Banbridge Aeromodelling Club

How do you win the next open pylon? How about wedging as much juice as possible into an airframe and following the basic rules of pylon racing, “Go Fast, Turn Left” and making sure your bicycle clips are firmly fastened!

Below is a speed estimate taken from a recording of Brian McCartan’s Dara 20 at the field, as you can see, the figure comes out at 240km/h or in old money a hair under 150mph!!

What have you got??

Measuring the Doppler effect (change in sound frequency) during a low pass to give a speed reading

Brian’s Dara 20, not a lot to keep an eye on at 150mph!

Seagull Yak 54. 57in Wingspan. Length 52.8in. Saito 82 4 x stroke engine. Futaba FP-R 138DF receiver. In excellent condition and ready to fly – just  add fuel. Cost £160.00.  Telephone 07867998493.

Thanks to everyone who supported our table sale on Friday 8th March. While numbers were down on previous years, there was still some money changing hands and models left in different hands with everyone happy!

Saturday 16th February saw the first Funfly competition of the year taking place at the club, the usual sound of engines was somewhat decreased with electric setups making up half the planes. As usual high levels of pre-competition practice were evident with not just trimming flights needed, but test flights of new models/setups and radio re-installations!

With the weather improved from what it’s been for about 18 months, Climb & Glide was fine if you stayed out of the low cloud patches (Me!) and your engine quit when asked (Sean!),  but with the field still wet, touch & go’s were out, as was the Tripple Thrash. So some alternatives were sought and the old favourite of one minute of loops was settled on and for a change one of the mystery rounds used at the Nats, Roops.

What are Roops I hear you cry!

Roops consist of a one minute flight including a countdown for the pilot in which to complete as many sequences of one roll followed by one loop as possible, with the plane to touch down before the minute is up. For every second over one minute, the pilot looses two points. In my case, I performed 11 sequences but went three seconds over so lost six points, in Paul’s case a score of nine with a penalty of -22 would have resulted in a score of -13, but we were generous and gave him zero!

The comp finished as usual with the Limbo, with some good scores, some not so good scores and one buckled undercarriage (ask me how I know!)

Final positions were

1st Mathew   3713

2nd Alistair  2937

3rd Brian       2912

4th Sean         2414

5th Iain          2178

6th Paul         1440

Soaring

After lunch, with conditions favourable, and the experience gained from last years highly unpredictable weather, it was decided to run the e-soaring competition scheduled for the following weekend. Fair notice had been given to be prepared for this, so  suitable models were on hand. Unfortunately I had to leave early so I can’t provide a very detailed report, only the results. Two rounds were flown, with a 20 second climb followed by a glide, with bonus for spot landing, which nobody got!

1st Matthew  2000

2nd Brian       1559

3rd Paul          1207

4th Alistair     1207

Happy Landings,

Iain

Pilots & Spectators at the 2012 area Funfly

I’m glad to say that the Area Funfly postponed earlier in the “Summer” ran on the 22nd of September and was once again organised by the Banbridge club and this year was hosted at the Craigavon clubs very well maintained Cranny road site, which provided an excellent venue. Also excellent was the weather, which i’m glad to say behaved itself all day.

Pilot numbers were well up on the last couple of years, with eight pilots in class 1 and three in class 2, and also in a change to recent years there were not only several clubs involved, but several countries!, so the first ever international funfly took place. I’m glad to say that by very fortunate co-incidence Simon McNeill was home from Scotland for the weekend & so Dennis’ Limbo dancer found itself with higher rate than normal, while our good friend Kees Blokland was also back on the auld sod for a short break. To help Kees out Sean stepped up & volunteered his recently completed Limbo Dancer for Kees to take part, and take part he did, in two rounds, until the electric wires at the edge of the field jumped up & bit him! shearing the wing very neatly in two.

A slightly embarassed Kees with “modified” limbo wing, a very forgiving Sean & Dennis glad to have finised in one piece!

Sean completed the comp with Matthews spare plane, while Kees declined the offer for some unknown reason!

The remainder of the competition provided the usual thrills and spills of cut limbo strings & caught wing tips, it was great to hear the spectators shouting every time a plane managed a pass under and the ooh’s & aahh’s when it didn’t quite make it!

The mystery round which both classes took part in was loop’s & Spots, a 30 second climb, engine cut & perform as many loops as possible before landing as close to the centre of the strip as possible. Believe it or not 30 seconds makes a plane very small & they carry very quickly downwind as I found out. I also found out that just because someone suggests you could squeeze in another loop, doesn’t mean you should!

The competition was definitely in the traditional funfly spirit and big thanks are due to the Craigavon club for their hospitality and willingness to join in.

Scores are below.

Thanks,

Iain