K-FACTOR
August 2020 Volume 49 Issue 8
Official Publication of the National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics
Pattern designs are definitely changing! Archie Stafford’s new Cuantic on the left and his ‘ol faithful Andes on the right. Both designs represent forward thinking in our community. ~Photo by: Archie Stafford
August 2020 K-Factor | 1
In This Issue: Team Trials
3
NSRCA Officers
4
Member Article
6
District News 7 F3P 18 IMAC 19
2 | K-Factor August 2020
Contact Us
20
NSRCA Application
21
Team Trials
FAI F3A World Championship Team Trials The NSRCA is excited to announce the commencement of the FAI F3A World Championship Team Trials. The Team Trials will be held in Muncie, IN, on September 24-27, 2020. Bill Pritchett will be the Event Director (ED). Check in and aircraft processing will be on September 24, preliminary competition will be held on September 25, with semifinals and finals held on the following days, September 26 -27, respectively. A USA Team will be selected during the competition to represent the USA in the 2021 World Championship Competition. Jon Carter, our judging coordinator, will be soliciting judges from all NSRCA districts. FAI pilots will be receiving entry information from the AMA shortly. NSRCA Board of Directors Charlie Barrera President NSRCA Herb Kurlan USA Team Selection Committee Chairman
August 2020 K-Factor | 3
NSRCA Officers
Hear from Your NSRCA Officers President
Charlie Barrera 2627 Silver Shadow | Conroe, TX. 77304 936.404.0063 charliebarrera@consolidated.net Hello again, everyone. It’s hot! So, you ask how hot is it? It’s so hot I saw a chicken lay an omelet. It’s so hot I saw squirrels picking up pine nuts with potholders. It’s so hot, I saw two trees fighting over a dog. All kidding aside, it is hot here in Southeast Texas. I’m lucky to have a morning field, where the sun is at my back in the morning and the temperatures are milder. I’ve been going out just about sunrise and getting a few flights before noon, when the temperatures rise to the mid 90’s and the humidity is close behind. We’ve had a couple of 100-degree days already! It’s important to stay hydrated, and out of the sun under shade. This field has adequate cover for some relief from the rays of the sun. We had our first contest here in my region of District 6. The contest was in Lake Charles, LA, at the LARKS field. Monroe Michealis was the CD. It was well run, and Louisiana and LARKS Club hospitality is top rate! It was good to get “back in the saddle” so to speak. We had thirteen competitors brave the heat and the rainy weather. It was forecast for rain the entire weekend, but failed to materialize, except for a few sprinkles. The sprinkles did bring windy conditions, though. Winds were
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metered at close to 20 mph during the early afternoon. One saving grace was that the winds were mostly down the runway. However, it still created concern for proper wind correction during the sequence, and concern for landing in the gusty conditions. Fortunately, there were no major mishaps. Needless to say, there is a lot of money invested in a modern 2-meter airplane. We flew five rounds on Saturday, and the sixth round was flown on Sunday. I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter how much you practice; you must be in front of judges to really learn to fly the pattern well. There is something to be said for the pressure of competition and the feedback of grades – it is necessary to perfect your skills. Social distancing and proper hygiene were emphasized and practiced throughout the two days of the contest. We are still threatened with the C-19 and must not take our health for granted. Our next contest in my area will be the Fort Bend Pattern Contest, on the second weekend of September. Contests are usually not scheduled during the month of August because of the heat. If you are interested in attending and are in the area, click on this link www.fortbendrc.com.We’re hoping that as the year progresses, pattern competition returns to normal. The Board of Directors has been discussing the possibility of extending our current sequences another two years to 2022-2023. Because of the pandemic, many contests have been canceled, limiting the opportunity to compete. This being our first year with new sequences, it may be wise to continue our current schedule. Your DVP has taken a straw poll in his respective district as to the preferences of the members. As of this writing in mid-July, the poll seems to be split. AMA contest regulations require sequences to be revised no later than every four years for all classes except Masters, which must be revised every two years. Several years ago, the NSRCA chose to revise all classes every two years to align with the publication of the FAI F3A sequences which are changed every two years. In past years, Intermediate and Advanced
sequences were revised every three years. If the Masters sequence is kept another two years, a waiver from the AMA rules would be required. I’m hoping you have had a chance to respond to your DVP to express your preferences. A sanction has been granted by the AMA for the FAI F3A Team Trials. Bill Pritchett will be the CD. The Team Trials will be held in Muncie, IN, on September 24-27, 2020. Announcements have been posted on the NSCRA web site, Facebook page and the respective District pages. I’m excited to hold our Team Trials and pick a USA team representing us in the 2021 World competition. As you may know, the USA will be the host country in 2021 for the World competition. I’m hoping that you plan on attending. Our last World competition that we hosted was in 2011. It was an incredible experience for me to watch some of the top world competitors that I had only read about in the magazines. Until next time… Fly straight; keep your radiuses constant, and stay in the box. Charlie Barrera…OUT!
Vice President
Position Open
NSRCA Officers Secretary
ones as we enjoy the summer season drink lots of water, eat nutritious foods, and stay safe and healthy! Regards, Heedo Yun
correct at 3,100 rpm and will still probably fiddle with it as I get used to this new style of flying. I’ve seen some other guys that use a higher mid position rpm so I may try that next.
