Well another year has ended with COVID still affecting our daily lives. It does seem as though Tasmania took a giant step backwards when the borders reopened on December 15. No doubt there are opposing views on what course Tasmania should have taken however, from a personal viewpoint, the impact of the reopening has been largely a negative one. Anyway, Hangar Talk is for all thing aeromodelling, so we move on.
Christmas Lunch & Fun Fly – December 11
The turnout was not as large as previous years with 15 out of 33 members in attendance. Add to that partners or friends and we had 21 in total. The weather ended up a bit windy but a few stalwarts took the opportunity to fly their models. Notwithstanding the weather and lower numbers, it was still great to catch up and enjoy the lunch. Thanks to Kerry for putting the big spread on again and to Meilin, Cheryl Nelson, Ros Sydes & Gloria Willis and any other helpers who looked after us all on the day. (Apologies if I missed anyone).
PS: Kerry went down to the clubhouse in the days prior to the lunch and gave it a good clean and took our battery operated vacuum cleaner down. Kerry commented on how it really needed a good clean. Remember the clubhouse maintenance is everyone’s responsibility, not just the ladies in the club. So please take some pride each time you visit, and give things a wipe down or a sweep when you are there.
Photos from the field.
Thanks to Mark Holman for the images. Phil Elliott’s models are well represented in these shots!
Perimeter Fence
The perimeter fence has not been forgotten. We need the farm manager Ron to drive the remaining stay posts in place but unfortunately Ron has been extremely busy himself and this has put the fence on hold. Ron has promised to get the posts in over the next few weeks, after which we will need a few volunteers to help with the remaining work. Our goal is to have the fence in place before Autumn. Once it is in place we can attend to any remedial work on the strip, without fear of livestock causing any damage to the new work.
Mowing & General Maintenance
Following the request for volunteers to assist Max and Danny in the mowing, Mark Holman and Mike Hope have put their hand up to assist. Our Ferris mower developed some issues with charging and so Max & Danny organised to take the mower in to ACP for some repairs and a general service. It wasn’t cheap but for such a large investment, it was necessary. Vince Burling has volunteered to carry out the maintenance of the mowers. Vince has vast experience with small engines and engineering in general. To ensure the proper ongoing maintenance, it is important that should anyone notice any issues with our equipment, that they contact Vince, who will then provide an appropriate course of action. If anyone else is interested in assisting with mowing and or general field and maintenance, feel free to contact Max or anyone on the committee.
New Member
The club is pleased to welcome a new member to the club; Hayward Bruckner. Hayward is a “young” 38yo, which is nice to see some young blood in the membership. Hayward lives at Moltema, which is almost an hour’s drive to the field, so I am sure the field weather station will be a help in ensuring his drive is not in vain. Hayward does not yet have his wings, and may well be seeking help from our more experienced members. Please make him welcome when you see him and offer any assistance you can.
The World’s Fastest RC Plane Hit 882 KM/H Without a Motor..
This is an extract from an article in Gizmodo. Note that they mention that the glider travels almost 250m every second. Never mind nerves of steel but my eyesight couldn’t keep up with that level of concentration for a flight of just over 3 minutes!
According to the Guinness World Records, Germany’s Niels Herbrich flew a rocket-powered remote control plane to a record-breaking speed of 750 km/h back in 2018. Three days ago, California’s Spencer Lisenby shattered that record by piloting an RC plane to an astounding speed of 882 km/h, but their plane lacked one important feature: an engine powering it.
For propulsion, it uses a flying technique called Dynamic Soaring where pilots strategically take advantage of the interactions between air masses with different wind speeds. Air currents actually accelerate as they blow up a hill, and will take anything floating in the breeze along with them, be it a bird or a glider. Find a hill tall enough and an aircraft, particularly a small, light RC model, will be able to hit record-breaking speeds.
By flying in a continuous loop, first up the side of the hill and then back down again at a farther distance where the wind speeds are slower and create less resistance, an RC glider pilot can not only keep their plane flying indefinitely, they can also slowly build up incredible speeds.
But it’s not like you can walk into a hobby store, choose a glider off the shelf, and then make an attempt at a record-breaking flight. Lisenby’s gliders are custom designed with help from German aerodynamics experts and are built from reinforced materials like you’ll find in high-performance sports cars. The tight loops these gliders need to fly in can result in G-forces as high as 120g at peak strain. By comparison, at just 9g, the heart isn’t strong enough to pump enough blood to the brain for a human to remain conscious.
Piloting a glider flying at 882 km/h also takes an impossibly steady and skilled hand at the controls. At that speed, the craft covers just over 243.84 m every second. In an interview with New Atlas, Lisenby acknowledges that other pilots have taken advantage of pilot assist devices that can automatically stabilise issues like roll so the person behind the controls can instead focus on making perfect loops, but they prefer the old-school approach where success lies entirely with the skill of the pilot and the design and construction of the plane.
That approach makes the new world record all the more impressive, but as that record continues to fall and these speeds start slowly creeping up on the sound barrier, the manual approach to flying might have to change as pilots start to reach the limits of human reaction times.
Well that’s it for this month. As requested in the last HT, please send images of your projects or one from your last flying venture. Any anecdotes welcome as not everyone gets to the field these days, so updates on what you have been up to in the workshop or at the field helps everyone keep in touch.
Don’t Forget – Put a Spark in your life and fly electric!
George
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