February 2016
www.radiofliers.org.nz
Saturday flying with a
33% Piper Pawnee in
the forground and a
Republic Thunderbolt
in the background.
Saturday flying with a
quarter scale "Ultimate"
aerobatic biplane.
1
AN O P E N L E T T E R F RO M T H E
P R E S I D E N T A N S WE R I N G
QU E S TI ON S RE M U LTI ROTORS
some of the video of the pilots flying
through the trees, you will understand
that the concept of a Line of Sight pilot
taking over control is impractical.
1.
Everybody’s understanding of
FPV is, that at all times, there should
be an observer who is in a position to
take over the aircraft should there be a
problem.
Everybody I have heard speaking on the
matter, raising this as a question, is
unaware of any exception. Talking to
some of our club members who have
been to Rotorcross events, no observers
seem to be in the picture. So, question:
Are Rotorcross events exempted from
this very fundamental FPV rule? If so,
where can we see this? If not, why is
Rotorcross being run without adherence
to that rule?
The role of an observer is to observe. It
is not to be pilot in charge or P1 . We do
not require a stand by pilot for flying
within 4km of an airport and we would not
wish to see pilots in pairs with buddy box
leads. The job of the observer is to watch
the surrounding airspace and look out for
manned aircraft that may have
descended below 500ft and warn the
model pilot to land or stay clear. When
FPV flying, it is acceptable to have
multiple observers provided that they can
communicate with the pilot. Long range
flying can be done by stationing multiple
observers who can oversee the entire
flight area. The observer should be able
to communicate with the pilot. There is
nothing in the new rules or indeed the old
rules about the observer taking over
control. It is usual for the CD of a race to
be the observer and be ready to stop a
race if there is any kind of safety issue.
Since the majority of flying takes place
through gates which are 1 .5 meters high,
the chances of interference with manned
aircraft are not significant. If you watch
2.
There are also rumours running
about that many of these competitors
do not belong to a club and have no
affiliation with MFNZ. If that is the
case, don’t we have a problem?
Most of the Rotorcross races take place
at MFNZ registered sites but some of
these new pilots have not yet seen the
advantages of joining MFNZ. Because
we require everyone flying at our sites to
be a member, a new class of membership
has been created, $1 5 for one month’s
Temporary membership. At the last
event, we had 26 registered pilots of
whom twenty were MFNZ members and
6 took out temporary MFNZ
membership. One of the factors leading
to the MFNZ budget being in the black
this year is the formation of the Open
Skies Radio Flyers club and the number
of temporary memberships sold to
Rotorcross pilots.
If people are
concerned, they should ask for the facts,
not rely on rumours.
3.
Pylon racing with FPV. I would
love to have a go at this one day, but
the question is also raised here. I have
no knowledge that the Pylon racing
being run with FPV has/hasn’t,
did/didn’t, run with observers. If not,
why is this exempted?
See the response to question 1 .
4.
There seems to be a groundswell
amongst long standing modellers that Drones
2
going elsewhere. Nowhere do I see any
reference to our own international
organisations.
The FAI have recently introduced a new
category for FPV sports called F3U. The
announcement in Dubai was made at the
FAI World Air Games so the link is very
close. It is very early in the development
process for the classes to be fully defined
but with this event and the World
Championships being held in Hawaii, this
new sport is certainly capturing
imagination. The same issue of RCM&E
had no less than 1 9 pages of “drone”
content out of 1 28 pages. Traplet have
dropped their Quiet Flight and Helicopter
titles and replaced them with “Flight,
Camera, Action”. Clearly the hobby
press sees FPV/multirotors as a part of
aeromodelling. These new devices are
RPAS and are exactly the same in law as
our model aircraft. We will not avoid the
consequences of uneducated use by
pretending that they are something
different, but we may be able to
contribute to air safety by embracing and
educating those who make a purchase,
unaware of their responsibilities. BMFA
and UK CAA are promoting April 201 6 as
“Drone awareness month”. We need to
avoid the US situation of all flyers being
legally required to register on a publically
accessible site. Working with CAA is the
keystone to protecting our interests. We
will not build the future of the hobby
based upon Free Flight or Control Line.
