Letters to the Editor
5151 E. Memorial Dr., Muncie IN 47302
Delightful Surprise
My son and I did our research before we started flying, and I would not do it without an AMA card in my pocket!
As the senior member of our flight team, I'm ground support; my son Tim (13 now) is the learning pilot. We're part of Jeffco Aeromod'rs and fly out of the club's great facility at Chatfield State Recreation Area here in suburban Denver, Colorado. We joined AMA and a JA when we bought the first Trainer 60 from Tower Hobbies.
Last fall Tim was flying with a club instructor when Murphy showed up with his confounded law! (If anything can go wrong, it will.) Actually, a puff got my son's airplane as he turned on final, flipped the model, and we had toothpicks!
The amazing thing is this: when I called Tower to begin ordering a replacement, they suggested they might replace the aircraft at no charge under their learn-to-fly guarantee. We furnished the details they requested, and they shipped my son a new Trainer 60! Our SuperTiger .61 is still quite serviceable; servos and such survived, so we're almost ready to fly again!
As much as we try to support our local hobby shops, and we have some great ones, Tower went the extra mile in my book! When a dad is trying to bring this gift of flying to his son, and the budget often says "no," this was a great kindness!
Keep your tips up!
Tim Kenney Sr. Lakewood, Colorado
F3A WC Error
The most recent report on the F3A World Championships in MA (February 2000 issue) contains a small historical error.
Commenting on the USA F3A team victory at the WC this year in Navarre FL, Ron Van Putte remarked that the last time the US won the F3A Team Championship was 1991 in Australia. I submit the following in the interest of historical and journalistic accuracy.
I am very proud to say I was the 1991 F3A Team Manager in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. Unfortunately for the US team (Bill Cunningham, Chip Hyde, Dave Von Linsowe), our neighbors to the north in Canada squeaked out the F3A team championship victory that year. The US did come out on top, however, as Chip Hyde hauled in the individual World Championship title.
The final 1991 WC F3A team scores were: first, Canada (8,606); second, US (8,602); third, Japan (8,559).
In fact, the last time the US won the F3A World Championship Team trophy was the 1989 Aerolympics held in Virginia Beach VA. The scores were equally as close, with the US barely winning over Japan. That year Chip Hyde, Tony Frackowiak, and Dean Koger made the last-round charge to overcome the Japanese, who had led the team standings throughout the prelims. Tony's last flight put the US on top!
The Canadians were third that year—the first time Canada had ever placed in the team standings! A sign of things to come in 1991. I am equally proud to say I was the team manager for the 1989 US team.
My congratulations to the 1999 team on their team victory. Great job, guys! It brings back many great memories.
Jon Britt Grain Valley, Missouri
Wind Effect and Downwind Turns
It was with great pleasure that I read the rebuttals on my article about Wind Effect. I hope you can print the article below. It is my last on Wind Effect.
I was pleased to see that my article brought some rebuttal as to the way the aircraft "sees" the wind. I did make a statement in the December '99 article that should be clarified.
When I said that Control Line and RC aircraft are essentially the same by being tethered to the pilot, I meant that in both cases, the pilot and the airplane must be kept in the same general area, allowing the pilot to control his airplane as the air mass moves past. If we lose this advantage, in the case of the CL aircraft, a broken cable or dropped control handle will most certainly leave you with a crash; in the case of RC aircraft you may well end up with a flyaway such as I had a couple years ago (I guess you could say it was "gone with the wind").
After reading the responses and hearing discussions in our club about the effects of the wind on our RC aircraft, it is apparent to me that no two pilots see the effect of the wind on their RC aircraft in the same way.
I have come to this conclusion: it matters not how the aircraft "sees" the wind, but the way the pilot perceives the airspeed and reaction to the wind. This being the case, we as individual pilots are right in our perceptions of the effect of wind on our individual RC airplanes. It seems that this answer is the most sensible one, as it makes us all individually right in our own answers. I don't think any other answer really matters.
Regarding the controversy of downwind turns, Glen Sparks (February 2000) is incorrect in asserting that his model loses airspeed in turning downwind.
Full-scale pilots have to demonstrate flight and turns at minimum controllable airspeed. Indeed, they can complete 360° turns with the stall warning sounding. The airplane does not "know" when it turns downwind, or indeed if there is any wind. As other contributors have noted, the only wind the airplane experiences is the relative wind created by the airplane's motion. Above clouds, a pilot cannot determine wind direction without navigation equipment.
Picture the record-setting balloonists at 30,000 feet. They may be moving along at 100 to 150 mph in the jetstream, but their balloon feels no wind. Ropes and flags will hang straight down. Now if the intrepid aeronaut dons an oxygen mask, and launches an RC model, he can circle it around the balloon just as if he were on the ground with zero wind. This is because the balloon and the airmass have zero relative velocity.
Now let the balloon descend, with the model airplane circling off to one side. Everything seems stable. As we approach the ground, we will see the ground sliding by at perhaps 20 mph, but the balloon, airplane, and air mass are all still stable relative to each other.
When the balloon touches down, will the airplane suddenly see a downwind turn and perhaps stall? No! The only difference will be that the airplane's circles will cause it to drift downwind.
Still not quite convinced?
Well consider this. At typical US latitudes, the air is moving toward the east with a velocity of approximately 700 mph because of the rotation of our planet. So how come your airplane does not start every time you turn toward the east?
For many years transoceanic flights had difficulty in dead reckoning because they had no accurate knowledge of the wind. Sometimes flares were dropped to try to ascertain the aircraft drift. If indeed a simple 360-degree turn had caused an airspeed drop on turning downwind, it would have made determining wind direction and velocity a simple matter. Why was it not done?
This "downwind turn" bugaboo has bothered pilots for many years. I believe that it originated many years ago with "seat of the pants" pilots. Imagine an aviator in a Jenny climbing out at perhaps 50 mph into a 20 mph headwind. He sees the ground sliding below at 30 mph. Now he makes a turn to downwind. The airplane is still flying at 50 mph, but now the pilot sees the ground below moving slower and perceives the airplane as slower. He then pulls back to maintain altitude and actually slows the airplane. If he slows enough, the airplane will stall. Pilots misinterpreted this as the wind causing the stall, so the myth was born.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
