RE: narca hsv al pattern contest 14-15 june 08
[quote]ORIGINAL: KGSS28 Hay Matchlessaero Where is Cordova Tennessee ? [/quote] . . About 2 miles north of Collierville. . . . .
Posted on: 6/17/2008 12:15 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7629070

RE: narca hsv al pattern contest 14-15 june 08
Jeremy, You're going to have to add another line to your signature. . .
Posted on: 6/16/2008 7:06 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7626444

RE: narca hsv al pattern contest 14-15 june 08
. . Thanks to the NARCA club for putting on a great contest!! The Memphis crew had a great day coming down to compete. . . One upside of having the electric pattern planes is that it's fairly easy to find a big battery to get a jumpstart off of. . . . .
Posted on: 6/16/2008 9:01 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7624217

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
[quote]ORIGINAL: jim woodward . . .<snip>. . All with intentional mistakes thrown in at times. . . .<snip>. . [/quote] . . I've got that part of the plan covered!!!! . .
Posted on: 6/13/2008 5:18 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7615958

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
[quote]ORIGINAL: vellum2 Keith, Excellent point. My reference to USPJA was just to remind everyone of the history. Glory days or not, one the reason USPJA fell apart was because of perceived flaws in the system (Halo, etc...). Judging was a problem then as it is now. So, being solution oriented, where do people want to see a clinic happen? Atlanta area? My vote would be Ocala, but I'm only slightly biased on that one... OR Should we dedicate some time at the beginning of each contest to have a mini seminar? Eats up part of Saturday, but if we get this thing right, everyone has more fun. Thoughts? Joe [/quote] . . My vote would be either Friday or Saturday after flying. Almost everyone meets for dinner anyway. . . . However, you still have to standardize the guys giving the seminars. It would also be very helpful to get 80% of the work out of the way via web-based training, that way you can concentrate on answering questions instead of reading the Judges Guide to attendees. Almost everyone has access to the internet, right?? (If you don't, please raise your hand) . .
Posted on: 6/13/2008 12:30 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7615016

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
[quote]ORIGINAL: vellum2 . . .<snip>. . .When the move was made to shift away from USPJA judges to contestant judges, it was understood that it was your responsibility as a pilot to learn the rules and sit in the chair and fairly judge folks in other classes either above or below the class you fly. . . .<snip>. . . [/quote] . . If that is what is expected, then it needs to be put in writing and communicated to the masses on a regular basis because some of us weren't around in the Grand Old Glory Days of pattern. You also need to have a means to ensure that the masses actually "got the message". Honestly, how many guys would tell the CD "Sorry, I was too lazy to study the Advanced schedule so I can't judge it." No, most will silently nod their head, sit in the chair and give out a string of 7's, 8's, 9's, and an occasional 10 for takeoff or landing. Most of what people know about judging is hand-me-down information that they managed to accumulate over the years. No wonder we have "regional biases" in flying styles. . . Someone has to set up a comprehensive judges training program and have a way to track who has completed it if you want the dudes in the chairs to have any credibility. If you get credibility and fairness in the system, people will want to come back and play. . .
Posted on: 6/13/2008 12:49 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7613617

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
Jim, I agree that having a serious judging seminar with demo flights would be great. However, before I drive 400+ miles to the seminar I would like some reasonable guarantee that it won't devolve into an "FAI snap vs. AMA snap" beeatch-fest like the last judging seminar I attended. You need to have a published format and syllabus for the weekend so when the inevitable happens and a couple self-appointed experts begin to hijack the seminar we can all point to the syllabus and tell them to sit down and shut up. You also have to appoint an instructor with enough Street-Cred that can keep everyone on task and maintain the crowd's attention. . . We already have a very powerful resource that can be leveraged to begin standardizing judging - the nsrca.us web site. There is already a judging exam in the judging section. This exam could be expanded to include videos of maneuvers that you score, and make the test an online version. Your score would be recorded for the NSRCA judging committee to review. Before a contest the CD would receive a list of pilots via e-mail who are not up to speed with their judging exams and their highest score over the weekend would be Zeroed. If people are going to be driving long distances to come to a contest, they expect fair and standardized judging - and that means US. . . Also, we need to standardize what classes you are expected to know for judging at contests and then have an additional exam that each member is responsible for. For example - each competitor needs to pass the test for one class above and below their current class. Obviously, guys showing up for their first couple contests in Sportsman would be exempt, but they know when they're ready to take the Intermediate judging exam. If everyone is qualified one class up and down, then the CD doesn't have to waste time beating the bushes looking for judges, he just assigns them while he's making up the flying order. If someone refuses their judging assignment, then Zero their top score of the weekend (for some guys that may be a fair trade!!). If someone doesn't "feel comfortable", then they should be assigned an experienced judge to sit with them and score along with them for a round. After each flight, they are allowed to discuss the scores and make changes if necessary. . . . . All right. . . didn't mean to get that long-winded. . . . . . . . "And that's all I got to say about that". . . .
Posted on: 6/12/2008 12:24 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7611076