The average age of multirotor flyers is
almost 30 years less than that of the
current membership. Technologies from
these new aspects will quickly cascade
into regular fixed wing club planes. Now
is not the time to turn our backs on the
very part of the hobby that is seeing the
greatest influx of enthusiasm and
technical development.
and such events as Rotorcross, are not really
aeromodelling. I guess the argument is that
they don’t actually ‘model’ anything that’s full
size.
There is always the argument on
technology advances and the future of
what we do, but those things will always
change dramatically over time. I guess
the argument isn’t against Rotorcross,
but where it actually belongs.
The old definition of a model aircraft was
“a pilotless aircraft less than 25kg” there
has never been a requirement for it to be
a full size replica. The vast majority of our
models are not scale replicas. Contest
models in particular bear no resemblance
to manned aircraft but they are just as
valid as aircraft. All of the model press,
the FAI and the Model Aircraft
Associations regard drones as a part of
the hobby. Just as manned aviation was
preceded by people building models,
there are manned multirotors under
development
by
commercial
organisations and full scale unmanned
versions by such as DARPA. We have a
very broad hobby from microfilm covered
indoor models to 90% scale replicas and
everything in between. We need to open
our minds to the future of aviation. An
unmanned cargo aircraft is not a “model”,
it may not be remotely piloted but
autonomous. Will it retain the traditional
shape or be something entirely different?
We will have new definitions and limitless
opportunities for experimentation.
5.
Following on from this is the question as
to where all of this belongs. Commonality in
reality is the radio control component and the
fact they go thru the air and therefore fall
under CAA etc.
In the latest RCM&E magazine, there is
an article that says: “Word on the street is
that Dubai will shortly host the first World
Drone Prix with a top prize of a cool $1
million. The event is set to take place on
March 11 and will signal the launch of the
International Drone Prix Racing
Federation”. This says to me that this is
3
B
O
urnham
January 2016.
Well yes the great kiwi summer
holiday all but a distant memory. I
managed to get away to catch up with
family living on the Gold Coast.
Always a pleasure going over there
knowing the heat is going to crank up
a few notches and the backyard
swimming pool is available when the
heat gets too hot. Must say the sun
was covered by cloud on many days
and rain did fall. Even had one or two
cool evenings.
bserver
skills involved and is very good pilot.
So we managed some flying time at
his club the Gold Coast Model Fliers.
The club was very active given that it
was the Christmas holidays.
Probably mentioned this before, the
flying sight is great but surrounded by
dense bush and a couple or three
strategic trees that attract model
aircraft. There are at least four
models or parts thereof left up trees,
as being too difficult to recover. Two
are quite easy to make out from the
pits area. As for the surrounding bush
it holds many more downed aircraft.
Also an added incentive is my son is
also model aircraft builder and flier.
He is a better craftsman than I ever
was, has a wider knowledge of the
Flying was done on Hobby King
Dayle's Dewoitine D520 at th e field. OS 120 four stroke powered.
4
powered
glider,
Assassin
flying wing,
a DLG and a
large petrol
powered
profile
model of a
very
aerobatic
Edge.
The
motor being
a 30cc DLE.
As my son
has birthday
at the end
of the year I
managed to
find a quad
copter
to
add to his
hanger
of
Pawnee towing an ASH31 at a recent glider tow meeting.
aircraft.
Although
virtually all set to fly it took some
attached did good a sterling job on
sorting as the speed controller were
the runway. Thanks to John and
not set correctly, causing motors to
Craig.
slow and stop. Luckily fellow club
members were able to advise and
Sunday 31st January.
provide a USB speed control resetting
A fine day and fairly light on the wind
gizmo
that
accompanied
by
department. This meant a pretty
downloaded
from
the
internet
good turnout of members along with
programmes that can adjust your
a few prospects. Plenty of pilots on
controller. Very clever. That fixed the
the flight line and the odd mishap.
problem and the quad copter was
Peter had a prang with his Tri Pacer
operating like, well a bought one.
and Stu left his wheels behind on a
Piper Cub he was getting off the
Sunday 24th January
ground. Yours truly managed to land
First time out to the field for 2016,
heavily his AT6 Texan in the longer
well I think it is, weather again not all
grass ripping out a retract. Few
that kind although other have
repairs required. The quad copter
attended on the previous few Sundays.
brigade was in full swing and a few
It was fine and overcast with some
powered gliders graced the sky. Yes
wind, but the few who arrived out
even some choppers, with Dave
managed some flying. The grass had
coming back into the fold. Jeremy
turned green again and was reasonably
and John found some paint rollers
long. The lads broke out the old
and gave the porta com a coat of
Dennis lawn mower and with the roller
khaki. Looks good chaps!
