Peter Jenkins

If you rest your wrists on the er wrist wrests and just use your fingers then it doesn't really need that function but is good if you can do that. Going back to Phil's point, I was a year into competition aerobatics when I made the change to a tray. It took me 3 months to get back to my previous standard and to feel comfortable. After that, especially when flying lkng inverted runs the tray was, for me, vastly superior. I do fly thumbs on other people's models if asked to check tgem out. But, recently, I forgot my tray snd tried to fly my schedule using neck strap and thumbs and it was not a comfortable experience!

The other thing to do is to make some structure to block air from taking the easy route past the bit you want cooled. I've used depron to channel the air to the component I wan to be cooled. This will force all the air coming into the cowl around the ESC while also speeding up the flow and further improving cooling.

Good suggestion Phil. I might buy some - just in case!

You might find glueing a piece of strng just in front of the exhadt hole will improve the airflow out. Another good idea is to mount the ESC so the hestsink is just exposed to the airflow.

I generally have the KE mix on a switch that I disable for landing and spinning. However, I just leave it in for all other manoeuvres as the amounts of the mix are small. Don't forget that you may also need a mix for the ailerons to prevent rolling with or against rudder movement. One one of my F3A aircraft, getting the CG in the correct place meant that there was no need for either elevator or aileron mixes but that is pretty rare. My current aircraft has very little mix for aileron and a multipoint curve for the elevator as I have to perform a half loop in KE and when it's windy you need a lot of rudder to prevent the loop being deformed as you start it from level flight heading downwind. Provided I have the wings truly vertical then it's just the rudder that needs to be moved. The problem is keeping the wing truly vertical when viewing the aircraft from the side!

Looks great Steve. Hope you have many hours of soaring.

The ANO states that it is the pilot's responsibility to ensure that he can safely conduct the flight he/she is about to undertake. You didn't answer my other point which is how does an Examiner know that the Candidate knows how to conduct a range test? Presumably you would be quite happy to pass someone who didn't know that you needed to turn down the Tx power before doing the range check? Well, I'm sorry, I don't. As a matter of interest, when I did my Examiner test, the ACE conducting it failed me after I had finished the flying part as I had not done a range check. I had in fact done the check but not ensured that he was watching while I did it. I thought he was watching me. So, had to redo the whole test from the beginning. Had I not done the range check at all then I would have felt it was a good call. At the end of the day, you have to satisfy the Examiner without the examiner introducing his own requirements. I do not consider asking someone to show you how a range test is conducted to be introducing my own requirements.

This is what it states in the current BMFA Handbook para 13.4 Pre-Session Model Checks: 13.4 Pre Flying Session Model Checks On arrival at the flying site: (a) Check airframe for any transit damage. (b) Check that servos and linkages are secure. (c) Check undercarriage for secure fixing and correct alignment. (d) Check propeller for damage and secure fixing. (e) Check receiver aerial for damage and, with 2.4 GHz equipment, that the orientation is correct. (f) Carry out a range check if any changes or re-installation of equipment have taken place since the last session or if a history of range problems exists. (g) Carry out a failsafe check and make sure that it does what you expect. (h) Check that the receiver and transmitter batteries have sufficient capacity for the intended use I am a Club Examiner and I always brief candidates to tell me what they are doing as we go through the checks. When it gets to 1.4(f) I would expect them to tell me, if they weren't going to to the Range Check and, if so, why? I would then ask them to demonstrate that they know how to do a range check. If they cannot do that, then they must fail. I cannot see how you can pass someone who doesn't know how to do a range check. The wording in the Test Guidance Document is: (a) Carry out pre-flight checks as required by the BMFA safety codes and demonstrate an understanding of ‘SWEETS’. Yes, it does pull out the Failsafe check but that doesn't mean that other checks are less important. There is nothing wrong with having a check list to which you refer to make sure you have not missed anything - after all, full size pilots do this.

