Kevin Greene
Posts: 2580
Joined: 3/28/2002
From: Jackson,
TN, USA
Status: offline
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To add to Mongo's post....In past years, I as well as many others participated in the ducted fan speed wars. It was fun because it was CHALLENGING!!!! After several blown engines and reaching a personal best with a ducted fan of 232 MPH I hung up my speed demon hat. Been there, done that....
Now, everyone can go fast if they desire to with turbine power. The challenge to go fast is gone. Now, high speed passes rarely get a second glance...Most guys would turn their heads to watch....Not because of the thrill of seeing a fast plane but because high speed passes are RARE!!! Unlike ducted fans, speed continues to build in a turbine model if left at full throttle. It is simply not much fun to fly an oval pattern at speed as that is just about all you would be able to do with a really clean plane.
Most guys now are into manueverability, myself included. I now own a Rookie with vectored thrust control and I've got a EuroSport coming as a late Christmas present to myself. (Santa gave me switches and lumps of coal!!  ) Now what is cool is to make a rediculously slow high alpha flyby, add power, then point the nose straight up, followed by a couple of snaps, then spinning the model on the downline!!! This would be our version of 3D flying. It takes a LOT of power to fly like this, however, even when overpowered a draggy model like the EuroSport wouldn't go 200 MPH if dropped from Mt. Everest.
The .9:1 T/W rule was designed to prevent models from over speeding. With the incorporation of larger, very light weight, high drag models the .9:1 T/W rule needs a little overhauling. I plan on installing a 27 lb turbine in my 21 lb (dry) EuroSport. Under the rules I would have to either turn down the turbine or use a speed limiter. I don't plan on doing either as this jet will not exceed 200 MPH...As a matter of fact, the EuroSport is a 145-150 MPH jet in this configuration.
Dave Brown is concerned about dropping the T/W limit rule as proposed in the new rules. His concerns are that guys will be going well over 200 MPH---And those concerns are justified, but anyone that has participated in the jet rally circuit knows that for the most part Dave Brown has nothing to worry about. Dropping the T/W ratio rule was intended for jets like the above mentioned EuroSport. Yes, there are guys out there that are "technically" breaking the rules but it is NOT so that they can go fast----It is to gain that awesome manueverability!!! 
The guys bent on flying as fast as they can are not doing it at the club fields or at jet rallies. They are at a private strip or out in the desert doing their own thing without AMA coverage. There is nothing anyone can do about these guys anyway, so why worry about them??? I do understand that they are a concern because if they have a catastrophic crash it could put a black eye on jet modeling. Again, there's nothing anyone can do about it. Some guys here like to rip off a high speed pass or two....These passes are usually extremely short in duration, ending by throttling back after the model has passed. Guys simply are not flying as though the throttle is a toggle switch!!!
As I've mentioned a hundred times here on RCU, Dave Brown and the members of the EC need to attend some jet rallies to see first hand how jets are flown.
Kevin
< Message edited by Kevin Greene -- 12/31/2003 10:50:05 PM >
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RE: URGENT - Huge Battle at AMA - 
