My Other Hobby

[Rcpilot]

As many of you know, I am also addicted to flying Radio Control airplanes. Thats been my passion since I was a little kid. I never had the cash to buy a plane when I was younger, so I didn't get started in this crazy hoby until I was 25yrs old. I'm now 35 and have been flying for about 10yrs. It's a fantastic hobby for fathers and sons. Not too many women, but we'd love to have them. It just seams more like a guys sport/hobby.

I started out flying a stabdard high wing trainer like everyone else. Joined a fantastic club. Arvada Associated Modelers. Welcome to the Associated Modelers, Gold Leader Club
I graduated up to sport planes with different wing types and different gear configuration. I eventually flew an aerobatic plane and have been hooked on those every since. Any sport plane can do aerobatics--they just don't dop it smooth and precise. I fly scale replicas of those planes you see at the Red Bull air races. The Edge 540, Extra 300S, Cap 232, Extra 300L, Giles 202 etc... They (real ones--full scale) are single seat airplanes that weigh in at about 1300lbs dry. They typically have a wingspan in the 24--26' size. Around 350--400HP and a top speed of about 240--260MPH. They aren't designed top go fast, which is why the Red Bull air races are so crazy. Those planes are about 2 seconds away from desintegrating around the pilot at the speeds they fly in that race. Crazy.

My first aerobatic plane was a 25% scale of the Laser 200. It had a wingspan of 72" and weighed in at about 11lbs. It used a glow engine. A glow engine runs on methanol-alcohol. There is about 17%--20% oil in the mix and usually about 5%--20% nitromethane for added kick and ease of tuning the carb.

I soon graduated to larger plane planes in the 28% and 30% size. These planes use a TRUE gasoline engine. Most of my current planes run a 50cc or 60cc 2-stroke engine. I run premium fuel and synthetic 2-stroke oil mixed at a ratio of 50:1. I have a 28% Laser 200 with a 60cc engine. A 27% Extra 300S with a 60cc engine. A 28% Edge 540 with a 65cc engine. A 33% Pitts S2B biplane with a 52cc engine. And my largest project to date is a 30% Extra 300L with an 80cc engine. It weighs 22 pounds.

These planes are not designed to fly fast. They are not "racers" They are designed to fly relatively slow and do spectacular aerobatics. Low and slow and DIRTY!!! The full scale planes usually fly their routines around 140MPH--170MPH. Our RC planes are flying around 80MPH--100MPH. It's not scale speed for us. We have TWICE the power too weight ratio of the full scale. Plane too plane--ours are lighter and WAAAAAAAY more powerful. But, nobody is sitting in ours. There is no need for protective cages around a pilot. There is no need for radio communications devices in our planes. We can build lighter.

In general, a 50cc engine will turn a 22" diameter prop about7000 -- 7500RPM. We use different pitch from 8" up to about 10"

A 60cc engine will turn a 23" prop around 7000RPM.

An 80cc engine will turn a 24" prop around 7000RPM.

I've been hooked on "power" flying for 10yrs. Didn't care about anything else. Power flying means I like airplanes with engines. The bigger and louder, the better.

Check out these videos. These are not me, but this is the types of planes that I fly and this is the style of flying that I like.
Wild Hare RC

Performance Aircraft Unlimited -Videos

fiber-lite composite products
Scroll down and click the video link. This is BADASS flying with a 28% scale Edge 540 and a 50cc engine.
http://www.fiber-lite.com/images/fib...dge540_640.wmv

Recently, a good flying buddy of mine introduced me to gliders. Gliders have no motor. You just fly thermals or wind. I wasn't too excited about gliders. But, he talked me into coming with him on a day-trip up to the mountains to do some Dynamic Soaring. I googled dynamic soaring that evening and couldn't wait to go see what this was all about.

I still fly power, primarily. But slope flying is a whole new animal. It's exhilerating. It's challenging.

I went slope flying all day yesterday from like 9am till 8pm. I'm wrung out today. We were at 12,000' elevation on top of Jones pass just off hwy 40 up the road from Empire, CO. Thats not too bad considering we live at 6000' ------------ until ya dump a glider about 200' below ya and have to hike down to get it. It's not the hike 200' down the face of the bowl that sucks. It's the hike back up with a glider in your hands--so ya can't use your arms for balance and you better not fall down or you'll be taking a nice boby-busting tumble down the side of a rock face.

We had the radar gun out and one guy hit 208MPH. Yes, thats with a glider. No motor. It's called dynamic soaring. Google or youtube it and watch some videos. It's a total adrenaline rush.

Explanation of dynamic soaring. DS
Dynamic Soaring

Here is a video:
YouTube - 06-23-07 Dynamic Soaring near Idaho Falls

Fast forward to about 1 minute. The first 59 seconds is all
The wind is coming from the left in the video. But he is flying on the "dark side" to his right. There is a rotor of wind at the bottom of the hill where he is flying. The shear of "front side" air is shooting over the top of the ridge from his left and creating a massive rotor on the back side. You launch into the front side prevailing wind and then get some altitude. Turn nose down and scrafe the terrain down into the rotor at the bottom of the dark side. When the plane hits the shear from the rotor, you can hear it, so you turn-- HARD!! and fly it back up the hill and into the shear of prevailing wind from the front side. When you hit that shear layer, you turn again-- HARD!! and skyrocket back down the hill to the backside. Takes about 3 or 4 laps to get it wound up.

