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 |  "Putting on the Game Face" |
  This blog is a doorway into the mind of Percy Goodfellow. Don't be shocked at the lost boys of Namby-Pamby Land and the women they cavort with. Watch as his caricatures blunder about the space between audacious hope and the wake-up calls of tomorrow. Behold their scrawl on the CRT, like graffitti on a subway wall. Examine it through your own lens...Step up my friends, and separate the pepper from the rat poop. Welcome to my abode...the armpit of yesterday, the blinking of an eye and a plank to the edge of Eternity. Note: This blog is my journal. I've no interest in persuading anyone to adopt my views. What I write is whatever happens to interest me when I start pounding the keys. |
Today is Sunday and we'll be going to church. We try and make it as often as possible but our track record is far from perfect. For some reason it always requires an extreme exercise of will on my part. I know I need to go but something (Yeah! The DEVIL and those seductive whispers  finds all those compelling reasons not to.)After church we are thinking about going to Harrisville for their annual tractor pull. You have to live in Farm Country to understand what that is. It’s analogous to an athletic competition where the rural fellows take tractors and see who can pull the most weight the furthest. It evolved from the old days when farmers used to meet at the fair with their strongest team of horses and do the same thing. There is also a competition for pick-up trucks. It is overcast and there was just a weather alert for thunder storms to the West of here. We could use some rain. I’m thinking about my Motion Emulator this morning. I built a scale working model of what I had in mind and put it in the back seat with the dog. Honey ate it, “don’t you know?” If I used that as an excuse nobody would believe me. To make it go around and around I am thinking about a DC electric motor driving some kind of reduction gear. I thought about using my old PTO driven cement mixer, or maybe that old roto-tiller sitting in the garden the past two years. Then of course there is using a windshield wiper from an old car or truck. In addition there is the possibility of a parted out electric wheel chair or lawn tractor. Somebody help me! I need to adapt a DC electric motor to making this thing that looks like a carnival ride rotate around in either direction… something low torque that turns between 1 and 3 RPMs. |
| To Heck in a Handbag I had some great ideas for my blog last night but seem to have forgotten what they were. I should have scribbled some notes like I usually do when my muse provides all those great ideas but when I don’t act they disappear off into the great nether world of forgotten memories. Its like waking up from a dream where everything is so vividly etched in my awareness and then having it slowly fade like the fog as the sun comes up. This morning I worked on my RC model Airplane. I got the elevator and rudder installed. I dread putting in the plastic hinges that articulate the operating surfaces. You have to hold the Exacto-knife perfectly level or else you poke through the top or bottom of the thin balsawood. Then if you get glue into the hinges things go from bad to worse. If can be frustrating but I am in a phase of my learning where I don’t expect more perfection than I can deliver. The goal is to build a flying model and not a work of art for the Smithsonian Institute. Then we went for a drive and picked up some groceries and doo-dads. Had lunch at Culvers. This is a franchise that is located primarily in the upper Midwest but the burgers are exceptionally good. While in Stephens Point I dropped Linda off at Target and went up to Fleetfarm. Target is a girly store and Fleetfarm is where the guys hang out. Anyway I am still thinking about building a motion emulator and I checked out the axles and bearings. They had some ¾ inch rod that will serve fine for the axles and I also looked at a bearing sleeve and bearing. The clerk was not able to demonstrate how the bearing went into the sleeve and I am going to have to check out the internet to figure out how. Then I stopped by the salvage yard and inquired about a wiper motor, to make the emulator revolve 360 degrees. I am not sure this type of motor is suitable but the price is certainly right.. What I want to be able to do is get the emulator to turn at a rate of between one and three Revolutions Per Minute. When we got home I skinned the bottom of the wing to my model airplane. The color scheme I chose was red on the top and yellow on the bottom. My rational is that when the airplane gets hard to see and I see yellow, then I know things are going to heck in a handbag. |
| We get good at the things we strive to improve at. By strive I mean making a long-term commitment to elevate our performance and optimize our potential. This is true for writing, overcoming an addiction, or building RC Flying Models. You just don’t suddenly realize a skill level or goal without investing a whole lot of sweat equity over a long period of time. I know, I know… for some success seems so effortless and trying to achieve the high standards of others can be very frustrating… however, the key word here is persistence. Some people have talent, gobs of it, but if they don’t have the self-discipline to coax it along every day. Unnurtured, it won’t really take them very far. The world is full of those blessed by God with enormous talent who never take full advantage of it. I believe it is indispensible but a little bit can take you a