Treasurer
Once I take off, I switch it to position three which is the 1,300-rpm idle. Then I settle in at the mid-throttle position for horizontal cruise. The really cool thing is that from horizontal cruise to vertical you only add a few clicks and then only back down a few clicks on the down line. You don’t have to go to idle on the down line. If you do the plane gets too slow really quick. The governor keeps the prop spinning at the throttle position you choose and does a tremendous braking job at keeping the propeller from speeding up. A big side benefit is that the braking effect is regenerative and is actually putting milliamps back into your battery. I’m landing after the advanced pattern having used less than 2,000 amps. I plan on tracking this feature and may be able to use some really light batteries in the 3,500 range and not worry about running out of juice. Talk about a game changer.
Heedo Yun 4610 Willow Pond Ct. \ Sugar Land, Tx 77479 281.512.9163 | Heedo.Yun@gmail.com Hello, this is your newly appointed Secretary, Heedo Yun. I was appointed by the BoD at the June meeting and will be serving you until end of this term which is December 2020. As you may know, Justin has been serving two men’s jobs Secretary and DVP-6, thanks Justin! I’m sure he is happy to have me and I look forward to taking some of the weight off his shoulders going forward. Please allow me to introduce myself briefly - I live in Sugar Land, Texas, belong to D6, Fort Bend RC Club in Rosenberg, Texas, fly Advanced class pattern with my 2-meter Etude, retired, enjoy pattern flying very much, and also enjoy flying giant planes during pattern offseason. So far, I have been involved in a few BoD special meetings and the July meeting. I’m still learning how to do my job as Secretary including setting up BoD meetings, documenting meeting minutes, helping new members, and other businesses. Please, feel free to reach out to introduce yourself and offer any advice/feedback for me. So far, I am enjoying the experience very much and more importantly, happy to be able to serve the NSRCA and its members! 2020 is a special year for everyone globally because of the mysterious virus effect. So sad to see that many pattern contests and Nats were cancelled as a precaution for the virus. Hope we have twice as strong contests and Nats in 2021 to make up for it! It is getting warmer every day. Please take good care of yourselves and your loved
John Decker 2878 Carrera Ct | League City, TX 77573 281-627-9474 | johndecker@sbcglobal.net Recently I’ve been following the news about the D3 ESC from Poland. It’s not an ESC in the traditional sense and is instead an actual governor.Which means you set it up totally different than a Castle Creations or Jeti Spin. You buy it specifying which motor it’s going to be mated with and it comes already programmed and set up and tested for your particular motor. I bought one from Jason Arnold of Precision Aero Products in Australia for the Pyro 650 on my Adverrun and after flying it, I ordered a second one for my backup Alchemy the next day. I like this product. One nice thing is that it only weighs 70 grams. That was a nice weight savings from the Jeti Spin 99 I had in the plane. The heat sink is small so you must be sure put in where the air can flow across it. I set up three conditions on one switch and a separate kill switch. I used a Jeti Box to set up channel three to be 1000 μs at idle and 2000 μs at full throttle and made sure it was reversed since I use Futaba. The first position was zero rpm at idle for ground handling. The second position was set up at 300 rpm using the AFR function for idle at takeoff and landing plus spin entry. The third position was 1,300 rpm at idle. I took my rpm readings with only the back propeller on the Adverrun and I used a tachometer. I had to adjust my throttle curve somewhat to get the mid-range
The change in rpm is so swift you must program in some slow “servo” speed to build in some lag. The first three times I landed at 300 rpm I was so short of center it was almost embarrassing. That breaking action is no joke. The flying speed up and down is very constant and not having to move the throttle stick as much is really helpful when flying and taking some load off the brain. I can’t wait to get used to it and I think it will be helpful to improving my flying. One other note. Between November and the end of the year we are holding elections for the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer positions of the NSRCA. While I have enjoyed the position, if anyone would like to volunteer for the Treasurer position I will gladly help in the transition. It doesn’t take too much time but with as many irons I have in the fire it would be helpful if someone else took over the position. If no one steps up, I’ll continue but you won’t hurt my feelings at all if you would like to be involved in shaping the future of our sport. Call me if you would like to learn more about the position of Treasurer and let’s get your name on the ballot. Always land wheels down, John Decker
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Member article
Making the Rudder Removable by Don Munson
{Editor’s Note: This article was part of Don Munson’s District 2 Article published in the April 2015 issue of the KFactor. Enjoy!} From time to time I find that I must transport my airplane in my small car. The car was certainly not designed with pattern airplanes in mind and one might think that it is impossible to get a 2 meter into it. It is possible, but doing so requires some varsity grade gymnastics and removing the tail feathers from the airplane. Like most of our airplanes, the horizontal stabilizers and elevators can be removed fairly easily, but this is not the case for the rudder. The rudder on the Prolog comes ready to mount permanently using the supplied CA hinges, but this would leave the airplane too long to fit in my small car. To make the rudder removable I used Dubro Heavy Duty Hinges (that come with cotter pins) so that the hinge halves can separated by removing a wire that runs through the four hinges that join the rudder to the fin. To install the hinge halves, I simply enlarged the slots that were precut for the CA hinges so that they were wide enough to accept the nylon hinge halves. Ensuring that everything would line up correctly was critical if the rudder pin/wire was going to be easy to remove and reinsert. To accomplish this, all of the hinges were installed at the same time into
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both the vertical fin and the rudder using Gorilla Glue as the adhesive. Gorilla Glue works well in this application because it expands into the holes in the hinge halves and into the balsa. In this case I put the thinnest of films of glue on the hinges and used a small flat stick to put a thin layer of glue inside each of the slots. As expected, the glue foamed and expanded but only a very little pushed its way out onto the hinge line. Since I had put masking tape on the fin and rudder around the hinge slots, clean up mostly consisted of removing the tape along with the glue that had oozed out. Needless to say, it pays to dry fit everything first to be sure that the alignment is correct; and then do it again. Finally, a very small rare earth magnet was recessed into the fin to hold the wire in place and prevent it from possibly falling out during inverted flight.