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
[quote]ORIGINAL: patternflyr Hey Keith, I didn't see a canopy when I was cleaning up. If you haven't already, give Mac a call and see if he has found it. Thanks, Emory [/quote] . . Emory & Doug, Sorry, I should have highlighted the "winky" on my post. . . Me and Doug were joking back and forth about stealing my canopy all weekend. . . . . . Now back to more serious discussions. . . . .
Posted on: 6/12/2008 11:32 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7610910

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
[quote]ORIGINAL: ab5yy Keith thanks so much for the assistance with the Evolution Canopy this past weekend at Hodges. I am attempting to do the changes as we speak. Thanks to all for making this ole guy feel so welcome..Had a ball...Coming to the Nats to watch and to be head cheerleader for District 3...Doug Harvel [/quote] . . Doug, You didn't happen to see my canopy at Mac's on Sunday after the contest, did you? I looked all over for it while I was packing up and we finally left without it. . . . ;-) . .
Posted on: 6/11/2008 9:28 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7608999

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
[quote]ORIGINAL: jim woodward. . .<snip>. . Hey - why did you guys judge youself (peer judging)? This was tried before, & sort of decided against, especially when the peer-pool is small. Anyway, I thought we were going back to the traditional judging/contest format. Thanks - see you in FAI at the next one. Jim [/quote] . . It's going to be the new standard if gas keeps rising. . . you just have someone in your home club judge you and then fax in your scores to the CD's house. . .
Posted on: 6/11/2008 12:45 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7607370

RE: A123 Batteries, anybody?
[quote]ORIGINAL: BaldEagel Beware chaps it seems there are some Eastern coppies of the A123's out there that just do not perform. Mike [/quote] . . That's right. I have tested a 2S-1100Mah set of LiFe batteries vs. an A123 pack and the LiFe's showed a higher internal resistance than the true A123's. I also have a friends LiFe pack that is showing a cell imbalance that causes the charger to take forever charging the pack. . . Even though the LiFe's charge on the A123 settings, they are NOT A123's. If you're paying $15 for a receiver pack, you may be getting "A123-compatible" cells. . . . . I am using 2S-1100 A123 pack from a Black & Decker VPX pack on my pattern plane this year. The pack is unregulated with a Futaba 6014 FASST receiver, S9151 servos, S9153 rudder servo, and a digital sport servo on throttle. . . no problems whatsoever so far. Every time I land I plug in the CellPro charger and it starts charging the pack at 3 amps (old version), it is done before I am finished filling up the fuel tank. . . So far I am very happy with the A123's on receiver duty. I have the 2400Mah cells on my glow starter and electric buggy. . . if they can take the abuse I'm dishing out in those applications w/o complaining then driving some servos should be a breeze. . .
Posted on: 6/11/2008 10:31 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7606912

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
. . Emory, great contest. . . had a great time. Thank you for your effort and time to put on this great contest!! . .
Posted on: 6/9/2008 10:18 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7598002

RE: Peach Pattern Classic '08
. . The Memphis crew is leaving tomorrow. . . hope to be at the field bright and early Friday morning. . .
Posted on: 6/4/2008 10:51 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7581663

