Hear Ye!

The official newsletter of the :
Valley Forge Signal Seekers
Radio Controlled Model Airplane Club

An AMA Gold Leader Club

June, 2001
No. 409

From the President,
Warren Barrick

Wow!!! What a fun filled, informative evening our May general membership
meeting at the church was!

Over 60 members, new and old, were present to hear Gene Greatti regale us
with the activities of a professional pilot. He even opened his discussion
by giving us all a bag of airline peanuts. We were looking for flight
attendants and beverage carts to suddenly appear, and they are probably the
only thing he didn't discuss, as he related with great humor the activities
of pilots and first officers on an A320 Airbus.

Gene has been a pilot since he was a teenager, having a pilot's license
before he obtained a driver's license. He is a U.S.A.F. veteran and flew
many large transport type aircraft while in the service.
Everyone in attendance received "wings" from Northwest Airlines and two
lucky individuals, Charley Swope and Tony Szczur, won discounts for future
flights on Northwest Airlines.

Pat Taggart, one of our newer members who is on a "green card" from Texas,
followed Gene's presentation with a very informative discussion of electric
flight. Pat brought a Balsa USA Taube, SR 250 and a Mirage pusher, all with
unique electrical power plants and battery configurations. He showed us
different sized chargers, battery packs and a battery "dump."
He is tempting many of us to have that one small plane that can be easily
transported and flown silently, with minimal cleanup and great enjoyment.

Thanks, Pat, you are a welcome addition to V.F.S.S.

Show-N-Tell Featured Irv Smith and his immaculate 1/4 scale Spacewalker from
a Sig kit. Irv finished his bird in the traditional yellow pattern with red
trim - a gorgeous plane. Alex Primas unveiled his latest, a lovely cream
colored with blue trimming PetenPoke by Great Plains. Russ O'Brien, our
supreme tinker in residence, showed a Hangar 9 12 volt charger and a device
which, I am led to believe, is to facilitate driving two prop shafts from
one motor.
I've been striving for the past 5 months to bring to the membership meetings
talent from our club for information and entertainment. Attendance is up,
and I believe we are getting good input from our members. We have a very
talented club and we have only scratched the surface. Many of us have been
around long enough to know and appreciate what this club represents for its
achievements, abilities and camaraderie. I hope many more of you will attend
general meetings when we resume them at the church in September.

June, July and August's meetings will be held at the field. If it rains, any
pertinent announcements will be dispersed by Internet and certainly in Hear
Ye.

On June 1st we will have young people from Friends Select School visit the
field for flight demos and indoctrination with buddy boxes. Come out and
have some fun with the kids. Karl Fehrenbach is our contact person for this
event.
June 12th will be our regular monthly meeting. It will begin at the field at
6:30 P.M. There will be instruction, boundary demos, sound checks, and fun
flying. Bring your fun fly craft, combat plane or whatever, as we'll have a
loop contest and a spot landing event as time permits.

June 30th will be our Memorial Fun Fly Day. We will have food galore and
hopefully some surprise participants. Make sure to attend.

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MEMORIAL FUN FLY

SATURDAY, JUNE 30TH - RAIN DATE JULY 1ST

The fun fly on June 30th has been designated by the BOG as a "Memorial Fun
Fly." It is on this day that we honor those who have passed away. This
year, we have lost four members: Ernie McGauley, Tony DiCarlo, Frankie
Morris and Tom Jones. We hope that members of their families may attend as
we honor them in our way with food, beverages, flight, and camaraderie.

Plans thus far are to provide the membership with a great spread of food and
drink. We want everyone to bring all the aircraft they can manage so that we
have an extensive display as well as a maximum number of flights.

Some challenging fun-flights will be organized, so bring that old junker or
profile quickie for the competitions.

Candy drops and war bird maneuvers will also be part of the festivities.
Buddy boxes will be available for neophytes and we'd also like to take a
huge group photo of the membership at some time during the day.

Some celebrity flyers have been contacted and there are many surprises in
the works.

Encourage friends and neighbors and relatives to come out to see us and our
hobby. It is what VFSS does best!

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RAFFLE REQUEST

I am attempting to come up with different prizes for the general membership
meeting. We do have a budget since the raffle has to be self-funding. I
would appreciate any helpful suggestions. Please e-mail jkly@erols.com.
Thank you.

Joe Yalove, Raffle Chairman

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CLUB CALENDAR

Friday, June 1st -
Flight demonstration for 25 students from Friends Select School at 10:00 AM.

Sunday, June 3rd -
Air show from 9:00 to 4:00 at New Garden Airport, Toughkenamon, PA, off US-1
near Kennett Square. The show is always an exciting one and has much of the
flavor of "barn storming" days. Plan to attend.

Tuesday, June 12th -
No formal meeting. Meet at field at 6:30 PM for instruction, boundary demos,
sound checks, competitions and fun-flying. Bring a new member/student.

