Hear Ye!

June, 2003
No. 433

FROM THE PREZ
by Bob Sudermann

I have been out of town the last week or so. First my son Jordan graduated
from American University on May 11th. (I'm trying to figure out how to
divert college money into bigger airplanes.). Second, I had the pleasure to
accompany fellow VFSS member Tom Burns and a crew totaling 12 people to
North Carolina on a mission trip. We spent 5 full days helping to refurbish
a home in Rocky Mount, NC, for a program called 'Officer in the
Neighborhood.' A Rocky Mount police officer will live in the house when
completed and work with the neighbors to improve the situation. Tom was the
leader and coordinator, and I understand he has been involved in this type
of effort for the past five or six years. It felt good to give something
back to people who really appreciate it.

Back to airplanes - I want to thank Alex Primas, Mel Jones and all those who
participated in the Limerick Airport event on May 10th. Alex provided some
notes, which I haven't had time to review, but I will pass them along next
month. Thanks to Joe Weizer for stepping in at the General Meeting on May
13th. Again, I'll get Joe's input and include his comments in the June
Newsletter.

My apologies go out to Warren Barrick; I neglected to mention his marvelous
Balsa USA Nieuport. Warren did a masterful job in its construction and
finish, with a unique scheme you probably won't see again.

Remember the Fun Fly on June 21st! Flying, fun, and food for the whole
family. See you at the Field.

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FLYING THE SINGLE ROTOR AUTOGYRO
By Michael Myers

In the late fall of '01, as the days were getting shorter and the flying
opportunities were becoming scarce, I was looking for a winter building
project, something different from the usual. I saw an ad in Model Aviation
Magazine from the Autogyro Company of Arizona and immediately ordered their
Ciervo C.4. This model is a wingless autogyro, .40 size, topped by a single
4-bladed rotor with a tilt mechanism controlled by the aileron stick. It
seemed to fit the bill as my new challenge.

For those who may not know, an autogyro has a conventional airplane fuselage
and tail but instead of a wing, lift is provided by a non-powered
helicopter-looking rotor on top. This rotor spins like a windmill,
obtaining its energy by the forward motion of the airplane.

Building the model, as it turned out, was the easy part. (The second
easiest part was *rebuilding* it since, without wing ribs, there is a lot
less to repair - but I'll get to that later). My spring vacation was coming
up, and I thought Arizona would be a nice place to thaw out and pay a visit
to Steve Tilman, the kit's designer and president of the Autogyro Company of

Arizona. He advertised free flying lessons, so I packed up my spiffy, shiny
C.4 and took the family on a vacation that just happened to include a 2-day
stopover at Steve's flying field in Phoenix.

Steve was very personable and patient and taught me a lot. Flying this
model takes 2 people - one to launch and the other at the controls. The
basics are to get the rotors up to "autorotation" speed by either facing
them into the wind or running like heck. Since there were no breezes, I had
to choose the second alternative. We waited for a thermal to cross the field
to give us some help, and then I had to run faster than I thought I could
and point the rotors back to catch the most wind while running. Then, when
autorotation occurred (you can feel the sudden powerful pull), Steve would
go to full throttle. I would then level the fuse and send it straight off,
making sure not to give it too hard a push, or the rotor would smash into
the rudder.

Then I would stagger back to where Steve made it look easy.

The airplane has to stay level. Any banking more than 20 degrees and it
will "fall off the beach ball," as he said, meaning it loses all lift, and
you have to let it dive to pick up rotor speed again. There is a lot of
torque from the single rotor, so you have to work the tilt and rudder
together to keep the turns flat. It really doesn't like right turns, but it
will go left if you maintain a slight nose-up attitude to keep airflow under
the rotor. Increasing throttle causes the airplane to climb due to
increased rotor speed, and applying up elevator slows it down by causing the
upward-facing rotors to act as an air brake. Orientation is extremely
difficult without a wing to fix on, and I was only able to control the
airplane for a minute or so before I had to get bailed out.

Back to Valley Forge and the spring fun-fly. It ended up in a tree. Then
along came Billy Jameson, whose mottos are, "I'm always up for a challenge,"
and "Don't give up!" So if he was willing, I certainly was. Billy is one
of the most proficient RC pilots out there. Put an engine on the kitchen
sink and he can fly it. But I'll tell you, this C.4 autogyro took
everything he had.

There were some good flights. Billy was able to do touch-and-goes and could
even take it off from the ground without a hand launch, something even Steve
Tilson said not to even try. But each time we thought we finally had it
going, the thing would simply self-destruct in the air. I was getting quite
a collection of broken rotor blades.

After about a year, the C.4 was finally trimmed enough for Billy to let me
handle the sticks. It was the most anticlimactic moment of the entire
experience. Big deal, it can fly straight and sometimes even turn. I hung
it up in my garage.

But I still had the autogyro bug in me. I saw a post on the
<rec.models.rc.air> internet newsgroup about the Tango dual-rotor being the
best flying autogyro, and there was the light at the end of the tunnel. I
was about to go from one of the most frustrating flying experiences to one
of the most enjoyable.

