Though I felt like. After we got Donna home from the hospital I started suffering severe sleep deprivation. I'll keep it short for now but I'm going to speak more about this is a later post. Maybe the next one, maybe not.

When I got back from Toronto, my wife was feeling especially bad. Part of a long string of periods in which she was feeling bad. The symptoms were all the same as before: mild fever, craving food but getting sick if she ate too much, nausea, lack of energy. This time, however, there was also pain in the region of her stomach.

After years of having the doc say she should "loose weight" and "control her blood sugar" they finally decided to take a look with an ultrasound. The tech told her, unofficially (as only a doctor can report the obvious), she had gall stones. From this we were anticipating the need for surgery but had to wait for the doc to read the omens. While waiting, one afternoon she developed a high fever (103°F) so she called me and the doc. I drove home and he looked at the films and by the time I arrived he had told her she needed to go to the emergency room which led to a hospital bed...

Where she has been ever since, a week and a half so far. This from a process projected to be over in a couple of days. First she a larangospic (sp?) procedure to remove gall stones from her bile duct. Doing that agravated her pancreas and she had to spend two days waiting for a pancreatitus attack to subside. Then she went in for the 1-1½ hour orthoscopic gall bladder removal.

At the end of an hour the nurse called me in the waiting room to say it was taking a little longer. At the end of the second hour she called again - more time was needed. After 3½ hours the doc came to get me. He made me go in the hall to talk, not a good sign though I figured Donna wasn't dead cause he did not have the chaplain with him.

There were complications. Her gall bladder was fused to her small intestine and left a hole when it was removed. He had to do a bunch of surgical modifications to fix this problem. She's occupying a bed at the hospital while waiting for sufficient progress to come home. I don't have much free time.

The surgeon told us this kind of a problem would have taken a decade to get to this stage. She has been complaining about feeling bad for almost that long. I found myself very bitter at the doctor for missing this. I could not believe this was a "House" (re: the Fox TV show) mystery but discussions with several surgeons indicated it would be almost impossible to diagnose.

When she comes home I will be stuck at here except for working for a while.
That will be a good time to build.

Every once and a while I’ll be talking with some flying buddy and they will ask “Wouldn’t you like to have one of those jet engines?” The answer is NOOOOO! They’re neat OK but I make my living off of jet fuel and I just don’t want to deal with jet engines or jet fuel when I’m on my own time.

This week finds me in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the semi annual meeting of ASTM Committee D.02 on Petroleum Products. My personal effort is directed to participating in and being an officer of the Aviation Fuel Subcommittee. We deal with the specifications for the jet fuel and aviation gasoline.

Jet Fuel is actually a glorified kerosene. Jet Fuel, Kerosene and #1 Diesel all come from the same part of the barrel of oil. It’s a little lighter than typical Diesel (#2) and a little heavier than gasoline. The military uses jet fuel for both turbines and diesels for logistical simplicity. You can’t legally use jet fuel in your car and truck diesel because it is not a low sulfur product.

Jet Fuel is not just for burning. It’s the secondary coolant for most jet engines, taking heat from the oil. It’s used as a hydraulic fluid to operate mechanisms on the engines and it’s used to cool avionics. It has to be useable at –40°C and safe at +40°C. It has to provide sufficient energy to get from here to there and it has to do it in a way that will not harm the engine. Providing all this is a constant struggle that just takes some of the luster off of turbine engines.

By the end of the week I’ll just be looking for a quiet place to recover. By the way, working in the aviation business is not conducive to being at ease when you fly. I know all about the odd and all but when you hear about practically every fuel related problem that comes up, it kind of sticks with you. So Friday when I get on the plane I’ll just plug my I-Pod into my noise canceling headphones and read my way back to San Antonio, shoving what I know about ‘making sausage’ to the back of my mind.

I did not finish my Eindekker in time to participate in the annual Dawn Patrol Over Old Kingsbury (this year!) but I attended anyway and took my son, Bryan, with me. The site is a very nice grass strip operated by the Tri-City Flyers about 50 miles east of San Antonio. It is part of a larger enterprise called the Old Kingsbury Aerodrome that is the home of the Vintage Aircraft Historical Foundation. The VAHF specializes in WWI aircraft. The founder of the group and the owner of the field, Roger Freeman, built and flew a Fokker DVII that was used in the Aviator.

The attendance was good, over twenty pilots and even more planes. The flying was very relaxed, not the frentic activity you usually see when ten 'extras' trying to compete for a place to hover. The WWI planes really like the bigger sizes. Quarter scale is good and third is really nice.

There was no formal display but we modelers were allowed to check out the historic planes in storage and being built. That was a treat, a real inside look at the operation. I have threads on the fly-in and real planes in the Scale Power Plane section, where I am maintaining a Build Log on my Eindekker.

Vintage Aviation Historical Foundation

Dawn Patrol Over Old Kingsbury

I did not finish my plane so I did not register. I wanted to support the effort (to make sure it comes back) so I spent the registration amount on Raffle tickets. The prize is the recently returned third scale Moraine Saulner from Balsa USA. They also served lunch free for pilots and for sale but I had a better idea.

