THE MASTHEAD PLANE

 

               The Santos Dumont Demoiselle is arguably the world’s first ultra light airplane.  With a wingspan of 16 feet, 9 inches, and an all-up weight of 315 pounds, the Demoiselle would have no trouble being certified today as an ultra light.  When they made a replica for Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, they found out that anyone heavier than Santos Dumont would never get off the ground in it!  Ultimately, it was flown by a ninety pound female pilot!  The triangular body was made of bamboo, and was intended to twist and flex, to absorb the vibration of the two-cylinder engine.  The plane topped out at 56 m.p.h., and flew in 1909.  If you want to know the modeling challenges of this plane, just ask Jim Thomas!

 

 

SAFETY

 

               We are seeing more members with helicopters at the field.  Please note that their safety requirements are a little different.  Just because they are heading north, you cannot assume they will continue to do so!  We are also seeing more full-size air traffic (mostly helicopters) overflying the field.  When you alert a pilot that there is incoming traffic, it would be a good idea to spot for him until his aircraft is safely on the ground.

 

 

PROPWASH

 

VOL XXX, No. 8               September, 2007

 

Arden McConnell                  president                       313-274-3185

Mike Cuba                               vice-president               734-522-7638

Tim Kirsten                             secretary                        313-565-6093

Terry Kozlowski                     treasurer                        734-354-1928

Dennis Gazdecki                     safety                             734-442-3402

Bobby Harmon                       field                                313-541-4204

Al Zerber                                 membership                   734-427-4872

Kathy Kendzior                      at-large                           313-274-1402

Ray Piper                                 at-large                           313-532-7286

Mike Cuba                               editor                              734-522-7638

Charlie Thomas                      swap shop                     313-565-2973

Bob Mayhew                        archivist                         313-291-6855

Stephanie Thomas              webmaster                   313-565-2973

 

website      http://detroitaeromodelers.org

 

 

DOOR PRIZE AND RAFFLE

 

               In stunning defiance of the laws of probability, Dennis Gazdecki won both the $15 door prize and the $50 raffle prize, both gift certificates from Nankin Hardware & Hobby.  Did you go home and buy a lottery ticket, Dennis?

 

 

 

 

DRIVING/PARKING ON THE FIELD

 

               Be it known that there exists a city ordnance prohibiting the driving and parking on park property.  This means crossing the curb line and entering into the property.  NO ONE has the authority to allow such action.  On any occasion should a police officer witness the occurrence of someone driving or parking on park property he has the authority to issue a traffic violation to said individual (if you doubt this ask Kathy Kendzior about her tire on the curb ticket).  We are depending on this ordnance to stop people from driving their ATV’s onto our field.  Should you drive/park near the pit area you are susceptible to receiving a ticket, so do so at your own risk.  BUT please do not drive/park on any of the RUNWAYS or in the PIT AREA.  We spend considerable moneys maintaining the field and driving on the property causes ruts that can damage our aircraft.

 

                                             Arden McConnell,

                                             President, DAM

 

 

FIELD DEDICATION

 

               We received a letter from Mrs. Jefferson thanking us for naming our field after her husband, Alexander Jefferson.

 

MEMBERSHIP

 

               Al Zerber reports that we now have 103 members.  The latest additions to the roster are Richard Brewer, Mark Blair, Ed Sare, Richard Button, Kevin Bowers, James Lucas, and James Newby.  Welcome, gentlemen!

 

 

AIR SHOW ACCOUNTING

 

               Treasurer Terry Kozlowski reported that we lost $129.86 at our August Air Show.  Much of this went for one-time purchases of materials that we can use again.  This isn’t bad, considering the only revenue sources for the show were food sales and the 50/50 raffle.

 

               In further Air Show news, we received a letter from our CD, Dave Schiavolin.  By his count, we had thirty-seven pilots and one hundred seven sorties at the show.  He praised the club members that helped make the show possible, especially the efforts of Dennis Gazdecki.  Dave also mentioned that he will not be available as CD if we plen to make this a yearly event.  Thank you, Dave, and thank you, Dennis!

