Daily Archives: May 20, 2021

9 posts

Chairman’s Corner for May – June 2021

President's Corner

Hey Modelers, I hope you are having a good month!

For the last two years we haven’t seen much of the marine layer that contributes to the traditional May Gray and June Gloom…  Mother nature is making up for that already this year with some pretty dark days that remain heavily overcast past sunset.

In conditions like these it can be very easy to loose aspect orientation on our aircraft. Even looking away for a moment can leave you confused as to what your aircraft is doing, since most colors just present as dark in the gray sky.  I, myself lost a fine 80mm ducted fan model just over a month ago and will confidently state that camouflage works extra well on an overcast day.

I replaced the model, and made some changes to its color scheme to help with orientation. One or two people commented on it’s less than scale appearance, but If I can see it, I will fly it. If not, it becomes another garage queen…

I used paint, and self-adhesive trim sheets to add some color to the models in the pictures. I can see them now!

The Covid situation continues to improve in the country. Our hobby is still considered a safe outdoor activity. California will continue to require masks for outdoor gatherings of 30 or more people not in your family. Even though we currently don’t cluster much, I encourage each of you to continue doing what you feel keeps your family safe. Current indications are that the mask/gathering guidelines will expire on June 15. If we continue in that direction there is a very good chance that we will resume our monthly meetings and fun fly events in June. We will listen to progress and make a decision at the Jun BOD meeting and send info out at that time to allow people to get their dusty fun fly planes ready to go.

A couple of members donated wind socks to replace our deteriorating ones. A Mystery member installed the one at the west end, and Fred Daugherty donated the mid-field sock. Thanks guys, for your support of SEFSD.

Also, Thank you to Nico G. for his work in painting the “No Parking” signs on all of the telephone poles headed towards the gate, and to Dennis L. for some extensive work with his weed whacker at many on-site locations. I’m still in need of a “fresher” member to take over the duty of keeping the boulders which protect our site from curb-hoppers in place. There seems to be determined folks that want to fly from our site who would rather not pay membership. I just cant move the heavy stuff like I used to and really need a volunteer (preferably two people to work together).

Hackers have again been relentless in attacking our public web-site. They have had some limited success in deranging our “for sale” area, so if you asked Steve to post something for sale and it is no longer there, please send it again.  Also, No Board member will EVER text or e-mail you asking you to send “emergency” money. The criminals are pretty good and can make a spoofing mail look like it comes from someone you know, especially if you use your phone as your primary mail handler.

Please be careful!

Be safe, and remember : It’s easy, but fleeting to fall in love with your favorite aircraft. You risk heartbreak when it’s gone.

Instead, fall in love with flying, That affair will last a lifetime!

Brad

Design Build Fly Competition 2021

General Interest
L to R standing are Zach Cohn, Sara Brandt, Andy Hernandez, Brendan Lameiro, Roberto Marquez and Jeremy Johnson. Kneeling is Team Lead Daniel O’Haire

 

By Steve Manganelli

Design/Build/Fly (DBF) is a competition sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for undergraduate aerospace engineering college students. The competition is unique in that the rules change every year so the previous years’ experience is not terribly helpful to successive teams. The competition requires fabrication and documentation of a UAV aka R/C model airplane capable of carrying some kind of cargo, or deploy a “sensor” or some item representative of what might be typical of cargo for a UAV. In recent years, the entry has been capped at 100 schools many of which are from abroad. Usually, the process culminates in a fly-off at either the Textron facility in Wichita KS or a model airplane field in Tucson AZ. This year, a “Covid year” things were a little different.

Myself and Steve Neu have been mentoring either SDSU or UCSD DBF teams since 1999 after we were approached at an SEFSD meeting by the leader of the UCSD team; at the time, DBF was only int its 4th year. What was soon clear was no undergraduate aerospace engineering curriculum had R/C model building instruction! The models of the most successful early teams were constructed in Steve Neu’s shop with expert supervision and frequent R/C modeling lessons. Later teams chose to fabricate in their own on-campus labs and over the years we’ve carried tennis balls, softballs, pint water bottles, Estes rockets, water, ping pong balls, various weighted cubes just to name a few.

