MAY 2001
Monthly Newsletter -- ONLINE version!
Pullman - Moscow

MEETING NOTICE

May 1 at 7:00pm
Eric's Café Banquet Room, Palouse Empire Mall, Moscow
Call any club officer if you need directions

Dave had selected Saturday, April 21 for the event. He did a great job, because the weather was partly cloudy with a breeze from the northwest and about 60 degrees. The breeze got a bit brisk at times and would switch directions, but didn't cause any real problems.

Dave Walker, Joe Bolden and I made a recon of the park on the Wednesday before the event to identify a good area for the runway. We found what looked like a really great spot at the north end of the park. It would give us plenty of room for flying and also good access for the spectators.

Mel and Joe went to the park on Friday to mow a runway to make takeoffs possible in the thick grass. They found that we had to be at the far south end of the park rather than at the north end where we had planned. The Saturday soccer games were scheduled to last until 1pm, with other games later in the afternoon. They found a location at the south end of the park that was the least swampy and mowed a more than adequate runway, finishing just before it started to rain. They did a great job.

When I arrived at 11:30am on Saturday, I was not really happy to see that we would have to haul equipment to the far end of the park, but with some help from Mel, Joe, and other club members we got all the plastic fencing, fence posts, field equipment, planes, etc. to the runway. Since we were so far from the parking area, Larry Bobisud stayed at the bridge near the parking area to direct people to the flying area.

Mountain View Park is somewhat "V" shaped, with the wide part of the "V" at the north end. Our runway was located on west side of the bottom of the "V", running north-south. The west side of the runway was bordered by a creek. We decided that the best way to set up for the event was to put the spectator area on the east side of the runway. Since the wind was usually from the northwest, we would have to take off to the north. We would then fly over the farmland east of the park to avoid flying over the nearby houses on the west side of the park, and the soccer fields at the north end of the park.

The soft ground was a big advantage in putting up the plastic fence that would separate the spectators from the runway and pit area. It took only a few minutes to drive the steel posts and put up the fence. We were ready to go just before one o'clock.

Mel and Joe signed in the trainees as they arrived and gave them a pre-flight briefing on what to expect and how to operate the controls. Trainees were assigned slots depending on when they signed in. This was a great help in keeping things moving on the flight line.

I tried a takeoff with one of the club trainers. I had replaced the Tower 40 with a Magnum 46, just to make sure it would have enough power to take off. No such luck. We would have to hand launch the trainers.

I flew my 1/4 scale Sig clipped wing "J-3 Cub" for a demonstration flight. It has a ST90 for power and wide 4.5 inch wheels, so it didn't have much problem getting off the ground. I flew for a few minutes, made a low pass over the runway. Then I made a landing approach that was a bit too high, went around again and landed. The spectators seemed to like it.

Eric Horn flew his Goldberg "Ultimate" biplane. It is powered with a ST90 also. He was also able to take off with no problems and put on a great aerobatic flight including loops, rolls, hammer head stalls, and knife edge flight. He got a round of applause when he landed.

Dave Walker and I were the instructor pilots. Ted Frisbee and Les Grammer assisted with starting engines and performed the hand launches for the trainers. Dave and I had a good time with the kids, some of them hardly needing more than a few pointers to be able to fly. Others over controlled at the beginning and needed more coaching. The adults generally needed more time to gain control than the kids needed.

Eric Horn flew another demonstration flight with his "Ultimate" during the afternoon to give the trainer pilots a break. He put in another great flight, but noticed a strange noise. On landing, he found that his engine mount had broken loose! The engine was inside the cowling, but not attached to the plane. He made it back to the runway for a good landing, but the "Ultimate" was out of action for the day.

I think it was my third dual-control flight that ended in a deadstick. The plane landed a few yards short of the runway. Bruce Bumgarner commented that it threw up a lot of dust as it hit. Ted Frisbee brought the plane back and explained that it wasn't dust, it was water! The plane had landed in the only puddle available. The nose wheel was covered with mud and needed some adjustment to get it pointed back in line with the fuselage.

Dave made a deadstick landing in the field outside the park and found that the main landing gear was ripped off. The decision was made to remove the nose gear, reinstall the ply main gear mount and fly without landing gear. Hand launches and landings were actually easier, and the plane seemed to fly better without the extra weight and drag. The only problem was that Dave broke a prop on one landing.

After a couple of more flights, I noticed that the firewall on the trainer I was flying had broken loose. This must have been damaged when the plane hit the puddle, but held together until the last landing on the runway. The landing gear should probably been removed from this trainer too. That put one of the trainers out of action, since there was not enough time to repair it at the field.

Dave was having problems with the engine on his trainer dying part way through a flight. He tried different fuel and a new glow plug. He had LOTS of experience making dead stick landings, most of which he made on the runway. Problems with the engine finally put that trainer out of action.

The last trainee was put on Larry Bobisud's backup trainer, a .25 powered bird. It flew well and the flight was uneventful.

We got everyone who signed up with Parks and Rec in the air, and also signed up a few people who showed up at the park to watch. All together we had 18 student pilots on the buddy boxes. That averages out to six per hour. Since we had only one of the trainers in the air at a time and took time for demonstration flights, that's not bad.

Mechanical difficulties and landing damage slowed things down, but thankfully there were no crashes. Some trainees may have had to wait longer than they might have liked for their turn, but overall, I think it was a successful event. We can hope that this experience with Parks and Rec will result in plans to include a model flying field in a new park.

Many thanks to all the club members who came out, particularly to Mel Colvin and Joe Bolden for mowing, running the pre-flight orientation, and keeping things running smoothly; to Dave Walker for the great job of trainer flying and for picking such a great day for the event; to Ted Frisbee and Les Grammer for their assistance to the trainer pilots and for doing the hand launches; to Eric Horn for his great demonstration flights; to Larry Bobisud for being the "greeter" and directing spectators and trainees to the flying area, and for providing his backup trainer; and to Pat Gates for keeping everyone entertained with his Zagi glider flights.

What did we learn?

Things will not turn out as you planned. You can't have too many trainer aircraft. Landing gear are very good for tearing up planes if you don't land on the runway. If you're going to hand-launch the trainer, you might as well remove the landing gear. This type of event takes a lot of people to set up and run, but it's worth the effort.

At the Last Meeting

Upcoming Events

CLUB OFFICERS

Comments? prr@erichorn.com