FREE FLIGHT INDOOR
JUNIOR FUND ANNOUNCED: Vern Hacker is a strong supporter of F1D activity. Now that Juniors are a regular part of F1D competition, he feels that some aid with their expenses would be helpful.
I recently received the following information from Vern.
"We are starting a fund to help the three kids going to Romania next year. They are: Doug Schaefer from the Dayton, Ohio area; Parker Parrish from the Atlanta area, and Ben Saks from Shaker Hts., Ohio.
"Donation checks are to be made out to NFFS (National Free Flight Society) with the notation 'For the Junior Indoor Fund.' The checks should be mailed to Dr. Vernon Hacker, 25599 Breckenridge Dr., Euclid, Ohio 44117-1807.
"I will enter the names into my computer and notify the donors that we have received their tax-deductible gift. Tim Goldstein will mention the donors' names in Indoor News and Views. The donations are tax-deductible because we are using the 501(c)(3) status of NFFS and AMA."
Site Loss: The September 11 terrorist attack on New York City affected public access to sites in Florida and may have affected site access in other parts of the country.
No matter what part of the country you live in, be sure to verify site access before leaving home for a contest. For indoor contests in Florida, contact Dave Linstrum, 4016 Maguire Blvd. Apt. 3314, Orlando FL 32803; Tel.: (407) 894-3097.
Dave is a longtime member of the Miami Indoor Aircraft Model Association (MIAMA); the foremost indoor-oriented model club in Florida. I'm not sure of the chronology, but MIAMA dates back to at least 1975.
Incredible!: At the Labor Day weekend contest at Lakehurst, Robert Romash posted MiniStick times of 14:21, 13:58, and 15:06.
He submitted a record application for the 15:06 flight. I processed this application and sent it back to AMA Headquarters, so I assume it will become official. That's quite a mark for Cat. IV fliers to shoot for!
Robert's model weighed 0.431 gram and had a full-length (seven inches) stabilizer. The wing and stabilizer featured tip plates that projected above the surface only.
The wing was offset to the left by 0.18 inch and had 0.125-inch tip dihedral and 0.063-inch wash-in in the left wing. All surfaces were covered with crinkled Polymicro.
New Rules Cycle: A new three-year rules cycle began this month (January). If you have a problem with any AMA rule-book event, contact AMA Headquarters to request a rules-change application form.
Any new event you propose must have a clearly worded Statement of Intent (why you are making the proposal or what you hope the new event will accomplish). All such proposals will be sent to me for review.
I may need to discuss your Statement of Intent with you; be sure to include your name, address, and telephone number with the application. If you have an E-mail address, include that also.
- District I: Raymond Harbin, (508) 358-4013
- District II: Douglas Barber, (856) 235-5218
- District III: Walter Van Gorder, (513) 922-3351
- District IV: Don Sroll, (703) 893-5071
- District V: Dr. John B. Martin, (850) 856-1421
- District VI: Cliff Telford, (407) 359-9958
- District VII: Lawrence Calick, (314) 892-3365
- District VIII: W. Bud Denny, (972) 235-4035
- District IX: Stan Chilton, (320) 685-9634
- District X: Clarence Maher, (760) 872-1127
- District XI: Andrew Tagliarolo, (505) 482-0546
New Indoor Event: As of January 1, 2002, the Electric Indoor Free Flight event became official.
The category is simple: how much duration can you get using only two 0.50 ma Ni-Cd cells?
Who will be the first to break five minutes?
Newsletter Editor Retires: Dan O’Grady, editor of the outstanding NFFS newsletter, has had to retire for health reasons.
Another editor is taking the job, but I will miss Dan’s fine touch.
Steering Requires: A previous column mentioned some steering issues. Sometimes we must steer the model to stay in competition.
If your model hangs up, someone is always willing to help get it down. However, to keep an official flight out of trouble, you must steer your own model. Figure 2 shows the usual high-ceilinging balloon setup.
The rules mandate that the model be steered from the front (ahead of the wing). It is easy to get the string tangled in the propeller.
Many high-ceilinging fliers use an inflatable plastic tube attached to the balloon, and the steering line attaches to the lower end of the tubing. This leaves tubing instead of line to contact the model; the propeller is less likely to snag the tubing.
Gary Underwood and others use a flat plastic ribbon instead of the inflated tubing. It prevents the propeller from grabbing the string, and the model can be released when you are ready.
The balloon configuration shown in Figure 1 has limitations for Cat. I. The large balloon can’t deal effectively with a ceiling scrubbing model, and the extra lift isn’t needed for the short line used in Cat I.
A much smaller balloon, shown in Figure 2, is all that is required. Regardless of the ceiling height, the flier who is doing the steering has to move around a great deal to capture the model for steering.
Figure 2 shows an option that may help Cat I fliers who have reduced ability to move around with a steering pole. The basic idea is to use a smaller balloon on approximately 10 feet of string attached to an 18-foot pole.
The 12-inch balloon gives greater margin to steer models near the ceiling. In addition, because the balloon has very little buoyancy short line, it recovers to the vertical quickly, partially compensating for the lower lift of a small balloon.
Figure 2 uses a dashed line to contrast 12- and 24-inch balloons. The larger balloon has nine times as much total lift as the smaller one (Total lift varies with the cube of the radius.) Total lift is reduced by the empty balloon weight, filler features, and line.
For steering, a tight line is needed so that the balloon will follow quickly as you try to intercept the model.
Conversely, a balloon with lower lift can be helpful for retrieving a model that has hung up, since it can’t be moved quickly enough to damage the model if you move too fast.
Figure 3 shows the steering strategy used with the setup of Figure 2. If you fail to catch the model at point A (the usual pickup point), pivot or rotate to the model circle the try to catch the model at B.
Learning this type of steering may be slightly more difficult unless you have excellent depth perception, but you don’t have to move quickly to snag the model now.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
