SEN 1773
- Details
- Category: Archive 2013
- Hits: 1347
- SCAT Black Cup #1
- Zink's objection
- Martyn Cowley Memorial
- Chaussebourg and Madelin on Martyn
- Big Al's Contest Report
SCAT Black Cup Summer contest Round 1
Lost Hills Sat 22 June from 7 AM until it is too hot.
F1 ABCPQ - 7 flights no rounds and FGH
More next issue
Zink's objection
Called Don Zink about his SEN #1769 posting. Don told me that he attended an AMA contest in which the CD actually encouraged people to motor flap their models. Motor flapping is banned specifically by SCAT at its contests and by the FFTSC at the Finals but not a regular AMA contests. Maybe someone should introduce such a rule change to the AMA contest board?
RDT is allowed now in all FAI events (after being banned for F1A) and if it’s under 20 seconds it’s an attempt. Case in point: a the Nats last year, Jim Jennings flying Q had a bad transition and the model was diving straight down. Faust Parker was holding the RDT transmitter and activated it rather late - as it was not switched on; the model DTed a few feet off the ground. The flight was ruled (incorrectly) as legal although it should have been an attempt. (Since Jim was clean, he might have won the event.)
Don observed a well-known F1A flier practicing RDTing his bad launches. Although this is legal under the new rules, it is rather risky to perform. So it boils down to observing when the RDT was activated: just after (a bad) launch or at 30 feet off the ground to avoid hitting people or other models.
Had FAI rules made this distinction, it would mean that timer(s) would determine whether a RDT was used to abort a bad launch, just as they determine the length of a flight razor close to a max; that the flier could appeal their decision. So, if people feel that the RDT clause is being misused they could submit a suitable rule proposal to CIAM.
Aram
Martyn Cowley Memorial
Saturday June 15 at 7PM in Simi valley
Details to follow.
Chaussebourg and Madelin on Martyn COWLEY
I first met Martyn Cowley at Pierre Trebod Contests, in the seventies. At that time, he flew F1C.I was starting in F1B, proxy flying Bob WHITE's N° 5 that Bob gave me after his win at Pierre Trebod in 1973. So, it was probably at Pierre Trebod 1974. I was preparing to make a test flight before the start of the contest. The model was on its winding stooge, and Martyn was also making F1C test flights, not far from me. He was using a pole with a mylar, but this pole was very special: it was a very heavy one, in pure steel, about 3 - 4 meters long, with 4 ropes. Somebody put his leg in one of the ropes, and the pole felt down on Bob White's model... The fuselage was broken in three parts. Fortunately, with Alain Roux help, I could repair it before the start of the contest. But I remember that Martyn was very very sorry, and he did not know what to do to appologise...Then, even years and years after that, he was still remaining that story which became a real joke, as he knew how to make funny jokes with everything... I loved to meet Martyn, every time I went flying in California, and when he came back, flying in Europe. He was always smiling, and so kind with everybody. His article in magazines, or in SEN were always pertinent and full of humour. If there is a Free Flight paradise somewhere, he'll sure meet Anselmo, and they 'll have fun together, waiting for us..
.Pierre Chaussebourg
Hi Roger.
Herewith a note to include in a future SEN with my Martyn memories:
My first experience of life in the USA was with Martyn. I'd been living and working in South America for a few years, and having read the reviews of the 1979 World champs at Taft, wanted to see it for myself. I therefore wrote to Martyn, bouncing the idea of a routing back to the UK via California. The plan hatched, and there was Martyn with a huge grin on his face waiting for me at LAX airport very early one February morning in 1982. Assuming I'd need sustenance after a long overnight flight, off we sped to a breakfast bar acquainted to Martyn We'd hardly got through the door before orders were taken - I'd never heard "sunny side up" or "over easy" before - to me an egg was either raw or cooked, but Martyn explained. Within seconds of sitting down, coffee, orange juice and toast appeared and about 90 seconds later there came two overflowing plates of hot food. I could not believe the speed and the service, neither of which happened in Peru or Bolivia, but when I exclaimed about this to Martyn, he said in his usual witty way "ahh, there must have been some kind of technical hitch in the kitchen this morning - it doesn't normally take that long" .... Welcome to the USA.
Wind forward 31 years, and back in California again, this time Lost Hills of course. Martyn was keen to see my new f1h model which I told him was great and on perfect trim. He suggested we spend the first couple of hours the next morning checking out both the model and the lovely Lost Hills dawn air. I was pretty pleased with the "show off flight" that did 3:19 to the ground, but Martyn said "that's no good, you won't get to the starting grid unless it does over 4 minutes to the ground" So, with Martyn's guidance we tweaked this and that, in fact everything got tweaked until after about a dozen flights he was happier. But he wouldn't let me pack it away until it had done three consecutive flights to the ground of over 4:20. The sight of Martyn returning on his motor bike after each flight with a big grin and saying "that's better - 55 second glide circle - could still do with a tad more elevation - and the bunt, maybe try a slight delay" etc. etc.. Sure enough, it maxed out the following day plus two fly-off rounds, and yes, Martyn retrieved every flight on his motor bike.
This story is typical of the sort of guy Martyn was, selflessly helping others and at the same time seeming to get a huge amount of enjoyment out of it. In fact he seemed to have fun doing pretty much everything he did.
A lovely guy, he will be sorely missed and trips to Lost Hills for us from the UK will never be the same.
But, every time I launch that pink and green f1h in future, I will be thinking of the mentor :).
