The fight on remote identification

Transcription

1 The fight on remote identification The AMA is trying to get the FAA to be reasonable Let s try and clear the air about remote identification of our flying models (fixed wing, helicopters and drones). This was requested by the Department of Defense, the FAA and large corporations. These three entities basically want to identify anything flying in the national air space. They envision a chip or beacon placed in your model that would identify it to some central data base (think expensive). AMA believes that remote identification for certain models makes sense at some level, depending on their sophistication and capability. One recommendation, championed by AMA, would create a risk-based threshold. It suggested that remote identification should only apply to UAS that have the capability of flying autonomously-by navigating between more than one point without active control by the pilot. This would mean that high-risk UAS would comply with remote identification and low-risk model aircraft that are incapable of autonomous or long- range operations would not have to comply with remote identification. Traditional model airplanes, helicopters, and similar aircraft that are found at AMA flying sites are only capable of being flown within line of sight of the operator or spotter. Not only do these line-of-sight models pose less risk, but the operators are easily identified. When you see the model, you can quickly find its operator holding a transmitter a few hundred feet away. There are talks that operations at AMA flying fields would satisfy the remote identification requirement and would not require a beacon or appbased solution. AMA will continue to argue that remote identification is overreaching and unnecessary for toys and models not designed to fly beyond visual line of sight. RRCC CLUB OFFICERS President: Jeff Szueber Vice-President: Bob Baker Secretary: Rob Evans Treasurer: Larry Roberts Safety Coordinator: Jim Bronowski Field Director: Dale Yaney Newsletter Editor: Jim Bronowski Turbine Flying Director: Berry Hou ALL OFFICERS MAY BE CONTACTED AT: NEXT MEETING SATURDAY Jan 26th 10:00 am crowley field Note Date Change

2 Call to Order: President Jeff Szueber called to order the regular meeting of the Riverside RC Club at 10:15 AM on Saturday, December 15th, 2018 at Crowley Field. Minutes of the Previous Meeting: The meeting minutes of the November 2018 meeting were approved as written and published in the December 2018 Prop Talk newsletter by the members present. Old Business: The damaged entryways to the field (both entries) have been severely damaged by the large trucks dumping the organic material in the area north of our field. There was discussion of what could be done to correct the situation. Our president, Jeff Szueber, talked to the president of the free-flight organization about the road situation. Jeff said they had talked to the people doing the dumping and they said they would be finished in a few weeks. The free-flight club felt it would be better to wait until they are finished dumping before taking any action on the road. Our members present at the meeting agreed that this would probably be the best way to go. New Business: There will be a Classic Pattern contest on April 27 th and a Classic Pattern and Vintage RC fly-in on June 1 st at our field. Robert Fish will be the CD of the June event and he was present at this meeting to encourage everyone to come out and participate or watch. This is a very low-key event with emphasis on fun and reviving the classic days of RC. Jim Bronowski and Paul Rinde talked about the Vintage Radio Control Society ( and how you can fly in their events. Models designed and built 35 years before January 1 st of the current year (1984) meet the criteria for vintage aircraft. However, pattern or scale competition requires that the model must be prior to January 1 st,1976. If you are curious, go to the web site listed above and get all the details. Then come on out on the first of June and have some fun. The membership present approved a Jet Rally on Thursday though Sunday, April 4 th -7 th. This will be a major event and our club should receive a nice revenue. The 2018 club officers were re-elected for the 2019 year. Many thanks for their work and dedication to the Riverside Radio Control Club. Show and Tell/Presentations: None Raffle: Hundreds of prizes worth thousands of dollars (or maybe I don t have a list). Meeting Adjourned at 11:15 by Jeff Szueber Minutes Submitted by Jim Bronowski

