Archive for March, 2009

Copter Crash Course

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

Eileen adjusts the Honeybee, watched by Emily and Mary. Annie takes a picture.

Eileen adjusts the Honeybee, watched by Emily and Mary. Annie takes a picture.


Looking for help, Eileen showed up at Baylands late in the morning Thursday.

She had a helicopter, an Esky Honeybee, and she wanted to learn to fly it in one month. More precisely, she wanted her 16-year-old daughter, Emily, to learn to fly.

We helped her sort out her gear. She had two bad batteries, a flaky charger and a helicopter in need of tuning.

Danh Le checked out the helicopter, made adjustments and flew it. Mark Gitin loaned her a battery to enable the flight. Oscar Yatco, Rick Carmichael and David Galvin also helped her out.

She came back Friday and spent a bit of time hovering the helicoper close to the ground.

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Artificial Intelligence

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Racter’s opening screen, in glorious black & white.

Racter’s opening screen, in glorious black & white.


Commenters are to bloggers not as wigmakers are to bald people, but as flyers are to kiters — another impertinence in the same hostile sky.

I didn’t write that. Well, I did write that, but I copied the form from a beautifully-crafted sentence I encountered recently in The New Yorker. Adam Gopnik wrote the original, in an article about Samuel Johnson:

Critics are to writers not as doctors are to patients but as bearded ladies are to trapeze artists — another, sadder act in the same big show.

Template-based writing ranges from the prosaic — a weather forecast, an obituary, a greeting card — to the outlandish.

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Jet-Propelled Kite

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Dennis Castleman holds his latest project, a Rogallo Wing with two vectored EDF motors.

Dennis Castleman holds his latest project, a Rogallo Wing with two vectored EDF motors.


Dennis Castleman likes electric ducted fans. He’s inclined to attach them to servos, using the motor vector in lieu of an elevator.

He also likes wings.

In the past, we’ve seen him add a swiveling EDF to big wings such as the 100-inch Tricycle Bee.

When I wrote about the Tricycle Bee, I mentioned that he was inspired by my little IFO to develop something similar.

“If he proceeds,” I wrote, “I’m sure his design will end up covered in vulcanized rubber. It will feature a servo-controlled ducted fan powered by a 4S LiPo pack. It will weigh at least 5 pounds.”

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Mike Bowns’ Battle Wings

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Ready to Build. Mike Bowns holds one of his meticulously-crafted Battle Wings.

Mike Bowns holds one of his meticulously-crafted Battle Wings.


After months of trial and error, Mike Bowns has developed a replacement for our beloved-but-no-longer-available Wild Wing: he calls it a Battle Wing.

He built a hot-wire foam cutter, then practiced cutting, turning out lots of variants of the Wild Wing airfoil.

As weeks went by he flew each one, obsessing about performance, tweaking his designs until he had a perfect-flying, balanced aircraft that could outmaneuver our acrobatic Wild Wings.

Last week he brought out his final version. He gave one to Dave North for testing.

Today Dave said that he thinks it’s the best wing he’s flown.

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Return to Half Moon Bay

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

On a perfect day at Half Moon Bay, Matt Abrams works out with his Multiplex ParkMaster.

On a perfect day at Half Moon Bay, Matt Abrams works out with his Multiplex ParkMaster.


The Peninsula Channel Commanders opened its new Richardson Field for flying Feb. 1, but what with weather, remodeling and other distractions, I hadn’t had a chance to visit since a series of work parties in January.

Wednesday, Bruce Crawford, Larry Smith, Matt Abrams and I met at the new field for some serious flying.

The weather was perfect: cool but so sunny that I was quickly peeling off layers of clothes, shrinking from Michelin Man to more human proportions. This is a lovely flying site, just off of Highway 1 about 4 miles south of Highway 92.

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