5
B u i l d i n g a S pi n n er.
New
Spinner
Polikarpov
for
First off I should say that
I have not been able to
find
an
off‐the‐shelf
spinner that is close the
correct shape in the size
that I wanted. So that
only
leaves
custom
spinners.
I did find a couple of people on the
net that would turn me a custom
aluminium spinner, but they did not
really suit an electric motor style of
mounting, also they were pretty
expensive (purchase price + shipping
would likely have gone over the
importation GST threashold!)
from which parts can be printed: from
eco‐friendly plant based plastic, to
flexible rubber type compounds to
carbon fibre reinforced plastic all in
any colour you could imagine. I chose
to have them made from ABS plastic,
which apparently is a bit more rigid
and thermally stable that most.
So I decided to have a go myself. The
original was a laminated balsa jobby,
which seemed ok until it let go in
flight at Forsyth. I am not sure if the
wood spinner itself or the retaining
screw failed first, but the upshot was
mangled mess of spinner spread wide
(luckily the remaining model landed
safely)
For the sum of about $50 bucks they
‘printed’ the parts and couriered them
to me. I must say the accuracy and
uniformity of the prints is impressive.
The parts feel pretty lite, but also
quite stiff. I mounted the parts on a
home‐made mandrel and spun them in
my lathe to do some sanding and
tidying up of the finish.
The spinner mounted on the model
looks pretty sharp. Much more scale
than my previous attempt, it also
tracks a lot truer. It appears no
balancing is required. One wee
drawback I did notice is that the
plastic prop hub seemed quite slippery
on the plastic backplate even when
the propnut was torqued reasonably
tightly. I think I have solved the issue
by sandwiching a rubber washer (cut
from a piece of push‐bike tube)
between them. I will chuck the model
in the air before claiming victory – but
so for I am happy with the result.
So that has left me with needing to
somehow creating another. I toyed
with the idea of making a fibreglass
one, or a vacuum formed one. But
these plans stalled for one reason or
another.
One technique I have been meaning to
try is 3d printing, and this looked like
the perfect opportunity. I drew up the
3d spinner and backplate model in
Fusion 360 (a great piece of FREE 3d
modelling software by the way), and
emailed it to my local 3d printing
hub. There is a vast range of materials
6
The new spinner mounted on the Polikarpov and getting the "once
over" from the quality control expert.
Let’s Get Ready To Rumble
Scale & Jet Event Combined
March 4 / 5/ 6/ 2016
Food And Drink On Site, Toilet Facilities
Over Night Staying On Site.
Darfield
Entrance off Creyke Rd over rail line.
Contact Details: Dave 0276024302 (President McLeans Island)
7
C
R eport
ommittee
MINUTES of the Christchurch Radio Fliers Club Inc.
Committee Meeting 26 January, 2016
7:30pm, Keith’s place
insurance cover.
Approved ( GRAIG / NIGEL).
7. The Club Captain reported that all
seemed well out at the field and that
the HEALTH & SAFETY report is now
complete, although it may need
revisiting before this years Lake
Forsyth fly‐in.
8. Newletter report . Mark absent
9. Webmaster’s report. Mark absent.
10. New member application from
Simon Lewis. This was accepted by
the committee.
General Business:
Daren said that he may not be able to
continue on the committee due to
work commitments and his isolation
from ChCh. Calls for other members
who might be able to serve on the
committee.
The portacom was ready to be
painted. Nigel and John to sort.
Upcoming events were notified, such
as Mandeville fly‐in, Jet/large model
event at Darfield in March,
Some discussion about the state of the
strip. It was agreed that we needed to
do something about the surface and
the extension of the strip to the south
west. It was suggested that towing a
roller behind the mower would help.
Also towing the railway iron behind a
car would help flatten the extensions.
It was decided not to buy a new roller,
but use the existing one if possible
and ask Mark Brown to use his large
roller when soli conditions became
wetter in winter.
Meeting closed at 8:50 pm.
