Genesee Valley Aero Modelers

Editor: Glenn Crocker
21 Highview Trail
Pittsford, NY 14534



The Prez Sez . . .

As I am writing this, it is a beautiful Sunday evening, blue skies, little to no wind, perfect conditions to get in that last flight of the day. I even have several planes ready that I could take up to the field and enjoy this perfect evening. There is only one problem. My oldest daughter recently got her drivers license, so she has Mom’s car and Mom… has my car. Of course this did not occur to me as I watched my car leave without me. Only when I had observed the great weather and was deciding which plane to grab, did it strike me that I had no car to drive to the field. So here I sit for the first time in almost 30 years, without a vehicle. It’s a strange feeling, as if I have lost some of my personal freedom.

When my kids were younger and I would see other parents get a car for their kids after they got a license, and I thought they were crazy. All that money for the car, and that’s the cheap part. The insurance really kills you. But, like all things, it looks very different when you are going through it yourself. Suddenly that loss of freedom makes the cost of the extra car and insurance not look so bad. Now don’t get me wrong, I not ready to spend that money yet. After all, I could buy some really nice planes with that money, but it does make you think. I guess for now, I’ll just have to have a standing order that if the weather is sunny, warm and little to no wind, Dad gets the car no matter what!

I’ll let you know how this works out…

Happy Landings,
Max

PS. Anybody got a good (cheap) used car to sell?

Calendar of Events

May 17-18 Canandaigua Chiefs Float Fly Sandy Bottom Park Honeoye Lake

June 7-8 Ray Edmunds Memorial Air Show. North Hampton Park Model Flying Field

June 14 Canandaigua Chiefs Fun Electric Fly

June 21-22 Sky Rovers "Rovers Rally"

July 12-13 Olean STARS Scale Rally

July 12-13 History of Flight. Sponsored by the HAG Geneseo N.Y.

July 26 & 27 RAMS Open House at Macedon

Aug. 23 & 24 RC Helicopter Event at Macedon

Aug. 31 Four Club Fun-Fly Sky Rovers hosting

Aug. 3 GVAM Family picnic

Sept. 24 – 28 2003 Scale Masters

Oct. 11 Ladies Night Out

More Air Controllers

A DC-10 had an exceedingly long roll out after landing with his approach speed a little high.

San Jose Tower: "American 751 heavy, turn right at the end of the runway, if able. If not able, take the Guadeloupe exit off Highway 101, make a right at the lights and return to the airport."

For Sale

1.20 webra 2 cycle with OS 7D Carb. $145.00
About 3 yrs old was on one plane.
Contact Dick Nowakowski 585-346-5362

At The Field
By Glenn Crocker

Word from the "Hippy Dippy Honeoye Weatherman" (Charlie) is that the driveway and pit area is dry enough to drive on. If there is a prolonged wet stretch I would recommend checking the firmness before driving on it.

We will have the shelters up as soon as it decides to stop snowing. The field has been rolled already thanks to Charlie so I guess we are officially into the 2003 flying season. I know some of you will not consider the season open until the Port-A-John is initialized. Certain things become more important to some people as they get older.

I have it on good authority that the Titusville Terror will be on his way back North for the summer (if we have one) before too long. We will then have to spend the rest of the summer teaching him Northern.


2003 Mowing Schedule

WINDY WEATHER PLANES
By Clay Ramskill
All too often, on an otherwise nice, but windy day, folks just don't fly. Obviously, for a beginner, that's just common sense - but for someone who has some experience, the wind should just be another challenge to add some spice to their flying.
While it’s easy to see that experience level has a lot to do with how much wind is too much, it may not be quite as apparent that the type of plane you're flying also can have a great effect on your ability to handle winds. Let's go through a bunch of airplane design features and see which ones give us the best flying characteristics to handle winds and the resulting turbulence.
Size: In general, the larger the plane, everything else being equal, the better it will handle winds of all kinds; they just don't "flop around" as much!
Dihedral: The more dihedral in a planes wing, the more it is going to be affected by crosswind gusts; it is hard to keep the wings reasonably level, and therefore lineup to the runway is difficult in a crosswind situation.
Wing Loading: The higher the wing loading, the less a plane will be affected when hit with a gust.
Aspect Ratio: Lower aspect ratio (stubby) wings will be less bothered by gusts; there is less leverage for side forces to upset the plane, and the lower aspect ratio wing has a greater tolerance to changes in angle of attack caused by gusts.
Power: Pretty obvious - having the power to overcome the forces provided by the wind is a must. The same goes when you get into a sticky situation.
Lateral Control: Ailerons are very beneficial in a crosswind, in landing and takeoff phases. The ability to dip a wing into a crosswind without changing heading is essential, as is the ability to rudder the plane parallel to the runway heading while keeping wings level with aileron while landing.
Landing Gear: tri gear planes are easier to land and take off in a crosswind than tail draggers. And the wider the spread on the main gear, the better.
Maneuverability: This ones a bit harder to quantify. You want a plane with stability, yet you do need good maneuverability to cope with gusts. So you want a plane that is stable, yet responsive.
Wing Mounting: Generally, a low wing plane will handle crosswinds better. This is because the CG of the plane is nearer, in a vertical sense, to the aerodynamic center of the wing. So the low wing plane is not as easily rolled by a side gust. And by mounting the main landing gear on that low wing, we can spread them out wider.
It's unfortunate that almost every item above is in direct opposition to the characteristics found in a lot of popular trainers, the main exception being the requirement for tricycle landing gear. But even with trainers, there are differences; compare a Seniorita with the Cadet Mk2. While the Seniorita may be a bit slower and a bit easier to fly, the Cadet, with its ailerons, higher wing loading, lower aspect ratio, and lower dihedral, is a far better plane flying in windy conditions.
Going a step further with the same kit manufacturer, their Cougar(.40)/Cobra(.60 size) kits embody ALL the right characteristics for windy flying.
And in closing, I offer Confucius' only known saying about R/C flying - "To learn to fly in wind, one must fly in wind!". ...Clay

A little Humor

There’s a story about a military pilot calling for a priority landing because his single-engine jet fighter was running "a bit sick."

Air Traffic Control told the fighter that he was number two, behind a B-52 that had one engine shut down.

"Ah," the fighter pilot remarked, "the dreaded seven-engine approach."

G.V.A.M. Newsletter
c/o Glenn Crocker, Editor
21 Highview Trail
Pittsford, NY 14534