RADIO CONTROL AEROBATICS - 2004/08

RADIO CONTROL AEROBATICS

Eric Henderson, 303 Shady Ln., Marlton NJ 08053; E-mail: [email protected]

2004 Nats and US FAI Team Trials

The 2004 NATS will coincide with the US FAI F3A Team Trials. Readers often ask why the top three Nats pilots are not automatically selected as the US representatives. The answer is not obvious to casual observers or even to those of us who are deep into the sport.

The precision Aerobatics US Nats has four classes:

• Intermediate (402)
• Advanced (403)
• Masters (404)
• FAI (406)

Each class is run according to the AMA rules for RC Aerobatics contests. The 406 class is an AMA division that mirrors FAI. Normal AMA rules apply, and only where they are silent does the FAI rule apply.

The differences are not large because the US has created a series of ascending schedules that build a pilot’s skills toward achieving the FAI level of flying. Equipment specifications and rules are also similar. However, AMA does not adopt all FAI rules, and the AMA rules cycle and changes are not the same as FAI. One equipment difference is noise limits: when AMA allowed 96 decibels, the FAI rule was 92 decibels.

The FAI Team Selection Committee runs the FAI Team Trials. The Team Trials will determine four US pilots because the team consists of three team members and one alternate who will travel if a team member is unavailable.

FAI schedules are demanding on the pilot. The following is what they will be flying this year.

FAI Preliminary Rounds — Schedule P-05

1. Takeoff sequence
2. Reverse Cuban Eight, Four/Eight Point Roll, and Two/Two Point Roll, Exit Inverted
3. Stall Turn, Two/Four Point Roll Up, Negative Snap Roll Down
4. Reversed Four Point Roll
5. Half Square Loop, Full Roll Up, Exit Inverted
6. Inverted Triangle Loop with 1/2 rolls, Exit Inverted
7. Two-Turn Inverted Spin
8. Loop with Full Roll on Top
9. Half Clover, Two/Four Point Roll Up, 1/2 Roll Down, Exit Inverted
10. 45 Degrees Up with Four Point Roll, Exit Inverted
11. Reverse Humpty Bump, Pull-Push-Push, Two/Four Point Roll Down, 1/2 Roll Up (or option of Three/Four Point Roll Down, 1/4 Roll Up)
12. Reverse Double Immelmann, Full Roll First, Two/Four Point Roll Second, Exit Inverted
13. Half Reverse Cuban 8 with 1/2 rolls
14. Square Loop with 1/2 Rolls in Vertical Legs, and Two/Four Point Rolls in Horizontal Legs
15. Half Reverse Cuban 8, Full Roll, Exit Inverted
16. Four/Eight Point Roll with Slow Roll Opposite, Inverted to Upright
17. Humpty Bump, Positive Snap Roll Up, Exit Inverted
18. Vertical Eight, Top First, Integrated 1/2 Roll on Center
19. Split "S" with Full Roll, Exit Inverted
20. 3/4 Roll to Knife-Edge Reversed from Inverted, Exit Inverted
21. Half Square Outside Loop with Two/Four Point Roll Up, Exit Inverted
22. Two 2-Turn Inverted Spins, Opposite, 1/2 Roll, Exit
23. Landing sequence

Competitors will fly this schedule for three days, then go into a final day of flying that uses two Unknown schedules mixed with two F-05 Finals schedules.

Finals — F-05 Schedule

1. Takeoff sequence
2. Rolling Loop — One Roll During One Loop
3. Half Square Loop on Corner — 2 of 4 Each Leg
4. Reverse Humpty Bump, Full Roll Down, Snap Up
5. Figure Six, 1/2 Roll Down
6. Hourglass, 2 of 4 Down
7. 2 Turn Positive Spin
8. 3 of 4 Opposite, Inverted to Inverted
9. Stall Turn, 2 of 8 Up, 3 of 4 Down
10. Rolling Circle, 3 Rolls Opposite, 1st Roll Out
11. Half Roll, 1/2 Outside Loop, Full Roll
12. Reverse Avalanche, 1-1/2 Negative Snap at Bottom
13. Reverse Humpty Bump, 2 of 8 or 2 of 4, Push, 1/4 Roll or 1/2 Roll
14. Reverse Golf Ball from Top, 1/2 Rolls
15. Half Square Loop, 1-1/2 Snap Down
16. Reverse Knife Edge, Exit Inverted
17. Half Outside Loop, Full Roll
18. 45 Degrees Down Line, 2 of 4, Negative Snap Opposite, 1/2 Roll Out
19. Landing sequence

I wish all the FAI pilots the best of luck flying these schedules in 2004 and 2005.