The range check is a mandatory part of all Achievemdnt Scheme tests. How else are you going to display your ability to understand how to do a range check properly. I have seen a small number of pilots who, despite having an A cert, don'f know how to call up the range check function on their Tx. So, that leads to the question of have they ever done a range check with the Tx at reduced power?

I wait for an appropriate moment as I know better than to interupt someone doing their checks, however badly. I don't sit and watch for errors it's if I notice somebody doing something odd. I'm usually too busy reflecting on my last flight and preparing for my next one to spend time hovering over others

Entirely off my own bat. I am just an ordinary club member at my club.

I try to as they are just common sense and the implication of missing a cracked propeller or insecure control link is, for me, likely to be an expensive issue. I even do a range check every time although that is not required by the BMFA it is required by one of my Clubs. It also gives me the added comfort of not seeing the aircraft fly out of range and become a pile of bits! I have seen pilots who said their failsafe was set but when asked to demonstrate it find that their motor goes to full power. How did that happen? Answer, it was never set and never checked. Distraction is another huge danger. That is why I never engage in conversation when doing my checks as it is too easy to be distracted. It is, of course, a mandatory pre-session check and, more importantly, it there to prevent a fly away and potential interaction with a full size aircraft, other people or vehicles. To my mind, the range check would allow me to tell the judge that I had taken every precaution to ensure that I was confident that it was safe to undertake the flight. That, after all is what we are required to do by the law. If I see others taking a casual approach to pre-flight checks and missing stuff I will politely bring it to their attention.

What you say is true of the Achievement Scheme Tests. However, Clubs are private entities and are therefore able to govern themselves independently from the BMFA. Some clubs have their own tests of competence others, probably the vast number, choose to use the BMFC Achievement Scheme tests. Equally, they could choose to use their own and if you wanted to fly st their club you would need to pass their tests. So, isn't it better to have the same test used by the vast majority of Clubs? As I say, if you cannot fly the A Test manoeuvres confidently and safely then you probably don't have the skill set to be trusted to fly unsupervised. Conversely, if you fly confidently and safely the A test should present no problem. The same for the B test in that if you are competent at flying aerobatics you won't find the B a problem. Pilots sometimes say they want to fly a scale aircraft in front of the public and see no reason for the validity of taking the B. My response is that the RAF trains all pilots whether they are going to fast jet, helicopter or transport aircraft to fly aerobatics during their basic training. Why? It provides pilots with the confidence to cope with being in unusual positions and knowing how to recover safely. Same goes for model flying.

Of course, the A is not just about being sble to fly safely to a nasic standard but also being aware of the legal and general safety codes. The legal stuff is more important today in the era of drones/multi rotors than it ever has been. Plus, there are a number of points about general knowledge covering model aircraft operation. If you don't have an A and haven't taken and passed the RCC then the A does force you either to answer 5 mandatory legal questions or take and pass the RCC. If you are a competent pilot then flying the A should be a piece of cake. That leaves the book work needed to pass the A questions but that osn't a big deal either. In the UK, there isn't a full size gliding licence so even if you are a very experienced pilot, if you want to fly at a club you will be asked to carry out one or more check flights with a Club instructor or the CFI. You will often find that to progress to flying more high performance gliders you will need to have a BGA Bronze C or Silver C or be checked out for field landing before being cleared for cross country flying. In the R/C aircraft world we tend to be rather too easily upset when asked to demonstrate our competence.

I was with you till your last sentence. Not sure at whom that was aimed.

