Electronic Second Wind 89-2

Second Wind 89-2

The Newsletter for soaring gods in a "winged arrow" world

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They call the wind Mariah . . .

but they call the 1989 NATS WINNING 2 meter glider: the PIXY!

For the second time, the Pixy has won the U.S. Nationals!! Tom Brightbill did it the first time in 1985 and now Dave banks is the 1989 winning pilot with only 1 second off perfect in 6 flights! As it turned out, 2-meter was the premier soaring event at the Nationals this year. For open class, the wind was blowing 20 to 30 mph and the only safe lift was to fly the tree-line along the edge of the river. Due to the narrow field and the subsequent crosswind launches, only 4 rounds were flown in open class. Moreover, with the tree-line working, the event was not really a thermal event but more a slope duration and landing contest. Most of those who ventured downwind looking for thermals, bought the big one.

For standard class, the wind died down some and the winches were not so cross wind. There was real thermaling going on and 5 rounds were flown. The weather was generally even calmer for 2-meter and it was truly a battle between the thermal titans of soaring. Significantly, in 2-meter they were able to fly 6 rounds. The consistent skill and unflappable concentration of Dave Banks put him in front of the rest of the field (which included such notables as Joe Wurts, Larry Jolly, Bob McGowen, Terry Edmonds, Troy Lawicki etc.) The Pixy was truly the plane to catch . . . and nobody could catch it! As a point of interest, Dave flew ballasted nearly all day giving him a real range advantage over most of the 2-meter flyers. Dave had to change receivers in his Pixy after he flew it in standard class because on the critical flight in standard class, that cost Dave a trophy in the class and probably also the trophy for highest cumulative score, he was getting glitched so badly, while he was climbing out in a thermal that he could not stay in it. Dave put his 1991 Lovesong ACE receiver in the Pixy for 2-meter competition and never looked back again! The Lovesong (flown by Dave Banks) placed third in open class unlimited competition (only three points behind first)! The Windsong/Lovesong has either won or placed in the top three at nearly every Nats since the Windsong was introduced in 1982! WIth only four rounds flown, Dave did not get the chance to catch Troy Lawicki (a former Dodgson Designs glider flyer, now flying his own design) to first place. Dave did, however, beat out all the latest kit gliders, like the Falcon 88 (which put in a good showing and is one of the better multichannel designs to come along in a while but which the final standings illustrated and which Cad guru and pilot/pontificator, Geoff Almvig so eloquently articulated when he said it was tips up by comparison to the Lovesong). The Lovesong placed first in Senior F3B and in Senior unlimited, flown by Dan Hesselius. The F3B contest was only the second contest that he had ever flown in and it was the first F3B contest for him, yet Dan turned a 41 second speed run (totally unballasted). He flew distance, with USA F3B team member Larry Jolly, and got 8 laps to Larry's 9. Once again, the Lovesong was unballasted and was under the considerable tow handicap of using the standard contest winches. There is little doubt that the stock Lovesong is capable of flying speed runs in 30 seconds or less! Dan went on to win senior unlimited class, also flying his Lovesong. In standard class, the Camano (flown by O.L. Adcock of WA) finished second establishing once again that it is the glider to beat in the 100 size! O.L. also put in a respectable showing in the F3B event, in spite of flying off course in one of the speed runs. Interestingly, O.L. said that if he had it to do over, he would have flown his Lovesong, rather than his Camano in F3b. Coming to the Nationals, O.L. still had the scent of a fresh kill in his nostrils. He had recently flown in a contest of the Torrey pines Gulls in the San Diego, CA area. He entered his pixy in both open class and 2-meter class and won both classes with it. In senior standard and senior open classes, Jeff Seaborn finished second. Earlier this season, Jeff flew his Camano in the big Fathers day contest in Calgary Alberta and placed first overall! In April, he even entered his Camano in the cross country race and came in fourth. Not bad for a kid with a 100 glider! Matt Coleman also walked away with several trophies in the senior category at the 89 Nats, flying his Lovesong, Camano and Pixy to glory once again. His trophies include a 2nd place in Senior 2-meter, flying his Pixy! Meanwhile, Eric Jackson put on a real show with his flapped Orbiter, in handlaunch! He placed fifth and was climbing fast! Witnesses said that for the first two rounds, Eric's flying was not up to his usual performance but that he really came to life for the final three rounds. In the end, he was thermaling through the best and the Wurts of handlaunch competition and was dazzling contestants and spectators alike with his vertical flapped descents, inverted thermaling, aerobatic displays and hand catches, not to mention his climbing inside of and through everyone in the same thermals. Both Larry Jolly and Joe Wurts wanted to fly the Orbiter after it was all over. Both made favorable comments on the experience. In fact, as a result of Eric Jackson's performance, there are many new Orbiter converts! At least 5 PIXYS TROPHIED in the unlimited 2-meter class at the 1989 Nationals, including Dave Bank's spectacular win! Dave Johnson - OR, kept alive his Nationals winning streak, flying his Pixy. Dave Johnson has won a trophy at every Nats since about 1980, flying Dodgson Designs gliders. Congratulations both Daves! What was clear was the fact that in all three classes in all conditions, the Dodgson Designs gliders were never outperformed. They set the standard. What surprised many people was the fact that the Lovesongs, Camanos and Pixys with the Eppler 214 airfoil where actually out penetrating many of the ships with semi-symmetrical airfoils (such as the Selig 3021) and other respected airfoils. I personally witnessed a flight where Shawn Lenci brought a borrowed Camano home, nearly to the circle, from the same downwind thermal and at the same time and approximate altitude from which a top rated flyer, flying a Falcon 880 could not even make it back onto the field.