long way. Again the operative words are self-discipline and persistence. To quit smoking took my wife and I several years. Sometimes we went awhile on the wagon and at other times we would relapse in a time of weakness. Instead of giving up and saying, “Opps, I had a cigarette last night, I’m a failure, might as well go out and by a carton,” we instead girded our resolve with a little determination to resist that dark force that seduces us back into the darkness from whence we came. It’s like the hooker that Jesus told, “Go and sin no more.” Becoming a writer means writing every day. That blog calendar that WDC provides needs to have every day shaded out. Every writer needs a blog (a journal) and you need to write in it daily. Strive for a page. Then you need a literary project to work on and there too, stick with it on a daily basis. Outlines are important because they keep you on track like a plan or blueprint keeps an RC Modeler on track or a scale provides a measure of progress on weight loss. In the midst of all this are the chores of life, the need to invest in relationships and the importance of giving thanks for what you have. Don’t drop your hamburger, reaching for a French fry. |
| Well today was Orientation for another term of the Exploratory Writing Workshop (EWW). Usually I get a normal distribution of students, some good, some grounded in the basics and some remedial. Thus, I have to adjust my thinking to each student’s level of development. This term I'm delighted to say that the distribution is skewed heavily towards some very talented individuals from all over the world. I don’t have a single remedial student. Today the Lounge to the EWW opened and I was amazed with how many of the students had read all the requirements and showed up posting their biographies and introducing themselves. I don’t usually get this much participation. We're off to a good start. Now, if I can only keep the momentum of enthusiasm going! Today I took the two broken wings and cut out the ribs on my table saw. Both wings were of the same scale and produced by the same company. I was gratified that the ribs were identical. This allowed me to sift through and try and find enough unbroken material to make one complete wing out of the two that were “Parted Out.” By the end of the day I had a completed wing ready to be covered. When I weighted this morning I showed 171.8. lbs. That is pretty good and my diet is more or less working. I call my diet the ”No Food Diet.” I get two pieces of toast for breakfast and then nothing until about 3PM. Then I have a late lunch or early supper. This is a full meal but without any excess or deserts. That’s it for the day. I do drink plenty of water and sometimes snack on a couple handfuls of plain popcorn. I drink one soda a day. I have gradually lost twenty pounds. Linda and I are both following this diet… and approaching it like we did quitting smoking…. Just staying after it one day at a time. If you stay busy it isn’t so bad and there is that one good meal every day to look forward to. For my meal today I had a Double Quarter Pounder and fries. It was not very good. Yesterday we went to Cracker Barrel and had a wonderful dinner, the best in a long time. I ordered the grilled chicken strips with green beans, corn and French fries. There was also a good hot biscuit with butter. I wish they had yeast rolls instead of biscuits and cornbread. In grade school they had yeast rolls that were the best I’ve ever eaten. Now, only those “Texas Rolls” come close. Too bad the world has forgotten the yeast roll recipe. |
| I try and work on my writing every day, but there are the chores, keeping my wife involved by doing various types of activities and doing creative things with my hands. Naturally for those who follow my blog the hobby of RC Model Airplane building and flying is a welcome diversion from the other stuff, I also enjoy. I am building a Trainer to be able to say at the flying field that I have built a kit model and not just gone off and bought an “Almost Ready To Fly” (ARF) model. Actually I spend a lot of time repairing ARFs that others give me that are the result of crashes. One of the things I have observed in this repair process is something analogous to the evolution of the automobile. The first autos were built on a frame. There were two rails and the engine went in front. Underneath were two axles and on top was the cab. This was the same for airplanes. They were built on rails, the engine went in front, the landing gear beneath and the fuselage on top. Then along came modular design which was a whole new surround way of doing things. Don’t get me wrong, these modular designed models are lighter and generally fly great until they crash. Then they are much harder to repair and are generally thrown away. See the analogy? Just like cars. Actually I like both types because I see elegance in each design. Just like I see in good writing! Are there no end to all the analogies? So I am cranking along on repairing some crashed models and also working on my trainer. I have about completed the fuselage when I get a great idea. Out in the garage I have two broken wings for a same scale airplane. Hmmm, I think, maybe instead of taking a week I can just integrate the unbroken parts of the two wings and save a whole lot of work? So I go out and check things out… sure enough there are enough unbroken parts in the two wings to make one. I love to take stuff I already have available and put it to good use. Plus I have designs on the unbuilt wing that I will share in my next blog. |
