Peter Jenkins

If anyone's stuck for a Christmas present from their family or friends, I still have copies of my book, Model Aircraft Precision Aerobatics, available at £22 posted to UK addresses. I will also post to overseas addresses but will have to add the cost of the additional postage. If you want, I can put a short message inside and sign it. Just send me a PM.

Jeti do a Tx muff that looks like it will have the required space above the Tx for the pinch holders amongst us. Any users of said kit out there who could enlighten us on its pros and cons? Bit on the expensive side at £113 - link.

I use a combination of Zippo hand warmers and a pair of leather gloves with inners. The gloves were marketed a few years ago and were basically the same quality as the cape leather gloves used by RAF aircrew. However, in the RAF these gloves are fitted to be skin tight so that the aircrew have got good tactile feel for operating the right switches. They are also aimed at providing some protection against cockpit fires as well. The design that was offered teamed these expensive leather gloves with a separate inner that was like a string glove but made from high quality thermal insulating fibres. This meant that the gloves kept your hands and fingers warm but at the expense of losing a bit of tactile feel. That being said, they were a lot better than any other gloves I'd tried. The initial cost of £110 put me off and had the same effect on most other model flyers. The price dropped to £55 and I decided to buy a pair. They were excellent but needed the backup of the Zippo hand warmers to let me have warm hands all day. As I fly precision aerobatics, I find that even with these gloves I found my accuracy of flying fell off - even more than usual some would say! So, now, I remove all gloves just before take off and put them back on after landing. Interestingly, some of my aircrew friends told me that they found flying without gloves very off putting as they had got so used to the feel of the aircraft through gloved hands. I suppose that if I were to fly with these gloves at all times then that would work as I'd get used to the feel of the Tx stick through them. Sadly, the guy who came up with the idea of these gloves had to have a fire sale as he wound up his company and their final selling price was £25 so I bought a second pair for me and a pair for my wife who suffers from poor circulation even at home! She loves them as they are very high quality leather. I'm now looking at using a Tx muff, perhaps with a Zippo hand warmer inside it but the size of the muff needs to be sufficient to allow my hands to operate the sticks without feeling cramped by the top of the muff. I will see what's available and try a friends one before deciding whether to buy one. Thanks for posting the link John Lee. I see that also posted on the excellent product I found the gloves to be.

You quite find that Mil Spec stuff is actually off the production line but tested to the required conditions to find the stuff that doesn't work and return that to commercial use! Meanwhile, having tested said component to the specified temperatures and found that it works, it gets a certificate and the price goes up by a factor of 10. Of course, infant mortality can also be eliminated by following similar routines and throwing away the stuff that doesn't work. Quite an important point raised by the OP and should also apply to Txs especially where a kill switch is relied on to keep you safe. I have to say, I always treat kill switches with great care and never assume that the model is safe once the drive battery is connected. I do see lots of folk who have undue faith in the ability of our complex electronics to perform perfectly despite weather and electromagnetic conditions. Take care!

PM sent.

He says he's joined a Club already.

WhatsApp Video 2024-11-20 at 10.25.09.mp4

Good find.

David I don't know if this will help as regards engines stopping during stall turns or spins but I usually set a higher idle for my IC engines when flying. Of course, that does mean you need to remember to switch it out for the low idle for landing. As I used to fly/glide full size, I use my downwind landing checks routine to ensure the aircraft is properly configured for landing and, so far, have not forgotten to switch to low idle! Peter

I would set your voltage alarm at 7.5 v to begin with. That should give you time to land before you drop below 20%. How long do your set your timer for and what sort of aircraft is it and what sort of flying are you conducting? Pootling around is very different from flying aerobatics that have a significant vertical extent.

