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NEWS FROM COLORADO: June 27 was
the day of the Rocky Mountain Soaring
Association’s Scale-Fest 2004 at the sod
farm. The weather forecast was a little
questionable, but the cars started pulling up
and many beautiful Scale Sailplanes were
assembled. Skip Miller gave a short lesson
on the nuances of launching by aerotow then
the flying got started.
We had 12 Scale Sailplanes ranging from
2.5 meters to 6.6 meters. Most were models
of modern fiberglass ships, though there
were several models of vintage Sailplanes.
One airplane launched on a winch and
several by electric motors, but most were
launched by aerotow. Wayne Hollenbeck
and Mark Howard brought out their 100-inch
Monocoupe towplane to perform the duties.
Luckily there was a section of short grass
and dirt that we were able to take off from.
Most of the Sailplane pilots had never
aerotowed before but caught on quickly. The
towplane was kept busy supplying launch
after launch all day. There were a couple of
aborted launches, but no damaged
Sailplanes. One of the towplanes broke a
propeller and had some minor damage, but
will be back in the air again.
This event was structured as a fun-fly,
but we were also flying for the Gold Medal
Challenge sponsored by Quiet Flyer. There
are very nice certificates awarded for 30-,
60-, and 120-minute thermal flights by Scale
Sailplanes. The flying conditions were tough
with light, scratchy lift and lots of sink.
Most flights were under 15 minutes, though
Skip did have a 54-minute flight to earn the
bronze award.
As a side note, Skip didn’t start a stop
watch at the beginning of his flight, but
noted the time on his wristwatch. He passed
the 30-minute mark and it looked as if he
might make 60 minutes for the silver award.
Checking the landing time on the
wristwatch, it appeared he was only 10
seconds short of 60 minutes! Fortunately he
had a flight recorder mounted in the aircraft.
He was able to download it to determine the
actual flight time of 54 minutes. It also
graphically shows the altitude during the
flight along with the rate of climb.
Occasionally there was some very strong lift!
You can get more information about the
recording altimeter for models at
www.soaringcircuits.com.
As a first attempt at an organized Scale
event, the day was a big success. We had a
good turnout and lots of successful tows. A
big thank you goes to Wayne and Mark who
kept the towplanes flying. We’ll plan to do
this again next year, so it’s an excellent
reason to add a new Scale aircraft to your
hangar!
Love-Air RC: The third annual Heli Fun-
Fly was a success! On June 25-27, the Love-
Air and Rocky Mountain Modeleers hosted
the third annual Northern Colorado Heli
Fun-Fly at Drake Field. Thirty pilots from
near and far joined us to enjoy the weekend.
The majority of pilots were from Colorado;
however, pilots from Nebraska, Minnesota,
and even Virginia were part of the fun.
The early part of the week proved to be
rainy and dreary; this gave the organizers
Don Simon and Dan St. John one more thing
to worry about. Luckily the weather broke
and Chris Ferrero got the field mowed on
Thursday. Thanks, Chris!
On Friday, we had 10-12 pilots arrive to
stake out their tables and get in some early
flying. Saturday morning saw the majority of
pilots arrive, ready for the day. We also had
a surprise visitor: a full-scale Bell Jet Ranger
dropped by. The pilot was very gracious and
allowed all who wanted to have a close-up
view of his fine helicopter. Unfortunately his
visit was cut short by the first of two
thunderstorms that rolled through.
Saturday morning we held the Novice
and Intermediate competitions. In Novice,
the pilots had to perform a pad-hop,
touching four landing pads in a clockwise
then a counterclockwise order. Their score
was the difference between both runs. They
were also challenged by a bottle-knock
event. The pilot had to knock over four
water bottles as quickly as possible.
In the Intermediate contest, the pilots had
a modified bottle-knock: they had to knock
two bottles off a card table, the trick being
that the helicopter experiences ground effect
from the table and wants to drift away from
it. They also had a pylon race. The pilot had
to complete four laps around two pylons
(one aircraft at a time) as quickly as
possible.
The noon demonstration went very
smoothly. Chuck Birt from Denver flew his
Bergen G-23-powered gasser helicopter and
then came back again a few flights later with
his Mikado Bionic electric helicopter. Eric
Balay, also from Denver, showed off his 3-D
skills with his Raptor 90. Next up was Love-
Air’s own Mark Klawin demonstrating his
Scale flying skills with his Vario Jet Ranger.
Greg St. John flying the Vario JetCopter SX
turbine helicopter followed Mark. Last but
not least, Josh Moew, who had flown in from
Minnesota for the event, put on a super show
with his Hirobo Freya X-Spec.
Two full-scale helicopters arrived on
Sunday. Tom Powers from Denver, who had
been at the event Saturday flying his models,
flew in with a Schweitzer 300 and another
old RC buddy, Bill Murphy, arrived in his
Bell Jet Ranger. Because of the wind
direction, we parked them on the south side
of the field.
Results:
Novice: 1) Mike Dinkel
2) Chris Dinkel
3) Don Simon
Intermediate: 1) Duwayne Clark
2) Chris Volek
Expert: 1) Dr. Bob Motazedi
2) Eric Balay
3) Duwayne Clark
Scale: 1) Greg St. John
2) Mark Klawin
3) Duwayne Clark
Thanks to Dan St. John for this report.
Associate Vice Presidents
Max Hansen, 1909 Wisconsin SW, Huron SD
57350
H. Michael Harrington, 6112 Ashton Ct.,
Ft. Collins CO 80525
Fred Hildebrand, 4015 Somerset Circle, Casper
WY 82609-3161
Nathan Lancaster, 3597 S. Kendall Street, Denver
CO 80235
Troy Lapp, 1619 Wichita Dr., Bismarck ND 58504
Travis McGinnis, 8027 W. 81st Circle, Arvada CO
80005
Don Moden, 410 Hart St., Salina KS 67401
Jim Ricketts, 4921 Fernwood Drive, Sioux Falls
SD 57103-5573
Jack L. Sibert, 3611 Kimberly Circle, Lincoln NE
68506-4524
Mark T. Smith, 14632 W. 50th Street, Shawnee
KS 66216
Frequency Coordinator
Steve Mangles, c/o Radio Service Center, 918 S.
Sheridan, Denver CO 80226
Colorado / Kansas /
Nebraska / North Dakota /
South Dakota / Wyoming
Russ Miller
Vice President
980 N. 3rd St.
Carrington ND 58421
Tel.: (701) 652-2321
Fax: (701) 652-2994
E:mail:
[email protected]
District IX Report
11nov.qxd 8/23/04 10:43 am Page 158
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/11
Page Numbers: 158