RE: A123 Batteries for Pattern Rx ?
. . I'm using the 2S-1100 A123 batteries made from a Black and Decker VPX pack purchased at Wal-Mart. I wired it so the Node 1 tap is the white wire on the Futaba plug, then I stripped out the white wire between the charge switch and the receiver. Every time I take the plane back to the parking spot after a flight, I plug in the CellPro and it is re-charged by the time I am done refueling. I have the old CellPro that can only charge at 3 amps, but the new one goes straight to 4 amps. The A123's are great, I don't think its possible for these batts to be over-abused in our application. Go read how the car guys treat these cells. . . . . . Futaba FASST 6014 receiver, Futaba S9151 servos, and S3151 on throttle. . . . so far all components seem happy with the 6.5 volts. . . . .
Posted on: 5/23/2008 9:33 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7531049

RE: Servo selection on a budget
I guess it depends on what your definition of "budget" is. Personally, I like the S3050's, about $44.99 (that's about 2 Pounds these days, I think). If you run them on 6V, you get 90oz. of torque and they are digital to boot.
Posted on: 5/18/2008 12:23 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7510378

FMA 10S won't charge A123 thru Node Connector
. . Just checking to see if anyone else can either duplicate / confirm. . . My 10S charger won't charge up A123 packs when I try to utilize the Node connectors only. When I hook up the discharge AND node connectors, the charger fires them right up. Both A123 packs (2300Mah and 1100 VPX packs) charge just fine with my CellPro (3 amp version). Also, the charger give a "Safety Code 96" error which is not in the book. . . I contacted FMA and they want me to send in the charger and batteries for testing. . if it was November, I wouldn't have a problem but flying season has just started here!! . .
Posted on: 4/29/2008 10:54 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Batteries & Chargers"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7434741

Landing Gear for Fliton Inspire Mini . . .
I need to find a new set of landing gear for my son's Fliton Inspire Mini. . . I've tried Horizon and Fliton's answering machine is full. Any ideas? Thanks!!
Posted on: 4/10/2008 7:26 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Electric Aerobatic & Sport Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7362845

RE: What have I done.
[quote]ORIGINAL: martenson . . .<snip>. . P.S is it dangerous to fly a plane where the wing sheeting is getting unglued(it is not much but you can see the area), I really want to fly his old Crusader. [/quote] . . Get a syringe, fill it with polyurethane glue, and inject it into the voids. The glue will foam up and fill the voids. . . You can warm up the glue when its in the syringe to make it more liquidy. . . . .
Posted on: 4/10/2008 4:43 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Classic Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7362123

RE: Birmingham AL Pattern Contest
I'm planning on attending!!
Posted on: 4/10/2008 10:35 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7360657

RE: hanno motor
. . Perhaps Hobbico needs to do a limited run of some Hanno Special engines. . . . . .
Posted on: 4/7/2008 1:20 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Classic Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7346272

12MZ and FMA M5 receiver
I know there is an issue with the 9Z synthesized Tx module and the FMA FS8 receiver. . . does anyone know if there are similar issues with the 12MZ synthesized Tx and the FMA M5 receivers? They seem to be working fine in the garage. . .
Posted on: 3/31/2008 9:30 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7313639

RE: OS 140 question?
[quote]ORIGINAL: ROGUE ROVER Hi guy`s I am also running an OS 140 RX P in my Zen and i have started experiencing engine failures in flight all of a sudden. The engine itself has had probably about 40 - 50 flights on it. The engine seems to test fine with ground testing but not sure what is going on. I have checked all bolts and fuel lines ( plug works ) with all seemingly ok. After reading this post i now am leaning towards a dodgy rearbearing, because also the engine does seem to be running a little hotter than normal. The bearing running at this hotter temperature i have been told can cause the fuel to boil in the pump and thus cause fuel flow dramas. ( methonol boils at around 80 - 85 Degrees C. But im still not convinced, surely these engines should run for longer than 5o flights. Any thoughts??? [/quote] . . Replace the rear bearing with stainless steel. . . even when the engine is new out of the box. . . stainless steel bearings. . . . stainless. . . .. steel. . . . . bearings. . . . yes the regular bearings can go bad in 50 flights. . . stainless. . . steel. . . . .
Posted on: 3/31/2008 1:09 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7309259