Richard The location of the National Centre was fully discussed at Council at the time the decisions were being taken. A potential purchase had been investigated and that was in Leicestershire but that fell through. The Buckminster Estate then approached the BMFA with the offer of leasing the current site. No other viable and affordable site was ever thrown up during the search for a location. So, the issue was very simple. If you want a National Centre, there was only one location that was on offer. One could argue as to whether Buckminster is in the middle of the country but I believe that the road haulage folk consider Huntingdon to be in the "middle" of the country as regards distribution. The entrance to the site is some 4 miles from the A1, a major trunk route that is classed as a motorway for part of its length. I don't know if you think a major road like the A1, the main north/south route along the east side of the UK gives good enough access to the facility but I think most people would say it fell into the category of giving easy access to the NFC. It is true that having a site within easy reach of a meeting of major motorways might give better access but then the land values would become unaffordable for the BMFA. I don't know where else you think would be better but we are back to the whole issue of who is available to do the leg work of finding and assessing the available options. Remember, apart from 3 full time employees who are focused on specific areas we are reliant on volunteers to do this sort of work. When people say, the BMFA should do this and should do that, try looking in the mirror as you are the BMFA. I don't see a huge number of people standing for election to the BMFA Executive Committee and, therefore, requiring a vote of all members to select them. Mostly, there is only 1 candidate. The arguments for and against an NFC were vigorously pursued at the time. It serves little use to continue an argument that has been thoroughly ventilated at the time of the decision. That decision included the use of sponsorship to be an integral part of making the NFC financially viable. So, to say that it's only the sponsorship that makes the NFC viable as Steve Too says is indeed quite correct. That was one of the issues that led to the decision being taken that leasing Buckminster for a 35 year lease was the only viable option on the table. It may be that in coming years that BMFA membership might atrophy to the state that the BMFA will no longer be a viable organisation and all organised model flying will end. Equally, by using the facilities of the NFC, the BMFA is better able to keep the sport in the public eye and thus help to ensure that new members are attracted. As ever, the gloom merchants will never be satisfied that this was the right decision. In which case, it's very simple. Stand for election to the BMFA Executive and try and convince the rest of the Executive and Council that the wrong decision was made and the BMFA should exit the lease at the next break point. No, didn't think there'd be any takers.

Good luck.

Just returned after another solo afternoon at the patch. There was a very gentle breeze blowing in but it still managed to confuse me! Still, got in some much needed peactice and some manoeuvres have definitely improved. It was such a lovely sunset I even posed the Anthem for the picture.

Just a thought payneib - I'd be inclined to put your flight box, fuel can and tool roll in the front of the aircraft in case you need to apply the brakes hard! I use the footwells for stuff like that. Acceleration isn't a problem as you have full control over that but braking might be different!

You are right that F3A throws are lower Adrian. My starting points are Ail and Elev 10 degs each wsy with rudder 30 degs each way. I then fly it and adjust accordingly - usually msking them a bit smaller e.g. elev 8 deg each way and occasionally less. Of course, you want max throw on the elev, say 30 deg or so and max rudder, say 40 deg, for spinning. Snap, or flick rolls I fiddle with adding quite a lit of aileron but adjust to get the speed of the snap so I can stop it at the right point with a high degree of confidence - usually misplaced I have to say 🤣.

I've worked with both and there are good and bad ones. Obviously, you have your opinion but have you ever worked with a good treasury man?

If the promise hadn't been made there wouldn't be any NFC. Simples. There is a diffference between being a politician in the Treasury and somekne who has spent their lifetime assessing financial issues for both the Government and the private sector. They are far better qualified in assessing financial viability, value for money and risks than almost all of the commenters on this thread. It is politicians who muddy the water by taking decisions based on a political basis where hope and not financial facts are the currency.