Continue reading →

T28 Race Report for May 2021

T28 Contest Results
Our SEFSD monthly T28 races went off without problems starting at the usual 10am. We ended up with a good turnout of 12 pilots. We had some new faces in the mix along with the usual suspects. With 12 pilots the preliminary rounds had 4 heats each making for some very close racing. After the counting up the scores for the preliminary rounds the order for the finals was set:
 
Bronze cup had Brad first with Frank in second place. The Silver cup had a 3 way battle  between Alex, Bob and Quan with Alex taking first with Bob second and Quan third due to a cut. The Gold cup race got a bit crowded with 4 planes. Yours truly managed to turn an easy win into a second place as a result of some confusion as to what lap I was on resulting in a needless cut while trying to make up for the mistake. As it tuned out SteveM and Otto also had some issues with making to the pylons—Steve tallied 11 cuts and Otto 14—all in 10 lap race! Randy managed to stay above the madness going on below and flew into first place. 
 
We had a pilots and helpers raffle afterwards with batteries, chargers and other accessories in the collection. A good time was had— be sure to mark your calendar for the next T28 race scheduled for June 12th at 10am.
 
In case you are interested in getting involved in our monthly T28 races you can follow this link to rules and helpful tips and information on how to setup the FMS T28 for racing: https://www.sefsd.org/club-contests/t28-racing/t28-rules-information/
 
One thing I keep seeing from many of the newer pilots is that they set up their planes for aerobatics or sport flying with way too much control throw for racing ——this leads to it being nearly impossible to fly the plane smoothly around the course. The T28 the elevator control throw should be about 1/8th inch up and down and ailerons about 3/16 inches up and 3/16 down—or less. When you get the elevator throw right you will be pulling nearly stick travel in the turns. Try and do some practice flights before racing to get things tuned up.
 
If there is interest we can schedule a T28 tuning clinic—let me know if this would be of interest.
 
Go fast and turn left!
 
Steve Neu
Pics

Carl is Watching!

General Interest
Carl
Hi Folks,   
As the West Pylon turn Marshall for the T-28 racing, I have seen a lot of improvement in your ability to make it around the Pylon.  It certainly makes my job easy.  I hope everyone is enjoying this event as much as I am.  I will be joining you in competition in the future.  Good luck out there, remember that if you cut the Pylon, I’ll tag you.  I’m watching.
Carl

Treasurer’s Report for May 2021

General Interest
SEFSD has 291 members as of May 2021, an increase over the 254 members at the same time last year, an impressive comeback from the pandemic. As we plan the gradual return of club events, we are budgeting for equipment updates, such as a new PA system, and prizes for contests. The City of San Diego cashed our check for the Special Use Permit (formerly called the “Right of Entry”), and it is good for three years. While on that topic, I would like to remind our members that the Special Use Permit gives us use, but not exclusive use of, the field, since it is still public property. Therefore, the occasional jogger may pass through the field. When you see someone crossing the field, unless there is low flying model aircraft near them, please let them pass undisturbed. I know we all want to be good stewards of the land, and we want the word about how friendly our club is to continue to reverberate across the county, so please help continue that trend!
-Quan

Electroglide Report for May 2021

Electroglide Contest Results

 We had a pretty fun Electroglide last Saturday. The weather was on the cool side with overcast skies. A temperature of 66 degrees and winds from the west at 6 mph.

 At the first launch, five pilots took their aircrafts to the skies, three Radians with one Phoenix 2 and a Twin Star piloted by Bob Anson flying in the open class.

 Flight times were on the short side with Scott Vance scoring the longest flight at 3:10 minutes with a 10-point bonus landing. Alex Sutton came in at 2:56 and scored a 20-point landing.

