At least one pilot has to notice whether his lines were over or under the other plane and if he was on the right or the left. Preferably both pilots notice, turn a wide inside around each other, and the tangle is cleared. It is quite pos- sible to miss what happens, especially in a head-on pass. A bit of distraction and neither pilot may know how the lines are tangled. In that case the only thing to do is agree on a direction and both pilots do either an in- side or an outside turn around each other and see what happens. If one way doesn’t work, try the other way. If neither works, good luck. The only strategy left is to try and keep the planes close together so the lines don’t lock up or break. Line tangles are a great way to break a set of lines, especially if one plane gets upwind and gets blown out of control and flies across the circle. All you folks in sunnier climes can work on
Dan Banjock chases Dave Edwards (above) at the Philly Flyers first Combat meet ever. Dan ended up in third, 54 seconds behind Shawn. Line Tangle Memo (below): If you know where you are relative to your opponent when you fly into a line tangle you know where to fly to get out of it. Try and freeze that tenth of a second when the lines cross in your mind.
this over the winter. The rest of us have to look for other things to do. One hot prospect is the Phoenix March Madness, held this year on March 15–17. This has been a traditional icebreaker for quite a number of years now. It’s put on by the Central Arizona Control Line Club at Esteban Park in Phoenix. Friday was F2D Fast followed by F2D on Saturday and Sunday. Contact Ted Kraver, CACLC, at 602-944-8557 or e-mail at
ted@kraver.cc. The club website is
http://www.controllinecentaz. com/ for 2014 info.
On the East Coast the Middlesex Model- ers usually open the season on the second weekend in April, which will be April 13, 2014. See the AMA contest calendar for final details. The usual events are Sport Half A (allows plain bearing .061s) and Speed Limit Combat. The contact is Al Ferraro at 908- 256-4453 (cell) for details.
Out in Oregon the Northwest Fireballs have been hosting the Jim Walker Memorial in late April for years. Jim Walker and his American Junior Aircraft Co. were based in Portland. They run AMA rules Hi Perform- ance Half A and Northwest 80 mph. For e- mail information try
nwfireballs@gmail.com. Southern California rarely has snow so the
“flying season” is when it gets hot out at the flying field instead of possibly rainy. One prominent club, the Knights of the Round Cir- cle, has been hosting contests at the Whittier Narrows flying facility for years. The Knights have been hosting Dale Kirn’s Knights Joust which includes Combat in one form or anoth- er in the spring. A number of clubs use Whit- tier Narrows for multiple events. Check the AMA contest calendar for Combat. In the Midwest watch out for the Frozen Finger Flying Festival on New Year’s day. Contact Chris Gay for timely information. E-mail:
Windjmmr40@aol.com; work phone: 630-839-9854.
If anyone manages to make it to a contest in Australia, New Zealand or Indonesia the rest of us would appreciate some details. So start getting ready now. A wise Com- bat flyer, unlike me, uses the off season to build or prep (F2D) armloads of planes. Time to get busy!
FLYING MODELS 37
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