Reports from the contest
DAY 1
Posted by Tony Mathews in Small Flying Arts
"A quick note from Ken Bauer from the first day at Tustin:
'Tony - action started today, but most guys are still trimming and not many official flights. I saw Jim do a 95 sec flight in the morning, my best are in the low 80s so far. Stan and Tim lost some gliders and didn't do any record stuff. Stan had some great 12" cat flights up to 106 sec and good looking ulim cat flights. Kurt K and Norm F and Ralph had some good looking cat flights. I did about 92 sec with my new BE5615 cat but still have to get much higher to play with the big boys. Should be more exciting action tomorrow. Will try to send some news.' "
(Full names of participants listed above Jim - Jim Buxton, Stan - Stan Buddenbohm, Tim - Tim Batiuk, Kurt K - Kurt Krempetz, Norm F - Norm Furutani, Ralph - Ralph Ray)
DAY 2
Posted by Tony Mathews on Hip Pocket Aeronautics
" From Ken Bauer:
'Breaking news.
Jim just did 103.0 seconds in hlg. Only hit that on one flight however.
Lots of flights in the high 90's.
Stan's best around 97 or 97 right now.
Stan just did 100 seconds.
Stan did 102.6 second.'
Awesome stuff!
Thanks Ken!"
Awesome stuff!
Thanks Ken!"
Posted by Lee Hines and Don DeLoach to Small Flying Arts
"Hot Flash!
Jim Buxton sets absolute highest IHLG time ever!
Tustin Hanger Bash report for Sat April 10th:
Don DeLoach & Leeper wrote this report:
I timed all Jimmy's flights. He did three strings and had best times of 1:43.0 and 1:42.0 on the first two strings, narrowly missing the record on the second string. Meanwhile Stan was putting up flights of 1:40 to 1:43 and ended up missed breaking his own record by a mere 0.1 second!
About 5:45 pm Ron Wittman and I encouraged Jim to do a third string despite his obvious fatigue. He opened with a several high 1:35s and then a 1:42.7. From then on he had to dig deep and shoot for 1:42.2 or higher on the next eight flights, which would exceed the current record by 0.1 sec. On his seventh flight he did an unbelievable 1:45.9 [the best single flight ever recorded in the world!], then followed it up with a 1:43.5, his two best times of the day, at the END of an exhausting series of probably 75 throws in 7-8 hours.
None of us was expecting him do this well on two of his final three throws of the day!
Thus Jim logged the best single flights in the history of AMA HLG and bested the Open record by 4.6 seconds.
The ironic beauty of all of this is that he had Ron Wittman, legendary record holder, as his official timer. It was really a great experience watching Ron encourage Jimmy.
Don & Leeper
Stay tuned for Sunday's report.
We are all joking that Stan probaby skipped dinner and is going to pull an all-nighter sanding his wings! But in my [Don's] opinion Jimmy's record is safe. It may well stand for a LONG time.
-Don"
Posted by Ken Bauer to Small Flying Arts
"It was an epic battle between Jim and Stan Saturday evening. I sent a bunch of emails to Tony during the event but not sure if he got them. At one point both Jim and Stan threw up 102.0 second flights virtually back to back. Jim was flying his glider with the conventional "stanfoil" type airfoil, as early indications were that these were better than the Ishii airfoiled versions so he stuck with them. Stan was flying his balsa "Holy Grail" type glider of course. Both guys were throwing incredibly hard and just seemed to keep cranking it up and finding more energy. I had Jim's best flight at 106.0 seconds, but it was officially recorded as 105.9 as Don / Lee reported, so this record may stand for awhile. We'll see if either guy does anything more today, the last day, but there may not be a lot of gas left in the respective tanks. The air seemed to be better late which was the reason for the showdown at dusk. Sorry I don't have much news on the rubber guys, but saw many great flights there as well with models centered very high."
"Here's a picture of Jim and Stan shaking hands at the end last night, with Ron Wittman standing between them. Ron was there rooting them on the whole time and kept telling Jim, "just throw higher"!
DAY 3
"Hot Flash!
Jim Buxton sets absolute highest IHLG time ever!
Tustin Hanger Bash report for Sat April 10th:
Don DeLoach & Leeper wrote this report:
I timed all Jimmy's flights. He did three strings and had best times of 1:43.0 and 1:42.0 on the first two strings, narrowly missing the record on the second string. Meanwhile Stan was putting up flights of 1:40 to 1:43 and ended up missed breaking his own record by a mere 0.1 second!
About 5:45 pm Ron Wittman and I encouraged Jim to do a third string despite his obvious fatigue. He opened with a several high 1:35s and then a 1:42.7. From then on he had to dig deep and shoot for 1:42.2 or higher on the next eight flights, which would exceed the current record by 0.1 sec. On his seventh flight he did an unbelievable 1:45.9 [the best single flight ever recorded in the world!], then followed it up with a 1:43.5, his two best times of the day, at the END of an exhausting series of probably 75 throws in 7-8 hours.