Gary Madelin
2013 Big Al’s Contest Report
Walt Ghio This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The 2013 Big Al’s contest had some weather issues and only five rounds flown for
F1ABCP. Saturday morning had a good breeze from the west. My weather committee
told me the forecast was for a north drift so we moved to the north end of the Holloway
property. After delaying the start for the expected wind change we started the contest
with a 120 second max to keep the models out of the oil fields. The conditions never
changed and we flew the required five flights for America Cup competition. We then
moved to the west end of the Lost Hills property and flew one flyoff flight each for F1A
and F1B. The breeze increased during the F1B flyoff and several of the flights were
timed out of sight. For the Sunday morning flyoffs we had some west drift for the F1AB
flyoff and then very good weather for the small events with big thermals in the afternoon.
Seven flyers maxed out in F1A. All flew in the flyoff except for Ken Bauer who had just
returned from a long business trip and decided to head for home. Four made the fiveminute
flight. The Sunday morning flyoff had Rene Limberger the winner with Shlomi
Rosenzweig a close second and Brian VanNest third. Of the twelve entered, three were
junior flyers, Logan Tetrick, Alex Stalick and Garrett Cremayne.
Of the thirteen who entered F1B eight made the flyoff. The breeze from the west
increased as the round was started. A big thermal and the breeze made for out of sight
flights and long chases over the hill to the west. All the models were found and then we
found out that we had a tie for second place. Due to the conditions it was agreed for a
Sunday morning flyoff. Jack Emery had a good climb and excellent air for the second
place win over Mike Davis. The two junior entries showed that they can fly with the big
boys as Sevak Malkhasyan make the flyoff and Troy Davis had some excellent flights till
an off pattern flight in the last round.
F1C had a very small turn out with Ron McBurnett maxing out and Lynn Pulley dropping
one flight due to an off pattern.
F1P had one contestant, Glenn Schneider who maxed out and had a fifteen-mile chase to
find his model on Sunday morning. The model never DT’d in the fifth round.
For all the Sunday events we had a flight to the ground between 7:30 and 8:00.
Afternoons can be murder on lost models do to the big thermals at this time of the year.
For this contest we use two flyoff flights of 180 seconds and 240 seconds. The flight to
the ground would be used to decide the contest if more than two contestants max the two
flyoff flights.
Two made the flyoff in F1G. Tiffney O’Dell first flyoff flight was over twelve minutes
after an early DT at 150 seconds. A big thermal with the south drift put the model past
the new orchard and close to highway 46. Her and Blake Jensen decided to use the flight
to the ground to settle the contest with Blake taking first place. No need to lose a model
in these conditions. Tom Ioerger was third
Mike McKeever and Jim Parker max out in F1H. Both launched in good looking lift to
then come down like a rock. Brian VanNest was third.
We had four entries show up for F1Q. John Oldenkamp and Mike Pykelyny flying
models built for the event with Don Kaiser and Sevak Malkhasyan flying E-36 models.
F1A RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 RD 5 FO 1 FO 2 TOTAL................................
1 Rene Limberger 120 120 120 120 120 300 289 1189
2 Shlomi Rosenzwe 120 120 120 120 120 300 269 1169
3 Brian VanNest 120 120 120 120 120 300 254 1154
4 Dean Clark 120 120 120 120 120 300 214 1114
5 Jim Parker 120 120 120 120 120 246 846
6 Logan Tetrick 120 120 120 120 120 226 826
7 Ken Bauer 120 120 120 120 120 0 600
8 Pierre Brun 120 120 120 119 120 599
9 Mike McKeever 120 120 120 96 120 576
10 Alex Stalick 91 120 120 120 120 571
11 Garrett Cremayn 116 108 120 64 62 470
12 Lee Hines 120 0 0 0 0 120
F1B RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 RD 5 FO 1 FO 2 TOTAL
1 Tiff O'Dell 120 120 120 120 120 290 890
2 Jack Emery 120 120 120 120 120 252 335 1187
3 Mike Davis 120 120 120 120 120 252 267 1119
4 Alex Andriukov 120 120 120 120 120 232 832
5 Blake Jensen 120 120 120 120 120 216 816
6 Sevak Malkhasya 120 120 120 120 120 192 792
7 Ferdinand Garib 120 120 120 120 120 80 680
8 Rich Rohrke 120 120 120 120 120 0 600
9 George Batiuk 120 120 120 120 119 599
10 William Gannon 120 120 120 84 120 564
11 Troy Davis j 120 120 120 120 52 532
12 Bob Tymchek 120 120 120 120 5 485
13 Vlad Andriukov 120 5 0 0 0 125
F1C RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 RD 5 TOTAL
1 Ron McBurnett 120 120 120 120 120 600
2 Lynn Pulley 120 120 103 120 120 583
F1G Tie Breake RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 RD 5 FO 1 TOTAL
1 Blake Jensen 253 120 120 120 120 120 180 780
2 Tiffaney O'Dell 172 120 120 120 120 120 180 780
3 Tom Ioerger 123 120 120 120 96 10 466
4 Kurt VanNest 67 67 120 79 60 0 326
F1H Tie Breake RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 RD 5 FO 1 TOTAL
1 Mike McKeever 366 120 120 120 120 120 127 727
2 Jim Parker 307 120 120 120 120 120 110 710
3 Brian VanNest 178 120 120 120 101 120 581
4 Ben Tarcher 66 66 33 42 28 90 259
F1P RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 RD 5 TOTAL
1 Glenn Schneider 120 120 120 120 120 600
F1Q Tie Breake RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 RD 5 TOTAL
1 Don Kaiser 188 180 165 180 180 122 827
2 Mike Pykelyny 131 131 142 180 180 180 813
3 John Oldenkamp 248 180 180 180 139 87 766
4 Sevak Malkhasya 195 180 155 180 144 0 659
Vintage FAI Tie Breake RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 RD 5 TOTAL
1 Ken Kaiser 308 180 180 180 180 180 900
Roger Morrell