Peter Jenkins

January 26

My re-registration has worked fine. I got an email from the CAA last night telling me that my OPID registration was secured for another year and gave me my details with which I agreed and that are the same as on the BMFA Membership site. Just renewed via the Club annual membership fee payment. Works well for me.

January 26

5 hours ago, MattyB said:

Indeed. This is also interesting/slightly worrying, though I suspect it probably doesn't apply to LOS recreational model flying...

This is usually required for flight crew licencing. Since we who fly model aircraft/drones for sport and pleasure are unlikely to be required to hold a FCL I would think that we will be exempted from this. If, we ever get to being classed as being Flight Crew then the hobby side of the sport will be done but then so will a lot of other odd aviation sports.

January 26

11 hours ago, Gavin Mack said:

sorry, 31,000 miles per second

Well, I made it 36,800 miles per second but it does depend on which frequency of red and blue you use.

January 26

7 hours ago, cymaz said:

And possibly something to do with Red Shift?

No, blue shift as you are heading towards it!

January 25

1 hour ago, Nigel R said:

RCG can be very "anti".

I guess at around ten minutes a pop, that's 800 minutes of air time, (round up) call it 15 hours of stick time.

Doesn't seem unreasonable to learn enough skill to consistently pilot something to B standard.

.

Actually it was nearer 15 mins be flight so, on that basis, I make it 20 hours. The other point I would make is that I only ever flew my Wot 4 during that time and only ever flew the B schedules. It was a case of needing the B as soon as possible so that I could get into competitive aerobatics. I would never have know this had I not kept the notes that I did. The notes also showed that the most difficult manoeuvres were the 2 rolls.

Eventually, I set up a low rate on the ailerons that gave a constant rate of roll with the stick hard over, and then I only had to work on timing the elevator application. A bit later on, when I was challenged on the very low roll rate being more akin to a slow roll, I measured the roll rate and found that rolling right took 2.5 secs per roll while rolling left took 3 secs per roll. Rolling with the engine's torque was faster! I would never have found that out since the difference in roll rate was not at all obvious to the eye! Funny what you learn with a bit of data!

January 25

On 24/01/2024 at 07:57, Brian Cooper said:

Red traffic lights mean "GO" for BMWs.

Lane 3 on a motorway is the BMW lane. . . They hate anyone trespassing in their lane.

How fast do you need to approach a red traffic light for it to appear green? Something for the physicists!

January 25

Coming from a full size flying and gliding background, when I re-started model flying back in 2000, it felt perfectly natural to kept a log of all my training flights. This had date, model, and any comments e.g. which lesson and how well I thought I'd done. Once I went solo, I maintained the log and still do. I record trim setup changes whenever they occur e.g. CG position, wing incidence, rates, mixes as well as comments on how I flew and what I am having problems with - oh and if the wind speed / direction. When I passed my FW B, I was able to look back and see that I had flown 80 flights with almost always 2 B schedules per flight so a total of 160 Bs flown to get to the consistency I needed to feel sure I would pass. I did at my first attempt but was asked to re-do one of the rolling manoeuvres before the Examiner was happy. That's a useful story to tell folks who want to get a B. OK, so I'm a slow learner but I was starting from a low level of skill.

For my electric flight, I have a strike off sheet that goes from 1 to 100 so that I know how many cycles that pack has had. One diagonal means the pack has been discharged and a cross, or 2nd diagonal, that the pack is fully charged. I also keep a record at home for each flight pack or how much charge went in, the IR and the cell voltage difference. This also provides a cross check with the battery pack strike off list.

I used to do an annual tally of which aeroplane I'd flown, including number of flights and total duration and kept a running total of total flights and hours flown. That fell away once I focused on flying almost just 1 aircraft, my current competition bird. I find it useful to see how many schedule flights I've flown in the run up to competitions and for the year. It's never as many as I would like, of course.

I just use paper records and print off the forms as I need them. I find that filling in the log after every flight helps me to think about how I flew and what I need to work on. It's useful sometimes to look back at previous history but that happens only very rarely.

Why do it? Habit!

January 22

Tower Hobbies is a USA-based retailer. In case you haven't noticed, we have different laws in this country. Still, as you can't be bothered to learn anything it's not surprising that you want to view the world according to your views. The rest of us are well aware that a Riot is not a park flyer.

January 22

40 minutes ago, Arthur Harris said:

I agree 100%. When I saw the title "First taste of the Sky" I thought it would be mostly about learning to fly, but toto has thrown himself into the deep end with complex IC and electric models. It looks like toto has a model-making and engineering background so is interested in these things.

I worried about sounding unkind, but I'm sure toto will get there and disregards my view. Different people enjoy different parts of the hobby. I know people who are passionate about prop sizes, power ratios, RPM, wing-loading, battery bursts and milli-amps etc, etc. I don't have an engineering or electronic background and have little interest or knowledge about such things.