Kingsbury is just down the road from Luling, home of the Watermelon Thump. It is also home of one of those classic central Texas BBQ places, the City Market. I've been going to the City Market since I was a kid. It was a rare treat as it was a drive from Houston but my Father's traveling wholesale hardware route came through occasionally. Kruez Market in Lockhardt may be more famous but the City Market is great too. This is one of the best aspects of traveling to flying events. Exploring the local area. I know some who only measure it by the number of flights obtained, and that's OK, but the whole experience matters to me.

After buying my new radio at Toledo, I just let it set in the box until this weekend. I have planned a major installation in a new Balsa USA Eindecker (you can see my build log in the Scale Power Plane section). I have just reached the point where I will start working with the radio installation.

I pulled the Tracker out of the box and sat down with it and the manual in front of the TV. As I was reading through the book I thought "Why not set it up to work my current plane?" I have a sport plane on Airtronics Ch 52. Just four channels no fancy mixing. I went through track one and set it for channel 52 and Airtronics receiver. I got out of the chair, walked into my shop, turned on the airplane's radio, and it worked.

I hadn't done the overnight charge yet so I did not get a chance to work out the servo reversing but the pattern was clearly Airtonics. I put it on charge and will do the track two honors tonight.

An interesting thing happened while I was setting up the radio. I ran frequency scan just to see how it worked. It started at the blank setup value of 36 and worked through the numbers. Imagine my surprise when it came around to ch 11 and started beeping. I have a transmitter on ch 11 so I went in the shop to check. Sure enought, I had picked up that transmitter a on Saturday and evidently I had failed to turn it off. Despite the fact that the transmitter meter was way down in the red it was still transmitting. So there's another use for your Tracker, making sure you've turned your other transmitters off. (This would also be a good thing to do with those little Hobbico frequency scanners people are using.)

I bought the Tracker for a combination of reasons. I got used to using one transmitter, an Airtronics Vision, when I was flying regularly but it needed batteries and a tuneup (including two modules). I was never real crazy about switching modules too often because of all the pins involved and I have read of problems with that. I asked Airtronics if they were planning on a frequency selectible system at Toledo and they said "No, not anytime soon." Several good reports in the magazines from people I respect. The capper, though, was a validation from my best flying buddy who is only using the Seeker receivers for his current planes.

I know there are detractors out there. On the radio forum you see the occasional post outlining all their frustrations and they bother me. On the other hand, I remember a Futaba radio (owned by the aforementioned buddy) that mysteriously killed several planes (regardless of factory service) before it was swapped off. I remember seeing a disgusted pilot treat a JR transmitter like an Olympic hammer after it killed one more plane. I've been a long time Airtronics user and have had my share of problems. I do think there is little "true believer" culture that effects radio selection. Some people are not just content with their choice they have to attack the choice of others too. Back in the day when I made a choice between Futaba and Airtronics it was based simply on one thing - how the radio felt in my hands. The Gold Box Futaba were just uncomfortable to me.

Special Update ---------

Last night at our club meeting (San Antonio Prop Busters) a bug with the Seeker II was reported.

Two of our members found that if the receiver is set to work with Futaba and if all of the channels on a Seeker II (8 channel receiver) are set to turn the same direction, NORM or REVS, and you hit the retract switch the receiver will start to hunt a new frequency.

This has been done repeatedly with several Seeker II receivers. It has not been seen to effect the Seeker 6. It does not effect pos shift, Air or JR. It can be prevented by making sure at least one channel is set to an opposite throw.

This information has been transmitted to Polks but I felt this was significant potential problem with an easy fix. I can't recall the last plane I built that did not require at least one servo to be reversed so this is probably a very rare occurence.

Once I built a railroad
I made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?

I was thinking about the travails of our club (San Antonio Prop Busters) in keeping a flying field and I was reminded of these lines from the famous depression era song. We’re on our third field now and the trip has had some unusual twists. I write this to warn of pitfalls and offer hope to those who have lost or are about to lose a field.

Twenty years ago I was the President of the club in a trying time. Shortly before assuming office we received a notice that we would loose our field within six months. We had a little money to work with, because of the prescient efforts of a former President who persuaded us to double our dues, but not much. We, as a club, were blessed by the crash in the oil boom that resulted in hiatus in land development. The property owners continued to tell us it was a temporary reprieve.

We were afraid that we would loose members to the other established clubs in town. I pushed hard to do more activities that would keep us unified. Maybe too hard as the money spent was used as a reason to find my replacement for the next year. I still believe that club activities are important at all times but critical when times are tough.

Fearing the end could be near we did strike out to find a new field. We found several potentials but they were ruled out for various reasons but the biggest was “too far”. Our existing field was very close to the majority of our members and they just could not see spending money on a field no one would use. While I was part of the group that was looking and was sometimes frustrated by the decisions there is real truth in the common wisdom that there is no use spending money on a field no one would use.

