Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
YOU'LL probably be reading all about the RC F3A World Championships in this issue and will be as disappointed as I am about the results. Since our team finished third, and only one of our individual fliers was in the finals, it makes me wonder what happened. I hate to say, "I told you so," but I did in my September column. Apparently, the situation was even worse than I had feared. We had expected that virtually all of the European fliers would be flying airplanes powered by two-cycle engines, since reports from contests there indicated that virtually no four-cycle engines were being flown. We also expected that the Japanese would fly two-cycle engines exclusively. So, where was the surprise?
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
EVER SINCE the Nats article was published in the November 1985 issue, hardly a flying session at my club field or a contest goes by without someone asking me why I chose not to identify the brand of radio which was involved in my radio-interference-caused crash at the 1985 Nats. The truth is, I did identify the brand of radio in the manuscript which was sent to Model Aviation. The Associate Editor chose to alter my words in order to avoid any potential legal problem with the radio manufacturer. The same brand and model of radio was involved in all the Channel 40 FM crashes, and I thought that it was more than coincidence. It was not as though I hadn't been warned about flying this brand of radio on FM, either.
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
ANSWERING the mail is my first order of business. The September 1985 column contained a section about "Pattern sandbaggers," the guys who don't move up to the next class after accumulating 100 points in their class. I received an interesting letter from Del Rykert (Batavia, NY) who said in part: "I have seen what I suspect is sandbagging during my five years as a Pattern competitor. I started in what was called Novice (now called Sportsman, RVP) and the best I placed was third at one contest, and that was the only trophy I saw before earning my 100 points and moving up to Advanced. I realize that sandbagging has helped contribute to my frustration at not winning, but let's examine another side of the problem as I see it.
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
PERIODICALLY, an RC newcomer reminds me that virtually everything about RC is news to him. Such was the case when I received a letter from Robert Mertens (Beinbeck, IA) who wrote to thank me for publishing the picture of my wing storage rack in the January '86 column and to suggest that a possible improvement would be to ". . . use 1/2-inch I.D. water pipe insulation to slip over the 1/2-inch dowels to give the wings a cushion to rest on." He also asked how to solve the problem of fuselage storage. I made my wing rack about 15 years ago and often thought about cushioning the dowels, but haven't gotten around to it yet. It's a good idea. To be honest, the only reason the wing rack picture was published is because I ran out of "good" pictures to submit.
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
GREAT! This year's Nats will be in Lake Charles, LA, and I think that's great, partly because I enjoyed the 1974, 1975 and 1978 Nats which were held there and partly because it's only 450 miles from where I live. The Lake Area Radio Kontrol Society (LARKS) has done more than its fair share on the 1985 Master's Tournament. That's why I was more than a little concerned when I got a long-distance telephone call from one of the prominent fliers in the LARKS club who took exception to the "monument" which is supposed to be erected at the '86 Nats. Let me quote to you what is included in the 1986 Nats Notes contained on page 111 in the March issue of Model Aviation: "ERECT-A-THON?