 

               In discussions about the Air Show finances, it was pointed out that when Stan Spiewak ran the show, it made money every year except the one year it was flooded out.  It should be pointed out that most, if not all of the profits in those years came from a very extensive raffle.  Stan has volunteered to CD the event, should we wish to repeat it next year.  If we do, it would be nice to see more DAM members flying there!

 

 

 

VIDEO LIBRARY

 

               Club archivist Bob Mayhew has donated several VHS tapes to our growing video library.  Thank you, Bob!

 

 

TRAINING FLIGHTS

 

               Al Zerber requested $100 from the club to partially offset the price of a new Avistar trainer to be used with our new training/trial flight program.  The club agreed.  Stan Spiewak volunteered to donate a complete trainer, and Arden McConnell offered a trainer minus the radio for the club to use.

 

 

 

 

RAFFLE PRIZE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

 

               When you Shop at Nankin Hardware & Hobby, please make an effort to ID yourself as a DAM member, and thenk them for their long-standing support of our club.  They have been supplying us with the $15 monthly door prize for several years now!

 

 

 

INSURANCE

 

               Stan Spiewak proposed that we spend $40 to provide insurance for our meeting sites (Redford Community Center and Jefferson Elementary).  The motion passed.

 

 

HELICOPTER FUN FLY

 

               New member Kevin Bowers proposed that the DAM sponsor the Mid-America R/C Helicopter Fun Fly on June 21-22, 2008.  The event would not cost us anything.  They are asking for the use of our field, and assistance with setup, radio impound, and teardown.  Stan Spiewak volunteered to be the AMA CD for the event, which was approved by the membership present.  As we get more details, we will publish them.

 

 

SHOW AND TELL

 

               Jim Thomas started off our show and tell with a Demoiselle.  This is the tiny ultra light featured in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.  The original plane spanned sixteen feet, nine inches, and used a 35 h.p. engine.  Jim’s model spans eight feet and uses a Super Tigre 2300 engine!  When was the last time you saw a half-scale plane? 

 

               Bobby Harmon brought in his Lobby Hobby Graupner Texan ARF with operating retracts.  Stan Spiewak showed us (an flew!) a micro helicopter called the Mosquito.  It retails for $69.95.

 

 

ANNUAL BANQUET

 

               Tim Kirsten has volunteered to organize the club banquet to be held sometime this coming January.  Thanks, Tim!

 

 

POWER DENSITY

 

               I ran into an interesting table comparing different power sources in terms of kilowatt-hours per kilogram of storage device.  This information comes from Quiet Flyer, hence the metric units!

 

               Source                  kWh/kg

 

               Liquid hydrogen                 34

               Liquid natural gas               15

               Diesel fuel                          14

               Gasoline                                             12

               Diethyl ether                       11

               Caster oil                            11

               Liquid propane                    9.5

               Methyl alcohol                   5.5

               LiPo battery                        0.20

               NiMH battery                     0.062

               NiCd battery                       0.048

               Pirelli rubber                      0.015

 

               Another way to look at this data is that a NiCd battery is only three times as powerful as Pirelli rubber, pound for pound!  Straight methanol stores 27.5 times the power of a LiPo battery, ad LiPo’s hold 3.22 times the energy of an equivalent weight of NiMH batteries.  When are we going to get models running on liquid hydrogen?

 

 

 

 

Club meeting at the Redford Community Center

 

10/5       indoor flying                     5 p.m.

10/9       business meeting                             7 p.m.

10/12     indoor flying                     5 p.m.

10/19     indoor flying                     5 p.m.

10/21     Cider-Fly                           5 p.m.

10/26     indoor flying                     5 p.m.

                                                                          

 

 

RIDER’S PRICING POLICY

 

               Rider’s Hobby Shop of Livonia recently changed ownership from a franchise to a corporate store.  They are announcing that they will match any advertised price, whether it is another store, mail-order or on-line shopping.  If it is not in stock, they will get it as quickly as you could through the mail.  Bring in an ad and see if they can do it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROPWASH

31425 Myrna, Livonia, Mi. 48154