The Newsletter of the South Park Area Radio Kontrol Society

S.P.A.R.K.S FLIGHTLINE The newsletter of the South Park Area Radio Kontrol Society

AMA Charter #1633 August 2012 IMAA Chapter #510

President: Jim Stillwagon 412-650-9494 Vice President: Ed Andrews 412-561-5019 Secretary and Newsletter Editor: Sean O’Connor 412-466-5718 Treasurer: Al Schoener 412-561-4531 Safety Officer: Jerry O’Connor 412-854-5076 Safety Coordinator: Jerry O’Connor 412-854-5076 Website Manager: Michael Camella 412-337-5149 Web Page URL: www.sprcclub.org

The next meeting of SPARKS will be held at drilled in it for the rod to pass through. The rod Flying Field Wednesday, August 8th at 7:30. still moves freely but doesn’t bend. Note this is the second Wednesday of the month. Club Notices

July Minutes The Fun Fly on July 22nd was a success. The weather was good and there was a big turnout. President Jim Stillwagon called the July The winners of the contests are as follows. meeting to order at 7:30. 17 Members were present. The minutes from the June meeting Taxi Contest: Bill Puhl were approved as read. The Treasurer’s report Loops: Bill Puhl was given and approved. Timed Flight: Bill Puhl Spot Landing: Ed Andrews Old Business For Sale President Jim Stillwagon was set to meet with county officials on July 17th about the trail Two glow plugs and 11 electric planes for and other issues sale including a Senior Cadet converted to electric. For information and prices call Jim New Business Curtis at 412-833-2928.

We agreed to have a fun fly event on Sunday Aerobatic Planes July 22th. It was set to start at 4:00 and will likely follow the usual pattern of pizza at 6:00. Aerobatic planes have developed to a high We also discussed a swap meet which was set to level of sophistication over the years. These coincide with the fun fly. planes are specially designed to allow many maneuvers most other planes can’t. Planes in Louis Mattes Sr. won the 50/50. this category tend to be light, powerful and have very responsive controls. This high level of Bill Detweiler was voted in as a new member. control is necessary to perform tight pattern maneuvers. Tricks such as flat spins require this Tech Tips great level of control. These planes have a lot of wing area and a low weight with little drag. If you have a long throttle rod it might bend After you have mastered trainers and and give you poor throttle control. You can add intermediate planes these high performance a balsa wood brace to the fuselage with a hole planes can give you a challenging new facet of the hobby. Models can perform even better than full size because of the weight to power ratio. There are a wide variety of choices on the market for advanced fliers. A few standout designs are especially popular and are available from many companies. One of the most popular aerobatic planes is the Extra 300. It was designed by Walter Extra and was a variation on his earlier designs. It was introduced in 1988. Like many aerobatic planes it is a tail dragger with a short and wide low wing. With its symmetrical airfoil and zero incidence no dihedral wing it flies just as well inverted as upright. Upgrades added larger control surfaces, lower weight and bigger engines. Similar to the Extra is the Sukhoi Su 26 from the former Soviet Union. It was introduced in 1984. The wing design is similar to the Extra but is mid mounted as opposed to low wing. The Sukhoi Su 29 lightened the plane while adding a bigger engine. The Su 29 managed to keep the weight down by using 60% composite materials. A much earlier aerobatic model that has retained popularity is the Pitts Special first introduced in 1944. A short winged biplane it was able to perform great aerobatic maneuvers before monoplanes like the Extra and the Sukhoi. The first version, the S1 was hand drawn by Curtis Pitts and home built by various builders throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s. It soon became popular with aerobatic performers such as Betty Skelton, who called it Lil’ Stinker, a name which stuck. The S2, the first 2 seat Pitts was introduced in 1967 and was known as the Big Stinker. Despite its age and competition from monoplanes refinements have made the Pitts Special consistently popular in airshows and competitions. Part of this is due to its great performance at low cost. Aerobatic models are available in many sizes from small electrics to 40 percent models. Planes can be set up with radio programming to give you peak performance or tone things down for more typical flying. If you are interested in aerobatic models you can find them from sources such as Tower Hobbies, NitroPlanes and Precision Aerobatics.