AMA L pad

[john e. holliday]

For those that have not been to the AMA Headquarters and National Flying Site,  it will do you some good to go on line at   modelaircraft.org  .  Under the competition icon there is a listing.  Click on International Modeling Center.   It should bring up  a list under the title about AMA.   Under the small map there is a legend,  Academy of Model Aeronautics Campus.   Click on it and then click on satellite view.   Youe will then see why the L Pad is called the L Pad.  I tried to copy this to my pictures so I could post it here, but this computor illiterate could not get it done.  Besides you can see what a great site we as modelers have.   

[Steve Helmick]

Best I could manage, Doc. Two blue "balloons" at the top of the map are the AMA buildings. The flying site is well south of them, so follow along the road. The "L pad" has 4 circles marked out on it. Fantastic site, I'm sure, and that 98 deg. 95% humidity with strong winds makes it just about perfect...NOT! About 2,280 miles for me, one way, which makes it even better. Western Canada Stunt Champs, here I come! Well, I have to wait a few more weeks. Steve

http://www.modelaircraft.org/aboutama/aboutiac.aspx

[john e. holliday]

Click on SAT to get the details.

[Paul Taylor]

Here ya go.... Google maps

[Bill Little]

I will call the circle on the far left of the picture #1.  It can have problems because of wind that comes up the bank on the left.  You cannot really see the topography of the ground but there is a pretty good drop off on that end.  I have seen a couple planes damaged there while they were on the ground or landing.  2 hours before AP judging in '96, Aaron was landing on that circle and happened to be rolling parallel to the wind.  A wind came up the hill and flipped Aaron's plane over before I could get to it.  Clear tape to fix the hole in the canopy and go get busted at Appearance Judging.........     

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

[Brett Buck]

I will call the circle on the far left of the picture #1.  It can have problems because of wind that comes up the bank on the left.  You cannot really see the topography of the ground but there is a pretty good drop off on that end. 

   To further Bill's point, that end of the pad is raised probably 20-25 feet above the surrounding terrain. I'ts fill, and the slopes of the fill are more-or-less parallel to the sides of the pad. The worst air is when it comes from the west  (from the left in the picture) up the flat part of the hill, or southwest 45 degrees from the lower left to the upper right over the corner of the two hills, and off the parking lot. That's absolutely brutal even in moderate air. In those conditions there is so much turbulence that you can easily get tricked by what you feel on your back VS the secular wind direction. The is also almost always a different wind direction at altitude than there is in the lower 20-30 feet. All of them are pretty OK when the wind is from the North but tomorrow is the first time I have seen that had any velocity from that direction. Usually if it's from the North it's not too windy.

    Of the four circles, generally the air is the best on circle 3 or 4 and that's where we fly the Open finals and TT. Which circle is best depends on the wind direction. I like Circle 4 in most cases but if the wind is out of the west I prefer circle 3 - not because of the air quality but because the crown of the circle is less pronounced in that direction. I have had relatively few flights on Circle 2 but either 1 or 2 is OK with an East wind. Circle 2 also used to have the Brett Buck Memorial Chuckhole, where I wiped out my prop on the takeoff roll through a big dip in the pavement over on the northeast side of Circle 2, and had to taxi around on the ground for a few laps before I cleared everyone and ran it off into the grass on the north side of the pad. That mostly went away when it was repaved.  I also crashed on the west side of Circle 3 but my divot was quite unimpressive compared to some of the really good one, like Steve Moon's from 2005 and Uncle Jimby's from 08, among many others.

    Brett

[Lauri Malila]

Here ya go.... Google maps

Looks like J-pad to me.. Or more like Г, which is something like G in cyrilic. But L.. no way!

Л

[Brett Buck]

Looks like J-pad to me.. Or more like Г, which is something like G in cyrilic. But L.. no way!

     Well, we also call the roofed scoring area "the Pagoda". The only good excuse for that is to honor the similar race control pagoda (which really does look like a pagoda) at the Indianapolis race track.

   Brett

[john e. holliday]

Looks like J-pad to me.. Or more like Г, which is something like G in cyrilic. But L.. no way!

Л

If you are a type setter from the old days, it is an upper case L.

[Mike Lauerman]

Considering Big Bear's and Brett's comments about the topography, it would tend to 'Look like L' to me, too.

[George]

If you are a type setter from the old days, it is an upper case L.

More truth than you think. My first job out of high school was as a Pressman in a print shop. Learned to read upside down and backward. Enjoyed that $1.00/hr job so much I joined the Navy. 

George