Salem Fall Follies this weekend

[Randy Powell]

So, is anyone else going?

[Russell Shaffer]

Russell and Bill from Klamath Falls.  You guys need a good laugh.

[Tim Wescott]

Oh cool -- Russel, it'll be good to see you.

Contrary to earlier plans, I'm going -- I had expected to be on travel, but that's been rescheduled so I can make the contest.

Robin may or may not come, too.  In theory she's all trained up and ready to judge us fools flying toy airplanes, but this is the first week of community college classes for our 17 year old -- the kid has yet to get a driver's license, so her schedule is up in the air.

[Mark Scarborough]

Tim,, did Tom talk to you about a couple airplanes I may be bringing for him?

[Walter Hicks]

See ya all there ! Greetings from Central Point ,Ore W Hicks

[Tim Wescott]

Tim,, did Tom talk to you about a couple airplanes I may be bringing for him?

Our schedules have not coincided.  With luck I'll see him on Wednesday, though.  Should I plan on driving my truck, then?

[John Leidle]

  I'll be hanging out Saturday & flying on Sunday.   Walter I'm bringing your money.
             John

[Pat Chewning]

This will be my 1st CL contest ever.   I'll be flying my Akromaster in beginner stunt.   I also have a newly-built Ringmaster that I want to put flights on for the Ringmaster-a-thon-thingy....

Looking forward to this.

-- Pat   (Beaverton Oregon)

[Mark Scarborough]

Our schedules have not coincided.  With luck I'll see him on Wednesday, though.  Should I plan on driving my truck, then?

well,, you could always fold them up in the back seat or something I suppose,,

[Mark Scarborough]

This will be my 1st CL contest ever.   I'll be flying my Akromaster in beginner stunt.   I also have a newly-built Ringmaster that I want to put flights on for the Ringmaster-a-thon-thingy....

Looking forward to this.

-- Pat   (Beaverton Oregon)

Pat, make sure to introduce yourself,, I will be the one flying the bright green Impact with a big repair behind the wing LOL

[Pat Chewning]

OK, I'll have a Red/white Akromaster with repairs, well, everywhere.   And  brand new Red/White/Blue Ringmaster.   I'll be the one doing ugly "Yikes!" maneuvers that the judges will have to scratch their heads and wonder what I was really trying to do.

[Mark Scarborough]

LOL,, we have all been there I promise you,,

[Steve Helmick]

I'm planning to be there. Since John is bringing money, I could use some!  

Since I always go home via O.C., maybe I can transport an airplane or two for Tom? How big would they be? PM or call me if I can help. Steve

[Tim Wescott]

I'm planning to be there. Since John is bringing money, I could use some!  

Since I always go home via O.C., maybe I can transport an airplane or two for Tom? How big would they be? PM or call me if I can help. Steve

I'll be fine -- I just need to remember to drive the big green thing instead of the little silver thing.

[tom brightbill]

I won't be there as it's the same time as a big soaring contest in Visalia that I have been going to since the '80's. 
Tim, I'll see you Wednesday. I have fuel for Mike Hazel. 
Mark, we see each other in places like Muncie, but 50 miles from home doesn't work! 

[Mark Scarborough]

yeah,, I was thinking that too Tom,,

Steve,, its a couple profiles I have that Tom can abuse,, I am narrowing my focus for awhile until I get my flying up to speed better,, only PA,,

these are taking up space so I am passing them along..

see you there,, if anyone will be around Friday evening/afternoon,, I hope to get some practice in,, if not,, do you think they would mind me driving spikes in the asphalt for my stooge 

[Russell Shaffer]

I'll launch for you, Mark.

[Mark Scarborough]

I'll launch for you, Mark.

Russell, will you be there friday afternoon? cool,,

[Steve Helmick]

I plan to be there Friday PM, so we'll be have stooges stooging. I'm sure Mike Hazel could be persuaded to store a couple profiles in the shed for a week or so, especially in trade for that fuel...  Steve

[Russell Shaffer]

Yep, I'll be trying to get dialed in for the 4000 foot altitude change. On the very positive side it gives me an excuse for crappy flying. See you there.

[Randy Powell]

Hey Mark, I thought I was going to be your stooge?

[Steve Helmick]

Anybody want to share a motel room? Keith Varley, my usual roomie, says he's not coming down. It is a long drive from Vancouver.   

Which reminds me,  the Dreaded Canadian Stunt Team say they are not going to attend. Saving up for the trip to Madera, they claim. On a good note, Keith says he's starting a new plane for next year. Yaaaaay, Keith!    Steve

[Tim Wescott]

Anybody want to share a motel room? Keith Varley, my usual roomie, says he's not coming down. It is a long drive from Vancouver.   