We did some stupid things. Several of our members were interested in float flying. They found a spot the county would let us use and we engaged in some successful events. The field was also suitable for land flying so we approached the county and they were amenable to leasing it to us on a permanent basis. The club said “No! We only need it for float flys, why waste the money?” Imagine their surprise when another club snatched the site. Another time we were in the hunt for the use of a closed runway next to the city dump. Unbeknownst to us, one of the club officers wrote a letter to the owners saying the model flying was “… better than sex!” Not surprisingly, the religious owners of the property would not take our calls after that.

So we rocked along putting money in the bank and continuing to look around. A few years later the aforementioned runway changed hands and we got another opportunity to acquire it. The city dump, uhmm landfill, was closed and a new commercial operation was opened next door. The runway was in a buffer property between the two and we made contact and negotiated a deal that would give us exclusive use of the property guaranteed to about 2020, at least that’s what our negotiator told us. The company did resurface 700 feet of the runway and help us clear the junk off the property but we were shocked when we were presented the actual lease. One year, renewable at one year increments, with a 90 day notice to leave. The shock was driven by the fact we had just spent about $25K building the best site in the area. I don’t think our guy hosed us on purpose, he just heard what he wanted to hear. If we had been told the real deal, we would have still taken the deal but we would have spent a lot less money. The moral here – don’t let one person negotiate your deals and don’t spend the money until the deal is set.

Man, the dump field was a swankienda. Paved taxiways, paved pit area, large shelter with concrete floor, enclosed kitchen, and a second story observation area. We had many excellent events there (IMAA regional. Yearly Charity Big Bird, IMAC Contests, etc., etc.) during the few years we had it. We could have had all the events with grass pits and a small hail shed for frequency control. It was used for a couple of years beyond its premiere status but that was some sad flying. We did not come close to getting our value out of the field. I felt personally responsible because I was part of the group that helped sell the plan to the club. I still kick myself for not questioning the deal regardless of how logical it sounded and how much I trusted our guy.

Meanwhile the field we were to loose in ’86 continued to crank along. We finally lost it last year shortly before the last flight at the dump (and it was by the time we left). Fortunately, the club had found a new site on the south side of town. The members finally grasped that there just was not going to be a ready location in the middle of the hottest real estate area of San Antonio.

The new field is located adjacent to a good road with ready access. At present it is grass and it may just remain that way. I find it to be very pleasant. It’s far enough removed from the city to be quiet, except for the flying of course. We have kept some artifacts from our former fields. The frequency board was used at both fields. The concrete slabs under the hail shed were pit stations at the old field. The work tables were built for the dump field. The property that is not flying field is used to run cattle so we have an electric fence around the runway. To me its very much like the old field we had when I joined the club. (We also have shared use of a runway at a residential airpark. I’ve been there but not since we made the arrangement.)

Once again I return to the opening lines. We had the big field, the high profile, and the giant roster… Now we wonder if we can spare a dime. Do I miss it? I’m not sure. The big field kind of led to big time flying that often left the little guy feeling unwanted. Many members thought we did more flying when we just had the smaller field. In the end, you have to be careful about what you want. It’s important that you make your choices match your actual interests.

I’ve been considering the current discussions on the difficulty in sizing and application of electric motors in comparison of the ease of selecting an IC engine. This consideration came as a result of attending and helping my club with a sport pylon race for 0.40 size engined planes. The racing was divided into two classes of 0.40 and the effort to divide it by two and still come up with 0.40 was mind boggling.

Really though, this should not be that big a surprise to us IC flyers. We’ve dealt with it for years. You can put an OS 0.46 FX on a regular high wing trainer if you treat it carefully. If you don’t you get things like broken hinges (though, fortunately, two out of four on the elevator can be enough to land your plane). Better to use a 0.40LA instead but, hey, nothing exceeds like excess. The bottom line is, we know pretty well how to match a ‘forty’ plane with a ‘forty’ engine. As much as we whine about how hard it is to do, matching electric motor systems to planes is really no harder, just different. I think Horizon has a good idea with its 32, 46 and 60 outrunners by taking advantage of IC psychology. A quick read of the web based info on the 46 shows it can be set up from LA to FX strength and beyond.

Another heartburn seems to be related to the total costs of systems. One way of thinking of the cost is as if you were buying an IC engine and all the fuel at one time. That’s OK but lets take another approach and look at a couple of definitions from Merriam-Webster.com:

Engine: a machine for converting any of various forms of energy into mechanical force and motion

Motor: a rotating machine that transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy

Consider that the battery, speed control, and electric motor together comprise an electric engine. Comparing it to an IC engine you can consider the battery the combustion chamber, the speed control the carburetor, and the motor to the crankcase. By selecting the appropriate battery and speed control you can vary that electric engine from a LA to a FX equivalent. I think as soon as people decide that choosing an electric engine system is no more difficult that choosing between all the different sizes of forties it will become the dominate motive system for modelers.

