MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING--November 8^th, 2011

President Seth Stephens opened the last business meeting of 2011 at 7:00 pm.

The members attending were as follows: Davis, Daley, Granger, Henley, Fitch, Anable, Jones, Johnson, Kennedy, Maupin, Greene, Jeff Beres, Berson, Stephens and Pendleton.

The guest present, Dick Nodell, who had been a member in the past, was voted back into the Tri-Area RC Flyers fold.

The minutes posted on the web site were approved as submitted.

Treasurer’s report: Bill Berson said that the Bank of America checking account balance is currently at $ 2,402.80 and the Quimper CD balance is $ 6,916.42. He added that the Bank of America account is being transferred over to the Quimper Federal Credit Union.

Old Business: Seth brought to the attention of the club an NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) update in the November 2011 issue of Model Aviation Magazine. We are being STRONGLY encouraged to send in our comments when this notice comes out in about mid-December.

New Business: The club voted on the new officers for 2012. Seth presented the club with a "package deal". Those members to be voted on are as follows: Pete Hanke (President), Vern Kennedy (Vice President), Lawrence Pendleton (Secretary), Bill Berson (Treasurer), and Dick Daley as (Safety Officer). They were voted in with a unanimous show of hands.

Seth said that the lawn mower needs to be replaced. There was a discussion concerning an amount of $ 1,500, to be voted on to be used for purchasing a new mower. A majority voted in favor of $1,500.00.

We were reminded that the club Christmas party will be on December 13^th, 2011. Dinner will be served at 6 pm. The roasted pork was voted in as the meat of choice. Bring gift priced within $10.00. Pay $10.00 each for dinner no later than the 6^th of December.

Crash of the Month: Roy Greene had an electrical problem with his foamy A-10 Warthog. He said that it was not controllable with one motor running. It hit the ground "kinda" hard.

Service Award: None.

Meeting closed at 7:40 pm.

AROUND THE CLUB

New weather station about 3 miles south of the field shown 
here: http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?
lat=47.945&lon=-122.726&zoom=13

station website is here: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/
WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KWACHIMA2

J Thanks to John Fitch for this story about how the Cessna O-2s got all the way to Viet Nam:

http://nightrustics.org/Delivery.htm

J …and another one from Bill Berson showing a man carrying electric powered helicopter flown by RC!

http://www.e-volo.com/Home.html

NEW MEMBERS

I hope to obtain a brief bio and a picture of our new members to enhance their introduction to the membership. This is voluntary on the part of the newbie, but it should be beneficial for all.

I was one of the charter members of the Battle Creek Four, the third grade fighter squadron.  I and my cohort had suffered the parental rejection with endurance along with the eventual forced feeding of cardboard tasting cornflakes in order to compile the necessary box-top quota to send away for our order of vaguely scale paper models of WWII fighter planes. When the squadron arrived, we set about carefully cutting out the card-stock with our blunt nosed scissors paying close attention to the lines.  Some glue made from left over flour from Sunday morning pancakes, of which we had nary a bite (parental spite), and a penny for the nose weight were all we needed to complete our almost ready to fly aircraft.

A short aside here: during the war, all balsa wood had been commandeered by the government, along with the kapok we collected from milk weed plants, to make into the life rafts and life jackets for our troops.  As a result, balsa wood airplane kits were not available and no one in my neighborhood could afford one it they were. On the other hand, if you were rich and had any money left over from your birthday, you might search, and if you were lucky, your old man would buy you an old balsa wood kit of a 1930's plane in one of the depleted hobby stores a couple of towns over.  But who was ever rich and who ever had anything more than a penny for candy?

Back to the BC 4. Once glued together, the wing airfoils curved and then bent into dihedrals, you were ready for your first mission flight.  The playground became our battlefield airport.  Out we'd go to the center of the outfield and draw a 6 foot diameter circle and then the cohort would stand in the center and prepare for launch.  On the cue "ready, set, go!" our version of the more modern "count-down", we'd send our aircraft skyward to heights unimagined. In truth, our imagined heights were far higher than the 5 or 6 feet of actual altitude we achieved; however, they flew. What a sight to see the Focke-Wulf and Messerschmidt circling and looping around the Spitfire and P-40 that flew straight and true to victory.  Upon landing, we would start at the center of our circle and pace off the distances to each of the now at rest machines of glory.  The winner would be declared by its landing site being the furthest from the center of the circle.

A few maintenance items cared for and a slight modification or two, and the battle would resume in yet another spectacular show of aerobatic audacity.  The climbs, the dives, the loops and the crashes were astounding. Another distance measure, declaration of victory, maintenance and mods, and we did it again. Again and again and again until the paper became limp, the penny dislodged or lost, and we were grounded.  Nothing to do but go home and take up the quest for more box-tops and a whole new squadron. It's almost 65 years since those third grade days. To this day, I can't stand the thought of eating corn flakes; but, I still love the thrill of flying my model airplane with my club cohort.  

EDITORIAL

Our club officers for 2011 have done a great job for us. Be sure to thank them for their service—they did not get the membership support I thought they deserved.