SAFETY FIRST
Are your control surface hinges secure?
Districts
District News
D1 |Salvatore Piu spiurc@comcast.net
seasonal events updated here as soon as I get updated from respective CDs, and note the date that the table was last updated.
Intermediate:
There is good news in all this. D1 has held its first 2020 contest! Richard Afflerback CD’d the BCRCC contest on July 11 at the Pemberton, NJ flying site, with assistance from his dad, Robert. This was despite having Tropical Storm Fay pass through New Jersey a few hours before the event started. Four classes were represented by pilots. Three rounds were flown, with a variety of clouds through and wind conditions throughout the day, along with heat and humidity which made hydration important to keep up with!
CT•ME•MA•NH•NJ•NY•PA•RI•VT
As of July 5th, the NSRCA site notes only 3 pilots out of 37 NSRCA D1 pilots as certified judges for AMA/F3A. I know several of us D1 pilots like to get certified during our annual judge-training session, but that did not happen this year. NSRCA members can go to the NSRCA site’s judging section, download the material to prepare for the on-line test, and take the on-line test to become certified the current 2-years of sequences. This reminds me that with this year’s contest season being devasted by Covid-19 adverse impacts, the NSRCA board had discussed at the possibility that the current 2-year sequence be extended out at least another year or two. No decision has been made on this concept as of early July 2020, as this decision does not need to me made for some time. I have solicited D1 feedback via email and a Facebook poll, which will probably be closed by the time this month’s k-factor edition is “published”. D1 contest seasons seems to be fluctuating with Covid-19 fluctuations. While some July events were still scheduled to occur, some August events have already been cancelled. There are two places to get the latest updates. First, if contests are planned, they should be listed in the NSRCA event listing under D1. CD’s do need to enter their events on the NSRCA site, with the added benefit of having contestants preregister. The second place is on the D1’s site within the NSRCA: I keep a table list of
Social distancing was utilized for most of the event, with an occasional need to wear masks. Judges typically wore masks, as well as callers. Pilots did not wear masks, as we all know that no one should be in front of them during the flight anyway. At least one pilot elected to not need a caller, relying on a memorized sequence. Here are the results: Club Class:
1) 2) 3)
Masters: 1) Joseph Lachowski FAI: 1) 2) 3)
1)
Robert Afflerback Jon Radway Bob Both
David Lockhart Salvatore Piu Richard Afflerback
Domencq Smith
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Districts
D2 | Tim Pritchett 1417 Deer Forest Drive Fort Mill, SC 29707 | tjpritchett@aol.com DC•DE•MD•NC•SC•VA
When January hit, we were personally in the throes of a move from the Charlotte area back to Spartanburg SC. I was expectantly awaiting life to slow down, just in time for our pattern season to begin. Then the Rona hit, then the riots started, then work travel began, among other life turmoil I won’t go into. In the midst this, all of the NATS harangue started, and that added a 2” layer of icing on the cake. Then, the cherry on it all, my longtime friend and Assistant TO the VP in the district decides to ABANDON us and retire to Florida! Who goes there? (ok, everyone I guess…) I stuck around after the event was over to start the process of test-flying and trimming my new Shinden. After most pilots departed, Dave Lockhart and I had the opportunity to watch a full-scale ultralight demo some basic aerobatics, including stall turns and a highly-crabbed low fly-by!
Maneuver complete, Sal Piu
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So, we add some fond farewells and best wishes to Steve and Anne Franc; congratulations to them, and a very fortunate District 3 as the recipient of their transition. Many of you across the country may not know Steve, but over the ensuing 3 years of our tenure together, he has been a very reliable sounding board for me. Maybe you think a lot of my thoughts and ideas are stupid, so imagine how bad it would be if I didn’t have Steve as a filter! Steve however is most known for his prolific artwork on our D2 FB page. I could say a lot more about Steve, or I could wax on, blathering about the latest NSRCA hoopla, but I think I’ll just defer to Steve’s work over the past three years, and let it speak for itself. This article is dedicated to a dedicated pattern flier, administrative colleague, and good friend. We’ll all miss you Steve and Anne!
Districts
D3 | Robert Campbell AL•FL•GA•MS•PR•TN
No Article Submitted
August 2020 K-Factor | 9
Districts are encouraged to do so. I’ve always paid mine.
