Sepulveda Basin Flying Site

[Dave Sabon]

Hi Guys,
Just curious what the flying situation is at Apollo Field in Sepulveda Basin?  Is there CL activity on the weekends or has Covid-19 put the kabash on flying?

Regards,
Dave Sabon
San Diego CA

[Bill Barber]

  Yes Dave the basin was very active this weekend.Both days C/L racers on the N. circle and stunt flyers on the S. circle.
 We are required to wear masks and use stooges for launching.So you know next weekend the forecast is very hot temps.
       Cheers , Bill

[Dave Sabon]

Hi Bill,
Thanks for the reply.  I probably won't be out there this coming weekend.  Most likely sometime in August or September.  I already use a stooge at my current flying site in Ramona but that is a nicely trimmed grass field.  How are stooges safely affixed to the asphalt circles?  What should I bring to affix mine or is there a "club" stooge that is set up for the weekend flying?  Also, how is the plane restrained prior to takeoff?  My stooge holds the plane at the leading edge of the stab.

Who else is typically there on a Saturday or Sunday in the Stunt Circles?

Regards,
Dave Sabon

[Bill Barber]

   Dave there is no club stooge but several us have them. My stooge was made by Jim Hunt and uses barbell weights to restrain
the model. All the stooges we have use a wire to the tail wheel and metal weights to hold the model.
    Except for last weekend turnout has been light.
                  Bill

[Dave Sabon]

Thanks Bill.  I guess that system won't work for me.  I think that restraining a CL model by the tail wheel is an accident waiting to happen.  I don't think my stooge which anchors to the ground using six (6) 8" x 1/4 round roofing nails would work at Sepulveda.  I guess I'm going to have to wait until this Covid thing is over.

Do the guys at Whittier Narrows have the same system for launching models (i.e a stooge must be used)?

Regards,
Dave Sabon

[Peter in Fairfax, VA]

Dave,

Interesting that you do not think tailwheel restraints are adequate, safety-wise.  Myself, I've been using them all season, as have other club members nearby.  Several manufacturers have a long history of selling stooges aimed at tailsheel restraint, Brodak, Morris, etc. 

What is the basis of your concern? 

thanks,

Peter

[Fred Cronenwett]

This is my stooge 

[Dane Martin]

Fred, can I share your video? I really love your explanation and demo. I think it could help a lot of folks.

[Fred Cronenwett]

Yes share the video, we had someone at Buder Park drill two hole into our asphalt for his stooge. I promptly filled the holes and told him that is what destroys the asphalt when water gets in there and then it freezes. The heavy metal plate with either a rubber backing or simple rubber feet work great, it just needs to be heavy enough to hold your model

[Dave Hull]

Some good thoughts here so far. A few other comments:

The parks in LA were reopened for flying under the condition that we maintain our distancing. Since we are mostly older guys and many of us have the usual "condition or two," it makes sense to take those kinds of precautions. We can't afford to lose any club members!

The stooge I bring to the Basin has a large brass baseplate. I'm guessing 20 or 25 lb. To help anchor better to the asphalt I previously covered the bottom with a 1/8" polyethylene foam pad. I was happy with it, but received suggestions from some of the guys that it could be improved. So I modified it to sit on 3 pointed setscrews. No question that it has more grip now and the other guys are more comfortable with it. The biggest plane we've launched so far was probably a .46--perhaps there was a .51, I'm not sure. I have a OPP T-Rex that I'd like to take out, but know that the builder of the plane strongly recommended against restraining it using the tailwheel strut. The structure was not judged adequate. So that one will have to wait.

The Valley Circle Burners strongly discourage flyers from pounding stakes into the pavement at the Basin. We are trying to preserve the pavement the best we can, and ask that anyone using it help us. I talked with a local flyer just last week who was in the planning stage for his new stooge (he is anticipating solo flights during the week) and was asking about stakes. Please, no.

In my opinion, the issue of safety based on using the tailwheel strut has the usual answer:  it depends.  If you built the model, and you intended to use a stooge, and if you set up the strut attachment with that in mind, there shouldn't be a problem. It's no different than building the attachment features into a plane to support the bellcrank. You do what it takes and you test it.  On the other hand, if you have a detachable tailwheel strut for adjustment or for compact shipping, I'd say you had a different design priority, and would be real careful before assuming it is safe for launching. If hanging your plane on the wall by the tailwheel to store it makes you cringe--then I'd call that sufficient reason to question using the tailwheel strut for stooge-launching....

As an aside, the Navy designs most nosegear installations on their carrier-based aircraft to handle huge loads from the catapult.....but less commonly recognized, to take a nose-first dive into a pitching deck at 20fps vertical descent rate.

Divot McSlow
President, VCB

[Dan McEntee]

Dave,

Interesting that you do not think tailwheel restraints are adequate, safety-wise.  Myself, I've been using them all season, as have other club members nearby.  Several manufacturers have a long history of selling stooges aimed at tailsheel restraint, Brodak, Morris, etc. 

What is the basis of your concern? 

thanks,

Peter

   If you were to read some of Allen Brickhaus' articles, you might get a better picture of why not to use the tail wheel. The tail wheel takes a lot of abuse in it's lifetime, lots of bouncing and such, and then add in the stress of restraining the airplane when the power plant is running, and then can stress crack and break at any bend. In his later construction articles, Allen designed in replaceable tail wheels for this reason. I usually install some re-enforcement to the fuselage sides or profile fuselage and use a separate loop, but have moved into a stooge that picks up the stabilizer also.  I have some models with tricycle landing gear also and the same stooge is used for those models also.
   Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[Steve Helmick]

While building (or repairing), consider adding a piece of leadout cable dangling out the back....or connecting a fixed piano wire loop to the engine bearers, to which you can snap on a short lead to actually fasten to the stooge release pin. 

I know Windy U. and others use a stabilizer LE release, but it seems to me like that's not so good for today's really sharp stabilizer LE's and would at the very least require a heavier stabilizer. Nope, no thanks.    Steve

[John Leidle]

  Pretty sure back in the day Mr. Darrel Harvin drilled a couple holes in the asphalt at the Boeing Space Center to secure his Stooge.
  John  L.

[john e. holliday]

At the old Gage Park circle in Topeka KS I would use the cracks in the pavement to anchor my stooge.  Guess that is why I like grass circles.   I have two types of stooges, one like the video shows and my Brodak stooge that the legs come up in front of the Stab for the tricycle gear planes.  Now have the stooge I copied for the combat wings.