Which reminds me,  the Dreaded Canadian Stunt Team say they are not going to attend. Saving up for the trip to Madera, they claim. On a good note, Keith says he's starting a new plane for next year. Yaaaaay, Keith!    Steve

It's going to take more than those guys staying away for me to trophy in Expert, though.

[Russell Shaffer]

Shucks, Tim, all you need is a three person entry field. It has worked for me.

[Tim Wescott]

Shucks, Tim, all you need is a three person entry field. It has worked for me.

Given where I stack up in Expert, it should only take a four-person field for me to not get a trophy.

[Randy Powell]

Well, the wimps from Canada may be absent, but I'll be there. And, I think, Mike Haverly,  Mark "The Scourge" Scarborough and Steve Helmick will be there. I've heard rumors of The Champ and Mr. Rush being there but those are unconfirmed at this time. Not sure who else. I know Pete Peterson will be absent. I suspect Dave Royer will be there to beat up people in Advanced.

[Alan Resinger]

I have it on good authority that Mr. Cox and myself have been practicing all week and have made our room reservation for Saturday night.  See you all in a few days. 
Alan 

[Mark Scarborough]

Hey Mark, I thought I was going to be your stooge?

yes you are Randy,, but you told me you wont be there till saturday,, has that changed?

[Mark Scarborough]

Well, the wimps from Canada may be absent, but I'll be there. And, I think, Mike Haverly,  Mark "The Scourge" Scarborough and Steve Helmick will be there. I've heard rumors of The Champ and Mr. Rush being there but those are unconfirmed at this time. Not sure who else. I know Pete Peterson will be absent. I suspect Dave Royer will be there to beat up people in Advanced.

uh,, he can beat up on the rest of the Advanced guys,, but I dont plan on letting him beat up on me,, I have actually been practicing,, and stuff,, Plus, Paul waved the magic wand over my green monster,, so thats good for something,,
Last I heard Paul wont be there, Howard will,,

[Russell Shaffer]

I expect to have a firm grip on last place in advanced. And sportsman profile. And old time for a clean sweep.

[Dave Royer]

The only person I'm likely to be beating up on is myself, thank you very much, and I'm just the guy to do it. Mark has nothing to worry about.

Dave

[Mark Scarborough]

ah now Dave,, in Auburn we had a nice little chess match going I thought,,
regardless,, I am more looking forward to seeing all the usual suspects,, I have been absent from far far tomany contests of late,, it will be awesome to be back in the fray!,,

and to fly some stunt,, 

[Howard Rush]

I have actually been practicing,, and stuff,, Plus, Paul waved the magic wand over my green monster,, so thats good for something...

If you look on the aft side of Mark, you won't see anything, because he flew it off at the Ranch Sunday.

[Paul Walker]

If you look on the FWD side of HOWARD'S IMPACT you won't see anything, because he flew it off at AUBURN WEDNESDAY.

[Tim Wescott]

Howard told me that the shaft got yanked clean out of the motor, and that the shell continued to run (presumably with the magnets rattling on the armature) almost until landing.  Now that's interesting!

[Randy Powell]

And the Dreaded Canadian Contingent will come after all (I was given bad information it seems). I mean, Howard needs SOME competition. That is, if Howard didn't deposit the nose on the Auburn Asphalt.

Mark, I thought you would fly expert so I could have someone I might have some small chance of giving some competition to. Some, anyway. Oh well, I'll fight John Liedle, John Thompson and Steve Helmick for last place.

[Tim Wescott]

Oh well, I'll fight John Liedle, John Thompson and Steve Helmick for last place.

You think I'm going to beat the four of you?  With a Twister?

[Randy Powell]

Tim, I thought you'd be flying Advanced, but you can join the bottom feeder expects like me if you like (not to comment on the other 4 I mentioned as they are serious stunt flyers and I'm, well, not nearly serious enough). We'll have fun.

[Steve Helmick]

I was also given bad information about the Dreaded Canadian Stunt Team.    We'll blame it on Varley, from where the info came. It would be nice to see the Canadian Stunt JV's attend, but I'm not expecting that. I expect they're busy getting their snow blowers tuned up and skates sharpened, eh?   Steve

PS: Randy, you really have missed a lot. Tim has been flying Espert (sic) for at least a year now. Maybe 2?
 

[Tim Wescott]

PS: Randy, you really have missed a lot. Tim has been flying Espert (sic) for at least a year now. Maybe 2?