D4 | Scott McNickle P.O. Box 163 | Mt. Pleasant, OH 43939 nelson_jett@comcast.net | 740.769.7882 IN•KY•MI•OH•WV
Lemme ‘Splain Ya Somethin’ There is no NSRCA Building. There’s no pretty, perky receptionist to greet you. There is no custodial staff. There is no IT Department, no HR Department, no R&D people, no sales staff. There is no squad of hyper-competent secretaries to make sure the officers are actually saying what they think they’re saying when they write stuff. It’s a cliché, but the NSRCA is just you and me. The officers, national level as well as district level, are there because someone asked them to be there. Elections are very, very seldom contested. On the rare occasions that they are contested few members vote. Most of the officers hold, or formerly held, positions of great responsibility in the business world. Some run their own companies. They’re a bunch of solid, wellgroomed men comfortable with the ways of business. I’m an outlier in this respect. So far as I know I’m the only one who spent my working years trading sweat for money. Regarding grooming, well, I’ve heard of it. Officers receive no compensation. I read somewhere (can’t find it now) that they are not required to pay NSRCA dues, but
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Officers meet at least once a month by teleconference. Until a couple of months ago that meant telephone meetings but lately we’ve been doing video chats. Since we’re a national organization, the meetings start at 9:00 PM Eastern time which is a little uncomfortably late for me. That works out to 6:00 PM Pacific, which is uncomfortably early for the west coast guys. Sometimes they fulfill their obligations while driving home from work. Officers are required to provide a monthly column, usually on the subject of their choice. There is no editorial policy and all columns are self-edited after Scott and Jan McHarg compile the magazine and send us a proof copy. Not much of a chore for some of us but others don’t have a bottomless vat of BS to dip stuff out of, so it can be a real burden. {Editor’s Note - Jan and I work really hard to put together a magazine that each of you enjoy. We do leave it to the individual authors of each article to write what they want presented and not place a bunch of demands on them. We hope that you appreciate that this magazine is not edited for content and what’s on the minds of the authors is exactly what’s presented here for you - SM} Board meetings are open and respectful. Members don’t always agree on topics and many opinions are presented. No one, and I mean no one, dominates or bullies the rest of the group. When a vote goes against a member’s wishes, in my experience all have accepted the outcome. The Board is charged with ‘Promoting the sport of radio-controlled precision aerobatics. That’s a pretty broad job description and can lead to some different interpretations of what’s best. The recent decision to cancel the Nats was a case in point. The Covid-19 crisis put us all in a tough spot, with dire predictions ruling the day when we began to consider the Nats in April. We tabled discussion of the topic in our April meeting in hopes that better data would be available in a month. As you all know, figuring out just what to believe and where things are going is now a nailing-jello-to-the-wall proposition. After
much discussion we decided to cancel our participation in the Nats. Some votes were confident, others reluctant, but the first vote was unanimous. Conditions kept changing and getting more confusing. Opinions from members came in on all sides. I think the Board was heading in the direction of changing our collective mind, but then the AMA refunded everyone’s entry fees and the rest is history. As I’ve written several times, pretty much everything I was looking forward to this year has been cancelled. Cancellations continue, the latest I know about was the Chicago Marathon being cancelled yesterday. The universal reaction to these cancellations has been “I’m sorry you had to cancel, see you next year.” Except for the NSRCA. We’ve received a lot of heat over deciding to cancel. There have been accusations from people who “know somebody” of improper influences, bullying, personal agendas and such. That’s not the case. In particular the charge that Arch Stafford somehow had an anti-Nats agenda which he forced upon the Board is false. I have known Arch for many years and acknowledge that he is something of an acquired taste, I have to say that he served us well as President. He allowed everyone their say in meetings and went along with positions contrary to his opinions (schedule difficulty, for one) when the Board made those decisions. So, here’s the Put Up or Shut Up line: All National offices…President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, are up for election this year. District Vice President positions come up on varying schedules, but my term ends (and I term out) next year. If you feel the leadership of this group has failed you, now’s your chance. The only requirements to run for office are NSRCA membership and a pulse. No excuses.
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Districts Barnett. sharp11blade@gmail.com 4. MACK Sunflower Classic Pattern Contest. September 12-13. CD: Joe Dunnaway. dunnaway@ hbcomm.net More information in the following link. Please consider preregister if you are planning to attend by contacting the CD or pre-register in the following link: https://www.nsrca.us/index.php/listevents?option=com_jevents&task=cat. listevents&offset=1&categor y_ fv=588&Itemid=391
D5 | Vicente Bortone vincebrc@gmail.com IL•IA•KS•MN•MO•NE•ND•SD•WI
As usual, I like to provide these month D5 activities. As we all know, the several contests have been cancelled. However, I have got some good news since there is a chance that we finally will be able to have some contests. Here are: 1. New one day contest. Saturday, August 01, 2020 10:00am. The Mid Missouri Radio Control Association through Jeff Buchner invites Pattern Flyers to a very laid back 1-day pattern contest in Columbia, Missouri. The field will be available Friday afternoon for those who want to come early and stay the night. There will be a pilots’ meeting at 10:30 am with flying starting at 1111:30. The sun will dictate our start time as we will be facing east. We will fly as many rounds as everyone wants to and call it a contest and winners will be announced. There will be no entry fee. Lunch will be provided and a donation will be asked to cover the lunch food and any excess will go to the Club’s charity “The Central Missouri Food Bank’s Buddy Pack Program. Directions to the field can be found on the club website: http:// www.mmrca.org/ Jeff Buchner will be the CD and his email is: jbuchner@ midcitylumber.com 2. Omahawks RC Club Pattern Contest August 8-9. CANCELLED. 3. Cedar Rapids Iowa Pattern Contest. August 22-23. CD: Mark
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This month I got two articles that were submitted by two pattern friends. Enjoy: Covid-19 Infection Prevention Recommendations for Contests in 2020 The proper use of precautions can definitely help to prevent a Covid-19 infection particularly when you are away from home. A Covid-19 infection is most easily contracted from some person with an active infection who breaths, coughs, or sneezes when they are in close proximity, walking, standing, or sitting next to you, especially in a poorly ventilated area. They emit micro droplets containing the virus which you could breath in, and subsequently you could acquire an infection after a 5 to 10 day incubation period. Aerosol spread of the virus can occur at distances up to 2 meters, or 6 feet. This is where social distancing comes into play. People with symptoms from Covid-19 are considered more likely to spread the virus than those infected without symptoms (infected asymptomatic carriers). Americans are not used to viral pandemics, and many are not conforming to wearing masks, and social distancing. Many younger people with Covid-19 infections do not have severe symptoms. Many who are sick still go in to work, because they want to get paid. Therefore, we must protect ourselves from these people whether at home or on the road. Though not as easily, the Covid-19 virus can also be contracted off surfaces that have been touched by someone with an active infection, such as door knobs, TV remotes, or keyboards. After touching a contaminated surface, the virus can be contracted by rubbing your eyes, your nose, your face, or using your fingers to eat something. That is why hand washing, and the use of hand sanitizer is so
