Good luck, Team USA!
I'm on my way to Pombal, Portugal, the 21st–29th of August with the US F3A (FAI RC Aerobatics) World Championships team, which I consider to be one of the best ever to represent our country. The team pilots are World Champion Quique Somenzini, back-to-back Nationals Champion Jason Shulman, longtime FAI competitor Andrew Jesky, and newcomer Brett Wickizer.
As on all teams, along with the stars is the all-important supporting cast. Each pilot has a caller/mechanic, and then there are the team manager, assistant manager, fund-raising committee, web team, logo designers, and sponsors, not to mention the many friends and well-wishers.
This year, the traveling team consists of Raiko Potter, Bryan Hebert, Verne Koster, and Ryan Smith. Bryan Kennedy, David Shulman, Brian Clemmons, Archie Stafford, Tom Simes, Marty Moleski, and Jerry Moreau make up the fund-raising group, web team, and logo-design committee.
As the team manager, I thank each of you for your support and help in sending this team to the World Championships. Our goal is to bring home both the World Champion and the team championship Gold Medals.
—Albert
In this month's column, I will discuss preparing for the Nats and the RC Aerobatics (Pattern) season. I will also feature a write-up from Mark Atwood about the new Airtronics SD-10G, which is now available.
Also included in this column:
- Preparation for the Nats
- First look at the Airtronics SD-10G
Preparation for the Nats
My preparation for the new season begins as soon as the old season ends, in roughly November. At that time I begin to learn the new sequences and get my airplanes ready for the next year. This occupies me during the slow part of the year. I also continue to perfect my indoor flying skills for the upcoming season. Flying inside and using the flight simulator help me practice new maneuvers.
A key component in preparing for the next season starts at the beginning of the outdoor flying season. It is vital that you stay in tune with your model and practice regimen. As with full-scale aircraft, keeping track of your component use is crucial and can save you money and time. I can tell you from experience that using a component beyond its usefulness can be risky and a possible safety hazard. When it comes to your airplane, preventive maintenance is job number one.
Keeping a flight journal
I keep a journal that contains information about all of my flights, including a daily tab of the wind, temperature, visibility, and direction of flight. I also keep track of the propellers I use, needle-valve settings, fuel, and engine rpm. This allows me to monitor the model’s power-system performance. It’s amazing how being able to recognize a change in engine or motor function can save a practice day or a contest.
In addition, I record how many flights I have on the equipment; e.g., servos, receivers, and batteries. The importance of tracking how long servo gears last, how many milliamps you draw on your batteries after every flight, the number of charging cycles, replaced components, and repairs cannot be overemphasized. When something looks wrong, you can refer to your journal to see what the problem could be. For example, if you're normally drawing 120 mAh from the receiver battery after every practice flight and then you notice that you drew more than 200 mAh after one flight, this could mean you have a servo binding, a servo motor breaking down, or any number of issues that need to be addressed in the workshop.
The part of the journal that you sometimes wish would go away is the documentation of a bad flying day. Keeping track of how your practice goes, especially on a poor day, can be extremely productive. With urban sprawl, practice flying sites are getting farther away. Making every practice session worthwhile requires some planning and a way of tracking your performance before a contest. In my journal, I keep track of the direction of the flights, number of flights, weak and strong maneuvers, focus maneuver, and expected outcomes. This way I can establish realistic goals for each current and future practice session. It’s important to be able to review what is good and what needs improvement, both during the season and in the off season.
Backups and setup
I recommend that all serious competitors, if at all possible, have backup models that can be set up to match their primary aircraft. The list of those who have lost a season because they didn't have backup aircraft in standby mode is long and distinguished.
I try my best to have two airplanes with identical setups (throws and electronics). That way, if anything happens to the primary model, I can jump to the number-two airplane without having a problem transitioning.
Having your aircraft set up properly is significant to how you will perform during the season. I have been using Bryan Hebert's triangular trimming guide to make sure my airplane is set up the best way it can be. We will discuss Bryan's trimming setup in a future column.
One of the challenges for many Pattern pilots is the cost of our equipment. Airtronics has added a new radio to the list of good systems that meets the Pattern pilot's needs and has a price that won't break the bank.
First look at the Airtronics SD-10G
Following is what Mark Atwood told us about the new SD-10G.
"Airtronics' new entry into the radio market, the SD-10G, is a full-featured radio designed for the competition pilot in every discipline, be it with airplanes, helicopters, or sailplanes. The SD-10G is feature rich and has many of the functions you would expect on higher-end systems.
"The SD-10G is a dedicated 2.4 GHz system using FHSS (frequency hopping) communication, has safety-link model/receiver binding, and has full channel and switch assignments. It comes with 20-model memory but supports add-on memory cards for 20 more models and a USB computer connection to support both model storage and transmitter programming upgrades. It supports all of the Airtronics 2.4 receivers (10-channel, 8-channel, 7-channel, and micro 6-channel).
"For the Pattern competitor, your options are pretty limitless. Aircraft type supports various configurations, including dual aileron and dual elevator-servo setups.
"All switches are three-position, fully assignable, and can be overloaded with multiple functions assigned to each. There are triple rates on each axis, bidirectional expo for each rate, five flight modes, stick switches, a nine-point throttle curve, and five custom mixes also with nine-point curves.
"I could go on and on with features, but the important thing is that Sanwa solicited competitive fliers in every discipline to design this radio. It does what we need it to do.
"The stock programmable aircraft mixes include the ones we really use: rudder to elevator, rudder to aileron, and throttle to elevator, along with seven other stock mixes before you have to touch the custom mixes.
"Programming is extremely simple, and the screen, while graphical and informative, doesn't require a diesel generator to supply power. In fact, the entire system runs on 7.2 volts, which comes from a 1500 mAh NiMH pack but is designed to also support the use of a two-cell Li-Poly battery.
"There are also some nice-to-have features. One-touch model select for your three favorite models makes it very quick to switch between your primary and backup aircraft without scrolling through menus. Similarly, there is a custom menu to which you may assign your most used functions to speed up programming. Very helpful at the field.
"Increment and decrement functions can be assigned to the two-way spring-loaded switch, which, while flying, allows you to increase or decrease a mix percentage. You can trim for rudder-pitch coupling in one flight, increasing or decreasing the mix percent as needed while you fly.
"And you can name your flight modes so you don't forget which one is set up for 3-D. The radio comes packaged with a transmitter and receiver, charger, and switch harness."
Thanks to the AMA for its support of the 2009 F3A team. I will provide daily updates of the World Championships from Pombal on the F3A web site. Go USA! —A.C.
Sources
- 2009 US F3A team updates: www.f3a.us
- Airtronics: (714) 963-0329, www.airtronics.net
- National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics: www.nsrca.us
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
