CL Aerobatics
Curt Contrata, 6783 Nightwind Cir., Orlando FL 32818; E-mail: [email protected]
MARCH 6, 2005, Roger Vizioli and Bob Whitney of the Florida Space Coast Aero Modelers hosted three-time World Champion and 1980 US National Champion Les McDonald’s judging clinic in Palm Bay, Florida. The weather was perfect, and the flying site was the drivers-education parking lot of Bay View High School.
With roughly 10 participants, each took turns flying for the group. It was a casual day, with much information shared and many laughs and stories to go along with it.
Working with the entire group, Les began the day by critiquing flights in broad strokes, talking shapes and sizes in descriptive terms rather than by applying scores. This established what the attendees, as judges, should look for in general.
The next step was to put scores to what the participants saw, but only in multiples of 10 (10, 20, 30, 40). This allowed everyone to think in terms of numbers, but in a broad manner. After a couple flights and group discussions, Les had the attendees switch to assigning scores in multiples of five (15, 20, 25, etc.).
The discussions after each flight consisted of Les’s describing what he saw on a particular maneuver and the score he assigned. Each person in the group would then call out the score he gave for that maneuver. If a particular score was out of line with the group, Les would generally have something meaningful to contribute.
By progressing this way, he was able to encourage the judges to use the entire range of numbers and impress on them the importance of saving the high numbers for the well-executed maneuvers. By using multiples of five and 10, it was easier for everyone to quickly assign scores without struggling to decide what number to write down.
After lunch, Les used Dave Cook’s The Stunt Book—Judges would match my airplane, just as Les would do.
The next morning I learned that it was one thing to sew a fancy custom outfit, but summoning the courage to wear it was a whole different story. When getting dressed on the day of the contest, I lost my nerve and never wore the fancy pants.
Since this is practice season and many of us practice alone, a significant number of airplanes are being launched via a “stooge” release mechanism of some sort. Stooge accidents can be disastrous, and sometimes we simply get lucky. I have had two accidents in 11 years, and both times I was very lucky. Practice is all about repetition, and the same should apply to how we stooge-release our models.
The first accident I had was several years ago, when my release line was wrapped around my flying lines. I had run out my flying lines and then the stooge release line. When I set the second handle down, the lines were crossed, and I picked up the handles in the wrong order. When the aircraft was released, the stooge line was over the flying lines, and it pulled the model into the ground as the stooge release handle traveled quickly down the flying lines toward the airplane.
Luckily I was flying over grass, and the model suffered no damage other than a chewed-up carbon propeller. Since that time I take extra care in keeping the flying lines and the stooge line apart, and I recheck it before each release.
At roughly the time of my first mishap, a flier had a model release from the stooge on his way to the handle. I feel that everyone’s initial reaction would be to reach down to grab the lines with a hand, and that is exactly what he did. This decision proved to be disastrous; the flying lines cut his hand badly and he almost lost a few fingers.
A few weeks ago I had my second stooge accident. When I pulled the release line, the release handle jerked from my hand and the model remained in the stooge. The release handle was on the ground, approximately 10 feet away. I had no way of knowing the nature of the failure, and I cautiously walked toward the release handle while keeping an eye on the model.
The instant I looked down to pick up the release handle, I heard the familiar sound of a carbon propeller grinding on asphalt as the model was released from the stooge. In an instant, the model was off the ground and in the inverted portion of a figure 9.
Fortunately I was able to step back to regain line tension and save the model. The only damage was to the carbon propeller, which is otherwise known as a “cowling protector.” When flying with a stooge, one needs to be prepared for anything.
There is one important thing to remember when flying alone: that you are alone. If the model releases from the stooge while you are kneeling in front of the propeller, you may not make it all the way to the hospital.
Whenever you are flying with a stooge, establish a safe routine and follow the same one every time. Make certain that the stooge is firmly attached to the flying surface. Double-check to make sure the model is locked into the stooge before connecting the battery, and be sure to perform routine maintenance on your stooge to ensure that it is functioning properly. It is also important to inspect the point on the model where it is attached to the stooge to make sure a failure is not about to occur.
If you have taken a few months off because of weather or for a season of building, be extra careful when returning to the flying field for practice. It takes some practice to practice safely.
Big news from Aero Products is that another new Stunt engine is now available. For the newly adopted rules that allow for larger-displacement power plants, Randy Smith has developed a PA .75. New from the ground up, Randy had a case made for it. This engine is sized to take advantage of the flying-line-size rule that allows for .018 braided lines.
Each month I look forward to hearing from several modelers with building and flying questions; those E-mails are always welcome. I also gladly accept photos of your latest project that you would like to see published in this magazine. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
