chronister

Anyone know someone who's flown a long-distance, straight-line flight with an RC plane? I remember seeing an ad for Hitec radios which talked about someone's record-setting flight across Oregon. I'd like to learn more about this kind of flying, such as:

[ul][*] what permissions are needed[*] techniques for following the aircraft[*] ground support equipment[*] route planning[*] etc.
[/ul]
If you know anyone who's done this, please ask them to send me an e-mail: [email protected] or post on the forum.

Thanks!

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

I don,t know of the Oregon flight but lots of long flights have been completed including one accross the entire US using a I think a Senior Falcon and mutiple teams of ground crew and pilots, This I beleve was done in the early seventies. The Pacific Ocean from Long Beach Ca. to Avalon, Catalina island has been flown with a large Stick, 26 miles.

The well publisized California Marathon of Flight was done in the Mojave desert on a fifty mile closed course. Of course the absolute FAI non stop record has reached an increditable distance.

My personal best just for fun was done four years ago from Kingman along old Route 66 to seligman Az. a distance of 75 miles. I can offer some insights to that effort if you are interested.

John

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

They also had the flight over the Atlantic. Although that wasn't always in control by a human. The takeoff and landing were done by a human pilot, but the flight over water was all done by GPS. If you look back through the AMA archives you should be able to find the story about it.

Hope this helps.

chronister

I did find something about the transatlantic flight. I didn't know it was GPS guided but that only makes sense.

John, I'd love to hear more about your experience four years ago. I'm not interested in a record attempt, just the idea of making a long distance, over-land flight. It would be a series of short flights, over several days, rather than a single, non-stop flight. Even though your 75 mile flight was probably a non-stop one, I bet you could give me a lot of advice about following the aircraft, what I need to be prepared for, etc. Thanks!

Nathan

Tall Paul

There used to be a long-distance competition event flown at Baker CA.. Two categories, Unlimited and Sportsman.
Unlimted used a 50 mile course, from Baker to Kelso and back as many times as could be accomplished.
There was a fuel limit in unlimited of 64 oz. The winning planes would get over 300 miles in about 9 to 11 hours.
The sportsman class flew a 50 mile course.. up from the lakebed at Baker to the top of the mountain half-way along the Unlimited course, then back to the lakebed. Fuel used determined placing.
I flew in 1996 in Sportsman. OS 26, used 11 oz of fuel for the lap, in about an hour. The winner used about 1/2 that amount of fuel.
Flew from the back of a pickup truck.
4 people.. driver, navigator up front, pilot and obsever in the pickup bed.
Some teams used convertibles. Having all-around vision is very important.
Practising for the event using a station wagon, flying by looking out the side windows wasn't all that great an idea, the plane could easily get overhead and unviewable, particularly while circling waiting for traffic to clear at stop signs.
(The Baker event route had no stop signs.)

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Nathan in our case this was a little event planned from Kingman to Seligman Az. seventy five miles on a portion of the longest remaining section of old Route 66. The route involved a gain in elevation of over 2000 feet and this presented the greatest problems for the teams trying to balance between the need for plenty of power at T/O but not so much that that mixture becomes so rich that the engines stops enroute with the richening mixture that occurs with the gain in elevation.

This was not an organized event per say but there were three local teams and two teams from elsewhere that had been involved with the California Marathon of Flight that Tall Paul mentions. It was done at the request of the Seligman JC's to comemorate the opening of their new full scale airport which was nothing more than pavement with no buildings or full scale airplanes (The airport was the destination). Virtually the entire town was there for the arrival (all 200 of them) and the local radio station.

The route was 90% through indian reservation lands and the tribal council was conferred with and there was indian patrol on hand. The route involved passing under two underpasses which proved interesting.

Anyway come the big day much to everyones dismay all teams got off fine but the best effort only made a little less than half way, most falling pray to the enrichening fuel mixtures as we climbed. I only got 15 miles before a flameout caused a landing in a cactus patch ending my day. Most drove to the party flying airplanes on site.