important - to protect yourself from the infection. Pattern flyers are generally older on average, and as such, are considered at higher risk for complications from a Covid-19 infection, especially with preexisting conditions including; lung disease, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, heart disease, and a immune depressed state such as treatment for cancer. The average age of mortality from Covid-19 from a recent study out of a New York City Hospital was 57.That’s the average, so most did not come from nursing homes. A Covid-19 infection causes symptoms that can include; feeling sick, nausea, diarrhea, cough, shortness of breath, fever > 100 degrees Fahrenheit, loss of sense of taste and smell. If someone has any of these symptoms, they should not expose themselves to anyone else. They should self isolate, and probably get tested. They should not come to the field, fly, or judge. If you have “allergies” and a cough - stay home. That said, I believe it is possible to carry out a pattern contest in a safe manner, and minimize the risk of participants catching a Covid-19 infection. Personally, I have stayed in a hotel during the lockdown for 3 separate weeks without a problem while following these guidelines. General Recommendations: Hand shaking should be avoided. Masks should be worn when walking, standing, or sitting in close proximity to others. The type of mask worn is not as important as the use of a mask. It shows you are following CDC guidelines, and that you do not want to get sick, and that you want to protect others from getting this viral infection. Try not to touch your face, rub your eyes, your nose, put your fingers in your mouth, or chew your nails without washing your hands. If you blow your nose, sneeze, or cough into your hand, immediately use hand sanitizer, or wash your hands with soap and water.
Districts Driving to the contest:
Contest:
Bring a cooler of food, and drinks with you to make sandwiches etc. on the road. Avoid eating in restaurants or gas stations.
Since we will be outside with good ventilation, we should be able to do social distancing (staying 6 feet apart) and wearing a mask is highly recommended.
Use hand sanitizer, or wash your hands after pumping gas. After using the toilet in a gas station, or rest stop, wash your hands, and then use the paper towel to open the door handle/ knob then toss the paper towel in the trash. Wear a mask, and maintain social distancing in the gas station, stores, or grocery store. Get carry out food that is cooked. Hotels: Hotels have really stepped up their cleaning routines in general, but you can do the following steps to protect yourself. Wipe down door knobs, handles, toilet, TV remote, and all surfaces with sanitizing wipes first thing. Wear a mask in hallways and lobby. Wash hands right after entering your room - every time. Food/Dining: Safest food is that which you prepare yourself. Bring a cooler of food, and see if you can make a number of meals. You can restock at a local grocery store. Takeout food that is cooked is also safe. Takeout uncooked food such as salads are less safe. If dining at a restaurant it is better to dine outside, and maintain social distance. Dining inside is the least safe due to decreased ventilation, and less social distancing possible. If some else is coughing in your area > leave the area! You don’t want to get this Covid-19 virus.
Flyers and callers should strongly consider wearing a mask due to close proximity. Judges will be required to wear a mask due to closer spacing. Judges should try to use their own ear pieces for the electronic scoring device. Judges should use hand sanitizer immediately after they finish judging with the electronic scoring device. Large meetings inside should be avoided if possible, or carried on outside if necessary.
Once I arrived at the field and was ready to fly, I had set it up at the flight station at our field and off I went. It worked flawlessly until about the third Maneuver into the Sequence then it locked up on me and wouldn’t call the next maneuver in the sequence but called the same one over and over again. After I landed, I restarted the App to only find out it would start calling slower and slower until it stopped again. Talking with a very Tech Savvy friend of mine who proceeded to tell me that more than likely it was a Bluetooth problem between my iPhone and the Wireless Bluetooth Speaker. He told me to just connect my phone directly to the speaker with a Lightning Speaker Stereo Cable and so that’s exactly what I did once I ordered it and it came in. Here a picture of the cable:
A group banquet is not a good idea this year, and awards should be done outside if possible with standard precautions. Mark Barnett MD 7/14/2020 -oUpdate on RC Caller and add on devices I had read an Article in the April 2020 K-Factor about guys trying the Wireless Air-Turn device for calling out their Sequences for practice. I needed one since I tend to go at a moments notice and head out to practice in a hurry, plus there isn’t many Pattern fliers in our area that I can depend on at a moments notice to call for me so I decided to order the Air-Turn device for myself to try it out and see if it would be useful for me or not. When I received it, I downloaded the RC Caller App to my iPhone and thought I’d give it a trial run at my house first to make sure everything worked for me properly and it did it seemingly without a problem. This picture shows how the Air-Turn device:
Two days later after receiving the cable to connect between my iPhone and the Bluetooth Wireless Speaker and I was back out to the field to set it all up again but this time with my phone connected directly to the Wireless Speaker through the stereo port on the speaker itself. This picture shows all components including the speaker:
I connected my iPhone directly to the speaker and then turned it on, then pulled the RC Caller App up and turned it on, then turned on the Calling Enabled button. Now I turned on my Air-Turn foot pedal, which connected by Bluetooth to
August 2020 K-Factor | 13
Districts my phone instantly. It went through the entire Sequence without a single problem. The Air-Turn BT-200/S-2 has two push foot buttons on it which can move your maneuvers either forward or you can go back to the last maneuver if you decide you want to try it again while practicing. I find this unit to be very helpful to me since I do a lot of early morning flights when I have the field to myself and can think about what I’m feeling with the plane. I thought I would just pass this information on to anyone who may be interested or
thinking about purchasing one as it is well worth the money for sure. By the way any Bluetooth Wireless Speaker will work as long as it has a Stereo plug in port on it. I have attached some photos so you can see what I used in my working setup! As far as using it on an Android driven device I’m not sure if the setup would be the same or not but either way, I’m betting it would work just as easy also. Here a picture how the RC Caller screen looks like when everything is ready to go:
E n jo y yo ur d a y at t h e f i e ld !
