Radio Control Soaring - 2010/03

106 MODEL AVIATION
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Soaring Lee Estingoy
Interview with Daryl Perkins
Daryl times for Brendon Beardsley: a US F3J Junior team
member. Working with the next generation of pilots is critical.
Get involved and show them the way.
Daryl proudly shows off his Icon. He has been awarded more than 20 National Champion
titles in F3B, F3J, Two-Meter, Hand-Launched Glider, and Unlimited.
Daryl concentrates on hitting another bull’s-eye at the 2009
Visalia fall fest. Pilots at this level don’t leave many points on the
table.
There are prettier models out there, but
none can fly like Daryl Perkins. He’s
holding a 2010 US F3J T-shirt, which you
can order through the team’s Web site.
DARYL PERKINS IS one of the top RC
Soaring pilots in the US. He has won almost
every contest, multiple times. A list of his
accomplishments would take most of this
column space, so following are the highlights.
• Four-time world F3B (FAI RC Soaring)
champion
• Five-time Visalia Fall Soaring Festival
champion
• Southwest Classic Soaring contest winner (I
don’t know how many times—maybe six.)
• More than 20 National Champion titles in
F3B, F3J (Thermal Duration [TD] Soaring),
Two-Meter, Hand-Launched Glider, and
Unlimited
• Multiple-time Lee Renaud trophy
recipient (for highest combined Nats total)
Daryl is generous with his time and
knowledge. The miracle of modern
technology allowed me to reach out from the
clinic here in cold, dreary Kansas to
“interview” Daryl at his home in Lake
Havasu, Arizona. Are you jealous already?
Read on.
LE: How long have you been in RC Soaring?
DP: I think I started flying models in about
1986. [Daryl is 48 years old.]
LE: What brought you in and what keeps you
going?
DP: I was introduced to RC by my dad. He is
a full-scale pilot, and to kill time on weekends
we would go to a local RC power field and
watch from afar—you know, behind the
safety fence.
He and I would begin building a model—
flat board, balsa, Ambroid, lots of pins. We’d
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March 2010 107
Joe Wurts, Larry Jolly, and Daryl Perkins at the 1991 F3B Championship. Daryl said that
the “most special competition win wasn’t a win at all. It was when Joe and I finished first
and second in our very first World Championships in Holland in ’91. I’d only been flying
for six years at the time.”
The impressive FAI F3B Houlberg
perpetual trophy lived with Daryl from
1995 to 2003. He won the biennial
championship event four times in a row.
frame up a wing on a board, slide it under the
bed, and never get any further.
That’s not actually true; we did get around
to covering a wing once, with that newfangled
MonoKote stuff, and he pulled the covering
so tight, when we hit it with the iron, it pretty
much mangled and twisted the wing beyond
all recognition.
That’s as close to finishing a model as we
ever got. I did finally build a glider on my
own as an adult. It was a Sig Riser 2M.
I found sloping and just couldn’t get
enough. Nothing was fast enough. I was very
focused on Slope Racing for the first few
years of my competition soaring. It wasn’t
until I decided to fly F3B that I decided I
needed to get better (much better) at this
thermal thing.
LE: Were there any “Eureka Moments”
along the way, when something clicked for
you in terms of your understanding of TD
Soaring?
DP: Honestly, no. I’m still learning. I learn a
little more every time I fly. If conditions are
good, I get bored in a hurry. The worse the
conditions, the more fun I tend to have.
LE: Did you have any mentors or teachers
along the way?
DP: Yes, a couple. My first real teacher was
Don Edberg. He would time and call for me.
Wow, what patience! I was always a good
sailplane driver, but in the beginning, not
great at recognizing or working thermals.
Then Joe Wurts took me under his wing.
He recognized something in my ability. We
became good friends. Joe is the most brilliant
mind in RC Soaring today. Joe’s mind and my
thumbs became quite a powerful combination.
Every time we flew together, I would take
something new from the experience. I still do
to this day when we fly together.
LE: TD Soaring has so many great assets
right now. There’s a ton of great
information online and in commercial
videos (such as Paul Naton’s work), and the
airframes and airfoils are incredibly
advanced compared to the state of the art
just 10 years ago.
Do you think the skill set/technical
understanding of the average flier is
advanced compared to where it was 10
years ago? Have we collectively moved
forward? Can technology replace skills and
good technique?
DP: This is a question that plagues me every
time I attend a competition in the USA. The
models are definitely better. The sections are
better. The available information is better.
The skill set of the average competition pilot
has gotten much worse. I have to say I really
don’t understand it.
I think it’s an issue of training. While I
didn’t realize Joe was training me, that was
the result, whether either of us meant it or
not. I had the opportunity to fly his models,
to see and to feel what the model should fly
like, to realize how important setup is.
You can’t get any better, at any sport,
without a coach. In golf, the top guys all
have swing coaches. I think to get better, we
need some sort of one-on-one training.
The videos are a great start, but how do
we replicate the personal, one-on-one
training from a guy like Joe? I see so many
mistakes being made out there, even by very
top guys.
LE: What is your favorite airplane to take
to the field these days for fun? For TD/F3J
competition?
DP: I don’t really get to fly just for fun
anymore. When I fly, I’m always working
on something.