We have a fine group of officers for 2012, and they deserve our cooperation and support. When volunteers are requested, make sure your hand is in the air. Many workers make any task easy and quickly accomplished. If you have a suggestion for a meeting program (or can put on a program) be sure to let Vern Kennedy know.

And finally, be sure to pay your dues.

HINTS, KINKS, AND STUFF

J From old friend Bob Skoien:

America’s first jet flight, Oct 1942.

This is a very interesting little piece of historical film. It covers
America’s entry into the Jet Age with the Bell P59A.

Note: My favorite part is about the installation of a $2 doorbell ringer
to the dash of the P59A to provide vibration so the gauges wouldn't stick.
Ya' gotta' love it....

 http://www.aircraftowner.com/videos/view/americas-first-jet-flight-october-1942_1617.html

J From Indiana flying buddy John Richards:

I have never heard of this B-17, old 666, and crew.

Thought you might enjoy the fight they put up.

This is an unbelievably good historical video and flying simulation when, during WWII, a B17 takes on 17 Japanese Zeros.

http://voxvocispublicus.homestead.com/morrow.html

 J Chuck Kronenwetter, my replacement at work (now also retired), sent this amazing story:

Then, wearing just a thin pressure suit and breathing supplemental oxygen, he leaned over the cramped confines of his gondola and jumped--into the 110-degree-below-zero, near-vacuum of space.  Within seconds his body accelerated to 714mph in the thin air, breaking the sound barrier.

After free-falling for more than four and a half minutes, slowed finally by friction from the heavier air below, he felt his parachute open at 14,000 feet, and he coasted gently down to the New Mexico desert floor.  Kittinger's feat showed scientists that astronauts could survive the harshness of space with just a pressure suit and that man could eject from aircraft at extreme altitudes and survive. 

Upon Kittinger's return to base, a congratulatory telegram was waiting from the Mercury astronauts--including Alan Shepard and John Glenn.   More than four decades later Kittinger's two world records--the highest parachute jump, and the only man to break the sound barrier without an aircraft and live--still stand.   We decided to visit the retired colonel and Aviation Hall of Famer, now 75, at his home in Altamonte Springs, Florida, to recall his historic jump.

Joe Kittinger:   We got up at 2 a. m. to start filling the helium balloon.  At sea level, it was 35 to 40 feet wide and 200 feet high; at altitude, due to the low air pressure, it expanded to 25 stories in width, and still was 20 stories high! 

At 4 a. m. I began breathing pure oxygen for two hours.  That's how long it takes to remove all the nitrogen from your blood so you don't get the bends going so high so fast.  Then it was a lengthy dress procedure layering warm clothing under my pressure suit.  They kept me in air-conditioning until it was time to launch because we were in the desert and I wasn't supposed to sweat. If I did, my clothes would freeze on the way up.

It took an hour and a half to get to altitude. It was cold. At 40,000 feet, the glove on my right hand hadn't inflated.  I knew that if I radioed my doctor, he would abort the flight. If that happened, I knew I might never get another chance because there were lots of people who didn’t want this test to happen. 

I took a calculated risk, that I might lose use of my right hand. It quickly swelled up, and I did lose use for the duration of the flight.  But the rest of the pressure suit worked.   When I reached 102,800 feet, maximum altitude, I wasn't quite over the target. 

So I drifted for 11 minutes.  The winds were out of the east. What's it look like from so high up?   You can see about 400 miles in every direction.  The formula is 1.25 x the sq. root of the altitude in thousands of feet. (The square root of 102,000 ft is 319 X 1.25 = 399 miles)

The most fascinating thing is that it's just black overhead--the transition from normal blue to black is very stark.  You can't see stars because there's a lot of glare from the sun, so your pupils are too small. I was struck with the beauty of it.  But I was also struck by how hostile it is: more than 100 degrees below zero, no air.  If my protection suit failed, I would be dead in a few seconds.  Blood actually boils above 62, 000 feet.

I went through my 46-step checklist, disconnected from the balloon's power supply and lost all communication with the ground.  I was totally under power from the kit on my back.  When everything was done, I stood up, turned around to the door, took one final look out and said a silent prayer: "Lord, take care of me now." Then I just jumped over the side.

  
What were you thinking as you took that step?  

It's the beginning of a test.  I had gone through simulations many times--more than 100. I rolled over and looked up, and there was the balloon just roaring into space.  I realized that the balloon wasn't roaring into space; I was going down at a fantastic rate! At about 90,000 feet, I reached 714mph. 

The altimeter on my wrist was unwinding very rapidly.  But there was no sense of speed.  Where you determine speed is visual--if you see something go flashing by.  But nothing flashes by 20 miles up--there are no signposts there, and you are way above any clouds.  When the chute opened, the rest of the jump was anticlimactic because everything had worked perfectly.  I landed 12 or 13 minutes later, and there was my crew waiting.  We were elated.

How about your right hand? 

It hurt--there was quite a bit of swelling and the blood pressure in my arm was high.  But that went away in a few days, and I regained full use of my hand. What about attempts to break your record?   We did it for air crews and astronauts--for the learning, not to set a record. 

