Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
Ron Van Putte 111 Sleepy Oaks Rd. Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548
1990/91 RC Aerobatics Rules — Summary
THANKS to RC Aerobatics Contest Board member John Fuqua, I can report that the final vote for RC Aerobatics rules for 1990/91 is in (finally). The short answer to "What were the results?" is: everything except the noise-limits rule passed.
- Starting in January 1990, the current Expert and Master classes will be combined into a single class called Master, with a fixed schedule of maneuvers.
- A new entry-level Turnaround class will be called Expert Turnaround.
- Normalizing will be the standard scoring method for Pattern contests.
- Several maneuver descriptions and downgrades will be clarified.
All the above makes it sound like a lot of changes are coming to contests next year, but that's hardly the case. All of the contests I've been part of so far this year (Baton Rouge, LA; Eglin AFB, FL; Pensacola, FL; Lafayette, LA; and Mobile, AL) had already adopted many of the proposed 1990 rules that passed the Initial Vote. I'm sure many clubs around the country have done the same. Obviously the clubs sponsoring contests are not willing to wait for 1990 to put the rules into effect. They effectively turned the two-year rules-change cycle into a 1½-year cycle on their own. All it would take to make it a one-year cycle is a bit more initiative.
What has been the reaction to the new rules? Frankly, not much. The normalization of scores in all classes in most contests during the past year has been the rule rather than the exception. Most of the clarifications of maneuvers and downgrades were already in effect as far as most contests were concerned.
The only real change has been the combination of Expert and Masters into what most contests call 1990 Masters, with the 1990 list of maneuvers for the Master class. Instead of having three or four contestants in each of two classes, there are now usually six to eight in one class. Competition is better with this many contestants and I like it, even though I have been finishing in the bottom half of the pack.
Expert Turnaround
What about the new entry-level Turnaround event, Expert Turnaround? Only a couple of the contests have offered it so far, and the number of entries hasn't been very large. It will probably take a while for new Turnaround fliers to try it and for some of the current FAI Turnaround fliers to acknowledge that they really aren't good enough yet and belong in the lower Turnaround class. Then we'll see Expert Turnaround begin to do the job it is intended to do—develop fliers for competition in FAI Turnaround.
Ready-built Airplanes — A Caution
I had a disturbing telephone call from a flier I knew years ago on the Pattern circuit. He had to drop out of Pattern for a few years to develop his business. He still can't afford all the time necessary to build his own Pattern airplanes, but he can practice a couple of times a week and wants to compete in contests on occasional weekends. He read in a popular magazine's RC Pattern column about ready-built and finished airplanes that could be purchased. He saw this as a way to get into Pattern again and bought one of the airplanes that had been given a rave review in the column.
He paid a friend to install his new Futaba PCM 1024 radio and his YS .60 long-stroke engine and make the airplane ready to fly. Sounds good so far, doesn't it? Well, then he weighed this popular Pattern airplane — and it weighed 10½ lb. Any knowledgeable Pattern flier knows a 10-lb airplane is about two pounds too heavy for competitive upper classes these days. He's sick about it, especially since it came highly recommended and he spent hours of long-distance telephone time talking about the lead-sled fiasco.
I asked him to warn other RC pilots to be very careful purchasing ready-built and finished airplanes without a written guarantee that the airplane (less engine, radio installation, and other finishing details) would weigh no more than "xxx" lb. It would be a nice thing to ask before sending off many hundreds of dollars for a nice-to-look-at but flies-like-a-brick Pattern airplane.
My Heavy Pattern Airplane and Prop Tests
My current Pattern airplane is too heavy, so I can relate to the above problem. It's about nine pounds, so I really shouldn't be trying to compete with it, but inertia gets in my way. When I have one Pattern airplane ready to fly, I find it very difficult to work diligently on a second one. So I dabble in the shop for a few minutes to an hour during an evening, and then I go watch TV or read a magazine.
What I have been doing is trying out props to improve the vertical performance of my heavy airplane. The results have been very interesting. It's not surprising that there are big differences in the airplane's vertical performance with different propellers. I won't bore you with all the different props I tried, but I'll tell you where I ended up.
My favorite at the present time is a Graupner Super Nylon 11 x 11 (fiberglass-reinforced) prop. I tried it at the suggestion of Tom Sennis (Ocean Springs, MS); he even loaned me one! It was not the clear winner among the props I tried. There was another prop with the same vertical performance, but it cost nearly twice as much as the Graupner. I don't know all the U.S. sources, but I got mine from Radio South (Pensacola, FL) for under $4 a prop. That's cheap in Pattern propeller prices these days!
By the way, I thought I should mention how I've set up my tuned pipe: I am running with 16% front from the glow plug of my YS .60R to the high point of an OPS pipe. Yes, I know that a YS .60 will give more power and is quieter, so I have ordered one. In the meantime my Pattern airplane is flying almost as well as a lighter airplane would.
Nationals and Team Finals
By the time you read this the 1989 AMA Nats will just be over. I hope it was a good one. This year I didn't cover RC Pattern for Model Aviation because it is too far to drive from Florida to Washington, and I couldn't afford the extra vacation time it would take anyway. I haven't missed two Nats in a row since I started writing this column more than 14 years ago, and I'm more than a little interested in where next year's Nats will be held. So far I've only heard one rumor, and if it's true my string of Nats attendance will be intact. The rumor is that the 1990 Nats will be held at Sebring, FL. If it comes true, you can say you read it here first.
Another thing you read here first was that the RC Pattern Team Selection Finals (the Masters Tournament) would be at Saufley Field in Pensacola, FL. The Contest Director, Tony Stillman, had told me about the shift from another field near Gulf Shores, AL to Saufley Field just before my May column was due. Unfortunately, the magazine staff didn't know about the shift and "corrected" my announcement regarding the site for the Masters Tournament to make it agree with the contest sanction application.
I will be covering the Masters Tournament, and the report will appear in the "Competition Newsletter" section of the magazine, possibly in this issue. Carl Wheeley (Model Aviation's editor and publisher) called to tell me to not make the report too large or include too many pictures, as he feels there should be a difference in handling team finals reports versus reporting on world championships.
New Pattern Contest in Mobile, AL
I love Pattern competition and love to go to contests. On June 3–4 I was present at the birth of a new Pattern contest in Mobile, AL. That promises to be a very popular event. The Azalea City Model Aeronautics Club acquired its field north of Mobile just last year, but had a magnificent runway because club members laid golf-green Bermuda sod after grading and raking the field. It was the first time I ever took an airplane off from a putting green!
Contest Director John Simms and his fellow club members ran a friendly, technically sound contest which featured a Saturday night barbecue supper that was free to all contestants and helpers. Not bad for a $20 entry fee. Hot dog! Now I've got another good Pattern contest to go to every year!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
