The Official Monthly Newsletter August, 2015

The Official Monthly Newsletter
August, 2015
Cover photo: Pilots walk the course before the race.
Our field sponsored its first MultiGP Quadcopter FPV Race. MultiGP (Multirotor Grand
Prix) is the premier FPV (first-person view) radio-controlled racing league which hosts
frequent competition-based tournaments, free-fly gatherings and casual events. Racing is
fun, but half the fun is building your own aircraft and testing the technology. As new
products are rolled out, MultiGP provides an efficient medium to promote these products
to the FPV racing community. The endless search for the latest technology to push their
aircraft faster and make their virtual environments more immersive. MultiGP’s mission is
to help better the sport.
We hope this might be just the start of a yearly event as this sport grows in popularity.
Board Members/Officers
John Foushi President
Al Marin Vice President
Bill Wilson Membership Chairman
Bill Freeland Treasurer
Dave Sirak Secretary
Walter Blanca Facilities Chairman
Jim Lackey Chief Flight Instructor
Eric Barnett Safety Officer
Barry Vaught Photographer
Michael Vivona Webmaster
President’s Corner
John Foushi
President
Riegl USA takes to the Air! Recently, Club members and Riegl employee, Vijay Persaud and
Bret Bienkowski test flew one of the biggest Drones we have ever seen. It measures 6’ x 6’
and weighs 55 pounds. It is driven by four motors, each turning two 20” props. That is a total
of eight props. Power is supplied by 8-10,000 mAh, 6 cell LiPo batteries. They did not
announce the test flight in advance. Hopefully, we will try and have them inform us when
they are coming out to test fly this wonderful machine. I will send out an email and let you
know the date and time.
Riegl USA Update They have informed us that the delays they were having were due to
permit approval. They now have their construction permits from the City of Apopka. We
should see major activity underway. Again, please do not fly over the construction personnel
or equipment.
Work Party One more Camera was installed on the North side of the Club House, thanks to
Bill Freeland and Walter Blanca. The new camera is not operational yet. Bill will let us know
as soon as it is up and running
Summer Fun Fly was a success and thrilling. I first want to give a lot of credit to our CD’s Dave
Sirak and Jerry O’Keefe. Their hard work organizing the event and handling the registration
was done in a very professional manner. Credit also goes to our Judges, Orlando Frets, Steve
Homenda, Jim Lackey and Neil Rivera. They did a great job running the flight line. Also, Fred
Hale who clocked the events with his antiquated stopwatch. As usual, our Safety crew, led by
Eric Barnett and Mark Culberson did a great job keeping the Quad flying and the airplane
flying apart. And at times, that wasn’t easy! The most exciting event had to be the Quad
racing and if you weren’t there, you wouldn’t believe how fast those little machines go and
they are very agile. When all the events were over, three men rose to victory lane.
Brian Provost
First Place Winner
Winner(Airplane Glo)
Michael Vivona
First Place
(Airplane Electric)
Abel Almaguer
First Place Winner
(Quad Racing)
Each First Place Winner was presented with a $25.00 Gift Card.
I want to give a “Special Thanks” to the Rotoracers Club members that provided us with the
exciting Quad events. Their crews were very organized and dedicated to the RC hobby. We
will be inviting them to our December Air Show! Again, thanks to all our members for
making this event possible.
John Foushi
President RCACF
Eric Barnett
Safety Officer
THE
SAFETY
ZONE
Hi everyone, and welcome to The Safety Zone!
If you have been out to the field lately you may have noticed a few changes.
RIEGL USA has started construction in the south east corner of the field. If at any time
someone is in that corner…it is to be considered a “NO-FLY-ZONE.” Before flying, I ask
that you take your time to look around. Know if someone is in the field, who is flying,
how many planes are in the air and announce your intentions loudly like ”coming out” or
“taking off.” We all want to stay safe, but that takes everyone of us working together to
make that happen. As always, follow all RCACF club rules and AMA rules. Remember
that we are only as safe as our weakest link!
For your safety and convenience RCACF now offers a Battery Disposal Bin located in front
of the Info Center. To dispose of a battery simply put it (with the connector and balance
plug still in place) inside the bin and lock the top down. We will do the rest! When
disposing of a battery you must leave the connector and balance plug in place. We
cannot dispose of any batteries that have a cut wire on it. Remember that the
batteries in the bin are bad or damaged. Do not remove or use any of these batteries.
Do not puncture them or try to set them on fire. We all know that the batteries we use
are expensive. But keep in mind that no one throws away a good battery. Do not try to
use a battery once it’s been discarded.
Eric Barnett ✈
Al Marin
Vice President
Why Lighter Planes Fly Better
Does your Plane: Learn - Why Lighter Planes Fly Better
a. Fly like a brick instead of a feather?
b. Accelerate in the down lines instead of maintain a slow speed?
c. Snap with high elevator instead of flip?
d. Hover at 3/4 throttle instead of at idle?
e. Lumber out of a torque roll instead of rocket up out of sight?
f. Lose speed in the vertical ascents instead of accelerate?
g. Rock back and forth in a Harrier instead of being rock solid?
h. Fall like a rock in a Parachute instead of stopping on a dime?
i. Mush through a wall instead of banging into it?
j. Land like a tank instead of bird?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then guess what? Your plane is too heavy!
Sure, putting in a bigger engine will resolve some of the issues, but other aspects will get
worse, especially the slow 3D maneuvers. Your plane is too heavy from a variety of
reasons. There isn't one component that you can change to magically transform your
lead sled into a competitive IMAC competitor or a nimble 3D killer machine, but don't
worry, we can help.
