StetsonFlyers

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Past Features...

Once again this year it is with great sadness...that I share the news of the loss of a Stetson member in Ford Somerville's passing this week.

Somerville, R. Ford "Slim"

(Member: Stetson Flyers R.C. (Orleans, ON); Retired Armed Forces / Peacekeeping Force

Peacefully in hospital, Smiths Falls, on Friday, December 11th, 2009, Ronald Ford "Slim" Somerville in his 73rd year. Beloved husband of Shirley Howarth. Loved father of Karen Wyatt of Kingston, Katherine Somerville of Smiths Falls, Richard (Heidi) Somerville of Sturgeon Falls and Bill Somerville of Bolton. Dear brother of Carole Power of London, Earl (Judy) Somerville of Toronto, George (Christa) Somerville of Alma and Jim (Diane) Somerville of Belmont. Sadly missed by 8 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild.

Friends may pay their respects at the Blair & Son Funeral Home, 112 Beckwith St. N., Smiths Falls, on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. until time of service in the Chapel at 1:00 p.m.

In remembrance, contributions to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Canadian Diabetes Association would be appreciated. If you are a Stetson Flyers and wish to contribute to the Cancer Society, we have an envelope at Discount Hobbies to collect your donations and make a special contribution.

The family asked me to collect any photos of Ford while at the field in order for them to prepare a slide show for the funeral home. If you have any photos, please forward them to me and I will collect them for the family. Daniel Marcotte.

We will miss you Ford.....

Vintage Wings of Canada...

held the second of two open days for 2009 on September 19.

Linda and I went along to capture the event on digital film.

Enjoy!

Pictures : Goose. More here...

The 2009 Stetson Giant Scale Fun Fly and pig roast...

was a great success for the club and all those who attended.

The pit area was full of fantastic aircraft and there was always several aircraft in the air.

Day one of this two day event could not be more perfect but Sunday was blown out by 22kph winds gusting to 40kph.

Enjoy!

Pictures : Goose. More here...

The 2009 Kingston Giant Scale Fun Fly...

was a great weekend for many pilots from all over the place.

Summer arrived with a vengence and scorched all that attended.

The organisers did an amazing job of safety, prizes all day, food and fun... congratulations!

This album represents Saturdays action, enjoy!

Pictures : Goose. More here...

The 2009 Stetson Heli Fun Fly...

saw 33 degrees plus with little wind and blue skies.

This radical change in the weather meant that many pilots and aircraft showed up for a very successful event.

Congratulations to all that volunteered, participated and contributed to the event and in particular Jason Richards who stepped up to the challenge and became the organiser.

This album represents three hours from Saturdays action, enjoy!

Pictures : Goose. More here...

The 2009 Scale Aerobatic Nationals...

were hosted over four days at the Stetson field this year.

This was a big deal for several reasons including national exposure for the club, many of the countrys top pilots and planes were presernt and another excellent draw-card to get the general public out and interested.

The weather was generally good with the exception of Sunday where thunderstorms and torrential rain washed out the day that was scheduled for the freestyle event... from a spectators persepective, this was the one to see. It was not to be however a great time was had by all, participants and onlookers alike.

This album represents three hours from Saturdays action, enjoy!

Pictures : Goose. More here...

2009 Upper Canada Zone Fun Fly...

...was a two day event that took place on July 25/26 2009.

Your club photographer was not able to attend this year, but luckily Maurice was and he sent me the following pictures.

Great job Maurice and thanks!

Pictures : Maurice Edkins.

It is with great sadness...that I share the news of Stu Poulin's passing this week.

Stu passed away early Monday morning at home with his wife Mary and his daughter at his side. The Ottawa Valley has lost one of it's most avid modellers.

Stu was one of the pioneer members of the Ottawa Gas Club in the 1930s before joining the RCAF as a pilot. He had a long and distinguished flying career from WW2 flying Lancasters in Britain as part of 6 Bomber Group to post-war flying of a variety of aircraft especially one of the first to fly the then new CF100s.

In addition to his RCAF flying he was always a keen and dedicated modeller as we can all remember. He was a great supporter of Giant Scale from the first days in Ottawa. He and his wife Mary were a fixture at all of the area events as well as every Rally of Giants and Kitchener Scale Rally over the past twelve years.