 For the second launch, most pilots found the lift and it was a fun flight. All the gliders were working a broad column of lifting air. We had to frequently dive our aircraft to stay within the 200 foot altitude limit. Stephen Trager lost the rudder from his Phoenix but managed to land safely. Scott and I had a brief mid-air collision, no damage or pieces falling off, so we kept flying. Bob’s Twin Star came back first, earning the Lucky Dog award of double the flight time score. Scott had the long flight again at 9:23 plus a 20-point landing. Alex came back at 7:20 and added a 30-point landing. I had a long flight but couldn’t make a runway landing, so I lost any time points.

 On the third launch the lift proved hard to find. Alex found it and flew well with a time aloft of 5:24 and added a 20-point landing. Scott had the next longest time at 3:30 and added a 30-point landing. I was third at 2:40 with a 20-point landing. 

 For the fourth and final launch, we again found some lift. I managed the long flight with a time of 9:05 with a 20-point landing. Scott had a flight at 8:40 and Alex was close behind at 8:38 plus another 30-point landing.

 I’ll point out that the winds not only made finding useable lift hard, it also created strong turbulence at ground level. This made field landings difficult and landing in the target circles particularly hard. Alex Sutton’s two 30-point and two 20-point landings on that day show good flying skills.

 It was a fun day for all, thanks to Bob Anson for the competitive spirt in flying his Twin Star and to Frank Sutton for the event pictures.

The next Electroglide is scheduled for June 19th, 10:00 first launch.

See you there,

Jeff

First Launch

BOD Minutes for May 2021

Meeting Minutes

5/5/2021

SEFSD Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Quorum at 6:37, meeting convened.

In-person participants: Brad, Steve N., Quan, Steve M.
Online participants: Eric, Jeff, Carl
Not present: Jovi, Steve B., Kenny

Meeting held at Steve N.’s home.

Brad: No vendors expected at FAAST event.
Perhaps hosting lunch would be appropriate.
HiTec to pay for extra porta-potty service.

Steve M.: Wants to be sure any events held onsite are non-profit.

Steve N.: Suggests using safety vests for FAAST event instead of stenciled tees.

Jovi: August for Warbird Day? (via email). Discussion followed.

Quan: 291 members as of 5/5/2021
Bank balance sufficient and financials available to club members upon request.
There’s an instructor wishing to train drone 107 pilots.
Quan to determine if pilot is IP instructor and working non-profit.

Eric: Tires on trailer are 17 years old and badly worn. Who’s liability?
We should replace tires since they’re fairly cheap (see motions below).
Consider getting sun covers for wheels (see motions below).
How many FAA reps will be present for FAA event? Likely only FAAST team members.
I am not for holding meetings before the city opens on June 15, 2021.

Jeff: Having trouble getting old PA system functioning (see motion to replace below).

List of Fun-Fly Events:
Aerobatic contest – pilot announces and flies specific maneuvers.
Bomb Drop – attach bomb to airplane and drop bomb over target.
Don’t Spill the Beans – fly airplane with a cup of beans w/o spilling beans.
Electroglide – sail plane contest for time aloft.
Flea Circus – events held using UMX (miniature airplanes).
Jet Day – limited to ducted fan aircraft.
Limbo – fly beneath a limbo pole.
Poker Fly – fly for cards to make poker hand.
T-28 and Wing racing – pylon racing.
War Bird Day – fly scale versions of aircraft used in wartime.

Motion to hold off on May club meeting and Fun-Fly events. Motion seconded and approved by majority.
We will revisit issue as city opens earnestly in June.

Motion to replace tires on trailer. Motion seconded and approved by majority.

Motion to find tire shades for trailer wheels. Motion seconded and approved by majority.

Motion to replace PA system. Motion seconded and approved by majority. Limited to $400.

T-28 racing this upcoming Saturday at 10:00AM (PM 6/9/2021).

Next meeting date 6/9/2021.

Meeting adjourned at 8:13 PM.

Eric Shapiro
SEFSD Secretary 2021