DAN HESSELIUS Senior F3B and Senior Open NATIONAL CHAMPION, flying his Lovesong

DAVE BANKS 1989 2 Meter NATIONAL CHAMPION flying his Pixy and he placed 3rd in Open class, flying his Lovesong

You can't make serious value judgments from just one or two flights or even from several flights, but it was clear that our gliders could more than hold there own against all comers. The total performance envelope of the 214 airfoil, in my opinion, has never been reckoned with in computer analyses and in all the theoretical and statistical posturing. So far, the computer programs have totally ignored the unique reflex capability of the Eppler 214. With full TE reflex on a simple switch, the 214 is a truly amazing airfoil. It pAp5 is one airfoil that seems to be even better in the real world than it would appear to be in theory. This was made clear at the nationals where flying took place in nearly every condition possible and the Dodgson 214 gliders were unsurpassed in performance in every situation. Yes, the Mighty, Multichannel Dodgson Machines rolled over all the latest fad glider kit designs in the standings. Even the much ballyhooed Falcon 880 (with its vestigial poly tips) could not stem the onslaught of the relentless performance-muscle of the Lovesong and Camano. When you cut through all the wind and you won't fall for any bad tips, you are ready for a Lovesong, Camano or Pixy! ________________________________________________________________________________

F3B AT THE 1989 NATS:

One thing was shown to be as true today as it was back in the mid 1970's when I dabbled in F3B, and that is: If you can out-launch them you can beat them. No the serious F3B flyers did not have energy storing flywheels on their winches this year. They had something much simpler and therefore even more ingenious. Using their own winches the top F3B flyers like Larry Jolly, Don Edberg, etc. where getting an incredible height advantage over those regular F3B flyers who were stuck using the supplied contest winches. The serious F3B flyers were using monofilament line on their winches, an uncannily simple and yet effective energy storing device. Before they would release their gliders, they would completely stall out the winch motors, building up as much tension as they could. Upon release (hopefully not premature) the glider would dart into the heavens. About midway up they would slow down the plane, with the winch running full speed, and re-tension the line for the final potent zoom and climb-out! Most effective. These guys were getting about 200 feet of altitude over those who were using the standard contest winches.

Naturally, the extra height translated into more energy for the speed runs and for the distance course as well as more time to find lift in the duration event. In light of all of this, it is even more remarkable than ever, how well Dan Hesselius did flying his unballasted Lovesong off of the regular contest winches. Even more remarkable is the fact that this was only his second contest ever . . . and his first F3B contest. Yet, even flying against the actual US Soaring team members he still did amazingly well.

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TITILLATING TIPS:

From Fellow Dodgson Designs Glider Flyers

SILICONE WING FILLETS

from Walt Voldhard - WA

Dodgson Designs kits do not normally use wing fillets because good airflow around the fuselage has been built into the design. By having the wings mounted flush with the top of the fuselage, we have completely eliminated an entire wing to fuselage intersection point, along with its inherent induced drag. Finicky flyers can even put tape over the seams on top of the wings if they want a truly clean wing to fuselage intersection. However, Walt still wanted to do something with the wing to fuselage intersection on the bottom of the wing. He devised this half-assed silicon solution (Walt solves most of his problems with silicon) that sounds like it might work.

What you do is slip the wings onto the fuselage but with a layer of Saran wrap over the root end and bottom. Now, simply run a bead of silicon caulking pAp5 along the wing/fuselage joint and smoothly run your finger along it to give it that fillet-like concave shape. Keep the fillet small. There is no need to make a radius of more than 1/4. When the silicone has set, slide the wing off and remove the Saran wrap. Presto, an instant fillet that will stay attached to the fuselage but will slip around the wings when they are installed!

SHEETING ALIGNMENT MADE EASY - part 1

from John B. Nilsson - MA

1) Apply the sheeting tape to the foam core. Insert straight pins through the top of the spliced and sanded sheeting so that they project down below the sheeting, the length of the shaft. Three or more pins are used and are placed so that 1 or more pins are near each end and near the center. 2) After the backing paper is removed from the tape on the core, the sheeting is lowered onto the core so that the pin points, resting on the foam, are supporting if above the core. 3) the sheeting is carefully aligned over the core, by lightly sliding the sheeting and pins as needed. 4) When properly aligned, the sheeting is pushed down against the foam as the pins are forced into the foam and up through the sheeting. 5) The pins are then removed from the wing.

SHEETING ALIGNMENT MADE EASY - part 2

from Walt Voldhard - WA

Walt has discovered that with the full length spar in the Lovesong that the wing is quite stiff, even before the sheeting is applied. It is much stiffer than the pre-spliced sheeting. He therefore, deduced that when applying the sheeting to the cores, it would be easier to lay the flexible and hard to manage sheeting down flat on the building board and lower the core down onto it rather than trying to lower the sheeting down onto the core. This allows you to visually align the core over the sheeting before making contact and without fear of the sheeting sagging and touching the core prematurely. Walt touches down along the LE only and then puts the wing in the cradle, like usual, before pressing the sheeting down into place.

DUAL RATE AFART

from Will Bushnell - TN

Have you ever noticed that when the AFART is used, and you have enough aileron throw so that you bottom out the down aileron by closing the 20x V channel along the hingeline, that the AFART shaft is forced forward increasing the up aileron to the opposite side. Will noticed this interesting phenomenon that actually causes an increase in the differential throw, as the ailerons approach the maximum throw and dubbed it ADRAD for Automatic Dual Rate Aileron Differential! Since it is important to keep the rubberband as tight as you can without stalling pAp5 out the flap servo, this ADRAD effect may not be very noticeable. If the rubberband is too loose, you can experience high speed aileron flutter.

