Radio Control Soaring
Lee Estingoy [[email protected]]
Sailplanes aren't just for men
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a soaring problem.
Welcome to this month's group session. We have a few items to discuss and, as always, a few new members in attendance.
I'd like to begin by introducing Amy Pool. Amy would appear to be a normal person, except that she's one of the few women who voluntarily spend time at an RC soaring field. She even brings her own gear and competes in our silly little games. Let's spend some time with Amy.
LE: How did you get started in RC soaring? AP: I was dating a man who was an RC sailplane pilot. We lived in the Pacific Northwest where the Northwest Soaring Society runs a summer circuit of weekend-long Thermal Duration (TD) contests in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia, and Alberta.
The first time I went to a contest, I found a spot in the shade to sit down and read, but a friend said, "No, no. We're putting you to work." He spent the rest of the day teaching me how to be a timer for TD. The next day, the contest director taught me how to use his scoring program. By the end of the season I could set up the launch equipment, run a retriever, keep score, and time.
I loved the people and became a very active non-flying member of the community, but I didn't have much interest in flying. Then one day, a few years later, I had a moment when I suddenly realized: "I want to do this." I built a Gentle Lady and a friend started teaching me to fly. I started working on LSF tasks my first week, and flew in my first contest as a novice my second or third week of flying. I was totally hooked.
LE: How often do you fly? AP: My routine has changed over the years. My first year, I flew every weekend from July through mid-September in contests and often two days during the week, usually with a small group of two to four pilots. (I'm a teacher and I was on summer break.) I also flew occasionally in the winter as weather allowed.
As my life became busier, most of my flying became contest flying as opposed to fun-flying or practice. But between my local club, the Portland Area Sailplane Society, and the regional contest circuit, I was probably flying over 50 days a year.
Since I moved to Dallas a year ago, I haven't flown quite as much because new routines haven't been established. There are fewer weekend contests within a six-hour drive than there were in the Northwest, but the Soaring League of North Texas holds contests every month in Dallas. There are also a few events within driving distance which make up the Lone Star Soaring Series, so I consider myself lucky as I love contest flying. I would like to get back to flying at least 50 days a year once again. When I first started flying I also learned to launch my own planes, so it was not uncommon for me to go out and practice by myself, though it was more likely that I would go out with a couple of friends to practice (for one thing, someone always needed witnesses for LSF flights). About five years ago, I lost control of a plane while tensioning up to launch, so I've stopped throwing my own Open-Class planes. I developed relationships with several of my flying buddies, where they would throw for me. There was pretty much always a trusted "arm" around for me to borrow.
LE: Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, and NASA doesn't even try to fly sailplanes on Venus. Would you care to share any opinions you may have as to why so few ladies seem interested in our hobby? AP: I think it's similar to loving cars. There are some girls and women who become fascinated with cars, but a much, much smaller percentage than you see with boys and men. There are three other women, including one teenager, flying the Northwest Soaring Society contest circuit. For all of us, there were men in our lives involved in the hobby, but we have all made it our own.
LE: We've seen pink transmitters from Grand Wing Servo-Tech Co. (GWS) and I've seen a pink-molded aircraft in Visalia, California. Obviously, that's not much of an effort to bring ladies into the hobby. If you were a marketing executive at a company that served the soaring community, what would you do to introduce RC and RC soaring, in particular, to the ladies out there? AP: I don't think the best approach is to single out the women by marketing special products. I want to be recognized as an equal on the field, not different somehow. I would rather finish in the bottom of the pack at a Discus Launch Glider (DLG) event than take first place in a women's class. But perhaps that reflects my values more than women in general.
I want to fly with the same equipment as everyone else. I'm not sure how to market to women, other than bringing up the awareness that there are women out there flying RC. And maybe pink park flyers or foamies would increase the interest of young girls. (Of course, really cool stickers and decals can dress up a plane with the bonus that you get to make it your own!)
I think the best place to capture the female market is at the flying field. It's the women who come out to the field with their significant others, their fathers, their brothers, or their co-workers, who are the potential market.