None of us was expecting him do this well on two of his final three throws of the day!
Thus Jim logged the best single flights in the history of AMA HLG and bested the Open record by 4.6 seconds.
The ironic beauty of all of this is that he had Ron Wittman, legendary record holder, as his official timer. It was really a great experience watching Ron encourage Jimmy.
Don & Leeper
Stay tuned for Sunday's report.
We are all joking that Stan probaby skipped dinner and is going to pull an all-nighter sanding his wings! But in my [Don's] opinion Jimmy's record is safe. It may well stand for a LONG time.
-Don"
Posted by Ken Bauer to Small Flying Arts
"It was an epic battle between Jim and Stan Saturday evening. I sent a bunch of emails to Tony during the event but not sure if he got them. At one point both Jim and Stan threw up 102.0 second flights virtually back to back. Jim was flying his glider with the conventional "stanfoil" type airfoil, as early indications were that these were better than the Ishii airfoiled versions so he stuck with them. Stan was flying his balsa "Holy Grail" type glider of course. Both guys were throwing incredibly hard and just seemed to keep cranking it up and finding more energy. I had Jim's best flight at 106.0 seconds, but it was officially recorded as 105.9 as Don / Lee reported, so this record may stand for awhile. We'll see if either guy does anything more today, the last day, but there may not be a lot of gas left in the respective tanks. The air seemed to be better late which was the reason for the showdown at dusk. Sorry I don't have much news on the rubber guys, but saw many great flights there as well with models centered very high."
"Here's a picture of Jim and Stan shaking hands at the end last night, with Ron Wittman standing between them. Ron was there rooting them on the whole time and kept telling Jim, "just throw higher"!
DAY 3
Posted by Ken Bauer to Small Flying Arts
"The event is now over. This picture is good except that Stan is sleeping!
Jim and Stan did not throw any more today as expected. Tim Batiuk flew today and had some flights in the mid 80s before straining a leg muscle and having to quit. He ended up third and I was fourth.
The news today was in standard catapult glider where Ralph Ray set yet another record with flights about 1:57 and 1:58, almost 2 minutes with a 12" glider! He did it with altitude making a circle above the catwalks. He lost and damaged several gliders in the girders over the 3 days but just kept putting more models together until he did it! Stan was second in this event and Leeper was third and I had another 4th.
Stan won unlimited catapult, I believe Kurt K. was second and Norm Furutani third.
Overall it was a great event and thanks should be given to Ralph and Stan who did all the work to organize it and put up a bunch of money to rent the facility. Rumor has it that even though they tried to just break even they lost money. So be nice to them and support them if any of you have a chance."
Posted by Ken Bauer to Hip Pocket Aeronautics
"Here's a couple pictures of Jim and Stan with Ron Wittman standing in the middle right after the epic event Saturday evening. Ron was in great spirits and was rooting them on. Every time Jim asked Ron for advice he got the same answer: "just throw it higher"! (with a smile on his face)
A few observations. Jim had new models with the Ishii airfoil and tried them but was not impressed and put them back in the box and concentrated on the flat bottomed airfoils. The record setting glider had an airfoil very close to Stan's I believe, which is also very close to Ron Wittman's Supersweep airfoil and the sections that Lee was using in the 60's, so it is remarkable that not much has changed in 40 years! I had new HLGs and cat gliders with the undercambered BE5615 airfoil but the negative pitching moment at very high speeds was killing my launch altitude and I could not compete with these guys despite the great glides.
On one flight Jim and Stan's gliders came down together and it was evident that Stan was gliding slightly better. Both guys were throwing very hard and launching very high but Jim was getting slightly higher and had some smoother transitions at the top which made the difference. This is where Jim's very strong foam core fiberglass wings paid off. The extra strength and stiffness probably helped the launch and the slick finish might be lower drag. There were reports that Stan's balsa wing was fluttering slightly which obviously would slow him down. I walked to the end of the hanger to judge the launch height. Both guys were peaking about 10 or 20 feet below the catwalks (130 feet) but really didn't start to glide until they were around the top of the hanger door which is about 100 feet. But Jim might have had a 5 foot advantage which is all he needed."
On April 12 Norm Furutani posted on Freeflightml that his son Brian has made available a picasaweb album with more photos.
On April 13 Paul Love posted on Hip Pocket Aeronautics links to two youtube videos with the following comments
"I am kicking myself for not taking more video in the hangar, but my hands were full trying to tame my planes and the hours pass quickly in there. As you lose planes in the war, you get kind of freaky knowing your army is dwindling and you can’t afford any more casualties. Anyway, I did manage these two.