VACUUM BAGGING SUCKS

from Al Doig - CA & Jim Thomas - MI

If you are thinking about trying vacuum bagging of your sheeted wings, as Al Doig has done in his RCM article, go easy on the pressure. If you have cutouts under the sheeting for pushrods, bellcrank platforms, etc. you can easily cave in the wood over these areas. Unless your wings have no cavities under the skin, you will not want to pump the vacuum up much beyond 5 (or 10 at the most) inches of mercury, watching for any sign sheeting deforming over the vulnerable areas. The last thing you want to do is to screw up a good wing at this point.

Eppler 214 FLAP GAUGE from Bob Dodgson - WA

Use the drawing, as a template (make it 5-7/8 long to get the scale right.) adhere it to 1/8 plywood and carefully cut it to match the drawing. One side of this template, when placed over the wing root aligning the hingeline mark over the wing hingeline, will instantly allow you to set the flaps to the precise angle for normal flap. The other side will allow you to precisely set the flap reflex to the exact 6 degree reflex position. Exact setting of the TE is extremely important in extracting top performance from the Eppler 214 airfoil. This gauge makes it simple, quick and precise. If you have installed the Automatic Afart 2 pot or 3 pot Switch in your transmitter, as described in issue 89-1 of Second Wind, you can quickly adjust the flap reflex at the reflex pot on top of your transmitter. You adjust the normal flap position with the regular transmitter flap trim lever.

For serious contest flying, I check the normal flap and flap reflex positions before each flight. Sometimes, temperature and/or battery drain can cause the settings to shift slightly. As you regularly check the TE setting, you will notice that your glider always performs outstandingly. You will not have any of those days when the glider just does not quite feel like it is performing up to its potential. A consistent TE leads to consistent performance. With the reflex gauge and reflex switch and trim pots from the Automatic AFART to help keep the TE adjusted and to be able to reflex precisely at the flick of a switch, you have all the performance that you could get from even the most expensive computer driven radios. You can even have a 2 plane switch, as shown, if you like to fly 2 planes off the same transmitter.

The ORBITER EDGE

from Eric (Dr. J. Bamboo) Jackson - OR

After flying most of this season with the flapped version of the Orbiter, Eric has some insights on using flaps with it. In really light lift, when he can't quite climb out in a marginal thermal, Eric cracks a little positive flap (about 3/32 at the root TE) and it allows him to turn tighter, fly slower and climb faster. This positive flap is without elevator compensation so it also gives him the effect of slight up elevator. On one of his maxes at the NATS, Eric even reflexed the flaps and thermaled inverted for about half the max!

Eric, says that he hasn't found that reflexing the TE increases launch height so he usually launches with neutral flap. In really light air, he even sometimes launches with the 3/32 of positive flap, going back to neutral just before he tops out.

Don't Be Left HOLDING THE BAG!

from Bill Hanson - WA

Bill was intrigued by Al Doig's finding (see 2Wind 89-1) that the adhesion of the wing sheeting transfer tape improved when he vacuum bagged the wings after sheeting them. He found, for example, that the sheeting along the LE did not lift, while working on the wings, before he glued on the LE spruce. Bill did not want to go to the trouble of vacuum bagging his wings but he wanted to extract the benefit of having a well seated LE. It was once said if you want to find the easiest way to get a job done, put your laziest man on the job and he will figure it out. Enter Bill Hanson. After applying the top and bottom sheeting to the foam cores, Bill simply applies masking tape, in strips, along the LE (about an inch apart [center to center] or as needed) to hold continuous pressure along the LE. He leaves the tape in place overnight. Upon removing the tape, the LE sheeting is well seated and does not lift, much like when the wing is vacuum bagged.

One of the most exciting applications of this technique, according to Bill, is in seating the sheeting along the LE of the rudder, where it wraps around the sharp radius curve. Bill claims that his technique causes the sheeting to stay put, even around the curve!

STRESS RELIEF

from Dr. Feel Good Jim Thomas - MI

According to Jim, when you unpack your fuselage, from the kit box and find that it is a little twisted etc., from being under stress during shipping, or if you have stored it, without hanging it up, and it has acquired some twist or curves, don't despair. The DRUG MAN has the cure! Jim has found that if you start at one end of the fuselage with a heat gun, and work the heat evenly, slowly moving down the fuselage, that the heat relives the stresses and that the fuselage will nearly straighten itself out as you go. Performing this stress relief operation, also helps to keep the fuselage straight after it is completed. Sadly, Jim reports that the heat gun approach seems to only work on fiberglass fuselages etc, it does not work on everything (consult you doctor first).

The UPCHUCK Button

from Chuck Virgin - WA

Chuck Virgin (he trophied in the 89 Nats in 2-meter, flying his Pixy) has come up with a variation on Gary Brokaw's Automatic Afart switch and trim pots. Chuck finds that he can get higher on tow, if he can, while launching his plane with one hand, hold in a little up elevator to overcome the elevator compensation of the flaps on tow. This is no problem for those of us who are mode one flyers (elevator on the left stick and turn control on the right stick [Tom Brightbill calls it Back-hoe mode]) and who launch with our right hands, we can simply hold in some up elevator with our left hand while launching.

Mode two flyers cannot have a hand on the elevator while releasing their gliders. This is where Chuck Virgin comes in. He uses Gary Brokaw's switch and pAp5 pot idea to install another 100 K pot in series with the elevator pot, activated by a spring return switch (see issue 89-1 of Second Wind). During the early part of launch, he holds the switch in the on position, releasing it after he gets both hands back on the transmitter.