PRECISION MODEL PRODUCTS
100 West First Street, Deer Park, Texas 77536 281-479-9600 • www.tru-turn.com
14 | K-Factor August 2020
Everyone be Safe and Enjoy your Pattern Flying! Donald Vickroy 7/15/20
Districts
D6 |Justin Wells 20811 Surrey Creek Ct. | Katy, TX 77450 832-356-6408 | justin@jtwells.com AR•CO•LA•NM•OK•TX
District 6 has successfully completed our second contest of the season, the Gulf Coast Pattern Championship in Sulphur, LA June 27-28. Monroe Michaelis did a fantastic job and was a gracious host to the group. It was a family and club effort, and very well done. A special thanks to Denise Michaelis for running the scoring for us! With 12 pilots in attendance, social distancing was easily practiced as the LARKS field has plenty of room to spread out. Saturday started off with overcast skies, which allowed us to start before 11am. The winds picked up from the south throughout the day, by round five everyone had to be on their toes. It felt good to finally get to fly in front of judges and have a baseline to start the season off. Sunday’s weather was more touch and go as it started off nice and sunny, but scattered showers and 18mph south winds settled in and proved to be the norm for round 6. The most exciting flight on Sunday was Rich Whitlow, a nice rainstorm moved in as he had two maneuvers left in his last round of Advanced. Rich finished the round, soaked, and the plane unscathed.
Gulf Coast Pattern Championship Scores 1st-3rd Intermediate: 1. Matt Baccarri 2. Justin Wells 3. Mike Harrison Advanced: 1. Michael Johncock 2. Todd Nolte 3. Heedo Yun Masters: 1. Donald Ramsey 2. Gary Kropat 3. Charlie Barrera FAI: 1. 2.
Mark Hunt Mike Harrison
Mark has the biggest smile I’ve seen to date! For more info on his designs you can visit http://insightrc.com/ 2020 Contest Look Ahead: LAMA Dacono, CO - August 29/30 Ft. Bend Rosenberg, TX - September 12/13 Space City Katy, TX - September 26/27 *new dates Brazos Valley Pattern College Station, TX - Oct 3/4 Cajun NATS – Crowley, LA – Oct 17/18 ‘Till Next Time, stay safe! Justin
Revo Update: A few months ago, I wrote about Mark Hunt’s latest design, the REVO. I’m excited to report that he has the prototype completed and flew it successfully. Lots of pictures are floating around Facebook, and on the Revo build log on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/InsightrcRevo-Project-110958333890466/). For those who don’t subscribe to those outlets here are a few shots of the finished plane and happy pilot. (Photo Credits, Nick Marson). You can see the Revo pictured next to the EVO which originally started out as the Pentathlon years back.
August 2020 K-Factor | 15
Districts https://nsrca.us/index. php/d7-contest-schedule/2020 for Please check
the latest information.
Being home so much more has allowed me to spend more time with my other hobby, keeping my aquarium. Started up in January, it is now thriving, though only
that responded to the email poll on the sequence changeover. I appreciate the participation. Also, I hope some of you will throw your names in the hat to run for President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer.
D7 - Dan Lipton nsrcad7dvp@gmail.com AZ•CA•HI•NV•UT
lightly stocked. Currently its fish inhabitants include 2 clownfish, 2 damselfish, and one yellow
Hello It’s been pretty quiet around our district. No contests, unfortunately, but that hasn’t stopped many of us from getting out there and enjoying our sport.
D8 | Art Kelly 367 Golf View Drive | Medford, OR. 97504 541.905.2954 | afkelly25@gmail.com
Derek and I enjoyed some time on July 4th at EBRC practicing. It was a rare day of very little wind out there for a summer afternoon.
AK•ID•MT•OR•WA•WY
tang. In addition, there is a sand sifting star that spends most of its life living underground roaming around and eating dirt. There is also a shrimp, some hermit crabs, a couple of snails, and a soft coral covered rock (Mushroom polyps) seen in the right
On the contest / event side of things. The Riverside contest may again postponed from the mid August dates. The current plan is to have it sometime in November.