3 Malcolm s Musings By Malcolm Oliver Reliving Past Times Late April, last year, I was in the UK and the weather was beautiful, so I arranged to visit an old school friend of mine, Peter. Our friendship dates back to our primary school days, 68 years ago! We were sat in the garden admiring the spring flowers when in the background we heard that unmistakable roar of a Merlin engine. A Spitfire was flying overhead; it then did a victory roll followed by a wing over. What a wonderful sight, my friend and his wife live in Kent near to Biggin Hill, a famous WWII airfield. Now, based there is a company which restores Spitfires. Into The Blue has 4 flying Spitfires, including a 2 seat version, the one I saw flying. They offer flights and tours of their museum and restoration facility. If you get the chance, it s well worth a visit. The nostalgia is so inspiring. Some 4 years ago I bought an 89 in. wingspan ARF HobbyKing Spitfire which I started assembling with gusto but then 2 years ago ran into a road block, making the undercarriage doors, stalling the build until now. So for this article I thought I d present progress to date and discuss some of the design changes I ve made. As I ve said before, often when buying items from HobbyKing it is important to read the comments/reviews to understand any potential problems and this ARF was no exception. I paid $450 for the kit which was an absolute steal. It included a fully molded F/G fuselage, with built up wings and tail plane sections. It s covered in cloth and then fully painted in a green/grey camouflage color scheme. It s set-up for air retracts, sold separately, which I also bought. Although intended for a 50cc. gas engine, having taken up the religion the plane had to be electric. I bought a Hacker A60 18L, which when powered by a 12S 5000 Mah LiPo battery pack develops around 4000 watts on a 24x12 prop. Hacker recommends this package for up to 22 lb. scale aircraft, so the performance should be OK. As I said before it s very important to read comments/reviews and the bulk of the comments about this model are on RC Groups. The main discussion was about wing failure! This really attracted my attention. However, the important thing is to read between the lines as it s often the case that people make the wrong diagnosis. The 2 reports believed that the wing retaining tabs had pulled out of the wing. The load on these tabs is very low except when rolling, so I m skeptical that this was really the problem. However, where they enter the fuselage structure there is a 3/16 gap. Tightening the retaining screw then bends the tab. The wing retaining tabs are T shaped, locking behind the wing root rib. They couldn t pull out; however, I added packing under the tabs so that when the retaining screws were tightened, they didn t bend the tabs. Looking at the design of the wing structure my major concern was the very short entry of the wing tube into the wing. As you can see the wing tube is only 7 5/8 in. long. I couldn t extend the tube within the wing so instead I added vertical shear webbing for the main spars from the wing root to two rib panels past the end of the wing tube. This was as far as access via the wheel well would allow. I also replaced the original aluminum wing tube with a carbon fiber one. Hopefully these changes will resolve the wing failure. The next item was that the model tended to be tail heavy. One person had to put 4 lb. of lead in the nose. So, I did my usual modification of putting the rudder servo under the motor. This moved the servo forward 22. The A60 18L is a relatively heavy outrunner motor at 2 lb.

4 Also, with the 12S battery pack weighing 3 ¼ lb. there will hopefully be sufficient nose weight to balance the plane. Another issue was that an electric powered Spitfire would be nearly silent, totally unacceptable. Researching possible audio systems I discovered MR. R/C Sound. They offered a system of two speakers, two resonators with amplifiers providing 80 watts of sound power. The Merlin engine recording is engine speed related, it also includes start-up and shut-down sounds, together with selectable machine gun fire. It sounds fantastic, for the all-up weight of 13 oz. I mounted this system directly below the motor to add even more nose weight. The picture below shows the installation. To take some weight out of the tail I replaced the aluminum stabilizer spar with a carbon fiber tube and machined out 1 oz. of material from the tail wheel assembly. However negating this tail weight reduction, I added two elevator servos installed within the stabilizers. These will provide more positive elevator control and avoid long slots in the fuselage destroying the scale appearance. Unfortunately, they do add 1.6 oz. Calculations indicate that the cumulative effect of all these changes will resolve the tail-heavy condition. I haven t done an actual CG check yet, so I ve got my fingers crossed! Another issue in the discussion was the tendency for the plane to nose over on landing. To resolve this, I shimmed the U/C mounts to tilt the wheels forward about ½ inch. This created my problem with the U/C covers as they had to be remade. The original ABS vacuum formed parts were useless anyway. I ve now managed to make new parts from thin plywood. Achieving the correct curve by gluing two sheets of plywood together wrapped over a curved former. It took several attempts, but I ve now succeeded. To hold the covers onto the Oleo legs I intend to use some split aluminum clamps sold by HobbyKing. Originally, I bought the air operated U/C system designed for this kit, but I didn t like its snap action and the risk of air leaks. So, I bought some electric actuators which should be more reliable and have a more scale like action. They also enabled me to have the wheels retract in a staggered way just as on the real airplane. One of my major concerns was cooling of the motor and ESC. I didn t want to put any holes in the motor cowl. To resolve this, I ve used the dummy oil cooler and radiator housings under the wings to use as an air intake and outlet. Inside the fuselage I made up some baffles to direct air from the LH wing forward to the motor, then to return it out of the RH wing. The pictures below show the LH wing intake and the fuselage inlet. The RH outlet is Continued next month similar but with the opening in the rear of the cowling. As an added source of cold air, I modified the dummy air intake for the supercharger. Originally it was a closed molding, so I opened the inlet and cut out the base where it is glued to the fuselage. I then put a hole in the underside of the cowl so that air will be directed over the ESC. The picture below shows the modifications.

5 It s that time again; time to send in our 2019 dues. Annual fees are due by the end of January. The annual dues are $50 for an Open membership and $10 for those under 18 years of age. Fill out the form above, cut it out and mail it with your dues to Larry s P.O. Box. A check is the preferred method of payment as it makes Larry s job so much easier. Again, if you have a hardship let Larry know. He can help you work out a payment option. Just to let you know, Larry doesn't usually cash the checks until he has number of them. Riverside Radio Control Club 2019 Dues Name: Address: AMA Number: Phone: Make checks payable to RRCC Mail Dues to: Larry Roberts P.O. Box 295 Homeland, CA Check One: $50 (Open) $10 (Junior)