The BMFA has always stressed that the tests in the Achievemrnt Scheme are for personal satisfaction. There is no requirement to take the tests. Many, but not all,Clubs have decided to use the BMFA A Certificate as a measure of a pilot's ability to fly safely without supervision. Some Clubs use the BMFA B cert as a requirement before they allow models over 7.5 Kg to be flown from their sites. These are Club requirements and not BMFA requirements although in order to fly in the BMFA Nats in radio control, they do ask for a B Cert pass. The other thing to remember about Achievement Scheme tests is that they tell you that on the day you took the test that you satisfied the Examiner(s). The test result os not a licence and you don't ever need to take the test again. However, I have known pilots who said they were B pilots but were unable to fly to the B standard any more. Relying on A and B test Certificates at face value is, therefore, unwise as the tests say nothing about current flying capability. If a B pilot cannot fly the B test to a pass standard after a couple of goes I would not consider them to be able to claim to fly at a B standard. The fact that they once did is for their own satisfaction but shouldn't be confused with their current flying skills.

I don't think I ever met a model flyer like that in 1971! I was at a University that had a ratio of 15 blokes to 1 girl so it wssn't likely there either!

Interesting that the membership of the SMAE was given as 5,000 in the early 60s. It's high was around 36,000 in 2015 (I think) but is now down to the mid 20 thousands.

I prefer bare wire without connectors so I can solder on my own, 4 mm bullets, and make them compatible with the rest of my batteries and, of course, the charger. I do make an exception for EC3 Connectors.

If I can see the pipe to the silence I watch the pipe, mine's clear tube, so as soon as I see the fuel coming through the tube I stop. If you keep going, it fills up the silencer! It will then leak out. When I have a silencer enclosed in a cowl, it is almost always pointing downwards so when full, the fuel just exits the silencer as it doesn't have a chance to collect.

By the time I arrived at the patch, it was 2.30 pm and everyone else had left. Had 3 practices of my schedule and tried a lower level flight speed. Decided that the faster speed gave a better pace to the flight so that's sorted. Might have to try a faster speed for really windy days as I seem to have the flight pack capacity to achieve that. With the 4,800 mAh Onbo packs I've been using they get down to 3.7 v/cell at the end of the schedule. I tried a 5,200 mAh Onbo and as I mentioned above a 5,200 mAh Roaring Top. I was impressed with the Roaring Top so bought 2 more. After checking how much went into the 3 Roaring Top packs it varied from 3,000 to 3,200 mAh so around 2,000 mAh so I could safely budget on burning up to 1,000 mAh more per flight on windy days.3👍

Well that's blown your secret Bob!🤣

One of the top UK F3A team pilots flies like that. It's what ever works for you and that enables you to fly to your required standard.

Hi Toto I've appended some photos of my Wot 4 that I used to gain my B and that I still fly from time to time to demonstrate the B to candidates. I should say that I arrived at these, and the current CG, through a process of trial and error over the 3 months that I spent practicing for my B. I have since measured them and they are quite instructive. On my Tx I have 3 rates as normal and I used them for spinning (max control movement), normal flying and flying the 2 consecutive rolls that require a constant roll rate as one of the criteria. Starting with the ailerons, the photos show the full rate movement, then the normal rate and then the 2 continuous roll movement. In the last case, I chose this rate so I could apply full aileron and then just have to worry about timing the elevator inputs since there isn't a requirement to use the rudder for these rolls. Out of curiosity, I have flown the entire B schedule, excepting the Spin, on the lowest rates and it is perfectly doable but you do need to use full aileron for rolling into and out of turns, and full elevator for the loop and bunt. 18 degrees 10 degrees 5 degrees The Elevators follow: 18 degrees 10 degrees 5 degrees It won't have escaped your notice that 10 degrees of movement are what I arrived at through trial and error. Now, I set these figures as my starting normal flying control throws and adjust from there. Note that even with just 5 degrees of movement with full stick movement is sufficient to fly the B schedule manoeuvres but you do need to make sure that you are high enough for the bunt! The height required is just a bit higher than the top of the loop! This may not be the case for other aircraft or if the CG isn't in the optimised position. Hope that helps. 100 60 30

Yes, but Toto doesn't have your experience. In any event, in my experience, the majority of pilots in their early stages tend to having too much movement on the controls that leads to problems of over controlling and pilot induced oscillations that usually end badly. I will post some photos for Toto's benefit.