A week later determined to try agine I finally made the distance and landed with a blubbering rich engine at seligman. The flight took 1 hour and 43 miniutes for and average I think of 43mph. My ship is an Aerostar trainer with a K&B .45 Sportster and three tanks for a total of 50 ounces of fuel.

A popular event in Las Vegas by the LVRC is a X country poker run where endurance is not the object but five unknown stops are made to pickup a poker card. The real challange is just suriving the unknown landings and departures. Distances are short so standard tankage is fine. I,ve flown aginst helicopters and even electrics in this one.

What has worked best for me is a pickup with a sliding rear cab window. A pilot, spotter (in the cab) and driver is a minimum crew. I have flown at times with three aircraft out of the same truck but this is a problem is if one has an unplaned landing. I prefer to always sit low in the bed back to the cab and always keep the aircraft in the rear hemisphere, this works very well and aleviates the need for goggles when facing forward in a the rear of a pickup. The spotter in the cab will keep me posted on up and coming powerlines etc. Also its easy for me to communicate with the driver if i whish to go slower, faster etc.

One unique experiance you will find is an illusion that the stationary Rc pilot never is subject to. When the stationary pilot flys the aircraft it is alway moving in relation to him. This is not always so when we on occasion will actually fly formation with ourselves in the truck. This is fine but the first few times you practice the technique as the airplane slows to a stationary position in relation to you (the pilot) all sense of speed is lost. The normal reaction is to think stalling and keep poring on the power and this of course waste fuel. Not a big deal but one of the many little challanges that makes XC so enjoyable.

I am in a wheelchair now so things are tougher for this stuff but I can still serve as a spotter or driver.

John

Tall Paul

There's about a 2000-3000' foot climb from the lakebed at Baker to the summit before the road goes down to Kelso, in the California marathon.
I didn't find it necessary to change mixture, not that I could have, between the lakebed and the peak.
That's not enough altitude change to bother a motor, normally.
Flying at partial throttle, especially with a fuel-efficient 4-stroke gets the most miles per gallon.
A road speed about 40- to 50 mph would be optimum, from what I found at Baker, and a couple of shorter events locally.

*JCB*

My Feedback: (9)

the pres. of my club holds (or held if you count the "unmanned" transatlantic flight) the distance record for a float plane. A little over 500 miles. he flew from nor cal to so cal!! the AMA holds sanctioned distance events, so they cover your butt for these things

Dauntae

A guy in one of the local clubs flew a 12 ft (I think) wingspan PBM twin 19 miles following it in a boat, Kinda funny thing is he had two tries, The first one the boat could not keep up to the plane so he decided to bring it in in the middle of the ocean and shortly after a coast guard boat was approaching them. Someone seen a plane go down and called them, Amazing how scale a plane can look Coast guard Did not think it was too funny though[&o]

Dauntae

saramos

And that was on a single tank of fuel.

kdheath

A worthwhile read is the bio of Maynard Hill. Maynard has held more distance, time, and altitude records than anyone. Including a flight to 26,000 feet. Many of his records were set using models powered by an open-rocker-arm OS 60 four stroke. He is the man behind the trans-Atlantic flight. Genuine genius and brilliant engineer.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/mag/mhill/text.htm

chronister

Does anyone know how to get permission to fly across the US/Canadian border (either direction)? If you know of someone who's done this and may be able to share their knowledge, please let me know who I should talk to. Thank you.

If I can't get permission to fly across, I could land, drive across the border, and launch again. That would be a little less fun but probably more practical considering it could take a fair amount of time to get through the border. If my team drives across the border, with the plane in our trunk, can we just pull it out in Canada and start flying (with just an AMA licence) or do we need any papers just to fly in Canada. Can I use a 72 mhz system there?

Nathan

Tall Paul

Before the US entered WWII, planes from the US were delivered to Canada by precisely that! Landing on the US side, towed to the Canadian side, and flown to the destination.
You're recreating history!