Yes, I moved up to Espert at the 2014 non-Regionals, where my flying was -- for the class -- pretty sic.

[Mark Scarborough]

If you look on the aft side of Mark, you won't see anything, because he flew it off at the Ranch Sunday.

I did do a bit of flying,, even after Howard showed up,, even including toasting a battery,, one cell went kaput!!

not to worry, I have backup,,

lets put it this way,, I flew enough my arm was sore for three days,, lol

[Mark Scarborough]

Mark, I thought you would fly expert so I could have someone I might have some small chance of giving some competition to. Some, anyway. Oh well, I'll fight John Liedle, John Thompson and Steve Helmick for last place.

well,, I am probably close to moving up I suppose,, not sure I am quite there yet,, however I will know after htis weekend,, lol,, think they will let me fly both classes?

[Mark Scarborough]

LOL,, I just looked at google maps,, for grins,, I looked for Delta Park in Portland,, the google satallite image shows the control line circle occupied,, with two burgandy (?) pop ups in place, and a bunch of people,, must have been during the April contest?

anyhow,, see you all tomorrow,,

[Randy Powell]

Mark,

I do hope you're going to Salem and not Portland. 

[Tim Wescott]

Much wind, which I did not handle well.  Fred Underwood did his usual tidy job of outscoring me.

We only had one crash: Russel Shaffer fell victim to a gust in Sportsman Profile and pancaked his TEOSAWKI -- I only saw it from a distance, but it looked repairable (Russ?).

[Russell Shaffer]

It will be an easy fix.. It broke nothing on the wing.

[Paul Walker]

Looks like good flying weather for Sunday.
Winds 10-12 from the N  or NNE.

Have fun!

[Tim Wescott]

Today's scores.  Fred had control system trouble with his Genesis, so he used his profile plane to come in third in Expert!

[Randy Powell]

Paul,

The weather was - interesting.

[Will Hinton]

Dave Royer, I see you won old time, did you happen to fly with a certain Merco again?

[Randy Powell]

Hey Will, your timer survived.

[Mike Haverly]

The timer survived, but what about the divot?  Really unfortunate.  A few of us were watching the last flight and commenting on the unhappiness of the airplane.  Turbulence above 45 deg. was particularly nasty at times.  The top of the hourglass got to Randy.

[Tim Wescott]

The timer survived, but what about the divot?  Really unfortunate.  A few of us were watching the last flight and commenting on the unhappiness of the airplane.  Turbulence above 45 deg. was particularly nasty at times.  The top of the hourglass got to Randy.

I wish I'd taken a picture of the divot (there was a spinner-shaped, half inch deep divot in the pavement in the middle of the debris field).  I've never seen that before.

Here's the battery -- I was kind of surprised that it didn't burst into flame.  Life can be boring that way, sometimes.

[Dave Royer]

Dave Royer, I see you won old time, did you happen to fly with a certain Merco again?

Yes indeed! Still singin' my favorite song. 

[Fred Underwood]

Hey Will, your timer survived.

Survived to visual inspection, or functions electronically?  Sorry about the plane, seemed to be flying well.

[wwwarbird]

Hey Will, your timer survived.

 Whoah, doesn't look like much else did though Randy, what happened?

[Tim Wescott]

Whoah, doesn't look like much else did though Randy, what happened?

Downdraft or turbulence.  I just heard the "thud", but my wife saw it go entirely slack on the lines in the top of the hourglass, and one of the spectators saw the wind streamer going straight down right after the crash.  (She's learning the pattern: "lessee, that's triangle, round eights, square eights, hourgla -- smack!! -- hmm, I don't think that's scanning right").

[Randy Powell]

Well, upon further examination, the timer did not survive. Weirdly, the Cobra motor did. Guess the spinner saved it. The prop fractured but was still in one piece. Everything else is dead. And the plane is now salvaged (motor, control system and leadout slider).

[Paul Walker]

Sorry to hear about the loss. It was a very promising plane.

[Randy Powell]

Paul, there will be more to come.   

[John Leidle]

  Randy's plane didn't look to be powering through the wind & such in either flight ,, I  think I woulda turned up the rheostat a bit or dewound the rotor a few windings ..  & if you go up in the hour glass underpowered in wind & garbage they end up like a" loose leaf. "
   You guys believe what pleases you, low power = loose lines in the wind & bumps. Overpower & it burrows through the wind & crap. I've proved this several times & I don't even have an Engineering degree.
  At the 2007 Nats in Classic it was crappy & windy lots of guys simply couldn't do the pattern I had a killer Magnum.53 in my Nakke & it went though it with room to spare.  This is a concept Paul Walker told me at a Funfly in 2001 ...
           John L.