LAUNCHING HINT

from O.L. Adcock - WA & Phil Root - OR

Before launching, put the flap switch into reflex, dial in the positive flap launch position using the flap stick and then launch the glider. Near the top of the launch, take off the flaps and you are already in reflex for the zoom. At the end of the zoom, flip the reflex switch to normal and you are ready to thermal. Presetting the reflex switch idea came to us via O.L. Adcock. Phil Root does a similar thing, manually, presetting the reflex with the regular flap trim lever on his transmitter and suggests this procedure for those who have not yet installed a reflex switch in their transmitters.

EMERGENCY RUBBER

from Dick Roddy - TX

Dick says: I enjoyed your newsletter 'Second Wind'. Keep them coming. I have an offering for your Titillating Tips column. Too many times, I have made it to the flying field only to discover that I do not have a rubberband to hold the wings together on my Windsong and Pixy. The last time this happened, I made a rubberband by slicing a 1/8 wide donut off the end of my hi-start. It worked so well that now I just keep a 3-4 inch scrap of an old hi-start in my tool box and slice off rubberbands with a razor blade or wire cutters as needed. The next thing we know, Dick will probably be carrying a 3 section of old hi-start in his wallet!

Automatic AFART Setup

Shown in an older Futaba FG series transmitter.

The transmitter picture shows the Automatic AFART TE reflex switch and pots. This installation utilizes the optional 3rd pot for mixing down elevator trim with the reflexed TE. Since the Lovesong does not seem to require any down elevator trim, with reflex, but the Camano and Pixy do, I installed a slide switch to cut the elevator pot in and out of the circuit. When I fly the Camano or Pixy, I set the switch to the Camano side and get elevator compensation and when I fly the Lovesong, I have the switch set for Lovesong so that it cuts out the elevator compensation.

If you install the optional elevator trim pot, in your Automatic AFART installation, we have found that a 100K pot works better than the 20K pot in this application. Sometimes you may not be able to get the 20K pot set low enough so that it does not still put too much compensation in the elevator. With the 100K pot pAp5 there is no problem. This fix was recommended by Gary Brokaw (Mr AFART himself).

THE FLAP --Over Where to Put the Cloth

from Bob Dodgson

On occasion I receive an enthusiastic phone call from someone who just discovered an amazing adaptation to covering the flaps and ailerons with fiberglass cloth and epoxy or resin. Their idea is to put the cloth on the inside, under the sheeting, rather than on the outside of the sheeting. This idea is particularly appealing to those who are applying the skins with epoxy for the adhesive since all that they would have to do is lay in the cloth during the epoxying process.

The main purpose for applying the cloth to the flaps and ailerons is to turn the entire flap and aileron into a triangular torque tube. Putting the cloth on the outside gives many times more torsional rigidity than having the cloth on the inside, where it has no moment arm in which to work. To make the system work, it is important that you put cloth on all three sides, including the side along the hingeline. This torque tube treatment, along with the other recent enhancements, has all but eliminated the chance of high-speed surface flutter on our gliders and has really moved the envelope forward in the high end. A side benefit of the torque tube treatment is that it has made it easier to achieve and maintain straight and sharp trailing edges on our gliders.

VISIONS of SERVOS Danced in His Head

from Jim Thomas - MI

Jim shows us the shimmed, stair-stepped servo layout for use with the Vision radio (this set-up was described in Second Wind number 89-1). With all the servos in the fuselage, it allows use of all the control sophistication that the computer driven Vision transmitter has to offer, while allowing the airborne pack to blend into the existing Lovesong linkage assembly. This is great for retrofitting the new radio into existing Lovesongs and it is also great in that it keeps the weight of the servos far forward to help with the CG. It also keeps the servos out of the wings, keeping the roll inertia as low as possible for improved handling and roll response.

NOTE: you must permanently affix the AFART shaft so that it cannot move while this system is in place. The 3/16 high plywood shims raise the aileron servos so that their linkages clear the servos behind them. The 1/8 high shims, under the rudder servo, put that servo under the aileron servo linkages, yet allows its linkages to clear the elevator servo. Many flyers have been using a similar set-up for some time now, with their Dodgson Designs Gliders, and their ATRACS or Vision Radios. It works well. Of course, if you must put servos in the wings, they work as well, there, in our gliders as they do in any glider. One of the real design innovations of our kits is that they allow you to have the most sophisticated control systems available, without forcing you to buy a $600.00 radio. If you want to use the $600.00 radio, you can and it will work great! If you want to use a simple 4 channel radio, you can use it and with the Automatic AFART switch, it will give you the same control advantages that the $600.00 radios offer. No other kit can come close to offering this control system versatility!

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DUFUS MOMENTS AT THE 1989 NATS:

The Case of the Miscast Sloper

Geoff (Cad Guru) Almvig was turning in a flawless performance in open class, flying his battle scared Windsong. He had 3 flights completed and was only one second off perfect in his score. Just one more flight and he was destined to become a soaring hero! Thinking that the whole thing had been too easy and that regular winch tows were way too mundane, Geoff decided to showcase some of his considerable slop and aerobatic flying skills before this extraordinary audience of appreciative soarers. Geoff began his aerial interlude, immediately after release, by darting off to the left. Just at the right moment, for maximum suspense and not a moment too soon, Geoff straightened the plane out for what looked to be a near normal launch . . . but no! Skillfully Geoff took advantage of the strong and erratic winds and with his unprecedented stick handling capabilities, pulled off a snap roll on tow with a twist of Lomchivak, at the end. Unbelievably he was able to wined the retriever line around his glider (he is into bondage) and then at the last possible minute, utilizing a hitherto unknown maneuver, he extricated the plane from the line! Unfortunately, by this time, Geoff ran out of altitude, airspeed and ideas --all at the same time and landed the plane a bit unceremoniously, inflicting minor damage. Up to that point, however, Geoff dazzled the crowd with an unbelievable and fast moving aerial display! After it was all over and Geoff realized that the show, as great as it was, had cost him a major trophy, philosophically said I guess I just had one tow many.

