Radio Control: Sport/Aerobatics
THE LETTER from Ed Cregger about "factory teams" compteting in Pattern contests which was published in the April 1982 column really hit some sensitive spots on a number of readers. The letters have been running about 50-50 on whether the writer agrees with Ed's letter or not. About half the letters said something like, "Yeah, let's ban the factory teams and have only airplanes without pipes and retracts in the lower three classes." The other half said, "Factory teams don't really exist on a major scale, and besides it is ability and not equipment that wins contests."
Radio Control: Sport/Aerobatics
MY AMA RULE BOOK just arrived. If you looked yours over, you were probably as surprised as I was when I discovered that the maneuver lists for all classes were the same as were published in the 1980-81 rule book! Based on the voting results carried in the "Competition Newsletter," three maneuvers were to have been deleted and replaced by two other maneuvers in Sportsman (old Novice) class. Five maneuvers should have been lifted and replaced by only two in Expert. The K-Factor total for the Master class was to have remained at 45, but the number of allowable maneuvers shortened to 12. Novice (formerly Pre-Novice) and Advanced class maneuver lists were to have been the same. Well, everything is the same. When the steam stopped venting from my ears. I called Ed Moorman (District V Associate Vice-President) to find out what happened. When he called back, he confirmed that there was no slipup at AMA HQ. The action to set aside maneuver list changes had been taken by AMA President John Grigg, District III VP Dave Brown, and one or more other district VPs. I resolved to call Dave Brown that evening to clarify the situation.
Radio Control: Sport/Aerobatics
IT HAD BEEN quite a while since the folks at AMA HQ had sent me any RC-oriented newsletters when a large box arrived from them, chock full of newsletters. After spending a week's worth of spare time reading them, I finally reached the bottom of the box. The next day, a large envelope stuffed with newsletters arrived! Two days later I finished reading them. What remained from the marathon reading sessions was a group of gems which were too good not to share, so this month's column features the "best of the newsletter excerpts."
Radio Control: Sport/Aerobatics
YOU may have wondered what happened to the Ace Silver Seven encoder modification to my Kraft KP-7Z transmitter, since I announced that one was under construction several months ago. I'll report on my experiences, not so much to satisfy your curiosity, but to let you know some of the "do and don't" factors of the Silver Seven-and to inform you about the integrity of Ace RC.
Radio Control: Sport/Aerobatics
TODAY, I received a letter from Harold Harrison (Norristown, PA) which reminded me that anything you haven't heard before is new. Harold's letter follows: "After tonight I just have to write you and say real loud-`HELP.' There are all kinds of articles in magazines on how to do just about anything pertaining to building models. But, I have never seen anything on how to really fly them. I mean, how do those guys learn to do Pattern maneuvers? "I have been flying for about seven years now. Being a little older, it took me longer than most youngsters to pick it up. On my last plane, I had 46 flights since the time I strained it through the backstop. So, I can get it up and down.
