1. RCACF Flypaper The Official Monthly Newsletter
Remote Control Assoc of Central Florida
May, 2016
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Central Florida
UCF Aviation Design Contest
by: Tim Bucher
A large number of UCF students brought 12 model airplanes out to the Tangerine Field on Sunday April 15th for their annual Aviation Design Contest. They braved high winds to see who's model would perform the best during the days competition.
This competition is an annual event of the UCF student chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The competition involves groups of 4 or 5 students (mostly freshmen and sophomores) forming a team and designing and building an electric RC model airplane to meet the contest rules. The students do not receive college credit for this effort and are there only because of their interest in model aviation. All entries must use the same type of  motor, propeller, ESC, battery, receiver, and servos. The aircraft are designed by using 3-D CAD to develop solid models and drawings. They also generate patterns for laser cutting the parts from balsa and plywood.
This is a two semester activity. During the first semester, students attend evening classes on aircraft configuration design and aircraft performance analysis. These classes are taught by university professors and volunteers from the local aerospace industry. This year the

2. curriculum included a lecture on model aircraft design and construction techniques presented by RCACF member Tim Bucher, who is a retired aerospace engineer. At the end of the first semester the groups must present a briefing on their models preliminary design and estimated performance. This includes defending their selection of the overall configuration, construction techniques, airfoil, landing gear, etc., and showing their calculations covering estimated weight, max speed, stall speed, minimum turning radius, etc..
The second semester is spent finalizing the design, fabricating and testing the model, competing in the contest, and writing a technical report about the design process.
This year, the competition was based on speed (counting the number of laps completed around the runway in a two minute interval), dummy bomb dropping accuracy, and the final technical report. Additional scoring is awarded based on the aircraft overall dimensions and weight (favoring a small lightweight model).
The contest day weather was far from ideal, and the 12 teams had to brave  wind gusts of over 20 mph. All of the models were flown by several volunteer UCF students who are current AMA members and accomplished RC pilots. Four of the entrees completed both the speed and bomb dropping phases of the competition. All of the teams had an opportunity to gain a lot of real world experience in aircraft design and fabrication as a majority of the entrees had problems crop up, some of which resulted in spectacular crashes. Despite the carnage everyone seemed to have a good time and the students expressed much gratitude to RCACF for allowing them the use of the field and providing much helpful advise.
A winner had not been announced at the time of this writing since the size and weight factors and technical report scores still needed to be tallied.

3. President’s Corner John Foushi President
John Foushi  President    Brian Provost  Vice President    Bill Wilson  Membership Chairman  Bill Freeland   Treasurer    Dave Sirak   Secretary  
Board Members/Officers
Walter Blanca   Facilities Chairman Jim Lackey Chief Flight Instructor
Dave Sirak Safety Officer Barry Vaught   Photographer Michael Vivona    Webmaster 
President’s Corner
John Foushi President
Farewell Last month we said “Goodbye” to two long time RCACF members. Clint Ponce moved to Virginia and Tom Spelzhausen has moved to Tennessee. Both of these members will be missed.
Tom Spelzhausen has been a member since He never attended a club meeting in all that time. But, we didn’t miss too many Work Parties. He helped build and repair the Information Center (IC) Club House and Food Hangar. He also painted most all of our structures and supplied all the paint out of his pocket. We wish Tom “Good Luck” and hope he finds a good flying field to launch his RC planes!
Clint Ponce has been a member since In his years as a RCACF member, he served in numerous Board positions. He last served as our Safety Officer. Clint owned his own business and supplied the Club with many needed items out of his pocket to help the Club save money. Clint didn’t have time to come to our last meeting but, he asked me to extend his thanks and farewell to all his flying buddies. He said he enjoyed his time being a member of RCACF.
Special Thanks to Brian Baine for the excellent presentation on CPR at our April meeting. He answered many important questions and gave us suggestions as to what to do in an emergency situation. All that attended the meeting, felt that we learned some life saving procedures.

4. Our May Meeting will be our last meeting before our summer recess
Our May Meeting will be our last meeting before our summer recess. There will be no meetings for the months of June, July and August. Our next general membership meeting will be September 10th. Mark your calendars. We are still planning to have our Club Picnic in June and another Fun Fly to be announced.
Membership Chairman We are still looking for a member to take over the duties of membership chairman. This volunteer, should have a working knowledge of the computer program Excel, and this person has to be honest, trustworthy and responsible. If you are interested in becoming a Board Member and serve your Club, contact me by . If you would like a detailed set of duties for this position, also me.
Last One Out – Lock the Gate That’s what the sign reads just before you exit the flying field. And yet, time after time I get phone calls and s telling me that the gates were open and no one was there. Gentlemen, look behind you and if there is no one still at the field, guess what? You are the last one out and have to lock the gate! Let’s stop this from happening again. We have too many items out there that need the protection of a locked gate!!
Last one out
locks the gate
Thank you,
John Foushi
President RCACF