The parts which are too heavy on your plane are probably everything but the servo wire,
control horns, fuel tank, links and covering. Yes, your fuselage, canopy, tail feathers,
wings, tires, wheel pants, cowl, wing tube, stab tube, tail wheel assembly, pilot, landing
gear, spinner, instrument panel, batteries and maybe your engine are too heavy. Some
things you can change easily, some are more difficult, and some are just not worth the
time and expense. You determine the time and money you want to invest to improve
your plane's performance.
IMPORTANT NOTE: We just mentioned 16 culprits of an overweight plane. To obtain a
light plane, you must lighten many components. If you lightened each component by just
one ounce, you would save a pound of weight in your plane. Save 2 ounces per part and
you've saved 2 pounds, and 3 ounces is three pounds. Lightening just a few parts won't
have a profound effect on your plane's performance, so either do many things, or don't
do anything at all.
Pick up a half gallon of milk. It weighs about 4 pounds. Your 1/3 scale plane could be
hauling around more weight than that unnecessarily. Think about how much better your
plane will fly without that excess weight. Typical 40% planes are 10 pounds heavier than
they should be. Most of the excess weight is in the fuselage, hatch area, cowl, and
landing gear.
Some weights to shoot for if you want the ultimate in performance:
* 72" wingspan (40 cc engine class) - 11 lbs.
* 80" wingspan (50 cc engine class) - 13 lbs.
* 96" wingspan (80cc engine class) - 18 lbs.
* 103" wingspan (100 cc engine class) - 21 lbs.
•118" wingspan (150 cc engine class) - 27 lbs.
• 123" wingspan ( 160 cc engine class) - 31 lbs.
Planes in these classes could weigh in at these weights if they were designed and built
with light weight in mind. Careful attention to every detail is necessary to achieve these
weights. There are a few aircraft companies which offer aircraft which can be built to the
weights listed above. Most of the other manufacturers' aircraft, whether they are kits,
ARF's or ARC's, produce sport planes which can be lightened but will never be
exceptionally light planes without major changes to the cowl, fuselage, wings and tail
feathers. You can reasonably lighten planes so far before thinking about a new airplane
altogether.
Planes of these weights must be carefully designed and tested. Strength is required in
areas of high stress, and these areas are often defined through field testing of
prototypes. We don't recommend that you take a hole saw to your current airplane
unless you know what you are doing because you could weaken it and the results could
be disastrous.
The weights of the planes described above are achieved by stripping off all unnecessary
components such as pilot, instrument panel, and wheel pants and the use of standard
mufflers rather than canister mufflers, wooden propellers, light cowl, CF parts, Li Ion
batteries and more. An airplane which is the ultimate in light weight must be designed in
at the very beginning, however, trying to do the best you can with the airplane you have
can have very positive results.
Credit: http://www.troybuiltmodels.com
Fly Safe
Al Marin
Barry Vaught
Photographer
Hello Pilots!
I hope some of you were able to attend the recent Fun Fly. Some of it was broadcast live on
Periscope. Join Twitter, download the Periscope app and see live events all over the world.
Thank you to all club members for the opportunity to photograph your aircraft through the
years. I now have an excellent opportunity to help spread RCACF, and our love of radio
control model aircraft, the fun, camaraderie, the year round flying, throughout the world.
Please see the September 2015 Fly RC for some photographs from Top Gun 2015. The May
RC Model World features Fl Jets 2015. RC Model World is available as an app and at the
following link http://us.trapletshop.com/rcmw-magazine . 12O’Clock High is also in, and on
the cover of the March 2015 Model Aviation Magazine. This month is dedicated to Jason
Bauer and his F-16 at Top Gun 2015.
Support your RCACF and spread the love.
Does anyone have any airplanes they would like to photograph, or photographs they would
like to show us?
Thank you,
Barry Vaught
407-256-2240
[email protected]
Michael Vivona
Webmaster/Chief Editor
Several times a year I will post upcoming Airshows around the Central Florida area. As I was
going over the list I noticed that they were all in either Canada, Washington State, and so on.
Then, the realization that this is August in Florida hit me. I can remember my younger years
working the flight line at the Orlando international Airport in August. The stark reality - sun
was blazing hot, the heat rising off the tarmac was nearly unbearable, also the likelihood that
a hurricane would be swirling off our coast in August was quite high. The daily afternoon rains
usually causing our humidity to be close to 100%. There were times that I would dread when a
plane would come in for fuel. Swinging open the door of the fuel truck that had been sitting in
the blazing sun was just the start of it. It was like climbing into a barbecue grill with a steering
wheel. I would drive out to the plane the whole time saying ouch, ouch, ouch, as I touched
the hot steering wheel with my fingertips. Maneuvered the large truck to the end of the
wingtip, then climb out and proceed to pull the very heavy bulky 6 inch hose near the belly of
the aircraft. Connect up and begin fueling for the next 30 minutes. The only thing that made it
tolerable was while standing on the ladder under the wing of the aircraft that has been at
altitude for many hours. The underneath of the wings would freeze at that altitude, then once
on the ground the high humidity would cause a thin layer of frost to form under the wing. I
would scrape it off and rub it on the back of my neck. I worked there for 8 1/2 years, but I
digress. With all that in mind I now have sympathy for those promoters of the Airshows.
We at the RCACF are very blessed to have nice sturdy shelters to block us from the suns rays
and high-speed fans to create that gentle breeze that is typically lacking this time of year.
Maybe a snow cone maker might be an enjoyable addition, who knows..
Moral to the story, even though it's hot as blazes, come on out and enjoy the flying, enjoy the
camaraderie, enjoy the day. See you at the RCACF.
Michael Vivona
Next general club meeting – Sept 12th 10AM
A great big THANK YOU to everyone who supports our great club.
We could not do it without your continued help.
Have a wonderful day…
Come Fly With Us