in the 1950's for a model plane. We couldn't quite get it running.

I remember that even U-control pilots called their aircraft "real planes"- I guess they fly so it counts.
 
Random pictures....

Looking west from the field. I could hear the coyotes yipping in the morning air. The field is on the AZ side of the Colorado River. The mtns are on the CA side except for the last pic.
 

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This man was a virtuoso in the air. Try as I might I could not keep his plane in focus. He flew a routine of which any acro pilot would have been proud. He flew the same routine again and again and again...as much as :45 minutes of fuel would allow. It was stellar to watch and often he caught his audience by surprise....

He came, he flew, he didn't talk to anyone.

The first pic shows the vertical bars in the static run up area.

The 3rd pic is when the plane was at idle thrust and dropping like a rock towards the rwy. Just when I thought he would make a landing he rolled inverted and climbed into an outside loop. He came back around and reduced throttle but this time would drag the rwy just inches above the pavement. Then he would make 4 pt rolls into a cuban. There comes a time when you have to put down the camera and just watch.
 

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Shipoke said:
Well Richard , i am into R/C i have a 1/5 scale Waco WMF5 That ha a 1.2 CID 4 stroke motor , and luckybird trainer, a J-3 Cub, and my budyy has around a dozen others that I (we) fly. We fly them off a Grass strip that is 250 x 25 ft.
Dave G
P.S when the Wx breaks i'll take some pics for you
Click to expand...
Wow!...1.2 CID!!! And until today I did not know they made 4 strokes for the scale models.
 
Another thing I thought interesting...the tires are pneumatic. This to save weight and they last longer than solid tires. But there is no valve to add pressure so when the tire goes flat, it's flat.
 
My first foray into flight was with a Goldberg Gentle Lady in the late eighties. I earned my spending money in high school and college by working at a local hobby shop. I had all the goodies, both in fixed wing stuff and later in helis.

These days, I don't really do any R/C except for a serviceable electric aerobatic airplane and a little T-Rex electric helicopter. It's nice to do enough to maintain a modicum of proficiency, but I'm not near the R/C pilot I used to be. I still hold R/C aircraft in high regard for their ability to teach you the feel of the air. It's hard to explore such a wide flight envelope with anything capable of carrying live bodies.

Matthew
 
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