Indoor News and Views

10th Pikes Peak Ceiling Climb – March 6, 2016

Don DeLoach, CD

Its hard to believe it has been ten years since this contest got its start. What fun we’ve had over the years! Lots of great flying, lots of site records set and broken. Despite rent increases and dwindling flying hours, Indoor is alive and well in Colorado.

This year we had 17 paid flyers with us including six out of state flyers. Dave Saks, our old friend from Idaho, was here. George Bredehoft, a mostly outdoor FAC flyer from Michigan made the trek via airline, and stayed at Chez DeLoach. George is the proprieter of Volare Products and Superior Props, and a super nice fellow.

Mike Fedor drove up from the Dallas area for a follow up to his Indoor Nats visit in 2015. It was great seeing Mike as usual, and he did some very fine flying.

Speaking of the 2015 Nats, John Lovins was inspired to come back in Indoor after spectating at the Nats. He came to the PPCC flying 35cm, A-6, and vows to tackle F1D next. What a pleasure it was to fly with John again.

David and Tiger Wagner came up from Santa Fe to their first PPCC, and seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. Tiger brought his school buddy with (can’t remember his name)

Jim Gadd is a local Colorado Springs flyer who entered his first contest in Limited Pennyplane, and turned a very respectable 4:40. Welcome, Jim!

Two site records were broken this year, in Towline (DD with 54.4 best flight) and 35cm (John Lovins’ 13:57). Our site records are getting tougher and tougher to beat.

The most popular events were P-18 with 8 flyers, Limited Pennyplane with 7, and Towline and No-cal with 6 each. Isn’t it interesting how quickly P-18 has caught on?

Jace Pivonka topped the very competitive 8-man field in P-18 with an awesome 2:10. His backup flight of 2:09 would also have placed first.

We lost Ivan Williams to cancer just a couple weeks before this year’s PPCC. Ivan was a fixture in the Colorado Springs Indoor scene for many years, and a prolific builder. He donated his entire fleet of models to the MMM Club, and we auctioned them off at the PPCC, with proceed going to the club. What a huge success this was! Over $500 was raised and several dozen models now have happy new homes. RIP Ivan, and thanks. You won’t soon be forgotten. Other donors to this silent auction were Don Uhl, Darold Jones, Jerry Murphy, and Rick Pangell. I want to offer special thanks to John McGrath for picking up most of Ivan’s models to bring to the auction. Also, Rick Pangell and Ray Boyd brought down Don Uhl’s models from Denver. Thanks guys!

The PPCC is a team effort. Thanks to Mark Covington for sitting at the CD most of the day and timing flights. Thanks to Jerry Murphy for bringing the beer and soft drinks for the pizza dinner. Thanks to anyone else who contirbuted in small but important ways. Your help is always greatly appreciated.

One final note of thanks, to John Berryman, David Gee, Bill Gowen and Tom Juell. These men pledged several hundred dollars to keep the PPCC solvent, when a call went out that our rent had been raised. NONE of them were even in attendance but their offers of financial assistance gave us much needed peace of mind. Fortunately, their money was not needed as the PPCC came within $20 of breaking even.

See you next year!

–Don

HLG
Don DeLoach     32.6+34.7       67.3
Rob Romash      29.5+31.4       60.9
Mike Fedor        29.8+30.8       60.6

Towline Glider
Don DeLoach     49.9+54.4*      104.3*
Jace Pivonka      52.9+49.9       102.8
Mike Fedor        47.6+47.1       94.7
Rob Romash      43.6+44.4       88.0
Jerry Murphy    14.7+14.5       29.2
John McGrath   23.5                 23.5
*site records

SCLG
Rob Romash      40.6+39.4       80.0
Mike Fedor         34.0+32.0       66.0
Rick Pangell       22.9+21.9       44.8
Tiger Wagner      19.5+18.6       38.1

UCLG
Rob Romash      41.3+38.5       79.8
Mike Fedor         35.5+35.7       71.2
Don DeLoach     21.7+10.4       32.1
Rick Pangell       17.5+5.0        22.5

FAC No-Cal Scale
Don DeLoach                 Farman  7:17
Dave Saks                      Cassutt  6:31
George Bredehoft          Fairey   3:11
Rick Pangell                   Luscombe  2:41
Mike Fedor                     F4U  2:17
Rick Pangell                   Cassutt  1:39

FAC Peanut
Don DeLoach                 Davis   99.0
Mike Fedor                     VP-1    98.0
George Bredehoft          Fairey  91.0

FAC WWII No-Cal Combat
G. Bredehoft      Fairey  WINNER
Jerry Murphy      Wildcat
Mike Fedor         F4U
Don DeLoach     Spitfire
Rick Pangell       P-40