Most importantly, this is one of Ralph’s flights in his series of 9 flights going for the record. This one is about 1:55. Truly amazing. Sorry about the poor quality of the video." Click here to view
"This is a low power launch (probably get’s about 120 feet high) of my dolphin foiled glider, called flipper. It glides nicely, but launches with max power prove to be a bit hard to control as you can see that just after release it pitches nose down for a few split seconds before it bleeds off enough speed for the stab to counter the pitching moment of the foil. The plan form is also somewhat responsible for this I believe so the jury is still out on dolphin foils. I do think it glided as well as anything else I brought at comparable weights, but no definitive data to say much more at this time. My best flights were with this glider: 1:32 using a pretty strong catapult (estimate 16 ft lbs of energy resulting in launch altitude of about 125-130 feet), but by this time she weighed 8 grams instead of her earlier flights at 7.2g. Xfoil does show that this foil has higher drag than optimal on the climb and I think this is true from what I saw. Other planes I had launched with the same power were getting higher." Click here to view
"This event was something I'll never forget. Our community has to make sure it happens again! I can tell you from experience now that getting times like Ralph and Stan are getting in there is at least 10 times more difficult than I ever imagined it would be. The hangar is a glider eating monster, and as you get higher, there is no room for error. Tiny mistakes in judgment quickly lead to the loss and/or destruction of your gliders."
On April 14 Norm Furutani reported the final results on Freeflightml
Tustin MCAS Blimp Hangar Cat. IV Contest
April 8-11, 2010 Tustin, California
AMA Sanction Number 10-0710
Organizers – Ralph Ray and Stan Buddenbohm
Contest Director - Norm Furutani
Two extraordinary national glider records were set at this contest.
Jim Buxton broke Stan B’s HLG record with a 1:45.9 and 1:43.5, totaling 3:29.4 min.
Ralph Ray, also breaking Stan’s record in Standard CLG, with a 1:55.0 and 1:57.3, totaling 3:52.3
A special thanks to all who donated to the raffle. We had products from Ray Harland, DuBro, the Tyson’s, Jim Buxton, and many goodies from Tim Goldstein and A2Z, including one of the new CNC winders!
Is it going to happen again? I don’t know. It was a lot of work, Ralph did a lot of talking and paper work to secure the building, Stan put up the money and it looks like the operation went at a loss. A few complained about the cost, the inconvenience of the gate etc. The majority had a great time!
Here’s the results.
- Norm Furutani, CD
A-6
1. Don DeLoach 9:04
2. Andy McFarland 5:30
3. Chris Borland 4:34
Mini Stick
1. Larry Norvall 8:50
2. Chris Borland 5:39
Limited Pennyplane
1. Leo Pilachowski 14:46
2. Don DeLoach 14:40
3. Chris Borland 13:03
4. John Alling 12:08
5. Jim Sonnenmeier 6:02
6. Andy McFarland DNF
7. Robert Loeffler DNF
8. Yuan Kang Lee DNF
Science Olympiad
1. Leo Pilachowski 5:11
2. Chris Borland 4:11
3. Yuan Kang Lee 4:09
Unlimited Stick
1. Istvan Botos 33:32
2. Aurel Popa DNF
3. Zoltan Sukoso DNF
F1L
1. Yuan Kang Lee 19:44
2. Dave Saks 18:16
3. Chris Borland 11:54
F1D
1. Aurel Popa 35:27
2. Zoltan Sukosd 35:19
3. Bud Romak 34:38
4. Istvan Botos 34:04
5. Chris Borland DNF
6. Larry Norvall DNF
7. Steve Brown DNF
8. Brett Sanborn DNF
Unlimited CLG
1. Stan Buddenbohm 3:44.2
2. Kurt Krempetz 3:25.7
3. Norm Furutani 2:58.8
4. Ron Wittman 2:26.6
5. Dick Peterson 2:00.2
6. Ralph Ray DNF
7. Larry Norvall DNF
Standard CLG
1. Ralph Ray 3:49.0
2. Stan Buddenbohm 3:30.6
3. Lee Hines 3:16.4
4. Kurt Krempetz 3:10.8
5. Ken Bauer 3:04.7
6. Paul Love 3:04.3
7. Norm Furutani 3:03.7
8. Jim Buxton 2:52.7
9. Jim Sonnenmeier 1:40.9
10. Gerald Keck DNF
11. Chris Borland DNF
HLG
1. Jim Buxton 3:22.8
2. Stan Buddenbohm 3:18.2
3. Tim Batiuk 2:50.9
4. Ken Bauer 2:36.4
5. Lee Hines 1:51.8
6. Phedon Tsiknopoulos DNF
7. John Alling DNF
8. Kurt Krempetz DNF
9. Dick Peterson DNF