Well, I'm staggered with that post Arthur. Firstly, the IC engine that Toto started with isn't complex and nor are his other electric models. So how did you form that opinion? Secondly, one of the great aspects of model flying is that you get to learn so many new things. You don't need an engineering or electronic background to want to learn enough about your model and its equipment so that you are able to extract the optimum performance from them and yourself. As I understand it, you are keen to fly a model aeroplane but have no real interest in the topic. Is that right? Toto is showing a lot of interest in trying to understand what is going on. Good for him.

January 21

1 minute ago, Outrunner said:

Land line days are numbered as BT are phasing them out and a home phone will be via IP so a power source will be required.

Yes, so I understand. A retrograde step in my view and increases the impsct of a msjor cyber attack. The Russians have a track record in this type of attack so I hope GCHQ has the antidote to hand when this happens in about 8-10 years time.

January 21

The whole point of a separate land line is that it has its own power and uses a separate run from the electricity wires - at lease out in the shires! If I lose electrical power, my land line still works. I have never had both the electricity supply and the land line fail simultaneously although a major storm could do that. I don't always get good mobile reception in my house so when the electricity goes and I lose my BT Hub, I'm left with trying to cope with an iffy mobile signal. Thank goodness for my land line is what I say as that's how I report my electricity outage to the supplier.

Dual redundancy is good!

January 21

29 minutes ago, Peter Beeney said:

One little bit of advice I tend to throw out right from the start is ‘Whatever happens. try to appreciate and enjoy all this scary stuff because you won't be able to experience this twice’ and of course the the same applies to the first solo flight, you only ever do it once.

Blue skies

PB

To me, the scary stuff is what it's all about. Model railways had no adrenaline rush for me once I've run the train round the oval track a few times. No one like crashing their models but that's how you learn quite often. If you find that you are losing your aircraft in the same way every time then you are not learning and perhaps flying model aircraft isn't for you. But there are only a very few like that.

Toto seems to be having a wide range of problems but learning from each. Well done Toto and, although it's not the way I went about things as I only had one I/C trainer that I had to repair a few times before I completely destroyed it, I can understand his desire to get on quickly. When I came back into aeromodelling, my background helped me enormously. I had built and flown free flight, control line and single channel radio control while I was at school and even built a single channel radio kit (with valves!) and a solid state proportional radio set from a kit of parts before heading into full size flying. On my return, I understood all that was involved in building models, running engines and the radio had gone from iffy to plug in and switch on and away you went. It certainly surprised my instructor when I managed to badly damage my trainer fuselage by losing it at 5 ft on approach (rolled the wrong way!) to see me the next morning with a fully repaired and decorated model raring to go. Past experience was worth its weight in gold.

January 21

6 hours ago, kc said:

Frankly Peter I think my comment WAS true! Your own posting elsewhere shows the QR list of instructions that are not in the Chilli Breeze articles in either issue!

The extra information is what anyone who has already built a model would know. Mike was catering for those who hadn't ever built anything - I grant you that in that respect your comment is true but you didn't need that level of information as you are an experienced builder.

January 21

46 minutes ago, Arthur Harris said:

Not wishing to be unkind @toto but it seems you have been keen on flying a model plane since March last year and you are yet to do a solo take off and land. You say you are in your fifties, so it is not age obstructing you. In my club we have people of all ages bringing a plane, getting advice and instruction, a few having a few crashes (almost all stalls as they don't keep the speed up turning to land) and getting to 'A' standard in a few weeks or a few months.

Do you think it might be easier if you got a Riot so you could just put a battery and receiver in it and not worry about technical things? As I say, I'm not being unkind, it just seems so convoluted for you when some people just buy a park flyer and fly it.

Rather unkind Arthur. We are all different in how we approach things. Also, few clubs allow complete beginners to teach themselves by crashing. That's not safe for the other club members.

January 20

1 hour ago, Ian Dewar 2 said:

Thank you for the download Peter - now I see how extensive it is it kind of makes sense why that wasn't in the magazine (although in 1994 I did managed with the plan only). It looks excellent and too much to put in the mag - maybe a web address might be useful next time?

I think the point Mike makes is that there are many model flyers today who have never built anything other than assembling an ARTF and sometimes not even that as you can just bolt a foamie together, charge the flight pack and go and fly. Hence, the very detailed building instructions that I hope will entice more readers to have a go at building Chilli Breeze. Flying aerobatics with the Chilli Breeze is something else and hence his kind flagging up of my book.

January 20

What I actually did Brian was to download it to my phone then shared it with my Dropbox account. I can now access it either by phone or PC. I've done that a few times in the past as I don't find reading such articles easy on a small phone screen even though it is quite a big phone screen!

January 20

Here you go chaps. I downloaded this back in Dec for my own use. However, you might find it useful to be able to download and print it out. Apologies for my bit of self publicity at the end. If you do want to buy the book to which Mike refers just PM me.

Chilli-Breeze-Jan-24-QR Full Buiilding Instructions.pdf

January 19

1 hour ago, kc said:

As I have just mentioned in another thread - it seems you now need a mobile phone to build from an RCME plan. The Chilli Breeze EP article has some of the building instructions only available by using a QR code!