 J From our sometime Canadian visitor Don Schmaltz:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1723870789084

JUST PLANE FUN

J Thanks to old friend Max Cossaulter for this fun game:

Read directions first -- easy as click Jump, click Chute. Watch wind direction on the panty flag.

FOR SALE OR TRADE

If you want to list an item, just send me the details including your name, phone number, and asking price or trade-for item. Low pixel count digital (JPEG) pictures are also acceptable.

COMPETITIVE CRASHING PART 2

Last month we discussed basic competitive crashing, and we will continue in the same vein this month. First, though, I want to thank the anonymous person that released me from those nasty restraints so I could (heh, heh) continue this series. We will explore the many maneuvers that can provide crashes ranging from adequate to spectacular. Since the literature on this subject is so sparse, I guess you could say we are breaking new ground here. Thus, I have chosen to address some of the more common maneuvers in alphabetical order instead of trying to sort by showiest, largest debris field, or other criteria that most folks would dispute anyway.

The Auger—In order to perform this crash you must be able to do a spin with your plane. The idea is to hold the spin all the way to the ground. You say nobody is dumb enough to do that? Au contraire—I watched Russ Petersen’s son do this maneuver into the Arizona brush on a perfect flying day. The debris field was disappointing, but the airplane and ancillary equipment were thoroughly destroyed.

Dive for Glory—This is kind of an entry-level maneuver, but it really is not as easy as you might think. The trick is to get the airplane very close to vertical on the impact site, making sure the spinner or nose is the first part to arrive. Throttle position is not critical; indeed, I believe some of our glider guiders have been able to do this one.

Flip Flop—This is probably the most difficult crash to do properly. The idea is to touch down at high speed and have the landing gear "trip" over an obstruction so that the model goes end over end with frequent ground contact. If perfectly executed the resulting debris field is awesome. I believe our club crash video has several of these.

Oops—This is the high-speed inverted pass down the runway gone wrong, and is one of the showiest of all crashes. Debris field and destruction of equipment are usually very satisfactory.

Pancake—The only way to do a real pancake is to flat spin all the way to impact even though there are many that maintain pulling out a few inches too low should also be included here. I will grant the low pull out people that their version usually results in more scattered wreckage.

Splish Splash—Water or gooey mud is essential for this maneuver, but the pilot is allowed great latitude for impact velocity and attitude. The main thing is to produce the highest possible fountain of water or mud. My crash into the hog wallow would qualify for this, but I must admit that I was unable to produce much of a splash because the water had been extensively thickened with…er…sludge.

Tail Digger—No, that is not a mistake. This is not necessarily a very competitive effort, but it really thrills the spectators. The idea is to go into a hover over the runway, then kill the engine (some engines will do this for you). The trick to this is to maintain the tail first attitude all the way to impact.

The Strainer—It is imperative that your plane flies all the way through the straining medium so that bits and pieces of airframe spew out the far side of the impact site. Trees and bushes are the usual strainer materials, but I managed to fly my first electric model most of the way through a baseball backstop!

The Wounded Duck—This may be the most competitive approach of all, but is very attitude dependant, as you want to touch down on a wingtip and nose or spinner at the same time. Structural damage is acute and a very satisfying debris field is common.

I will continue next month with Part 3. If you have some competitive crash ideas, please share them with me and I will pass them on.

Crash Scoring

Maximum debris field dimension in feet plus maximum depth in inches plus a maximum of 10 points for crash technique (showmanship) as agreed to by witnesses.

Remember, our year long competition begins January 1.

MONTHLY MEETING—December 13 at 6:00 in the SKP Clubhouse

On December 13 the club will host another gala Christmas party at the SKP clubhouse with dinner starting about 6:00.  Rachel and her helpers are preparing a roast pork dinner fit for a king for just $10.00 per person.  Bill Berson is handling the signup and taking the money.  His phone number is:  379-5608.  Checks can be sent to Bill at 172 Haada Laas Port Townsend, WA 98368.  Bill must have all signups by December 6 so he can give Rachel the head count.  Be sure to bring your honey and your beverage of choice.

There will be a gift exchange for both boys and girls (make sure your gift is identified with the appropriate sex) with an upper limit on cost of $10.00.  Participation is optional, but you miss out on a lot of fun if you are not in it.  It works this way:

1.  Each participant draws a number that determines the order of gift selection.

2.  Boys and girls alternate picking out gifts from the correct pile and unwrap them.

3.  If the gift you picked out is not something you want to keep, walk around until you find stuff you do want.

4.  Once again the number each has determines the order that "trades" (read outright robbery) are made as you exchange your unwanted item for something else.  There is a certain amount of gamesmanship at work here as the item you trade for may be seized by a person farther down the number chain.

An incredible amount of wailing and whining goes on as folks lose their highly prized gifts, and that is where the party really gets going.

THIS IS PROBABLY A GOOD TIME TO PAY YOUR DUES.

Hope you all have a great time while I go enjoy a second summer,

Pete Granger

granger@olypen.com