(To be continued next month)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VFSS BOG MEETING
By Steve Kolet, Secretary

May 6, 2003
Members present: 12.
Meeting was opened at 7:05 PM by President Bob Sudermann.

OLD BUSINESS - NONE

NEW BUSINESS

Item 1: The Fun Fly permit application has been completed and will be sent
out with the fee. The Alpha Squadron will perform at noon during the Fun
Fly. Mike Estock needs help. Volunteers should contact him. A discussion
about making T-shirts for Fun Fly participants was held. The shirts would
cost approximately $7.50 each to make. The club would offer them to the
membership for $5.00. We thought an initial order of 150 shirts with VFSS
logo on the front and a Fun Fly 2003 graphic on the back would be a start.
As a quorum was not present, this item will be carried forward to the June
BOG with the plan to finish development and vote the funds at that meeting.

Item 2: Tris and Mel are having trouble getting turbine heli certified due
to scheduling. Mel will bring the turbine heli to the Fun Fly, but it will
probably not be flown.

Item 3: Joe Weiser will chair the May general meeting. The speaker had to
cancel so "Show and Tell" will be the main event. The Campanas will not be
at the May meeting, so Tony will bring sodas.

Item 4: We need speaker ideas for future meetings. Bob Dolan will continue
to periodically come up with fun events for the summer field meetings.
Remember to bring a plane to fly.

Item 5: Eric Henderson will conduct a clinic at the field on May 24th. The
main areas covered will be setting up your aircraft, trimming your aircraft
properly, and flying aerobatic maneuvers. There should be some one-on-one
coaching available by some very skilled fliers - come on out. The weekend
flight line could be crowded. Make sure that you have the pin before you
use your radio equipment.

Item 6: Safety and Field Marshall items were discussed at length.

a. Personnel with a day pass have to follow our safety rules
and adhere to our flight area. We had a recent incident with
an individual on a day pass who was inadvertently flying over
the pit line and immediately stopped when told of club concern.
When a day pass is used, it is to be put in the freq pin slot when
flying. If no day pass is in the slot, anyone may ask to see it.
If the individual has no day pass, no flying is allowed until it is
obtained.

b. We all need to act as field marshals and take care of unsafe
acts such as taxiing in the pits, flying out of the box, etc.

Item 7: Joe Yalove is stepping down as raffle chairman. We will need a
volunteer when the raffles start in the fall.

Item 8: Joe Weiser will contact Walt to take care of getting the mowers
serviced.

Item 9: Carl Sutton updated us on the status of the club finances. We will
be changing the checking account to a business type account in the next few
weeks. We had a bounced check and were assessed a $10 fee. The fee will be
paid by the member involved.

Item 10: Rudy Forst addressed club membership. We have 200 paid members on
the roster at present. Members who have not renewed will be dropped from
the active roster at the end of May. The club will print a new club roster
in the fall.

Item 11: The June BOG meeting will be held at the field on June 3rd
starting at 6:30 PM. Al Marcucci is the hoagies and sodas manager for the
summer meetings.

Item 12: Steve Kolet will check the club bulletin board to update all club
paperwork, etc., posted. Additionally, he will track down the latest copies
of bylaws, field safety guidelines, noise/sound measurement guidelines,
field "flying box" diagram, etc. He hopes to get these items on a CD and
have the BOG update/certify these on a yearly basis.

Item 13: Joe Weiser noted that the school group for which VFSS provides
instruction is coming to the field approximately May 13, 15, and 20. He
will finalize dates and need instructors to help give the students a bit of
ground instruction and stick time.

Item 14: Joe Weiser and Al Marcucci brought up the purchase of club front
vanity license plates and a club jacket. Ed Moore gave us a bit of "jacket
history." Ed's was a personal project and total cost was about $125-150.
Al Campana had managed the other club jacket project and price was unknown.
The club has done the vanity license plates in the past; cost is unknown.
These items may be addressed at the May general meeting to determine member
interest.

All business was concluded. Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STUDENT UPDATE

We have had our first pilot solo of 2003. Daniel Goldman, assisted by
instructor Doug Deacon, has passed the rigorous requirements of the VFSS.
Congratulations, Daniel!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AVIATOR SAYINGS

Mankind has a perfect record in aviation: We've never left one up there.

Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.

What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a
pilot screws up, the pilot dies; if ATC screws up, the pilot dies.

from The Super Glitch
Tulsa Glue Dobbers, Inc.
Mauricio Papa, editor
Broken Arrow, OK

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CLUB CALENDAR

Tuesday, June 3rd -
BOG meeting at the Field, 6:30 PM.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, June 6th, 7th, 8th -
WWII Air Show, Mid Atlantic Air Museum, Reading PA.

Tuesday, June 10th -
General Membership meeting at the Field, 6:30 PM.

Saturday, June 21st -
VFSS Fun Fly starting at 9:00 AM (rain date: Sunday, June, 22nd)

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Feedback or comments to: Marilyn Ayres , HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster

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