Unfortunately, flying fields are not always the most comfortable places for women to spend much of the day. Try getting your wife to come out more than a few times if she has to be out all day. Usually it is hot and this is the big one: there is no porta-potty. Seriously, if there were a fairy godmother of female RC pilots, she'd make sure there was a porta-potty on every field. I think you'd be surprised how much easier it would be to recruit new lady pilots.
Also, if you are in a long-term relationship with a woman who is interested in the hobby, consider seeing if there is another person in your club who will take her under his or her wing for the early part of learning. It was not my boyfriend who taught me to be a timer, and not my boyfriend who taught me to fly. From the beginning, then, the hobby became my own, not something that I only did with him. You might find that your significant other becomes your favorite timer, and that's great, but it's a bonus for everyone if she will go out and fly even when you can't.
LE: Do you have a favorite airplane these days? If so, what? Is there an aircraft, present or past (RIP), that would be your "rosebud"? AP: My two primary planes right now are a Pike Perfect and an Xplorer. I also fly an Organic two-meter that I love, though there are no two-meter contests down here in Dallas. So it's not getting as much use as it did up in the Northwest.
I've had a lot of planes that I've enjoyed, but an Icon that I bought used in 2007 has a special place in my heart. From the first moment I flew that plane I loved it, and my performance took a major leap up because I trusted that plane in a way I hadn't experienced before. I now know what I am shooting for in a relationship with a plane: complete confidence that if there is lift I will be able to identify it and work it.
The next item on my agenda is to point you toward a relatively new source for high-quality servos and a new servo from an old favorite.
Thomas Cooke is now serving as the U.S. importer for MKS servos. The range includes some that are ideal for our applications. MKS servos offer a fit and finish that is second to none. They are durable and the gear trains are slop-free.
MKS products are available at Soaring USA and Kennedy Composites, so give them a try. Thomas says, "Wait 'til you install them and set your trim-step down to 1 and see what a dead-band of 0.001 milliseconds can offer. The other thing that I really like about the servos is their centering. It's like nothing I ever have seen."
Airtronics also has a gem in its relatively new 94809. It offers a respectable amount of power, digital precision, and minimal gear lash in the metal gear train—all in a great form factor. These servos are just 23.5 x 11.4 x 21.1 mm (0.93 x 0.45 x 0.83 in)—perfect for fitting in tight spaces where similar traditional servos don't dare to go.
I'd like to conclude with a few lessons I've learned since my last column. Number one is one that I've learned a few times (at least I know when to cringe).
- Always measure the height of your Satori fuselage where you intend to place the rudder and elevator servo before you cut it open. Cut the factory pushrods, and grind away the existing servo tray so that you can move the factory servo mounting to accommodate the electric power system you are trying to retrofit into a TD aircraft. If you don't measure first, you will learn that the Airtronics 94809 is the only servo that will save your bacon by wiggling the things in back while fitting in the reduced-height portion of the fuselage under the wing saddle. Bravo, Airtronics!
- Have you ever found yourself waving your TD airplane's long fuselage around in the air while you squinted into the slot in the vertical stabilizer in an effort to catch the little elevator pushrod linkage flopping past the access slot? Although you may well look like a ship's captain scanning the horizon with a long spyglass, you are in the hobby to fly airplanes, not reenact bygone eras or add more hangar rash to your airplane.
Put your fuselage down and go dig a neodymium magnet out of your toolbox. Slide the magnet across the vertical stabilizer until you feel it tugging on the pushrod inside. Move the magnet and the pushrod will follow until it is in the middle of the slot. You can now install your horizontal stabilizers with ease.
Until our next session, thermals to all! MA
Also included in this column:
- Amy Pool's take on sailplanes
- MKS servos
- Lessons learned
Sources:
MKS Servos www.mksservosusa.com
Kennedy Composites (972) 602-3144 www.kennedycomposites.com
Soaring USA (626) 967-6660 www.soaringusa.com
Soaring League of North Texas www.slnt.org
Portland Area Sailplane Society www.passoaring.us
Northwest Soaring Society www.northwestsoaringsociety.org
Airtronics (714) 964-0827 www.airtronics.net
League of Silent Flight www.silentflight.org
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