[Doug Knoyle]

John, you are right , but I think Randy would have needed more than a modestly over-powered ship. I was eyeballs-on-the-plane from approximately 100 feet from the edge of the circle. During Randy's corner #2 of the Hourglass the plane was SUDDENLY "hit" - and while it bobbled slightly, from my vantage point the INSTANT loss of altitude (sliding wingtip first) was obvious. During the 40 point divot-making "Pile-Drive" maneuver I was thinking "how big will this debris field be?"; THEN, over the next full 2 seconds after the smash my eyes were drawn to Howard's streamer, which just happened to be directly in line between me and the crash. That streamer SLOWLY rose from straight down against the pole to its normal horizontal nature. (Note: Streamer pole position: edge of circle; Crash spot was closer to streamer pole than farther).

Cheers,
Doug

[Randy Powell]

The prop was probably a bad choice (in retrospect), but not much you can do when the plane simply drops 10 feet. I hit the second turn of the hourglass and the plane dropped about 10 feet. After that I was a spectator. The plane was overweight, but not that much.

[John Leidle]

  The sad part is we never found out just how good the package would of been. 

[Mark Scarborough]

well,, I know what your saying John,,
Randy had the same power system as I do in  my Impact/Prey,,except he had a different prop,,
my Prey is another 50 inches of wing and 10 ounces heavier,, mine drove the wind pretty solid,, both in Salem and in Muncie where it was even nastier,,

well it did as long as the battery was still connected LOL

[Fred Underwood]

Randy had the same power system as I do in  my Impact/Prey,,except he had a different prop,,
my Prey is another 50 inches of wing and 10 ounces heavier,, mine drove the wind pretty solid,,

Curious about the props, what was being used on each?

[Pat Chewning]

I was sitting right near that when it happened.  There were lots of small turbulent thermals marching across the the flying circles every 2 minutes or so.   The associated wind direction and magnitude shifts were fairly large.   

[Mark Scarborough]

Curious about the props, what was being used on each?

I use the APC 13x4.5 P ( or F2b I guess its called now)

[Fred Underwood]

There is a 13x4.5 F2B and 13x4.5 that is not F2B and they are different even if both Pusher.  I use that F2B cut to about 12 for clearance and to same a few amps, not drain the battery.  Do you know what Randy had?

[Mark Scarborough]

i\Randy had a standard rotation 3 blade carbon prop , I dont know the origin,,

the first 13x4.5 was labeled a P,, the newer one was the EP,, and then they reissued the P as the F2B,,, there is about 1200 rpm difference between the two types on y setup,, I currently turn about 11,300 with the P ( F2B) and was over 11, 450 with the EP
by the way,, you have progressed a lot since the last time you came from church to beat me LOL,,

[Fred Underwood]

Mark, I can't make sense of the numbers and 1200 rpm difference.  I turn the F2B about 10300 - 10400 on 66 ft lines and turned the non-F2b about 11,400+.  Was the 11,300 with the F2B supposed to be 10,300?

by the way,, you have progressed a lot since the last time you came from church to beat me LOL,,

Thanks, you have progressed as well, as we should have.  That was the Fall Follies a year ago.

[Mark Scarborough]

yeah I got dumb fingers,, the F2B/P is 10300,, the other one ,, the EP is 11,400-500
sorry for the confusion

[Mark Scarborough]

Thanks, you have progressed as well, as we should have.  That was the Fall Follies a year ago.

Thinking I may need to start going to church again LOL,,

I have actually just in the last month been able to dedicate some time to practice,, between Salem last year and the Nats I had exactly 12 flights,, then in the last month I have stacked in a bunch,, but I have made dramatic changes to my setup,, straight handle,, much more sensitive setup,, and its taking time to get my muscle memory to learn the new system,,
Next year,, muah hahaha,, Watch out LOL

[Fred Underwood]

Add to that your trip(s) to the Stunt Ranch.  I am sure that you will be ready.

[Fred Underwood]

Stopped at the Salem field today. Set my plane down almost on the Randy spinner hole.  We picked up the battery, still looked like the photo sitting there at the circle edge in gravel.

[Mark Scarborough]

Randy mentioned to me,, ( after I was already home) that he forgot to do something with the battery,, I thought Tim woudl take it to experiment with or something,,

THat was a pretty awesome divot huh,, perfect spinner hole,, and the spinner didnt even look deformed,,

I hope to get more time at the WSR, I learn tons every time I go up there,, Lots left to learn,,