Click the pic to see more pics from the OTL.
Click here for a video from Ms Emerson.
Click here for a video from the multirotor.
Click here for a video of news coverage from prior to the event.
Daily Archives: July 25, 2013
8 posts
Jeff Struthers took the clock to the max during round 1 with a 9:57, a mere 3 seconds from being over, then he parked it on the 20 point circle for a fantastic 78 points. Jeff did exceptionally well as Jim Shelton was in a thermal lift that was no place near where Jeff was, and when Jim made the decision to land, Jeff simply held on to that little whisper of lift coming from the Palm Trees to get the last man up status. What is equally impressive, is that Jeff followed up with the longest flight during round 4 at 9:30, but he missed the landing points and that was the nail in the coffin….
Tom Erickson was the top points contender for Radian class, with consistent good times and bonus landing points in every round.
Tom’s first round was at 9:37 and 20, so he was the one to watch as even when the flight times dropped in the following rounds, he hit the target every time, getting bonus points each round. That was the kicker that gave him the edge over Jeff’s full clock runs.
Open class only had 2 competitors, Jim Shelton and John Forrester. It was nice to see John at the field, he had been away for a several weeks with reasons that kept him from the field. Jim was consistantly getting long clock runs and landing points in all but 1 round, netting him the highest score of the day. Its evident that he has really started to get into the groove with his Hyper, flying on 2 cells. John managed to get the Lucky Dog 3 of the 4 rounds! I’m thinking we need to get him a “Lucky Dog” shirt, or maybe a collar!
Scores for Radian:
Tom Erickson 205
Jeff Struthers 200
Norm Arndt 192
Bill Graham 182
Ray Fulks 179
Scores for Open:
Jim Shelton 265
John Forrester 66
Next month, more of the finest loitering in sunny San Diego, the 3rd Saturday is Aug, 17. Hope to see you there.
The usual suspects from the local area were out along with Lenny Keer from Colorado. Lenny is what you might say is dedicated to these planes since he makes the monthly road trip with his wife every month to San Diego. We also had a visit from a legend of modeling Larry Jolly—looking things over. Sounds like he will be back in the near future to play with some fast planes!
As for flying with the F5B gliders the weather which was fairly cool for the middle of July with calm winds made for near perfect conditions for turning in very good lap counts in distance. The scores for the most part were in the 48-51 bases—with yours truly getting the 51 base score. Of course there were the usual comedy routines—the best was provided by Jeff Keesaman when he managed to miss a third of the turns at the far pylon on his first flight.
We had Don Corum, of the local top heli pilots took up my offer and flew my high powered F5B “rental” –he also looked over the F5D planes and it looks like may have another local joining us soon.
As usual Steve and Michelle Manganelli looked up into the sky and pressed buttons for the afternoon–many thanks for their efforts! Most here might not know it but Steve and Michelle will be running a F5B World Cup contest in Hawaii in September. We will have a three day contest with pilots from Australia, Japan USA, Russia, Switzerland and Italy in attendance. The idea was first proposed by one of our Japanese friends at the last World Champs in Romania. After a series of F5B events in Eastern Europe a venue like Hawaii seems like paradise! We worked with the FAI and AMA and the local club in Hawaii to make this possible!
The view from Flygirl.
Jim’s video of the Sea World fireworks.
Otto flying Superman near Comic Con.
Otto flying his Wind 110 with FPV.
Since November of 2012 when I ventured into amateur UAV’s it’s been quite the adventure as you know. At this point I’m pretty well versed in the Arduplane system made by the DIYDrones Community. The same one that is being sold on Hobby King for $75. I’m to the point where I’ve now listed Arduplane and Ardupilot as a skill on my Resume and LinkedIn. Now that I have a firm grasp on what it takes from nothing to autonomous landing I can help share that with others and guide them in the right direction. To give an idea this last airframe took about 2 hours of logged flight time to tune in for autonomous control. Since the autonomous ban was lifted at SEFSD that tuning was done in the SEFSD airspace over the course of a week. On Saturday the system was sent on a successful 1.3km test flight at ‘Area 51’. Based on data collected from that flight I’ll be returning to SEFSD for a performance verification and return to ‘Area 51’ for a 2.5km flight. This makes the 3rd aircraft that I’ve successfully tuned for autonomous flight.
Already a handful of our own SEFSD members have already began to reach out to me as a resource to help them tune their vehicles after seeing mine perform. I now know of 5 folks out at the field that are gearing toward autonomous flight. Please feel free to refer any of our members looking to do anything ArduPilot related over to me as needed. We need to continue to work with members and come up with a qualification system for Autonomous flight, much like you have to qualify to fly FPV according to the AMA. If you’d like I can come up with a rough draft and take the lead on that task. I will even go as far as doing a workshop at a membership meeting for folks that want to learn more or tune their Arduplane setup.
Autonomous can exist within our airspace and it’s important that we stress to these members to keep their crafts within the box. If anyone wants to go outside the box have them talk to Jim or I and we can refer them to some airspace not to far from the field where they can fly as far as they want. I’m more worried about way points being set outside the SEFSD airspace than vehicles flying away. Again need to make sure ALL modelers keep their vehicles away from Sea World (Drive/Parking) and Fiesta Island -period-.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We ARE a Gold Leader Club. We should take this opportunity to help guide future autonomous modelers in our community toward safe operation of their vehicles by offering them a safe and controlled area to fly in. As we grow in this aspect of the hobby we should provide feedback to the AMA so they can better guide modelers on the usage.
