Esher & District Model Flying Club

President: Dave Ward Esq
Vice Presidents:. J.S. Barker Esq. Terry Kitson

COMMITTEE

April 2008

Tony's Patter

Spring is just around the corner! - New season, new models and we have already seen several at the field - Ian's Panic bipe, Dave's Chipmunk and Tony F's T28 Trojan. In spite of the weather (cold and at times nasty crosswinds), all fly well.
At a recent committee meeting the following decisions were made:

1.       Clubroom - We will use Nescot for March until September on the 2^nd Wednesday in each month as at present.
But for October, November and December we will use the hall at the United Reform Church at Bookham on a Monday at 7.50pm. so we will be able to fly indoor models and use the kitchen for refreshments. We have to have Monday’s as this was the only day we could book on a continuing basis.

Note: 2^nd Monday October 13, 3rd Monday November 17^th AGM, 2^nd Monday December 8^th Chuck Gliders.

2.       Competitions - We intend running competitions at the field on the first Saturday in April, May and June for the E.D. Rosebowl, Fitzwilliam Novices Cup and the Scale Cup. Please give these your full support – they are not serious, are great fun and do help to improve your flying because you have to concentrate on an objective.  In the event of inclement weather the event will be postponed to the following Saturday.

3.       BBQ & Family Day Fly-in - We have requested the 6^th or 13^th July at NESCOT - more anon.

Club Fuel is available from me as follows:

5% Nitro, 2% Castor, 18% synthetic, 75% Methanol £6 a gall (3 only)
5% Nitro, 20% Castor, 75% Methanol £5 a gall (3 only – good for running in)
5% Nitro, 17% synthetic, 78% Methanol £8.50 a gall
Ring me and I will bring it to the field or a club night.

Don't forget 31^st March at the Church Hall at 8pm for indoor flying. Happy Landings, Tony M.

Diary

31/3 -Mon 8 p.m. Indoor Night at Bookham United Reform Church.
05/4 -Sat Rosebowl Competition – Timed flight & spot landing.
03/5 -Sat Fitzwilliam Novices trophy.
07/6 -Sat Scale cup.
06/7 - Sun or 13/7 planned date for Fly-in and BBQ at Nescot.
13/10 -Mon 7:50 p.m. Monthly club meeting at Bookham URC on a Monday for the winter.
17/11 - Mon 7:50 p.m. AGM Bookham URC.
08/12 -Mon 7:50 p.m. Bookham URC. Chuck Gliders evening.
05/12 -Fri Xmas Dinner.

Directions to Bookham Church

Bookham United Reformed Church
Eastwick Road
Great Bookham
Surrey
KT23 4BE

Simulators

I've never been too sure about simulators, I bought one once in the mid 90's and found within a day I could do things I'd never get away with for real - it was just too easy to fly. I got a refund the next day!

However, I thought again after my first attempt to loop a helicopter. As I surveyed the sorry looking mess embedded in the ground it dawned on me that the cost of that one repair was going to be more than any simulator. A bit of research led me to the conclusion that the British Phoenix RC was the best for Heli's and was one of the cheapest at £80 (+another £9 for an adapter to connect a Futaba transmitter, Spektrum and JR don't need one!)

Sure enough, having bought it and installed it (just run the CD, plug the lead into a USB port and the transmitter trainer socket) I was soon trying it out and it seemed fairly good on Heli's although autorotations didn't feel right to me (but what did I know about them!). Planes, though I did know about and they were still too easy to fly - A scale Spitfire still wouldn't tip stall with 5lb more weight and the C of G inches too far back. But here comes the good bit, British software companies tend to have good customer service with real action on feedback. Their users tell them what is wrong and Phoenix produce a new version for free download. Over the last 6 months not only have they made improvements that do wonderful things with water: moving ripples, reflections, etc that make it look great, they also have (and this is the bit that the pretty photo real scenery often hides) really improved the physics. The screenshot I took here flying a large Pitts with its fin dipped shows just how well Phoenix handles water now

;

However it is when I tried to prop hang it (with added smoke of any colour you like!) that I was pleased to find that I prop hang and knife edge every bit as badly as I do for real! As for the scale warbirds, well they are harder to fly, but not quite a handful. It is easy to edit them however, so move the C of G back an inch, add a pound or two of weight and then it will tip stall, flick if you pull out of a loop too tightly, etc - if you can fly that without crashing you are more likely to be ready for the real one! So does a simulator really help?

I soon realised that there are some important rules to getting the best out of a simulator:

• Don't treat it as a computer game; if you keep trying to do impossible things and happily crashing then, actually, your real flying will get worst! Treat it as a tool to practice everything you are bad at or too scared to do for real.
• Try to convince your brain that crashing the simulator is REALLY BAD! Make yourself stop and dig the garden or wash up, or talk to the wife, or whatever, if you crash (say) 3 times, so that there is a real incentive to do everything you can to prevent a crash.
• Simulator aircraft tend to be perfect: thrust line dead right, no warps, etc; your real plane won't be that good - allow for this.
• So, fly lower than you would for real but high enough to try and get out of mistakes. For example, one false move low inverted like the Pitts in the first picture on the left and you're in. You won't learn how to correct your mistakes. At 30 feet, if you accidentally give up elevator and you can't correct that before splatting - then you can't fly inverted yet!
• Finally, don't get cocky! The adrenaline when you fly for real will make you jumpy on the controls - you will make mistakes you don't with the simulator. I reckon a factor of 12 is about right - Once you can safely fly inverted at 5 feet on the computer, you might just be safe to fly inverted at 60 feet for real!

Keith

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