2010 Nationals

My first project was to buy a vehicle capable of carrying all my planes and related equipment.  I was going to need enough room for my luggage and Marilyn's luggage.  I found a 2006 white Ford 150 Cargo van.  I hired Rob Cobb to build a set of shelves in the vehicle to house the long boxes I used for transporting the models and I got a local motorcycle repair shop to install a front wheel mount in the vehicle for my small Honda XR70,  my chase bike.   I was ready.

My new Van loaded to the gills for NATS

August 1, 2010 

We arrived in Muncie last night after driving from St. Louis.  We spent Saturday morning in St. Louis looking the Gate Way Arch and taking a short cruise on the Mississippi river.  We were both dead tired from the long drive when we checked into our Best Western  motel.  Marilyn complained that the mattress was too hard.  It was perfect for me.   

The next morning, Sunday, after eating the free breakfast in the Lobby, (it tasted like a free breakfast) we proceeded to the flying field at AMA headquarters on Memorial Drive about 10 minutes outside of Muncie..  It was my intention to familiarize myself with a field I had never flown on while testing a couple of badly flying airplanes and to check out my big 750 Ramrod C job for  Monday's  first day of competition.   

The free flight field at Muncie is a huge green pasture surrounded on all sides by corn and bean fields.  The grass is about 3 inches high and allows for easy motor cycle chasing .  I must admit the grass is greener and in better shape then my front  yard in Northridge.  Sunday morning on the field was beautiful.  Although humid, it was a comfortable 75 degrees and the mild breeze was blowing from East to west.  Most of us parked along the Eastern edge of the grass.  To the North of the field is a large parking lot for RV and campers and a large public restroom.   

It was my intention to trim my ½A early nostalgia "Smarty" and my 1/4A Nostalgia "Frisco Kiddy.  I rubber banded the Smarty together and found the little wasp easy to start.  I set the timer for about 7 seconds and ran the engine rich for the first test flight.  Everything seemed fine.  Good right climb, good glide.  I decided to kick up the RPM, lean it out and see what would happen.  I lit the fuse set the timer, started the engine, let her go.  Smarty made a hard right turn and plunged into the ground breaking the pylon.  So much for early Nostalgia. 

As I was picking up the pieces a haughty English gentleman approached with an F1A ship and remarked.  “I don’t know why you AMA guys always fly your first flights at full power.”  I think he’s still a little undone about the revolutionary war.  Not a good start to Nats, even if it was only a test flight.   

I quickly assembled my ¼A Frisco Kiddy.  Again, the TD 020 started easily.  I lit the fuse, set the timer and prepared it for its initial test flight.  The power pattern looked okay.  No steep right turn into the ground.   Unfortunately it had no right turn and after about a four second engine run the engine quit with the plane in a vertical position.  It immediately plummeted straight down into the soft grass.  The fuselage snapped in half somewhere near the stab.  I decided not to fix it.  Plane number two, out of competition. Fortunately the English guy wasn’t around as I put the pieces back in the box.   

I decided it was time to test something I knew would fly so I took out my 1/2A Country boy.  The “One design” competition would be later in the week but I decided to test it now to build a little confidence.  It flew great.  Good climb, good transition, good glide.  I worked with Marilyn on timing so she could get used to timing the engine run and watching the plane.  On the first flight, we hit a nice piece of air and Marilyn immediately announced she had lost sight of the Country Boy in the clouds but it had short DT  and was easy to find on the flat grassy field.  Not bad for a nine second engine run.  I was beginning to feel a little better.  Although it seemed much more humid then our semi-arid fields in the west, the air appeared light and buoyant.  Almost all my 9 second flights maxed out (2 Minutes at Nats) and chases were easy.  After several more successful flights I put away County Boy.  It would have its chance later in the week.   