The Long Distance Runner

One flyer of national note, hailing from Michigan, arrived at the field in a minor daze, obviously suffering from jet lag. I understand that it took Jim Thomas three flights to figure out that the landing area was not half a mile down wind! It all worked out for the best though, according to Jim, because he has long been trying to gain acceptance into the Greater Detroit Area Soaring and Hiking Society. Well, he finally proved that he has what it takes . . . great legs!

UP, UP and AWAY . . . almost!

Dan Brian is a multichannel, multisport individual. He not only flies gliders but he is also a world class Hot Air Balloon pilot. He is known in soaring circles as Dan the balloon man. Dan was well into the trophies as he went into his final flight in open class. At the time, the lift along the tree line was marginal at best and Dan was seen to be flirting with disaster for the entire flight. For over six minutes, Dan wove his Lovesong in, through and around the network of trees. Having seemingly and skillfully snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, hot air Dan was ready to turn out of the trees and head home to the landing circle. Alas, he instinctively made the turn while positioning himself near the circle and forgot about the trees. In slow motion, the mighty bird gently hovered into the beckoning branches as Dan was frantically bending the transmitter stick and shouting give it more propane! Due to the fact that Dan had gotten his air time, he still finished quite high in the standings and was able to retrieve his Lovesong in good condition.

The Immaculate Ejection

Gary Brokaw, perpetrator of the famous AFART, the Automatic AFART etc. staged a real attention grabber, as he was getting boringly high in the standings. Gary, always the consummate showman and special effects wizard, rigged his Camano radio system so that at the apex of his well calculated zoom top-off, the receiver and batteries would eject from the glider and forever vanish into the atmosphere. All went as orchestrated by Gary: a perfect launch to great altitude, a powerful zoom and the perfect top-out. Then came the pay-off. The plane started doing the Minuet in the air, gracefully swooping, looping and doing wingovers. Gary's planning was perfect . . . right down to a perfect greased-in belly landing. Needless to say, Gary's careful work in allowing for windage etc. was rewarded with an outburst of spontaneous applause from the entire soaring assembly. With a knowing and defiant smile, the cool F/X man took his bows and was last seen trying to rematerialize his vanished receiver and battery pack. One of his droll flying buddies was overheard saying that's what happens when you fly with AFART!

The Tip of the Ed Berg

Soon after Gary's masterful performance and the much deserved recognition that he received, a lesser man tried to capture some of the glory. I am sad to say, this man was I. Thinking that Gary had gone a bit overboard, playing to the crowd, with receiver ejection etc, I thought that a more subtle approach was in order. I set the stage by turning in a couple of perfect flights with perfect times. Now for my moment in the sun. I did a great zoom off of launch . . . and surprise, no control. I was trying to play the crowd now like the F/X man had done so well before me, but alas, they all assumed that I just could not control my glider. As I went off running down the field, after a rapidly disappearing and stalling glider, all I could hear ringing in my ears was well, there he goes again. Fortunately Bill Hanson found my plane for me. It was about half a mile away, lodged in an embankment, slightly damaged but still flyable. Go figure. Here, I had succeeded beyond my wildest dreams . . . yes the receiver battery had come unplugged at the top of the launch and all was perfect except the crowd was not sophisticated enough for my subtle performance, they had all assumed that I had just screwed up again! I did learn one thing, never follow Gary (the F/X Man) Brokaw when you are playing to an audience that has been standing out in the hot sun for several days!

Off the field, in an effort to mend my shattered ego, I thought that I would win back the crowd on an individual basis --using my wit and charm. That evening I went for a cooling dip in the pool at the Clover Island Inn. While I was the only one in the pool, at the time, I noticed that an animated group of about four people were bemusing themselves in the hot tub. After achieving my usual state of cool-down in the pool (Tom Brightbill just calls me Knumbnuts) I sauntered over to the hot tube to get thawed out and to start my campaign to contain the damage done to my reputation by the unfortunate misinterpretation of my afternoons performance at the glider field.

I carefully sized up the group . . . A dark haired young man of about 30, and three fellows who looked to be of varying stages of pre and early puberty. Ah, I said to myself, easy prey! In my most condescending and sincere sounding voice, I smoothly stuttered out: I could not help but overhear you fellows talking about gliders. I was putting out the bait. Once I got them to bite, I would reveal who I am and they would naturally think how fine a fellow I am to talk to regular flyers, like themselves, and thus, they would become mine. Are you guys sailplane flyers? I went on. To this, the boys started tittering among themselves. I must have embarrassed them I thought. They probably do not fly very well and so do not know what to say. In an attempt to ease their insecurities, I gave them a reprieve by asking Where are you fellas from?. The reply was California and more tittering. For the first time, I was beginning to think that I might be losing them and then to my horror, the man quietly and patiently said, you know who I am, you just don't recognize me . . . but that is all right, I didn't recognize you either until I saw your plane pirouetting off into the sunset today. Then it hit me and I died right there; this semi submerged pAp5 man before me was non other than Don Edberg and sons (without the sun glasses, without the special hat and neck protector combo and without the ever present, telltale camera pouch at his side). This man had just won the F3B event and has been famous in the world of soaring since his late teens! Now you see why for me personally, the 1989 Nats became known as The Port of Pasco Fiasco! ________________________________________________________________________________

The MASTER'S Tournament:

Tasks for the Masters?

It was interesting to read the accounts of the 1989 Master's Tournament in the magazines. To be honest, I was skeptical of the concept from the time it was first announced. However, may hats are off to the people who put it on even though I think there is much room for improvement. It is not easy starting something new and many flyers, like Joe Wurts (who won) said they enjoyed it.

