I thought I would share a few more of my worthless observations ...
For those wondering what Bill Gowen's secret is, I'm going to reveal it to you. It is simply this: Demolish your competition.
But how?
1. Fly with a heavy prop. The added moment of inertial cuts the competition right below the knee.
2. Make your model indestructible. Use carbon spars on your wing, and watch your competition crumple and crumble.
3. Do not trim your model to fly nose up. If you fly nose up, your prop turns too slowly, and the model flies too slowly as well. Fly with your thrust line level with the model's flight path. You want maximum momentum on your model while in the hunt.
4. Finally, and this is absolutely the key, without which the previous three tips will be ineffective: Fly your model in a very large circle, at least 50'. When you do this, your competition cannot get away from you. Like a predator with an expanded hunting range, you increase the chance of a successful hunt. If you fly in a smaller 25' circle, like most unsuccessful fliers, you lower your chance of a successful hunt.
The efficacy of these four methods were demonstrated clearly by Bill Sunday, on his winning 15:22 LPP flight. Flying in a huge 50' or 60' circle, his LPP left no airspace safe. First up (or down) was Walt Collins's silver-mylar-covered LPP. One moment it was happily taking in the view from under the louvers, probably on a career flight. But the next instant brought its happy moment to a sorrowful end. Some swear that they heard machine-gun fire. I looked up just in time to see the Silver bird spiral down in spectacular fasion, with black smoke trailing and all, like a downed WWII plane spiraling into the Pacific. "Silver" met its end, and it didn't even know what hit it.
Having just demolished Walt's Silver bird, Bill's LPP began looking for its next victim. Employing the four methods outlined above, Bill's LPP, hereafter referred to as "Demolition", did not even alter its flight path. Some swear that they even saw "Demolition" gain a few feet of altitude, having soaked up the Soul of the Silver Bird.
The next prey was no other than the Brett Sanborn LPP. The Sanborn LPP was in second place, only 14 seconds behind. The Sanborn LPP circles in a tight 15' circle and nicely avoids stationary obstacles. But the real danger in the air was not stationary and was relentlessly seeking prey. "Demolition" engaged the Sanborn LPP not long after devouring the Silver Bird. The first encounter wobbled the Sanborn LPP. and "Demolition" readied itself for a second pass. One large circle later, "Demolition" unleashed its full kinetic energy into the Sanborn LPP, and the already wounded Sanborn LPP tumbled to the ground like a downed duck, forever into second place. "Demolition" finished the flight 10 minutes later with a contest-best time of 15:22.
I've revealed the workings of Bill Gowen's "Demolish" LPP. Bill has always published the details of his models, but he did not reveal why they were so. Now you know.
p.s. Although the Sanborn LPP was hit twice by "Demolition", it did not actually tumble to the floor, at least not physically. But I believe the encounter left it shattered on the inside. All other facts in this story are as they happened.
--- In Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com, "Yuan Kang Lee" <ykleetx@...> wrote:
>
> I finally have one day to decompress from USIC. After 12 hours of sleep last night, I'm feeling much better.
>
> There were two dominating performers in Rubber at the 2012: Brett Sanborn and Bill Gowen. Brett won hotly contested battles in F1D and F1L. Bill won A6, F1M, LPP, and placed 2nd in F1L. Brett set a new USIC record with his 36+ minute F1D flight. Bill blew away the competition in A6 with a mind boggling, national record 11:02. And no touch.
>
> Of course, we learned earlier that Kurt Krempetz won the first "Hat Trick" in gliders, winning all three glider events.
>
> Tom Sova also returns home with three wins in Intermediate Stick, 35 cm, and Ministick. Each year, Ministick is one of the toughest events to win.
>
> Ray Harlan always performs at USIC, with wins in Hand Launch Stick, P-24, Domescale, AROG, Towline Glider, Electric, and Ornithopter, 2nd in 35 cm, FAC Peanut, and Pennyplane.
>
> Newcomer Joshua Finn also goes home with three firsts: Race to Roof, Helicopter, and WWII Mass Launch.
>
> I missed long-time attendee and legend Jim Richmond. I understand that his wife wasn't well enough to travel. I hope she recovers, and we see them both here next year.
>
> I also missed Bob Warmann, Chet Wros, Katie Bosman, Ken Achee, Emil Schuetzl, John Barker, Stan Budenbohm, Jim Buxton, Don Slusarczyk.
>
> It was great to see Larry Coslick once again at USIC. Larry and grandson, Josh Merseal, intend to return next year.
>
Received on Mon Jun 04 2012 - 11:05:06 CEST
This archive was generated by Yannick on Sat Dec 14 2019 - 19:13:47 CET