With only a handful of powered test flights under my belt, I was pleased that the Zero not only made it to the Mass Launch day in one piece but it also survived the launch with a decent flight. True to its Samurai roots, my Zero flew straight up into high loop directly over my head and then came down the back side in a screaming power dive that just missed me and scat- tered the rest of the crowd.
With the early morning sun at their backs and facing into a steady 10–12 mph wind out of the west, the contentants are now cocked and ready for launch!
The launch photo tells the story. We all began to line up and someone asked what di- rection we should launch our planes and me, not really understanding why they would ask such an obvious question, said “Up”! With that tough decision out of the way, we all faced into the west wind which was now gusting from 10–12 mph. The photogra- phers took some group photos, someone counted
down...three, two,
one...Launch! We all let our props spin up and released our planes to the wind gods!
Well not quite all of
us...Like I said, the photo tells the story. You’ll notice that Greg Tracy (second from the far left) is still holding onto his prop and has not launched with the rest of us. Which, I would guess, may be the reason he was the last to land and took top honors for the day. It was not until days later when we saw these photos that we figured out Greg’s se- cret to success.
In all fairness to Greg, his Australian fly- ing buddies have come to his defense with very plausible excuses for his delayed launch: “jet lag” was a good one until I ex- plained that his was a “prop” plane. Howev- er, I believe the closest to the truth was that Greg’s fingers were stuck to his model, the result of some pre-launch repair work with ZAP glue and accelerator. Next year Greg gets to stand in front of the line and we’ll all launch on his release!
The launch photo also clearly shows Len’s
P-51 about one second after launch and just before landing, the photo freezing the halfway point in his two-second flight! Len told me later that he had just finished the model the day before the event and was still figuring out the balance and trim set- tings. He’s since let me know that it’s now flying fine and can’t wait to return with the Mustang next year. Naturally, Capt. Steve Stunning’s (AKA: Rich Uravitch) Globe Swift flew perfectly! Perfectly straight that is, and headed off into the distant western clouds. Much later, the Lakeland FAA Control Tower called us with a reported sighting, by a Southwest Airline crew on approach into Tampa International, of a “small yellow cvil- ian aircraft at 5000 feet and headed west”. All the Airsail Cubs flew beautifully, even Christina’s, who must have thought this was an aerobatic contest and is the reason the photo shows her Cub in the middle of fly- ing several precision snap rolls around her head! I also believe Gwyn and Greg’s Cubs were evenly matched and probably would have both landed together if Greg had not become so “attached” to his model. A photo shows Carl’s beautiful Guillow’s
Piper Cub on its way up to a nice left climb- ing turn for altitude before topping out and gliding down in a gentle 360 degree turn into the grass behind us. Based on the craftsman- ship of his model and its flight performance, I believe he may have done this before!
I’ve also now had time to go out into the tall grass with the Zero. With each flight I’m learning more about the correct bal- ance, trim, and power required for best per- formance. Every flight is an interesting les- son in aerodynamics: the interaction of lift, drag, thrust, power, torque, and on occa- sion, thanks to ZAP “Pink”, quick field re- pair!
Unlike R/C flying, once you let it go it’s on its own, there is nothing you can do at that point to correct your building errors, or as I was once told by Dave Platt (also a noted “Himself”), “Once you launch your model, you can’t screw it up.”
In retrospect, I truly enjoyed my reintro- duction to these stick and tissue models. The period of construction and attempting to fly a rubber powered model for Top Gun was something I had not experienced in many years. This was capped off with the relaxed atmosphere of just hanging out at the field with folks who also built and flew in the event and were experiencing a similar re- birth to freeflight rubber scale models. This includes all the interesting “Hangar Talk” sessions centered around the seemingly endless freeflight designs to choose as our next project.
The future: 2014
I’m happy to announce that Frank Tiano has decided to once again host the Free Flight Rubber event at next year’s event. Top Gun 2014 is scheduled for April 30– May 4th and as long as the pilots, crew and judges continue to support the event with increased participation, Frank said he will consider reinstating Free Flight Scale Rub- ber as an official Top Gun competition class with special Trophies and/or prizes for the winning entries.
I’d better get
busy...now where did I put that Dumas catalog?
Three, Two, One...Go! All but one of the models are freed to fly, while the photo catches the moment Greg Tracy realizes his fingers are still glued to his prop!
FLYING MODELS
You can’t see it too well, but the expression on Christina’s face as her Cubdoes a rolling circle around her head was priceless.
53
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68