It was obvious to me that the people who would be invited to participate would not necessarily be the best flyers in the country right now. You cannot be a really bad flyer and achieve LSF level 5, but you do not have to be great either, just dedicated to the task. Even if you were a hot flyer at one time, it does not mean that you are still hot today. On the other hand, many of the best of the present day flyers could not attend because they have not pursued LSF or they may not have won a Nationals yet.

At any rate, assuming that you could get the top soaring pilots in the country together for a Master's Tournament, what would be the logical task goals? Why, to try to stretch and thoroughly test the considerable skills of the celebrity flyers, of course! I would want to get as many rounds flown as possible, to help minimize the luck factor and to increase the challenge. I would want to eliminate sandbagging and force everyone to fly in a strict order so that the pilots could not pick their air and finally, I would have mostly ten minute flights (with maybe a couple of 2 minute precision spot landings and/or a distance round or two thrown in). With 9 or 10 rounds, no pilot would be likely to get all his air time but the real thermalers would rise to the top. What really happened at the Master's Tournament, as far as I have been able to ascertain, was that there was no flight order. The pilots had a block of time to get their flights in. They could sandbag and piggyback with the blessing of the management! What is worse, there were only 20 some flyers but they still flew only a few rounds. What a waste of flying talent! You assemble the best flyers in the country, give them the easiest tasks you can think of and then keep the number of flights to a minimum. No wonder some folks claim to be bored with thermal contests! Hopefully, the format will be revised for next year. On the other hand, there is the Western States Soaring Championships, held in Modesto, CA. each year. This contest usually attracts between 50 and 100 top flyers. There is no screening system here, to keep out the riffraff. The only requirement is that the flyer have enough faith in his flying ability to put his entry fee on the line. This is no big deal, however, because the entry fee is not much higher than many contests where all the proceeds are pocketed by the hosting club (around $30.00). The contest is run efficiently, with the best retrieving system I have seen, allowing many rounds to be flown. The flights are 7 minutes long and rarely do many, if any pilots, get all of their air times. Sandbagging is all but eliminated and thermaling skill is the only way to buy a win (landings count too, but thermaling is where the wheat is separated from the chaff). The victor is rewarded with $500.00 (rather than the club taking the rake off) and other high placing finishers are rewarded with lesser amounts of cash. This the best contest for serious thermal competition that I know of . . . and anyone can join in who is willing to put his money on the table. This year former National Champion, Tom Nielson, flying the same Windsong, with which he won the Nationals, placed second at the Western States Soaring pAp5 Championships! Congratulations Tom. Dodgson Designs Gliders have Placed in the top 3 consistently, since the contest began. VIsalia, CA, the best attended contest on the West coast is another contest of note. They do their best to insure that everyone has a good time. Like they say if you want to party, go to Visalia; if you want to do serious flying, go to The Western States Soaring Championships. I don't know what they say about the Master's Tournament. ________________________________________________________________________________

LETTER RIP:

Byron Blakeslee

3134 Winnebago Drive

Sedalia, CO 80135

Dear Byron,

As you know, I do not share your enthusiasm for a sportsman F3B class. In fact, I see nothing new in any of the proposals. They have all been tried before and have been dismal failures. I wonder how many people promoting this concept have ever seriously flown in or CDed F3B type contests? I'll bet that most of them never have. If they had, I would venture that they would lose their enthusiasm real fast. I have flown in many local low key F3B type contests almost identical to what you call S3B and I even CDed one. I also flew in the team selection finals in Colorado in the mid 70s (I only ended up 13th but I had the second fastest time in the speed run with my Maestro Caliente). Before we started having F3B events in the NWSS and before the Colorado Team selection finals, we had about 30 active contest flyers in the Seattle area. After the carnage of F3B, we had 1 or 2 active contest flyers left. F3B has not failed in the US because it has not been given many chances, It has failed because it is a failed concept as far as the enjoyment of our sport goes. People talk about the Two Meter World Cup as an example of how S3B could succeed. I say, why did it last only 3 years? The answer is that it nearly ruined the club that put it on. F3B has consistently killed the best in US soaring wherever it has been crammed down people's throats.

Some people say that they are bored with thermal duration type contests. I say that there are three reasons for this reaction.