Saturday, June 30th -
Memorial Fun Fly, 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Food, drinks, and fun!!!

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FROM THE CHIEF INSTRUCTOR
By Joe Pasquini

Our most recent Soloed Pilots and their instructors are

STUDENT - INSTRUCTOR
Rich Petrino - John Bragitikos
Phil Klara - Jim Myers & Frank Butta
Dave Merker - Jim Campana
Dave Lewicki - Joe Weizer & Joe Pasquini
Howard Peyton - Joe Rose & Joe Pasquini
Vince Zirolli - Joe Pasquini
Larry Scaggs - Frank Butta

To All Instructors - Please!!

Notify Joe Pasquini if you take on any new students so that their name can
be recorded. Also notify Joe of any students that you have soloed. If you
"solo" a student, there is no longer any requirement for a second instructor
to approve your decision. Good luck, and keep up the good work.

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ABOUT CROSSWIND LANDINGS
By Gary Chudznski

Over the past year, I've heard a number of comments regarding taking off and
landing in crosswinds. Many of these pilots ground themselves if the wind is
blowing across the runway. This is unfortunate because this difficulty can
be overcome with understanding and practice of crosswind operation.

The first ingredient for successful operations is adequate rudder. Your
rudder can't be too large, but it can be too small. Usually kits have an
adequate amount, but you should be looking at 40-50% of the total vertical
flying surface for excellent response. This should handle crosswinds in the
12-15 mph range. The other, and most important element, is pilot input. In
full-scale flight, pilots are taught three distinctive techniques: crab,
cross-controls, and a combination. These techniques apply to models as well.

CRAB: This is the most simple to perform. You turn the aircraft into the
wind to maintain a straight line track coincident to the runway centerline.
This is accomplished immediately after rollout approach on final for
landing. This track is maintained with small corrections until landing. At
touchdown, rudder is used to straighten the ground path and (most important)
aileron is applied as if to bank into the wind and held until rollout is
complete.

CROSS CONTROL: This is definitely more difficult, but more professional and
personally rewarding. After rolling out on final approach, apply and hold
aileron into the crosswind with sufficient opposite rudder to maintain
aircraft heading aligned with the runway heading. Standing on the ground,
not in the cockpit, makes estimating the amount of control more difficult.
So, start out with 1/8 to 1/4 application of each stick (again, aileron into
the crosswind, rudder opposite, and you are cross-controlling). Apply enough
aileron to maintain track to the runway and continue to hold it, gradually
increasing the amount if necessary, until landing is complete. As with
crabbing, rudder control is used for steering after all wheels have touched
down. For touchdown in a crosswind, do not flare as much. Fly the model onto
the ground while retarding the throttle. Remember, do not stop flying the
aircraft until it comes to a complete stop.

COMBINATION: Uses both techniques with less amounts of each.
There are two more areas of crosswind operations that I would like to
comment on. These are taxing and takeoff. In many ways, the same
considerations are given for wind direction and velocity.

TAXIING: Those of you who have flown full-scale light aircraft are
instructed to know the direction and intensity of the winds before taxiing.
This not only confirms the runway in use, but provides you with information
for safe ground taxi. Control input while taxiing in a light aircraft is
extremely important for control, and in extreme cases of wind, keeping the
wheels on the ground. The same considerations apply to our models,
especially the light, high-wing types. The whole idea is to apply control
input to keep all wheels planted firmly on the ground. For example, if you
are taxing into the wind with a tail dragger, apply aft stick to keep
positive pressure on the tail wheel. The reverse applies to a tricycle gear.
In a tailwind, use forward stick for the conventional and aft stick for
trike. For crosswinds, apply aileron into the wind. From an aerodynamic
standpoint, you are shaping the control surfaces to give you a lift
advantage, however slight.

TAKEOFF: Like it or not, cross-controlling is the only way to make a safe,
straight, good-looking takeoff. You have done it many times but may not have
thought of it in those terms. A good technique is to taxi to (using the
techniques above) and lineup on the runway centerline. Before increasing the
throttle, think about using the ailerons to keep the wings level and the
rudder to track straight through the takeoff. Initially, apply about
one-half aileron stick into the crosswind. As you increase throttle, the
aircraft picks up speed which means the controls are generating more and
more lift. With the increase in lift, less and less aileron is needed.
Meanwhile, continue to track straight with rudder. As the aircraft cleanly
breaks ground, keep the wings level, and use enough elevator for a
consistent rate a climb. Slowly take out all rudder and continue your
flight. Congratulations, you looked great!

Although somewhat confusing at first, talk yourself through these
techniques, then give it a fair chance with practice. Remember, the two most
important maneuvers of flight are takeoff and landing. Good luck!

Reprinted from the AMA National Newsletter, April 1999
Submitted via e-mail from Ed Jacobs - EJacobs160@aol.com

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