I love my two little electric planes but I want something a little bigger. The club’s sport pylon racing, mentioned above, is being done with some World Models Skyraiders. I have no personal interest in racing but the planes are inexpensive and fly well. I was thinking about doing a Four Star Forty conversion but this similar sized plane will put me dollars and time ahead. I will likely use one of the E-Flite motors, as that’s what my local shop, which I want to support, sells.

-------

In another sign of e-progress, a local San Antonio bedroom community, Live Oak, has opened an e-power field in their city park. E-power and 32oz weight limit are the big restrictions. There will be a special E-flight demo at the city park this coming Saturday night (6/3/06). Contact 2nd Chance Hobbies in Universal City, TX if you want details.

Last Saturday, son #2 and I set out on a modeling trip. Our intention was to visit the Scalemasters Qualifier being held at the Hill Country Aeromodelers field in Austin, TX. This was a new event for the area. If any one was in the hunt for a position at the big show and didn't go to this one they missed a relatively easy shot.

I've always liked this field. The people are very friendly and the field is excellent, although it has a grade that is usually downhill with typical Texas weather patterns. It's odd at first but you get used to it.

When we arrived, they were doing the static judging. This really makes the time drag. Since it just got started we decided to drive up to the big hobby shop in Georgetown. I needed a new starter and I wanted a high torque model. The local shops I will deal with did not have what I wanted but Discount Hobbies has a lot of supplies. I was happy but my son was disappointed that almost all the planes were ARFs.

We headed back to Austin for the event but got sidetraked by a visit to Fry's the big, everything electronic superstore. What a bunch of toys they have there. After that we went to... lunch. Finally we went back to the flying site. The flying was well in progress.

They were starting the second round. Unfortunately we saw several of the best planes laying damaged in the pits. The wind was a little gusty but straight down the runway. The wind and the nerves seemed to be bothering the pilots in the usual way for a scale contest. After watching the pilots battle the sky for a while we hit the road.

On the way back we stopped at Cabela's, the big sporting goods mega warehouse just south of Austin. As a flyer, the first thing that grabs your eye when you go inside is the Piper Cub they have hanging from the ceiling. My first thought was "what a waste!" but a closer examination reveals it was bent up at some point and decoration is really all it is good for. A place like this is a great place to find specialty tools and outdoors clothes that are perfect for modeling.

I thought, "Boy, those two Cubs overhead appear to be the same size..." then blammo - mid air. Happened at one of our Big Bird fly-ins. Two pilots, two spotters and yet no one noticed the potential disaster. Isn't that the truth of mid airs?

Over the years I've seen lots of crashes, too many from behind the sticks myself, but it seems like the mid airs are the most memorable. Besides the one previously mentioned, there are two that come to mind...

The first happened at our flying field. I was flying a friends Phaeton 90, it was quite the experience at the time. This was the early days of big birds so this now modest plane was seemingly huge. I was at least one mistake high and doing some aerobatics. I did a loop and right at the top a smaller plane flew directly over it.

As I was completing the loop I heard the pilot next to me utter those classic words... "I ain't got it!" Shortly thereafter I noticed my engine was dead and handed the controls back to the owner to land. As he was guiding the plane in for a landing I heard that the other plane had come apart in mid air. When the Phaeton landed we immediately noticed that the prop had a nick in it.

The retrieval crew brought back the remains of the other plane, a Sig Kougar, and it was obvious what happened. The tail had been neatly sliced off the Kougar. It happened at the top of the loop with the Phaeton inverted. The Kougar had to pass close enough to get the tail cut off without fouling its wing or landing gear. The odds were enormous but it happened. Even more interesting is that the collision involved four pilots as neither owner was flying at the instance of the meeting.

The second memorable mid air started a sequence of events that resembeled one of those Laurel and Hardy movies.

We were down at Bomber Field in the Houston Area for the annual Bomber Fly In. Late Saturday as things were winding down I was spotting for a buddy flying a Lazer. We were getting close to needing to land and were about too when a twin ducted Phantom pulled out on the runway.

In the air at the time, besides the Lazer, were big Pica Waco, an overpowered Byron's P-51, and quarter scale pylon racer. The Waco was flying gracefully. The Mustang was making big power manuvers. The racer was racing around. They made the first try with the Phantom and it lost power. Rather than bring it back they went out to work on it. We were not hurting to land but had reached the prudent limit for active flying so we went into a large holding pattern.

The racing racer going upwind and cruising Waco going downwind met spectacularly at show center. The racer appeared to go between the wings of the larger biplane. The now mortally wounded biplane with upper wing askew sunk to the ground in a simi controlled fashion. The racer sped South, now rolling, out of sight (later examination proved the mid air resulted in antenna loss for the racer). As the thining crowd was mulling this over the Phantom made another unsuccessful attempt at taking off so back on the runway they went. We continued to orbit the Lazer.

