Ted,
I think I knew some of that. I was just commenting on how one individual that we know trimmed his airplanes. It worked for him. I have flown some of his airplanes and -----
Keith
Keith,
Don't think for a moment I'm putting our mutual acquaintance down. Nobody did what he did better than he did and, unlike many, I thought his patterns were very competitive in terms of corner, etc. with what was being flown in that era by the other guys. He also flew (flies) pretty much flawless shapes which very few do (Dougie Moon and Ryan Young being the most recent examples I've watched who spend time making sure the tricks look like their names!) Anybody notice, by the way, that on the one "non-overun" flight Ryan flew in the Walker Flyoff--which included two stalled out bottom right 120 degree corners--scored within the noise range of Doug's excellent Walker Cup flights? These Texas guys might be shifting the stunt CG in a big way in the not too distant future!)
Getting on my soapbox, by the way, I'd like to comment on something I noted while at the Nats. The first six conversations (give or take a number or two) I sat in on after arriving all bemoaned the lack of young fliers and generally ended up with comments like "what can you do about it?", etc. Well, a week later I watched the usual crowd watching and nit-picking the top five flyer's patterns right up to Doug's exciting final victorious flight. I had judged the handful of Junior and Senior entries and missed the first two flyoff rounds but watched the ones that ended up counting in round three. While judging the young fliers I was once again (after my experience as assistant team manager in Hungary) struck by the skills displayed by Ryan Young. His flights had shapes and sizes ripped right out of the rule book and only an occasional airplane fart (his ship is heavy for its size and "will" stall if pushed too far) prevented scores in the stratosphere from both myself and the other four judges.
Well, I then watched the final round and stood around waiting for what I thought would be a very competitive Walker Cup duel between Doug and Ryan. Alas, the duel for the cup petered out pretty quickly as Ryan promptly threw up two overrun flights which turned out to be the result of the tie wraps on his pipe being so loose they spun and the connector had, not surprisingly, opened up and destroyed any effect from the pipe. Forever game, however, Ryan and his pit buddy Darryl patched up the tie downs and he went out to fly his third flight knowing full well he was dead as a duck in the flyoff as Doug had two fine complete flights to zero for himself. This time the engine ran perfectly and the flight was marred only by a couple of give ups in one corner of the triangles and the last corner of the hourglass. His score was only twelve points (IIRC) behind Doug's best effort and some of that was in appearance points!
What does that have to do with my conversations earlier in the week? Just this. The seats in the stadium were empty! All the guys wondering why we didn't have more juniors and seniors were gone after the top five fly-off and missed the opportunity to see a kid who, I predict, will win more than a few Walker Cups in the not too distant future.
Boy, did I get off track there! Sorry.
No, Keith my comments about the big handle and the small bellcrank used by our friend were only addressed because of the subject matter of the thread and the direction it was (and is) going. I'm 100% in the opposition when it comes to such a set-up but, like you, can only marvel that a man who handicapped himself in so many ways on the way to achieving his aspiration managed to do so nonetheless.
Ted
