Problem is it occured in a restroom.

Finally something hobby related to blog about.

Back in mid October I was asked by a science teacher at a local "charter" high school if I'd like to help a STEM class (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) build and fly an RC plane in a competition; Speed Fest in Stillwater OK this coming April;

http://speedfest.okstate.edu/

Well our third class met yesterday and we had our first builidng session. It is absolutely invigorating to see these young minds take off with new manual skills, i.e. holding and using a hobby knife, razor saw, ca glue to sit down and actually build something that will fly.

So in our first hour of building we've gotten the ailerons, horizontal stab, rudder, and both sides of the fuselage framed up.

I'm proud of these young adults!

I had an oh-wow moment this morning in the cold here in OKC. Standing fireguard while a DC-3 starts up. Men and women have been doing this same job all over the world for 75 years now. I feel connected to my avocation!

About 6 years ago, my son started a Great Planes Profile-38 (stand off scale P-38). He stopped at the 90% done point when he graduated from college.

I decided to finish it this week. My wife just pointed out a historical irony. The model P-38 is OD over grey with invasion stripes. I'm sitting at the work bench applying the invasion stripes, my wife pointed out that our fathers and grand fathers were doing the same thing to the real planes 66 years ago today.

Now, having completed 55 trips around the sun, I've reached a major milestone in life. I am elegible to retire from service with the US government. Not leaving yet, but this is the first day I choose to come to work as opposed to have to come to work.

To all others celebrating a birthday on April 12, Blessings and happiness to you too!

Tom

I live on the east shore of Lake Hefner in OKC. ALL weekend gusty winds and whitecaps out on the lake, no reasonable RC flying weather. However, I did get the old YS91 dialed in on the front of my new 1/4 scale Tiger Moth.

This morning under a full moon, the lake was as smooth as glass. I guess I'm going to learn to fly at night.

Thursday 68 Sunny, Calm GREAT RC flying weather.

Friday 70 Fantastic beautiful Sunny Day

Saturday morning. Gray, over cast winds in the 20's out of the north and TWO INCHES OF SNOW ON THE GROUND!!!!!

Oh and 11 days later Sunny 91 degrees F. And still too stinking windy to fly

22KNTS gusting to 31

With Oklahoma being burried in snow and ice for a couple of more days I had my very first chance to fly off 4 inch deep powderd snow.

The stuff that came at Christmas was mostly gone by the time the club had our new years day frozen finger fun fly. And that day didn't count because it was in the 50's and sunny. Today is low overcast and 26F.

In a word FUN, in reality you need to have the propper clothing.

I was flying a Skyraider MK II on new dubro plastic skis with a .46 two stroke
Touch and goes were a lot of fun. Held out for 10 minutes before my fingers started to hurt from the cold and the plane quit on a go around.

I need better head gear and gloves then this might be a lot of fun.

Maybe I'll get one more chance before this stuff melts off.

Fly safe

Tom

Sorry no pixs

I'm starting this page to track my sucess in getting slimmer and healthier in 2010.

I used to be in the USAF. I used to be in good shape. Now I'm overweight and a type II diabetic.

Getting the numbers ready for tax time, my diabeties is costing me $2300.00 a year in meds AFTER insurance picks up most of the cost.

I've had it that's enough. I've been inspired buy a guy at my church who has walked off his weight and out of his diabetic state.

The plan is to use that treadmill that's gathering dust and work up to walking a 20 minute mile EVERY morning. I started with 20 minutes and a half mile on the 4th and will keep increasing the pace till I get to the goal of a mile in 20 minutes and under 200 Pounds.

Today I got the scale out and my starting point is

1/6/10 266.6 pouns walking at 1.7 MPH for 20 minutes and a total so far of .54 miles.

look for monthly updates here.

Wow how time flies

For quite a while now I've wondered how ethanol's lowering of my MPG is doing for its intended purpose of weening us off gasoline, and allowing us to use less dead dinosaurs.

Today I found this:

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/altern...3/article.html

The point I'd like to make of the article:

To take a 666 mile trip in an SUV using gasoline took 36.5 gallons of gas.

To take the same 666 mile trip in the same SUV using E85 gas/ethanol took

50 gallons of E-85 or 45.2 gallons of pure gasoline.

IT DOESNT^ SAVE ANYTHINGG!!!!!!

I guess I aught to fix this. I had a Duuugh moment.