One thing we have to keep in mind about UAS is the “S” part. The whole setup is a System and the human in the loop is part of that System. Many legislators around the world are making sure it stays that way. Folks should check out the SUAS ARC recommendations sent over to the AMA. If you want to know why the AMA all of a sudden changed their rules in 2010 this is why. The AMA released about an eighth of what is contained in the actual document. Historically speaking there is a 80% chance the FAA will accept the ARC’s recommendations. The AMA is our CBO so we’re held in accordance with the rules the AMA publishes for our activities. In this case SC560.
Old business:
Gold Leader program report by Frank. Made a visit to Boy Scouts at Camp Mataguay. Had a very good reception. Steve B took lots of pictures. Should help for next year’s program Gold Leader application with AMA.
Jim B talked about his visit to High Tech High and the activities. He made a presentation on RC equipment and how the components work.
Need to revisit Gold Leader in September to make sure we have everything needed for next years application.
PaulG PayPal update –it is up and running and all seems to be working well. Showed the printout and how it works. Discussed what action if any we should take to offset the added costs related to accepting PayPal. M. Neale brought up the fact that the costs could range up to $400/year depending o how many members use the service.
Jim B autonomous flight report. Reported on activities at the field. Tim talked about “area 51″and what the field looks like and a free flight event. Discussed some UAV tests he saw at the of a X8. Jim reports that there were autonomous flights at SEFSD. FrankG discussed his views on autonomous activities stating that while he is not opposed to operations that stay with in the field boundaries it is his view that the filed is too small for such operations.
Discussed rotor days at the bay and sponsors, costs and raffle prizes. SteveN presented a outline of what needs to be taken care of prior to the event. Discussed what events would be run as well as sponsors and personal involved. Approved up to $300 for getting raffle prizes for event. Motion made and approved. FrankG will arrange for raffle prizes with Discount Hobbies. Discussed the need first aid kit for trailer before rotor event. Discussed getting fire extinguishers for rotor event.
Safety report by Chuck reported that hovering over the runway is becoming a problem as reported by a club member. Frank discussed flight issues he has seen at the field. Frank said that the runway must be kept clear–no hovering for expended periods on the runway. The same no hovering rule apply to all types of “hovering”–helicopters, multicopters and fixed wing. In addition there was a discussion regarding a runway incident between two members. FrankG, JimB and SteveN all provided input. FrankG is talking to the parties involved to try and resolve things.
Runway condition report by JimB–all OK
PaulG report–we still have money! Passed out copy of treasurers report for review.
EMAC discussion by Tim–will hold event on the 27th as scheduled. Will see how things work out and see if we should host more events. There seems to be a problem in contacting Jeffery Kuehn—he has the scoring computer. Mike N said that we need to hold events as scheduled.
FrankG discussed Wounded Warrior program. TimA moved that club match any member donations on the flying on the 17th of August. Tim will run hot dog roast at the event. Try to get the word out to members to attend.
Discussed indoor flying and if we should continue supporting the activity. Jim said that some people flying at Mission Bay think there is little value to them. PaulG says we are due for a payment in August. Will ask if another day than Friday can be scheduled for next year since many people have other activities on Friday evenings.
Newsletter–still have one
Discussed trailer storage.–JimB will explore other storage options closer to the field and report back at the next meeting
Discussed possible added class to electro glide–Jim will review the proposed rules.
Fence proposal from Tim to redo the fence with chain link. Will take a look at options and discuss at future meetings. Costs expected to be between $2000-3000 depending on type of material.
Parking lot plan from TimA. WIll explore getting the ruts fixed. Cost est. to be $4000 if we pay for it. If we wait the city might do it at no cost when grindings become available.
Any other business–none
Next meeting the 21st of August 7pm
The following is from a member of a different RC club, not in San Diego:
“I am fortunate to have a 20 by 30 foot workshop on the second floor of a barn. It is a great place to work and build. I was refinishing a piece of furniture using Watco Danish Oil last Wednesday evening. It was quite hot and my air conditioner was not working well. I threw the rag I was using into the trash and shut everything down at 9:30 p.m.. By 6:50 a.m. the next morning fire was bursting out of the second floor window. ??I lost everything in the workshop. (I do have insurance so most will be restored) ??Cause of fire:
• High ambient temperature (above 90 degrees)
• Stagnant air (fans were off)
• Crumpled up oily rag
• Plastic Garbage can.
?Please be wary, this stuff really happens. I have been using this product for 30 years without a problem, but when the right (or wrong) conditions exist you can loose your workshop or house! ???there were 28 models, 9 kits and bags of electronics plus a full array of woodworking tool all gone.”
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The following is from a member of a different RC club, not in San Diego:
“I am fortunate to have a 20 by 30 foot workshop on the second floor of a barn. It is a great place to work and build. I was refinishing a piece of furniture using Watco Danish Oil last Wednesday evening. It was quite hot and my air conditioner was not working well. I threw the rag I was using into the trash and shut everything down at 9:30 p.m.. By 6:50 a.m. the next morning fire was bursting out of the second floor window. ??I lost everything in the workshop. (I do have insurance so most will be restored) ??Cause of fire:
• High ambient temperature (above 90 degrees)
• Stagnant air (fans were off)
• Crumpled up oily rag
• Plastic Garbage can.
?Please be wary, this stuff really happens. I have been using this product for 30 years without a problem, but when the right (or wrong) conditions exist you can loose your workshop or house! ???there were 28 models, 9 kits and bags of electronics plus a full array of woodworking tool all gone.”