Salem Fall Follies this weekend

[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,,