Present:, Craig Clapham, Keith Reid,
Peter Hewson, Nigel Phillips, Dave
Bately,
John Isitt, Daren Holder, Jeremy
McLean
Absent: Mark Halliday
2. Health: No major problems, but
Grant now home from hospital.
3. Minutes of the previous meeting
were emailed and read. Approved
(KEITH/DAVE)
4. Matters Arising:
Craig reported on the new procedures
at McLean’s Island club saying that
the airport control tower found the
club to be obliging and good to deal
with.
5. Correspondence:
* email from Donald Pettitt from the
Fun for Older Men project requesting
information about the club with
regards
to
activities
around
Canterbury that men could become
involved in.
* email and notice from Gore Model
Aero Club advertising their Models
Over Mandeville event
* email from Michael Fairgray, Sec. of
the
Macdonald
Memorial
Trust
requesting any nominations for their
annual awards.
* email from Des Richards, Sec. MFNZ,
supplying info. To members about the
new CAA rules
6. The financial report was present by
John and incorporated information
about the new portacom purchase
and expenses, Kiwibank transfers and
8
From the
P
resident
Gidday CRFC,
Hope you all had a good break over
boring bit. The club has its AGM in
Christmas, I didn’t so am very jealous
April so now is when we start trying to
of you! To be fair the weather hasn’t
think of who we can coerce into
been great for model flying for most
joining the committee. I’ve been
of January and in my case work has
involved in running the club for 2
dealt
to
the
odd
Sunday
when
it
was... The
side note
to this is
that for a
change we
don’t
really have
any
fire
risk
at
Burnham
which
is
unusual
over
summer,
and
with
the
field
being
softer than
usual
we
Lee's new acquisition - a Junkers Ju 87"Stuka". He
are
brought it out for a perusal.
planning
on putting
some
years now, several (most?) of the rest
effort into rolling to get it a bit
of the committee have had a much
smoother as it hasn’t had a lot of
longer period than that and we could
attention
recently,
aside
from
do with a couple of new volunteers to
mowing so it’s time it had a birthday.
help out. So what does helping out
Those of you who fly models with
involve? Well every month we have a
retracting undercarriage will probably
meeting which takes an hour and a
be pleased!
halfish and the venue shifts around
the members residences. We all
Next up is committee stuff, yes the
endeavour to write a bit of a blurb for
9
The new club portacom is doing great
service as a windbreak and that has
to be a bonus when winter comes,
also John has slapped some paint on
it so it’s not quite so obvious from
the road. Next project is to tidy up
the kitchen area inside and no it’s
not going to look like any of the
kitchens you see on reality TV but it
will be a presentable area to hide
from the weather between flights
and have a NCOT (this abbreviation is
used on our check forms at work,
meaning “nice cup of tea” during the
half time break in a simulator
session‐at least someone has a sense
of humour) to keep the cold out. It’s
certainly a step up from the caravan,
which is still better than nothing!
the magazine monthly, in practice
most of us miss the odd one but the
intention is good anyway. When there
is an event (Forsyth/Xmas bbq etc)
we all try to help with setup/putting
away and Forsyth itself has a small
subcommittee which meets 3 times
leading up to the event itself. That’s
about it. Really it’s not very onerous
and frankly all of us on the
committee are busy with our own
lives anyway, so if you could help out
it would be appreciated. Frankly the
job of running the club has to be
done by someone, and while it
doesn’t suit some people, most of us
could be of help. With all of the
above said, we do also appreciate the
day to day help that members give, if
a couple of you were to come forward
to help at other times that would be
good.
Hope I haven’t bored you too much
with the committee stuff, see you on
Sunday.
N
O
T
E
Our esteemed President has noticed that we have a few
sweat shirts and some short sleeved polo shirts sitting in
a suitcase.
He's saying to sell them at less than cost. So out the door
at $1 0 bucks each, First with the cash in hand to me will
have the pick. Offer lasts until they are sold out.
Cash only. I will be there (hopefully) Sunday.
John Isitt
President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Club Captain :
CRFC 2015­16 Committee
Committee;
Craig Clapham
Mark Halliday (Editor)
Keith Reid
Nigel Phillips
Dave Bately
Darren Holder
Peter Hewson
John Isitt
Jeremy McLean
10