air space

Jolly Good Show, Chaps

I spent a very enjoyable day yesterday, September 10th, at the Middle Wallop International Air Show which, this year, included a model aircraft show for the first time.

The model show was a comparatively modest affair, occupying part of one of the huge hangars at Middle Wallop, which is the home base of the Army Air Corps. There were only a few exhibitors, principally Ripmax, Traplet Publications, Robbe, BMFA, a stand well-stocked with Ikarus Piccolos and a couple of die-cast model suppliers. There was, however, a very attractive central display of models which included the two I have included here. Unfortunately, I have very little detail of the models to pass on, but nevertheless they're nice to look at!

On the left, a fairly large scale model - about 1/5th, I guess - of an American home-built plane powered with a Laser 70 and very nicely finished. My other picture is of a beautiful model of a Sea King helicopter. There was a mass of information printed out on a card displayed with the model, but it was so small that I could hardly make anything of it out!

The Ripmax team had a couple of spots to put on their flying display, and their performance with their gas-turbine powered F15 and Mirage models certainly stunned the crowd. The weather was not very good during the morning and low cloud had curtailed movements into Middle Wallop and held up proceedings somewhat, but the Ripmax team came to the rescue when requested and quickly put on an additional aerobatic display with two Caps. It was nice to see the model flying proving so invaluable to the organisers!

The main airshow itself was brilliant, with the now traditional fly-in of massed helicopters still proving very impressive. It really was quite a sight to see some 42 helicopters line abreast slowly approaching the crowd line from the horizon to stirring music. And how about this for a stunt - a landing on a land-based moving 'aircraft carrier'!

Other treats included a magnificent display of a Harrier demonstrating its incredible manoeuverability, a seven-strong formation team of Yaks and an Extra 300 flying under a ribbon suspended from two 20-feet poles hand-held by two very brave members of the ground crew, with the pilot cutting the ribbon on his second pass!

Biggest (literally) surprise of all, however, was provided by the show's principal sponsor, United Airlines, when a purportedly scheduled 767 flight inbound to London Heathrow was diverted off its airway to make two very low, slow passes over the airfield. To see this giant pass slowly by, flaps extended, undercarriage down and just a few feet above the ground was truly awesome! Was it really carrying passengers, I wondered, or was it perhaps on a freight run? Whatever, it was fantastic!

let's be precise

some interesting questions from TERRY POLLOCK

I am an Australian mature-age modeller. I started flying about eight years ago in my mid-forties. Prior to that I was a failed golfer!

One of the things that concerns me about radio-controlled flying here (as an observation) is that we teach a person to fly and then we leave them to their own devices - much the same as when we teach someone to drive a car. It has always been my belief that you don't start to learn to drive until after you get your licence.

In flying, there are many more variables to manage. Wouldn't it be nice to see an advanced flying school? Or even simply people providing advice on some of the simple techniques that they employ when flying. Some simple questions that come to mind include:

how do you reference the model during the various aspects of flight - e.g., coming directly towards you?

how do you know that the aircraft is flying a straight line parallel to the runway?

how do you keep the model at a constant height?

why do some models tend to lose height in a turn and others don't? How do you counter this tendency - opposite rudder?

what are the principles associated with aileron/rudder mixing?

how do you address the (apparent) function reversal when the model is flying towards you?

I'm sure that people could come up with many more questions along these lines. What are your thoughts?

It may be the case that generally once we're off the buddy box we're on our own, and many of the techniques that Terry refers to are developed purely from practice and growing experience. The business of relative position in the air - parallel flight, constant height, etc. - seems to be a question of being able to keep flying against visual reference points, or becoming almost subconsciously aware of just how the profile of your model appears when managing particular flying attitudes - certainly that's how Gordon has helped me manage parallel flight.

But perhaps there ARE some quite specific practical ways to precise flying - I don't know. I DO know, however, that there are some very experienced flyers who read ModelFlight who may well have some good hints and tips as to how they go about the business of good, controlled standard precision flying - and we're not talking aerobatics here.

How about it, then, those of you for whom these things are virtually second nature? Can you pass on some of your wealth of experience in matters aeronautical to help boost the learning curve of us less-experienced but equally-keen model flyers? Space is available here on 'air space' for as much as you care to contribute, so please give it a try!

Perhaps there's a good book or two around that can also assist - if you know of such publications, please let us know.

Air space is here for anything you might like to write up of model flight interest. Tell us about your particular branch of the hobby, d-i-y projects, review a kit, or pass on your modelling hints and tips for instance. Have a go and get your work on the web!