Thanks to this year's co-contest directors Dave Guerin and Chip Hyde and the National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics (NSRCA) for the following information.

NSRCA — Registration, Judges, and Aircraft Checks

• June 1 is the early registration deadline. After that date entry fees double.
• To compete, you need to become a certified judge. Every US flier at the Nats must be a certified judge—so if you aren't already certified, contact your NSRCA District VP.
• There will be at least one judge certification clinic in each district this spring. The NSRCA understands some districts are very large and it might not be possible to get to a clinic in your district. If this is your situation and you still want to be certified, you will have one last chance: there will be a judge certification clinic on Sunday morning at the event. Attendees from other countries are welcome and encouraged to attend this clinic.

Aircraft specifications — the operations staff will enforce the aircraft restrictions described in the rules for all competition classes. Please don't come to the Nats with an aircraft that doesn't qualify; we don't want to disqualify anyone. There are four checks that your aircraft will have to pass: weight, size, sound, and identification requirements. There will be a courtesy check available on Sunday.

Note: the entry forms you received in the mail incorrectly stated that the banquet would be held on Wednesday. Instead, there will be a social banquet Tuesday evening in conjunction with the NSRCA General Meeting and Fund Raising Auction.

On Thursday at 4:00 pm there will be a Barbecue and Winners Awards ceremony. This food-and-trophy event is intended to make the awards ceremony more inclusive and a more dynamic closing event for all contestants.

Most of the previous site crews have tentatively agreed to return this year. They've done a great job in the past, and their dedication is appreciated.

Any flyers who have completed their flying, please consider volunteering to help with operations. Your help will be greatly appreciated and it's a great opportunity to be an important part of bringing the 2004 Nats to an exciting conclusion.

Starters, Batteries, and Charging

In a previous column I mentioned I was using two 3S x 4P Li-Poly packs in series to power my electric Pattern experiments. An unexpected spin-off of going to Li-Poly was the big pile of "redundant" 3000 mAh NiMH and Ni-Cd packs that needed recycling. The 20-cell flight packs were broken down and turned into 10-, 12-, 14-, and 16-cell power packs for a selection of starter motors.

• The Kavan Orbital Geared Starter has an add-on battery holder and greatly benefited from the 3000 mAh cells. The NiMHs stay charged longer and allow topping up without creating battery memory.
• Hobbico starters have a 12-volt mini gel-cell pack that can be replaced with a larger-capacity pack. The Hobbico starter case can accommodate 14 cells; the motor turns over a cold .1.60 at the beginning of the day with no trouble.
• For turning power I tried 16 cells on a Dynatron Super Hi-Tork starter. It is rated at 12–24 volts. With 16 cells fully charged it will turn over a balky engine with ease.
• Charging this number of cells has not proved to be a problem with the Orbit Li-Poly charger that I now use for the electric airplane. If you do not have a charger this size, the packs can be wired as smaller packs for charging and then put in series for actual operation.
• The last starter in the row is a geared model that can be purchased with a commercially available underslung pack from Pacific Aeromodel, Inc. The company also sells the brackets only. This bracket saved the remainder of my sub-C packs and allows you to use two RC car packs wired in series and charged separately.

Myrtle Beach Season Opener and Aircraft Notes

The groundhog's shadow proved accurate about the slow end to this winter. After an inevitable attack of cabin fever, I broke ranks and headed south 600 miles to the season-opener contest in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, April 3–4. It was a pleasant chance to do some flying and enjoy a pig roast with a contest in the background. The people at the Green Sea RC Club put on a great weekend.

One model that caught my eye was the Ricochet. The airplane was designed by David Hoppes and is produced by Aero Design (www.aeroflight.com/biz2/aerodesign/). Two of these airplanes were flown at the Myrtle Beach contest; the other was flown by Bradley Petty.

Bryan Kennedy sent me a picture of his new 9-pound, 11-ounce Focus II. It features an O.S. 1.40 RX engine, an ES carbon-fiber pipe, Bolly F3A large gear/wheel pants, a Tru-Turn FAI spinner with lightened backplate, and an MK tail wheel. Bryan uses a Futaba PCM radio, JR 8411SA and 9411SA servos, and a Hyde ARIA mount (with integrated nose ring). At that weight he could afford to add a pilot from Extreme RC Customs (ERC), adding a whopping 0.4 ounce.

Finally, my new Focus II is now flying. I named it after my dear, departed mother who always encouraged me to "make things." She would have approved of this airplane.

MA

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.