Tomorrow would be the “Class C Nostalgia” competition so I put together my 750 Ramrod.  Probably my best plane.  Again, the engine started easily.  Set the time for 9 seconds, lit the fuse and let her go.  On the first test flight the power pattern was off.  Too much right turn in the climb resulting in not enough altitude gain.  By the third flight I had corrected this problem and again found I had no trouble getting two minutes out of the nine second engine runs.   I put the big Ramrod away.  It would get its big chance tomorrow.   

Nats was scheduled to have an ROW competition Tuesday so I got out the old Champion 500 I have converted to a pontoon ROW ship and put it up.  First test flight was all it needed.  Flew fine.  Maybe needs a touch of left rudder and a smidgeon of turn taken in the glide.  I’ll make those determinations when I try it off water Tuesday.   

Time for lunch:  Marilyn is a little fussy about where she likes to eat.  No Denny’s, No fast foods like McDonalds or Burger King.  We went to a chic little sandwich shop in downtown Muncie and then headed back to the AMA museum after stopping at Target to but a small canopy to give us a little shade next to the van.  The museum sported lots of antique free flights on display and a complete reproduction of a model shop dating back to 1958.   

I found myself in the library searching old issues of “Model Airplane News,” and found an article about the 1949 Nationals in the October edition with a several pictures of Ray Acord sporting trophies he won as the National Champion Free flighter.  As you may be aware I have a sentimental interest in a plane he designed and kitted in 1949 called the “Champion.”  The original sports a McCoy 09 in the plans.  I have been building them for several years and use a K&B Greenhead on mine.  I wanted to find out how he won the nationals but the magazine article didn’t show his name in any of the AMA free flight events.  So how does one win a National Free flight champion without showing up in the scoring of any event?  When I asked one the volunteers wondering into the library, he didn’t know either but suggested I talk to another woman who was more knowledgeable tomorrow.  I dutifully wrote down her name.  I wanted to copy the photos of Ray with his trophies but the copy machine making was broken.  It swallowed our quarter and refused to work.  It was now 5:00 pm and museum was closing for the day.  I bought a couple of tee shirts and we left.   

Tomorrow we need to be at the field by 7:45 at least, to get in on the orientation before flying.  We’ll see how that pans out.  Phil R. 

We arrived early and found the orientation area where a new central headquarters for the meet had been established. We would now be flying from the south end of the field towards and northwest and northeast. I broke out my 750 ramrod to compete in C Nostalgia. By the time I set up all my stuff and flew a few test flights it was almost 9:00 AM. I really wanted to start a little earlier but I just couldn’t get myself together. I had problems setting my timer for 9 seconds. The best I could do was get 8.55 seconds.

When I finally put up my first flight after a good test flight the air was still pretty good. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite good enough. My ramrod hit the ground at 1:59. One second short. My second flight was an overrun. My third flight was better and my fourth flight was also good. So two maxes and one dropped flight. The second two maxes were very close. 2:09 and 2:10. I was going to need better thermals to get a fourth max with only a 6 second engine run, but that would be a mute point since I was out of C Nos. After about 10.00 AM the air was pretty dead and I began testing my 600 Top Banana for B Nostalgia which would be tomorrow. After 6 or 7 flights I finally trimmed it. I’m not getting as much out of the Fox 29 as I would like and I suspect unless conditions are different tomorrow I’m not going to do well with this ship.

Tomorrow could be very interesting since the ROG competition starts tomorrow. It is my plan to fly the Top Banana as earlier as possible. We’ll try to get organized and start as close to 8:00 AM as possible to take advantage of good morning air. I’m going to need a lot of help with my 500 Champion with the pontoons so I’ll try and fly it in the afternoon hopefully when the winds and thermal pick up.

I’m starting to run a little low on my Sig 35% fuel. Hope it holds out for the rest of the contest. We looked for hobby shops in Muncie but could only find a Hobby Lobby with very limited airplane stuff and no fuels.

It turns out there is a Hobby shop very near AMA headquarters.  It's in a bean field about two miles away.  We'll visit it tomorrow and get some more fuel.