Snuck out again this afternoon and got in 1 1/2 hrs at the patch. It looked like the cloud base would be too low but as I was pondering this I saw a slightly lighter patch of cloud coming along. Launched with the brighter patch overhead and was delighted to discover that the cloud base was well above the 1,050 ft high that I had on the first flight. I'd taken my laptop along again to look at the Flight Coach trace and having absorbed the gross errors I could see, and remember, I then launched into 3 more flights of the schedule I'm flying. Left the field at 4.10 as it was getting even gloomier feeling that the effort had been well worth it. What was very useful was the almost dead calm so that all the positioning errors were solely my fault! On my return home, I reviewed the flight traces from all 4 flights and was pleased to find that some of the time I had corrected my faults! More correction needed with the additional need for consistency! As ever, I was the only one there

I don't know if you listened to the original discussion about the NFC but it was made plain then that there would be no subsidy from the membership fee. There was a subsidy provided by our then insurers and not having looked at the Finances this year I don't know what that figure is. However, if you take into account the fact that the cost of running the Leicester HQ, now that we have moved the BMFA HQ to Buckminster, is a perfectly legitimate cost for "Buckminster" to charge the BMFA membership. You keep bringing up stuff that has been long dealt with. Do you even remember what was said during the period the the NFC was being discussed? You may not know this but the BMFA Finance Member is an ex HM Treasury guy who is very well versed in financial matters. Indeed, it was he who spotted the error made in the presentation at Council during the run up to the NFC decision that Insurance Broker's sponsorship had been used twice! No one else spotted it! That caused a frantic rejigging of figures so that eventually the books balanced. That resulted in cuts to various projects. You keep going on about the NFC being of benefit to only a minority of members. You do not think about the work that is done by having senior people come to the Centre and have their eyes opened to what the BMFA is about. This includes Government officials and politicians. That work is for the benefit of all members not just a few. Finally, folk go on about the competition minded folk running the BMFA for their own purposes. Let me just point out, that were it not for these people there would be no BMFA as no one else would be bothered to put in the effort since there would be nothing in it for them. Just think of how Clubs are run and how it comes down to a small cadre of folk without whose efforts there would be no Club and, evenutally, no BMFA.

Thanks Adrian. Ease of spin entry is certainly an issue for me as well, although I tend to focus on reducing the amount of down elevator for inverted flying. I still prefer some down when inverted as I find neutral trim is a bit confusing for my old brain to remember which way up the aircraft is! It was interesting to find that with a double taper wing (taper increased at about 2/3 wing span going towards the tip - intended to improve snap performance) the spin requires some small amount of aileron to ensure the spin develops instead of waffling around.

Interested to know if you alter the CG position once you have the aircraft flying and if so on what basis?

Well said Leccy.

The majority of Club members don't give a hoot about the BMFA. Why would they even consider reading stuff sent out to them to inform them of the vote they are being encouraged to make? As for Country Members, most are members of at least one Club. The number who are truly flying on their own is quite small therefore. The original reason that Clubs are the members of the BMFA, or SMAE as still is, is that in 1922 most folk didn't even have telephones. That was why Areas were introduced so that the administration was decentralised. In my Area we were lucky to get more than 5 attendees who were not Area Committee Members. That's how much interest there was from the Area Clubs. If you want at least 80% of the block casting a vote then nothing will get passed and the BMFA as we know it will die. Why? Would you volunteer to be a BMFA Council member when you have no power to make anything happen?

Didn't have time to post this yesterday so here goes. I waited till almost 1 pm before the Sun broke through in Suffolk. Got to the patch at 2.45 pm to find I was the only one there. Conditions were almost perfect with a light breeze at about 20 deg to the runway and blue skies. I had taken my laptop with me so that I could "debrief" after flight using the Flight Coach data that was saved to a micro SD card. I did that for the first two flights but after that decided to just fly trying to apply corrections to the errors I'd seen and then look at the final two flights at home. Sunset was 4.30 pm and from around 4 pm onwards the wind dropped completely. So, my last flight, taking off at 4.15 and landing at 4.22 was conducted in this strange calm. Can't say that it seemed to help much! As I landed, the Sun was half way below the horizon and by the time I'd got back to the pits, disarmed the aircraft and removed the batteries I thought I'd take a photo right after the Sun had disappeared. What a session!

It all depends on what you are used to flying and the level of precision flying that you have reached. It is certainly a complaint levelled at the Olympus by a couple of pilots who are regular competition attendees. Would an average club pilot notice - maybe not.