| Critique One of the things you get on WDC are critiques and from time you get one that sets a few sparks of ire flying. After a while however, insensitive critiques begin to flow like water off a ducks back. I am saying this because what we learn in this regard here on WDC translates wonderfully into life. For example. At the flying field I am the newbie and easily the most inept builder and flyer in the club. I am also slow to learn and the members activated a rule recently, which has been long overlooked, of having an airplane inspected by an uninterested member before allowing it to be flow. Now it doesn’t require much latent paranoia to realize this is aimed at me… and you know what? I am glad they are doing it because I get plenty of attention I don’t otherwise get and lots of ideas I hadn’t considered. It is better to swallow a little pride than wreck an airplane. Before becoming a member of WDC I might have told one member in particular to “F” Off, because he sometimes rubs me the wrong way. This guy, however, is also one of the most anal, smart and experienced. After getting past the emotional angst I always take away something from our exchanges. This reminds me of a great lesson I learned in the Military. I used to think that if I didn’t like somebody then everything they stood for was BS. Then I discovered that often many things my friends told me were BS. The realization was that often those who abrade against your personality are harbingers of truth and those who want to be pleasant are not totally honest. I know it sounds obvious but we are all human and the “Love me love my dog,” adage comes too often to mind with a mutter under the breath. |
| A Motion Emulator I have been waiting for some time for someone to develop and market an RC Airplane Motion Emulator. I use the term “Emulator” because I am not looking to acquire a “Simulator.” The difference is that a simulator is virtual reality while the emulator I envision is real world. Let me explain. At the present time an RC Airplane student stands on the side of the club field and under the best of circumstances has an experienced RC flyer as instructor pilot on the buddy cord. The buddy cord allows the instructor to take control of the model if the student gets into trouble. The problem with this is that because the models are small it is easy for the student to lose orientation and possible control of the airplane. What I would like to see is a piece of equipment that the student could sit in that emulates the orientation and direction that the airplane is flying in. In an enhanced version there would be a camera in the airplane with a feed to a screen in the cockpit of the emulator. Keep in mind this is not simulation! There is a real model airplane flying overhead that is being controlled by a student/instructor pilot on the ground. Anyway the idea is that this emulator would sit in the back of a pick-up truck. When it came time to take off the truck would accelerate to emulate the centrifugal force of an accelerating airplane. This would not require a long drag-strip because RC airplanes usually get airborne in less than 5 seconds. Meanwhile, inside the emulator, the student and instructor would watch the model airplane taxi and gain airspeed. When transitional lift was achieve the student would give a little up elevator by pulling down slightly on the right hand stick and the airplane would become airborne. Now his part of the process is well known and has been along forever, however visualize that as the nose of the model comes up, so does the emulator. As the servo in the airplane moves the elevator, a servo from the same transmitter activates a linear actuator in the emulator to rase the pitch of the cockpit in the bed of the pick-up. Further, that when the student moves the aileron stick to the right the same signal is transmitted to a slave servo and the emulator banks to the right. I think you get the idea. The emulator, emulates the motion of the model airplane and the student feels the same effect on his body that would be experienced inside a full-scale airplane. This is much different than standing as an observer watching from the edge of the field. This brings us to an innovation in the Hobby called First Person View (FPV). Already the technology exists to put a camera in the cockpit and have the real time image downloaded onto a video screen. Thus the student could learn to fly the model in the traditional mode by watching its effects (while fully oriented) but also see the vista as an actual pilot would. A possible enhancement would be a compass in the aircraft linked to the emulator that would keep both pointed in exactly the same direction. As much as I am reading on the internet about the technology coming on line to do this sort of thing I am not seeing an affordable motion emulator being developed, which I am sure is something that every RC model flying club in the country would salivate to have. |
