Pikes Peak Radio Control Club Newsletter

Transcription

1 Pikes Peak Radio Control Club Newsletter Volume 44 / Issue 07 / AMA Club Number 179 / 2616 Glen Arbor Dr. / Colorado Springs, Colorado Phone: / Website: Club President Romi Lucas / Club Vice President Rob Latkovich Club Safety Officer Hector Real / Club Treasurer Adam Heffington Club Airfield Maintenance Team James Murphy, Chuck Brath, Kevin Kinzel Club Secretary Keith Davis / Club Newsletter & Website Manager Keith Davis Next PPRCC Meeting: Local RC events happening this month: 7:00pm / July 5th (Tue) 2016 Warbirds over Pikes Antelope Ridge Community Center Warbirds over Parker Last Month s Minutes... (June meeting) Airplane Anomalies... Meeting Started: 7:00 pm Meeting Adjourned: 8:00 pm Members Attended: 15 New Members: 0 Visitors: 0 New Business: 1) Club Treasurer Adam Heffington, spoke about the club s June finances. Adam stated the annual airfield lease bill has been paid. Old Business: 1) Club member James Murphy, gave everyone an update on the airfield bleachers; A 3-foot safety rail has been built on the back, all of the rotted benches have been replaced with existing wood and then painted and safety fencing will be added to the sides. All expenditures were still under the $500 approved spending limit. Nice work Murphy, Tom, Trip, Duane and Greg! Cartoon sent in by Mike Wiedner. PPRCC Newsletter 1

2 It s Officially Fire Season! On Sunday, June 5 th, it was just another nice day for flying. Plenty of people, planes and jets were out there, just doing their thing and enjoying the weather. spreading in a much larger, wider circle. Then a local volunteer fire fighter happened to be driving by on Judge Orr road and saw the smoke, so he drove up to investigate. He had direct contact with the Peyton Fire Department, so we now knew that help was on the way! Then the excitement began, around 10:00 am, one of our jet flyers took off and the engine appeared to have flamed out on take-off. The pilot made a nice controlled dead-stick landing in the grass on the southeast end of the east runway. As the fire began to spread, several more people came out to help fight the fire. But within 10 more minutes or so, the fire was finally getting under control and then finally completely out, just by the dedicated club members stomping out the fire! And a few minutes later, a Peyton FD truck arrived and soaked the area with water to prevent any further flare-ups. Cause of the fire, a hot jet landing in the grass. We were fortunate enough to get the fire out before it reached the really tall, dry grass just several more feet to the north, otherwise the situation could have been much worse. But within a matter of minutes, smoke began to rise from the landing spot. The pilot and another club member arrived at the site and immediately called for help. As the smoke began to increase, people on the east side grabbed the available water buckets (Good thing they had water in them!) and raced toward the site. What at first started as a mere 3-foot by 3-foot burn spot, quickly spread into a 12-foot by 12-foot fire and was growing fast! Several people poured what water they had on the multiple fire spots while others attempted to stomp out what small fires they could with their feet. A few other club members came back with the pack-pack water pumps from the shed. But by this time the fire continued to burn and everyone was just about out of water. 991 was immediately called and they replied that they were on their way. A few good things did happen, first the winds began to blow, which kept the fire going in one direction, preventing it from When the fire was finally out, it scorched about an area of 60 feet wide by 200 feet long. After everything was finally under control, the Peyton fire guys were happy to re-fill all of our water buckets. A big thank-you goes out to the Peyton (Volunteer) Fire Department for all of their help! PPRCC Newsletter 2

3 The club also wants to thank all the club members that assisted in putting out the fire and not becoming a spectator. The fire incident was definitely an eyeopener and the club will have to review its firefighting procedures and equipment. (Peyton FD will be notified in case of a fire and not Falcon FD or Black Forest FD. Didn t have shovels or other tools). Show & Tell Item - I Ben Woofter s VQ Models FW-190 The owner of the jet said that it can be repaired, but it will be expensive! One final note, the club is now asking for old shovels and rakes that people are no longer using around the house. During the summer, the tools will be kept outside and near the shed and not locked up in the connex for immediate use. Do you have a story, article or a photo that you would like to share with the club? Get it to me at: Lkdavis03@hotmail.com Keith Davis: PPRCC Newsletter Editor Ben was happy to display his VQ Models FW-190 (ARF) powered by a DLE-20cc gas engine. The plane has a 63 ws, mechanical retracts and weighs just over 9 pounds. Ben has flown the plane several times and it flies quite well. Don t forget, last one out, lock the gate! PPRCC Newsletter 3