These guys in this video are doing 120--150MPH. Not bad, but 200+MPH is a whole new kinda dirty, nasty, pants-crapping rush.

I've been flying RC planes for 10yrs and this is BY FAR the biggest kick in the ass I've ever had doing this crazy hobby. I got my fat bee up to about 110MPG before it started to flutter. I had to widen my turns and back off on it to prevent it from fluttering itself into confetti.

Here's a good one. This was the old speed record of 302MPH. It's been beat by a 305MPH, but no video.
YouTube - NEW 302mph DS Record. Kyle Paulson

Listen to it. At the bottom is makes a swooshing sound--thats the shear in the rotor. Then at the top it makes another swooshing sound. Thats the shear from the front side air screaming over the top of the hill. It gets slammed into the front side and accelerates up the front and over the top. This is totally badass flying.

The "nice" planes are made from carbon fiber (CF) and fiberglass. The wings are 2 CF skins that are joined--top and bottom skins. The fuselage (fuse) is CF and fiberglass.

It's a sickness. If ya got little boys, or teenaged boys, take them out flying. It's such a blast. Find a good club and join. Airplanes keep boys outta trouble until they turn about 16 or 18 and their hormones really start going nuts. Then they are usually a lost cause for about 2 or 3 yrs until they find out how much trouble women really are. They always come back to the airplanes in the end.

[hibye]

wow your really into it i have a little crappy airplane but made a mod to it and put 12 batteries on instead of 8 much better

[Alexander]

the only time I ever flew one I crashed it haha. luckily it didn't damage it. but it was too expensive of a toy that I didn't wanna risk it again

[Rcpilot]

They all crash eventually.

I once spent 4 months of SWEAT and elbow grease, building a 27% plane and I dumped it 3 seconds into the maiden flight. I have about $1800 into that plane and I walked away with a trash bag full of servos and an engine. The airframe was a total loss. That was about $500 down the drain.

But, I've been flying my 85" Edge 540 for years. I've logged 1420+/- flights on that airframe and it's still solid.

I always tell people, it's not IF it will crash, but WHEN.

It's just part of the hobby. I've seen guys get mad and throw the transimtter on the ground after a crash. Like it was the transmitters fault. 99% of crashes are pilot error. It's not a hobby for angry people, because it will drive you to insanity. You just have to resign yourself to the fact that most of the time the electronics and engine are okay or only suffered minor damage. The airframe is the cheapest part of the whole thing. So, ya take a bow and ya snap some pics and ya go build another one.

Doing my part to destroy the balsa forests ................... one tree at a time.

[MikMcgyver]

I just got out of the RC helicopter hobby. Was a blast flyin that thing, just really expensive. Every crash was like $50.. And I crashed a lot, trying to fly inverted, loops, crazy stuff... Like RC said, not if you crash, but when...

[yote]

I remember flying RC back a few years ago.
We used to go to an RC airfield just outside of Baytown Tx.
I started with a little Piper Cub that was super easy to fly.Only crashed it once,while learning to land it dead stick.

But I always wanted to get into those old WWII war birds.The P-51 Mustang,F-4U Coursair.There was a guy that had hugh B-42.Ran 4 big chainsaw motors,It was totally awesome.
He would drop one gear and roll it down the center line of the runway.Drop flour filled bombs,it could do it all.
Maybe some day I'll get caught up enough to actually get me a mustang.Its Still my favorite.

[Alexander]

wow RC you are HARD into this hobby. with didication you your hobbies like that your tanks should shape up awesome!

[fishbait]

i have allways been fascinated with rc planes. a friend of mine has had a few really nice ones. it's a hobby i have allways wanted to get into. just never have the cash for two hobbies.

[Alexander]

tell me about it. the motorcycle plus tattoos plus fishtanks.. holy money pit!

[Rcpilot]

I know it. No hobby is cheap. I have to stop at the fish tank and the airplanes.

Can't afford all the guns I want, so I'm not even going to start.

It's really weird about airplanes though. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people ask, "Those airplanes are really expensive, aren't they?"

My standard answer:

Yeah, they are kinda expensive when you start flying the big ones. It can be a relatively cheap hobby once you get past the initial startup costs. But how much does a new bass boat cost? How many sets of golf clubs do you have? OH!! You went through 3 set of clubs last year? Guns are expensive. Skiing in the mountains is expensive. ATVs are expensive. 4X4s are expensive.

That kind of opens people eyes a bit. For some reason, RC planes seam really exotic to most pople who have never seen one. Like it's some kind of weird voodoo hobby that only the ultra rich can afford. Nobody batts an eye if you spend $900 on a set of clubs. Nobody says a thing about your $400/month boat payments that you only use for 6 months a year. But if ya spend thousands on "toy" airplanes, your looked at as weird or overly rich.


I don't care. It's FUN!!

The fish tank is something that I can do with the kids and my wife. The whole family enjoys sitting in front of the tank for 10 or 15 minutes here and there. We talk about the inverts and the fish. We talk about the pumps and the filter. Very educational for the kids. Any time spent talking to your kids is good time IMHO.