Right about time they decided to make another Phantom attempt the Mustang came screaming down out of a loop, or split s, and right at the max g spot the wingtips came up and slapped each other like an aerial jumping jack. The screaming remains augered in not too far from the group trying to recover the Waco (even to the point of starting the driver of the recovery of the 4 wheeler recovery cart so bad he fell off in the mud). We still needed to land.

We told the Phantom party we were at 'I really mean it' stage. They said they were going right then. They fired up the throttles and off it went. It seemed it was a go this time but right as they lifted off one of the engines sagged. The Phantom struggled for altitude, putting the nose down might have saved it (hindsight being 20/20), but it just rolled over and went into the soft ground like a lawn dart. The only plane still flying was the Lazer and we had wanted to recover before any of this mess started.

Mostly I read for entertainment and usually science fiction or fiction with science involved. I also like the King-Koontz brand of horror supernatural reading. I'm a Heinlein fan from childhood and my current favorites for 'hard' science fiction are Peter Hamilton and Jack McDevitt. Sometimes though I read non-fiction.

I just read a non fiction book that has bearing on the sport we love, even though it involves man carrying planes. The book is No Visible Horizon by Joshual Cooper Ramo. Its premise is covering the entry of a pilot into competition aerobatics but it it so much more. I usually read the first chapter or two of a book before bying it. I was sold on this book by the last sentence of the first chapter:

"... "Sh_t" I think. "I've just killed myself." ... "

In fact aerobatics is a brutal sport that has killed many a man and woman. (A fact that the detractors on Amazon try to dismiss by touting the fact that no one has been killed in competition.) Pushing the limits against the air has been an obsession of man even before the wright brothers.

Every pilot has looked at that picture of the biplane in the tree and thought "Not Me!", at least for a while. You get your license and you think you're the king of the world. You have a plan laid out on how you're going to progress. My eyesight was not good enough for an airline job but I knew I could be quite the sport pilot. I flew for a while and then just stopped. Oh I never gave up the want, I took the wheel everytime it was offered, and I tried to resurect my flying a couple of times but it just never came to be.

Learning to fly was one of the best times in my life and I can relive details of many flights so why hang it up? I've always told everybody it was the expense and the boredom of flying that made me hang it up and I even managed to believe it myself. In truth however, it was one flight on a pretty day in Houston.

I met a buddy at a little airpark on the west side of town. A quaint little place with a dogleg runway where you had to turn left after getting off the ground. We pulled his Citabria out of the hangar and gave her the once over. My buddy knew of a fresh recovered Aeronca in Bay City for money I could afford so we went to see it and it was really nice. On the way back he asked if I wanted to do a stall turn. (We didn't have chutes so loops and spins were out of the question for him.) I said shure.

I can still see it today. It's clear anytime I conjur it up. Full throttle... a shallow dive to build airspeed to get a good upline from a modest pull up and up we go. Just as the airplane was coasting to a stop, there it came, a Bonanza, right over the top of us. He'd cleared. I'd cleared. We were in the designated aerobatic area for the Houston but there the Bonanza was going hell for leather and going over us. It was only over us for a second but I can still see the oil on the bottom of the cowl, the panel lines, the forked tail. Seconds later we were around and down and he was a spec in the sky. We laughed at our near miss and flew home. Slipped over the power lines and touched down. We cleaned up the plane and I walked away from flying.

Oh, I tried it to pick it up again. Almost joined a glider club but bought a condo instead (bad idea, BTW). Got a fresh medical and started in on a biennial when I had to move to San Antonio. Helped to start a flying club at work but just didn't get around to getting back on track. I've flown Grummans, Cessnas, Pipers, Mooneys and others but not by myself in 30 years. In the same time I've had more than one friend lose it all. I was fortunate enough to leave an airshow before my friend went in inverted in a Taylorcraft. Another friend was on his way home from an airshow when his canopy came off an his plane ceased to fly. At least they were flying. An instructor from my flight shool was sitting at a runway intersection when an errant corporate jet mowed him down.

So this book takes you into those thoughts and processes that separate the great pilots from the rest of us. These things just do not occur to them. They've seen it all and it's still "Not Me!" for them.

Adventure flying is just not for me if I am in the plane. Still there is a rush to putting a plane through it's paces so I returned to my first love - model airplanes. Crashing still hurts but not physically.

I look at some of the things we do we consider cool and I worry that we expect too much of the equipment. Joshua tells the story of couple, Julie and Scoop, who fly a brace of T-6s. They lavish them with maintenance and are couple of the best pilots around. One day at an airshow the engine quits in a wingover. Scoop almost has it back in control for a level crash landing when the engine restarts and torques him and his passenger on their backs and into the ground. Good pilot, good plane, good maintenance - two people dead.

I think about the way flying is everytime I see somebody hovering one of those giant aerobats and standing by it like the fool he is. One cough and it's on him. Don't think the sight of his head rolling down the runway would be good publicity. God help us if it goes into the crowd. In some ways, our reach has exceeded our grasp.

Most of the time flying is routine but sometimes it just goes awry. Yesterday I left San Antonio at 8:00 am (arriving the airport at 6:00am) and arrived in DC at 10:00pm, driving in from Richmond,VA (without my luggage). I was planning on going to see the new Air and Space Museum facility at Dulles this morning but instead spent my time locating my luggage.