We did make contact with an AMA representative that was very helpful in scanning and printing the pictures of Ray Acord from the October 1949 magazine. More pictures to put on my Champions.

That’s all for today. We’ll try to update this tomorrow. pr

Add 1. We went to the Red Lobster for diner. I got carded. At first we thought the waiter was joking but he wasn’t. Apparently in Indiana restaurants have a new law that requires servers to card everybody that orders an alcoholic beverage no mater what their age. I guess the intent is that no one can claim discrimination of any kind if everybody has to show ID. Marilyn and I got a good laugh out of it and of course we gave the waiter an extra good gratuity. pr

August 4, Wednesday

It rained last night.  We listened to the lightning and thunder outside our motel room all night long.  After a questionable breakfast at I-Hop we headed for the field and arrived about 7:30 in the morning.  At the daily briefing, we were warned that thunder storms were headed our way and we might be advised to get off the field at any time.    

I put together my best Ramrod 435 and the engine tested fine.  After about four test runs we got the time set correctly for 9 seconds.  I put up my first official flight at around 9:00 AM.  It was perfect, got an easy 2 minutes.  On the next flight we had an overrun.  After re-setting the timer we put up our second official flight.  Again good morning air and we easily maxed out.  Marilyn is catching on to timing but still has problems seeing the plane in the sky so I usually stay with her to make sure she’s watching the right plane.  So far she hasn’t missed a touchdown and gets it right every time.  On our third flight it looked good coming out of the power pattern but the air had changed. It had cooled down just a little and there simply wasn’t much lift.  We missed the max with a 1:40.  So much for class A nostalgia.   

I decided to test my 1/A Frisco Kiddy which would fly tomorrow, Thursday.  It performed perfectly and almost lost it when we lost sight of it.  Fortunately we had a tracker in it and found it about a half a mile from our launch point in the middle of the huge grassy field.  I put it away for tomorrow.  We had already tested County Boy which we would fly in one design tomorrow also so it was time to kick back and relax.  Very soon after putting Frisco Kiddy back in its box the contest director announced the arrival a quick moving thunder storm headed towards us.  We battened down the hatches, got into the truck and sure enough a quick storm came rolling in.  It lasted about 20 minutes.  Some rain, lots of lighting and thunder, but none of it too close. 

There is was a guy with a little hot dog stand and Marilyn and I got hot dogs for lunch.  Surprisingly, they really don’t have any catering service that sets up a small restaurant like some our Lost Hill Contests.

Another strange thing about Nationals is that you must pre-register for every event you want to fly in.  If  you discover that there is another event you want to try you have to drive all the way back to the Contest Headquarters building about a mile from the flying venue and pay a additional fee as a late entry.  Very strange.  You would think they would want to make it as easy as possible to enter events.  More money, more competition, more convenient if you could enter at the venue site. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get my Zipper to fly.  I finally got the diesel engine starting when the wind shifted and pointed straight to corn field right behind the cars about 25 yards from the take off point.  Some people who were still flying in events moved to another location but we were exhausted by that time so we packed up the truck and headed back to the motel. 

August 5, Thursday 

We could hear major lightning, thunder and rain pelting down outside the window last night but it was clear by morning.  Thursday was a beautiful day.  Temperatures in the 70’s and lower 80’s.  There were fewer people at the venue today but still probably several hundred flyers.  I had high hopes of doing better today.  I had tested both my 1/2A Frisco Kiddy and 1/2A Country Boy when we first arrived last Sunday.

We were ready to fly by 8:30 and put up our first official flight in 1/2A nostalgia.  Pretty good power pattern, got pretty good altitude but after one minutes Frisco Kiddy started sinking rapidly.  Marilyn lost site of the plane just as it touched down.  But when she stopped the clock it was at 2:02.  Our second flight was not so good and our third flight was worse.  So much for 1/2A Nos.   