I thought E-85 was 85% gasoline and 15% ethanol. In reality after being educated I had it wrong. It's the other way around; it is 85% ethanol. So one indeed does save gasoline.

A bit of a rant.

More and more my life is invaded by media messages informing me how good of a person I’ll be if I take care of the environment.

My church is adding an 1800 seat auditorium. Yesterday I helped unload and unpack those new 1800 chairs. They came in stacks of 12 each stack surrounded in heavy cardboard, wrapped in self clinging plastic, sitting on a square steel frame made out of 1x1 L angles.

Because of the construction we have an industrial dumpster that handled the cardboard and the plastic. There were 150 of the steal frames each measuring roughly 19 inches square. I thought I’d do the green thing and run them down to the recycling center, and make the church some more green in the process.

Twenty minutes of loading these things in the car, twenty minute car ride with them rattling and tinkling in the back. Unload them on the scales at the recycling center, 207 pounds of scrap steel.

Reward for saving the environment: TWO DOLLARS AND SEVEN CENTS!

If you'll look below you'll see I take care of a national treasure. The FAA's last DC-3 N34. We went to a fly-in breakfast and airshow this past weekend. On landing we lost one of the two brakes in the left wheel. We went through the paper work to get a ferry permit to bring it home on the one remaining brake. After a long two hour drive through very empty Oklahoma countryside we get to the plane, secure the broke brake, and start up. The OTHER brake gave out on the way to the runway. I'll spend all of next week chasing parts and trying to figure out how to ge two big aircraft jacks to a small Oklahoma airport.

T

Spent about 5 hours yesterday finishing a World Models Sky Raider Mach II. Pulling it around with a AVIASTAR 46 from Sig
http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...FV4.html?E+Sig

I haven't had so much fun with an out of box kit in ages!

Goes vertical in a heartbeat and keeps going!

Great fun for a little money.

tom

I was born in 1955. I’m an only child. My mother died in 1979 when I was 24. My dad is now 84 years old and in very good health, and very active for his age. He and I live about 1100 miles apart

Starting Christmas day it appears that something has triggered a rather ugly rant of how bad life is and it’s now all my fault.

Apologizing for anything that has been done, offering to help in any way, asking to sit down and work at understanding and fixing the problem(s), all result in more rants from him on how selfish I am and what a miserable disappointing child I’ve been my entire life. The confusion on my part is that this is all new to me, and that every olive branch I offer is getting shredded and burned.

Anyone else dealing with like issues and how are you coping with it?

TIA

Tom

Some of you are aware that I take care of a DC-3 for the FAA. The week before Christmas we made what may be her last flight. But we were lucky enough to get some TV time out of it





http://www.kfor.com/global/video/pop...6&rnd=63744128





Safe, Blessed and Happy New Year to all

Place a nickel in it in such a way that it is rolling on edge.

The amazing impossible backwards nickel roller

The amazing impossible backwards nickel roller (0 min 28 sec)

You get F=Ma

The force of the sander on the edge of the nickel accelerates the moment of inertia of the nickel and the nickel rolls forward apparently all by itself!

Sure doesn't stay in one place

It is not a conundrum; the problem has a simple answer, if you don't make unsupportable assumptions.

Yes it will take off

I’ve wasted far too much time and energy on that thread. I left it after leaving it a full, clear and concise answer that shows how the airplane can move and can fly.

Since this is my blog and I really don’t have anything else to bore you to tears with right now, here is an engineer’s solution to the problem:


Imagine a plane is sat on the beginning of a massive conveyor belt/travelator type arrangement, as wide and as long as a runway, and intends to take off. The conveyer belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels at any given time, moving in the opposite direction of rotation.
There is no wind.

Can the plane take off?

Yes, the plane will fly.

Why:

Well first, what does the problem actually state?

It says there is a conveyer belt that is designed to “…exactly match the speed of the wheels at any given time…”

Does it say that the belt is a rubbery gray?
No.
Does it say that the frame is painted purple?
No.
Does it say that by design the belt will hold the plane in place?
No!
It says simply and clearly that the speed of the belt and the speed of the wheels match; period, nothing more nothing less. All along others have almost screamed that this means the belt is designed to hold the plane in place.

When someone proposes a solution that is inferred but not stated then the problem also is a case of Ockham’s Razor:
http://physics.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physic...ww/node10.html
In essence; when we are face with two theories, which...Continue Reading