I am actually in Alexandria, VA one of the most pleasant places to hold a business meeting in the country. Too bad I'm not at the meeting hotel. We have to use the "Company Travel Agency" where I work and the agent just forgot to make my hotel reservation. Of course it it my fault for not making sure she did her job.

Flying is one of the great leveling experiences in American life. Everybody flies because airplanes are just the cheapest way (money and time considered) to get anywhere. I fly American mostly for two reasons, the frequent flyer program and the seat pitch. I'm tall and that extra inch for my knees is important. BTW second best in this category is Southwest.

I've written before about using tools to prepare the surface for finish sanding. Previously time it was the belt/disk sander. This is great for big blocks and strong pieces. Sometimes, however, you need to work on things that need more 'feel'. Still you want to use a tool to remove the excess balsa. Sanding will just frustrate you. The piece will end up smooth but wrong. For those delicate jobs, use a plane.

Here are a selection of planes that I use. From the picture below:

1) Wilkro Razor Plane - This is an old hobby plane that I found at a swap meet sometime in the past. The original price was $2.98 on the box. I don't remember what I paid. This is an excellent plane for really removing the material. It has a separate attachment for interior radius work.

2) Martor Balsa Hobel - This razor plane comes from Germany and it is a gem. It has a great feel. It can't remove as much material as the Wilkro but it has a better feel. The razor compression plate can be moved to the front for hogging larger amounts of balsa and working up close. The plate also has a radius cut out that can be used for an edge break tool. I got the Martor at a trade show in England (I've spent a lot time in England over the years.) but they are available in the US.

3) X-Acto Spoke Shave - This is for small shaping jobs. You probably got one with your X-Acto set and may not know how to use it. It's hard to explain but I just kind of cup it in my palm and use a gentle rubbing motion to remove the material.

4) Master Airscrew Balsa Plane - I won this in a pilot's raffle at a big bird event. I haven't used it, considering the quality planes I have on hand, but I broke it out for this discussion. It's not a razor plane like the Wilkro and the Martor. It has a permant blade like the Spoke Shave. I set is up like the instructions said but it doesn't work near as well as the others.

Those are my planes. The Wilkro and the Martor are Razor Planes that use double edged razors. I tried using commercial (shaving) blades in the Wilkro but they are just too flimsy to get a good cut. When I bought the Martor I also bought extra packages of the balsa razor that it uses. Seeing how well that worked, I put one in the Wilkro and that that turned a dissapointment into a delight. The Martor blade is more heavy duty than a shaving razor. I don't think I would like to shave with it but it works good for taking down balsa.

When you use the planes use steady, gentle pressure. Don't force because it will gouge the balsa. Practice on some scrap. Don't let the plane working slot get clogged (a long ribbon of balsa is OK as long as it comes out smoothly), keep it clear. Don't clear it with your fingers because the blades, particularly the razors, are sharp. Use a brush. (I use a disposable acid brush.)

I just read on Jerry Nelson's website the Phil Kraft has died. Before there was Futaba and JR there was Pro-Line and Kraft. Of the two, Kraft was really the epitome of first class equipment for the regular modeler. Phil Kraft was the guiding force behind doing it right. I never got a Kraft radio but I always aspired to own one.

Most modelers, of a certain age, have flown a Kraft design. If not one of his pattern designs then most likely an Ugly Stick or one of the ten million derivatives...

I saw Phil fly at the Lake Charles Nationals in the early '70s. He was not the top dog anymore but everybody paid attention when he was up. (At another Lake Charles Nats I saw Dave Platt fly the first really succesful ducted fan in scale competition.)

My first trip to Toledo was in 1983 (at the Hockey rink). I remember the giant Kraft booth. The "Big Thing" was their new frequency selectable system. I think it was their last Toledo show. Success killed them not in R/C but in computers.

Goodbye Phil - Thanks for Everything

The basic fact is that gasoline is as close to a perfect commodity as there is. (A perfect commodity is a something that is sold for exactly what it costs to deliver it to you, raw materials - processing - delivery.)

Last week I bought gas here is San Antonio for $2.699 a gallon. At that same time the average crude oil price was $69.03 per barrel. A barrel is 42 gallons so, going with the simple concept that all parts of the barrel are of equivalent value, just the raw material of gasoline is worth $1.646.

This leaves $1.053 for refining, distribution, marketing and taxes. At the same time the average commodity price on the gulf coast was $2.179. The $0.533 difference between the commodity price and the crude oil price covers refining, processing, special blends for different areas, required additives and brokerage costs.

So taking the average commodity price from the sales price leaves $0.482. Texas gasoline tax is $0.20 so that leaves $0.282. Federal tax is $0.184 so that leaves $0.098 for the station. From that (9.8 cents!) they have to pay facilities, taxes, salaries, etc, - Not! Why do you think they've all become convenience stores?