RE: Bluejay XLT question
. . I put together the wing sheeting last night. When I weighed the (12) 3/32" sheets provided for the wings, they tipped the scales at 17.5 oz. WOW, over a pound of hard balsa for the sheeting . . . luckily I had 11 sheets of 4" contest balsa from a previous project left over, they weighed in at a total of 6 oz. Knocked 11 oz. of weight off the plane and I haven't even gotten past page 1 of the instructions!! . . Anybody building a deck? . .
Posted on: 3/31/2008 12:00 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Classic Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7309020

RE: OS 140 question?
[quote]ORIGINAL: Aresti-RCU One "F" plug, the piston ring was replaced 40-50 flights ago, together with the rear bearing.... [/quote] . . Is it a stainless steel bearing? The non-stainless bearings can go bad in just a few flights and cause alot of weird problems. . . . .
Posted on: 3/30/2008 11:50 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7308982

RE: Bluejay XLT question
[quote]ORIGINAL: CrateCruncher Seriously Keith, hows the kit? Are the plans/ instructions intelligible? Is the wood good quality? How do the cores rate? Value overall? (I love Blue Jay for keeping these kits in production but those loony instructions they include with the Dirty Birdy kit are worse than not having any at all.[sm=spinnyeyes.gif]) Mike. [/quote] . . I haven't really dug into it since I've been finishing up my 2M Evolution for the 2008 season. The weather is getting right and I need to start practicing for GMA in April. Here is my initial impression. . . The wood looks very good and the milling is great, I haven't taken the cores apart to look at them yet. However, the design of this kit uses some very seriously thick lumber so I'm going to be doing alot of milling to thin down some of the planks. The wing sheeting is 3/32" that will be replaced with 1/16". There are also alot of balsa blocks for wing tips, engine cowl, wing fillets, and other places - time to buy new X-acto hollowing blades. The fiberglass canopy is very thick as well, so I'll probably be doing some internal grinding to bring down the weight. It appears that Bluejay could easily use half of the epoxy and fiberglass to make the canopy for this plane. . . Hmmmmmm. . .maybe I'll send it to Mike Hester to have him form up a slick-azz CF canopy. I would like to see someone do a serious redesign of this kit and reduce the wood weight by half - create a fiberglass engine cowl, replace the 3/8" thick formers with balsa/CF sandwich, thinner wing sheeting, thinner fuselage sides, ect. . . The instructions are the same typeset of the original. Sorry, no pictures. . . I'm not trying to be negative about this kit, I am really looking forward to building it and putting too much engine up front. The parts of the kit are very well formed and I'm sure will go together perfectly. I would rate the overall value of the kit as very high, it is just the original design that could use some updating. . . When I start it I'll post pictures and keep everyone updated. I am no master builder by a long shot, in fact when I opened this up it struck me that I haven't built a "kit" in almost four years!! Hopefully other XLT builders will begin posting their progress as well. Maybe we'll also need to rename the thread. . . . .
Posted on: 3/26/2008 11:54 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Classic Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7288971

RE: Bluejay XLT question
It also came with two long rolled up pieces of paper. . . anyone know what to do with these?? Haven't seen this before!!!
Posted on: 3/26/2008 10:02 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Classic Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7284870

Bluejay XLT question
I thought the box was a little small, but my XLT was never assembled at the factory!! Did anyone else receive an unassembled XLT?
Posted on: 3/26/2008 10:01 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Classic Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7284798

RE: The Bridi XLT kits are in stock at Bluejay!
. . Mine arrived today. . . made sure I ordered it before telling anyone they were in!!! . .
Posted on: 3/20/2008 12:46 AM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Classic Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7253062

RE: turbines in pattern flying
[quote]ORIGINAL: SKYPILOT There was a movement last year to start a "jet specific pattern class" here in the states. A few of us got REALLY intrested, so much so, we started putting together our efforts for the season, but the movement died off before we finished the jets. A real shame, as i was really looking forward to it. [/quote] . . http://www.ballisticpattern.com/ . . (hehehe)
Posted on: 2/27/2008 11:34 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7148477

New 10C Radio?
Bax or Krysta, Do you have any information about the new 10C radio? Does it have G3 2048 resolution? Thanks!!
Posted on: 2/12/2008 1:01 PM by Author "klhoard" in the forum "Futaba Radios Direct support forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7064011