Aerosonde
Weather affects nearly every human activity. Poking fun at the accuracy of the local weatherman's best guesses may be a worldwide pastime, but forecasting the weather is no joke. Billions of dollars in economic activity is pegged to it; travel safety depends on it; and as we saw during the Normandy invasion in 1944, the very stuff of history may turn on the passage of a frontal system. Residents of areas where hurricanes, cyclones, or tropical storms are common depend on accurate, timely forecasting for protection of life and property. For these reasons and many more, deciphering the chaos boiling at the root of our global weather environment has become an international high priority.
Radio Control: Aerobatics
WHAT IS A PATTERN AIRPLANE? A simple question, but the way we answer it defines our event to ourselves and all who might join us. The simple answer is that a Pattern airplane is any airplane a competitor chooses to fly in Pattern-style aerobatic competition, but this seems to beg the question. Somewhere, there must be a definitive description-maybe on an old stone tablet at AMA Headquarters, gathering dust in a museum crate. The AMA Competition Regulations aren't much help. The rules of the event provide weight limits and restrictions on size, but only one rule-an ancient safety prohibition against "knife-edge wings"-defines shape. Still, show a photo of a Finesse, Dr. Jekyll, or Python (three current designs that most competitors would agree have very different shapes) to the average Sunday flier, and all will instantly be identified as Pattern models. Ask further, and you will likely be told that "all Pattern models look alike." They may not look alike to you, but they do to Joe Sunday, the sport flier.
Radio Control: Aerobatics
THIS MONTH we have the Newcomers in Modeling issue, and for this column that means content aimed at newcomers to the entry level RC Aerobatics events: Novice Pattern and Basic Sport Aerobatics. For me, it's the third in a column trifecta aimed at the entry end of the aerobatic continuum; the April and May issues dealt with Novice rules and our cast-iron notions of what a Pattern airplane is and isn't. Now we get to the heart of the matter. Just what is necessary to give RC Aerobatics a try? Even more important: why bother? It makes more sense to consider the second question first. Every once in awhile, I like to make a pigheaded, opinionated, controversial statement, and June seems as good a month as any:
Radio Control: Aerobatics
A RECENT VISITOR to my basement shop surveyed the various projects underway, and remarked, "this sort of building is becoming a lost art." My immediate reaction was protest, but the comment made me pause. Now, after some rumination and research, my thoughts on the subject are mixed. I'm sure that the average Pattern model is as well-built as ever, but I'm not so sure that the building arts are as alive and well as they once were in Patternland. To cap this ambiguity with ambivalence, I'm not even certain how I feel about that. A glance at the advertising in any current model magazine shows that we live in the age of the RC Almost Ready to Fly model. More beginning RC pilots now buy ARFs than build traditional kits. A lesser-known fact is that the ARF sport and Scale aerobatic models sell about as well as the trainers-and to a far-more-accomplished group of pilots.
Radio Control: Aerobatics
PRACTICE improves performance. This simple dictum has been an article of faith with competitors through the ages. Before the ancient Olympics, young Greeks strove to perfect their athletic skills in gymnasia erected solely for that purpose. The word gymnasium, the facility so named, and the belief in the practice habit have been passed down to us. The modern version of the Olympics is still with us, and so is the need for practice. Unfortunately, most of the Pattern "practicing" I see being done is more beneficial to fuel manufacturers than pilots. The typical traditional Pattern practice session amounts to nothing more than numbing repetition of entire maneuver sequences-mistakes included.