| Old-school versus New-school I have this old 1/4 scale model of a Piper Cub I found in the backroom of a hobby shop, in Marshfield Wisconsin. It was built from a kit, albeit an old one. It’s forty years old if a day. I'm not even sure it was ever flown because the flight surfaces appear to have never been hooked up. In the old school of early RC model flying the protocol was generally to put the servos in the belly of the airplane beneath where the wing attached. A long dowel rod was used extending back, to provide linkage for the rudder and aileron. Since it’s a big model the servos have to exert some energy and there were some flex problems I encountered when bringing my rehabilitation efforts up to date. Further, where the wing halves join, was this huge space for one of those oversized Futaba monstrosities that used a long metal rod down both wings to make the ailerons work in opposition to one another. These linkages are buried in the wing and rusted and the new servo I bought can’ t be mounted on its side like I think the old one was. (The servo bay was empty when I acquired the model, however the telltale screw holes offered evidence to what had once lurked inside.) Thus, there is no way I intend to hook it up the way the original builder envisioned. In the progressive school of RC model building the servos are smaller and often located as close as possible to where they do their work. For example it is not unusual to see the servos located well aft for the rudder and elevator. This overcomes the flex problem and need for long wooden dowels or sliding sets of plastic rods and thick threaded wire. The same is true in the wings. The servos are commonly well out on the wing and centered close to the aileron they are intended to operate. After trying to make my new servo work as the original builder intended, there was a change in plans. I’ll be using two, one in each wing half. Concurrently I'm trying to get a couple of airplanes ready to fly Sunday for the picnick, and build this new trainer I bought at the Fond du Lac War-bird show. I tend to be impatient and the salesman who sold it at the show price, told me to take my time building a model from scratch. Actually a kit isn’t building from scratch. A true scratch build might begin with a photograph, however, at least having a plan is more common. So I have resolved to go slowly and do a couple steps of instruction each day. The model is well thought out. It uses a 40 size glow engine and everything is more accessible than is normally the case with a trainer. There is no cowling, the gas tank sits exposed behind (held in place by rubber bands) and the linkages to the rear flying surfaces are exposed. I started with the bottom, set the fuselage stringers, the hardwood motor mounts and the plywood floor. The motor I intend to use, an OS 40, dropped right in. I’ll keep all my interested readers ( ) abreast on how the build goes. |
Today I went out to the flying field. It was a bit frustrating. My number one trainer kept cutting out and suffered a hard landing. One of the needle valves broke off and I thought I had it fixed. I didn’t. It cut out a second time and I barely got it down. My number two trainer was close to being ready but not quite. So I decided to finish setting up my Crop Duster. When I got everything ready to go I remembered that I had not properly secured the motor to the firewall. So that was the end of my flying. I had one more option but Linda arrived and we needed to go pick up and get my new glasses fitted. A part of my problem is my vision is getting a bit fuzzy. The new glasses worked great and I can’t wait to fly with them. Anyway I need to get my trainers fixed. Sunday we are having a picnic at the flying field and everybody will be there. When I got home I got on WDC and went to my port to see how my class, The Exploratory Writing Workshop is doing. It filled up in two days. On Monday was orientation. One if my students was having a problem accessing the Classroom (Assignment) forum. Actually it was more my problem than hers because she uncovered a glitch in one of the links that had gone undetected up to now. So I spent a couple of hours getting that fixed and it was a good change of pace from the RC airplanes. Tomorrow we will pick up our car and go to Wausau. We had it undercoated and that took two days. They put chloride down on the roads in the wintertime and it’s very hard on the exteriors of automobiles. My father gave me a Volkeswagon that was only four years old that he hadn’t bothered to get treated. The car body seemed to be literally melt off the frame. That was a shame because otherwise it was still mechanically sound. |
| Frustration, The past couple of days I have been working on this old antique Piper Cub, RC (About 1/5 scale) flying model. I like to rehab old stuff and I catch a lot of flack from my friends who provide plenty of well meaning advice. For example they say things like… "Learn to fly a trainer first and then follow the normal progression to more advanced models." Or… "Why are you so obsessed with fixing up old junk?" Anyway I simply smile and shrug and do the things in the hobby that I find compelling. Last night I went to bed frustrated. There were two problems that I could just not seem to get solved and my wife kept coming to the sunroom window, peering out and trying to see what was the source of all those mutterings and expletives . The first was trying to get the sleeve thread barrels lined up to accept the motor mounts. Let me explain. On an RC model the engine causes a lot of vibration and when you attach it to the firewall threaded sleeves or blind nuts are required because the wood alone will not survive long without some help. I suppose everyone has their own technique and mine is to set one corner, then do the opposite one and continue with the next two. The problem is compounded by two factors. First is that the engine must be shimmed about a degree left and a degree down. This is to compensate for the counter rotation of the engine. The next problem is that one needs the proper drill size to an extended length so the drill can be aligned straight with motor mount and drill through the firewall. My Black and Decker Drill and even my Dremmel are not well suited to getting into