air space

MODEL HELI WORLD RECORD FLIGHT

A first-hand account from MIKE FARNAN of a remarkable achievement

On May 23, 2001, I set a new Guinness World Record of flying a model helicopter from the island of Tasmania to the mainland of Australia. This involved flying 300 km but because of the vast distance, we intended to do some island hopping. Previously the world record for flying a model helicopter over water was 64 km.

My first leg from Tasmania to a small island called Flinders Island was 75 km. We then proceeded after refuelling the model and the full size helicopter which we used to fly the model, to fly on to Deal Island where we again refuelled the model and topped up the full size Bell Jet Ranger. It was also interesting to note for you overseas people that on this small island there were some 1000 small kangaroos called rock wallabies.

This stretch of water in Australia is one of the most dangerous, and in the past four months three fishermen and one pilot have lost their lives because of the quick changeable weather. We noticed the weather was changing for the worst and we intended to fly the next leg from Deal Island straight to the mainland of Australia of 130 km, but we changed our mind and decided to stop at another small island called Hogan Island. At this island we again topped up the model with fuel and continued on to mainland Australia.

For this leg we met strong cross winds and were forced to fly through rain which made it very difficult at times to actually see out of the canopy of the Jet Ranger helicopter to see the model.

The average speed for the trip was 42 knots and because of the danger of the trip we were all wearing survival suits with life jackets. Also the Jet Ranger was fitted with inflatable pontoons in case we had to land for some reason in the ocean.

This flight got national TV coverage on the 7 pm news around Australia and also was covered by radio broadcasts and major newspaper articles. We hope this helps promote the hobby of R/C flying in Australia and gets more people into the sport.

Also I must thank my sponsors Radio Technique magazine in Japan, JR Heli Division, and also O.S. Engines Japan who all helped to finance this adventure.

Please find following photos which I hope that you enjoy (click the pics for an even better view).

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

MODEL HELICOPTER: JR VIGOR 60 DESIGNED BY CURTIS YOUNGBLOOD
RADIO: JR PCM 10 SX
MOTOR: O.S. MAX-61 SX-H RING "WC"
GLOW PLUG: O.S. NO. 8
FUEL: AMERICAN POWERMASTER 15% NITRO HELI WITH LOW VISCOSITY OIL
ROTOR BLADES: V BLADES CARBON FIBRE 700MM IN LENGTH, 195 GRAMS IN WEIGHT PER BLADE MADE IN USA
TAIL ROTOR BLADES: JR 60 SIZE NYLON
WEIGHT OF HELICOPTER: WITHOUT FUEL 5.2 KG AND WITH FUEL 8.7 KG
MAXIMUM FUEL CAPACITY: 3.5 LITRES TO GIVE A FLIGHT DURATION OF 1 HOUR 45 MINS
TOTAL FLIGHT TIME: 4 HOURS IN THE AIR
TOTAL FUEL USED: 11 LITRES TO COVER 300 KM

About Mike

MIKE FARNAN was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1962. He has been a modeller since he was five years old. For the first 20 years, he flew model aircraft then later began racing electric buggies and became the Australian champion in 1988.

In 1991 he took up flying model helicopters and has notched up many achievements. He has been three times Australian champion, five times Victoria state champion, five times New South Wales state champion and has represented Australia at two Australia versus New Zealand Trans Tasman competitions which Australia has won each time. He has also represented Australia in the past four world championships with his best result being 17^th. He will be competing in the next world championships in September in USA.

Apart from competition flying, Mike has attempted some world record flights in distance for model helicopters. His main reason for doing so is to catch the imagination of the general Australian public who are virtually unaware of model helicopter flying at all, he says. In June 1996 Mike set the FAI world record in straight-line flying of a model helicopter down the Sunraysia Highway in Australia. This record was set at 134 km, thus beating the world record held by the French at the time of 117 km.

Since then Mike has further achieved in setting a Guinness World Record of flying a model helicopter across a part of water called Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne, Victoria. That was 64 km where he followed the model helicopter in a full size Jet Ranger. This ended up in the Guinness World Record book issue of 2001. This gave him the further idea to try to get more notoriety for model helicopters when he attempted the record of flying from the island of Tasmania to mainland Australia of 294 km, again following in a Jet Ranger helicopter. This achieved national television coverage and newspaper reports and also many interviews on the radio, all of which has been great for the model helicopter scene in Australia.

Grateful thanks to Lindsay Henderson for bringing this exciting news to my attention and to Mike Farnan for providing additional background information.