Two Sunsets & Still Flying
I was born into the Golden Age of Aviation in 1926.
By age 4 I understood that Charles Lindbergh had
done a miraculous thing, flying alone across the
Atlantic Ocean. During the 1930s one-eyed Wiley
Post was famous for setting altitude and speed records
while wearing a pressure helmet that looked like the top
of a hot-water heater. Amelia Earhart flew alone across
the north Atlantic, and her smile was seen on many
newsreels.
One Whole Day And Then Some
This article will reveal how someone might make an 11-pound model stay aloft for 40-50 hours. The FAI rules about radio controlled aeromodel records are not complex. There are really only two technical rules that strongly impact the design of record models: 1) "The model, with fuel, shall not weigh more than five kilograms (11 pounds)." 2) "The engine displacement of powered models shall not exceed 10 cubic centimeters (0.61 cubic inches)." There used to be one non-technical rule that could significantly affect the chances for success. 3) "Assistant pilots are not permitted." I've recently learned that this rule has been changed. Assistant pilots are now allowed to fly up to 49% of the time. Hooray!
Racing Against: Team Effort to Break Closed Course Distance Record
The Mason-Dixon Dragway is located at latitude 39.66 degrees, longitude 77.66 degrees-a special spot about five miles east of Hagerstown, Maryland. Official sunrise on August 3, 1998 was 6:08 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time; sunset was 8:10 p.m. That put the length of the day at 14 hours and 2 minutes. If we were going to set a world record for Closed Course Distance of Piston-Powered RC Models, we would need an airplane that would fly 60 mph nonstop for 14 hours. Otherwise, the sun would set before we beat the record.
20 Hours Non-Stop
A few seconds before 5 p.m. on September 21, 1981, a Radio Controlled model called New Faithful was launched from a pasture near Brookeville, MD and was kept airborne through dusk, night, dawn, and morning until the engine was shut down at 1 p.m. on September 22. The regulations set up by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) were met, and the elapsed time of 20 hours and 51 seconds has been recognized as the current World Record for Duration. The preceding record, 16 hr. 43 min., had been established a few weeks earlier by a team of modelers headed by Dr. Plenny Bates of Cedar Rapids, IA. When New Faithful was exposed for its first test hop at the local club field, one comic asked: "Did you really build it that way or was it bent in a crash?" Another chirped: "It's an airborne anteater!" Although this droop-snooted, boxy model was baptized with many such derisive comments, some of the joshers eventually acknowledged its functional beauty.
Fourth of July: Picnic
ON SUNDAY, July 3, 1983, John Patton, George Pickrell, Mel Newcomer, and the author gathered at Mr. Butts' horse pasture near Sunshine, MD for a flight session to measure fuel consumption and flight speed of an RC model. Definitely nothing unusual-we'd been doing this for more than a year, and this was about the 40th of