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corner. Lastly, I want to thank those of you
FINALLY! After months of waiting D-8 was able to mount its first contest of the 2020 season on the weekend of July 11/12. The Field of Dreams RC Club located in the high plateau lands of Redmond, Oregon has hosted a pattern contest for years. Having been shut down by virus regulations it was recently opened. The club members have always been cognizant of the challenges of pattern wheel pants on grass fields and had mown the field just prior to the event. In the face of the challenges presented by these times it was surprising to find seventeen pilots registered for the contest. (Pent up demand?) All participants agreed that it was a challenging environment as winds were strong and gusty throughout the weekend. Last year we found a few of the local club members who cautiously dipped their toes into the Pattern waters, finishing with big smiles. This year it was a good sign that we had more turn out for the Sportsman class. Ray Wasson has been a familiar face in Sportsman for a couple of years and this year set his foot on the next rung of the ladder and on takeoff entered the Intermediate class. The Advance class drew a lot of attention with eight pilots
Districts registered and six piloting their birds into the air. Michael Greer, who came all the way from California, grabbed the podium after six rounds. Following him closely was Gary McClellan who took a couple of 1,000’s. We had no entries at the Masters level so all necks were craned upwards as FAI took to the clouds. All pilots whose knees go wobbly in heavy winds were able to stand in awe as they observed Andrew Jesky take to the skies and effortlessly fly sequence after sequence. (What wind?) Andrew had competition from a D-8 pilot whose face hasn’t been seen for several years. Alexander Safarik who has been among the missing as he pursued his masters degree in Aeronautical Engineering, mounted solid scores throughout the weekend. I remember Alexander very well as he was my Sportsman competitor in my very first pattern contest many years ago. He beat the pants off me and he was eleven years old at the time. In the F3A Silver class John Bentley and Pat Harris traded paint (figuratively) as each held the top spot three time in the six rounds. Rex Lesher, while busy being CD getting everyone in the air was able to get his six rounds in as well. Thanks for managing a great contest under difficult conditions, Rex! The D-8 CD’s met by Zoom and have concluded that we will pursue the remaining three contests of the season while recognizing that the virus spikes and community actions may still jeopardize the schedule.
capacity and additional requirements for distancing and cleaning. Limits on gatherings will increase to 100 for outdoor events and 50 for indoor and social distancing will be required. Restaurants will be allowed to open for inside dining. It remains to be seen how quickly things will reopen once allowed. Municipalities and regions are implementing requirements for masks to be worn indoors in commercial establishments and public spaces.
Canada | Paul Brine 25 Robertson St. | Fergus Ontario N1M3P7 519.787.5144 | pbrine@uoguelph.ca Here I am again sitting down to write the monthly report with yet again nothing to report. I had hoped that there might be some reports and photos to share by now but so far this year no contests have been held and all planned events to date have been cancelled or postponed. The two contests planned for September remain on the schedule. Even though there has been limited opportunities to fly and no events to attend I have not even been able to work in the shop. I have been adding additional electrical outlets and lighting as part of shop rebuild. This project has been ongoing since the middle of March with delays from the shutdown and the restricted hours of suppliers. Thankfully the project is almost finished. The electrical work is all done and I have a little bit of bench construction to complete and then everything can be put back into place although at the current pace that could take weeks. Now that I have retired, I should have all kinds of time to work on it. I really don’t know how I ever found time to go to work before. Here in Ontario there looks like there could be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel and I don’t think it is a train. As of July 17th, most of the province will be moving to Phase 3 of the reopening plan. The Great Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara, and Windsor areas are not included at this time and will remain under the current restrictions and will move to Phase 3 at a later date. Under Phase 3 most businesses and facilities will be allowed to reopen although there remain restrictions on
The increase in numbers allowed for gatherings is good news and should allow the remaining contest on the schedule to go ahead. Municipal rules may have an influence on club field operations depending on how this is implemented. This is especially true for those clubs located in public parks and on publically owned lands. Individual provinces are setting their own rules and it appears that the western provinces are ahead of us on reopening. Alberta has a limit of 200 and an IMAC contest was held in July. The team trials to select the team for the 2021 World Championships in Muncie will be held Sept 5&6 at the 905 Squadron contest in Aurora. Registration closed at the end of June and there are 10 pilots registered. The pilots registered are Michi Akimoto, Darren Bowman, Ethan Chariandy, Colin Chariandy, Will Gross, Xavier Mouraux, Chad Northeast, Henry Piorun, Brenner Sharp and Jeff Stevens. Dave Reaville reports from the west (Cheers, someone actually reads my scribbles) that the dates that I have listed for the BC Precision Aerobatics Championships are incorrect. Although the sanction has not been sent in yet, they are hoping to have the contest on September 12th & 13th. As there have been no contests in BC, the idea of a “championship” is now moot and the event may be renamed slightly as there will be no championship trophies presented this year. At this point the event remains tentative. BC is slowly opening up with locals allowed to travel within the province (some areas are still closed). Cross border US travel is still closed and the BC government is pushing for at least a closure through
August 2020 K-Factor | 17
F3P Indoor August now. Cross province travel is heavily discouraging cross province travel unless considered essential. Contest Schedule There are only 2 planned contests remain on the schedule as the middle of July. Both are scheduled for early September although that may change depending on the current situation and COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Check the event listings on the MAAC website and the F3A Canada website for the latest information. 905 Squadron Contest, Aurora ON Sept 5-6 B.C. Precision Aerobatics Championships, Victoria, B.C. - Sept 12-13 (tentative) That’s all for now. Flight complete. Paul
SAFETY FIRST
Are your control surface hinges secure?
