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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks Ed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>BTW - you thought that IMAC was nutty, how's this
bunch....?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Eric.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>P.S. Went to George Asteris's yesterday. He
absolutely loves the way his second ICEPOINT flies. (With extra FG cloth on the
center of course.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Ed_Alt@hotmail.com href="mailto:Ed_Alt@hotmail.com">Ed Alt</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, January 07, 2005 11:12
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [SPAM] Re: 2005 Masters maneuver
#4 - Warning</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Eric:<BR>Later on tonight I'm going to post some
pics to RC Universe of how I do the socket supports. They will be
pictures of the Temptation wing. This is something I learned from the
big gas stuff and it really works well. Essentially, I make a light box
out of two pieces of plywood, separated with balsa. The box fits snugly
on both sides of the cutout in the wing, greatly increasing the gluing surface
area. The tube socket goes through both plywood sides of the box.
It weighs about 1/4 ounce and probably soaks up an extra .1 oz of glue during
the sheeting process. It has the added benefit that it totally cloese
the opening, so there is now no real possibility of the sheeting in compresion
ever collapsing into the opening. Basically, it takes the weakest part
of the wing and puts it back together structurally.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ed</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=pattern4u@comcast.net href="mailto:pattern4u@comcast.net">Grow
Pattern</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, January 07, 2005 7:40
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> 2005 Masters maneuver #4 -
Warning</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>This is a sort of public service
announcement, or at least please regard it as a
"Heads-up".</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For all of you who are flying or will be flying
the Reverse Avalanche you might want to check your wing tubes and phenolic
tube wing supports.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It seems that if you go into the snap a bit
hard you can bend your wing tube or, in the worst case scenario break, your
wing. The plane is pulling some G's at the bottom of the
loop and then you add more by putting in a lot of elevator to get
a good break for the snap.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Last year I had several incidents reported to
me and my initial reaction was to say that they were probably not flying the
maneuver correctly. <EM>"You need to slow the plane down at the bottom of
the loop",</EM> I said. I must add that what I said did not
impress an FAI and pilot and District masters champion very much.
:-(</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So strapping on my asbestos underwear I decided
to do some testing of my own. </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>At the end
of November 2004 it was nice here in NJ. I took the Focus-2 and the
Temptation out for a day of Masters 2005. Both planes were inspected for
tube tightness and the wing covering touched up with the
glove-iron.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Twelve flights later and an average of 10
reverse avalanches in each flight I went home thinking all was well. (It got
cold and a bit dark too).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Back in the shop the first thing that I
noticed was new wrinkles in the covering on the Temptation wings.
Nothing was loose. To test this I put the wing-tube in the wing and leaned
on it a little. All was well but I was beginning to think that the wing must
have flexed to cause the covering to loosen up. A bit like what the
covering sometimes does around the aileron horns. It this case it was at the
roots above the tubes - both sides.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Then I turned to the Focus-2 wings. Not good!
The wing-tube could now be moved up and down and I could hear foamy crunches
in both of the wings. </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>Both wings have Carbon
tube wing tubes and it dawned on me that they could not bend (much) or stay
bent. That is why I had not seen this before. The forces were applying
themselves to the ends of the wing tubes. I opened up both panels and added
epoxy and micro balloons to stabilize the sub ribs. It was an easy repair
but could have been a lot worse if I was not looking for it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am advised that stress damage is
cumulative and that it does not show up initially. It certainly had
not revealed itself while I had been demonstrating the 2005 schedule
over the late summer of 2004. So where does this leave me? I think we
have a potential problem that requires frequent preventative equipment
inspection depending upon the planes that you fly. If you can slow down your
plane and it is at around 10 lb you may never see this
happening.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG><U>I would strongly advise checking
your wing with the wing tube in place to look for tube movement. Also look
for straightness if you have an ali-wing-tube.</U></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This situation is a bit unique for me. It is
the first time I have been involved with a maneuver that you don't
know you are doing it wrong unless you fly it that way too many times.
And then only if the wing shows damage or even worse it breaks in the
air.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards,</FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV><BR>Eric Henderson.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>P.S. The only time I remember seeing a reverse avalanche before is
in the hardly flown? current FAI Finals
schedule.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>