5. THE SAFETY ZONE Dave Sirak Safety Officer
RCACF member Michael Fleming invited fellow members Dave Sirak and Nelson Yu to make a presentation to a meeting of local and federal law enforcement officials on how the drone boom is impacting public safety and our hobby. In addition to recent headlines involving drones the group was very interested to learn more about the risk posed by lithium polymer batteries when improperly used and stored.
The model aircraft hobby has been enjoyed by many for nearly 80 years but has recently found the spotlight with the surge in drone technology.  Yu explained the drone boom emerged from a perfect storm of technology converging at the same time.  “The popularity of micro cameras, improved battery performance and advances in flight stabilization has opened remote controlled model aviation to millions of new pilots over the last few years so we are now seeing some of the growing pains” said Yu.
The presentation in early April provided information of the separation of the commercial use of model aircraft and the training, insurance and self imposed rules hobbyists follow to ensure the longevity of the hobby. Sirak and Yu provided details on the recent changes in the laws and regulation governing the use model aircraft and what is expected in the coming months.
Sirak and Yu took the opportunity to share the efforts being made by hobbyists to promote and protect safe remote controlled model aircraft.  “The AMA and clubs like RCACF are a great resource and an example of how the hobby can be enjoyed safely and in harmony in their communities.”
The meeting closed with open discussion from many of the participants and some asked to use the RCACF as a resource for information on incorporating the awareness of safe model aircraft flying in the training of their officers and enforcement programs.  

6. RCACF Monthly club meeting April-9-2016 Call to Order 10:00
Dave Sirak
Secretary
RCACF Monthly club meeting April Call to Order 10:00
President - John Foushi. (fun fact) Lost 1 lb. on his Hawaii vacation. 5 new members introduced. UCF will be flying club competition aircraft after the work party. Last meeting before the summer recess. Summer recess which means no monthly club meetings on June, July, and August. Bill Wilson has asked to step down due to family issues.
Vice President – Brian Provost. No show.
Membership Chairman – Bill Wilson. No show.
Treasurer – Bill Freeland. No show.
Secretary – Dave Sirak. No show.
Safety Officer – Dave Sirak. No show.
Maintenance – Walter Blanca asked for members to assist with field maintenance this coming weekend.
Webmaster – Michael Vivona will be coming up with a fresh new design for our club sign at the entrance gate. Hope to have something for the board to review by the May meeting.
Flight instructor – Jim Lackey. If you desire flight instruction, please contact (407) I will pair you up with one of the fine instructors.
Photographer – Barry Vaught. Showed some beautiful pictures which he took at Florida Jets.
Guest speaker Wildlife Officer Brian Bain. Gave a great talk about CPR and club safety.
Plane raffle - Michael Gibilisco had the winning ticket.
Meeting adjourned 11:00

7. Barry Vaught Barry Vaught Photographer Hello RCACFonians.
I have just returned to refuel from the next to the last day of Top Gun, and back out at 6am tomorrow to Lakeland. There was a mass free-flight launch this morning, awesome! Thanks to all that said hello. One of the things that keeps impressing me is the camaraderie we have amongst us and that is really what it’s all about isn’t it. Wish everyone could be there for the finals. Thank you Tony for your help with Red Flag, and thank you Bill for taking care of my lasers at Top Gun.
RCACF Treasurer Bill Freeland’s F-16, Top Gun 2016, Afterburners On!
Thank you,
Barry Vaught
RCACF Photographer

8. Next general club meeting – September 10th 10AM
Michael Vivona
Webmaster/Chief Editor
Anyone can punch holes in the sky
May 2016 is here with all its glory.
Each weekend I wakeup with the desire to make the trek out to our great flying club and launch one of my select aircraft. Each time something comes up to impede my endeavor. One week I was under the weather, the next week it was work calling that encapsulated my day. This past Saturday night I was all packed up ready to go. I woke up and logged in to our club’s weather station only to find the wind howling out of the East. I really wanted to go, but it only brought back memories of my last cross-wind landing calamity. I was flying my Falcon-120 which is a great flying plane. It has good characteristics in windy conditions due to its sleekness and weight of around 13 lbs. I was done flying and lined up for a beautiful approach, flaps down full, speed looked just right. All of a sudden a huge gust of wind came up and blew me way off track. I straight away gave her full power, flaps up and tried to gain enough speed to make a go-around. That’s when it all went wrong. I had pushed my batteries a little too far and my motor started struggle. I had to make that split decision to either pull back on the power and set her down on the last quarter of the runway or trust that my weak depleted battery would actually sustain a full go-around. Not trusting the battery I immediately pulled back on the throttle and pointed it back at the runway. It wasn’t a pretty sight. There was plenty of screaming and people ducking as my lifeless plane struggled to get back over the pavement. Down she hit, then bounced back into the air. I held my breath as she hit again. This time breaking off the nose wheel an sliding off into the grass. My hands were shaking and I was more embarrassed than mad. During my walk of shame I could hear the friendly remarks. Hey.. “You’re supposed to land on the pavement” or, Hey… “Is that your first time flying? Ha, ha, ha”. So, with those thoughts still fresh in my mind I decided not to venture out this weekend either.
Cross-wind landings still scare me as I don’t practice enough. The old adage that “practice makes perfect” is very true especially when it comes to flying. The next time you see me flying I’m going to be shooting touch-and-goes over and over again. As my initial trainer once said “anyone can punch holes in the sky, but few can land perfectly under every situation”.
Next general club meeting – September 10th 10AM R C A F
A great big THANK YOU to everyone who supports our great club.
We could not do it without your continued help.
Have a wonderful day…
Come Fly With Us