US Outdoor Championships
The United States Outdoor Championships was held July 5-9, 1994 at the National Flying Site in Muncie, Indiana. Nearly 200 contestants from 22 states and Canada were part of a free flight contest that set new standards for large-event efficiency and organization. Contest manager Norm Poti and a dedicated staff went far beyond the call to make USOC '94 as flier-friendly as possible. Registration was virtually painless; color-coded flight cards matched recording sheets for each event, virtually eliminating errors in transcription/tabulation; scorekeepers were always ready to record scores quickly, allowing more flying time. Each Junior who pre-entered USOC received a free 1/2A T-Bird kit and Cox .049 engine-a great way to encourage more participation. There's even talk that there may be a T-Bird event for Juniors in 1995, so they have a place to fly the kits they got in 1994!
The Haught Corner
How You Play the Game: What's your modeling pleasure? Is it sport flying? competition? or perhaps the ultimate oxymoron: Competition Fun-Flying? Virtually every survey taken indicates that most modelers are sport fliers. This column (and others) has beaten up on competition fliers pretty heavily in recent issues. We've received a number of letters critical of how competitive fliers have taken over some clubs and/or flying sites. The perception is that the contest fliers look down on sport modelers as second-class citizens unworthy of equal time on the flightline. And sometimes that is-unfortunately-an accurate perception.
The Haught Corner
No country club: A few issues ago we ran a letter from a modeler who complained about some rather rude treatment he received while on a visit to Florida. The welcome mat was certainly not rolled out for him, and he naturally didn't appreciate it too much. I commented that I hoped this was an isolated incident-that there may have been some sort of misunderstanding. But judging from reader reaction, this may not be the case. It's amazing and saddening, but since the letter and comment appeared, we have received a startling number of nearly identical "horror stories" from across the country.
The Haught Corner
How Dumb is Dumb? A number of readers have pointed out a glaring error in Stephen Baardsen's Kingfisher article in the June MA: We mixed in a photo of an A-7E Corsair II by the same author. Dumb! The full Corsair article appears in this issue. Apologies to Mr. Baardsen and to those who discovered the mistake. The Survey Says: At last report there have been more than 13,000 responses to our demographic survey. Terrific! It will take some time to analyze the data from such a large response, but we should come up with some solid information to help AMA and MA.
Hyperion mk. V
THE HYPERION MK. V was developed for the 1975 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The model shown didn't just happen; it's the present state of a model that is constantly changing. This is due mostly because every time I come across a new, but definitely better way of doing something I try to incorporate it into the ship. Sometimes this requires building a new ship. In the case of Mark V, the wings were re-built a total of five times before they ended up as pictured. The biggest problem in the wing structure is building a panel stiff enough, but still light enough to zoom launch without fluttering. I fly a pretty tight hook setting (the hook starts moving at 4.8 lbs. and unlatches at almost 7 lbs. tension). The model really has to build up speed to unlatch 7 lbs.