BTW, Texas does not have the lowest gasoline tax it's about mid pack. The highest is New York with 69 cents. Some states have gasoline tax and sales tax so the higher the price the more they make.

Pricing is, of course, relative. I was recently in London and gasoline was 96p per liter. With the pound going at approximately $2 per this equates to a gasoline cost of $7.27 per gallon.

While buying is not the primary goal, it is a goal. I had bugeted for one big item with intent to find other things too. In particular, I was looking for materials for my Eindekker. Below you will find a picture of my acquisitions.

1) Polk's Tracker III Radio - I've seen a lot of good reviews of this device this year but there's something about having the unit in your hand and talking with people in the know. My newest radio is 5 years old and my only computer radio, an Airtonic's Vision, is older than that. It needs batteries and, probably, a tuning. I liked using a single radio for all my flying but the Vision is limited to frequency modules. I have two but I always worried about the effect of plugging and unplugging the connections. I talked to the Airtronics rep but was not real satisfied with his answer, that is they have no plans for synthesized radios. I liked the look and feel of the radio, especially compared to the old Aristo Craft brown bombers of the past. The radios only come with one servo but I have plenty. The deal was set when my buddy said that all he has been using is the Tracker receivers. ($180, no tax, no shipping)

2) Fine Line Tape - A good deal for a buck, I'm going to be painting soon so this was great. ($1)

3) Foamy Hinge Tape - I've got a foamy waiting to be built and the price was good. ($2.50)

4) JR/Hitec/AirtZ servo leads - All my Airtronics stuff has the old connections. I've got plenty of old Airtronics connectors, enough to keep several flight packs going. The new radio needs the new connector and so will future radios. There were no great deals on the general connectors but I did find a dozen servo leads for ten bucks. ($10)

5) Free Glue - Pacer gave out little samples of glue, perfect for the flight box. (zip)

6) Acid Brushes - Cheap for a bunch. ($4)

7) Rotary Saw for dremel tools - I used to have the little saw you could use with a dremel tool. I kept it well preserved, particularly when Dremel stopped making it. It was great for making precision cuts freehand. One day I came into the garage and there was my dremel tool with the saw in the mandrel. Bent, blued and missing teeth from abuse. On the workbench were some cut up ten cans. Who did it? "Not Me!" "Ida Know!". (This is one of those moments when you know exactly what Bill Cosby means when he says you are not a real "parent" until you have two an no longer have a clue about who does what.) I've been looking since. I found it at Toledo. This is actually a much stronger unit than the one Dremel used to offer. Still dangerous? You bet but no more than the unreinforced cut off tools. ($12)

8) Higley Motor Mount Drilling Set - Two drills and a bushing. You use the large drill to true the motor mount holes. Then place the bushing in the hole and use it to guide the pilot hole. From there you use the appropriate drill for the Bolt or Screw you plan on using. ($6)

9) Higley 6" Drills - You need some real long ones but you also need some intermediate length drills too. ($12)

10) WWI Pilot, "Hans", from PerfectPilots.com - Two guys in a small booth gave a great demonstration on finishing pilots. They have WWI and WWII pilots in multiple scales. Hans here is for my Eindekker. ($27)

11) Eindekker Vinyl Decals from Balsa USA - All of Balsa USA's decals will now be vinyl. The EIII's were not available at the show but they did take my money for later delivery at the show price with no shipping charge. ($29)

This all came to $283.50. While the prices were good when you add the cost of entry, food, etc., etc. there is no way I saved money. But I did not loose any on the purchases either. Good Stuff, Good Fun.

After spending all day Friday at the Toledo Expo we decided it was time to do a little touring. We jumped up early and set off for Muncie. The weather was good, even if it was cool and windy. Coming from the dreary Friday in Toledo it was great.

The drive isn't that far but it is over a lot of two lane, 55mph road. Since it was Saturday and a lot of the staff was in Toledo, the place was a little quite. It was great for getting a good look at the models. I think museums are one of the best inventions of modern man, and the AMA museum is very good. I could easily see it becoming bigger in the future. The staff was very friendly and very helpful.

We drove around the site to get a lay of the land. It was windy so the only activity was the kite seminar. (I am sure they were pleased.) It's pretty nice, even with the unintended lake from the rain. Somehow flat clear land looks smaller than the same amount with trees.

From Muncie we went to Dayton and the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. I've been visiting it for over twenty years. (I'm in the Jet Fuel business and the AF Jet Fuel research labs are just across the tarmac.) It's gone from one to two to three (and they're building a fourth) major hangars. My favorite is the first that focuses on WWI to WWII. It seems to me that the galleries are a little too dark but I suppose it is good for preservation purposes. The WWII display is much better now that the B-36 has been moved to hangar 3. We stayed until closing and then drove over to the Wright Memorial. There's a good view of the original flying field and the area in general.

You can't save enough money at Toledo to justify going there from many places. You go for knowledge and insight. Good prices and one of a kind finds are a bonus. Add some sightseeing to the mix and you have a decent trip.