1) The bored flyer is not very good at thermaling so he is looking for a new arena where he hopes to do better. Unfortunately for him, the good flyers will whip his behind in S3B also. 2) The duration contests the bored flyer participates in are not well run. Either the duration tasks are too simple or sandbagging is permitted so that too many people get max times turning it into a landing contest. In a properly run duration contest, people are not allowed to control when they fly. Each flyer must make the best out of the conditions he is dealt. With enough rounds pushed through, the most skillful flyers will amass the most flight time and in most good contests, no flyer is able to max every flight. This keeps the major battle in the air and rewards the skillful flyers with the advanced ships that can explore and work the largest area of sky. Many bored flyers are still flying polyhedral bags and sandbagging until a thermal is over the field! No wonder they are bored! 3) There are a handful of truly advanced flyers in the US, such as Joe Wurts, Dave Banks etc. who possibly have a right to say they are bored with thermal duration competition. These few people have gone as far as anyone has ever gone in perfecting thermal competition flying and yet even they continue to grow. Strangely, these truly gifted flyers are not the ones knocking on the doors to compete in F3B. They are more attracted to Cross Country flying, which utilizes all the skills of thermaling, distance and speed in a more sensible and productive format than F3B or S3B. In the past, many thermal duration contests have incorporated a speed event or a distance event. One such flight per day, does not necessarily totally bog down a contest (but it can) and it can give would-be S3B flyers a taste of what is involved before they leap in full bore and end up another carcass on the dung heap of F3B, disillusioned and out of the hobby. I agree with Al Doig that F3B is a dead horse in the US. He says that it is because the US flyers are too lazy to put in all the support effort that F3B requires. I say it is because they are too smart to be sucked into the Black Hole that is F3B, sucking the energy, the vitality and the heart right out of those beguiled flyers who pursue its endless demands and minimal rewards. Once again, we had to show Europe the way. Even many European countries are finally figuring it out! From Dan Pruss on to the present day torchbearers, the F3B promoters, in this country, have been myopic fantasizers, not serious flyers. Placing limits on glider designs used in S3B, will not enhance its popularity. When F3B first started in this country, everyone was flying stock kits, not exotic ships, and yet it was not fun then. The one design idea is the dumbest idea to come along yet. Sailplane flyers are, by nature, innovators and modifiers. If they must all buy a special plane and fly it, there is no room for hope for any but the top flyers. The top flyers will always win because lesser flyers cannot hope to win through perfecting a better plane and soon they will all quit. Jim Gray's wide-eyed enthusiasm for his often repeated example of the success of the 1-26 class in full size soaring has no bearing on what we are talking about. In full size soaring, the people already had the popular 1-26 gliders, they did not buy them specifically to compete in the 1-26 class. They competed in the 1-26 class because that was what they already had. If they were buying a glider specifically to compete with, I am sure that most of them would not choose the highly limited performance of the 1-26. If the 1-26 concept were to be applied to R/C soaring, S3B would be limited to flying Gentle Ladies, as that is the most popular single design sold today. I hear nothing new in S3B that has not been tried many times before. It is a bank corrupt concept being perpetrated by a few people with access to the media. If S3B were fun, why would people need to cry in soaring columns about its virtues? People would be flying it in local contests and it would catch on like wild fire in one contest season! Hell! It would have taken-over, 15 years ago! Why keep wailing and breast beating over the natural death. Lets move on to topics that are of real value and interest to the soaring public. Those who are now enamored with S3B can hold a couple local contests and purge there systems of the false dream real fast. Byron, I wish to complement you once again on the great job you are doing with your soaring column. You always cover a lot of ground and areas of interest. Keep up the good work and thanks for your kind words on Second Wind. --Sincerely, Bob Dodgson Bob Dodgson

21230 Damson Road

Bothell, WA 98021

Dear Bob,

Many thanks for your nice long letter, catalog, Lovesong instructions and plans for the Lovesong and Camano. I hope business is continuing to go well? . . .

I flew the Camano in our annual F3B contest on Sunday and it went pretty well. Of course the 'real' F3B planes did speed runs in the mid 20's to my 39 seconds, but I was happy with the performance. My main problem was unfamiliarity with the plane (I've only had 14 flights on it and 8 were in contests). I never tried ballast before the speed run; put in 20 ounces and it went great! Seemed to want to thermal better when I was fooling around after the run too.

On Sportsman F3B: I feel it's a project that maybe its time has arrived. It certainly is controversial! We hear strong opinions both pro and con, but I'm very interested to find out what the 'average' flyer thinks today. At our contest on Sunday, the tasks went slower than they should have because guys weren't familiar with the rules. But for the most part, they liked the distance task once they got the hang of it. For sure, it's more 'work' running speed and distance tasks, but having something 'different' seems to perk up interest. pAp5 If the 'public' won't buy S3B, that's OK with me too. I for one am not 'bored' with thermal duration! I just think S3B is worth trying at this time - even if many of the ideas were thought of and tried before. I don't see why multi-task flying is, or should be, a 'failed concept'. Different folks like different strokes. If clubs do indeed buy S3B in any kind of numbers, it seems to me it'll make the Soaring movement 'bigger and better' (whatever that means!). Excellent thermal flyers make excellent F3B flyers too. Joe Wurts flew great in the Team Selection Finals and undoubtedly would have done better had he been a little more familiar with his Comet. Brian Agnew is getting interested in F3B. Either of those guys can (and I bet will) make the US Team. I've never met Dave Banks, but I'm sure he could do well in F3B if he had a mind to. With the new FAI F3J Thermal Duration event coming on the scene, it will offer a place for Thermal specialists to compare their skills with the rest of the world. Personally, I'd love to watch Dave fly his Lovesong against International competition! The 'serious' F3B guys say S3B is not good because it'll 'dilute' F3B interest. To that I say, how can you dilute something that hardly exists? The present F3B program certainly ain't working, so it appears an opportune time to try something else. Don Edberg thinks S3B is OK if he can fly his Quattro in it. This of course is exactly opposite the intent. We don't want Quattros, or any 'real' F3B planes in S3B. It should be for the 'middle ground' planes that Randy Reynolds talks about. I'm thinking we should have just one 'rule' i.e. max ballasted weight of 70 or 75 ounces; anything else goes. Planes like the Camano, Mark Allen's Falcon 880, Sealy's Pulsar or Chancy's Conquest would be good. These are fun planes to fly and beg to be flown in more than just duration contests. Racing side by side in a distance task shows who's flying the more efficient ship, and to me this is very exciting. I just love competition! Anyway, as I said, if the Soaring public won't buy it, I won't loose any sleep and won't spend any more column space talking about it. Incidentally, thanks for the kind words about the column. I enjoy doing it and like to get newsworthy and interesting material for the column. Actually, as I said above, there's a lot been happening in soaring and I'm running out of space to print it. Wheeley Keeps telling me the column is too long, but if the readers don't complain, I'll keep the present length. --Best Regards, Byron Blakeslee Thank you for the thought provoking letter Byron. I did not mean to leave you with the impression that I am against multitask competition. I am all for multitask competition and have always designed my gliders to be multitask gliders. I just do not agree with the particular tasks, rules and philosophy of F3B multitask competition. I even believe that some sort of distance task etc. can be great to spice up a thermal contest, once in a while; but why do we need the big F3B/S3B formal rules to enjoy multitask flying? What do we care if we fly the same events that a few professional Glider fliers in Europe fly? Why do we even want to waste our time being manipulated into playing their thankless, ill conceived game. Furthermore, I am of the opinion that good thermal flyers flying multitask gliders like mine, make thermal duration contests multitask events. They maximize L/D in a skillful search pattern; they burn home from downwind thermals (perhaps doing victory rolls on the way) and sometimes smoke past the field at speeds nearing 100 MPH! Naturally, when they have to thermal in light lift, they utilize the thermaling capabilities of their multitask glider. Top thermal Duration battles are not fought, lazily floating around over the field, with a poly bag floater (unless sandbagging reigns supreme) but rather they are fought at the limits of vision with highly versatile and efficient multitask machines like the Lovesong, Camano and Pixy etc. and where all of their multitask capabilities must be utilized in order to out-fly the competition! --Bob Dodgson ________________________________________________________________________________