4 2016 Warbirds Over Denver The RC Modeler s club out of Chatfield, held its 13 th annual Warbirds over Denver event. About 70 pilots registered for the event, including three pilots from the PPRC club, Ben Woofter, Marco Z. and myself. Ben Brought his J-5 Medical Cub and FW-190, Marco brought his electric powered P-47 and Eindecker and I brought my British Lysander. Ben(L), Keith(C) and Marco(R), poses with Ben s FW-190 in the foreground. A snapshot looking down the pit area of the numerous types of warbirds that participated. The weather was typical for June in Colorado, windy at times and pretty warm in the afternoons. But having two runways during the two-day event, the pilots merely switched runways as the winds continued to switch its direction throughout the day. Only one turbine jet participated in the event and the pilot performed a good show for the other pilots and spectators during the weekend. Ben s FW-190 flew quite nicely despite the bursts of high winds. This F-15 Eagle was the only turbine powered aircraft at the Warbirds over Denver. And of course it took home numerous awards to include first place best modern and first place pilot s choice. The two days of flying went quite well, with lunch being served both days, small pilot s gifts given out and free water for everyone. On Sunday the event ended around 2:00 pm with Marco taking home an award for his Eindecker, Best WWI airplane 3 rd place and for my Lysander, I was awarded Best WWII airplane 3 rd place. You can view the club website for many more photos of the Warbirds over Denver RC event. PPRCC Newsletter 4

5 Can You Name that Plane? Show & Tell Item - II Jim Murphy s Pre-Owned Racer Clue #1: Built during 1921, only two of these planes were built, designed as a passenger plane and a mail carrier. Clue #2: This was a two-engine airplane, powered by two 1500 hp each, steam turbine engines. However, the plane had two major problems that the designers could not overcome: 1) It turned out that the 1500 hp was too much for the airframe and transmission. 2) The designers could not design a light-weight enough closed-circuit boiler system. Clue #3: If the airplane made it to production, the company had plans to hire locomotive engineers as flight engineers to operate the steam turbine engines. Last month s airplane: It was the Edgley Optica EA-7. There were no guesses on that buggedeyed airplane. Murphy purchased this colorful racer from a fellow club member and he had it up and flying in just a few days. He installed an O.S engine and got the mechanical retracts working again. The plane has a 70 ws and weighs about 10 pounds. Murphy said the plane flies very nice. PPRCC Newsletter 5

6 PPRCC Electric Father s Day Back in June, the day before official Father s Day, PPRCC held a combined Father s Day and Electric Fly-In event for those who did not have plans for the weekend. It was a light turn-out but the event went on as scheduled with several fliers and dozens of spectators. And of course if the word Electric is mentioned, that s an automatic invitation for the winds to attend too, and it was a breezy day. Kim (Center) did a great job in providing lunch for all that came out. It was a busy day for Kim and the club definitely thanks her for her support. Thank-You Kim! The event ended soon after lunch because the winds were just not going away. Terry Anderson s high speed glider was awarded 1 st place best electric and Keith Davis Twin Otter was awarded 2 nd place best electric. Congratulations to the both of them. When pilots took a break from flying, Romi (right) took to the runway with several of his new prototype designs. All types of aircraft were permitted to fly in the duelevent, but if you brought an electric powered airplane, it was to be considered for an award at the end of the day. The event had eight pilots that signed up with electric airplanes. Club member Randy Oswald had a very nice Topflite kit DC-3, electric powered. Unfortunately it did not fly because of the winds. The flags were a strong indication how windy it was on Saturday. But on the bright side, the winds were right down the runway! Club president Romi Lucas wife, Kim, volunteered to run the grill and arrived around 10:30 to get things cooking. By 11:00 lunch was served which was hamburgers, hot dogs and all the amenities. PPRCC also wants to thank those who came out on Friday, the day before the duel-event, to assist in airfield clean-up and maintenance. The bleachers are now in much better condition, the storage shed has been thinned out of broken items and cleaned out and the airfield has been mowed. Very nice guys! PPRCC Newsletter 6

7 Show & Tell Item III Romi Lucas Foam-Constructed F-35 Warbirds over Pikes Peak July 16 th & 17 th (Sat & Sun) PPRCC will hold its annual Warbirds over Pikes Peak RC event this month. And of course everyone is welcome to come and fly with us, provided they are flying a military type airplane, jet or helo! Club members, friends and visiting pilots are welcome, there will be a $25 pilot registration fee. AMA membership is required, FAA registration is encouraged. Nitro, Gas and electric powered aircraft are permitted to participate in the non-competitive, fly when you want event. For a small fee, lunch will be available both days. Romi presented another one of his elaborate foam & sheeted electric projects. This is a modified F-35 built from plans exploded to 150%. It is powered by a G-32 electric motor and has fixed landing gear. The canopy still needs to be build and the jet currently weighs just over 6 pounds. The airfield is located on Judge Orr Road, 4 miles east of the Meadow Lake Airport, near Falcon, CO. Directions can be found on the club website: If this will be your first time participating in the event, bringing some type of shading structure would be a good idea and be sure to secure it because of possible winds! Overnight camping is also permitted but there are no utilities available (electric or water). The nearest shopping center is in the town of Falcon, about 6 miles away. Several awards will be presented on Sunday. PPRCC hopes to see many new faces this year, so come on out and enjoy the fun and the sun! PPRCC Newsletter 7

8 Upcoming RC Events: July 5 th (Tue) 2016 PRCC meeting July 16 th 17 th (Sat-Sun) 2016 Warbirds over Pikes Peak July 23 rd 24 th (Sat-Sun) 2016 Warbirds over Parker August 2nd (Tue) 2016 PPRCC meeting August 14 th (Sun) 2016 PPRCC Family Day & Swap Meet August 27 th 28 th (Sat-Sun) 2016 Pueblo Big Birds Fun Fly Happy July 4 th! PPRCC Newsletter 8