tight spots. The result was that when I drilled in the sleeves and screwed them in they didn’t line up right and hence all the swearing. I compensated this morning by over drilling the mounting holes to provide me with enough slop to get all the screws into the sleeves. What a pain in the butt! My second problem involved the wire linkages. This was a bigger model than what I was used to and the elevator and rudder needed stronger servos. I had these but the wires tended to bend. The old school solution was to use long hard wood dowels to bridge most of the span and attach shorter machine threaded rods to either end. The newer method is to use plastic tubing that slides into one another and run a threaded rod into the inner tube at each end. What I didn’t know was that the rod needed to be of a length that reached out to the outer tube. It is pretty cool how the rod is inserted into the inner tube. You chuck it into the drill and drill it right in. I tried twisting and spent over an hour on the first of the linkages and still didn’t get it right… Hence the swearing. As old as this model is I am not sure it was ever flown. The servos on the wings were never installed. Imagine that. A model over twenty years old that was never flown. |
| This morning we'll be going to church. The Choir Director has been trying to get several members to sing as a trio or quartet. We’ll be doing “I’ll Fly Away” which is Linda’s favorite. Yesterday morning we traded for a used Toyota Avalon. It's a Hybrid. I was expecting good gas mileage but did even better than the anticipated 40 mpg. When we got home It was Dump Day. If you live in the country you know that is the day the local dump is open for garbage pickup. After lunch we took the dog and went back to Fond du Lac, to the RC model Air show and ran into Chuck and Linda. We had a nice visit and enjoyed watching the flying. After getting home I worked on a big Piper Cub (1/4 Scale) I’d recently acquired. It is truly an antique and for the life of me couldn’t figure out where the gas tank was supposed to go. Usually they are aft of the forward bulkhead and right behind the engine. No way that was where the original builder had it located. Anyway cutting into the firewall was a challenge but eventually I made a space for a medium sized tank, without compromising the structural integrity too much. On Monday sign-up begins at New Horizon's Academy for Fall Term. I’ll be teaching the Exploratory Writing Workshop again and look forward to meeting the new students. |
| This weekend Linda and I went to the Fond du lac War-bird and Classic Radio Controlled fly in. It was not a huge event but it was well run and there were several hundred flyers and half a dozen commercial sponsors. What jumped out was some serious practitioners of the hobby with awesome airplanes and flying skills to match. I like to listen to the resonance of the engines and Linda and I spent a lot of time walking around and taking in all the events. There was a shaded pavilion set up where you could sit and watch the activities out of the sun. It was definitely a fun weekend. Several weeks ago I was invited to the back room of a hobby shop in Marshfield to look at a huge stash of RC model airplanes that were being sold as part of an estate. I bought a number that were older, priced right and put together by a master builder. I like to bring these old models back to life in much the same way I enjoy rehabbing old automobiles. A number of my friends chide me for flying old junk and shake their heads but hey! Its something I enjoy and I am well past being too swayed by what other people think or want me to do. I find working on old models built is a great way to learn, plus most of the work is already done. Sure, most of the electronic gadgets are obsolete or missing and in some instances there is some crash damage but as long as the fuselage and wing are not warped these shortcomings are not too difficult to rectify. Anyway I did buy a trainer at the airshow so I can show my purist friends that I am capable of scratch building an airplane from a kit. It should be fun to build something that is complete with a good set of instructions to go along with it. Most of what I have been working on of late, has been done without the benefit of a construction manual and working plans. |
All of a sudden I am getting a rash of non-member views. I am clueless as to what is going on and I hope this doesn’t sound flip but my blog is a journal and I’m not particularly interested in who is and who isn’t reading it. Right now I’m focused on my RC model airplane hobby and I’d be amazed if anyone really cared what I was up to regarding my “Ups and Downs.” Yesterday I flew at the club half a dozen times and brought my airplane home in one piece. I did however get scolded by the club president, and then lectured when I hit another member with my airplane. The lecture was for not flying in accordance with the flight protocol of orbiting in a clockwise fashion when there are others up in the pattern. As I newbie I’m faced with a continuing barrage of new knowledge and the acquiring and refinement of my skills. For example when I hit Ron I was on the ground and turned off the transmitter. To my dismay, instead of shutting down the engine ran up unexpectedly. My friend Jon explained what happened and Ron was not too upset with me. There were three lessons learned in this incident and I’ll write them down while the embarrassment is still fresh in my mind. Shutdown sequence: When shutting down an aircraft the engine needs to be stopped. My engine usually stops on its