District IX Report - 2004/11
States
Colorado / Kansas / Nebraska / North Dakota / South Dakota / Wyoming
Vice President
Russ Miller Vice President 980 N. 3rd St. Carrington, ND 58421 Tel.: (701) 652-2321 Fax: (701) 652-2994 E-mail: [email protected]
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
NEWS FROM COLORADO
Rocky Mountain Soaring Association — Scale-Fest 2004 (June 27)
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 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 vintage sailplane models. One airplane launched on a winch and several by electric motors, but most were launched by aerotow. Wayne Hollenbeck and Mark Howard brought 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 it 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 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 stopwatch 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 — Northern Colorado Heli Fun-Fly (June 25–27)
The third annual Heli Fun-Fly was a success. On June 25–27, Love-Air and the 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 Virginia were also part of the fun.
The early part of the week proved to be rainy and dreary, which gave 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, 10–12 pilots arrived 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 a close-up view of his 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 creates ground effect from the table and wants to drift away. 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 returned 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 followed, flying the Vario JetCopter SX turbine helicopter. 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. 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:
- Mike Dinkel
- Chris Dinkel
- Don Simon
Intermediate:
- Duwayne Clark
- Chris Volek
Expert:
- Dr. Bob Motazedi
- Eric Balay
- Duwayne Clark
Scale:
- Greg St. John
- Mark Klawin
- Duwayne Clark
Thanks to Dan St. John for this report.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
