A Monthly Publication of Collins Model Aviators September 1999 Reminders: • Next CMA meeting is Thursday September 2nd at the Martinson Sod Farm • CMA Family Fun Fly is on September 18th starting at noon In This Issue: President’s Column...................n 2 CMA Meeting Minutes.............s 6 Foam Wing Adventure .............7 CMA Flyers Fun Fly ................9 Part of the FlightLine at the August Word search............................h 12 CMA Flyers Fun Fly Heads Up, CMA Activities .....12 CMA Web Page Addresses: Collins Model Aviators http://bbs.cacd.rockwell.com/data/clubs/cma/ Academy of Model Aeronautics http://members.xoom.com/cma3257/ Charter Club #3257 plowed up. This could present another logistics problem in our flying proximity to the house and work shop. Something to think about for the next meeting. It won't be long and a big green windsock will be set up somewhere on the flying site. Thanks goes to Doug Emerson for taking the initiative in getting the sock hardware and nylon material put together. President's Column By Frank Gutierrez Sept. 2nd 5:45pm CMA MEETING at Martinson Sod Farm. This is the last flying site meeting for this year. You will be notified one-day prior of any change due to weather. The voice bulletin board will be updated with meeting information as well. (295-8888) Glen Aubrey came out to the field with his Press 3 then 4 for updates. powered Parasail Friday 20 August, to assist in The August Fun Fly turned out to be very good and the search of Chris Heald's lost LT-40. all had a great time participating and flying. I am Unfortunately the corn was too thick to spot the looking forward to the September Fun Fly and plane from the air. Glen enjoyed his flight would like to encourage all members to attend. Be anyway, as the air was nearly dead calm. sure to bring your families to the next event. The activities begin with a picnic and flying to follow. I was talking to Larry Martinson the other day and asked how things were going in regards to the CMA flying activity. Larry said everything was fine with one minor exception. The early morning flyers need to keep the planes away from the buildings and must not fly over or close to the horses. After looking over the field last Friday, the far north end looks like the best solution to early morning flying. As the time gets closer to the September fun fly, most if not all the sod we are flying off of now may be gone and we may have to relocate if the dirt is FlightLine September 1999 Page 2 Doug Emerson finely got to flight test his Midwest Ten to twelve feet later I gave the elevator a Citabria. I took the first flight and the plane tender nudge and the LT-40 gently lifted off its performed flawlessly. mains and began a slow scale like climb. The plane tracked strait out with no input from the ailerons. If I corrected for roll it was automatic and I don’t remember it. Trim: After the climb to a safe altitude where I could check trim, I set the plane at full throttle level flight. When I took my hands off the sticks it pitched up slightly. It took couple clicks down trim to level it out. It also had a slight turn to the right. I tried first to correct the roll with a rudder adjustment, then a combination of aileron and rudder. I ended up with one click left aileron and the rudder back in the neutral position. At this Well done Doug, on another fine airplane. point I hadn’t used the flaps or reflex-spoilers. I LT-40 FLIGHT TEST was concerned how the plane would behave with This has to be a record for stretching out an article required aileron trim adjustments in flight as the about one airplane. This particular plane initial mechanical setup was measured to get demonstrated unique handling characteristics and it uniform positioning. was hard to resist talking about it. So here I go…… Flight Performance: Ground Handling: The O.S. LA 46 is turning a Master Airscrew Initial taxi test as a tail dragger went better than I 11X6 prop. The motor idles superbly and has the had hoped. The plane tracked straight and turning right amount of power for this plane. The plastic was very smooth. It was almost like driving an R/C back plate was leaking until I coated the gasket car around. High-speed taxi test proved that it with hi temp silicon rubber. Now the engine bay doesn’t take long for the tail to come up and the is absolutely dry after every flight. On throttle up directional control response remained smooth. it chatters like it is about to vibrate apart. I Takeoff: learned later that this is common with this engine. The first takeoff was smoother than any I remember Many modelers on the news group say the with the exception of my old PT-17 Sterman. Again cylinder lining eventually peels on this engine as the plane tracked straight and barely required a well as the .40FX depending if it was a bad nudge of right rudder at the start. About 15 feet production run or not. The lining is nickel plated from the starting position the tail came up and the instead of chrome and may not be thick enough plane was riding on its mains. on some of the engines sold. I will keep an eye on this in the future. That will require taking the head off and inspecting the cylinder wall after a while. This plane is not a speed demon but certainly has enough power for its needs. Basic flight maneuvers were first tested to check how well the plane is aerodynamically balanced. Loops and rolls were very smooth in both high and low rate settings and the plane tracked straight through the maneuvers. Slow flybys also FlightLine September 1999 Page 3 proved to be rock solid. Stall tests were typical and with no surprises. The cruise speed didn’t seem its behavior was very predictable. to sacrifice much either. Next was the inverted flight test. Rolling the plane on its back was very Flaps: It was time for the flaps. The aircraft was throttled smooth. back at a safe altitude and the first 10° of flaps slowly extended then 25°. The plane slightly pitched down as expected and at full 40° flaps the plane slowed down to a crawl. The aileron response was not as crisp but functional. This is where the rudder in combination with ailerons is very useful in directional control. After a slow flyby, I throttled up and put the plane into a steep climb with flaps extended. The amounts of down pitch required was very little and pitch control quite sensitive. Yahoo! The trailing edge spoilers worked as advertised. A low inverted flyby at half throttle was very comfortable. I set the pitch and controlled altitude with throttle. This gave me extra pitch control if needed and the setup was very solid. Next came spins. To prove to myself that the spoiler function was really contributing to better flight performance, I attempted several spin Using rudder and elevator to keep the plane straight entries without the spoilers extended. Every spin and fly on the edge of stall, the LT-40 stayed inside with the neutral setting resulted in a spiral dive. the fence while climbing to a high altitude. I cut the Now I add spoilers…. WOW this plane can really engine to check out its glide performance with the spin. I was so exited that I had to do it three flaps extended and it floated down as if it was on a times so I knew it wasn’t a fluke. Next was the parachute. The landing was soft and gentle right in flat spin test. The CG is too far forward for this front of me. Taking off and landing with flaps was a one, oh well almost got everything I hoped for. delight as the plane demonstrated good STOL The flat spin configuration caused the plane to go capability. into a funny looking spiral dive. Not quite a spin but not quite a spiral either. On later flights I Reflex-Spoilers: tried more maneuvers to include the Snap roll, Time for flight two. With everything trimmed, I Cuban eight and the Lomcevak maneuver. concentrated on how changing the camber of the wing in the opposite direction would effect the flight performance of the LT-40. Since this is a flat- bottomed wing design, inverted flight and spins can be a bit more difficult. The first test was moving the trailing edge spoilers up in level flight and observing changes in flight attitude and performance. Because the trailing edges are up, aileron response goes down and is not as effective as when in the neutral or flap position. Level flight proved to be normal FlightLine September 1999 Page 4 have the elevator on high rates and flaps lowered for landing. We practiced a few approaches and quickly learned the best landing configuration for this plane. Lined up for final and setting pitch attitude The Lomcevak is a gyroscopic maneuver using the and power to fly on the back side of the power torque of the engine and forcing an unstable flight curve gave us absolute authority where and when condition causing the airplane to tumble. The first we wanted the plane to land.