own volition on landing when the prop hits the grass. If it is still running when I taxi over, I pinch the fuel line or squeeze the spinner. Once the engine stops the power switch is turned off and then the plane is deemed inoperable and safe. Power shut off switch. I had gotten into a bad habit of connecting my power source battery pack directly into the receiver power source. This bypassed the switch which is a bit confusing to understand but not overwhelmingly so. An RC airplane power switch is like a light switch in a house. It commonly has three wires. The first wire connects to the batter pack that runs the receiver. The second wire allows for recharging when the batter is still in the airplane. The third wire connects to the receiver. How hard is that to understand? DUH! Finally in binding the transmitter to the receiver the last thing in the process is retarding the throttle to fully close. This insures that when the transmitter is turned off, the throttle automatically goes to the shut mode. |
...They go Uptity Up Up, they go Downdity , down down. Today I went out to the flying field and I was the only one out there. I had three planes to checkout. The first was a hybrid of what still worked combined into a single aircraft. I got it to fly but it was erratic and finally pranged in and was demolished. The second was an electric I picked up, what is called a 3D sport aircraft. That one too I crashed on takeoff. It had some issues with the speed controller and some old batteries I was using. It too crashed on takeoff. Finally I got out this old trainer I recently acquired. I flew it for about two hours without incident. I am definitely getting better but flying RC aircraft is quite a challenge. This trainer I’m flying has a powerful engine and the model flies well. It was pretty windy and flying upwind was easy on half throttle and downwind it really hustled. When I got the model it had a cracked gas tank and the engine was sucking air and cutting off prematurely. That meant I had to land without power and that meant setting down where opportunity afforded. Our flying club is out on the marshes and there isn’t much out there but switch grass and a few shrubs. Being able to get in a couple of hours is a real confidence builder even though things were not very promising to start out with. |
| I'm writing these RC blogs in order to keep in mind initial perceptions that come from learning to do something. What I'm finding is that the expert pilots take too much for granted and often overlook the obvious. I know that most of this seems self-evident to an experienced RC flyer but to a Newbie, these matters are not quite so transparent. From my conversation with John the following minimum essential elements came to mind in setting up my refurbished airplane. 1. Turn on the Transmitter and set to neutral the four basic trim function tabs. You do this by clicking the trim tab buttons for each until the scale mark centers. These are ailerons, elevator, rudder and throttle. 2. Plug in the servo connectors to the proper slot in the receiver. Power up the receiver so the servos set to neutral. The horns need to be at ninety degrees on the proper side. 3. Now eyeball the servos into neutral for the control surfaces and center for the throttle. Make sure the horns are at 90 degrees and tighten down the horns to the servo. 4. With everything buttoned down the control surfaces should move up and down and the throttle move full range from open to closed. 5. Standing behind the aircraft the rudder should move to the right when the left stick on the transmitter is moved right. The rudder should move left when the same stick is moved to the left. 6. Looking into the carburetor move the left stick forward and backward. The air sleeve should move from fully open to fully closed. If the stick is down the hole should be barely open. In the full up position the hole is wide open, or full throttle. 7. Moving to the right side stick on the transmitter, test the elevator. Pulling back on the stick the elevator should rise. This allows the aircraft to climb. Pushing forward on the stick lowers the elevator and causes the airplane to nose down. 8. Finally are the ailerons. I don’t care how experienced someone is, there’s nothing self evident about the ailerons. Moving the control right and left causes the ailerons go up and down but in opposition to one another. The rule is that when the stick is moved right, the right aileron goes up and the wing drops. Concurrently the left wing aileron goes down and the left wing rises. The airplane then turns or banks to the right. The opposite is the case when the stick is moved to the left. So, the ground school should at a minimum, cover the basics on how to accomplish the above pre-flight preparations. |