Right now, I’m working on the upcoming
World Championships in France. So I’m
focused on flying the model I plan to fly
for that competition: the Icon2 from Maple
Leaf Design.
I love to fly models with lots of span,
and the Icon2 is 150 inches. It has a full 72
inches of flap span; it’s just a dream to fly
and land. Span for eating up time, plus
light weight and large flaps for landing are
a great combination for either TD or F3J.
LE: What is your “rosebud” sailplane?
DP: I think probably the Comet 89T. I had
so much fun flying that thing.
LE: You have won a few contests here and
there. Which ones mean the most to you?
DP: Obviously the [F3B] World Champs.
Each one of those was special. The first
one in Romania in ’95, because it was the
first one; the second one was in Turkey in
’97. As good and consistent as everyone
was getting, and as level the playing field
was becoming due to commercially
available models, I never expected to win
two in a row.
The third one in South Africa (’99),
well, no one had ever done more than two.
I had an awful first round and finished the
round in 36th. Came back to win that one
and set an F3B speed record too that didn’t
get broken until last year.
And then, of course, there was no way I
could win four in a row in Czech in ’01.
Every one of the WCs was special in its
own right, and for very different reasons.
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The Slope Race victories were pretty
awesome, since I’d only been flying a couple
of years. My first Unlimited Nats win was in
(I think) ’92. Winning the IHLGF
[International Hand Launch Glider Festival]
twice in a row was huge for me.
I’m not an HL pilot, and Joe was so far
advanced over everyone else at that time. I
couldn’t believe I had beaten him. Sweeping
all the classes at the Nats is always special.
Every win is always special for one
reason or another, but I always feel bad when
I fly poorly and win. I felt that way after
Visalia this year. I actually feel better when I
fly well but get beat by someone flying
better.
LE: You’ve worked with airframe designers
and builders in the past. Are you working
with anyone now?
DP:Mostly Don Peters from Maple Leaf
Design. The Icon2 got a bit of a bad rap
initially, but we have continued to develop it.
New stiffer fuse, bigger stiffer stab. It is now
a truly world class airframe.
LE: Crystal ball question: where do you see
RC Soaring headed over the next 10 years?
Is this good or bad and what can we do to
help steer things in the right direction?
DP: It’s a shame, but models are going more
and more ARF. The designs will continue to
get better, bigger, stronger, cleaner, and
lighter. This is good and bad. Improved
technology is always good. People’s building
skills will continue to deteriorate, as will their
soaring skills.
Competition, mostly F3J, seems to be
growing around the world, yet much of the
US is losing interest in all forms of sailplane
competition. I don’t know why. It is truly a
shame.
I have had so many amazing experiences
travelling the world, competing with and
against top pilots. You can’t imagine the
camaraderie.
How to fix it? Kids—take your kids to the
field, let them fly your top models, let them
fly in contests. Kids go nuts for trophies and
recognition. Get them involved. They may
not stay involved, but they’ll come back later
on in life.
LE: I have had the pleasure of watching
you fly at a few events. The best way I
can describe what I saw was that it was
like watching the NFL’s Brett Favre.
You took what I thought were huge risks,
and most of the time they paid off for you. How
do you decide whether or not to range out—
sometimes terribly far—with your sailplane in
a contest? What factors do you take into
consideration?
DP:Well, there are a couple of things going on
there. Yes, I fly out far. I don’t see it as taking
risks.
I don’t like to mark lift for other guys. I’ll
fly through thermals, make a mental note of
where they are in case I need to come back,
and then just keep going until I’m out of reach
before stopping to work lift.
If I know there is lift out, I’ll just go get it.
I’d rather stretch to get to a known thermal
than search around in unknown territory.
There’s not much point in making the landing
spot and not your target time.
I’ll drift with thermals downwind farther
than most. I’m comfortable seeing and flying
the model out. This allows me to come back
through marked air. At that point, all the
competition is in your field of vision, and you
can use them to pick and choose your route
home.
Because of my F3B experience, I think I
have a better understanding of how to cover
ground efficiently. Most guys, when they are
trying to come home from downwind, tend to
float the model, or even try to fly at L/D
[lift/drag] max.
L/D max may not cover the most ground.
You must constantly evaluate how efficiently
you are covering ground and adjust your glide
path accordingly.
Lee, you saw me fly at the ’08 F3J in the
Rockies. This is a perfect example. In the last
round of the flyoff, the wind was blowing so
hard, L/D max would have had the model
going backward, and not covering any ground.
I was literally racing between thermals just to
stay even.
If you recall, most competitors landed over
a mile away. It’s amazing how efficient our
models are if you just shove the nose over and
let them run.
I can literally count on one hand the
number of times I’ve landed off field at a
contest in my 20-plus years of competition.
Whoa, I’m proud of myself for finding and
staying in one thermal!
Visiting hours here at the clinic are over.
Until next time, see you at the field! MA
Sources:
2010 US F3J Team
www.usf3jteam.com
Maple Leaf Design
(520) 465-6420
www.mapleleafdesign.com
Paul Naton videos:
Radio Carbon Art
(888) 834-2261
www.radiocarbonart.com
League of Silent Flight
www.silentflight.org