18 | K-Factor August 2020
F3P Indoor Aerobatics by Sal Piu
News about the USA 2020 F3P Team Trials: As of early July 2020, the F3P indoor competitors are targeting the October 10th event at the Sparta Dome in Crowne Point, Indiana as the USA team-trials event, to select our F3P team members for the 2021 worlds F3P contest. Toby Silhavy has volunteered to CD this event. Scott Brownewell is helping make facility arrangements for the event, as well as some limited-time practice-time sessions during the week prior to the event (currently Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). The Sparta Dome has re-opened for use with Covid-19 social distancing face-mask requirements currently in place. Another possible problem that could be faced by the USA team attending the world championship event in Europe is a recentcurrent European countries’ restriction preventing Americans from entering Europe in general. Hopefully this situation will be cleared up by then. In the meantime, although I don’t recall who mentioned this to me, someone suggested that the opportunity to fly F3P, or any sport model, indoors was mostly likely adversely affected due to covid-19 impacts. I have to agree with this assessment because many non-essential facilities did close down under covid-19 social distancing / stay home rules. I hope this becomes alleviated soon based on increased knowledge and improved social interface techniques. I’d be interested to get feedback for those that either are experiencing reduced or no indoor flying opportunities, as well as from those that have had some continued opportunities.
IMAC
IMAC - In The Box It is hard to tell where we are at this point. I thought we were easing out of this Covid mess, but then I start hearing about the increase in cases and things starting to get restrictive again. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?? But luckily, I have been able to attend 2 contests. An IMAC contest in Broken Arrow, OK and a Pattern Contest in Sulphur, LA. Both contests were great. The atmosphere was good, and everyone was in a great mood. I think it was just good seeing everyone and interacting with them again. At the contests, though I noticed a couple of things that I thought I would mention this month. It’s a safety/health topic that I think applies in both disciplines. I think it is more prevalent since we are starting the contests late and its already blazing hot.
First is the most obvious, the heat. We need to double prepare ourselves with hydration and taking steps to deal with the heat. I have noticed a lot of people slow down during the weekend, or have bad rounds, headaches, etc. because they are being affected by the heat. The recommended amount of water is 8 oz every 15 minutes. I drank a lot of fluids, but there is no way I drank that much! Both contests provided free bottles of water, so all we had to do was go get it. We need to be very conscious of this, especially since we have not had the earlier contests to get ourselves acclimated.
The second item I wanted to mention was eye care. We are dependent on these little guys in general, but especially in our sport. We don’t want to have our favorite ship up in the air and have an issue with our eyes. We had a particular issue at the IMAC Contest in Broken Arrow where a young man had gotten some dust under his contacts. He cleared the dust and thought everything was fine. After looking at the sky all day and dealing with the heat, apparently it aggravated the situation. The next morning, he could not even go out in the sunlight without experiencing a lot of pain. He tried with his sunglasses and then had some better success with some borrowed sunglasses.
Upon further inspection of his glasses, we noticed that it did not block a lot of light. So, I did a little research on outdoor eye care. There are some basic suggestions for sunglasses. You need to have a quality pair of a good brand. You want to avoid lenses that are not perfectly smooth and do not have any waves in the lenses (this could also happen over time). These waves will cause headaches and vision issues. You also want a pair of glasses with a good UV protection coating. The style of glasses could also affect your eyes. The wrap around style that blocks some of the glare and wind from the side give you more comfort longterm than a flat pair of glasses. You also
need to wear them. Even if you can stand to look up in the bright sky long enough for a flight, you can cause some damage to your eyes if not protected.
Another issue the hot dry weather can cause with your eyes is dryness. With this dryness comes irritation and some scratching and damage. Add dust to that equation and you can cause yourself some problems. One of the products that has been suggested to be by my ophthalmologist is a gel drop. These tend to lubricate your eye longer. Do not be shy about using them. If you get something in your eye, regular eye drops can help with the flush. If you wear contacts and you notice irritation, it is a good idea to remove them and go to your glasses if your normal wetting routine does not fix the issue. Just take care of yourself and make sure you treat your body right. You do not want to waste an opportunity of a weekend of flying on an issue that you could have prevented. We do preventative maintenance on our planes (especially you glow guys!) So, let do some on our bodies. I hope this was interesting and useful. I look forward to seeing you at a flying field soon! Rich Whitlow IMAC SC Regional Director.
August 2020 K-Factor | 19
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Contact District VP’s
District 6
Justin Wells 20811 Surrey Creek Ct. Katy, TX 77450 832-356-6408
District 1
Salvatore Piu spiurc@comcast.net
Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont.
justin@jtwells.com Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
District 2
Tim Pritchett 1417 Deer Forest Drive Fort Mill, South Carolina 29707 864.871.1902 tjpritchett@aol.com
Dan Lipton nsrcad7dvp@gmail.com
Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah.
District 3
Robert Campbell
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, Tennessee.
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Art Kelly 367 Golf View Drive Medford, OR. 97504 541.905.2954 afkelly25@gmail.com
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Scott McNickle P.O. Box 163 Mt. Pleasant, OH 43939 740.769.7882 nelson_jett@comcast.net
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Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia.
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Charlie Barrera 2627 Silver Shadow Conroe, TX 77304 936.494.0063 charliebarrera@consolidated.net
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Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia.
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Paul Brine 25 Robertson St. Fergus Ontario N1M3P7 519.787.5144 pbrine@uoguelph.ca
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Vicente Bortone vincebrc@gmail.com
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