2008 Nationals

The 2008 AMA Nationals are in the record books. My flying buddy, Jim Sheffield and I had more fun than the law should allow. We left Texas Saturday am and drove through to a location about 80 miles south of Louisville, KY. The following day we drove a short distance to our super secret practice site in southern IN. We both flew several flights and decided to call it day because of approaching bad weather from the west. It's a good thing we did, as we were loading the last of our equipment into the van winds that we later found out were estimated to be gusting up to 50mph began to blow. As we drove from the practice site we saw trees and power lines that had been blown down from the high winds. We arrived at our hotel only to find out the local area was experiencing a power outage due to the storm. However the upside to this was others who were wanting to check-in to the hotel like us decided to have a tail gate party in the parking lot. Let's just say a good time was had by all. After a couple of hours of waiting for the power to be restored we decided to move onto Muncie that evening. Early Monday to our surprise the AMA site was fairly unoccupied. Jim and I were able to get in several practice flights each fairly quickly before others arrived after attending the judges clinic. All classes were well attended and the level of competition across the board was the best I've ever witnessed at the Nats. The scores in the Masters class in particular during the prelims were closely packed. I attribute this not only to the level of competition but also to the great weather we experienced during the Nats. Especially the weather on the finals day, there was only a 60 point spread between first and fifth place. In light to moderate wind conditions everyone flies well.

In summary even thought I had aspirations of repeating as the Masters National champion, I am proud to have placed 2nd 15 points out of first. Congrats to Ken Velez this year's Masters champion, he flew extremely well.

I've included some random shots taken of me, my plane and Jim during the Masters' finals and awards ceremony.

Results available at:

http://www.modelaircraft.org/events/nats/NatsNews08/0726.pdf

http://www.modelaircraft.org/events/nats/scores.aspx?yr=2008

http://pages.suddenlink.net/donramsey/ (go to Contest/Results/Nats history)

Oxai Beryll

Beryll GP by OXAI

Late 2007 I contacted Sam Johnson of http://oxai.us the US importer for OXAI products to explore the opportunity of purchasing an aircraft. Aircraft I have selected in the past had to meet a short list of minimum requirements. Those requirements are use readily available accessories from US pattern suppliers like Central Hobbies, easily transportable (two piece wing), and be on the cutting edge of current design trends. The Beryll GP (glo power version) by Oxai met those requirements. In addition the craftsmanship, fit and finish far exceeded my expectations for an ARF.

I opted for the gray/silver/orange/white/black color scheme. For years my airframes have been red, yellow and black which have proven to be extremely visible in most light conditions. Once assembled the Beryll’s color scheme is striking however much different then anything I have seen over the years. In the air I was pleasantly surprised how visible it is even in moderate to low light conditions. The orange and white bottom scheme clearly distinguishes the top from the bottom.

To date I have logged approximately 45 flights. I am very pleased how quickly I was able to trim the Beryll GP to obtain a competitive feel. Rolling maneuvers are easy to manage, snaps are crisp and predictable. I look forward to competing with this aircraft at the 2008 Nationals. First pattern plane I’ve ever owned that required zero mix with rudder application.

Equipment list:
YS DZ 170
APC 15X11 4bld
Hatori 821 muffler, 822 header
Futaba 14MZ 9154=ail, 9155=rudder, 9650=elevator & throttle

Finished weight 10lbs 5ozs

Pattern Fashion

Protective cover by www.planewrappers.com what the best dressed pattern plane is wearing this season.

2008 pattern season

The road to the 2008 Nationals is going well for me this year. As for equipment I am well ahead of last year. Currently I have 3 aircraft flying, an Integral, Twister and GP Beryll. The Integral and twister are contest proven and ready with 5 Masters wins in District 6 between them. The Beryll is in the trimming stage with approximately 2 dozen flights logged to date. All are powered with the DZ 170 swinging an APC 15x11 4-blade.

The following are various pictures taken at the 2008 contest I have attended to date:

Space City RC pattern contest, May 3rd-4th 2008

WOW! Just hosted my very first pattern event. Based on feedback from those in attendance the event was a huge success. Support from the Space City club members along with the 24 contestants and their cooperation exceeded my expectations. We got in 6 rounds total FAI flew 3 rounds of P-09 and F-09 each. Go to Don Ramsey's Pattern Site for a complete listing of results. For those not able to make it this year the Space City RC Club encourages you to mark your Calendar for the first weekend in May 2009.


Special thanks to:
John Underwood -- chef (BB ribs Saturday night were outstanding)
Dale Dickey -- CD
John Blackmon -- my personal scoring assistant
Finnis Hopson -- Line Chief
Leonard Fangue -- Grounds keeper
Event Sponsors -- Futaba/Hobbico, Morgan Fuel/CoolPower, Randy's Hobby/Ritch's Brew, Tru-Turn, YS Parts and Service

Temple AeroModelers contest, April 2008

Temple AeroModelers kicked-off the 2008 pattern season with an event April 19th-20th. There were 29 competitors in attendance, pattern continues to be alive and well in the South Central US. Masters was the largest with 9. We are fortunate to have some of the best Masters competitors residing in Texas. Attending this contest including myself there were 3 2007 Masters' National finalist. I was thrilled to start the season off with a win considering the high level of competition. Go to Don Ramsey's Pattern Site for a complete listing of the Temple contest results.

Todd Blose debuted his e-powered CA-Models Passport. The aircraft is very impressive in both finish quality and flight performance.

Pattern Warm-up @ Sheffield Olive Ranch 3/29/08

Many thanks go to Jim Sheffield for hosting a pattern warm-up to kick the 2008 season. There is hope this will become a future annual event. There were 18 pilots in attendance from TX and LA. This year's warm-up included a 2008 FAI judge certification course conducted by Don Ramsey in addtion to open flying from the private 600x75 ft Sheffield Olive Ranch runway. There are plans to add a second runway to accommodate crosswind conditions.

ZNLine Twister #2

The 2008 pattern season in NSRCA's D-6 will begin very shortly. First meet on the schedule is mid April hosted by the Temple, TX Aeromodelers. I plan to begin the season with my Comp-Arf Integral however I have recently completed construction of another ZN Line Twister (see photos) to replace the one from last season which met an untimely death. As I write I am test running my second DZ170 on the Twister in preparation for its maiden flight later this week. I am hopeful the trimming process will be short, I should be able to utilize similar setups from last year's Twister.

Next project for 2008 is the Beryll GP.

Beryll GP

Arriving this week from Sam Johnson of OXAI US...

YS DZ 170

I have been fortunate this December to log 30+ flights on one of the first regular production run DZ 170's. My Comp-ARF Integral which has about 90 flights logged with a DZ 160 is the airframe I am using for evaluation and break-in for the 170. Being familiar with the performance of this aircraft with the 160 I can truly detect the added power/torque advantages of the 170 especially since I am using the same prop/fuel/plug/throttle curve configuration.

The significant difference is the middle power-band torque. Between 1/3 to 2/3 throttle I detect more power/torque authority. There is a reduction in the need to make throttle adjustments to maintain ideal cruise speed. In addition the transition to vertical from horizontal cruise is cleaner, not as much P-factor, I assume this is due to not having to go to a higher throttle setting to carve the desired radius. I am now throttling up after completing the radius instead of before or during.

In summary the break-in, and initial runs were easy and straight forward. One notable though is the increased compression over the 160, make sure you get a good prime and have a fully charged capable starter. This is one stout puppy. The idle and mid-range appear to run smoother (less vibration) and the transition from low to high throttle is outstanding.

Test platform:

Integral

APC 15x11 4-blade

CoolPower 30% heli

YS glo-plug