We went to Toledo today and had a pretty good time. I saw a lot and bought some. Mostly I try to get info and mostly I suceed.

Some people have said that show was down from last year but the weather was bad south of here and it was cold and wet (but this is Ohio). I also think that people who go too often have an increased sense of diminishment. (I felt the same way when I went to Oshkosh too often.) Additionally, if you have a favorite that doesn't show up you'll feel the loss. I try to go every 4 to 5 years and it always seems fresh to me. I love it.

I was planning on getting a lot of pictures, for me and for you, but my new 1 gb SD card died at the very start of the show. :eek: Without it I was limited to 40 pictures and I held back. I did get some pictures of interest to me. Following you will see a few general interest pictures.

Tommorrow, we're going to Dayton to see the Air Force Museum. We're kicking around the idea of going to Muncie early in the day to see the AMA museum.

My best flying buddy, my son and I are attending the Toledo R/C expo this year. As a frequent flyer I'm not that partial to flying as a reward for flying but sometimes it comes in handy. I like to go to Toledo every 3-4 years and I like to go with a group. I supplied airfare (via mileage) and hotel (hotel points for many lonely nights) and my buddy rented the car. We're camping out in Boling Green.

But now, for something completely different...

My trip was rescheduled because a client just had to have me attend a meeting in England. I didn't want to do it on short notice but made the stipulation that they would have to get me back with my traveling party today.

My client, and good friend, has me put my license on the rental car too. I thought in case he gets tired. Wrong he knows I have hundreds of hours of driving in the UK under my belt, including one shunt, and wants me to do the honors. Well OK, it's not like switching from Mode 2 to Mode 1, but it is directionally similar. We get to the car and blimely (limey lingo there) it's a standard. Thank God we're starting at Gatwick and not Heathrow. Fortunately the shift direction is the same, left to right (and so are the pedals clutch-brake-throttle), even if you're using you're left hand to row the boat.

We did our meetings for 2 and a half days and then did some sight seeing at Hampton Court. Palatial estate of Henry VIII. I've included two pictures, a view from front gate and a 16th century rotisserie.

See you in Toledo

Thanks to everybody reading this blog.

My life has been hectic lately. My son is working on a movie and I've been taking him to his sets. It's an independent film and there's no money for the actors up front. Struggling actors value face time more than dad's money or time. Anyway, we were sitting in Whataburger digesting his last shoot when my wife called wanting the number for our road service. She had a flat. Please see below for her definition of a flat...

The best tool I've found for saving time for modeling is Tivo. A TV recorder saves time? You bet! I don't watch any live TV to speak of and that saves fifteen minutes or so an hour. Further, I don't watch everything I record. Somehow just the fact I have it is enough and after a while I just delete it, unwatched.

I saw this little plane at the LHS and it was just too cute to pass up. It's sitting on the plans for my Eindekker. It's a two control R/C from FMA. Power motor and steering motor. I've not flown it with power, just a couple of trimming tosses (and it glides very well), but I have crashed it. I fumbled it and it fell on the tail rotor ring, breaking it. I glued it back with foam CA but you can tell it happened. I also managed to break the charging jack from the transmitter. As delivered, you use the transmitter batteries to charge the 150mah NiMH battery. I pressed too hard and it popped out. The transmitter still worked so I just soldered the jack to a lead for my Hobbico fast field charger that works with NiMH batteries.

Over the years I've run the gamut on field boxes - none to small to big to small. When I was a kid flying "Li'l Jumpin' Bean"s all I needed was a paper sack to hold the control lines and prop/glow plug wrench. Maybe a spare prop but plane usually broke at the same time as the prop.

In college I used a wooden box I built in Jr. High shop class. Eventually though I started to use my grandfather's tackle box as my primary tool box. It's one of the few things I've ever been sentimental about.

At some point a few years back the rage became the big folding leg, hold a gallon fuel can, detachible starter box, airplane stand on top field boxes. It was big enough to comfortably hold a (then very large) sixty size plane. I lost my thrill with it one day when some choppy air came through the pits and made it and the plane that was on it do a snap roll with the plane ending up on the bottom. I didn't quit using it completely but it was doomed.

The boxes got smaller with time. I abandoned the concept of bringing enough supplies to rebuild a plane at the field. (I do carry supplemental supplies on road trips.) So in the end it was just Grandpa's tackle box, a Dave Brown fuel can and self powered starter.

Now that I'm flying again, I've restocked the tackle box and repainted the fuel can. My starter is dead but I haven't replaced it yet. I am very interested in e-flite and I know the tackle box won't hold a battery suitable for recharging flight batteries. With that in mind, I snapped up the rolling tool box below at a recent swap meet.

Will the roller be my main device or will I stick with my minimalist approach? Don't know for sure. It's always a struggle. Will you regret not having that special part when you get to the field? Sure but why not make sure the plane is ready before you leave home? Try to strike a balance. (What's the furthest you've gone without a transmitter? My personal record is 50 miles but only because I checked at a rest stop.)