| I traded a nice old pattern-flying airplane (Carl Goldberg) for a trainer and early model Sport Acrobat (SA). The trainer was nice and will no doubt get a workout, but the SA was what really intrigued me. When I got it from Al, it was covered in dust and looked like it had been sitting for a long time. There was a single servo in the tray however, the wing was still complete. What I noticed was that there were control horns on both sides of the elevator. “Hmmm,” I wondered, “How is that supposed to work?” On the right rear elevator was a hole that Al had fixed and needed to be covered. So, I had an airframe less most of the electronics, but a good start on what promised to be a nice aircraft with traditional acrobatic performance. I took the airplane to Wausau, Pope’s Hobby-Land, and showed it to Warren. He sold me an engine that was the right size. He even installed it. The engine was an OS 46 with ball bearings. There was no canopy in the store that would fit and he told me how to make one. There was another OS 40 engine I’d brought in from a crash and Dave repaired it while I waited. When I got home the first problem was getting the control surfaces to working and the throttle linkage connected. This brought me back to the dilemma of the two horns on the elevators. My experience is, a dowel or other type of linkage, usually links the right and left side elevators mechanically. Thus, there is only one connecting rod going up to the elevator servo. Warren told me to join the two rods before they got to the servo and then connect the lead. I tried this but the rods and connectors were different and the flex did not allow for a synchronized lifting and lowering. So I called John and he explained how to use two servos, one for each elevator. He said it was just like using two servos in the wing ailerons. This confused me because while ailerons operate in tandem they move in opposite directions. I didn’t want this for the elevators and asked him to elaborate. He said the reason they operate in opposition is because they are mounted on opposing sides of the two servo actuators. If the horns are mounted both on the same side, they will operate in a synchronized manner moving in the same direction. Connecting them to a Y-harness allows them both to plug into the receiver slot. |
| HEADS UP! I fly RC model airplanes and got into this phase of the hobby late in life. In my 20s I flew control line. At the time I couldn’t afford RC. The more I get into it the more it becomes self-evident that being successful requires some knowledge and the skill to apply it. For example: 1. The airplane must be straight with no warp in the wings. A bent airframe is an accident going somewhere to crash. 2. The control surfaces, like the rudder, elevator, ailerons and flaps must be set to neutral and the center of gravity carefully checked. Even so the airplane will still have to be trimmed in flight. 3. The controls of an RC airplane are in the Transmitter. There are two sticks. The one the left operates the throttle and the rudder. The one on the right controls the elevator and the ailerons . 4. To take off you use the left joystick. This allows you to taxi, stay aligned with the runway and put the pedal to the medal. Once the airplane is racing straight down the runway you shift your thinking to the right stick and pull back on the elevator. This gets you into the air and for a beginner you steer with the alerions. 5. Once in the air you climb to altitude (High up) and trim the aircraft. By trim I mean that it will have a tendency to climb or dive and when the control is in the neutral position you need to be flying level. To adjust the elevator trim there is a little button tab next to the stick. This allows for incremental clicks, up and down, to get it flying level. Trimming in flight is like making a rounding motion on your stomach while with the other hand patting the top of your head. However the main focus needs to be on the stick to keep the flying machine in a circling patter and behaving itself. This might sound simple however, things move fast and it is easy to forget what hand is doing what. If the airspeed drops off and you go into a spin you are liable to wind up with a handful of wire and splinters. 6. One last thing to keep in mind is that the alerions work opposite to one another in tandem. This means that when one goes up the other goes down. Now you can look at the elevator moving and tell what is going to happen. The same can be said for the rudder. However, watching the ailerons move in tandem is not self-evident. The rule is that when the right aileron goes up that wing drops and the airplane banks right. It took me a couple of bad experiences to figure this out. I was getting on in my years, as I mentioned earlier, in learning to do this and every time I taxi onto the runway somebody invariably cries out… “BOB IS TAKING OFF, HEADS UP!” I wish they’d stop saying that. |
| In 49 BC Julius Cesar crossed a stream marking the Italian border. This stream was a boundary and ancient law prohibited a general from crossing this line with his legions. In doing so Caesar said essentially, “To heck with the law I’m crossing anyway." President Obama did the same thing when he attacked Iran with the STUXNET worm. It was an act of aggression directed against the physical infrastructure of a state. It was no different from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor or the Terrorist attack of 911. It was in violation of a cornerstone of International Law, which prohibits the forceful violation of a nation state’s territorial integrity and destroying physical infrastructure. The President did it for the same reason Caesar did. Because he wanted to and thought he could get away with it. “…Somebody had crossed the Rubicon,” Hayden observed (Referring to the cyberwar attack on Natanz). “We have a legion on the other side of the river now. .. this is like August 1945, the month the world saw capabilities of a new weapon dropped over Hiroshima.” |