We will miss you Stu.....

2009 IMAA Rally of the Giants...

Was held over four days in Hamburg, PA, USA.

Scott, me, Ed, Mike, Gerry and Mike all made the seven + hour drive down to live onsite in a rented RV, flying when the weather cooperated, making new friends and having a blast.

There certainly were plenty of amazing models there, here is a sample and you know where the rest are :-)

Enjoy the pictures... Goose.

Pictures : Goose. More here...

The annual Stetson Classic and Warbird Fun Fly... was held on Saturday June 27th with great success.

The weather threatened to ground over 35 pilots but failed to dampen the crowd that turned out to see this fun event.

Many aircraft types were represented, a multitude of WWI biplanes to WWII heavy metal and even a couple of L39 jets.

There were many prizes generously donated by club members and the following sponsors:

Discount Hobbies
Dynamic Hobbies
Shirley, Gregg and Steve Hamre from Remax

Enjoy the pictures... Goose.

Pictures : Goose. More here...
Video : Barry Hanna put together some video of the event here... Thanks Barry!
Larry offered some pictures as well, here... Thanks Larry.

How did you spend the 65th anniversary of D-Day?...

You could have spent it at the Stetson field participating in our annual Ed Rae Memorial Fun Fly event.

The warm weather, albeit fairly windy, brought a great turn-out to fill the field with members, pilots, planes and spectators.

Club members did a fantastic job with all the tasks that make for a successful event including the impound, flight safety and of course the kitchen!

Enjoy the pictures... Goose.

Pictures : Goose. More here...

Field Cleanup Day...

John Jackson supplied the following pictures of the Stetson field clean up day...

IMAC NATS Volunteers...

Good day to all. As you all know we will be hosting the IMAC NATS at our field on the long weekend of August this year. The organizers for the IMAC NATS will need some volunteers. If you would like to participate please contact Isabel Deslaurier at isabel.deslauriers@mail.mcgill.ca

The club would also need help to run the canteen, parking and any related duties to make this event a success. If you would like to help the club and to leave a good impression to the rest of the R/C community, would you please contact me.

Your President
Don Glandon:

Stetson field pre-cleanup...

As you all know Dan Marcotte took the initiative to start the field clean-up early. He sent out an e-mail requesting help from anyone that was available for Friday May-15-2009. The task that he took was to install the 4x4 posts and stone dust around the tables and walkway. He completed his task and it took him 11 hrs of hard labour with the help from the following people:

Richard Williamson
Dave Martin
Maurice Edkins
Ford Sommerville
Dave Percy
Hal MacDonald
Sue MacDonald
Steve Tessier
Don Glandon.

On the behalf of the executives, I would like to thank all that participated for a job well done.

Your President
Don Glandon:

Pictures : Unknown.

Mall Show at Place d'Orleans...

The Stetsons Flyers Mall Show took place on May 2nd and was a huge success thanks to the efforts of our members!

The work began months ago when Dan Marcotte made arrangements with the mall to get the space for one day. Proof of insurance was required so Dan was able to arrange this through MAAC. Insurance in place the date was set. Dan was also on hand the night before and convinced the staff there to move our booth to a more favourable location with power, and to provide a security fence to keep the younger crowd from climbing aboard. Gerry Nadon was able to lend a beautiful large screen TV to go with the RealFlight Simulator loaded by Richard Robichaud of Discount Hobbies.

The simulator set-up with Stetson Field on the big screen was a real draw. Younger kids, used to console games only had one problem which was realizing the sticks have intermediate positions - more than full up, full down, etc. People of all ages stopped to talk and were given information by members in attendance. Information about how the club works, MAAC insurance, our meetings and the schedule of events. Dan printed some colour brochures which were passed out and the interested were directed to our web site for more information.

The models on display were top-notch and included Dan's Beaver, Don's Mustang and several others that were real show stoppers.