Easy B
Rob Romash              11:29

Limited Pennyplane
Don DeLoach            8:45
Rob Romash             6:53
John McGrath           6:29
Mike Fedor               5:05
Bill Carney               4:44
Rick Pangell             4:44
Jim Gadd                  4:40

Pennyplane/F1M
Mike Fedor               5:20
Rick Pangell             4:34
Bill Carney               4:14
Don DeLoach           1:15

Ministick
Rob Romash            8:05
John Lovins             5:28
Don DeLoach          4:59
Mike Fedor              4:36
Ray Boyd                  4:29

P-18
Jace Pivonka                   2:10
Bill Carney                      2:00
Chuck Etherington         1:57
Mike Fedor                     1:48
Ray Boyd                        1:48
John McGrath                 1:46
Jerry Murphy                  1:44
David Wagner                1:20

Phantom Flash
Bill Carney             4:10
Jace Pivonka          4:00
David Wagner        3:37

A-6
John Lovins             4:29
Don DeLoach          4:02
Jace Pivonka            3:07

F1L
Rob Romash            9:59
Mike Fedor              5:09

35cm
John Lovins             13:57*
*site record

P-18 Mass Launch
John McGrath
Mike Fedor
Jace Pivonka

Grand Champ – Colorado Cup
Rob Romash      18 points
Don DeLoach     15
Mike Fedor         11
Bill Carney         8

Romanian Max Indoor

X-16 Origins Revisions

After receiving feedback from in INAV readers Wally Miller revised his original proposal and asked that the following article be published. He also asked that the readership disregard the earlier rule changes he proposed. As always, INAV is a neutral party in all rule and policy discussions. The following is provided for informational purposes only, and does not necessary represent the position of INAV. 

Click here to download a PDF of the plan.

Head Lamp Review

Prior to heading to Lakehurst, I asked around for recommendations for lights. I knew it would be dark so I wanted something that would work.

In the end I chose this product carried by Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S7I1A2O

Pros:

• Light is very bright and can be focused.
• Battery lasts a long time.
• Battery is user replaceable should it be needed later.

Cons:

• Light color is a bit rose tinted. White would be better.
• You look like a dork when wearing it.

When working in near darkness, you can easily see your way around your table, focusing out quite wide. The light is pretty even when focused.

During Kang’s record flight at night, I could easily spot his plane by focusing to as close to a point as the light would get. The LED is square and the focused beam shows this all the way up to the rafters in Lakehurst.

Would I use this exclusively in really high ceiling venues? A larger and higher power light would be better.

However for the price and ease of use, this wins hands down.

Mike Kirda 12.29.15

The Origins of X-16

The articles and plan published below were sent to INAV by Wally Miller. The majority it of the content is of a historical nature, but there is also a discussion of possible changes to current AMA and FAI events. The suggestions presented below reflect the author’s opinions and not those of INAV. As a general policy, INAV is a neutral party, and does not have opinions about proposals to change rules.

Click here to download a PDF of the plan.

Continuing quest for straightened music wire

With the demise of A2Z, I began searching for a source of straight music wire in the sizes we need.

Coiled music wire typically has a single set, a curve. It isn’t easy to straighten completely, but you can do a reasonable job of it with pliers.For the amount of effort required, the wire sold by A2Z was a great deal.

One product that came up was made by Dubro for the fishing market – A small wire straightener that could fit into a tackle box made to straighten wire leaders.

http://dubrofishing.com/collections/fishing-accessories/products/small-wire-straightener

The reviews seemed positive. I reached out to several other fliers but no one had ever heard of it or tried it. So I bit the bullet and bought one to try it out.

Unfortunately it doesn’t work. I tried using light pressure, medium pressure, high pressure. I tried using tension on the wire and varied the amount of pressure.

No matter. What you end up with is wire bent into a helix-shape. Absolutely none of it was usable, afterwards it all got binned.

This unit has been tossed into my tackle box for now. Hopefully it will work for straightening out any kinked Little Joe Heart-Of-Steel leaders next time I go Pike fishing.

Another way suggested online is to stretch the wire until breaking point. I calculated this and tried suspending the weight from a ceiling beam in my basement. What I ended up with was a mangled ball of wire when it broke. Another bit binned.

I’m still searching for a way to easily straighten music wire. Until then, pliers seem to be the only alternative.

Mike Kirda 12.28.15

Bill Gowen’s Cat I National Record F1M

Click here to download a PDF of the plan.

Joshua Finn’s Cat I National Record F1R

Click here to download a PDF of the plan.