| So where have these past few blogs been leading you might ask? I have tried to make the following points. 1. A government is amoral. Only the people, who are alive, have a sense of morality. 2. The only law that binds all American’s is the common law. This law is the minimum standard below which we will not suffer a citizen to behave. 3. The laws of this nation apply only to those who live within our borders. We can pass all the laws we want and they don’t apply to peoples living in other nations. The War Powers act only applies to what goes on within the United States. We have to declare war in order to commit aggression against the sovereignty of a foreign state. 4. Just because a President has the capability to commit aggression or thinks he can get away with it, either by hiding the fact, having other nations wink and look the other way, or not being held accountable, attacking another nation is prohibited by International Law. It is undertaken only through a declaration of war. 5. As much as American’s might dislike the Iranians and fear how they might use a nuclear weapon if they acquire one, that is not justification for attacking them with a weapon that destroys physical infrastructure and potentially threatens the lives of inhabitants in a foreign land. We are not at war with Iran. 6. Turning loose the STUXNET worm on the Industrial Infrastructure of Iran, a sovereign nation, was an act for which the President had no authority to order, even if he felt morally justified, safe from getting caught, or brought to account. 7. Such thinking falls below the lowest threshold of law and can be justified only if the President considers himself a deity for whom the law is whatever he decides it should be. This kind of behavior might be justified by Machiavelli, get the "thumbs up" from Bismarck, or be winked at in Chicago, but it goes far beyond anything the President is empowered to do. |
| If you read the last two blogs you have a general understanding of a “Golden” and a “Silver Citizen.” A Golden translated to the King and the Silver to an Aristocrat. The King was a law onto himself and an Aristocrat was bound by a law, known as Chivalry, which was enforced only by peer pressure. The nobles did pretty much what they wanted and answered only to the King. In times of war they provided Men at Arms and the knights that led them into battle. In return they got a chunk of real estate which they managed as they saw fit. There were however two other classes down the food chain. The third class was the bronze citizens. These were the freemen and included merchants, tradesmen, administrators, churchmen who created wealth. This class controlled the real economic and social engine that produced the GNP of the state. It was not uncommon for members of this class to acquire more wealth than the Aristocrats and even the King. To redistribute the King and Nobles levied fees, taxes and rents. As these burdens increased there was an understandable friction. The Bronze citizens were more numerous than the Silver and were bound by common law. This level of law is negative in nature and sets minimum thresholds of behavior. They were not titled by class but rather by profession. The final class at the bottom was the “Serfs.” It was no longer politically correct to call them slaves but that is essentially what they were. They were bound to the land and relied on the nobility for their survival. Others were called “Indentured Servants,” which was the same thing really and were slaves to the Bronze class. In war these were the foot soldiers, led by the Bronze Men at Arms, who would be considered Non-Commissioned officers by today’s measure. So this is how Plato’s theory, set forth in the Republic, was translated into the practical social structure of life in the middle Ages. Now I know that many of my readers are thinking, “My Goodness I am glad I didn’t live in the middle Ages." However, while the terms have changed the system is still with us. It is the shadow behind virtually every government that exists on this planet. The only real difference between one form and another is how the people are seen and treated in the distribution process. If the people have no say then those on the bottom of the social chain suffer while those above have it comparatively better. Our Constitution begins with the words… “We the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union…” Thus people are at the center of our system of Democracy. The system proposed by Plato in his Republic was not a Democracy. Even in Greece Democracy was the exception rather than the rule. In Athens it was adopted but there were huge problems with making it work. In order for this to happen there was a need for an educated people, with the self-discipline and determination to make this cumbersome and inefficient form of government function. Some of the problems were it took longer to reach a decision, and a citizen was expected to look out for both their own welfare and that of the group. It was slow to respond to a crisis and everybody was conflicted deciding where the line was between personal quality of life and supporting the state. For all its warts however, the Athenians considered it much preferred to the other alternatives such as tyranny, and the variations of the basic themes it offered. Think about it. A citizen in a Democracy had to be educated, and inclined to self-discipline. Was that pie in the sky or what? Many “Citizens” in our “Democracy” can’t even discipline themselves to a regimen of exercise and diet. The very idea of volunteering their time to public service when they could be taking it easy or making money to pay off their credit cards, seems almost absurd. What we have is a thin veneer of Democracy spread over the old model given us by Plato. If you look beneath the surface there is still the Gold, Silver, Bronze and indentured servants. |
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Love it! Especially the safety measures for us homo sapiens...