The information you accessed was published in Part 2 of the building and flying instructions in the next issue of RCM&E. If you wanted to access them earlier then the option was there to gain access earlier. So, your comment isn't true but you did need to buy the next issue.

January 19

43 minutes ago, James Green2 said:

Mine doesn't. We rang BT and had them switch off the Wifi. I have a device that scans for Wifi and can confirm it is now switch off. Each to their own of course and not trying to plug an agenda.

That's fine. I can understand your desire not to be surrounded by WiFi signals but the moment you are outside you are still getting bombarded by WiFi radiation once you are in town. You can never get away from WiFi in towns, on trains, increasingly on planes and the underground. You also have the radiation from the Sun, that gets through the Van Allen belts and the atmosphere with which to contend as well as commercial TV signals, mobile phone signals, radars not to mention the radiation from granite and other ores naturally found on the Earth. So, just so long as you realise that your own personal preference to not be exposed to WiFi radiation doesn't actually work in today's world unless you go to the edges of the UK but the Sun will still get you there and clouds only stop radiant radiation and not shorter wave stuff that gets through the Van Allen belts.

January 18

You would be surprised at how much you can get in in 10 mins. The international aerobatic sequence with 17 manoeuvres takes around 7 1/2 mins. What you do need to do is to plan out what you are going to do on each flight to work towards what ever goal you wish to set yourself. Lots of folk content themselves with just flying around and not doing anything in particular and that's fine as well. But, if you really want to increase your flying skills it is possible to make quite fast progress provided that you have a plan! In that respect, the BMFA have a series of Achievement Tests that cover everything from quad copters, helis through fixed wing powered, gliders and so forth. Joining the BMFA is highly recommended as you will gain so much from it not least help with keeping the regulations the Government keeps wanting to impose on us at a reasonable level.

January 18

No problem. Didn't want you to end up having a difficult conversation with the plods. I'm assuming that the 225 g is with the flight battery. It is the maximum all up weight that matters here.

January 18

So, how much does your heli weigh? If it is less than 250g and does not have a camera then you are OK. Difficult to tell how big the helicopter you are flying is. Oh, and all of us fall under the drone laws, and I don't fly a drone either, but if you are a member of the BMFA then you get certain privileges. But we all have to pass either the CAA test or the BMFA competency test if the aircraft weighs more than 250 g or it carries a camera. Sorry, them's the rules.

January 18

1 hour ago, GreyAce said:

Yeah I have no idea buddy about the time but the heli started beeping when the battery was low so I relied on that,I used two batteries but after that the conditions were too bad so I gave up,wind etc.

On a separate note I found a indoor group but I have to join the BMFA first before they will let me fly there so I'm currently looking into everything,it's not as straightforward as I thought it was but I'm completely new to all this so I will see how it goes.

So, do you have your own insurance or are you just flying without any? Also, have you registered with the CAA, done your drone test and have a User ID and Pilot ID. If not, then I'm afraid that you are breaking the law. Just saying.

January 18

11 minutes ago, leccyflyer said:

- I believe that the 12v sockets do keep working.

Until the car battery goes flat! I once used the car battery as my source for charging my flight packs. These are 2 x 5S 5000s charged in parallel (i.e. 10,000 mAh capacity) but used in series to give 10S. The first 2 charges were fine but the 3rd charge didn't finish. When I was leaving, I found out why. The battery wouldn't start the car! Luckily, my fellow flyer hadn't yet left so, as I always carry jump leads, I was able to recover the situation. These days, car batteries are actually quite low capacity! Never did that again! So, while a hot box won't take anything like the amount of capacity needed by my packs just be careful! My current car, which is quite software heavy, will even shut down the radio 10 mins after you turn off the engine! Same goes for the interior lights if you leave the doors open - what a good idea!

January 18

I was at Odiham when a Wessex went into ground resonance while the rotor was being spun up but had yet to reach the required speed. For those who don't know about this feature, it is a function of a mass, spring, damper situation. If you reach the resonant frequency of the combination, the outcome is rarely pretty! If the rotor is up to speed, the solution is to lift off and that solves the problem immediately.

In this case, they couldn't lift off so the rotors ended up contacting the ground and the rear section skin was completely overstressed. The tail rotor and its structure fell to the left while the rest of the fuselage fell to the right and the rotors spread themselves to all over the place. There were two comments that made the rounds and had us in stitches.

The first one was from the ground starting crew. A new guy from a fixed wing background was being checked out by an old hand. The were rooted to the spot and, extraordinarily lucky not to suffer any injury. With the helicopter on its side, the new boy said "Does this happen often?"

The second one was from the pilot in charge. He was checking out a new pilot on his first familiarisation flight from Odiham. He had just struggled out of the wreckage when the line chief reached him and said in a perfectly calm voice "Can you get if fixed please Chiefy, I'll take it again after lunch."

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