I got out my Country Boy (one design) and checked the timer.  Since we had flown it Sunday I was confident it would perform perfectly and decided to put the first official flight without putting up a test flight.  That was one of two mistakes.  First mistake, I launched down wind.  Why? I have no idea.  Second the power pattern was terrible.  It started up to the right began to dive down before recovering and getting about half the altitude I was expecting.  But got lucky.  The plane ended up in a nice piece of air and gained altitude in spite the bad launch.  The County Boy easily maxed out but ended up landing at the edge of a small flooded out area in the grass.  The prop got wet but other then that no damage.  I then made two more test flights, adding left rudder after each flight to correct the ragged power pattern.  On the second official flight I got a much better pattern and a good transition.  I spent a good deal of time waiting for a thermal to come through.  I thought I had something good when I launched.  Wrong.  I was on the ground in 1:30. The last flight was almost a disaster.  The stab was not fully down and keyed to the plane and after a horrible power pattern the plane stalled all the way to the ground.  My high hopes for Thursday were down the drain by 10:30 in the morning.   

I then contacted Bob Mattes who was the contest director heading the FAI vintage nostalgia event scheduled for tomorrow,  Friday.  Very few people knew about the event and as of this morning I was apparently the only person  who had inquired about the event,  Bob wasn’t to sure about the rules but after pressing he decided on 2 minute maxes and 13 seconds rise of ground.  I put up a test flight with my 09. Champion.  It flew great.  Bob assured me he would run the event, even if I was the only flyer. He said, be ready to go by 8:30 for the first round.   

Let’s talk a little about eating places in Muncie.  Breakfast first.  We quickly discovered why the free complementary breakfast at our Best Western was free.  After trying I Hop we tried a restaurant called Bob Evans.  Much better.  Good service, good coffee, and decent eggs.  We’ll eat there tomorrow.  The Olive Garden was a good bet for lunch and for dinner we headed into downtown Muncie for a restaurant that got three stars from triple A.  Vera Mae’s turned out to be Okay.  Not great, but Okay.  The restaurant had a down home Louisiana feel, upscale and a little West Hollywood feel to it.  Turns out Walnut Street in downtown Muncie is a happening place at sunset.  Several small bars and clubs line a two block area and a Dixieland band entertained passerby’s with live music.  We ordered Escargot, and chicken with a raspberry reduction sauce.  Suggestion.  Don’t order Escargot in Muncie.  They didn’t quite get and the chicken right, although it was flavorful it was overcooked but they got the Martini right.  A tall rumpled man in tan cargo shorts and a sleeveless tee shirt sporting a cane and a glass of wine, walked in, sat down at bar, and after a few minutes got up and asked the women at the next table if she was single.  Apparently he did not get the answer he was looking for and soon limped out of the restaurant carrying the glass of wine with him.  Another older man wearing a blue blazer and a yellow tie walked in with his schnauzer and sat down at the bar.  He was a rather pudgy man in his mid 70’s.  The dog immediately drew the attention of the single women at the table who snubbed the man in the cargo shorts.  She went right up to the dog and introduced herself, smiling at the elderly man in the blue blazer.  She made a second trip to the dog after returning from the rest room.  The elder gentleman didn’t seem interested and walked out after drinking a glass of white wine.   

After dinner we walked around the two block town center, and Marilyn wondered into the election headquarter of a democratic campaign group.  They told us they were splitting from the traditional Democratic Party and putting up their own candidates for various local offices.  I tried to explain we were from Los Angeles and we’re not registered voters of Delaware County but the nice lady running for a state senate seat didn’t care.  She explained the whole thing to us as were walking out the door.  

We got back in the truck and returned to our motel after driving through some of the back streets of suburban down town Muncie.  End of day four.   

August 6, Friday, last day. 

We had breakfast at Bob Evans again.  Definitely the best breakfast place in Muncie.  We got to the field early to be met with perfect flying weather.  The temperature was in the high seventies and low eighties, not to humid, not to windy a great day to fly.  

