RC Aerobatics
Eric Henderson, <REDACTED>; E-mail: <REDACTED>
THERE ARE many theorists and endless theories about how to get people into the sport of Precision Aerobatics in this day and age. In a country the size (as in population) of the US and in our neighboring Canada, roughly 2,000 people are participating.
Approximately 1,300 of those people are members of the National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics (NSRCA), and roughly 500 are active (participate in more than three contests a year).
I acknowledge that some countries would love to have this many people participating in Pattern, but we need a 300% increase in participation to put Radio Control (RC) Precision Aerobatics where it should be.
The NSRCA is dedicated to this task. However, a society is made up of individuals. These individuals are the ones who make it grow. A grass-roots effort is the most effective way to make things change.
The August 2001 column that focused on newcomers has had a very good response, and I received multiple requests for the Word-file version of the column for club use.
My writings are merely words. Nothing this column can do can compare to the actions taken by individuals who give up their spare time to bring Precision Aerobatics to the neophyte.
I was invited to attend a day run by Don Szczur in Arcola VA. The site is near—and I mean very near—Dulles International Airport. It is great to fly a model there with a 777 cruising in close-by for a landing. The 777 was so close that I could read the airline logo!
Don is a rising-star Fédération Aéronautique Internationale pilot (that should embarrass him plenty!) who placed very high at last year’s Precision Aerobatics Nationals and has flown at the Tournament of Champions (TOC).
Don believes in putting back in what he is getting out of the sport. He sent the following report of his Pattern clinic. I hope this prompts a bunch of you to request help to do the same thing.
Last November the president of the Northern Virginia Radio Control (NVRC) club asked me if I would be willing to provide whatever knowledge I could to the club by running a ‘Pattern day’ at the field.
“Well, I could not turn him down since during the months prior, he and many other members of the club went out of their way to help me prepare for the 2000 TOC.
“We set the Pattern date for early spring—early enough to have the most impact on local members before the flying season would get into full swing. The club invited local fliers to enhance Pattern interest in the area. The day was structured into three main segments.
“First, the morning segment was designated for trimming new airplanes, learning the maneuvers, and providing one-on-one coaching. The second segment took place during the lunch break and included a presentation on Pattern in general.
“This went over very well. I covered the basics of Pattern, to include flying in the box, scoring criteria (in general terms), and demonstrating the steps to set up and trim a typical Pattern airplane. It was just enough detail to get their interest.
“Finally, the third segment in the afternoon was a ‘mock contest,’ where instead of giving score sheets, the pilots were given constructive comments during the flight. I originally set this up with the option of using a video camera.
“While one person videotaped, the ‘judges’ would verbally record the downgrades. At the end of the day, each pilot could take his videotape home and study it.
“The NVRC Pattern day was a great success. We had 15 registered pilots, and everyone came away with a better knowledge and appreciation of Pattern. The club was so excited that it decided to restart its annual Pattern contest in August.”
This type of activity is an excellent way to get people interested. Don helped the attendees get their airplanes to fly better and challenged them with a simple schedule or two.
Trimming a model can go such a long way in helping a pilot enjoy the potential of his or her craft. Ailerons are there to make the airplane roll, elevators make it climb, etc. Our/my job is to get you all to use them more and with better accuracy.
Don’s day, and the days similar to this put on by many other individuals, makes this an experience that lasts and results in new recruits.
Product Corner
For those of you who would like the experience of a strong-running four-stroke but are not ready to equip yourselves with bigger airplanes to accommodate the bigger engines, there is another way to go.
I have been running the YS 63 power plant with excellent results. It runs very well right out of the box. I would go so far as saying that the YS 63 is as small as a .45 but runs as well as a good .61 two-stroke, if not better. It will give you the feel of a bigger four-stroke, such as the 91, 120, or 140.
I replaced an existing YS 45 with the YS 63 because the 45 was a bit too loud with a standard muffler for my local field. I put the engine in a World Aircraft T-34 Almost Ready to Fly (ARF).
The bolt holes were the same, and the small four-stroke muffler allows you to position the exhaust exactly where the two-stroke had its exhaust.
The resulting performance was exceptional. The YS 63 pulled better vertical and gave a smoother, more constant pull all around. Initially I ran a 12 x 6 APC propeller, and the engine gave 12,600 rpm on PowerMaster 20/20 fuel. That’s a little too high for my comfort! A 13 x 6 or 12 x 9 propeller will perform well.
This engine will be the ticket in most of the current .45- to .61-size aerobatic ARFs; it will not break bank and will be very reliable. It starts immediately and idles like the proverbial Swiss watch.
The YS 63 is not loud, even with the baby muffler. It will familiarize you with the operation of a pressure system and the power curve of a strong four-stroke.
The new breed of Almost Ready to Flys has begun to lure the younger fliers back to Precision Aerobatics.
The Rolling Loop
The Rolling Circle has long been viewed as the ultimate skill test. It looks great and, once perfected, is pretty cool to perform. It is time for the Rolling Circle to move over and give center stage to the Rolling Loop.
This is one to get you all thinking. You perform one loop while you roll the airplane through a complete 360° roll. This maneuver is in the 2002-2003 FAI Finals schedule, and it might capture your imagination.
Let’s fly through one with the control inputs you would need.
The maneuver begins from the top with the airplane inverted. The goal is to have the model perform a quarter roll for every quarter loop made.
At center, let off the down-elevator pressure, and start to roll the airplane very slowly to the left. (You can go either way, but this time we are going left.) The model carries a little bit of throttle to make the tail feathers effective.
Add up-elevator as the airplane rolls, then the curving guidance input transitions to the right rudder. The airplane will curve as in a loop. Increase the rudder to make the model draw one quarter of a loop just as it completes the first quarter of the roll.
Now the model is pointing downward, showing the entire wing. Elevator will be at neutral, and the right rudder will be increased. As the airplane continues to roll, the down-elevator will come into play, and the rudder will be reduced.
The goal is to get the model inverted exactly at the bottom of the loop. Power should have been added gradually during this quarter.
Most of us are holding our breath at this stage. It was relatively easy to come down, but the big question is, Will it go back up?
The airplane requires down-elevator to begin the third quarter of the loop, but elevator alone will not be enough. The throttle will be at least at half power, and left rudder will be added in large quantity as the down-elevator is removed.
The goal is to get the airplane to have its nose pointing straight at the end of the quarter circle and the bottom of the model looking at the pilot.
The last quarter is a bit easier; gravity begins to help. The down-elevator is gone by now, and left rudder is taking the model around the loop. As the airplane continues to roll, the rudder comes out and up-elevator takes over until the model is back to its original inverted position.
If you can draw a perfect circle with one of those flat-box etching toys—the ones with knobs for the X and Y axes—you should have no problem.
The maneuver may be hard, but most Pattern airplanes can do it. A tip is to write down all the directions of the control inputs. Also select a very low roll rate. Get a friend to call out the inputs. For example, “First quarter loop, roll, pull, add right rudder.” “Second quarter loop, keep rolling, push, remove right rudder,” etc. Please do this with a great deal of height, and you might be very surprised.
One spinoff of trying this is that you can develop quite an impressive half loop, where you can execute a half roll while doing a half loop turnaround.
Have fun trying. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