Peaceful Coexistence:

Now that we are selling the Orbiter, a few people are surprised to hear that we are still offering the Pivot! Yes we are still making the Pivot, which is probably more popular now than ever, with repeat orders accounting for a large percentage pAp5 of the sales. Many people are really excited about the looks, performance, versatility and portability of the Pivot. It can float on the slope with the Gentle Ladies in marginal lift, and yet it can fly with the hot slopers when the winds pick up. In the thermal department, it is an extremely efficient performer off the hi-start and winch, or it can even be hand-launched. The Pivot is really a sophisticated little sport glider without peer, best of all . . . it looks and flies like a scale Lovesong!

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NATS Afterglow:

MATT COLEMAN won 2nd place in Senior 2-meter flying his Pixy

JEFF SEABORN 2nd in senior unlimited and 2nd in senior standard class, flying his Camano in both classes

One of the most rewarding experiences for me at the 1989 Nationals was getting to meet a whole new generation of young fliers who are now flying my gliders and flying them well. Lovesongs, Camanos and Pixys were in prominent evidence among the junior and senior age pilots and they really swept the senior category, with Dan Hesselius winning both senior F3B and senior open class with his Lovesong, Jeff Seaborn placing 2nd in senior open and senior standard class with his Camano and Matt Coleman placing 2nd in senior 2-meter. Dan Hesselius told me that his only regret was that he did not have one of my planes to fly in standard class and 2-meter class. It was also inspiring to see the number of entrants and the caliber of competition among the junior and senior competitors. For instance, If Dan Hesselius had been flying as an adult, he would have still trophied with his Lovesong! Congratulations guys! One of the main regrets that I have from my Nats experience is the fact that there were about 50 people flying my gliders that I never got to meet and talk to. Heck, unless they come forward and write me, I don't even know how many of them placed or trophied with Dodgson Designs gliders. To encourage people coming forward: if you trophied at the 1989 Nats, flying one of my planes, and write to tell me about it, I will send you a 25% off gift certificate toward your next Dodgson Designs kit purchase. There must have been a total of about 75 Dodgson Designs gliders represented at the 1989 Nationals. If you think that this gave me a warm fuzzy, you are right. Thank you all for helping make this a really great year for me. --Bob Dodgson ________________________________________________________________________________

WINGS and THINGS

by O.L. Adcock:

A while back I saw an article on flying wings and canards that could have caused some confusion. It was in the slope soaring column of a popular magazine. The authors explanation seemed to give the impression that flying wing and canard configurations are more efficient than the conventional tail last arrangement. Let's take a look at each configuration as it applies to sailplanes and see what happens.

The first thing we need is a wing. We want this wing to move through the air at its optimum angle of attack and generate lift. A wing will not hold this optimum angle of attack without some form of stabilization. The method of stabilization is the important difference between tail first, tail last, and flying wing configurations. Pitch stabilization is our concern in all three.

O.L. Adcock Finished 2nd in standard class at the 1989 Nats, flying his Camano SP

In tail last arrangement, a stabilizer is mounted on the fuselage some distance behind the wing and is normally at some negative angle in reference to the wing. This creates a downward force at the tail to counter the forward center of gravity. this is a stable set up with X amount of drag caused by the stabilizing device. If I move the CG aft, less down force is required on the tail, drag is reduced up to the point where stability is lost. If I place the tail farther aft, it has more leverage, a smaller stabilizer size is required to apply the same stabilizing force and therefore less drag. With me so far? OK... With a canard the stabilizer is placed in front of the wing and to achieve stability it must be Loaded to share the lift with the wing. This force is much pAp5 greater than the stab force needed on our tail last arrangement and therefore will produce more drag. Also the smaller stabilizer/lifting surface, due to reynolds numbers is not as efficient as the same area would be if added to the wing. In a true flying wing configuration, the wing shape itself provides the stabilizing forces. The trailing edge in all or part is curved upward to provide the necessary downward force. Really it's a very short coupled tail last arrangement. Due to the leverage arm being very short, the force has to be high with the resultant high drag. The airfoil has to be designed with stability in mind instead of efficiency. As you can see, aerodynamics is a give and take relationship. You don't get anything for nothing. All aircraft must be stabile for them to fly, and the less force required to attain this stability, the better the efficiency. I hope some of you now better understand how pitch stability is achieved and how it relates to drag and efficiency. Some will not agree with my observations and we could argue all day and without a wind tunnel won't prove a thing. Just bring your flying wing or canard to the field and the aircraft will decide. Always remember, When The Winch Line Drops, The B.S. Stops. ________________________________________________________________________________

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