I approached Bob Mattes about flying in Vintage FAI.  He informed me I was the only person interested but if I wanted to fly in the event he would allow me to enter the event and if I flew well would get me a certificate.    He had already approved my 09 Champion the day before and made up a set of rules that seemed appropriate.  13 seconds rise off ground or 11 seconds hand launch.  Two minute maxes.  Five rounds starting at 9:00 AM.  The only other rule was I had to finish the 5 rounds by 12:30.  I gave him the ten dollar entry fee and got Champion ready to fly.  If anybody else wanted to enter, the same rules would apply.  The Champion performed great and the only reason we didn’t get the fifth max was because I didn’t take the time to set my needle valve correctly for the last flight and it ran at about half speed.   Nevertheless since one else entered the event Bob Mattes, the contest director for this event declared me the winner.  Check out the photo of Bob, me and Marilyn.  She timed all five flights. 

My first flight I touched the ground with the stab I and let her go.  She whistled over the heads of the startled flyers clearing them by a wide margin but shook up one old cranky gentleman so badly he asked me to move to another area to ROG.  I decided to hand launch the rest of the flights.  It flew just as well that way.  The only problem with retrievals was that the soft grassy field was still wet from the rain storms several days ago and some areas were down right soggy.  I could feel my Honda slipping in the wet grass but we never went down.   All in all a good day.   

The reason no other flyers got involved in Vintage FAI was because they added the event after the formal schedule was circulated.  I found out about it by calling the AMA and was informed by someone there that the event in deed would be run. 

Friday also included the big AMA D jobs and ¼A Ships.  My little Frisco kiddy with poorly running TD 020 was fixable from its earlier test flight last Sunday so I made a few hasty repairs to the fuselage and tried it again.  After the second test flight, which looked promising, I somehow broke the fuselage near the Stab.  This plane was not destined to fly in a contest today.  I put it away and started packing up for the trip home.   

By the way, it just so happens that Bob Mattes fixes TD 020’s  I gave him both of mine and he said he’d work on them in the next couple of weeks.  He has a website, www.flyfreeflight.com, and apparently works on all kinds of engines.  His company is called Mattes Engine Rework.    One of my next projects is to a make a really good contest 1/4A.  My little scaled down Frisco Kiddy just isn’t going to do it.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                    From left to right:  Bob Mattes, Marilyn Ronney and Philip Ronney

A couple of notes about Nats.  We were lucky in one respect.   I never had to chase a plane into the bean fields or corn fields.  Although Marilyn put on lots of Mosquito repellant I never noticed them and they didn’t seem to be a problem.  Even with all the standing water from the storms. 

I was impressed with the contest director who worked diligently to pick the best spots on the field as launching sites.  He used his computer to track storms and winds and was almost always right in predicting wind direction.  We only had to move one time.  That was Thursday afternoon the wind direction swung 180 degrees and was blowing into the cars and into the corn fields.  I had finished flying by that time so it didn’t matter too much.   

I learned a tough lesson about using pressure systems on my engines.  With short engine runs it’s almost essential to get everything possible out of every second of power pattern. I’ll start converting all my planes to pacifiers or crank case pressure when we get home.  It really would have helped my 750 ramrod with an OS Max 35 and the Top Banana with a Fox 29.  The good flyers throw those planes into the launch pattern and my planes sometimes sputtered from the abrupt throwing action.   I’m used to rise off ground launches where pressure systems are not as important.  I had to run them just a little rich to compensate.  I’m learning.  Slowly but surely, I’m learning.   

Marilyn and I left the field about 12:30, had lunch at a good Mexican restaurant, headed back to the Best Western, packed up the truck and started home around 1:45 pm.  We’re going to stop at Mount Rushmore on the way back.  I always wanted to see that.  I am writing these notes from a Holliday Inn Express Hotel and suites in Bloomington, Ill. Just outside of Peoria.  Turns out Peoria motel rates are much higher for three star motels.  Marilyn is insisting we spend a little more and stay and better accommodations.  It’s the price one pays for bringing your own personal timer who happens to be your wife.  pr

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