Thanks to those that helped during the day doing booth duty, loaning equipment, transporting items, set-up and take down, and especially to Dan for making at happen. The list of helpers includes:

Dan Marcotte
Norm Bélair
Stuart Brink
Maurice Edkins
Don Glandon
Barry Hanna
Isabelle Hébert
John Jackson
Hal Macdonald
Gerry Nadon
Jim Savage
Wayne Smith
Richard Robichaud (Discount Hobbies)

If I forgot anyone please let me know so we can update the list.

John Jackson

Pictures : John Jackson.

I went out to the field today to get some shots of Scotts smoke pump test and was pleased to see and catch-up with quite a few people...

The field is drying out nicely and is quite usable. A few more good days of weather and things will be looking great.

Here's a few pictures... enjoy!

Goose

Barry Hanna did a great job of catching some video here... thanks Barry!

Pictures : Goose. There are a few more here...

The Stetson club first aid course... by Scott Clarke.

Saturday March 21st, 2009 was an absolutely beautiful day for flying. The sun was shining, the winds were light and for mid March the air was warm. A great day for flying models indeed but on this day 11 of your fellow Stetson Flyers chose to leave the transmitters at home and meet up at the offices of the St. John's Ambulance. We were there to take a class in emergency first aid and CPR.

We were welcomed by Alex a young and enthusiastic instructor who was going to lead us through a day of learning. Throughout the day he covered various topics about first aid and tailored the curriculum to the kinds of injuries and problems we may encounter at our field. We learnt techniques for dealing with shock, treating cuts and lacerations as well as techniques for dealing with choking, heart failure and respiratory issues. Having taken St. John's First Aid in the past I found it quite interesting to see how the techniques for CPR have changed and I found it very informative.

Alex used a mix of lectures, videos and role playing to teach us the lessons of the day. It was very interesting to see how people reacted to the role playing. The situations were stressful enough to test the composure of some students and we all took away some valuable lessons.

Everyone who attended the course passed it and I think we all feel more confident about our abilities to help when someone is in distress.

Thanks go to Daniel Marcotte for taking the time to organize this course. Your effort is greatly appreciated.

Your new Stetson Flyers First Aiders are:

Stuart Brink
Scott Clarke
Mike Amodeo
Marc Huot
Barry Hanna
Dave Evans
Eric Gutknecht
John Mathewson
Daniel Marcotte
Maurice Edkins
Richard Robichaud

Pictures : Scott Clarke

The March club meeting... last night saw an excellent turn-out along with three aircraft for the bring 'n brag.

A good number of items were discussed during the meeting portion and the general feeling was good. Everyone seems to be very much looking forward to spring and the good flying weather.

Looking more like a float fly rather than the Stetson Flyers Winter Fun Fly... the 2009 event was a great success due in part to the warm (?) temperature of +5 degrees and because there was a huge turnout!

A light breeze from the west helped the many pilots get airborne and sped up the melting of the ice and snow to create the Stetson lake. Much fun was had and as always, Dave's famous chili helped keep out the cold and it was great to catch up with friends and get some flying done... come on spring!

Pictures : Goose. There are a few more here...

The Stetson Silver Dart Project... is an ambitious project in which a small team of members have taken on the task of producing a semi-scale flying model of the Dart to coincide with the anniversary of Canada's first powered flight which occurs in February of 2009.

The Silver Dart team consists of:-

Goose
Michel Carriere
Rick Williamson
Nigel Chippendale
Marc Shaw
Brad Hullin
Chris Miles

Latest news...Dan Marcotte organized the use of the RCMP Air Services Hangar this past weekend for ground testing the Silver Dart.

The Dart team accompanied by Gerry Nadon, successfully taxied the dart around the hangar with Nigel on the sticks, tweaking the trims until all were happy with the performance. Ground handling is very good, as is the acceleration and fortunately nothing broke or fell off the airframe.

Part two of the testing was to tether the dart and bring it to flight speed in a circle thereby allowing us to observe how the dart responds to power settings. It was very light in the front and the nosewheel left the ground quickly with no inputs from Nigel. This indicates the C of G is too far aft and we have corrected this issue in time for first hops, due to take place this weekend at the museum, weather dependant.

Scott and Dan shot video of these tests and posted them on Youtube:

Huge thanks go to Dave Brown and Bill Braun who came during their day's off on Saturday to take the planes outside and let us use the hangar, thanks guys!

Thanks to all of you for your positive comments at the unveiling of the Silver Dart at the January meeting. This date was a key milestone in the project and the more important upcoming flight depends on achieving these goals. 600+ man hours in the making.

Thanks to Gerry for letting us take it out onto the main floor for pictures with the replica, see below. From here we are investigating some options regarding the ground handling tests and the first hops that will establish handling, C of G and trimming etc. Until then, we will be setting up the radio, the throws of all control surfaces and generally preparing it for flight.

I will keep you all up-to-date here should you be interested in following this project into the air.

The production schedule can be seen here... if you are interested.

Pictures : Goose

Some winter flying fun... in this article and pictures sent in by Jacques Leroux & Marc Huot. Thanks guys!

Soft Field Take-Off and Landing

Marc Huot and I planned a weekend of ice fishing and flying at my home on Aylen Lake on 10 and 11 January 2009, or as Marc put it, we would be fly-fishing. As we are both relatively inexperienced and Marc had never flown his recently converted Hangar 9 Arrow tail-dragger or an aircraft with skis, the conversation on Friday night was about both flying tail draggers and flying on skis. As I had flown my converted Arrow tail-dragger on wheels at the field and on skis over the Christmas holidays, I was deemed the expert. I was able to convey some of my experience to Marc and was able to convince him that the transition would be effortless. All he had to do was line up, put all flight controls in a neutral position, apply power, watch the tail come up, maintain directional stability, ease back on the elevator and away he would go. To easy!

We woke to one of the coldest mornings this winter; it was -28 degrees Celsius. We decided to fish in the morning and fly in the afternoon. Turns out we should have passed on the fishing and stuck to flying. The weather was beautiful, the sky was clear and there was no wind at all and although we only reached a high of -17C it was a perfect day. As Marc had not carried out a test flight on his airplane and as I was to trim it out I thought it would be prudent to warm up with my plane and demonstrate to Marc how effortless it was to take off from the lake. We started the plane, conducted a run-up and were ready for take-off. Marc set the plane down on top of the four inches of fresh snow, I relaxed the controls and moved the throttle forward while observing the aircraft move a few metres before the skis dug in and the plane nosed over. So much for the effortless take-off, what do I do now? The last time I flew the lake was solid ice and this didn't happen.

My mind quickly turned to my private pilot days and flying from mucky grass strips in the Spring. During a Soft Field Take-Off in a Cessna 150 the pilot would line up for take-off, select 10 degrees of flap, pull back to the stop on the elevator and apply full power. As the nose came up to about 15 degrees he would ease off of the elevator to maintain the 15 degrees nose up until the aircraft broke free from the ground. The pilot would then keep the aircraft in ground effect to build up speed before climbing out and eventually raise the flaps. When landing the pilot would fly a normal approach but just as he flared and the main gear touched the ground, the pilot would apply a little power and pull back on the elevator to keep the nose wheel out of the mud.

We were not flying a Cessna 150, we didn't have flaps or a nose wheel but I thought the same basic principles should work. As we got the engine running once again and Marc set the Arrow down on the snow I pulled back to full up elevator and gently increased the throttle. As the plane built up speed I eased off of the elevator and maintained directional control until the Arrow was airborne. Due to the excessive power our RC engines produce there is no need to stay in ground effect for very long as the plane wants to climb into the cold crisp air. When landing the same principle applied, as the skis contacted the soft snow the aircraft slowed quickly and if I did not pull back on the elevator and apply a little power the aircraft would nose over.

Marc's Arrow flew flawlessly and he had no difficulty making the transition to the tail-dragger. We were extremely fortunate as we had perfect weather and the entire lake to ourselves and were able to log approximately ninety minutes of airtime each. The only difficulty we encountered was tuning our engines. With the cold dense air and changes to the atmospheric pressure the idle jet required adjusting. Also, I wonder if by moving the aircraft from warm to cold environments if condensation is forming in our plastic tanks, and finally perhaps there is a requirement to use a hotter plug in the winter? As for fuel Marc was using 15% nitro while I was using 10% but that did not appear to make a difference either way. I know that many of us newbies to the RC world would benefit from the experience of others with regard to optimizing engine performance in cold weather.